Read Under Suspicion - The Legend of D.B. Cooper Page 49

An hour later, in the Sheriff’s Station, Milhouse picked up the coffee pot and filled his cup. “So I pulled this Lexus with California plates over for doing eighty-seven in a fifty-five,” he said as he turned around and walked back towards his desk. Conley was sitting at the desk next to Milhouse. With a coffee cup in one hand and a foot up on the desk, he fiddled through the newspaper on his lap. “When I walked up to the car, I noticed a shot gun laying on the back seat,” Milhouse said as he glanced at the paper over Conley’s shoulder. “Are you through with the sports page?”

  “Yeah,” came the reply as Conley separated the paper, then handed a section over.

  “So with one hand on my revolver, I asked the driver to step out of the car.” Milhouse continued his story as he sat down in his chair and looked at the paper. “The guy gets out, wearing a brand new Eddie Bauer hunting suit, and has a huge smile on his face. He said that he’d been pheasant hunting in Yakama all morning and had shot three of them as they sat on a barbed wire fence next to the road.”

  The front door of the station opened, and Alan walked in and up to the front counter. “I want to talk to the Sheriff.”

  Conley lowered his paper slightly to look at the other deputy. “It ain’t hunt’n season,” he said curiously, as the two men ignored Alan.

  “I know, so I asked if I could see the birds.”

  “Where’s the Sheriff?” Alan interrupted impatiently.

  “So this city boy,” Milhouse said with a distasteful look on his face as he glanced at Alan and lifted his index finger towards him, as if to indicate that he should wait a moment. “Looking all proud of himself, opens the trunk and inside were three magpies all shot to pieces.”

  “Those are a fifty dollar fine each. Did you write him up?”

  “No, I didn’t have the heart. I told him that the birds would be good eating and sent him on his way.” The two men exchanged a glance, then burst into laughter.

  “That’ll teach him,” Conley said in between laughs. “He probably ain’t ever come’n back.”

  “What do you need?” Milhouse finally said to Alan as he finished laughing.

  “I want you to get me the Sheriff,” Alan replied firmly.

  Milhouse got up from the desk and walked towards the counter. “The Sheriff isn’t here right now. Maybe there’s something I can do for you.”

  “Whose in charge when the Sheriffs not in?”

  Milhouse and Conley exchanged confused looks then Milhouse said. “Well, I guess that would be me.”

  “In that case, Deputy…Milhouse,” Alan said looking at the nameplate while reaching into his coat to pull out his badge. “I’m Special Agent Alan Bradley, of the Drug Enforcement Agency, and I’m here to report a homicide.”

  Conley nearly choked as he spilled coffee on himself and Milhouse’s eyes widened. “I’d better get the Sheriff!” he exclaimed as he rushed toward the dispatcher’s booth and picked up the microphone. “Dispatch to Sheriff Harper,” he said into it. There was no reply. “Milhouse to Sheriff Harper,” he said more loudly. “Jim are you out there?” Again there was no reply. “Try his house,” Milhouse ordered Conley. Conley picked up the phone and dialed a number. The three men waited in silence and stared at the phone.

  “Every minute you waste, deputy, a murderer is getting away,” Alan said sternly.

  “Right! Ah…,” Milhouse paced as he tried to think. “What should we do?” He finally asked Alan.

  “How many deputies are there?”

  “There are two on patrol, then there’s Conley and me. Ten in all, if you count second and third shifts.”

  “Call them all in. We’re going to need all the help we can get. You and I had better get up there now and get started.”

  “Right!” Milhouse replied. “Conley, call in all the guys and keep trying Harper’s house. We’ve got to get going!”

  “Where do I send them?” Conley asked as he watched Milhouse and Alan walk towards the front door.

  “Mineral Lake!” Alan replied, before disappearing out the door.