Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 131387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Right, the woman he’d seen chat with and kiss Burress on the compound.
Again, same woman.
“Samantha Schrier. Midwife at a hospital in Seattle,” Harry said. “Or she was. One who fortunately had an outstanding traffic ticket. So I got on the line with them, told them what we got going here, and asked them to head out on the routine administrative task of reminding Ms. Schrier she needed to handle her ticket.”
Hutch wondered if cops spent time on such routine administrative tasks, and maybe they did.
But it wasn’t priority.
“They go visit her parents,” Harry kept on. “And those parents don’t ask questions as to why the cops are asking them about their adult daughter’s ticket. They immediately hurl ample attitude. Not aimed at our boys, aimed at their Sammy. Apparently, also about five, six years ago, she ran off with her boyfriend. A man they did not like or trust. He had a good job, but they thought he was shady. They warned her against him, repeatedly. There were fights. And they reported to the cops they had no idea where she was, they hadn’t heard from her since she left, and they weren’t surprised, considering they had a helluva fight about her going. Told the cops Sammy could hold a grudge. But it seems all the Schriers can hold grudges, because those boys told me her parents shared they didn’t give much of a shit she dropped off the face of the earth. She deserves what she gets for being stupid.”
“And the guy with the good job is Heath Burress,” Hutch said.
“Yep,” Harry confirmed.
“Any connection to Enstrom, outside the business with the will?” Hutch asked.
“Yep,” Harry said. “Attorney on record for some scrape Enstrom got into in Seattle. Supposed misunderstanding about a tab at a bar. Burress got him off.”
“So if Buress is in this mess, I know he’s a licensed attorney, but does he also have a record?” Hutch asked.
“Nope,” Harry answered. “But cops have occasion to know the attorneys in town, sometimes well, and I asked. He’s known as an avid outdoorsman to the point he’s an adrenaline junkie. Ziplining, canyoning, white water rafting, paragliding, backslope skiing. Whatever brings a rush, he’ll do it.”
Hutch had no idea why this was important, so he looked to Cade to see if he’d figured out this mess.
“You got a take?” he asked.
Cade turned to Harry. “Bring up the boys.”
A change on Harry’s screen, and then there was a photo lineup of all the men at the compound. Not with beards and long hair, but with conventional head and facial hair styles.
“One glance, you see three things immediately,” Cade started. “They’re all white. They’re all young, late twenties to late thirties. And they’re all more than conventionally good-looking.”
Hutch didn’t know what to think about this, but he didn’t like where his thoughts were going.
“Enstrom has a recruitment tactic,” Cade said. “With specific qualifications.”
Hutch still didn’t know what to think of this.
“I don’t have a lot to go on,” Cade continued. “They worked hard at that. But what I do have makes me think they felled those trees. And at least some of them did it just for shits and grins. The thrill. Because Lars Enstrom and Heath Burress pathologically get off on the thrill.”
Cade sat back in his chair and kept talking.
“At least for Enstrom, he also gets off on control. He’s about as religious as George Carlin. Three takes on the way that compound presents. The first, it’s a diversionary tactic learned from being born Amish. They’re a protected community. People understand and the majority respect their way of life and their right to live it. It’s a big ‘don’t look here, we’re calm, peaceable people who serve God and live off the land.’ And their choice of location, rural Washington, is not by accident. They wanted to be around people who revere privacy, and don’t like folks poking their nose into things. Primarily, the government. But they do like folks who think the same way they do.”
“The second?” Hutch asked.
“The second, he’s just falling back on what he knows. And the last goes back to control. He’s built his own little fiefdom. The younger, more attractive men he targets can first, attract women, and second, provide a bigger rush to Enstrom that he’s maneuvered them under his thumb.”
It was beginning to piece together.
Cade kept on.
“Once he gets them, then it’s, ‘You live how I tell you to live.’ Deprivation is often used in torture, definitely a part of indoctrination and mildly used in interrogation. All are other versions of one person exerting control over another. Withhold access to water. Curtail bathroom breaks. Isolate someone in a room. Then reward. Police can and do use all of these tactics with suspects.” Cade paused, “But if I had to place a bet, for Enstrom, the way that place is set up involves all three of these.”