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The buzz of his phone woke Hawke. He glanced at his watch and shot out of bed. He’d overslept. He only did that when he came back from trips to the mountains.
The message he’d set the night before blinked at him. He dressed and headed down to feed the horses. Dog trotted ahead of him, before charging out of the barn. Once the animals were cared for, he returned to the apartment, made coffee, and dialed Sarah White’s number.
“Hello?”
“Sarah, this is Trooper Hawke. Do you have a moment to answer a couple questions?”
The noises coming from her end of the call stopped. “Yes. I heard you found Ms. Wallen.” There was a pause. “Did you find Barney?”
“We did find Ms. Wallen. She didn’t see who assaulted her. No, we didn’t find your brother. I was wondering, has Jared been taking off more than usual lately?”
She inhaled. “You think he’s been helping Barney, more than providing money and a sleeping bag.”
“Well, he’s the only person I can think of, and he did give his uncle a sleeping bag. By the way, we found Ms. Wallen in a sleeping bag. We’ll need you to go over to the Sheriff’s Office and tell us if it’s the one from your house.”
“Of course! You know you’ll get all of my help. I can’t believe my brother is doing this, but at the same time, he’s always had a bit of a mean streak. I remember in school, he was nasty to Toby. Made him do things and when Toby’d get caught, Barney wouldn’t stick up for him.”
“Do you know where Toby lives?” Hawke wondered if Barney still had a hold over the drug addict.
“No. I can ask Earl when I get to work.”
“No, I’ll come by and ask Earl myself. Thank you. Do remember to go by the Sheriff’s Office.”
“I will.”
The connection ended. Toby Gehry and Barney Price. Two unlikely accomplices, but they both had a lot at stake if Lange decided to press charges of manslaughter against them for the death of his friend.
«»«»«»
The Rusty Nail Café was quiet when Hawke entered. Justine stood behind the counter, and Merrilee was flipping pancakes in the kitchen. He took his usual stool at the counter.
After he’d finished his conversation with Sarah White, he’d thought about going to the courthouse first, however, Donner had called and asked that he update the case file. Which led Hawke to breakfast in Winslow before he went to the office.
“You’re looking pretty smug for having unsolved murders in the county,” Justine said, pouring him a cup of coffee.
“My usual,” he replied.
She scribbled on her notepad as she walked to the kitchen window. With a flourish, she snapped a ticket up on the wheel.
The bell over the door jingled. Hawke glanced over his shoulder as one of the usual morning patrons came through the door. Bob Gunther.
Seconds later the man sat down beside Hawke. He bumped Hawke with his shoulder. “Who was that woman you were laughing with at the Blue Elk last night?” the man asked loud enough for half the café to hear.
Hawke spun the night before in his mind. He didn’t remember seeing Gunther there, but he hadn’t scoped out the whole place or paid much attention to the people going in and out. Which was unlike him. Even when he wasn’t looking for a murderer, he checked out everyone around him. But last night he’d been focused on Dani.
“A friend,” Hawke said, not glancing at the man.
Justine walked over and filled Bob’s coffee cup. “A friend. Anyone I know?”
Hawke grinned at her. “I was told you two are part of the Hawke’s friendship club.”
Her brow wrinkled and she stared at him for several seconds before she laughed. “Oh, you were with Dani.”
“Yeah. She called and wanted to celebrate a good season at the lodge.” He shrugged. “We had burgers at the Blue Elk.”
“That’s quite the place to celebrate,” Justine said sarcastically, picking up two plates at the kitchen window and delivering them to a table.
“Any chance I can get her name and number?” Gunther asked.
Hawke didn’t have any claim on her and he was pretty sure she’d turn the man down, but he also didn’t have the right to give her name and number to anyone. “I’d rather not. If you want her name and number, you’ll have to ask Justine for it.”
Justine delivered his breakfast at that moment. “Ask me for what?”
“I wanted Hawke to give me the lady’s name and number.” Gunther picked up his coffee cup. “Looks like he’s keeping her to himself.”
Before Hawke could spin his stool and reply, Justine slapped her hand on the counter.
“He’s not keeping her to himself, he’s protecting her privacy. I sure as hell hope you buffoons in here don’t give my name and number out to every gorilla that comes through and asks for it.” She smiled at Hawke. “Good for you.”
He nodded and dug into his food. It seemed he’d picked a feisty pair of women to be his friends. And two that had a lot more in common than either knew.
After breakfast he headed to the office. He hung his coat over his desk chair, started up his computer, and strolled into the breakroom for a cup of coffee.
Sergeant Spruel walked into the break room. “Are we any closer to finding our suspect?”
“We’re slowly getting there. At least Ms. Wallen wasn’t a fatality.” The fact Price hadn’t killed the woman still bothered Hawke. Why hadn’t Price? He’d seemed to have no problem shooting the others. Why didn’t he shoot the Assistant D.A. who will reconstruct her information and go back and interview everyone again?
It didn’t make any sense to him. Unless she wasn’t gathering information to blame anyone at the party, only the D.A.
“I think we have two things going on.” Hawke went on to tell the sergeant what he thought about Price and the Assistant D.A.
“You’re stretching things a bit to think Price is trying to save his face and Wallen is trying to get the D.A. position.” Spruel pointed to the door. “Get your report typed up and find Price.”
Hawke nodded and headed to his computer. He had all the new information from the day before typed in within the hour. He pulled up the files Donner had amassed on the deaths. He was particularly interested in Ms. Wallen’s family. After reading the report and making a couple of phone calls, he’d determined that Ms. Wallen’s mother was in need of medical care that was going to be expensive. He had a feeling the Assistant D.A. was hoping to get a cash settlement out of Lange with her information.
He added this thought into his report and signed off. Stopping at the sergeant’s door, he said. “Check the file, I found the reason behind Ms. Wallen’s interest in the old case. Headed out.”
In his vehicle, he called dispatch and told them he was on duty.
A call came in of an accident along the Minam River twelve miles out of Eagle as he was pulling out of the parking lot.
“One-zero-zero-two responding,” he said into the mic and flicked on his lights and sirens, heading toward Eagle.
He arrived twenty minutes later. Trooper Shoburg was already on scene and Deputy Alden pulled up behind Hawke.
It was a suburban with a family that had slid on a corner and the front end hung precariously over the edge of the road, dipping toward the cold water below. The river wasn’t deep but it was swift this time of year. It was also cold enough to cause problems, not to mention hinder a rescue.
“I have a chain hooked to the bumper,” Shoburg said when Hawke drove up beside him with his window down.
Hawke waved Alden past him to flag down the traffic coming around the curve and then positioned his pickup to attach the chain. Once Shoburg had the chain hooked, Hawke put his vehicle in reverse and gradually pulled the suburban back onto the road.
“Check your vehicle for damage,” Shoburg was telling the driver, a man of about forty. A pregnant woman and three small children stepped out of the passenger side of the vehicle.
Hawke spotted the woman grab her stomach and hurried over. “Ma’am? Ma’am, are you all right?”
She shook her head. “Contractions.”
“Get this vehicle to the side of the road,” he told the driver. “Your wife’s going into labor. We’ll need the back seat.”
The man stood still, staring at his wife. “She...?”
Shoburg pushed by him to move the vehicle off the side of the road.
Hawke called for an ambulance and escorted the woman to the back seat. “Slide on in there and stay warm.”
“Ooooo,” she moaned and grabbed her belly.
“Ma’am, this looks like your fourth time at this, I imagine you know more about your stages than I do.” Hawke glanced over his shoulder wondering where Shoburg had disappeared. He was a husband and father. He’d be a better person to help this woman than Hawke was. In all his years, he’d only had to deal with one birth. He’d been lucky and shown up at the tail end only moments before the ambulance.
“This is my first.” She laid down on her side and moaned.
He glanced over at the three children gathered around the man. “Sir? Sir? Is there a chance you can come help your wife?”
“I don’t know a thing about this.”
“Uncle Joe, I’m hungry?” a small girl said to the man.
“Uncle Joe, wait until daddy hears about us hanging over the river,” the little boy said.
“Ooooooo,” the woman moaned.
Hawke returned his attention to the woman. He’d heard first time births took a while. He would keep the woman company until the ambulance came. He was pretty sure her rattled husband and the nieces and nephews wouldn’t help the situation any.
“It hurts! It hurts!” The woman shouted and grabbed his arm, clenching like the claws of a large crawdad.
“The baby can’t be coming yet, you just went into labor.” He tried to settled the woman back down on the seat.
“The contractions started before we left Ontario. I didn’t tell Joe because I wanted to get rid of the kids.” She bit down on her bottom lip and moaned.
Hawke glanced around for Shoburg. He was no where to be seen. Taking a deep breath, he said, “Then you better take off your pants and underwear so the baby can come out.”
She stared at him and nodded. “There should be several blankets in here from the kids.”
Hawke closed the door and walked to the back of the vehicle. Opening the back doors, he found a blanket.
“What are you doing with my blanket?” the boy asked, running over.
“Your aunt needs to use it.” He walked to the door.
The boy grabbed at the blanket. “It’s mine.”
“Your aunt is having the baby. She needs it to stay warm. Go back over with your uncle.”
The boy stood beside him pouting.
“Now!” Hawke ordered.
The boy ran back to his uncle and grabbed his leg.
Hawke slowly opened the door. The woman had her lower clothing off. He placed the blanket over her legs and belly. He also noticed the seat was wet. Her water had broke. He wasn’t sure if it had been before he went for the blanket or after.
The woman moaned again.
Hawke knew he should take a look and make sure everything was coming out okay, but he really didn’t want to invade this woman’s privacy.
A shrill whine grew in sound. His heart raced. The ambulance! He glanced down the road back toward Eagle and was happy to see the red and white ambulance barreling down the road toward them.
Roxie was the first to hurry up to the suburban. “What do you have Hawke?”
“A woman having a baby. She’s all yours.” He backed away.
“Did you check to see how far along she is?” Roxie had a smirk on her face.
“Her water broke, and she’s moaning. That’s about as medical as I can tell you.” He stuck his head in the door. “Good luck, Ma’am. You’re in good hands now.”
He walked away from the vehicle and over to the man and children. “What caused you to run off the road?” Hawke pulled out his logbook.
The man nodded toward the vehicle where his wife was giving birth. “I was starting to slow for the curve and Madge cried out, scaring me and my foot pressed on the accelerator. We fishtailed and ended up hanging over the water.” He stared at the cold rushing water. “I’m happy we didn’t go any farther.”
“Me, too. I don’t feel like getting wet today.” He asked for their names and added all the information in the logbook.
Deputy Alden had the traffic moving from his side. The traffic on the far lane had been flowing slowly by after they’d pulled the vehicle to safety.
Hawke returned to his vehicle, turned the heat up, and called in he was available. He needed to go see Earl, the janitor, and find out whether Jared White had been helping his uncle.