Floyd Branchs property was a living embodiment of all Southern stereotypes. As DeMarco pulled the car into the lightly graveled driveway, the lyrics to about a dozen country songs all presented themselves in the form of Floyd Branchs trailer, yard, and scattered possessions.
The grass was only slightly better than what they had previously seen at Jeremys place. Portions of the lawn around the trailer had at least been mown, dead spots showing through here and there. The mower itselfan old riding mower with a rusted hood, was parked directly beside a shed to the back of the house. Two junked trucksone completely missing its back endsat on concrete blocks next to it. Beside the shed was a weak-looking dog pen, made primarily of wooden planks, a few metal poles, and what looked like chicken wire. As DeMarco parked the car and they all got out, two pit bulls inside the pen started to make ungodly noises, something between a bark and a roar.
Kate, DeMarco, and Barnes had taken only a few steps away from the car before a middle-aged gaunt-looking man came out of the shed. He carried a broom with him, looking angrily toward the pen and cursing at the dogs. He then saw that he had visitors. His anger dropped and he tossed the broom back into the shed as if embarrassed by it.
Hey there, Sheriff.
Floyd, hey yourself. How are you today?
Okay, I guess. Working on an old dirt bike motor for the Wells family. The bike is oldern hell. Seems like a waste to me, but he already paid, so
He stopped here, clearly distracted as he tried to take in the two women on either side of Barnes. He looked both shaken and slightly excited. Not because there were women on his property, but because it was something unexpectedsomething new and out of the ordinary.
Floyd, these two ladies are with the FBI. Theyd like to ask you some questions.
FBI? What the hell for? I aint done nothing.
Oh, I dont expect you have, Barnes said. But tell me, Floyd: when was the last time you spoke with Jeremy?
Ah shit, whats he done?
We dont know yet, Kate said. Maybe nothing at all. Weve come here to find out for sure.
Hes been involved with Mercy Fuller, Barnes explained. Alvin and Wendys daughter. We have him down at the station for questioning. I thought you should know that.
What? Damn, Sheriff. Floyd shrugged and shook his head. Its no wonder, though. That boy never tells me anything. Its probably been about three weeks since I saw him. He stayed here a few nights while Randy was tending to his own stuff. But Im pretty sure he came by for a little while a few nights ago when I was out at the bar. He left the light on in his room. He comes over here sometimes to watch movies. Porn, mostly, I think. Little weirdo.
And he never mentioned Mercy Wheeler? Kate asked.
No. Hell, we barely even spoke at all. Talked football, some. How the Redskins are going to shit. He asked about his ma but I wasnt about to have that conversation, you know? He paused here, as if suddenly struck but a thought. Damn. The Fullers? I heard about what happened to them. Did Mercy get killed, too?
No, Barnes said. In fact, shes gone missing.
We spoke to Jeremy about his involvement with her, Kate said. He told us that Mercy didnt like her parents and hes suggesting that Mercy had something to do with their murders.
I dont know why hed lie about it, Floyd said. He did not sound offended that they were making such an accusation. In fact, he seemed rather detached from the whole situation, like he simply didnt care at all. Were they dating?
Jeremy says it was just a physical relationship, DeMarco said. But he also said that she would confide in himtelling him how she hated her parents. How she wanted to kill them.
Forgive me for asking such a dumb question, Floyd said, but why are you here? Hell, Sheriff Barnesyou probably know Jeremy better than I do.
Does he have a room here? Kate asked.
Yeah. Last one down the hallway.
Would you allow us to look around it?
Floyd hesitated here, unsure of how to answer. He looked to Barnes, as if for help or backup of some kind.
You got something in that trailer I might not approve of, Floyd? Barnes asked.
Instead of answering outright, Floyd asked: Just Jeremys room. Right?
For now, Barnes said with some skepticism. Thanks, Floyd.
Barnes escorted Kate and DeMarco to the trailer. As they walked up the rickety porch, Kate looked back out at Floyd Branch. He was walking back into his shed, seemingly unaffected by the exchange.
He wasnt nearly as bad as you were letting on, Kate said.
Apparently hes getting a late start on drinking today.
They walked inside the trailer and Kate was surprised by what she saw. She had been expecting it to be in a state of disrepair, cluttered and messy. But Floyd apparently owned very little, including anything that could consist of clutter. The place was fairly clean, though it had the same sort of smell Kate had experienced at his sons trailer earlier: stale beer and something slightly pungent that was probably old pot smoke.
The hallway was thin and only held three rooms: a bedroom, a bathroom, and a smaller bedroom near the back. Kate and DeMarco entered Jeremys room while Barnes hung back.
Im here for any support you need, he said. But theres barely enough room for the two of you in there, much less the three of us.
He was right. The room was very small, taken up mostly by a twin mattress sitting on the floor and an old desk that was piled up with DVDs and CDs. A small television and dusty DVD player sat on the floor at the foot of the mattress, their wires and cables snaking around the floor. A cell phone sat on top of the television, hooked to a charger that ran to a multi-outlet adapter that also powered the TV, DVD player, and the small box fan in the window.
Kate picked the phone up. It was an iPhone, about three models behind the most current. When she pressed the Home button, the screen instantly popped up. No password needed. The home screen showed only a few apps: a few games, settings, photos, and clock. She figured this was just a passed down phone, one with no service but still used for games. She had a few friends who had eased their older kids into owning a cell phone this same way. Before gifting them with a full-service phone, they had allowed their kids to have a hand-me-down without full services, capable of only texting selected users and playing games that did not require Wi-Fi.
Behind her, DeMarco was flipping through the movies. Floyd really wasnt kidding about his son watching porn back here. Half of these are amateur porn titles. The other half are Cinemax-style sex stuff.
Kate kept looking through the phone. She opened up photos and found that it was packed. Some were of girls, all partying. A few were topless. A few were kissing one another, the expressions on their faces a clear indication that they were wasted. There were a few videos of these events, all rather brief. She slid right past these until she came to one that was just under five minutes long. In the thumbnail of the video, she saw Mercy Fullers face.
She pressed Play and it took her less than three seconds to understand what she was seeing before she shut it off. In the video, Mercy was lying on her back, being videoed from just above her. The director was apparently Jeremy, filming while having some fairly rough sex with her. It was not forced, if the sounds coming from Mercy were any indication.