“You make sure to take good care of my grandson—or else.”
“Asa, excuse me for a minute,” Gabriel suddenly said. “I need to take care of something, and I’ll be back in just a few minutes.”
Asa watched him go, when a big gray dog came out of the house through the still open door and started sniffing at Grandpa Joe’s boots. The old man tried to send it away, but the dog acted like a puppy and refused to go away.
“Blue,” he said to the dog. “Go away, boy.” But the dog didn’t move, and lay down beside his foot. Giving up on sending the dog away, Grandpa Joe looked back up at her and asked in a stern voice.
“Are you a Salish woman?”
“Yes, my mother is Salish.” The young woman smiled at him, loving how the dog and the old man interacted.
“Good.” He seemed pleased with the fact. “A long time ago, when my brothers were still alive, we used to meet with a few Salish girls, but their brothers weren’t happy about it and never left us in peace. But, we were young and strong then, and it was just a game to us to chase them back to the reservation. One time, one of the boys was too much in love with one of the girls and we had to give him a lesson in how things are done in our world…”
“Grandpa.” A young woman stepped out of the house and interrupted him. “Are you telling another one of your stupid stories?”
Asa had somehow felt hurt by the story told by the old man, but she decided not to show it. She understood how a man as old as Grandpa Joe might not understand what was in his stories.
“Please excuse the old man for his story, Miss,” the young woman said to Asa. “My name is Jane Kimble, and we don’t get many visitors out here.”
“Asa, Asa Clark,” she answered, and accepted her handshake. “I came here to see Gabriel.”
“Come, I will take you to him,” Jane said politely, and turned around, heading off the way Gabriel had disappeared just a few moments before.
“Gabriel seems like a great guy,” Asa commented, while they walked towards the barn. “He must be a great help here.”
“Asa!” Gabriel suddenly called, running towards them. “Sorry for leaving you alone for so long. I am sure Jane took good care of you.”
“No problem.” Asa smiled at him and accepted his kiss gratefully. “This place is amazing.”
“Yes, it is,” the man walking behind Gabriel said. “And you’re right, my brother is a very great help in keeping it this way.”
“David is just kidding,” Gabriel pushed away the compliment. “We all work together for the success of the ranch.”
Asa noticed that David and Ezekiel, their neighbor, were together again, and looked very grave. Gabriel also looked worried, although he tried to act as if everything was okay. He was holding her hand when he introduced her to everyone again.
“Listen,” he turned towards her, after the others had go to the house. “Are you ready to saddle up?”
“Always.” Asa smiled up at him and followed him to the stable. Gabriel gave her a beautiful light brown horse and they rode out across the vast property of the ranch. It was relaxing and exciting to Asa to ride in the open fields together with a man she was really starting to like.
Gabriel used the time they had together to tell her about the ranch, his family, and the way he wanted his future to be. Asa provided some narrative about the times she had been riding with her mother’s family during the summers in and near the reservation, and she asked a few questions about how they took care of their cattle business.
Chapter 16
When they returned from the ride, it was almost time for dinner. Gabriel showed her a room where she could wash up and prepare for the meal. She didn’t waste too much time getting ready and walked into the family's rustic dining hall only a few minutes later. Inside the room were Grandpa Joe, Gabriel, David and his wife Jane, all four of them busy doing something to set the table for dinner.
“Good evening,” Asa said, walking in as they all turned to look at her. Gabriel quickly approached her and guided her to her seat.
They all sat down and once again Asa couldn’t help but notice the way they were interacting with each other. It was as if the old man had been, yet still was the one with the power, but now the control was slowly being taken away from him by David, who looked very comfortable in his new role. His wife, Jane, also seemed comfortable with the situation, and acted as if she was the queen of some imaginary kingdom of hers. Gabriel, on the other hand, was completely out of his depth, and Asa could feel how out of place he was.
The conversation ranged across various topics of ranching, but also arguments around the way the government was working, though it seemed that David and Grandpa Joe were more ‘old school’ and wanted to fiercely protect their way of life, while Gabriel would rather have talked about more pleasant topics. Jane kept a largely superior silence as she presided over the meal. Asa disliked the woman, but kept her feelings under control and as she cared very little about politics, wished to change the subject and break the tension in the room. Asa could see that Gabriel wanted to bring her into his way of life and introduce her to his family.
“There are other things to talk about,” he said at last.
“That’s right,” his brother said. “Leave the main things we care about and talk about things that don’t matter, instead.” Gabriel protested that they had a guest and she didn’t want to hear about ranching, but he was outnumbered by the rest of the family. It made her quite uncomfortable. There were other factors at play here, and at the moment, she could not figure out just what they were.
When the dinner was over and it was time for Asa to leave, Gabriel took her to the car and let her lean against it. “I am sorry for my family,” the man said, leaning down to kiss her on the nose. “They mean well, but can be a bit too much sometimes.”
“I don’t mind,” Asa smiled up at him. “Actually, I like the fact that they are so passionate about their beliefs. And I like them, too. Your grandfather is a real charmer. After meeting him, I understand where you get that smile of yours.”
“Oh, you really know how to make a man feel special,” Gabriel answered, and leaned down to kiss her on the lips, lightly at first, but then putting more passion into it. “You should stay.”
“I would really like that,” Asa agreed. “But, I have a lot to do back in the city and should really get going now.”
“When will I see you again?” Gabriel asked, his lips still too close to hers for Asa to feel comfortable.
“Call me, and we can have another date,” she offered.
“I would really like that,” the man repeated her previous words. “I will call you soon. So, wait for my call.”
With another long kiss, Asa said her goodbye and climbed into the car, heading back to the city with a happy smile on her lips. When she was far enough away and the spell Gabriel had put her under was somehow weakened, Asa started thinking about the last few days and the people she had gotten to know better.
David Kimble, Gabriel’s brother, had turned out to be a simple man, who had been forced to take a leadership role with his family after the untimely death of his father. He was a gruff, humorless man, who was consumed by thoughts of duty, work and worry. His wife, Jane, was very much like him. Asa had noticed that David often talked about having a child, and thought that it really bothered him that he still hadn’t had one. Jane was the one she did not like at all.
Grandpa Joe Kimble, on the other hand, was already seventy-one years old, and although he was old and frail, he still had the spirit of his old self. The man was very aware of the world at large and preferred to live in the close quarters of the ranch rather than face the rigors of that outside world. He had told Asa that his favorite way to pass the time was sitting on his front porch, cursing at invisible people and smoking his tobacco pipe. And yet, she had noticed that his grandchildren, and even their neighbor, Ezekiel Warren, saw the old man as a living icon of their way of life
on the ranch.
Jane Kimble followed the example of the men in the family, and supported her husband in everything he was doing. Jane clearly was fearful that Asa was having too much influence on Gabriel and was distrustful of her. Jane had told Asa that she never wanted anything else from life. In her opinion, what she had now was more than enough for her. That all she wanted was a big happy family and to all live together on the ranch.
In these parts of the country, Asa knew that Jane’s values and work ethic made her a positive example for all the ranchers and farmers. In some ways, she reminded Asa of her own mother and her mother’s family.
Chapter 17
The next day, Asa Clark woke up running late, but couldn’t seem to get out of bed. She was still under a spell from a beautiful dream she had been having of her and Gabriel together, making love. The images of the two of them rolling around on her bed were too powerful for Asa to forget so easily. She was really starting to fall for him, and for the first time in her life that thought wasn’t scaring her.
So, that Monday morning, FBI agent Asa Clark arrived late for work at the FBI field office. No one seemed to notice, except Todd Gibson, who came out of his office and called to her in a sturdy voice.
“Agent Clark, could you come into my office for a moment?” he called.
Asa went in and closed the door.
“Sorry I’m late,” she apologized. “Have we got some new information?” Gibson nodded and indicated a seat. He passed a report across the desk to her and asked if she had anything more to add. She shook her head.
“I did try and get closer to the locals and get a feel for the place.” She took the report and Gibson told her what it contained.
“The lab turned up something from the missing agent’s vehicle,” he pointed out. “On the gas pedal, there was a distinct class of dirt which is found in the eastern part of Kalispell.”
“That’s good news,” Asa said. “I was hoping that would happen and that we could use the results to find out which area they were investigating just before they went missing.”
Agent Clark took the seat in front of his desk and started reading the information provided by the lab. According to them, the dirt had a specific construction, which placed it from a specific area of the country. It seemed that whoever had driven the car had transported the dirt inside on the gas pedal.
Both agents poured over the sediment samples and compared them with the map of the region, which showed the different kinds of dirt found there. After half an hour, they managed to determine that the dirt was coming from a certain region. They were about to sort out which local police jurisdiction they should call for help, when Agent Gibson’s phone rang.
Todd answered the phone, looking at Asa and silently asking her to give him a moment. “Gibson,” he said into the phone. “Can you repeat that once more, please?”
Asa could tell that whatever news he was given was important. Todd stood up and looked concerned. “Okay, understood. We will be there as soon as possible,” he told the caller, before terminating the call.
“That was a local police department,” Gibson said to Asa. “Two unidentified bodies have turned up near Flathead Lake. They could very well be our agents. The area is right and according to the police they have been there for a while.”
“No documents that can help us identify them?” she asked him, standing up too and walking towards the door. “I'll grab my jacket and be ready to go,” she added
Clark took her jacket and slowly walked out of the FBI office, heading towards her car which was parked nearby. Gibson was still nowhere to be seen, so she had some time to gather her thoughts before they headed to the morgue.
Chapter 18
Taking his time to clear his own thoughts, Agent Gibson joined her in the car, and together they headed towards the Kalispell morgue. It wasn’t a long drive, just a few blocks, but it was on both of their minds that these were most probably their missing agents.
In the morgue, the medical examiner, who had examined the bodies, came to talk to them immediately.
“Agents Gibson and Clark,” Todd spoke for both of them. “Can you fill us in on your preliminary findings?”
“Agents, I’m Doctor Malow, I have done the initial assessment work on the two bodies,” the young doctor introduced himself. “I still have a lot to do, full autopsies and formal identification, of course, but I can tell you what I have so far. The two bodies are badly decomposed, but my initial findings match the profiles of the two missing FBI agents, so I feel confident saying these are very likely the missing agents. I am sorry about that, by the way,” the doctor added, looking up at the both of them.
“Another very interesting fact is that both bodies are filled with bullets. Whoever killed them was determined to make sure they were dead...”
Asa visibly shuddered at the news and saw how Gibson tried to hide his own discomfort behind a cough. The medical examiner showed them the photos of the bodies, insisting that it was better for them not to see the real bodies. The photos showed a heap of decomposed flesh, covered in blood and dirt. The carefully photographed bullet entries looked ominous against the dead flesh of the agents.
“From what I can see so far, the multiple bullet entries indicate well-trained shooters, yet not a single bullet hit the vehicle,” Asa Clark pointed out. “That must mean something.”
“That is interesting,” the doctor commented. “But, maybe the two agents simply weren’t in the car when they were killed?”
“There is no maybe about it.” Asa picked up another photo and thought back to the photos of the two agents she had studied in the case file she’d been provided when she was assigned to the case. Two healthy young men ready to turn the world around for what they believed in. Now, here they were, dead, dumped in the wilderness, their decomposing bodies riddled with bullets; meanwhile their killers were still on the loose.
She still couldn’t understand what was going on here, but one thing was for sure, it was serious business. Gibson demanded to see the personal effects of the agents, while Asa remained in the room with the photos and the medical examiner’s preliminary report. She went through the whole thing repeatedly, until it became obvious that there was nothing new.
Cursing under her breath, Asa took out her phone and dialed the number in Salt Lake City, waiting for the Deputy Director to answer. On the third ring, Shepherd answered and Asa prepared herself for yet another hard conversation.
“Asa Clark here, Sir,” she said, and continued. “Two badly decomposed bodies were discovered today, and they appear to be our agents. I’m sorry, Sir.”
“Bodies… right.” The Deputy Director sighed, “I don’t know why, but I’d still hoped for a better result.”
“Full autopsies are pending of course, but these men were shot multiple times, by multiple shooters,” Clark continued. “M.E. says, they’ve been dead for more than a week, so it’s safe to say they were probably killed the same day they disappeared.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right,” Shepherd commented. “Now you have something to work with, Agent. I hope you'll be able to find these men some justice soon.”
“Yes, Sir,” Agent Clark said readily. “We have the site where the bodies were dumped and the one where we found the car. That will help us to triangulate the possible position of the murder.”
“Okay, okay,” Shepherd agreed. “You do just that, but now Agent Clark, please explain to me just what is going on with you. What’s all this I'm hearing about your recent behavior?”
“What recent behavior is that, Sir?” Asa tried to act as if she had no idea what it was all about.
“Let me see.” The Deputy Director didn’t let her escape so easily. “According to Agent Gibson, you have been indulging in some… drinking with the locals. I know I told you to mingle, and while your willingness to follow orders is… admirable, I don’t recall telling you to go quite so far.”
“I’m not sure
what Agent Gibson told you,” Asa said coldly. “But, I haven’t done anything to jeopardize the investigation, I can assure you. All I did was visit a pool hall and play some pool. I made a few friends among the locals and even was invited to one of the ranches around here. It all helps the case.”
“Okay, okay,” Josie Shepherd sighed into the phone at Clark’s angry explanation. “I suppose Gibson may be a bit resentful about an outsider coming in to take over. Anyway, all I want is to see results from now on. Stop any other nonsense and do your job. You’re a good agent, Clark, don’t spoil it with this one.”
Deputy Director Josie Shepherd ended the call and leaned back in her chair. She really needed to become more personally involved in the case. It was big and needed to be resolved quickly and well. And if agent Asa Clark wasn’t able to do so, Shepherd was going to have to intervene herself. Her own bosses were waiting for the case to be concluded.
Back in Montana, Asa Clark was walking quickly out of the city morgue, looking determined. Gibson had already left the building and walked back to the FBI field office.
Chapter 19
With a renewed fervor for the case, Agent Clark decided to start visiting the outlying ranches and farms in the area. According to the scenario she and Gibson had hypothetically described, the agents were killed somewhere close to the city, probably at one of the farms or ranches they had been visiting. Asa had already seen firsthand how local farmers treated strangers and she could imagine what some fanatics could do if they thought the FBI was coming to look into their business.
The working theory was that a group of local crooks had managed to corner the two agents and kill them. Gibson was convinced that Smith and Holliday had managed to step on someone’s toes and had gotten themselves killed. Asa wasn’t so sure about that, and still wanted to think there might be some other explanation. Drugs, she thought. It definitely fit, and history proved that there was usually big money or drugs involved when people were murdered.
Family Ties Mystery Series Box Set Page 6
