Toxin Alert

by Tyler Anne Snell

  Carly had no idea how much she’d just affected Noah with her words. They reached through his attraction to her, his respect and awe at her dedication and wit, and landed next to a younger version of him, trying to explain to an entire town why he didn’t leave Potter’s Creek.

  It made him smile.

  Really smile.

  Because Carly had no idea she’d just given him something he’d been wanting almost his entire life.

  Understanding.

  “Maybe I can cook you dinner tonight.” Noah heard himself say it before he realized how out of the blue it sounded. He hurried to expand. “I mean to try to bring some stress-free dining to a stressful case. And, well, to thank you for everything you’ve been doing because you might not ever get that from anyone else here.”

  Carly tensed. Noah was worried he’d overstepped again. He went back to looking out of the windshield to give her privacy to come up with a way to say no.

  “Maybe if I play my cards right Dot will let me bring over some Christmas cookies.”

  There was a smile in her voice.

  Noah chuckled.

  “I wouldn’t say no to that.”

  Their personal conversation switched gears as Noah directed them to the road that ran behind the Kellogg property. Carly pulled over onto the grass.

  There was no more talk about Christmas cookies or finding the light in the darkness.

  She got out of the vehicle and went right up to the dirt road, eyes down and focused.

  Noah went farther down from her, eyes also on the road.

  He didn’t have to be a trained agent to see what she was seeing.

  “It looks like someone wrecked out recently,” he said when Carly showed up at his side.

  “You said this road gets awful when it snows or rains, right? It’s done both since I’ve been here, but if someone carrying a heavy load spun out in the mud? Then it might still be here for us now.”

  Noah agreed. It looked like someone had gone too fast and lost control enough to use up the entire road before going into the grass, kicking up chunks of both along the way.

  “So if this was the person who was carrying the anthrax—” he started.

  “Then I’d bet my badge that they weren’t local,” Carly finished.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Answers.

  What Carly had been looking for since before their plane touched down.

  She wasn’t even picky in the beginning about how many she could get.

  Just one would be nice.

  Instead the questions came. The ones that were standard: Who was behind the attack? How did they do it? Why?

  But then they split into more, complicated questions: Where was David Lapp? How was Rodney Lee involved? Were they connected to the anthrax attacks?

  Never mind Carly falling prey to her own personal questions: Why was Noah Miller so attractive? Why couldn’t she stop thinking about him? Had his offer to make her dinner been meant as a date?

  As many questions as she had piling up, Carly nearly jumped for joy when a few answers found their way to her while inside David Lapp’s bedroom an hour later.

  Axel walked around the room, looking for something, clearly excited as he spoke.

  “Talia’s apartment was empty,” he said after she walked inside. “But not empty. It was like someone had ransacked the place, looking for something. Just like in here.” Ransacked was an understatement. Max seeing David’s bedroom through the window had been the reason why they’d first come inside the house in the first place. The room looked like a tornado had torn through it. The team had done a search after their first encounter with Rodney at the property, but now Axel and Carly were taking a second look.

  “So, wait.” Nothing was making sense to Carly. “Who do you think was looking for something?”

  Axel kept moving things around, latex gloves a flash of blue as they crossed over the mass of clutter.

  “At first I thought that maybe David somehow connected with Rodney and his girlfriend and took something from them. Then they came back here to try to find it. Or vice versa. Talia has no priors but since Rodney has a drug history, I was thinking maybe David might have gotten tied up in something like that with him.”

  “At first,” Carly repeated. “What do you think now?”

  Axel’s spine zipped up, standing straight as an arrow. There was something in his hand. It was a picture, but he didn’t show her right away.

  He was grinning.

  That I got something grin.

  “This room and Talia’s apartment were both basically trashed in the same way. There was anger and aggression. Things were destroyed even though there was no real reason to do it.”

  “Whoever was looking for something was pissed, is what you mean.”

  Axel handed over the picture.

  “I think it was Rodney, but I don’t think he was looking for something. I think he was looking for someone.”

  It had been folded several times, making creases across the face of a young woman. She was sitting on the floor, back leaning against a small bed. Just by looking at the picture, Carly was left with the impression that the woman was shy. Reserved. Holding back but still smiling.

  She reminded Carly of herself.

  “Who is this?”

  Axel’s grin of knowledge only spread.

  “That’s Talia Clark.” He stepped aside and motioned to the bed, flipped over on the floor, the wooden posts broken with unnecessary force.

  “And that’s the same bed from the picture,” she realized.

  Axel nodded.

  “You said Rob Cantos used the word ‘obsessed’ when describing how Lee talked about Talia. He even seemed put off about the relationship, maybe subconsciously so.”

  “Yeah. None of them seemed to be fans.”

  “I think that’s because it wasn’t a two-sided kind of love. On a hunch, I had Opaline look into Talia’s medical history and in the last two years alone she was admitted three times into the emergency room with a concussion, a broken rib and a fractured cheekbone.”

  “Rodney was abusing her.”

  Carly could still feel the occasional throb of the cut on her arm that the man had given her. Her body was still sore in places from him using his sheer power against her.

  Believing he was an abuser wasn’t at all a stretch of the imagination.

  “But all three times she was quoted saying it was because she was clumsy and nothing more.”

  “So she didn’t report him.”

  He nodded.

  “She doesn’t have a support system, which couldn’t have helped. Her father passed away when she was in middle school and she aged out of foster care.” His excitement dulled. Carly understood the feeling. Having a lead was great, but a lot of the times the lead itself was heartbreaking.

  Axel pointed at the picture then thumbed back at the bed.

  “Now what if, at some point, some way, David Lapp meets Talia?” he continued. “What if they become friends or fell in love?”

  “His father said he was kicked out of the community for lying, stealing and sneaking out,” Carly realized with a start.

  “Going against the tenants of your religion and jeopardizing your entire life and connection to your family? That’s not something you usually do unless there’s a really good reason.”

  Carly looked down at the smiling Talia.

  “Unless it’s for love.”

  Her thoughts split two ways at once.

  She imagined David Lapp giving up everything to be with a girl.

  Then, almost in sync, she thought about Noah.

  Is that why he had left the community?

  For a girl?

  For young love?

  “I could be wrong but I think David Lapp was helping Talia hide
from Rodney, and I think Rodney knew it,” Axel said. “That’s why this place is trashed. He was looking for something, but was pissed about it. He probably did the same at her apartment trying to figure out where she went.”

  Carly shook her head a little. Not because she didn’t think his assessment was right—in fact, she believed it was the truth as soon as he said it—but because there was still one piece of the David Lapp puzzle that didn’t make a lick of sense.

  “But what about the chair in the basement?” she asked. “That took time and forethought. Two things I’m not so sure Rodney Lee would have had if he came looking for David and Talia. I’d think, based on this mess, that he’s more of a punch first, ask questions never kind of guy.”

  At that, Axel sighed. He looked around the room then shrugged.

  “If David was here, and the dried blood is any indication, Rodney could have tortured him for information on Talia. But you’re right. The setting up for the chair doesn’t match up with the profile I’ve made of Rodney.”

  “Unless he had a partner.” Carly didn’t want to say it because it only made everything more complicated. Yet, since the first moment she’d seen the chair, she’d felt something about it didn’t fit.

  “If that’s true then where are they and where are David Lapp and Talia now?”

  Another round of questions.

  Carly added to it.

  “And are they connected to the anthrax attacks or did we accidentally step into another case altogether?”

  “I don’t know, but it sure feels like somewhere in the world a clock started ticking a lot faster.”

  Which was Axel-speak for they were running out of time.

  For finding David Lapp and Talia? Carly wasn’t sure yet.

  But at least they had a profile and good guess on the David Lapp situation and Carly was going to count that as an answer.

  They shared a small silence, both processing their own questions, when a bark sounded outside. Selena and Blanca were on the lawn. Selena had another answer to another question when they came outside to meet her on the porch.

  “I found bullet casings in the woods outside of the inn,” she jumped in. “From a .22. CSI came in to grab them but while I waited, Blanca and I took a look around the area.” Selena’s nostrils flared. “There are a lot of footsteps leading to the tree line that has an unobstructed view to the front of the inn.”

  “And when you say a lot...” Carly started.

  “I mean at the very least three distinctive prints, despite the rain and snow we’ve gotten since being here,” she finished.

  Axel’s brow pulled in together.

  “Which means whoever was out there, they were out there recently,” he said. “Someone’s been watching us.”

  “It could be out of curiosity, and the shots could just be boredom or rebellion like Max guessed,” Carly said, playing the devil’s advocate.

  Selena shook her head. Something was eating at her. Something she didn’t care for.

  “There was another trail that branched off from the original cluster that were fresh. I followed them right up to the back porch of the inn.”

  That got the hair on the back of Carly’s neck to rise a little.

  “You think one of our peeping Toms came in for a closer look?”

  Selena’s lips thinned.

  “Who’s to say they just stopped at the porch?”

  Carly didn’t like that thought. Not one bit.

  * * *

  THE THIRD AND fourth answers Carly was given felt more solid. She had relocated to the community barn and had been jumping between calls when Max’s number showed up on the caller ID.

  “We found the van, the one the perp used.”

  Carly actually squealed.

  “You did? How? And where?”

  “Since you told us about that road being harsh on a vehicle, we threw a Hail Mary and called around to see if any of the mechanics had a work order on a van or truck.”

  “That would be incredibly stupid not to just destroy the vehicle and move on,” Carly had to point out.

  “Exactly, unless you borrowed or rented the vehicle because you needed something bigger than you had.”

  “So they loaded their vehicle with anthrax and then took it to a mechanic to fix because it got busted up a little during delivery?” Carly could hear skepticism coming out clearly in her own words.

  “Oh, there were no vans or trucks brought in to be fixed,” Max corrected. “But there was a work order that the boss flagged because it was a little on the unusual side.”

  “Oh?”

  Max waited a beat for dramatic effect.

  It worked, because Carly scooted to the edge of the chair she’d been on.

  “Someone called in asking for the name of the best car detailer they knew and offered big bucks to have them come do it on site and as quickly as possible.”

  Carly could feel an adrenaline surge coming. One that came with leads actually leading to something tangible. Something they could use.

  “And do we know who made that call?”

  Max’s voice fell a little.

  “Not yet, but we did trace where the call came from and where the detailing job took place. In fact, I’m standing in front of the van right now. Can you guess where we are?”

  Max didn’t give her the time. Which was fine by her. She was all about getting answers sooner rather than later.

  “We’re in an underground parking garage beneath The Grand Casino. And, Carly? It belongs to the casino. As far as we’ve been able to see, it has been checked out for maintenance for over a month.”

  “Can they prove where it was during maintenance?”

  “We’re running that down now but, based on how quickly they’re calling up the food chain to the big boss, I’m going to take a stab in the dark and say they actually had no clue where it was until they found it down here all clean and shiny like brand new.”

  Carly chewed on her lip in thought. If anyone had been in the barn with her, she bet she would have looked more than a little disoriented as she ran all the questions and theories through her head before she finally landed on what she wanted to happen next.

  “We need to find out who took the van in the first place, who had access to it, any security cameras that clocked it coming in and out of the parking garage, and a list of employees if it wasn’t stolen.” She stood, adrenaline now in full surge. “I’m coming your way now. I’ll let you know when I’m there.”

  They ended the call and Carly went around collecting her jacket, keys and credentials, so focused on the new information that she almost didn’t see the woman until she was right in front of her.

  “Sorry,” she said. “I knocked but I don’t think you heard me.”

  Carly scanned the woman in a flash. Her dress was long and beige and a bonnet was wrapped on top of light brown hair in a tight bun. Her face was devoid of makeup but filled with worry. It showed on her as she wrung her hands in front of her. Carly thought the woman looked to be in her late-forties.

  “It’s okay,” Carly assured her. “How can I help you?”

  The woman looked like she wanted to say a lot but, instead, seemed to choose her words carefully. Her eyes skirted from Carly’s gaze to the ground as she spoke.

  “I know you are looking for who was behind the attacks and I think I found something today that you should see.”

  “What is it?” That definitely wasn’t what Carly had been expecting. Not only was someone from the community talking to her, the outsider, but she was trying to help.

  “I wasn’t supposed to tell you so we need to hurry,” the woman urged.

  A look of fear swept across her expression.

  It propelled Carly forward in an act of comfort through close proximity.

  The woman looked like a scared an
imal about to bolt. And Carly wasn’t about to scare her off.

  “What did you find?” she asked, making sure to keep her voice low and soothing.

  “I’m—I’m not sure, but let me take you there and you can see for yourself.” She paused. “Only you. I only trust you. Please.”

  Carly looked at the woman, really looked at her.

  She’d seen something, all right.

  That much was clear just by her body language.

  Never mind the worry and fear written across her face.

  Carly had to go.

  Maybe she would get her fifth answer for the day.

  “All right, show me.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Noah started cooking early.

  Gina eyed the progress from the kitchen bar with an eyebrow raised but her opinions off. That was, until she caught Noah checking his phone.

  Again.

  “She’s got a case to work,” she finally said. “The sun hasn’t even set yet. Stop counting the minutes or the hours are going to feel worse.”

  “I’m not counting the minutes,” Noah defended.

  Gina didn’t buy it.

  “You’re not the laid-back, relaxed Noah I’m used to seeing, either. Is this dinner you invited Agent Welsh to a friendly one or romantic?” She made a point to look at the countertop. He’d pulled out all the good dishes, which meant real plates were out on the dining table. Something he planned to set up when he was waiting for stew to finish later.

  Not exactly normal behavior for him.

  “Friendly,” he said, all gruff.

  Gina snorted.

  “You may say that word but I think you’re hoping for the other one.” Gina, who had never been one to nag him about the romance department, took a surprising stand. “I like her.”

  His surprise must have shown. She rolled her eyes.

  “I can like people, thank you very much,” she added. “It just doesn’t happen often.”