The Night Killer

cave where the bodies of Larken MacAlister and Bruce Gregory were killed and dumped. Diane wondered if that was the cave he was keeping Andie in. It seemed like a risky thing to do. The GBI might return. She hoped that was the cave. She hoped Andie was near. She hoped it would be over soon and it would end well.
    The underbrush was getting thicker and taller and the way harder. She ignored the discomfort caused from being slapped by weeds and branches, and walked on.
    She had driven up alone in case she was watched. Frank and Liam drove an alternate route that took them to the national park. Liam said it would be an easy trek from there. She had done a lot of thinking in the car on the drive. Mainly to keep her mind off the shards of fear that threatened to tear through her new resolve.
    Diane had figured it all out. Many of the details might be wrong, but she thought she knew what had happened and why. Not so much through the sifting and weighing of evidence, but from understanding the dynamics of greed. Diane understood greed. She’d seen a lot of it in her investigation of dictators and wannabe dictators. Greed was more complex than most people realized and kin to feelings as diverse as wanting simply to feel safe and wanting to be powerful. With Travis, Diane suspected it was a little of both of those, with some entitlement thrown in.
    What she concluded was that the whole chain of events grew out of a festering anger that began three generations ago. Travis’ great-grandfather and his grandmother, Cora Nell Dickson, believed they had been cheated out of a fortune in gold by Roy Barre’s grandfather, LeFette Barre. This was a lifelong obsession with Cora Dickson. She told her grandson Travis from the time he was a child that the gold mine Roy Barre knew about and was getting gold from rightly belonged in equal shares to Travis’ great-grandfather—and now to Travis.
    As her mind deteriorated, Cora started talking about what obsessed her—about the gold mine. Most people didn’t believe her, but Liam’s clients did. They got gold fever and they were determined to find the lost treasure mine. Travis found out what they were doing. He caught them in the very act of searching for his gold at the creek. He couldn’t have them stealing his gold, so he killed them. And he probably enjoyed it.
    Travis had waited long enough for his birthright. There was no telling who might find it if he didn’t take action. He was going to make Roy Barre tell him the location of the gold mine.
    Roy may not have known about the mine. He was so focused on the arrowheads, he hadn’t paid much attention to a childish treasure hunt and lost treasure mine. And Roy’s grandfather long ago discovered that there was no gold, only pyrite. A secret gold mine was not part of the Barre family lore.
    When Roy Barre wouldn’t give Travis what he wanted, Travis killed Roy’s wife, Ozella. When that didn’t work, he killed Roy out of anger. Travis knew a little about forensics; he had gone through deputy training. He knew that wearing a Tyvek suit would lessen the likelihood of trace evidence that might lead to him.
    Of course, the Barres knew Travis. That was how he got in that night. They might have thought his dress was strange, but he was a deputy. Probably thought he was involved in some important investigation. But they knew him. They may have even liked him. Diane had.
    The Watsons never fit. Diane suspected all along that they were a red herring. They were Travis’ attempt to make everyone look for a serial killer. He chose the Watsons because they were his father’s nemeses. If people didn’t buy the serial- killer solution, they would look with suspicion at his father and his church, which Diane suspected Travis hated.
    The strange thing—Leland Conrad must have known it was Travis. He was trying to protect him. That was why he tried to frame Liam. Sheriff Conrad thought Liam was a drifter, a guy camping in the woods. Diane remembered the fear and panic on his face when she told him Liam was a Medal of Honor recipient. Sheriff Conrad hadn’t expected that. He respected bravery in defense of country. He wasn’t going to go through with it. When Dr. Linden was about to reveal the results of the blood analysis, Leland had said, “Not now.” But Linden didn’t understand and he blundered on, thinking he was catching a killer. In the end, Leland was going to take the blame.
    It was Travis who played chicken with her on the