I barely got to say thanks before she hung up. I debated about letting my dad know but if it wasn’t the Pete Carson we were looking for it would be a waste of time. If it was the right one, then I could give my dad the info. I wondered how Amy could find him when no one else could, not even my dad. But then he had a small police force and more important things to worry about then a thirty-five-year-old murder.
I dialed the number. “Pete Carson?”
There was a pause. “Who wants to know?”
“I’m Pepper Madison from Willow Lake, Pennsylvania. Travis Rodger’s body has been found. He was murdered the same time your daughter was, and the case has been reopened.” I heard a strong sigh on the other end. Bingo! It was the right Pete Carson.
“Are you any relation to Deputy Warren Madison?” he asked.
“I’m his daughter and he’s now Sheriff Madison. I’m helping him investigate the cold case. Would you mind answering a few questions for me?”
“First tell me about Travis,” he said.
I explained where Travis was found and that he’d died from a blow to the head. I also told him about the bones found beneath Travis, hoping he might have a clue as to who they might belong to.
“Travis wouldn’t cheat on my daughter. He loved her and he would have made her a good husband and he would have been a good father, unlike me. He wanted more for them both and was willing to work hard to for it. I was a fool.”
“Yet you believed he did kill your daughter back then,” I said. When he didn’t speak right away, I hurried to say, “We are aware of your involvement with drugs.” I heard another heavy sigh.
“When I found out my daughter had been murdered, I didn’t know what to think. Travis had a temper but never toward my daughter, but I feared my drug use and dealing would be discovered and I’d go to jail. What would my wife do then… losing the only family she had? I was good with my supplier, didn’t owe him money. I actually brought him in a lot of money so I knew Rita’s death couldn’t have had anything to do with my drug dealing. Besides, I would have put myself and my wife in danger if I confessed about dealing drugs.”
“Did you threaten James Barrett, now Mayor Barrett, to keep quiet as well?” I asked.
“He’s the mayor?” Pete asked, shocked.
“Not for long,” I said.
“That was another foolish move on my part. I thought having the mayor’s son beholding to me would offer some protection, but the kid was an idiot. One day of him trying to sell weed and I could see I was in trouble. I was relieved when he returned what merchandise he had and begged me never to tell his dad what he’d done, and he swore he’d never breathe a word about me dealing. I knew the kid wouldn’t reveal my name to his dad and I knew the sheriff well enough to know he would not want his son’s foolish mistake known if he did find out about it. So, all was good there. What I didn’t know was how the guilt would eat at me for what I’d done and how I failed to protect my daughter.”
He grew quiet and I waited.
“Your dad is a good man, and he asked the right questions back then. I realized when Sheriff Barrett brushed off your dad’s suggestion about possible drugs being involved that his son had confessed what he’d done. It was a relief to me, but one that was short-lived. All the lies caught up with me and my marriage and in the end I lost everything that meant the most to me… my daughter and wife. Does your dad have any idea of who murdered Rita and Travis?”
“That will be up to Sheriff Madison to discuss with you when he calls,” I said, knowing my dad would want to interview him himself. “Through the years, giving it thought, do you have any ideas what may have happened to your daughter?”
“I believe she died because of me. My drug use was growing and while my wife was blind to it, my daughter wasn’t, due to Travis. He spotted it, I’m sure, and Rita confronted me. It was downhill from there. I let people think the bruises on her were from Travis, but they were from me. I’d get rough with her when she tried to speak with me about going to rehab. Then one day she threatened to tell her mother.”
I could almost see him shaking his head.
“I drove her away and I wouldn’t be surprised if the night of the murders, she and Travis were running away together.”
If that was true, as I thought it might be, then that would take the investigation in a whole different direction. It would mean someone had wanted to stop them, but who and why?