“Yes, his mother told me. She told me he traveled from time to time to other places to study.”

“Yes. That was how he spent his vacation time. I was very lenient with his time off because he was just such a great guy-such a great friend.”

He looked down at the table. I noticed that Julie looked very sad and upset. Before I could think of anything wonderful to say, a man in police uniform came up to the table. He greeted everyone there.

“Who’s your friend here?” he said, referring to me.

“I’m so sorry,” Bud said. “Toni Sullivan, this is Chief Grant. He’s the head of our police department.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Chief.”

“Toni Sullivan? You’re the artist, the one who did Brian’s sculpture.”

“Yes,” I said, surprised that he could remember my name.

“I met your son, so to speak. He and his partner and I spent some time talking about the case over the phone.”

“Oh, I see.”

“So, what brings you down here?”

“Chief, pull up a chair and join us,” Bud said.

He pulled up a chair, and began asking me questions.

“Your son and his partner asked me questions about Brian and some woman name Addie Waldrep. They faxed me her photo, but she didn’t look familiar to me, and I don’t know any folks around here named Waldrep. They didn’t tell me a whole lot about what was going on, though. Who was this Addie Waldrep, and what does she have to do with Brian?”

Julie looked more upset now. I wasn’t sure if Tommy and Mike would approve of me telling them this, but I wasn’t going to sit there and watch this young woman unravel on me.

“Actually, at this point, we don’t know that she had anything to do with Brian. Her bones were found in a similar manner in Austin, so the police are trying to get any information they can on how and why the killer did these things.”

“I see. Then who was she?”

“She was actually a woman who went missing from a small town not far from Austin. She’s been missing for sixteen years. Another man from her town went missing about the same time.”

“Huh. So, there must have been some similarity in the way they were killed or something that made y’all think they were linked.”

“Yes. Their remains were in a similar condition and left in similar circumstances. We don’t think Austin is their original burial place.”

“So, the woman’s remains were found in a similar manner to Brian’s?” he mused out loud.

“Yes, her bones were found dumped in a fresh grave along the riverbank on what we call Red Bud Isle. If they hadn’t been found by a passing kayaker that morning, they probably would have gone undiscovered until they were carried away by the spring rains.”

“Interesting,” he said, leaning back precariously in the diner chair. “Then where were Brian’s remains found in relation to hers?”

“His were actually quite a ways downstream near a running trail that crosses a creek that feeds into the river. His remains really weren’t close to the water at all. They were actually surprisingly close to this running trail.”

“Uh-huh. So, y’all think because they were both reburied like that and the bones all jumbled up like, that’s why the two deaths are related?”

“Well, and also because the soil samples on both point to an original burial in this area.”

“Hmm. I’ll be.” He landed the chair back on the floor and shook his head in amazement.

“That’s really what brings me down here.”

“How’s that?”

“Well, I’ve been visiting with Nadine Ferguson to try to find out where some of Brian’s favorite bird-watching spots were, but she couldn’t remember. She thought that Bud, Julie and Frances could help me with that.”

“Why do you think that would help?” Julie asked.

“Well, if he went bird-watching right before he disappeared-and I had heard that is what he was doing-then maybe we could narrow down some spots where he might have been killed. There might be something in that location that would give us more clues to go on. Actually, anything might help at this point.”

“You know, he went to a lot of places around here, and I’m afraid my memory of exact locations wouldn’t be real good,” Bud said.

Julie and Frances looked at each other. The chief caught the look, as did I.

“If you two ladies have anything to say, I’d say it now. You never know what might help this lady. If you help her, you’re helping Brian,” Chief Grant said.

“Brian had two or three favorite places, but I think he went to the Gunther place that weekend,” Julie said. “Out at Angler’s Point.”

She and Frances exchanged glances.

“We know that’s where he went,” Frances said. “The bird he was looking for was there in abundance, and he liked the place anyway.”

“The Gunther place? That’s over three hundred acres,” the chief said. “Toni, we could never search that whole place.”

“I know the places Brian went when he went there,” Julie said.

“Still, we can’t just walk on,” Chief Grant said. “The man who owns that place now is a crotchety old guy. He would never let us on there just to look. He’s got No Trespassing signs everywhere, and rumor has it that he shoots at anybody he catches on his property.”

“It’s true,” Bud said. “He does shoot at people. He shot at the Stone boy once when he snuck on. His parents almost killed him when they found out.”

“We’d have to get a warrant,” the chief said. “Do you think you have enough probable cause for a warrant, Toni?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “But probably not.”

I ran my hand through my hair. I knew we didn’t have enough for a warrant. I was already thinking about talking to Drew about all of this.

“Well, that’s just the pits,” Bud said. “How much do you need to convince a judge?”

“Probably a lot more than they’ve got,” Chief Grant said.

“Well, let me get back to Austin, and talk to the detectives working this case,” I said. “Maybe there’s something we can do.”

Julie and Frances exchanged looks again, but this time I wasn’t sure I understood those looks. Those two were close, I could tell, and they had their own language.

“Do you have a card, Toni?” the chief asked.

“Sure.”

“If anything comes up on my end, I could give you a shout. I’ve already got your son’s number, but if I can’t reach him, I could probably reach him through you, I bet.” He smiled.

“That’s for sure. If nothing else, he comes over to raid the cookie jar on a regular basis.”

The group chuckled. I gave the chief my card and said my goodbyes to them all. As I drove back to Austin that afternoon, I wondered about Julie and Frances and that last look.

I was grumpy when I got back to Austin. I was frustrated about knowing where we could search and not being able to go search it now. I thought there would probably be something at the original burial site that would help us, if we could just find it. I tried to reach Drew and Mike and Tommy. None of them were in, or answering their cell phones. That just made me grumpier.

The CILHI sculpture stared at me with partial clay on it and beckoned for me to get on with it, but I was stalling. And I didn’t know why I was stalling. Normally, working on something like this would take my mind off the frustration of the Red Bud and Waller Creek cases. I might even have a breakthrough on them, while working on another bust, but I couldn’t get into anything. I was about to give up on the whole rest of the day and just go drink hot tea in the living room and stare out the window, when the phone rang.

Drew Smith was returning my call.

“So, you’re back from Houston,” he said.

“Houston and Hempstead. I made a side trip based on info I got from Nadine Ferguson.”

“Did you find out anything?”

“Found two women who were good friends of Brian’s. They claim to know where he went to bird-watch that last day.”

“That could be helpful.”