Free The Edge of Justice by Clinton McKinzie Page B

response I'll get from him. It will be either abusive or none at all.
    Instead I get out the hotel's Laramie phone book and look for the names of the four other partyers whose names Bender had written in his report. Chris Braddock, Billy Heller, Cindy Topper, and Sierra Calloway. The only name that is listed in the White Pages with both a number and an address is Cindy Topper's. However, in the Yellow Pages I find a listing for Heller Carpentry. Construction and carpentry are the least offensive careers for full-time hard-core climbers, and I assume Billy Heller is no different. One can work a job for a few weeks, then spend a month or two traveling and climbing, living out of the back of one's truck. On a legal pad I copy down the numbers and addresses for Cindy and Heller Carpentry.
    Then I make a call to DCI's main office in Cheyenne.
    “DCI” is all the female voice on the other end says.
    “Hi, Kristi, it's Anton.”
    “Hey, buddy.” Her voice drops to a softer, concerned tone. As if she's speaking to a mourning friend or a dangerous psychotic. “How are you doing? Everyone around here's been talking about you, rooting that the case'll get settled or thrown out next Thursday.”
    “Keep your fingers crossed,” I say. Then to forestall any further discussion of the wrongful death suit, I go right into the reason I called. I ask if she can run some criminal histories for me. DCI keeps the state's database and also has access to NCIC, the FBI's nationwide system. I give her all the names from Bender's report.
    “Don't you have birth dates, Anton?”
    “Sorry, but I can give you estimates. Heller should be in his late thirties to early forties. All the others should be between eighteen and, say, twenty-five.”
    It turns out there is only one Bradley Karge, age nineteen. Kristi tells me he's clean on the Wyoming computer. That means he has never been arrested in Wyoming, which isn't surprising since his dad is the chief law enforcement officer in the only county he's ever lived in. He has, however, been arrested and charged in both California and New Mexico for possession of narcotics. No disposition of the charges is shown on the computer, meaning that they were probably dismissed. His father's influence, I'm sure.
    Billy Heller, a.k.a. William Heller, Jr., is no surprise either. He has numerous Wyoming charges and some convictions. There are three convictions for misdemeanor third-degree assault, two of which were pleaded down from felonies, and a conviction for felony Possession of a Schedule II Controlled Substance, which usually means cocaine or methamphetamine. Kristi tells me that Heller is still on probation for the narcotics charge, although the charge is out of Teton County, not Laramie. She gives me the name of the probation officer and tells me she'll check around to find his number.
    After a moment of further tapping of keys at her terminal, she tells me that he has just recently been charged with Possession with Intent to Manufacture and/or Distribute, but that the charge was dismissed only two days ago. But there is still an outstanding Petition to Revoke Probation based upon the new charge. I ask her whose name is down as the dismissing attorney and she says Nathan Karge. That is a surprise; I would have thought he'd have been too busy with the Lee trial and the election to deal with a commonplace drug crime.
    Like Heller, Chris Braddock also is on probation for Possession with Intent to Distribute out of Teton County. The DOOs, date of offenses, are the same. That means they were doing a little dealing together. Sierra Calloway, if it's the same girl, had been charged with prostitution in Boulder, Colorado, but received a deferred judgment that's basically the same as a dismissal as long as she stays out of trouble. As for Cindy Topper, Kristi can find no criminal history for anyone with a similar name and within the scope of the birth dates I've given her.
    I write down what she's told me and ask