Part 33 (2/2)
”Keep it as long as you need it,” Lars said. ”I don't mind. We'll be here another couple of days. I got one of my road crew guys to pick up Jake and Erin to bring them here.”
”Thank you. I'll take good care of it.”
”Watch the transmission,” Lars said. ”Sometimes it slips. I need to replace that pressure plate in the clutch-”
”Lars,” Judy said in the background. Judy said in the background.
”Okay, okay,” Lars said to Joe. ”Here she is.”
Joe waited.
”Hey there.” Her voice sounded tired but strong.
”Welcome back,” Joe said. ”I was worried.”
”I'm tough,” she said, which made Joe smile again. He was surrounded by tough, good women.
”When we were in the clinic,” Demming said, ”you came into the room and asked me who the shooter was. I could hear you but I couldn't talk.”
”Yes.”
”I can now. It was James Langston.”
”The chief ranger?” Joe was stunned, but it made sense now why Langston had been so interested in where Joe was staying while at the same time making a point not to meet with him. Joe was stunned, but it made sense now why Langston had been so interested in where Joe was staying while at the same time making a point not to meet with him.
”I saw him clearly. I thought he was there for backup, obviously.The dispatcher didn't say who was coming, so I a.s.sumed. . .”
”Wow,” Joe said. ”And you'll testify to it?”
”Of course. But I still can't believe it.”
”Neither can I,” Joe said, ”but this thing is big. And it just got bigger.”
”What should we do?”
Joe looked around the empty lobby, trying to sort it out. Should she contact someone else with the information? If so, whom? Should he?
”I'm thinking,” he said. ”Sometimes, it takes me a while.”
”I know it does,” she said, chiding him.
”First,” Joe said, ”make sure you're safe there. As long as you're alive, you're a threat to him and everyone he's involved with, even though he thinks you're dying. We've learned a lot in the last hour, Judy. None of it is good. Your life is still in danger, so call the Billings PD. If you have to, make up a story, but make sure they send some men to the hospital to stay outside your door. Make sure no one comes to visit you except your kids.”
”Okay . . .” she said, almost in a whisper. The giddiness she'd started the conversation with was gone.
”Make a deposition,” Joe continued. ”Get your statement down on tape and on paper. If nothing else, it will make it less likely they'll try to get to you if they know you've got a statementwith the police.”
”And if they do get to me,” she said, ”Langston will still go to jail.”
Joe didn't want to say it that way, but Demming was sharp. And when he said the name Langston aloud, it triggered a question.”What's James Langston's wife's name?”
”Hmmm . . . I met her a couple of times. Tall, skinny, cold. Katherine, I think.”
”Katherine. Are you sure?”
”I think so.”
”Katherine Langston is listed as VP of development for EnerDyne.Either she's involved or James is protecting himself by using his wife's name. Probably both.
”Oh,” Joe continued, ”I nearly forgot to ask you. Did you recognize the men in the black SUV?”
”I didn't recognize the driver,” she said.
”Could you pick him out in a photo? Like from the entrance gate video?”
”Absolutely.”
Joe nodded. ”Good. I'm pretty sure I've got a couple of picturesof him.” Joe described the driver.
Demming said, ”That's him.”
”What about the pa.s.senger?”
”He looked familiar.”
”In what way?”
”I've been trying to figure that one out,” she said. ”I know I've seen him before, but I don't know his name. It seems to me he was up here a year or so ago with your governor.”
Joe felt a chill shoot through his spine.
”He stuck to your governor like glue,” she said. ”He seemed like a nice guy but real intense.”
The profile from the video, Joe thought. He knew now why it was familiar to him too.
The name should have struck a nerve when Nate said it. Vice president of operations for EnerDyne, but under his formal name. James Langston wasn't the only officer at EnerDyne playing name games.
”Joe?”
”I'm here,” he said weakly.
”What's wrong?”
”His name is Chuck Ward,” Joe said, ”aka Charles Ward, aka C. T. Ward the Third. He's Governor Rulon's chief of staff. Now I know why he didn't want the governor to send me up here, and why he had to take some personal leave.”
”He's the guy you're working for?” Demming asked, disbelieving.
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