Sunset Over Misty Lake

by Margaret Standafer

  Riley was right next to her, Joe was at the door, Cort was watching on camera, Karen and Shauna were upstairs, and Jake was on his way with Bud. Still, watching Cassie offer herself up as bait made it hard to stay in his seat.

  Frank fiddled with the dials on his camera. He knew every one of his cameras inside and out, backward and forward. He knew how to adjust for low lighting, how to zoom in or pan out, how to focus or switch to video, all without lifting the camera to his face, yet he found himself muttering, ‘don’t fail me now’ more than once to his trusted Canon.

  He’d snapped a series of pictures as Joshua mixed Cassie’s drink. While Frank hadn’t detected anything being added to the drink, he hoped there would be something to find when the photos were studied closeup.

  Frank shifted, forcing himself to focus on the slot machine for a while. He itched to turn back and watch every move Cassie made—and every move Joshua made—but couldn’t risk staring.

  He wouldn’t be the only one staring. Since Cassie had walked in and taken a seat at the bar, she’d drawn the attention of a half dozen different men who’d been none too subtle about their staring.

  If she knew, she didn’t let on. Frank supposed it came from years of standing in front of a camera. Even if she hadn’t lived that lifestyle for a long time, the experience was part of her, and she used it like a pro. She smiled sweetly with just the smallest hint of teasing. She toyed with the ends of her hair, crossed and uncrossed her endless legs, and kept up eye contact with Joshua. Frank knew what it felt like to be the focus of that eye contact and though he knew Cassie was playing a part, he wanted to climb over the bar and wring Joshua’s neck.

  The whole thing couldn’t be over soon enough.

  Bud didn’t use the siren and lights, but did an impressive job weaving through traffic to get them to Mystique in record time. As Cort had said, Bianca was waiting and led them to the security office.

  Bud hadn’t shouted when Jake told him what they were doing, but in a matter-of-fact tone, he’d demanded Jake immediately call it off. A loud, matter-of-fact tone. Jake refused, Bud insisted, and they spent most of the ride to Mystique going back and forth.

  Somehow, in the time since his borderline-insane family had sprung their scheme on him, Jake had come around to their way of thinking. He had no doubt Joshua would leave town in a matter of hours. If they didn’t catch him now, they’d never catch him. While he understood Bud’s position, for the first time in a long time, Jake was viewing a police matter from a citizen’s perspective. A concerned, emotionally involved, citizen.

  By the time they reached Mystique, Bud was mostly on board. He radioed his department to start work on a warrant for Joshua’s accomplice, Brendan Pike.

  Cort handled introductions and Trey brought them up to speed on how he was monitoring not only the bar, but the elevator lobby and the fourth-floor hallway.

  Bud had questions for Trey so while they talked, Jake pulled Cort aside.

  “Have you watched since Cassie sat down?”

  “Just about. We saw him mix her drink, saw Cassie drop something so she could switch drinks with Riley, then start sipping at that drink. No problems so far.”

  A little bit of relief washed over Jake, but they weren’t in the clear yet.

  “In your strategy sessions did you talk about how long Cassie should wait, how much she should drink, before she feigns tiredness and dizziness?”

  Cort beamed. “You’d have been proud of your sister. Shauna researched the effects of date rape drugs to the point that I expected her computer searches to lead the police straight to her door. Fifteen minutes to an hour. Cassie will keep it on the shorter side. I’d expect her to start acting soon.”

  Jake was proud of Shauna. He was proud of all of them. He wasn’t ready to change his mind on the fact that they were all nuts, but for nuts, they’d done a thorough job.

  Bud joined them.

  “Trey has things well under control as far as watching what happens in there. I have back-up on the way to cover the exits. When it comes time to grab him, you need to let us do our job.”

  Jake agreed.

  “That means you need to tell your crack team to step aside.”

  “It’s almost as though you know them,” Jake said. “I’ll make sure they stay out of your way.”

  While they talked and planned, no one noticed the technician who slipped from the room.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  CASSIE KEPT AN eye on the time and knew she’d been nursing her drink for twenty minutes. Joshua had helped three other customers but had come back to chat after each one. She didn’t think she was imagining him studying her a little more closely each time he returned.

  Riley had wandered off about five minutes ago, the untouched drink in hand. Part of the plan. Since they’d had some interaction, since he’d been seated so close, it would only be normal for him to react in some way if Cassie started feeling unwell. To try to help. Best if he wasn’t there. Cassie didn’t know where he was but was confident he wasn’t far.

  Cassie lifted her hand in front of her mouth as she yawned.

  “Oh, excuse me. I guess I didn’t sleep well last night.”

  “Are you staying here? If it was loud and you were disturbed, I’ll inform management and see that the issue is resolved.”

  “You really are the sweetest, aren’t you?” She gave him her biggest smile. “Now that you mention it, it was a bit noisy last night. I’m in 418. I think there was a party somewhere nearby. It was probably a one-time thing. Don’t worry about it.”

  “I’ll mention it and the staff will make extra checks tonight. We don’t want you disturbed two nights in a row.”

  Cassie yawned again. “That might be a good idea.”

  Cops in place near elevators and at all exits. Jake and Cort in security office with Bud and Mystique team. Cassie, you’re on.

  Joe didn’t need to read the text twice. He was inside and circling the bar in under thirty seconds.

  Cassie felt her phone vibrate.

  “I wonder if you’d get me a glass of water?” she asked Joshua.

  Her smile wasn’t quite as big, her eyes weren’t quite as bright.

  “Certainly.”

  As soon as he stepped away, Cassie peeked at the phone she’d kept in her lap. Once she’d read it, she deleted the entire chain and tucked her phone in her purse.

  “Here you go.”

  “Thank you.” Cassie took a sip then set down the glass so hard it wobbled and barely stayed upright. “I don’t feel so well. I knew I shouldn’t have eaten lobster last night. It never agrees with me.”

  “I’m sorry. Can I get you something? Can I call someone to help you?”

  “No, no, that’s not…um…there’s no one…” Cassie wiped her hand over her mouth. “I think I need to lie down.”

  She looked around from one side of the room to the other.

  “I don’t know…I don’t remember where the elevator is. Can you help me?”

  She stood, stumbling a bit as she did so. Joshua reached over the bar to steady her.

  “Stay right there. Give me just a minute.”

  “Okay,” Cassie mumbled. She kept one eye on Joshua as he hurriedly dumped her drink, rinsed the glass, stashed it in the middle of a tray of dozens of other glasses, then was at her side, taking her elbow and leading her across the casino floor.

  Shauna got texts from Jake, Joe, Riley, and Frank one on top of the other.

  “They’re moving,” she said to Karen.

  Karen dropped to the bed. “Cassie’s got to be okay. She’s just got to be okay.”

  “She will be. She will be.”

  Shauna repeated the mantra as much to assure herself as to assure Karen.

  “There,” Trey pointed. “We can follow them on this camera until…” He paused and watched. “Until they get here, and they move to this camera. They’re headed for the elevators.”

  “My guys will nab him as soon as he pushes the b
utton,” Bud said.

  Cort watched Cassie move from one screen to the next, stumbling and tottering with Joshua doing his best to keep her upright.

  “Not too much, Cassie,” he mumbled to himself, but it wasn’t necessary. She tottered enough that he figured Joshua bought her act hook, line, and sinker, but not so much that she attracted attention from anyone around them.

  When they left the casino floor and approached the elevators, the camera switched again and Cort got his first close-up look at Joshua’s face.

  His heart stopped.

  A second later, Joshua shifted and Cort’s view was obstructed.

  “Rewind!” He demanded. “Back it up, show me his face again!”

  “It’s recording. Don’t worry, we’ll have all the evidence we need,” Trey said.

  “Back it up!”

  Everyone froze as Cort’s words boomed and echoed off the walls. Cort didn’t notice. He couldn’t take his eyes from the screen, holding his breath and waiting for another clear look at the man’s face.

  “Cort?”

  He heard Jake, but not until Jake laid a hand on his arm to get his attention.

  “What is it, Cort?”

  “They have to back up the video. Right now. Get them to do it, Jake.”

  Only twice in his life had Cort felt so helpless. Once was the past winter when he’d watched Shauna try to save his dog and plunge through the ice into a freezing Misty Lake. The other…”

  “Laney, back it up.” Now Trey was shouting. “Where’s Laney? She was just here.”

  Cort heard a muffled oath before Trey started pushing buttons. Cort watched the screen.

  “There! Stop!”

  He gripped the back of the chair and squeezed while he stared, trying to make sense out of what he saw. Emotions he’d done his best to block for years, assailed him. Clenched as tightly as they were on the chair, his hands still started to shake. The rest of his body threatened to follow suit. Needing an outlet, he forced one of his hands free, fisted it, and used it to pummel the back of the chair.

  “Get him. Get him now.”

  Bud and Jake started to ask questions, but those questions were drowned out.

  “Trey, we lost him.”

  Cassie let herself be guided to the elevators. She could hardly stand his touch but told herself it was only another minute or two and the police would grab him. The elevators were right there, just a few feet away, when Cassie caught a glimpse of a terrified looking girl wave at Joshua and shake her head.

  Cassie had to fight to stay limp when Joshua changed directions and ducked into a bathroom, pulling her with him.

  “What…tired.”

  She wanted to scream, she wanted to fight, but she was terrified of tipping him off. She had to play her part just a little longer until the police got there.

  Once Joshua ushered Cassie from the casino floor, Joe headed toward Frank. Riley came from the opposite direction and they converged alongside the row of slot machines.

  “I need to follow her,” Frank said.

  “We can’t,” Riley told him. “It’s only another minute or two and the police will have him. If we follow, we could blow everything. Even with cops at the doors, he could know another way out.”

  Frank twisted the camera strap between his hands as he paced in a circle. “What about the drink? Did you take care of the drink?”

  Riley patted the backpack he carried. “Glass and contents inside the evidence bag we swiped from Jake.”

  Nervous energy made it impossible for Joe to stand still. He walked, with Frank and Riley following, as far as he dared without risking being seen if Joshua turned. But if Joshua couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see him.

  “Frank’s right,” Joe said, “we can’t just stand here. We need to follow Cassie.”

  They looked at one another for a split second before all three charged from the casino toward the elevators.

  “What do you mean, we lost him?” Trey barked. “How?

  “I don’t know. He was right there on this camera,” the tech pointed, “headed for the elevators, but here are the elevators and he’s not there.”

  “He couldn’t have gone far,” Bud said. “Aren’t there other cameras?”

  “Pull up the other lobby cameras,” Trey instructed. “And where the hell is Laney?”

  “I’m not waiting,” Cort said and pushed his way from the room with Jake on his heels. Bud shouted after them, but neither listened.

  The bathroom was deserted. When Joshua dropped her into a chair and turned back to the bathroom door, Cassie didn’t know what to do.

  No, she decided, she did know what to do. She jumped to her feet, clenched her fists, and got ready for a fight.

  Joshua was leaning over, ready to squeeze a wedge under the door when Cassie came up behind him. At the same time she shoved him forward with all her might, the door flew open and smacked him in the head. He dropped to the floor and didn’t move. Cassie didn’t know if he was stunned, unconscious, or dead. She wasn’t going to wait around to find out.

  When she went to step over him, caught her heel on his apron, and pitched forward, a woman with bright green hair and kind eyes caught her in her arms.

  “You must be Cassie,” the woman said, and hugged her close. “You’re going to be fine, sweetie, just fine.”

  Cassie pulled back and looked at the woman. Relief flooded through her from head to toe. Her body went limp. “And you must be Opal.”

  Joe flew around the corner, Frank and Riley only steps behind. When Jake and Cort came around the opposite corner, they nearly crashed into one another.

  “Did they get on the elevator?” Joe demanded.

  “We don’t know,” Jake said. “We lost sight of them.”

  “You what?” Frank roared. “Where’s Cassie? For God’s sake, where’s Cassie?”

  Before Frank got an answer, he got Cassie in his arms. “Frank,” she said as she ran to him.

  “Bathroom, right down the hall,” Opal said, keeping one eye trained on the door a few feet away. “He’s in there, out cold.”

  Bud arrived in time to hear Opal, signaled to one of the cops who had followed him, and they headed in the direction Opal pointed. “Wait here,” Bud told them.

  “I don’t think so,” Cort growled. He stormed after Bud.

  “What’s that all about?” Joe asked.

  “I don’t know. He’s hardly spoken in the past few minutes except to demand the security team give him a good look at Joshua’s face.”

  Joe’s gaze followed Cort, but he quickly turned to Cassie. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

  She’d squeezed out of Frank’s vice-like grip enough to turn to face them. “Scared me, didn’t hurt me. Thanks to Opal.”

  They took turns introducing themselves.

  “She would have handled him on her own, but I’m glad I was there. I’m glad this is over.”

  “We’re all glad this is over,” Jake said.

  “Shauna and Karen.” Joe said. “Did anyone text them? They’ve got to be frantic.”

  The next few minutes were frantic. Joe texted Shauna, and they all reunited in front of the elevators until Trey insisted they move to the security office in an attempt to disperse the crowd that had formed to watch the scene unfold. Karen didn’t want to see Joshua; neither did Cassie. After more hugs and more reassurances that everyone was okay, Opal led the two of them to an employee lounge. Shauna refused to go until she saw Cort.

  Once they were in the security room that Trey had cleared of his employees, questions were asked and answered by whoever could provide an answer. The answer no one could provide had to do with Cort.

  “Where is he?” Shauna demanded.

  “He followed Bud. He must still be there,” Jake said.

  Shauna wanted to find him, but the cop outside the door refused to let anyone leave without the okay from Bud. They waited impatiently until finally the door opened and two cops led in a handcuffed and dazed Jos
hua followed by Bud and Cort.

  Cort looked sick, Joe thought, sick but enraged. Splotches of bright color on his cheeks made him appear feverish. His hands shook and his eyes were glassy but as wild as a caged animal’s.

  He barely responded to Shauna, just kept those wild, glassy eyes on Joshua.

  “If you’ll show us the way,” Bud said to Trey, “we’ll take him out that back way you mentioned so as to not cause any more commotion in the lobby.”

  “Appreciate that,” Trey said. He nodded at the cops holding Joshua. “If they want to pull a car up first, it would be easier.”

  Trey stepped out to direct the cops. Bud read Joshua his rights. That’s when Cort spoke up.

  “You might want to address him by another name. Derek Barnes. That was his name when he killed my sister.”

  Barnes lifted his head enough to sneer at Cort.

  “Cort?” Shauna clutched his arm. “What do you mean? Your sister? No. How can that be? You’re sure? Her voice cracked and she looked helplessly back at her brothers.

  “I’m sure. Just as I’m sure I will do everything in my power to make certain he never again sees the light of day.” There was no emotion in Cort’s voice, just a steely monotone recital of what Joe had no doubt would be Joshua’s future.

  “It seems like we have a lot to talk about,” Bud said to Joshua. “I look forward to it.”

  Trey returned to tell Bud the car was waiting. Bud started to lead Joshua from the room. It seemed too easy, Joe thought. Joshua was getting off too easy. Joe looked at Cort and at his brothers and knew they agreed.

  “Jake?” When Jake looked his way, Joe cocked his head and lifted two fingers alongside his leg. Jake took the hint.

  “Bud, I wonder if I could have a minute?”

  Bud stopped, looked at Jake, looked back at the rest of the group, and if Joe wasn’t mistaken, one corner of Bud’s mouth twitched.