Sam Kincaid 01 - The Commission

Sure, we can take solace in the fact that we correctly identified Watts as Vogue’s murderer. But this investigation isn’t over until somebody finds out who’s really responsible for the conspiracy to have Levi Vogue murdered. That’s the million-dollar question. It seems inconceivable to me that we’d simply walk away and expect the Wendover Police Department to carry the case forward. They don’t have the resources or experience to pull it off.”
    Locke interrupted again. “That’s not exactly true, Kate. Wendover P.D. can do what any small department in Utah can do, and that is to request assistance from the State Attorney General’s Office. They have a solid investigative staff that exists to support just this kind of endeavor. They do it all the time.”
    Puffer didn’t speak but nodded his head in agreement.
    “That’s true,” admitted Kate. “But let’s be honest. Everybody knows the A.G.’s Office does the best it can to support small law enforcement agencies that require assistance, but they lack experience when it comes to investigating homicides.
    “The other issue we haven’t discussed is what possible reaction the Vogue family will have to our abandoning the investigation. I’d be a lot more worried about that than public opinion. Anybody care to volunteer to go out and have that conversation with Richard Vogue?” Big surprise. No takers.
    The room fell momentarily silent until Hansen spoke. “Norm, where does your department stand on this issue?”
    “I’ve discussed it with Sam and a couple of other people, and I think we stay committed to the investigation. I haven’t heard anything so far that makes me change my mind. Part of the role of the Special Investigations Branch is to assist state and local law enforcement in just this kind of situation. If Watts’ murder had occurred across the state line in Wendover, Nevada, I’d pull Kincaid and his troops off the investigation immediately. But that’s not the case. Besides, I received a call from Chief Corey earlier today, specifically asking that the SIB continue to provide assistance to his department.”
    “I got the same call,” said Hansen. “Okay, here’s what we’ll do. Clarence, you and Hyrum make immediate arrangements to see Levi’s widow and explain the latest developments in the case. Tell her that we intend to continue our investigation, working in conjunction with the SIB and the Wendover P.D. Say nothing to her about her husband’s philandering with the stripper. I’ll have our public information officer draft a carefully worded press release. We’ll delay its release until you’ve visited the family. Questions anyone? Good! Then let’s get on it.”

Chapter Twenty-six
    After the meeting, Kate and I dropped down two floors to a small suite of offices where the sign on the front door read Checks & Forgery . The duty secretary handed Kate a one-page report summarizing the results of the handwriting analysis that compared the suicide note against writing samples belonging to Charles Watts. The examiner concluded that the suicide note was not written by Charles Watts, and thus was a forgery, albeit a high-quality one. The document examiner promised to provide us with a list of skilled Utah forgers early the next day.
    ***
    Kate and I walked together to the public safety building parking lot. “So where do you think this leaves us, Sam? Any ideas?”
    “I wish I knew. It’s damn frustrating. I do think we can eliminate a couple of our early theories.”
    “Yeah? Which ones?”
    “For one thing, any notion we had that Vogue was the victim of a random killing because he blundered into a burglary at home no longer makes sense. It doesn’t jive with Watts’ homicide being staged to look like a suicide.”
    Kate shrugged. “It always was an unlikely possibility. Besides, Vince worked his tail off with our burglary dicks on that angle and came up empty.”
    “The other theory we can probably toss is the prison gang connection. When you consider how Vogue was killed, it had all the trappings of a gang-style hit. Combine that with Vogue’s occupation, and it seemed like a good fit. But here’s the problem. Most of the gangs are organized along ethnic lines, blacks with blacks, whites with whites, Latinos with Latinos. Slick Watts wasn’t ever a gang banger. We ran his name through every gang database available. He wasn’t involved with skinheads, straightedgers, bikers, white supremacists, none of