Read Under Suspicion - The Legend of D.B. Cooper Page 109

Chet looked into Jim’s eyes trying to measure him up and was convinced that he was bluffing. No way could those bullets match, could they? He’s trying to scare a confession out of me, he thought.

  But then a different concept crossed Chet’s mind. Alan had lied to him so many times that he couldn’t be sure what to believe. Could Alan have kept him in the dark about the course of the Sheriff’s investigation and the search for a bullet? Chet knew that Alan was certainly capable of it.

  Chet suddenly thought better of it. Harper was stalling, trying to see if he’d crack. He has to be. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Chet said confidently.

  Jim stepped forward and slammed his fist on the table in front of Chet. “I’m talking about you and Bradley being out there before six! Bradley killed Henderson and you watched it happen! I’m talking about you being charged with conspiracy to commit murder, withholding evidence, and obstructing justice! You have a lot to answer for, mister! That’s what I’m talking about!” Jim slammed his fist down on the table with each charge.

  Chet’s eyes narrowed. “No! You’re the one who has something to answer for! Dragging me in here, accusing me of breaking the law and questioning me without my lawyer present! If there’s anyone guilty of a crime, it’s you and I’m going to make sure everyone knows about it!” Chet barked as he stood up from his chair. “Unless you plan on arresting me, I’ve got some news to report!”

  At that instant, the door burst open and Rissley flew into the room. “They match!” she exclaimed as she lifted two evidence bags so that everyone could see them. “These two bullets have identical makings on them. Proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that they came from the same gun. Alan Bradley’s gun!”

  There was a dead…flat…silence and everyone in the room was stunned as they looked at the two bullets. “Did you hear what I said, Sheriff? It’s a positive match!” she said again.

  Jim realized that his mouth was wide open, and he closed it quickly. The eyes of everyone in the room went slowly from the bullets to Chet. Putting his hands on the table to steady himself, Chet’s eyes grew wide as he looked around the room at everyone staring at him. His legs started to wobble, and he had to sit down as the blood ran out of his head.

  Jim quickly turned and took a step towards Chet, but Cranston grabbed him by the arm, stopping him. “Thank you, Sheriff. I’ll take it from here.”

  Jim looked at him, but said nothing. Looking at Chet, he slowly gave his ground and took a step back. Taking the two evidence bags from Rissley, Cranston tossed them on the table in front of Chet. With them right in front of him, Chet could tell that they were identical.

  “You can’t save Bradley, it’s too late for that,” Cranston said calmly. “But you can still save yourself.” He let that sink in before continuing. “I’m offering you a deal. Become a material witness for the prosecution. Tell us everything you know, and we’ll go easy on you. Otherwise, you and Bradley will rot in jail next to each other.”

  Chet’s nerves were shot. He looked from face to face and saw the accusing looks. Collapsing further into his chair, he covered his face and began to cry. “It was an accident.” The words came out without Chet being conscious of it, followed by a heavy sigh.

  Cranston pointed to O’Leary and snapped his fingers. O’Leary quickly pulled a small tape recorder from his pocket, turned it on, then placed it in front of Chet. Rissley quickly went to the video camera on the tripod in the corner and turned it on. After bringing it closer, she focused in on Chet and started recording.

  Chet slowly lowered his hands from his face. “It was an accident,” he said again. Somehow those words relieved some of the guilt he’d been feeling since he’d destroyed the videotape. He forced a few more words out, and he felt the weight of the world slip from his shoulders.

  He glanced up at the video camera in a daze and suddenly he turned into a journalist again. It felt natural being in front of the camera, and he started to report everything that had happened from the time he and Bradley had arrived in Morton. Everyone listened in silence to Chet’s account of the events.

  Joe was only half listening. She had a question nagging at the back of her mind. In order to get Chet talking, she’d decided to throw him a curve and ran out to the range to retrieve the second bullet. When she entered the conference room, she held up both bullets from the range and stated that they were identical and that they were from Bradley’s gun.

  What she’d said was true, not one thing was inaccurate about it. However, in doing so she implied that one of them was the bullet that killed Buck, even though she’d never actually said so. That bullet was still lying in the microscope in the basement.

  Had she done something unethical? She hadn’t thought about that possibility until that moment. All she wanted to do was get the truth and she was willing to do anything to get it.

  She remembered all the times she’d been critical of Jim for some of his tactics and methods of getting things accomplished, and she felt guilty. After this little stunt, she could never be critical again. She suddenly felt closer to Jim because she had experienced something that he must have quite often. No matter what the task at hand, you had to find a way to accomplish it.

  No, she decided. She hadn’t done anything unethical. Suddenly she realized that the sharp line that she’d drawn between black and white had a little gray between it.