Page 98 of The Coppersmith Farmhouse (Jamison Valley 1)
“I guess up until that point, the older guy had kept fairly quiet. But as soon as Wes’s name entered the mix, he started to get real mad. He told this kid and the woman that Wes owed him four hundred dollars. Then he pulled out a gun and forced the woman to arrange a meeting with Wes. That’s why they were all where Silas found Wes’s body.”
“So this older guy killed Wes over four hundred dollars?”
Jess nodded.
Four hundred dollars? It didn’t seem rea
l. “If this guy had a gun, why would he stab Wes?” I asked.
“I’m not sure. When they pulled up to the meeting place, the woman tore off the second the gun wasn’t pointed at her face, and the kid ran to hide in the trees. He couldn’t hear what happened but one minute this older guy was talking to Wes and the next he’d pulled out a knife and was stabbing him.”
Bile creeped up the back of my throat but I swallowed it down.
“Why did it take so long for the kid to get down here?” I asked. “If Wes had been stabbed, maybe he could have been saved.”
“He didn’t have a ride. The murderer drove off in Wes’s truck. The kid had to hike out through the woods, nearly froze to death.”
“Oh my god,” I whispered.
Jess nodded and we stayed quiet for a few moments.
“Did I ever tell you Wes and I used to be best friends when we were kids?”
My eyes widened in shock. Two seconds ago, if someone had asked me if I could be more stunned, my answer would have been absolutely not. Not after Jess had described the details of a hateful and senseless murder. But here I was, speechless. I couldn’t get my mouth to work so I just shook my head.
“Yeah. We grew up together. Me, Wes and Silas were always tight,” he said.
“I’m so sorry, Jess.”
“Stab wounds to the stomach won’t kill you instantly.” His eyes stared blankly at my knees. “Means Wes bled to death. Lying there alone in the cold. What do you think he was thinking about?”
The corners of my mouth turned down as my chin started to quiver. My heart was breaking for Jess. He had spent the morning looking at the dead body of his childhood friend. And then the afternoon learning about how his former friend had been murdered.
“I don’t know, honey,” I said, reaching out to stroke his hair. “But I hope it was good things. Memories of times when he was happy.”
He pulled me into his lap and squeezed me so tightly, I struggled to breathe. But I didn’t say a word. I just sat there and did my best to remain strong.
I left the station about an hour after I’d arrived, needing to pick up Rowen. Jess had a long night ahead of him and doubted he’d make it to the farmhouse before midnight.
Sam had tracked down the woman from the party and taken her statement, which matched the kid’s. Bryant had wrapped up the crime scene and gotten an APB out for Wes’s murderer. With any luck, the killer was dumb enough to still be driving around in Wes’s truck.
So while his deputies were working on the murder case and I was driving home, Jess was driving to the Drummond farm to tell Jack and his wife, Annie, that their son had been killed.
I prayed the whole way home, still shocked this was happening.
I prayed that Jess would make it through this horrible night and that he’d find Wes’s killer quickly. That he’d be able to get closure for Wes’s family, himself and the town.
I prayed that he would find the strength to tell his friend’s parents that they would never again see their child.
And I prayed that Rowen would grow up healthy and happy. And that I would never be on the receiving end of that kind of message.
Two days later, Wes’s killer had not been found.
Jess was being flooded with questions from concerned citizens. People stopped by the station all day long to see what he was doing to find the murderer. Reporters were sucking as much information from him as they could.
The Prescott newspaper had run a special edition this morning. I’d been curious about how much the public was being told, but after reading the newspaper, I knew it wasn’t much.
The paper was three pages and entirely dedicated to covering the murder. Considering how little information Jess had released to the press, the newspaper was ten percent speculation about the murder details and ninety percent a report on Wes Drummond’s life.
