Seth spent the rest of the day in the care of the CBI agent in charge. After breakfast, they went downtown where Seth gave an official statement, a new DNA sample, and another set of fingerprints. His truck was towed to the CBI for their forensics team to go over it. He and his truck weren’t set free until late afternoon. He went home to find a note from Maresol. She was out with her friends, and dinner was pulled pork, which was cooking in the crockpot.
He exchanged his usual roper boots for hiking boots and grabbed an outdoor jacket. He found a large backpack, filled his water reservoir, and tucked it into its pouch in the backpack. Clara bounded after him into the truck. In case he was being followed, he took a circuitous route back to White Ranch Open Space. He parked at a music-industry friend’s home near the path at the bottom of the hill to avoid the video-monitored parking lot. He hooked Clara to her leash, and they took off up the mountain at a steady clip.
They were nearing the top of the mountain when his phone rang. He groaned. He’d forgotten to take the battery out of his phone. Anyone in law enforcement could track him. He took out his phone and looked at it. The Golden Police were calling him. He scowled and answered the phone.
“O’Malley.”
“Seth?” Ava sounded angry.
“Hi.” Genuinely surprised to hear her voice, Seth smiled. Clara looked up at him.
“Where are you?” Ava asked.
“Clara and I went for a walk,” Seth said. “I figured you’d be at Everest’s most of the night.”
“We got kicked off the case.” Ava’s voice cracked with emotion.
“What?” Seth asked.
“That’s what I said when the agent in charge told me, ‘What?’ I was completely dumbfounded. Oh, and they kicked Bob off the case. Bob! The guy who knows more about these cases than anyone in the world. He’s off the case.”
“Who made that call?” Seth asked.
“Who do you think?” Ava asked. “That guy sure gets a lot of mileage out of being scorned.”
“Scorned?” Seth asked.
“He’s only doing this because he didn’t get to screw Éowyn when he wanted,” Ava said.
Seth swallowed hard. He’d forgotten Éowyn. Seth’s mind spun possibilities—Éowyn was supposed to be the first victim, Éowyn would be the next victim, or Switch. Unbidden, he saw their mutilated bodies laid out on the homestead piano. He began to panic.
“Can you believe it?” Ava asked.
“Believe . . .?” Seth’s voice faded out. Ava. Davies would come for Ava next.
“Hey! O’Malley!” Ava said. “I’m having a crisis. You’re supposed to be listening to me.”
Her voice jarred him back to reality. He looked around at the fall dry grass and tall evergreens, and let out a breath.
“Sorry.” Seth found a rock to sit down. “You’re absolutely right. I’m back. You were telling me about getting kicked off Everest’s murder case.”
“Right,” Ava said. “Thank you.”
“Did you get a reason?” Seth asked.
“‘This is such a horrendous case that we have to do everything by the book,’” Ava said, in an imitation of Brent Davies’s voice. “Like we don’t always do everything by the book.”
“Right,” Seth said.
“He told the head of CBI that my participation in this case would be muddied by my close, personal relationship with the victim,” Ava said.
“Your what?”
“That’s what I said,” Ava said. “Brent knew Everest had come to our wedding.”
“That’s weird,” Seth said. He put his hand over the worry in his heart. “Where are you now?”
“Golden Police, downtown,” Ava said. “A uniform brought us here. Can you pick us up?”
“I have the truck,” Seth said.
“I don’t mind sitting in the back,” Ava said.
“I’ll be there in an hour or so,” Seth said. “I’m kind of far into this, uh, walk. Is that too long?”
“Nah,” Ava said. “We’ll go get pizza and beer. I’m starving. Meet us there.”
“Will do,” Seth said. “Oh, and Ava?”
“Yeah?”
“Does anyone know about your contract to review the Arizona remains?” Seth asked.
“You mean besides our team and the bone lab?” Ava asked. “No. It just happened. By that, I mean, the remains just showed up without notice at the loading dock. I had to call to make sure we had the money. Plus, my civilian boss is out of town for his daughter’s wedding. The bone lab was on the grant, so they found out when I did.”
“Would you mind keeping it that way?”
“And you’ll tell me what this is all about?” Ava asked.
“I will.”
“Deal,” Ava said.
“You’ll tell the bone lab?”
“As soon as we hang up,” she said. “Love you. Hey, Bob, want to go . . .”
Seth smiled at her. He disconnected the call and took the battery out of his phone. Osama Bin Laden was able to keep his location a secret for more than ten years by removing the battery in his cellphone. It should work for the next half hour or so. Just to be safe, he set the phone and battery in a crook between a bushy tree branch and an evergreen tree trunk. He and Clara set off up the trail.
They walked to the south edge of the wide-open field he’d watched that morning. The field was bisected by the road and the parking lot. He scanned the parking lot and horizon. It was nearly dark. The wind was blowing, and it smelled like snow. The park seemed empty. To be on the safe side, he took Clara off the path. They traveled along a game trail tucked behind the tall trees and against the huge white-granite boulders that edged the field. He continued to scan for any sign of movement but saw nothing.
The hair on his neck stood up. He couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was near.
They broke cover at the edge of the road. After Saul had left for the Vietnam, he, his younger brother Silas, and Mitch had spent two summers mapping out every inch of this park. Silas had loved this park.
Seth ran as fast as he could up the trail. Clara loped along at his side. Midway up the hill, Seth veered to the left. There was an old stone house foundation a half mile up ahead. Silas’s ashes were scattered at the house. He silently begged Silas’s spirit to help him in this crazy endeavor. They slowed to a stop. Seth pointed to Clara, and she slipped under a bush to enter the root cellar of the house. Seth followed her.
The files were exactly as he’d left them. He took out his water reservoir, slipped the files into the reservoir compartment, and velcroed the flap closed. He gave Clara a drink of water before pulling the drinking tube off the reservoir. He tucked the end into the backpack so it looked like he still had the reservoir. He rearranged the shirt, jacket, and extra supplies for Clara so the folders weren’t so noticeable. He stashed the reservoir near the foundation. For a moment, he sat and listened. Clara nudged him. He rubbed her ears.
They waited.
When nothing happened, he and Clara slipped out of the house foundation. They went directly east until they ran into the main trail. He took out a headlamp and they began to jog down the trail. His eyes and ears continued to scan the environment. They were almost to the parking lot when he saw a black limousine pull up alongside the road.
Brent Davies.
Seth swallowed hard and slowed down.
“Seth!” Davies’s voice came from the back of the limousine. “Hop in.”
“Can’t,” Seth said. He stayed ten feet away from the limousine. “I have my dog. She bites.”
“She does?” Davies asked.
He leaned out of the limousine and reached for Clara. Seth turned over his left hand and Clara snarled and snapped.
“I see what you mean,” Davies asked.
“Are you coming for a hike?” Seth asked. “Camping tonight?”
“Actually, I was looking for you.”
“What can I do for you?” Seth asked.
“Horrible thing about Everest,” Davies said. “I knew that situation wasn’t going to end well.”
“Situation, sir?”
“Playing his bagpipes in the nude,” Davies said.
Not wanting to give anything away, Seth said, “Oh?”
“Don’t worry, O’Malley,” Davies said. “I’ve told everyone that you couldn’t have known. Otherwise, I’m sure you would have done something to get him to stop playing naked. You’re older now, more distracted. I don’t think anyone blames you.”
Seth swallowed hard. Davies had implicated Seth in Everest’s murder.
“I was on my way home when downtown told me they’d found your cell signal here,” Davies said. “I heard Martha Jessep came for a visit.”
“She did?” Seth gave him a blank look.
“I heard you went off with her,” Davies said. “CBI couldn’t find you.”
“People say a lot of things about me, sir.” Seth gave Davies his cover-of-the-album smile. “I don’t think Ava would like it very much if I went off with an ex-lover.”
“Ex-lover?” Davies raised his eyebrows as if Seth had given him a cookie. Seth knew that any reference to sex would distract the man from asking what Seth was doing in White Ranch. “So you didn’t see her?”
Rather than risk an outright lie, Seth shrugged and feigned confusion. Davies said something to his driver, and the limousine moved into the parking lot. Seth watched the car use the parking lot to turn around. Davies rolled down the other side window.
“Enjoy your run,” Davies smiled and waved.
Seth waited until the rear lights of Davies’s limousine had disappeared in the evening dark. He looked around and crossed the road. On their way to the game trail, they passed a brownish-black coyote making his way across the field. They had gone about a mile when Seth noticed Davies’s limousine racing down the road in a cloud of dirt. He ducked down and grabbed Clara. They lay flat against the ground. He pulled his shirt over his mouth to keep his breath from steaming.
A rifle shot rang through the valley, and then another.
The limousine sped off down the road. Seth waited until the limousine was long gone before getting up. He stood up.
Another rifle shot echoed through the valley. Davies or his driver had shot the coyote in the neck. The animal took another step before crumpling in the dust.
Davies was trying to kill Clara.
Seth kept Clara right next to him. They retraced their steps among the scrub brush. At the campground, Seth grabbed his phone, but didn’t put in the battery. They ran as fast as he could manage down the path to his truck. It was more running than he’d done in a year. Every joint in his body screamed with pain, but nothing was going to slow him down.
Running up to his friend’s house, he realized that, by parking here, he might have killed this man and his entire family. Seth rang the bell.
“Heya, Henry,” Seth said.
“Seth!” Henry said.
“I’m wondering if I can trouble you for a bowl for my dog,” Seth said. “We’ve been out at the ranch, and she’s thirsty. I ran out.”
Clara did her part by letting her tongue hang out. Henry knelt down to pet her.
“I love this dog,” Henry said. “She’s so sweet.”
“The feeling is mutual,” Seth smiled.
They followed Henry into the kitchen, where he gave Clara a bowl of water.
“You in town for a while?” Seth asked after they had caught up.
“We’re leaving in a couple hours,” Henry said. “Back to work tomorrow. You know how it goes.”
“I do.”
“Feel free to stay here if you want to get away from that old bag,” Henry grinned.
Seth laughed. After a few minutes, Seth thanked him for the water and parking spot and made his way back out on to the highway.
He didn’t take a full breath until he saw Ava’s face at the pizza place. She took one look at him and finished her beer. Ava hopped into the back of the truck while Bob got into the passenger seat. Bob knew Seth well enough to know that something was going on. To cover Seth’s silence, Ava and Bob chatted about the recent trip to London. They dropped Bob at his home a few blocks away and pulled in through the gate at the back of the house. As the gate closed, Seth could have sworn that he saw Davies’s limousine go past. Seth didn’t look at Ava until they were in the house and the door was locked. He pulled her into his arms and pressed his face into her hair.
“What is it?” Ava asked.
“I . . .” Seth swallowed hard.
“This isn’t like you, O’Malley,” Ava said.
“He’s got me really spooked,” Seth said. “That’s all.”
“He?”
“Davies.”
“Brent Davies?” Ava snorted. “Why would he spook you?”
“He killed Everest,” Seth said.
“Brent Davies did that to Everest?” Ava looked shocked.
“It’s a long story, but yes, Davies is the murderer,” Seth said.
“Oh.” Ava’s voice was quiet and a little small. Her eyes glazed over, and she stared off in the distance.
“I have files from great detectives, better detectives than me, Ava. He tricked them, played cat and mouse with them until he killed them, or, worse, they killed themselves. I can show you . . .”
“No.” Ava’s head moved up and down in a nod. “It’s so far-fetched, ridiculous really, I mean he’s the State Attorney, and yet . . . it makes perfect sense, like something I’ve known all along.”
She looked up at him.
“I believe you,” Ava nodded.
“He tracked me to White Ranch and . . .”
Seth gave an involuntary shudder.
“We need to talk to Dale and Maresol,” Seth said. “Éowyn and Switch.”
“I’ll call,” Ava said.
She turned to move away from him, and then rushed back into his arms.
“You stay safe, O’Malley,” Ava said.
“That’s the plan,” Seth said, with confidence, because he knew he should say it to assure Ava.
He kissed her hair, and she left to make the calls. He watched her go, and picked up his cellphone. He was going to break the phone when he realized that it could be quite useful. As long as he put the battery in only when he wanted Davies to know where he was, this single device might give him an edge.
He would need any edge he could beg, borrow, or steal.
|-||-|||-||-|||-||-|||-||-|||-||-|||-||-|||-||-|||