Chapter Fifteen

 

 

Interstate 90, Rapid City, South Dakota

 

“Well, this isn’t going well,” Rene said tightly. They’d switched cars in Rapid City and were now certainly well behind Joe Tanner and his friends. Ken, wisely, said nothing. Rene was in a towering rage. So close, and they’d missed Joe Tanner again. They hadn’t had a chance to get to their weapons, checked nice and legal in their baggage. Guns are perfectly acceptable on airlines as long as they’re declared, unloaded, and safely inside checked baggage. Their unloaded and therefore useless guns sat on the ground in their bags as Rene and Ken had struggled to get to their feet. The humiliation of being dumped off their feet by a paunchy English teacher was just about the worst insult of all. How had he reacted so quickly? He was even quicker than Joe Tanner, who’d fought desperately as they’d forced his car off the road. Ted hadn’t known who they were until Tanner started shouting, and yet he slipped from their grasp with all the liquid grace of an eel.

“We’ll get them,” Ken said.

“Yes,” Rene said. He concentrated on driving in the heavy midafternoon traffic.

At the airport they’d stolen an Oldsmobile with an elderly couple still in it, two people who’d just seen their grandchildren on the plane back to Dallas, Texas. The couple was still alive, against Rene’s wishes. Ken had prevailed, arguing that a stolen car would provoke a cursory search but a murdered set of grandparents would set off a manhunt. Ken had been doing a lot of research into the Black Hills area. He recommended keeping a low profile.

With no chance of catching Joe Tanner and his companions, they abandoned a high-speed chase. Ken found a substantial sedan in a motel parking lot and with the help of a frightened desk clerk, got the keys to the motel room of the sedan’s owner.

The sedan, a late model Chrysler, was luxurious enough for Rene’s tastes. They left the grandparents, the Chrysler’s owner, and the desk clerk in the hotel room, bound and gagged and terrified. But alive.

Rene still didn’t think leaving the people alive was a good idea, but Ken was adamant. A stolen car wouldn’t start a manhunt like a motel room full of dead people would, and they still had to find and kill Joe Tanner and his annoying girlfriend Eileen Reed.

With the Chrysler and a new, stolen set of plates at a gas station down the road, they made a stop at a supermarket for a portable cooler, food and drinks and ice. The chase was now a steady hunt. They were set for about twenty-four hours. By then the job would have to be done.

 

Interstate 90, Spearfish, South Dakota

 

“So how did you two meet, anyway?” Joe said. Lucy took a swig of water from Joe’s distilled water bottle. Lucy didn’t feel so much like throwing up, now. Still she couldn’t stop thinking about what would have happened if she’d gotten out of the car. Her seat belt had been unbuckled at the airport. She was ready to get out when Joe started shouting. What if Joe hadn’t seen the fat man, if he’d been rummaging in the glove compartment for some chewing gum, or if he’d been drinking water and hadn’t seen the two killers? Would Hank be alive at this moment? Probably not, Lucy kept thinking sickly. Probably not.

The highway unreeled in front of them, almost impossibly fast. Ted had the speedometer at a trembling 94 mph, just shy of a very large ticket. On an Interstate where the top speed was supposed to be 75 this wasn’t too extravagant. On the other hand, there were slow moving trailers and recreational vehicles dotting every mile. Ted wove through these like a slalom skier, passing so quickly and deftly that Joe was sprawled out in the front seat, as comfortable as if they were traveling to a picnic lunch.

“We met at a wedding,” Ted said. He looked relaxed, but Lucy could see the bunched line of his shoulders. She could also see the lift of his eyebrows and the smile that curved his mouth ever so slightly. He was having a great time. Ted could have been a race car driver, she’d thought before, if he’d been born in to a racing family instead of a criminal one. She’d never shared this thought with him before because that had been a secret between them. Lucy patted Hank on the head and gave him another animal cracker. He was upright again. Once they’d gotten through Rapid City Ted had allowed her to raise his car seat and adjust him so that he was sitting. She knew how to tip his car seat over and protect him. At any second she was prepared to do that.

“My brother’s wife, Carolyn, her sister was getting married. Larry’s actually my cousin; he’s my aunt’s son. He always wanted a little brother and then I turned up. I taught him how to drive, and now you know how funny that is.”

“I can stop pretending that I don’t know why you’re such a crazy driver,” Lucy offered, catching a microsecond of Ted’s glance in the rearview mirror. His eyes were crinkled and she felt a rush along her body as sweet as cool water. He wasn’t angry with her. He was all right with her. They were all right. Everything was going to be all right.

“So Carolyn’s sister is getting married and I got dragged along to the wedding. They knew I was single and Carolyn’s sister had lots of girl friends. The old matchmaker story.”

“One of the girlfriends was Lucy,” Joe guessed.

“You got it,” Lucy said. “I didn’t catch the bouquet. I was already off in a corner with Ted, talking about Shakespeare.”

“Not a word of which I remember,” Ted said. “I was trying not to stumble around in circles and dribble spit down my chin. I was gone, babe, the moment I saw you.”

“I’d kiss you right now, but I don’t think it’s the right time.”

“Not at 94 miles per hour, no,” Ted said. “But consider yourself kissed anyway.”

“Ah, that’s what bothers me,” Joe said. “I always thought about you as being the regular guy, you know, Ted the English teacher. Nothing surprising about Ted. Among all these weird and brilliant people I know, you seemed the only normal one.”

“Should I say thanks to that?” Ted asked dryly.

“Why would I marry a dull man, Joe?” Lucy asked in surprise. “I know it seems strange, a cop’s daughter marrying a criminal’s son, but –”

“Criminal’s chauffeur, if you please,” Ted interrupted. “Joe, everyone is weird and brilliant in their own way and their own time. I figured that one out long ago. Maybe it was my lifestyle when I was growing up. Every seemingly dull person you meet has some incredible moment in their lives, something that happened to them that would make your mouth fall open in astonishment if you knew about it. Everyone does. And if it hasn’t happened to them yet, it will.”

“Some have fewer dull moments than others,” Joe said. “Still no sign of them?”

“No sign,” Ted said. “We’re going to come up on Highway 111 in about twenty minutes. If there’s backup of some kind, that’s where it’ll be. Let’s get ready.”

Lucy was breathing quickly in fright and readiness when Ted took the Mustang off the highway in a long, tearing curve. The tires made a thin, high squealing sound and as he straightened out on the northward highway he shifted abruptly over to the right side of the road. They passed a slow-moving recreational vehicle in a single gulping roar, kicking up a cloud of dust that made Ted say something under his breath that Lucy hoped Hank couldn’t hear. Then they were on the clear highway and away, already at sixty miles per hour and accelerating.

“Highway 24 in 9 miles,” Ted said. “What’s the road like up ahead?”

“Twisty,” Lucy said.

“There’s a lot of curves,” Joe said at the same time.

“Is there an exit onto Highway 24, or a stop sign?”

“Stop sign,” they both said again, and grinned at each other.

“Okay,” Ted said. “What is that, off to the left?”

Lucy looked and saw a deer browsing in a hollow. Two fawns cropped grass with her, fawns as delicate and lovely as a drawing. She caught a millisecond of a view before they were gone, lost in the backstream of the speeding car.

“Those are deer,” Joe said. “I’m amazed you spotted them.”

“I’m trained to spot things,” Ted said, a delighted smile on his face. His eyes remained cool and watchful, flickering between the road and the mirrors. “Those were real deer, huh?”

“There’s more where that came from,” Lucy said, thinking of Tracy’s flower garden. “Tomorrow morning I’ll show you a whole bunch of them, right outside the window.”

“Whoa,” Ted said. “I’d like that.” He looked left, then right, and took a hard left turn onto Highway 24, ignoring the stop sign that sat at the intersection of the two highways. For a few minutes there was silence as Ted drove at impossibly fast speeds on the twisting two-lane highway.

“Do you think I could ride a horse, too? I’ve always wanted to do that, never had a chance to, yet,” Ted asked, as they came down a corkscrew section of road. He had both hands on the wheel but he looked utterly relaxed.

“Considering the circumstances, I’m not sure we’ll get a horse ride this trip,” Lucy said, smiling at the back of her husband’s head. “But we’ll come back for the wedding this September, and we’ll come up here, I promise. We’ll get a horse ride then, won’t we Joe?”

“You bet,” Joe said. Lucy could see the muscles in his jaw bunching as he set his teeth. “We’ll party like –”

“What the hell is that?” Ted said, and Lucy could tell the measure of his speed by the way the Mustang skidded, back end loose and frighteningly out of control, at a single twitch from his hands on the wheel.

“Don’t do that!” Joe cried, sitting straight up in his seat, face white.

“Sorry,” Ted said. “But what the hell is that?”

“Devils Tower,” Lucy said, looking on the horizon and seeing the humped, looming shape of the Tower. She looked away after a second, unable to keep her gaze on the thing.

“We can’t see it from the ranch,” Joe said. “Lucy and I agreed that we liked it that way.”

“That’s Devils Tower,” breathed Ted, taking tiny glances away from the road so he could look at the vision on the horizon. “I saw it in that old movie, you know –“

“Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” Joe said. “Yeah, I know.”

“It’s very big,” Ted said. He took the Mustang down a corkscrew road and sighed when the horizon swallowed the view of the monolith. “I think I’m glad, too, Luce. That’s one big piece of rock.”

“We’re coming into Hulett,” Joe said, sitting forward in the Mustang. “Get ready to look for Eileen.”

 

Hulett, Wyoming

 

Eileen was standing on the sidewalk of Hulett’s one main street, talking to Sheriff Richard King, when the Mustang shot by them. They both stopped talking, mouths open, as the Mustang squealed like a pig. The tires left extravagant black skid marks on the highway and the Mustang rocked to a stop in a cloud of gray smoke.

“Holy shit,” Eileen said. She had spent the day investigating her own personal murder theory, most of it in the one local bar but for the last two hours with Sheriff Richard King.

The bar was the easy part. The Fawcetts, the bar owners that she’d known as a girl, were long gone, but the new owners knew Paul and Tracy Reed well enough. They were a couple from Minnesota and they thought Wyoming was quite tropical. They spoke in the soft, singing accent of the Minnesotan, and they’d turned the smoky dim little Sportsman’s Bar into a scrubbed clean tavern called the Tower Pub and Grill. Most of their business came with the summer tourist traffic but they kept up a good clientele of locals during the winter months.

The summer day was hot and cloudless and the Tower Pub’s small grouping of tables was packed.

“I’d love to talk, but we’re just swamped,” Lisa Olsen told Eileen. She was short and plump, with blonde-gray hair braided in a crown on her head. Her face was pink with the heat and the exertion. Her eyes were china-blue and kind, but she was obviously strained. “We lost a short order cook yesterday so I’m trying to handle tables and the kitchen, too. Maybe later this afternoon?”

“I waited tables all through college,” Eileen said, holding out her hands. “I’ve been scrubbing dishes at my mom and dad’s business, so how ‘bout I pitch in?”

Lisa Olsen blinked twice at Eileen, then grinned and shoved her waitress pad and a pen in Eileen’s hands.

“Bless you, child,” she said. “Give me an hour and when the lunch crew clears out I’ll tell you whatever I can remember.”

“It’s a deal,” Eileen said. “Menus?”

An hour later Eileen had only to figure out the tabs. She sat down briefly to finish up the last of the six tickets and when she stood from behind the register there was Richard King. He was sitting at the window looking moodily out into the street.

For a moment Eileen was suffused with anger and embarrassment. She’d never worn daring underwear before and the first time she did, Richard King had to be the one to see it. She shuffled the tickets in her hands, wondering what to do. King took off his hat and rubbed his hands across his forehead and through his thinning hair. His face was turned from her but she could see his shoulders and they drooped with tiredness.

She had Rosen, her partner. She had her captain, Harben, and an entire police department. King had nobody but his car and a huge territory and two Sundance cops who had too much to do already. He’d never reinvented himself, never left the area and tried to become something or someone else. He’d stayed, and endured. She had to respect that. Even if she didn’t like him, she had to respect him.

She collected a glass of water, a coffee cup and a menu. She passed out tickets with a smile and a nod, not seeing any of her previous customers. She set the water glass and the cup in front of Richard King.

“Do you need a menu?” she asked, and when he turned his face to her she was smiling her very best lets-be-friends smile. His face, open and weary, snapped shut like a clam.

“What are you doing here?” he asked harshly.

“Just helping out Lisa and Karl,” Eileen said. “I wanted to talk to them, too, of course. Do you want some coffee?”

“I’m handling this investigation,” he hissed. “You don’t need to interfere.”

“I’m trying not to,” she said, keeping her expression steady and welcoming. “Do you take your coffee black?”

“Cream and sugar,” he said. Eileen left the table instantly and got the coffee pot, the cream and a sugar container. She remembered Lucy’s story of sharing water with Richard, how she’d gotten him to be friendly with her. Coffee had to help. Lisa made excellent coffee.

“Here you go,” she said, pouring a cup expertly to an inch below the brim. “And here’s a menu, just in case. Did you get the autopsy reports back yet?”

“Yes,” he said. She watched as he took a sip of coffee. Nothing overtly magical happened. He didn’t suddenly smile and break into a Broadway tune and dance around the room with her. But he did, very slightly, shift the tense line of his shoulders. It was a start.

“How about the meatloaf sandwich?” she asked. “I’ve seen everything here today and that’s the best. Open face, maybe, with gravy? And fries?”

“All right,” he said, eyes still narrowed. “I suppose you want me to share the autopsy reports with you.”

“Not really,” Eileen said, writing a ticket. “I want you to get some food in you, and some coffee, and then we can talk a bit if you want. I was just thinking that you don’t have a partner.”

“I don’t need anyone to take care of me,” King snapped. He took another sip of coffee. Still no Broadway tunes, but Eileen had hopes.

“City cops all have partners,” Eileen said. “Mine is named Rosen. He’s the best partner there ever was. Really. You’d like him, I bet.”

“City cops,” King said in a low voice. He hadn’t looked at her after the first glance.

“That’s me,” Eileen said brightly. “I’ll be right back.” She snapped the ticket onto the short order cook’s window and winked at Karl Olsen, a tall thin man who was cleaning the grill and watching her without watching her. She took a quick coffee turn around the restaurant and then put the pot back on the burner and sat down at the table with Richard. She sighed gustily and pushed her hair back from her forehead. “Hot,” she said.

“Yes,” he said.

“Look, I’m sorry about last night,” Eileen said. “And I’m even more sorry about high school. That was a long time ago –”

“It was a long time ago,” King said. “I’ve forgotten all about it. I’m worried about what’s going on at your parents’ ranch. I’m afraid whoever killed Dr. McBride is going to kill someone else.”

“Me, too,” Eileen said. “So tell me something. Was his heart still there?”

“What?” King asked.

“Was Dr. McBride’s heart missing?” Eileen asked patiently.

King’s expression was answer enough. “I’m not going to discuss it,” he said. “You don’t have a private investigator’s license and you haven’t been assigned to this case.”

“So it wasn’t missing,” Eileen said, mostly to herself. She’d had about enough of Richard King, that was sure. Karl rang the bell and she fetched his meatloaf, and then refilled his water glass and his coffee cup.

“Thank you,” he muttered.

“You’re welcome,” she said. “The cherry pie is to die for, if you want dessert later.” She gave him what she hoped was a non-grumpy smile and headed over to the kitchen where Lisa Olsen was scrubbing the short order area.

“Thank you so much,” she said as Eileen sat down in a handy kitchen chair. “You’re an angel. You wouldn’t be interested in a job, would you?” Her face dimpled into a smile.

“No thanks,” Eileen laughed. “I like what I do just fine.”

“Your mom and dad are sure proud of you,” Lisa said. “What with catching that murderer who tried to make it look like UFOs did it. And that child killer, too. You were in People magazine!”

“I should have guessed you’d know about those,” Eileen said, thinking of Richard King and trying not to wince.

“Sure, Tracy brings all the newspaper clippings to crafts night. We get together and make quilts for the nursing home in Spearfish. We’re all coming down to the Springs for the wedding this September, too. We wouldn’t miss it, not after all this time Tracy’s waited and all—” she stopped, eyeing Eileen. “I’ve said too much, haven’t I?”

“No, I know all about the grandchildren thing,” Eileen sighed. “I’m surprised they don’t examine Joe’s teeth like he was a good breeding stallion.”

“Wait until the wedding,” Lisa giggled. “I remember mine like yesterday. My great aunt—”

“So here’s my question,” Eileen interrupted. Lisa looked like she was going to settle right in for an afternoon of wedding reminiscences. “Did Dr. McBride ever come in here with anyone else?”

“Sure, he was in here the first trip up here. He had that silly intern, Rochelle something-or-other. They were canoodling like two kids, drunk as could be. Luckily your dad was letting them spend the night at his place. Karl called Paul and he came in and got them and drove them to his place. McBride apologized to us, later, said he was just amazed at the opportunity to excavate such a perfect archeological site. Said he was overcome. I remember he was in here, too, with the crew he brought up. There was a nice roundish lady and another girl, um.”

“Beryl Penrose and Jorie Rothman,” Eileen said. “Forget about trying to be nice. Be gossipy and catty and insulting. I won’t tell a soul.”

“Well, okay,” Lisa said doubtfully. She finished the short order table and took off her apron. She stepped into the other room where Karl was busy preparing food for the evening rush. She returned with two glasses of tall lemonade, fresh and pulpy and full of ice. “My reward to myself,” she said, handing a glass to Eileen. “I don’t know why we got into this restaurant-bar thing. But I do have fun, mostly.”

“So McBride came in with two new girls,” Eileen said, after taking a long drink of lemonade that chilled her to coolness in three delicious seconds. “What happened to the Rochelle girl, the one he was making out with?”

“She was just an intern,” Lisa said. “And I heard from that Beryl Penrose person when she came in for lunch one day that she was dropped like a stone when Jorie Rothman joined up. Guess she was just heartbroken, but she wasn’t the first one.”

“McBride was a chaser, huh?” Eileen asked.

“I guess so, a ladies man, we’d call him in Minneapolis. I thought he had his sights set on Beryl, at first, though Jorie, um, well.”

“You are remarkably nice,” Eileen said flatly. Lisa looked taken aback, then laughed.

“Okay, that Jorie girl is just a complete b-i-t-c-h,” she said, spelling the word out in a whisper and flushing an even brighter pink. “She wanted some kind of guarantee that we hadn’t cut the meat and vegetables in the same area of the kitchen, can you imagine? Like vegetables should have their own shrine? And the way she talks, well, you know.”

“I know,” Eileen said. “Makes it worse that she’s such a pretty thing, doesn’t it?”

“I guess it does,” Lisa said, surprised. “She’s almost an offense against God. To be given such a gift of beauty and to – step on it, I guess. To be so ugly inside.”

“Well if I were a chaser – er, ladies man, I’d go after Beryl,” Eileen said. “She’s a sweetie, don’t you think?”

“Oh, I do,” Lisa said, brightening immediately. “She’s very nice. McBride mostly talked to her, the one night the three of them were in here. Ah, what a sad thing to happen, eh? He was such a nice looking man, full of fun. Maybe a little on the wild side, but he had such a nice laugh.”

“That was the only time they were all in here?” Eileen asked. “What about the hunting crew, Howie and his friends?”

“Haven’t been in here,” Lisa said. “They’re too busy scouting, I guess. And I’m not too proud to say that Tracy’s cooking puts ours to shame. She’s an artist, I’ll tell you. She gave me the cherry pie recipe we use, the topping is so simple but it makes the tartness of the cherries—”

“I know,” Eileen said. “I could tell it was Mom’s recipe. Mom is a great cook, that’s true. So no one has dropped by for a drink or a chat with the locals? No one –”

“I need my check, please,” Richard King said from the short order cook opening. Lisa Olsen jumped like she’d been pinched but Eileen merely turned in her chair and observed him coldly. She’d been expecting him to interrupt as soon as he figured out she was in the kitchen pumping Lisa for information.

“Sure,” she said. “I’ll get it.”

“I’ll get it, Eileen,” Lisa said. “You’ve helped so much. Can I pay you for your time? We—”

“Don’t bother,” Eileen laughed, and got to her feet. She smiled at Richard King with her teeth in her smile. “I’ll just keep my tip money, is that okay?”

“Of course,” Lisa said.

“I’ll walk you out, sheriff,” Eileen said. “Thanks for speaking with me, Lisa. It was so nice to meet you.”

“You too, Eileen dear,” Lisa said. She opened her arms and Eileen stepped into her embrace without hesitation. They hugged and Lisa kissed Eileen on the cheek, her lips warm and kind. “See you at the wedding!”

“Of course,” Eileen said.

“You don’t need to walk me out,” King said.

“Of course I do,” Eileen said. “I want my tip. Plus, there’s something I need to speak to you about, and it doesn’t have anything to do with the McBride investigation.”

“Oh,” King said. “What is it?”

“Outside,” Eileen said. “This is something between you and me.” She waved at Lisa and Karl as they left the little tavern. The bell attached to the tavern door jingled behind them. The day was still and breathless, hot and bright. Eileen narrowed her eyes against the sizzling heat and took a deep breath of the dusty, sage smell of the air. Even in a town, Wyoming still smelled like sage and dust. She wished for a thunderstorm, for the wet smell of the earth and the look of the sky packed with gray thunderheads. She looked at the sky and saw nothing but hazy blue.

“It’s hot, and I have work to do,” King said. Eileen almost snapped, right then. He was so rude, even after she’d gotten him food and drink and spoken to him with kindness and respect. She swallowed hard, as though she were trying to get down a particularly large pill.

“Okay,” she said finally. She looked up and down the main street, which was also Highway 24. There was a gas station and a small grocery and that was it. Two gigantic recreational vehicles were being pumped at the gas station. An elderly man was cleaning one of the vehicle’s windshield with a bottle filled with blue liquid. She could smell the tartness of the cleaning solution all the way across the street. “Here I go. My fiancé, Joe Tanner, works for a defense contractor down in the Springs. The reason he’s up here is that he has reason to believe someone tried to run him off the road.”

“I’m listening,” King said. He took a wrapped toothpick from his pocket and began to unwrap it leisurely.

“That someone, or someones, may be a group who have been killing people like Joe for quite a while. He’s a scientist and he does some top-secret work with the defense department. So the reason I’m telling you this is –”

“Because they might follow Joe up here, is that it?” King said. He put the toothpick in his mouth and chewed it. “What a piece of work you are, Eileen Reed. You come in here and do your best to screw up my investigation, and then you’re telling me your little boyfriend might have someone chasing his back trail?”

“Screw up your investigation?” Eileen said, at very near top volume. “Screw up what, Richard?”

“Rick King, not Richard,” King said, eyes narrowed. “You’ve been poking around messing with my –”

Whatever his words were going to be were lost in the enormous roar of the Mustang. The toothpick fell from King’s lip as the Mustang skidded to a stop on the highway, blowing an enormous cloud of stinking gray smoke into the air.

The car reversed and, tires howling, screamed backwards up the street. It spun to a stop directly in front of them. Eileen looked down and saw that the Mustang was parked neatly between the lines of the parking space. Ted Giometti stared out from behind the windshield at her.

“Holy shit,” Eileen said.

“Eileen,” Joe Tanner shouted, leaping from the Mustang. Behind Ted Eileen could see a pale, disheveled Lucy and a happy Hank. Hank had cracker smeared around his mouth and he was smiling, bouncing up and down in his seat and waving at her.

“Joe?”

“Gotta go, Eileen, we’ve got to go,” Joe panted. “Get out of here, guys, go, we’ll take Eileen’s Jeep.”

“Step on it, Joe,” Ted said. “Don’t explain here.” The Mustang reversed out of the parking spot a second later, coming to a smoking stop on the highway like something out of a Hollywood movie. Then the Mustang was gone, accelerating down the highway with engine bellowing.

Eileen could see the elderly man with the windshield-cleaning bottle, standing stock still and staring down the highway at the disappearing Mustang. She was already fumbling for her keys, trapped down the deep pocket of her khaki pants.

“It’s them, they somehow got Ted’s airline reservation and they met him at the airport,” Joe was saying. “We gotta go, honey, I don’t know how far they are behind us.”

“What’s this all about?” King said.

“What I just told you,” Eileen snapped. There, she had her keys. Her Jeep was parked four slots away. “Don’t tell them where we live, Richard. Don’t believe them if they tell you they’re police, or FBI, or anything. What do they look like, Joe?”

“The leader is tall and fat, his friend is tall and built like a plank,” Joe said hurriedly. “I don’t know what else to tell you. They want to kill me and I don’t think they’d mind killing anyone who got in their way.”

“I’ll call you later today,” Eileen said. “Richar – I mean, Rick. Please. We’ve got to go.” She already had her keys in her hand and Joe was tugging at her arm, not gently.

“I’ll contact your dad later today,” King shouted angrily, as Eileen opened the Jeep’s door and got in. Joe shoved her over and took the keys. She had caught his urgency but she barely had time to get her seat belt out before Joe was reversing the Jeep. Gravel stuttered under the tires as they bounded up onto the asphalt of the highway.

“Be careful!” Joe shouted back as the Jeep screamed down Highway 24.

“I’m calling your parents!” King shouted after them, his voice already faint in the distance. Eileen looked in the rear view mirror and saw him standing on the side of the road, looking after them, his hand shading his eyes. Then she saw him shake his head and put his hat back on and he turned away.

“What the hell is going on?”

“The fat man and his friend met Ted at the airport,” Joe said. “Ted – well, I’ll let him explain later, but he got away and we got away. They followed us but we lost them. Still, they know about your parents’ post office box address and I think they’ll be coming in after me. As soon as they can figure out where your folks live. Oh, God, Eileen,” Joe nearly sobbed. “I put everyone in danger, everyone—”

“Stop it,” Eileen said crisply. She removed her SIG-Sauer from her shoulder holster and checked the loads. “Put your seat belt on. King is a jerk, but he isn’t a dummy. And these killers aren’t dummies, either. They’ll want to make it look like an accident, which they can’t do with a houseful of people. We’ll be fine.”

“Right,” Joe said, blinking and shifting his shoulders. He rolled his head from left to right on his neck. “I’m about scared to death, Eileen. I couldn’t tell Ted and Lucy, because we had Hank in the car.”

“Of course,” Eileen said. She laid her SIG-Sauer on her lap and placed her hands neatly on top of the warm gun. She stared out the windshield and disconnected from the world. In her head was a jigsaw puzzle, white and clean, with pieces named McBride and Jorie Rothman and Bob, the crystal skull. She boxed them up carefully and set them aside and as she put them away a piece flipped over. The pieces abruptly fell together and just like that, she knew. She closed the box anyway. She swept the table clean with a soft cloth, and set down the new puzzle pieces. Ted Giometti. Rapid City airport. Lucy and Hank and Joe Tanner. Sully the angel and her lance. And the fat man, the murderer, the killer.

“They were in my apartment,” she said, her eyes focusing again. “They found out about Ted because Lucy is in the wedding. Something in my apartment.”

“Yes, we think so,” Joe said. He blew out a big breath and grinned over at her. “Damn, you’re good, woman.”

“Not good enough to think about warning Ted,” Eileen said. “He got a phone call of some kind? Dress color was wrong, or shoes the wrong size?”

“The measurements were lost, they said.”

“They’re coming after you,” Eileen said. “We have to powwow. Cards on the table. We have to get Hank and Ted to safety. My parents and Howie’s hunting crew, too.”

“Then?”

“Then we set the trap, and when they enter it, we take them,” Eileen said. “The turn off is right up ahead. Don’t leave any tire marks on the road that they might be able to see.”

“Okay,” Joe said. “Okay.”

“We’ll be fine,” Eileen said. She jumped out of the Jeep as Joe came to a stop, her SIG-Sauer in her hand, and she opened the gate. Ted hadn’t left tire marks with the Mustang, either, Eileen noticed. She approved. She closed the gate and got back into the car.

“What about your dead guy? McLean, or what was his name?” Joe said.

“Oh, that,” Eileen said dismissively. “Dr. McBride. That can wait. I know who killed him.”