And we have a prison just up the hill. Business is always good there.

The plum tree will be firewood someday. Maybe a log cut from its trunk will be saved and put into the archives of our little museum. But more than likely, firewood will be its final disposition.

While Montrose is in his office down the hall running reports on those we interviewed, I make note of Dispatch recordings. It’s always my first step. I need the basic framework to be clear and as tight as possible. The calls are more than drama. They are the first marker in what happened, a marker that cannot be denied in court—and often kicks off most prosecutors’ cases. There are no suspects, despite what Montrose was suggesting. All we really know at the moment is when things were reported to us and what our witnesses said.

At 11:42, Teresa Dibley calls to make the first report.

Dibley: “The wife of the man staying in the cabin next to us was abducted.”

Dispatcher: “Your name and location.”

Dibley: “Teresa Dibley. I’m renting a cabin with my grandkids for the weekend on Hood Canal in Lilliwaup, near Octopus Hole. Live in Port Orchard.”

Dispatcher: “Where are you calling from?”

Dibley: “The address? I don’t know. Just off the highway on Canal View Road. I don’t know the exact address. But there are only three cabins here. You can’t miss it. Wait a minute . . .”

A long pause.

Dispatcher: “Teresa? Are you still with me?”

Dibley: “Hang on. Yes. I was looking for the address here in the cabin. Can’t find it.”

Dispatcher: “That’s all right. We’ve got the location. Can you see the man?”

Dibley: “[Unintelligible.] No. No. My grandson says he ran up the hill.”

Dispatcher: “All right. I’m going to hang up. Help is on the way. Twenty minutes out.”

At 11:44, Axel Bakker phones Dispatch that a woman had been abducted from the beach between Hoodsport and Lilliwaup.

Bakker: “Police?”

Dispatcher: “Yes, what is your emergency?”

Bakker: “We need the sheriff out here right now. Man says that his wife was kidnapped from the beach. I saw it. Out walking my dog.”

Dispatcher: “What’s your name, sir?”

Bakker: “Axel Bakker. Dog’s name is Winston.”

Dispatcher: “Where are you calling from?”

Bakker: “I don’t know the exact address here. I live a few doors up the beach at four-two-two-three Canal View Road.”

Dispatcher: “Are you at home now?”

Bakker: “No. I’m on the beach. I’m walking over to the man and his little girl.”

Dispatcher: “All right. You saw an abduction.”

Bakker: “Yes, partly. I saw her. The man in the boat with the little girl called over for me to get help.”

Dispatcher: “Is the man all right? Is the little girl all right?”

Bakker: “How should I know? I never talked to him. I saw what I saw, and he yelled at me to call you. Are you sending someone?”

Dispatcher: “Yes, sir. Stay calm. Stay where you are. We have a unit not too far away heading there now.”