The Night Killer

didn’t like Conrad’s group calling themselves Baptists.”
    “Was there a lot of anger from Sheriff Conrad’s church toward them?” asked Diane.
    “You mean, would they kill over their differences? There’s a lot of historical precedent for such things, but I wouldn’t think that would be true here. I didn’t get the feeling it was that bad,” he said.
    “The other couple killed were members of the Barres’ church,” said Diane.
    “You don’t say. Well, that does look suspicious, doesn’t it? I don’t know then. I wouldn’t have thought it, but who knows?” He paused for a long moment. “You know, I just can’t see murder being committed over a cell tower, or even their religion. I went to the Waffle House up there a couple of times with Roy, and heard some lively debate there with some people from other churches at times, but nothing that would lead to murder. It was more like, how literally should the ‘taking up of serpents’ be taken?”
    “Does Leland Conrad’s church handle snakes?” asked Diane, wrinkling her face.
    “No. Some of the others in the county do, though. One brought a snake to a county commission meeting. Roy said that was a hoot,” said Jonas. “I’ve found most of the people up there to be nice folks—even the members of Conrad’s church. It’s mostly the leaders of the church that Roy had issues with. And those issues were mainly about the use of his land—the cell tower, and the development proposal.”
    “What development proposal?” said Diane.
    “Some developers looking to buy a section of land from him for later development. Some people in Rendell County would like to attract tourists in the winter—sort of like Helen. Have shops, skiing, that sort of thing. Roy was all for it, but so were a lot of other people.”
    “Did Roy receive any threats over it?” she asked.
    “He never mentioned it. I can’t imagine that killing Roy and Ozella would stop it. His kids might up and sell the whole parcel to developers anyway,” said Jonas. “Besides, Roy wasn’t even the driving force behind it—that was a man named Joe Watson.”
    Diane felt a cold chill run up her spine. “Did you say Joe Watson?” she said. “Was his wife named Ella?”
    “I don’t know,” said Jonas. “Roy just mentioned it in passing.”
    Diane could detect the note of caution in his voice as he spoke. His words came out more slowly, and each syllable seemed to carry a question with it.
    “A Joe and Ella Watson were the second couple who were murdered,” said Diane.
    “Well,” he said, “then I suppose someone did think the project was worth killing over.” He paused a moment. “I don’t understand it. It was only talk at this point—just speculation. It doesn’t make sense that anyone would kill over it now. But what do I know? I’m just an archaeologist.”
    “Can you think of any other people or things he mentioned that might be important?” said Diane.
    “Sooner or later, most of our conversations got back around to his grandfather. LeFette Barre was a big influence in Roy’s life. From the time Roy was eight years old, his grandfather took him surveying with him. His grandfather was a surveyor and did some cartography.”
    “Roy mentioned it,” said Diane.
    “I bet he did. He loved to talk about his grandfather. They would camp in the woods and hunt for Indian arrowheads and whatever else caught their eye. To hear Roy talk, it was the happiest time in his life. But then, he’s always happy. Was,” he added. “Roy said from the time his grandfather could walk, he was out looking for interesting things in the woods. The man should have been an archaeologist instead of a surveyor.”
    “Was there anything in LeFette Barre’s diary that could shed light on any of this?” asked Diane.
    “I’ve only read Roy Barre’s catalog of the arrowheads and the notes he made from the diaries.”
    “Diaries?” said Diane. “I thought there was only one diary.”
    “One?” said Jonas, a little startled. “The guy started keeping them when he was fifteen, and he died when he was seventy-two. We’ve got several boxes of them in my office.”

Chapter 27
    “Boxes of diaries?” said Diane. She was rather stunned by the revelation. “How many?”
    “Well, I think there are three boxes,” said Jonas.
    “And here I thought you took his diary with you to Arizona,” said Diane.
    “I brought Roy’s catalog with me,” Jonas said. “I haven’t quite