on mud. It went sideways.’
‘Why didn’t you leave him the phone?’
‘I wanted to have it in case I needed to call again. You know, if they didn’t show up. That’s why I waited down the road.’
‘Okay, let’s drive there and you show me where you waited.’
They drove to the second site. In daylight the small trees and broken brush and the muddy tracks from the truck looked raw. It looked like something bad had happened. A cold wind was blowing and they did the same again, Soliatano taking him through the whole thing, and then they moved down the levee road to where he had waited after calling 911.
‘Did you hang up on the 911 dispatcher when she was asking for directions?’
‘No.’
‘She thinks you did.’
‘That’s bullshit, the connection broke.’ He said that and then revealed, ‘I know where the third drop was supposed to happen – and pretty soon.’
‘Do you have a day?’
‘No, but the fish are almost big enough. The guy at the hatchery told Enrique that. Hauser knows.’
‘Knows what?’
‘Knows the next batch is almost big enough.’
They drove thirty miles to the next spot and it was different in that they followed railroad tracks and drove a railroad road very clearly marked with No Trespassing signs. The tires crunched through gravel and the fall air carried the smell of creosote from the rail tracks. A little dirt cut-off road took them down into cottonwoods and they were staring at the Sacramento River again. On the way back, Marquez was frank with him.
‘I’m just going to lay it on the table. I think when you left Enrique there you thought he would die and when he didn’t you went to the hospital to reassure yourself he wasn’t going to wake up and start talking about you.’
‘You’re fucking cold, man.’
‘I think you hung up on the dispatcher but the first responders drew enough from your description to get there. They know the area and put it together. You knew it was over once the truck rolled and you went to collect that night so Hauser couldn’t change his mind. You got the money and came home. The money was all that mattered.’
‘Fuck, let me out right here.’
‘Not yet, we’ve still got to get a statement from you. What did you take from Enrique’s wallet when you took the phone? The first responders said it was down in the driver’s footwell and it looked like someone had gone through it. There was no money.’
‘He didn’t carry money.’
‘Not even a few bucks?’
‘He carried some money in his jeans. Someone in the hospital probably stole it.’
Marquez took him to headquarters instead of the American River District Office. He interviewed Soliatano with Captain Waller sitting in. The video equipment was small and on a stand and Soliatano looked at the camera from time to time but he never complained and did another revision and refinement, telling the camera he thought that he and Enrique Jordan were stocking native fish in the river.
‘I thought the guy who hired Enrique was growing fish to help the rivers but couldn’t get a permit to do it so was doing it on his own.’
He stuck to his story of never having seen the hatchery and added, and this was a good touch, ‘He told Enrique it was safest for the fish to introduce them into a river at night.’
He now denied having made the 911 call and maybe that was on the advice of his attorney brother-in-law who he had talked to just before the interview. Maybe the brother-in-law told him a voice analysis wouldn’t be conclusive. He also denied knowing Matt Hauser or having met with him, ever communi-cated with him or received money from him. It was quite a turnaround from the truck ride and he did it all calmly as if the conversations with Marquez never happened.
He looked at Marquez and said, ‘I made up the other site I took you to. When you knocked on my door yesterday morning I got scared and I was trying to give you some answers so you would go away.’
Marquez nodded
‘Why didn’t you leave him the phone?’
‘I wanted to have it in case I needed to call again. You know, if they didn’t show up. That’s why I waited down the road.’
‘Okay, let’s drive there and you show me where you waited.’
They drove to the second site. In daylight the small trees and broken brush and the muddy tracks from the truck looked raw. It looked like something bad had happened. A cold wind was blowing and they did the same again, Soliatano taking him through the whole thing, and then they moved down the levee road to where he had waited after calling 911.
‘Did you hang up on the 911 dispatcher when she was asking for directions?’
‘No.’
‘She thinks you did.’
‘That’s bullshit, the connection broke.’ He said that and then revealed, ‘I know where the third drop was supposed to happen – and pretty soon.’
‘Do you have a day?’
‘No, but the fish are almost big enough. The guy at the hatchery told Enrique that. Hauser knows.’
‘Knows what?’
‘Knows the next batch is almost big enough.’
They drove thirty miles to the next spot and it was different in that they followed railroad tracks and drove a railroad road very clearly marked with No Trespassing signs. The tires crunched through gravel and the fall air carried the smell of creosote from the rail tracks. A little dirt cut-off road took them down into cottonwoods and they were staring at the Sacramento River again. On the way back, Marquez was frank with him.
‘I’m just going to lay it on the table. I think when you left Enrique there you thought he would die and when he didn’t you went to the hospital to reassure yourself he wasn’t going to wake up and start talking about you.’
‘You’re fucking cold, man.’
‘I think you hung up on the dispatcher but the first responders drew enough from your description to get there. They know the area and put it together. You knew it was over once the truck rolled and you went to collect that night so Hauser couldn’t change his mind. You got the money and came home. The money was all that mattered.’
‘Fuck, let me out right here.’
‘Not yet, we’ve still got to get a statement from you. What did you take from Enrique’s wallet when you took the phone? The first responders said it was down in the driver’s footwell and it looked like someone had gone through it. There was no money.’
‘He didn’t carry money.’
‘Not even a few bucks?’
‘He carried some money in his jeans. Someone in the hospital probably stole it.’
Marquez took him to headquarters instead of the American River District Office. He interviewed Soliatano with Captain Waller sitting in. The video equipment was small and on a stand and Soliatano looked at the camera from time to time but he never complained and did another revision and refinement, telling the camera he thought that he and Enrique Jordan were stocking native fish in the river.
‘I thought the guy who hired Enrique was growing fish to help the rivers but couldn’t get a permit to do it so was doing it on his own.’
He stuck to his story of never having seen the hatchery and added, and this was a good touch, ‘He told Enrique it was safest for the fish to introduce them into a river at night.’
He now denied having made the 911 call and maybe that was on the advice of his attorney brother-in-law who he had talked to just before the interview. Maybe the brother-in-law told him a voice analysis wouldn’t be conclusive. He also denied knowing Matt Hauser or having met with him, ever communi-cated with him or received money from him. It was quite a turnaround from the truck ride and he did it all calmly as if the conversations with Marquez never happened.
He looked at Marquez and said, ‘I made up the other site I took you to. When you knocked on my door yesterday morning I got scared and I was trying to give you some answers so you would go away.’
Marquez nodded
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