Mark Wilson was read his rights and sat in a rather sour mood as the police drove him back toward the Moon Lake Police Station. He could make claims that the van was bought, but the best he could really do was that it had been to make the claim that the sale was impersonal with no transfer of title or anything official and that he hadn't had time to do the paperwork that would be needed to make sale official. However, while Mark Wilson wasn't the smartest of men, he was smart enough to know that without a paper trail, that would make finding the original owners to confirm what Mark had claimed, which brought him mixed feelings. On the plus side of things, Mark knew that the young men who had owned the VW Bus were dead and thus couldn't be reached. On the negative side, the two people that he had shot were all rather young, it it was entirely possible that they weren't the real owners of the VW Bus, which would mean that if the Oregon police and transportation agencies fully ran the plates they may get to the parents of the people that he had shot. Those parents surely wouldn't back up his claim.
"This is all a big mistake," Mark said trying to fake annoyance as Samson Carter pulled into a parking spot at the police station.
"So you claim," Samson spoke, "but you haven't made any mention having legal paperwork to prove that you'd bought the Volkswagen and for the moment we can hold you until law enforcement and transportation agencies can arrive to question you on that. That'll take at least a day for them to get everything they need to ask you in order and try to locate the owner or the family."
Mark didn't answer. He knew that if he did, he'd risk betraying the fact that he'd murdered the two young men who had stumbled onto his campsite in Oregon. He sat there quietly as Samson opened the back door to his car and unbuckled Mark. Mark didn't struggle as Samson pulled him out and stood him up and began to walk him toward the station.
"And from there, they'll charge you with being in possession of stolen property and you'll face six months in an Oregon penitentiary," Samson said to him as they walked along.
Mark looked down and walked along, "When do I get a phone call?"
"Later," Samson answered him, "right now we have some paperwork and get you through processing."
Mark groaned at that. That would only give them time to figure out more for him.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Chief O'Hara sat quietly in his office as the day passed. He'd already had his meeting with Agent Theodore Green from the FBI. The man was at present looking for background information on one Lionel Ulysses as the man had been identified as the likely murder of one Jeff Decker. The thoughts on that only added to O'Hara's personal frustration. He had wanted a day off to spend some time with his grandchildren, but the call about the FBI sending an agent wanting to speak with him had derailed that and the came in to learn about Mark Wilson's attempt to find Jennifer Harper the previous night by marching onto the college campus and then the dorms. That had left him spending much of the day dealing with both setting up a "command center" with regard to monitoring Mark Wilson's actions in coordination with the Tachibana Security agents along with also meeting with the FBI agent. He'd just taken a sip of his coffee when the station's desk officer came in and looked to him.
"We got a report in from Tachibana Security regarding Mr. Wilson's campsite," the man spoke to him to catch Chief O'Hara's attention.
Chief O'Hara looked up and looked at the officer directly. Mark Wilson had picked a good campsite as that he was outside Moon Lake's jurisdiction and thus unless O'Hara got official permission from Washington State's Department of Justice, he could commit any of Moon Lake's officers to a direct search unless they were in "hot pursuit." The Skulk had offered a loophole in that, as the company's security personnel could look through the campsite as part of personal inspection by a private company looking to buy the land. Tachibana Enterprises security personnel could then turn over the material found to the Moon Lake Police, as they were the closest law enforcement agency, as reported evidence of criminal action or evidence.
The state of Washington, and likely the state of Oregon, given the ownership of the VW bus, and Chief O'Hara wasn't without doubts that eventually he would have to work with Federal Marshals or with the Seattle Field Office of the FBI concerning Mark Wilson's case. That would require more paperwork in order to make the evidence collected legal, but it would effectively given them time to collect the evidence needed and to provide a brief to the Washington and Oregon state governments and whichever Federal law enforcement agency got the case. It would mean Moon Lake would need to be on its best behavior to keep its furry secret for the duration of the investigation, but that was ultimately better waiting for the evidence to grow stale time making the evidence gathered imperfect.
"What did they find?" Chief O'Hara asked to the desk officer.
"They found a bloody rag with two different scents on it," the desk officer answered, "which could mean that it's possible that Mr. Wilson killed the owners of the van."
"And if this was a trial we could control, scents would be good evidence," Chief O'Hara sighed, "do they think any crime lab could get DNA out of it?"
"They said the blood was pretty dry... but if the lab in question is good, they might," the desk officer spoke.
"That'll mean work with the FBI," Chief O'Hara grumbled, "get a note to them and offer them original jurisdiction on a missing persons, vehicle theft, and potential murder in Oregon and "flight" to Washington State. They'll have access to the labs good enough to get what we'll need as evidence from the bloody rag that was found."
The desk officer nodded. While the rag indicated that something violent happened, he also knew that it was possible Mark Wilson was innocent in the owners of the VW bus going missing. The rag would only prove that Mark Wilson had seen them, which would of course need to be determined. However, the desk officer knew that that the most damning evidence against Mark Wilson was yet to come.
"Of course, sir," the desk officer said slowly, "that will be done, but there are some things that would be far more damning than what we already have on Mr. Wilson and the circumstantial evidence with bloody rag."
Chief O'Hara blinked and looked intently to the desk officer with serious intent.
"Any information on his mission?" Chief O'Hara asked.
"No sir," the desk officer answered, "at least none that would be concrete. However they DID find a substantial amount of guns and ammunition. It was as if Mark Wilson came here expecting to go to war with Moon Lake."
"War?" Chief O'Hara asked.
"He had at least two bolt action hunting rifles, one pump action shotgun, and a civilian version of the M-16," the desk officer explained, "not to mention at least six different automatic handguns and five hundred rounds of ammunition for EACH weapon. War would be a pretty good description. No one packs that much heat to go hunting, and we didn't find any hunting licenses or permits. So, if he WASN'T here to do harm to the Jenkins family, Jennifer Harper, or Moon Lake... there is then the potential for some stupid anti-government holdup... or poaching... and that is assuming that the weapons he has haven't been illegally modified to increase their rate of fire."
"Can the Skulk security personnel verify that?" Chief O'Hara asked.
"Not exactly, sir," the desk officer answered, "but we have officers who can, and they are bringing the weapons to us. If the guns have been illegally modified, we can add weapons charges that will assure us that Mr. Wilson won't be able to do anything, regardless of whether or not he somehow gets off the stolen property, potential murder, and flight charges."
Chief O'Hara found himself smiling at this. Much of what he had planned for the day had been ruined by some of the other events of the day, but Agent Green's mission in Moon Lake was small, and so far, they had got the guy who showed up uninvited at Jennifer Harper's dorm building in custody, and they were uncovering enough extra evidence of other activity that would mean that things weren't going to be good for Mark Wilson. Chief O'Hara could always see his grandchildren in the evening or tomorrow. If Mark Wilson had any family, it was likely at the moment that he'd only get to see them through a viewing window during visiting hours. In that, Chief O'Hara felt that the town had been kept safe and would make whatever difficulties that Dieter Wilhelm might pose much less difficult.
He'd like still to interrogate Mark Wilson, but that would have to wait until all the jurisdictional matters with Oregon, Washington State, and the Feds had been sorted out regarding the present case, but that could wait, and he was fairly confident that an agreement could be reached to benefit all of the parties involved in dealing with the issue.