Chapter 48 Chapter Forty-eight

Cole drove Puller back to where he had left the car. As he stepped out of the car, Cole asked, "You think Eric Triwell opened that safe?" "Yes, and I think Molly helped him do it." "How did they do it?" "Strauss used to hang his suit jacket on the back of the door, and his keys were probably in his suit pocket. I think Molly sneaked into his office while Strauss was going to the bathroom, Pressed the imprint of the key. Trivel was a mechanic, and it was not difficult for him to make two keys. He pretended to be drunk and lay down on the sofa in Strauss' office. Maybe someone served him Water came or something, and they left him alone in that office. He had the prepared key in his pocket. Molly closed the door and stood outside watching. He got up, opened the secret room, He opened the safe again and took out the documents he needed. Molly returned to the office in the name of taking care of him. Maybe she still had a stack of documents. He handed the documents taken out of the safe to Molly, and she put them in Among the documents in my hand. I noticed a large photocopier in a hidden corner of the office area. Molly made copies of the materials, went to 'follow' him again, and sent back the originals. He put the originals back. Back to the safe, the whole process was invisible. They probably knew that Strauss was out of the office that day, and Molly could easily check Strauss's schedule."

"What kind of papers would those be?" "Like Johnson said, some geological reports." "Is it worth killing for it?" "It looks worth it." "I still haven't figured it out." "At the moment, I don't understand either." Puller watched her drive away.He was going back to his hotel room to make some preparations for his flight to Washington.He stopped when he saw Randy Cole come around the corner of the hotel room. "I ran away in such a hurry this morning, I'm sorry," Randy said with a grin. "Nothing. I think Jane takes it very seriously."

Randy sat down on the front porch of the hotel, and Pooler sat next to him. "Don't let her disguise fool you. She is a strong woman, and her heart is harder than any of us. She may have forgotten all this by now." He stroked the cheek that she slapped, "Yeah, she's an Iron Lady." "I guess she has to, now that she's married to a guy like Trent." "you are right." "It seems you hate that man." "He killed my parents." "I heard it was an accident." "That's what people say." "You don't think it was an accident?"

"Honestly, I don't think so." "Can you produce evidence?" "He owns the place, everything here. No evidence I have will work." "Don't say that, Randy. Your sister's a cop, and she doesn't look like a Trent fan to me. If you do have evidence, she'll do her best to bring Trent down. Am I wrong ?” Randy's eyes looked away, the confident look he had just had gone.He rubbed his temples. "Uncomfortable there again?" Puller asked. "It hurts badly." "You really need to see a doctor." "Uh, yes."

"Go and see it quickly. If there's something wrong, it'll get worse the longer you wait." "I'm going to wait and see." "Whatever you want. Your parents' grave is the only one in that cemetery that's been preserved. Is it you or Sam?" "Both of us." "Sam told me a big rock rolled down and hit their car while mining?" Randy nodded, tears welling up in his eyes.He moved away from Puller, turned his head and wiped his eyes. "They were driving to Jane's house. Trent Mining was firing nearby. It just hit the road." He stopped talking, trying to collect himself.

"So they died?" Puller asked. Randy nodded. "The doctor said they basically died instantly, so they didn't suffer any more. That's not bad. It took us a while to find them." "Who found them?" "I." "You said they went to Jane's house, you mean their old house?" Randy nodded. "Why did they go there?" "It was my birthday." Randy's voice was so low that Pooler could barely hear him. "Jane throws a party for me." "So they died on your birthday?" Randy nodded again.His head drooped deeply. "The most horrible birthday present, I gotta say. I've never had a birthday since."

"How did you find them?" "They never came, so we called and no one answered. We split up to find them. They had three roads to get to Jane's house. My parents didn't stick to one because of the frequent road closures at mining operations. way. So we have to look at all three ways. Sam is on one way, Jane is on another, and I am on the third way. I took the right way." Tears welled up in his eyes again, this time It was Puller who turned away. "Where was Trent when this happened?" "Drinking at home." Randy slowly shook his head, "When he knows what happened, can you guess what he said to me?"

"What did you say?" "'Sometimes this kind of thing happens.' That's what the bastard said to me, 'Sometimes this kind of thing happens.'" "I feel sorry for you, Randy." "Oh." He simply responded. Puller said with his head down, "I understand that things like this can make a mess of a person's life." "I'm doing fine." "You really think so?" "Yeah, I'm fine. Damn, you don't get to choose your family, you just try to live with your family." That should be said to me, Pooler thought.

"And Jane? How did she handle the shock?" "She went her own way and did her own thing. She was constantly busy. She was devastated like us by the death of her parents. But she was young, wealthy, and she had many goals in life. She needed to take care of her family, Children need to be raised." "So what are you going to do? You still have a long way to go in life." "You really see it that way?" He said it in such a way that Puller stared at him intently and said, "Do you want to end your life early? It would be foolish to think so." "No, I don't deserve to be lamented for me."

"Have you issued a new death threat to Roger?" "I don't even know if he was actually threatened. How is your investigation going?" "I reckon the whole town is talking about it." "That's right, that's right." "Slow progress." "It's hard to imagine that so many people were killed." "Did you know Eric Trivel or Molly Pitra?" "No, it's not acquaintance." "Acquainted or not, Randy?" "I will say hello to them when I see them, that's how I get to know each other."

"Do you know them well enough for you to tell me, do they deal with drugs? Maybe in the drug business?" "No, I don't know that. I've never dealt with drugs, so I have no way of knowing. My addiction is beer." Randy looked back at the hotel room, "What you did to Luisa was too Bravo." "I just did what anyone would do." "That's your opinion. Sam's a good cop and she'll be a good help." "She's already doing that." "Jane told me about the bomb. You saved Sam's life." "Nearly saved her. I found out too late." "You're still a hero in my eyes. Maybe I didn't tell Sam, but I'm proud of my sister." "Then tell her yourself. Life is too short." "Perhaps I will." "Are you going back to your own family, Randy?" Randy stood up. "I'm not sure, Pooler, I haven't made up my mind yet." "Hey, at some point you have to make a choice." "Yes, I know." He turned and went back the way he had come.Puller watched his back. Drake County, West Virginia, was a much more complicated place than he had imagined.