The Present
Here Kitty stopped her story. “There’s something else we haven’t told you.”
“What’s that?”
Kitty and Purdy exchanged glances. Kitty bit her lip and wouldn’t look at Georgia. She motioned to Purdy.
He cleared his throat and cast his line into the ice hole. “So, you know Beef Jerky and his pals are vets, right?”
“I do.”
“What you don’t know is that they are members of a group called the Prairie Rats.”
“The Prairie Rats?”
Purdy went on. “They’re pretty much a right-wing hit squad and they do dirty work for conservative politicians. The Barracks is their watering hole, at least in Chicago. Mostly they come in to get loaded. But that’s also where they do their recruiting.”
“What kind of dirty work are you talking about?”
“Whatever needs doing.” Purdy’s steely expression told her everything.
Georgia took a minute to process it. “So that could include beating up on anyone who might be too curious about them or the politicians they work for?”
“Sure.”
“What about breaking into homes to gather intel?”
He nodded.
She spoke the next words slowly. “What about assassinating people they consider enemies?”
“It’s entirely possible.”
“Jesus Christ. How do you know this?”
Purdy pulled his fishing line out of the ice hole and looked straight at Georgia. The folksy accent he’d been using disappeared. “Because I did their IT for them.”
“You?”
“They call me Purdy because I went to Purdue and majored in computer programming and engineering.”
“Holy shit.”
“I didn’t know all of it when they recruited me. But I wondered why they offered me a shitload of money to do—um—well, things after graduation that I don’t want to talk about. But when I found out what they were really up to, I wanted out. By that time I’d met Kitty.” He gazed at his fishing rod. “I was lucky.”
Georgia looked from Kitty to Purdy. “So Beef Jerky did recruit your brother.”
Kitty didn’t answer for a moment. “I’m still not sure about that.”
“But—”
“Hear me out.” She slipped the rubber band out of her hair, finger-combed it, then retied it into a ponytail. “I was happy when he started taking up with Nicole. They seemed to hit it off, and I was grateful he had an, well, an alternative to Beef Jerky. The P-Rats are bad news. When they’re not working for whoever they report to, they sell and distribute narcotics.”
“That’s why we were surprised that Beef Jerky OD’d,” Purdy added. “He’s been dealing for years. He knew his product and what to stay away from.”
Kitty took over. “Then Nicole and Scott started meeting outside the bar. I would ask him where they went and what they did, but he told me it was none of my business. Fine, I thought. He’s right. But then he started talking about leaving Chicago. Just like he did when he first came home. ‘Living off the grid’ is what he kept saying. Maybe even up here.” She waved a hand to indicate Sand Lake, the cabin, everything. “To be honest, I was relieved. Meanwhile, Purdy and I got—um—close, and we were starting to think the same thing.”
Georgia jumped in. “And so you bought him the yurt as an incentive to get him—maybe all of you—out of Chicago.”
“I didn’t buy it.”
“But Betsy Start called me about a yurt delivered after you left. I saw it. And when I checked I found out a woman bought it with him.”
“Exactly. A couple of weeks after he died, I got the papers for a yurt with a note that said, ‘Thanks for buying at Camping Unlimited. I know you and your wife were in a hurry, but there are lots of options you can add on to make it even more homey. Please call us if you need anything.’ Except that ‘wife’ wasn’t me.”
Georgia frowned. “Nicole?”
“Had to be.”
“What’s her last name?”
“She told me once. I think it was Harris or something. But it wasn’t on the receipt for the yurt.”
Georgia raised her eyebrows. “You looked.”
“Scott was my brother. The only family I have—had—left.”
“Got it.” Georgia stood and rubbed her hands together. The icehouse might be tolerable, but spending time in one wasn’t on her bucket list. Yet the trip north had been well worth it. The case was coming together.
There was just one more thing. “You sent Erica Baldwin the email, didn’t you?” She looked at Purdy. “Because you knew how to delete the account.”
Kitty and Purdy exchanged another glance.
“As a warning,” Georgia added.
Kitty swallowed. “I was freaked-out after Scott died. Because of what you said. It played out exactly the way Beef Jerky described the Perfect Kill. Except that Scott wasn’t supposed to die.”
“And you think Beef Jerky had nothing to do with it?” Georgia said in her skeptical voice.
“I didn’t know for sure. And I didn’t much care. I took time off. It was when I was ready to go back to work that I heard about Jerky’s OD. Something didn’t add up. The fact that he was selling dope for years, and all of a sudden he ODs? It was . . . what do you say . . . quite a coincidence.”
“Too much of one.”
“Right. Plus the FBI was putting heat on me even though I didn’t have any answers. I freaked out.”
“So you ran. And then sent Erica the email.”
She nodded. “It was the only thing I could think of that might help. I didn’t know if it would change anything, but I just wanted people to know Scott wouldn’t have killed himself like that. He had a plan. He was looking forward to it. And . . . ” She swallowed. “I know he shot that girl, but he wasn’t the villain they made him out to be.”
“You think he was on a mission. Carrying out someone else’s orders.”
“Exactly.”
“I understand.” She stuck out her hand. “Hey, thanks for talking to me. You’ve been a tremendous help.” She paused. “Even though you were damn hard to find.”
“But you did.” Kitty smiled. “Which means you must be damn good at your job.”
“I need to get back to Chicago. I have a lot of work to do.”
Kitty pulled her jacket close around her. “Look. There’s something else.”
Georgia tipped her head to the side. “More?”
“Something kept nagging me after Scott met Nicole. But I couldn’t figure it out until we got up here and I was thinking straight again.”
“What’s that?”
“I always thought Nicole looked familiar. I couldn’t place her. Then all of a sudden it came to me. About six months ago this girl came into the bar with a friend. The girl was pretty. And sexy. I could tell Scott was interested. But she was wasted, and she started throwing shade at Scott and Jerky and the rest of the boys. In fact, she was cruel. She humiliated Scott for being in the military. Said he wasted his time fighting for a fascist country.”
A queasy feeling start to roil Georgia’s gut.
Kitty confirmed it. “It was the girl who was killed. And the friend with her? Who came back to the bar two months later? That was Nicole.”