“Exactly. But also think about this. I doubt that Daniels told Irene Cramer everything he told Purdy. So with Purdy there would have been no need to dig into anything. He already knew all he needed to know. He just reports it and the Air Force looks into it. His job is done. If he’s proved right, he gets a medal and maybe a promotion. He doesn’t have to be involved anymore.”
“Well, he might have been afraid of retaliation within the Air Force if he did let all this come out.”
“Why? Brad Daniels is well into his nineties. I seriously doubt there’s anyone left in the Air Force who had anything to do with this. And even if he were afraid of retaliation there are whistleblower laws to protect someone with the sort of information Purdy possessed. He could have communicated what he knew safely through that channel.”
“So what are you saying, Decker?”
“You’ll see.”
They arrived at Hal Parker’s home, and Decker led Robie inside. He went over to the wall of pictures he had seen on his previous visit here and pointed to one.
“Recognize him?”
Robie’s jaw slackened. “That’s Ben Purdy.”
“He knew Parker. He obviously hunted with him. I remembered at the Purdy ranch in Montana that they had animal heads mounted on the wall. Beverly Purdy said her husband and son were avid hunters.”
“So you think there’s some connection with Purdy and Parker. Hedidfind the body of Irene Cramer.”
“I do.”
“So whatisyour theory?”
Decker seemed startled by this query. “My theory is that Purdy didn’t report what he knew to his superiors because he saw certain personal advantages in concealing it. And he wanted to take full advantage of them.”
“What exactly do you mean by ‘taking full advantage’?”
“His service record showed that he was a really smart guy. He’d been promoted frequently and had received a lot of commendations. He went overseas frequently to attend conferences and other meetings, and was always educating himself. Among other places, he went to Qatar and Jordan.”
Robie ruminated on this before answering. “So you mean he might have met some folks there who would be very interested in destroying the fracking industry in North Dakota?”
“Yes. And they would no doubt pay him enormous sums of money and also provide all the manpower he would need.”
“And his mother?”
“Yeah, they killed his mother. Whether he was involved in that decision or not, I don’t know. But a brilliant kid stuck in the middle of nowhere who’ll top out at maybe master sergeant after another ten years of service? He might have aimed higher. He might have aimed high enough to have committed treason against his own country in return for a fortune and a change of address. Which would also explain him going AWOL.”
“And the research you found at his mother’s house? If Daniels had told him everything, why would he need to do that?”
“If I were him and I had a grand scheme that would involve dealing with some very serious and dangerous people, I would want to verify everything. I wouldn’t accept the word of a ninety-something-year-old guy living in a nursing home. He needed to make certain, not blindly accept what might be the skewed memories of an old man.”
“So he was responsible for killing Cramer and Ames, and”—he pointed to the photo—“kidnapping Parker?”
An uncertain Decker shook his head. “That’s far from clear, Robie. As I said, Purdy knew a lot more than Cramer did. She came up here to dig for information. She knew it had something to do with the oil fields around the Air Force station, and she knew whatever it was, was in the ground and dangerous. That’s why she made that comment to Judith White about not eating the food they grew there. But that was all she knew. I think she wanted to expose this whole thing to make the U.S. government look bad in retaliation for what it had done to her mother. But why would Purdy need her? What could she possibly tell him that he didn’t already know? And we’ve been able to show no connection between them.”
“But if Cramer came up here to dig into the situation she might have run into Purdy. He couldn’t let her tell anyone what she knew. It would ruin his plan. He would have every reason to kill her.”
“And what did she swallow that he needed to get back?”
“Something that would expose the plan.”
Decker nodded but didn’t look convinced. “I guess it’s possible. But it doesn’t explain what happened to Parker and Ames.”
“So, what now?” said Robie.
“We need to find Purdy. That’s the only way to know for sure.”
“If he was behind this, won’t he be long gone by now?”