Shelf Ice (14 page)

“How about theology, or demonology, or something related to his current career?”

“Wait, I’ll get to that,” said Sue. “Our reverend friend has already had a rather extraordinary career. Early on after his master’s degree, he was managing the tours of well-known rock stars. Then he was recruited to manage a national tour for a prominent evangelist, and as the saying goes, he never looked back. Over the next several years he worked for some of the most successful televangelists in the country.”

“Where did you find this stuff?” asked Ray. “Was it on his Website?”

“Lots of things get left on Websites long after they are current. So staff positions held by Rodney Gunne years ago are still out there on a variety of sites. So unless there’s another Rod Gunne who attended the same schools as the Reverend at the same time, he’s our man.”

“So, how about his religious training?”

“He’s certified by a small, fundamentalist sect in Michigan. He took an eight-week training course, and passed an exam and a required background and credit check. His name is on their list of accredited ministers. And his church, The
Church for the Next Millennium
, is duly registered in this state as an ecclesiastical corporation.”

“You’ve done all that in an hour.”

“There’s more. Bring a chair over, I want you to see this,” Sue moved to the right so Ray could get a good view on the big, flat-screen display.

“Look at the church’s Website. It’s spectacular. One of the best I’ve ever seen. They’re using all the newest Web tools. You can stream his services live, but everything is also available as a Webcast that you can watch any time, anywhere in the world where you can get a high-speed connection. And for a modest contribution via your PayPal account, everything is available, including PDFs, CDs, and DVDs of sermons, even a personal prayer or inspirational thought from Reverend Gunne. And do you know what the beauty of all this is?”

“Go ahead.”

“It’s all electronic. Yes, he’s got some development costs, but most of the content is delivered via the Web. He’s not buying radio or TV time like the televangelists he worked for. He’s taken it to the next level. This is brilliant. His costs are very limited, and his audience is worldwide. And if you want to come and personally worship at his church, you’ve got to look all over the Website to find its location.”

“That’s all well and good, Sue, but for all this technology to work for him, Gunne’s got to be selling something people want.”

“Here’s his message,” said Sue, pointing to the screen, “
God wants you to be wealthy
. This theme is repeated all over the Website, in the titles of sermons, Webcasts, and a whole array of things that are available for purchase. I can’t say that I’m well versed in Christian theology, but this ain’t your daddy’s Methodist church. It looks like Gunne may be creating his own religious brand.”

Ray gazed at the screen. “I think that message has been around for some time. But everything you’re showing me suggests enormous sophistication at delivering his message. And I imagine that it would have special appeal during hard times. When I have time, I’d like to listen to some of his sermons, so I could better understand his appeal.”

“There’s one more thing you’ll find interesting,” said Sue. “I just want you to look at this piece of video. Watch when the focus moves from Gunne to the congregants. Look at those people. See anyone you know? Look at the great smiles, the wonderful grooming, and the way they are dressed. And they’re all such good-looking people.”

“Yes,” agreed Ray. “Young, healthy, and vibrant. It doesn’t look much like Reverend Tim’s flock, does it?”

“No,” agreed Sue. “It reminds me of the casino ads on TV, all the beautiful, happy people who are supposedly getting rich and having a wonderful time. You never see shots of the pensioners with their oxygen tanks sitting at the slots smoking and drinking.”

“This is all fascinating, Sue. But do you see any connection to our case?”

“No, there’s nothing obvious.”

“Can you put some crime scene photos on the screen?”

“Sure. What are you looking for?”

“I’d like to see the area around the computer equipment. I want to look at the photos and see if her laptop was there.”

“Give me your thought process on this,” suggested Sue.

“We’ve touched on it before. If the assailant’s original plan was to torch the house, they only had to incapacitate Manton. What was the motive? There was no evidence that the perp was beginning to ransack the house. Was there something on Manton’s computer that they wanted to destroy? When they decided to get out of there fast, did they grab her laptop as well as her cell phone?”

Sue worked at the keyboard, and soon her screen and the large display mounted on the wall contained thumbnail images of the photos Sue took at the crime scene. “How about this one?” she asked. The photo showed the desk area with a keyboard and large Macintosh display. On the right side was a mouse pad and mouse. On the left was a small legal pad, a pen on top of it.

“Can you move the view farther to the right?” Ray asked.

Sue manipulated the view, showing the right side of the work surface.
 
The area held only a tray, blank DVDs on a spindle, two packets of sticky notes, a round tin container with assorted pencils and pens and the ends of small white cables.

“Would you magnify those cables, one at a time?” asked Ray.

Sue pulled the connector on the first cable into sharp focus.

“That’s an iPhone connector. Look at the one coming off my computer.”

“Yes,” agreed Sue. “And here’s the second one. It leads to a transformer plugged into a wall outlet. So we know from Rod Gunne that she had a laptop and it wasn’t there when I shot these photos—it was either somewhere else or the perp carried it away.”

“So if the perp took it, why is it important?” asked Ray, thinking out loud. “They weren’t stealing a computer, what could have been on the hard drive that was worth killing for?”

Sue pondered the question. “Photos, text, financial data, something very incriminating. It hardly seems likely, but could Manton have been involved in blackmailing someone?”

“That hardly seems to fit,” agreed Ray, “but at this point we have to continue to be open to all possibilities. How about her car, did you check that?”

“Yes, other than a few reusable shopping bags near the rear hatch, it was empty.”

“Did you happen to check the car for prints?”

“No. It was on the list of things I was going to do.”

“And the phone records? Any word yet?”

“No, still waiting.”

Ray suddenly felt very frustrated. He pulled himself out of the chair and moved to the whiteboard.
 
“What do we know for sure?”

“The assailant knew about the plow, where it was kept, and how to drive it. And that he seems to have a fondness for fire,” offered Sue.

“And there may be a missing laptop that might be somehow important. Lots of mays, mights, and somehows.”

“Where do we go from here?”

“We’ve been here before, Sue. It’s the long dark night of an investigation when you don’t seem to be going anywhere. We just have to keep pushing forward, hoping we do something smart, or right, just get lucky, or get some help from the perp doing something really stupid.

“I think we need to push Molly harder,” continued Ray, “and I still want to talk to Tristan Laird.”

22.

“We found Tristan’s tree house, Molly. Your directions were right on,” said Ray, trying to open the conversation on a positive note. “Have you been up there?”

“Sure, lots of times. It’s especially nice in the winter. When the leaves are gone you get great views of Lake Michigan.”

Ray noted that Molly seemed a bit less guarded. “How do you get up there, up into the tree house?” he asked.

“Tristan has a rope ladder.”

“Is that what he uses?”

“No, that’s just for us, Brenda and me. He uses some kind of climbing gear to get up, then tosses the ladder down for us.”

“I don’t know much about climbing, Molly. How does he do it?”

“He’s got this nylon line with a weight on it that he shoots up over a branch with a slingshot. And he uses that line to pull a climbing rope. Then Tristan has this harness and stuff that he uses to get up near the top where he goes from branch to branch to get to the platform that holds his little house. He calls it his aerie.”

“The aerie, what’s it like?” asked Sue.

“It’s really small, a rectangle. Two people will just fit if you sit at opposite ends or lie side by side. But it’s neat. The interior is finished in pine. It looks like a cabin in a tiny sailboat. There are even a couple of porthole windows.”

“Does it have heat?”

“He’s got a little heater, propane, but the space is so small and so carefully insulated that it doesn’t take much to keep the place warm. He says that he can heat it with a candle, and I think that’s true.”

“Molly, I checked his trailer on Sunday, and it didn’t appear that he had been there in a long time. And I had the same impression yesterday when we were near the aerie,” said Ray.

“He uses the trailer mostly in good weather, not that he stays there much, but he stores stuff there. And he really likes the tree house, especially in winter. But if something has spooked him, he’s probably in hiding.”

“And you’ve had no contact with him since Brenda was attacked?”

“True, I haven’t seen him. We both took responsibility for Tristan, but Brenda was the main contact person, both with Tristan and his siblings. It wasn’t like that in the beginning, but over the years that’s just how it evolved.”

“You’ve talked about this before, but would you tell us again the history of your relationship with Tristan.”

“Well, like I probably said, we were in the same class at Leiston School. But the three of us were special friends. There was something a bit off with Tristan, but you know how kids are. They are so accepting. Years later Brenda said she thought Tristan had a form of autism, what did she call it. Starts with an “a” I think.”

“
Asperger’s Syndrome?” asked Sue.

“That sounds right. But I don’t think it’s really such a big thing. And he went off to college and did okay. It was after college, that’s when he got hurt. He fell when he was rock climbing and got a closed-head injury. And that’s when he sorta wigged out totally and got just a bit too strange.”

“How did you two become the people with special responsibility for Tristan?

“After he got out of the hospital and rehabilitation, he came up here. Over the years Brenda had gotten to know his family. But by then both of his parents were gone. He was a very late child. I remember when his parents came to Leiston for graduation, they were like the age of everyone else’s grandparents.” Molly paused, “Let’s see, where was I?”

“Tristan ending up here,” Ray prompted.

“Yes. I think he wanted to be near us. Brenda and I were his special friends. His brother and sister both live in Connecticut, they are much older, and I think they were just as happy not to have him move close to them.”

“But they provide for him financially?”

“Yes, and I don’t quite understand how it all works, if there’s a trust fund from his parents or what, but things like the tax bills on the property or any kind of insurance payments are taken care of by a law office out east. And Brenda had a checking account where she could pay for things around here and give him cash when he needed some.”

“Why not give him a debit card?”

“He’s sort of spooked by banks. Like I keep telling you, Tristan isn’t normal.”

“But he was around a lot?”

“Yes, and you never know when he will pop up. We used to joke about him being our special stalker.”