Beyond a Doubt

by Colleen Coble

  “Any word on the shooters who came after me?”

  Mason shook his head. “I ran a check on ATVs in the area, but of course that was pretty much a dead end. There are hundreds of them here, just in our county. I just hope forensics can come up with some clue. Houghton is going to pursue some leads on their end at the schools and the mill.”

  Kade stood. “Thanks for the info. Can I remove the yellow tape from the area, or are you still going through everything?”

  “Leave it up another couple of days. I want forensics to have a chance to get all they need.”

  “Will do.” Kade left and hurried out to his truck. Glancing at his watch, he saw he was running late for the press conference to announce the opening of the new baby-wildlife center. He called headquarters and told the secretary to tell Landorf he’d be a little late.

  He drove along dirt roads now thick with mud from the melting snow. More than once his truck slued in the curves. Finally arriving outside the new wildlife center, he sighed when he saw the media vans. There were more than usual. He stepped inside the building, and a barrage of flashes began to go off in his face as photographers took pictures. The room was full to bursting with men and women who turned eager faces to him.

  Blinded by the lights, he stood and gaped at the crowd. What was going on? A new wildlife center wouldn’t generate this kind of frenzy.

  A blond woman he recognized as Dawn Anderson, anchor for KPTV, thrust a mike in his face. “We understand you discovered the murdered body of Benjamin Mallory. Where was the body when you found it?”

  “I—”

  Another reporter interrupted, a man in his midtwenties who wore a button that said CHICAGO’S FAVORITE NEWS. “Is it true, Ranger Matthews, that someone took some shots at you? Do you believe the murder is mob related?”

  Kade felt surrounded by a pack of coyotes. He held up his hands. “I have no idea how you all heard about this, but please address Sheriff Mason Kaleva with your questions. I have nothing to say on the matter. I’m prepared to talk about our new center, but that’s all.”

  Gary Landorf held up a hand. “Please, folks, I’m sure Ranger Matthews will be happy to answer your questions in a few moments. If you’ll all wait in the media room while I have a word with him, we’ll join you there.”

  His smile never dimmed as the reporters filed past, and his nods reminded Kade of those animals with the bobbing heads that sit on a car dash. When the reporters were safely stowed away, Landorf’s smile went out as if it had been switched off.

  “I expect you to cast this park in a positive light.” Landorf set his jaw in a pugnacious way that made Kade want to punch him. “This is a prime opportunity to garner some free publicity and to show how a professional ranger handles problems in the park.”

  “Did you tell the press about the murder before or after they showed up?” Kade didn’t care that his question was belligerent. He should have guessed his boss would blow this up. “I simply found the guy. I have no knowledge to pass along. They would be better off talking to Mason. He’s got the cause of death back and knows more than I do.”

  Landorf’s expression turned greedy. “Tell them what he told you.”

  “Absolutely not. Mason told me in confidence. I have no idea what is safe to tell the media.”

  “You’ll do what you’re told, Kade! I won’t have the park accused of withholding information from the press.”

  “Then you shouldn’t have called them, should you?” Kade knew he was getting in deeper and deeper, and that Landorf wouldn’t soon forget his insubordination. But Kade was sick of the man’s politics.

  Landorf’s mouth tightened. “Kade, I’ve overlooked your hot-dogging in the past, but no more. Get in there and answer their questions.”

  Hot-dogging! His boss was the one who tried to grab every bit of publicity. Kade hated being in the limelight. Gritting his teeth, Kade turned and stomped to the media room. He would not tell them anything. He’d try to steer the questions to the new baby-wildlife center. That’s what they were supposed to be here for anyway. If Landorf didn’t like it, he could jump in and answer for him.

  The reporters stared at him as though he was road kill and they were vultures waiting for him to quit moving. He pressed his lips together and stood in the aisle a minute. His boss slipped into the back row and crossed his hands over his chest as if daring him to disobey his orders. Kade moved down the steps to stand in front of a podium with a mike.

  “Let me start by telling you what I found yesterday.” He could simply tell the truth without jeopardizing Mason’s investigation. “About two o’clock yesterday afternoon, I found a man clad only in his underwear in Rock River. His body had been snagged by a tree limb; otherwise he would have gone over Whetstone Falls. I called headquarters and the sheriff’s office for assistance. While trying to recover the body, I was fired on by two men on four-wheelers. They left when I returned fire. With the aid of the sheriff, we recovered the body of Benjamin Mallory from the falls. He was a Houghton resident. If you have any other questions, you can see Sheriff Kaleva.”

  “He’s not talking,” a reporter said from the front row. “What has he told you?”

  “I’m not at liberty to say. Now on to the news here at the park, which is what this meeting was scheduled for. We’re about to unfold this new baby-wildlife center. I have pictures to show you on the screen, and then I’ll be glad to take you on a tour of the facility.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Landorf’s scowl deepen.

  “About the murder,” the reporter began again.

  “I’ve said all I’m prepared to say,” Kade said shortly. Ignoring the disgruntled murmurs, he turned back to his notes and began to drone on about the new center. They could put that in their pipes and smoke it. He wasn’t going to betray Mason’s confidence, no matter what his boss had to say.

  The grumbling settled down after the slides began to flash across the screen, and he even heard some laughter when he showed the slide with a baby raccoon washing its face in a stream. The tension eased from his shoulders as he began to share his passion for helping orphaned wildlife, but before he knew it, he was treading on dangerous ground.

  “It’s not just endangered species that need our help,” he said. “Residents take these creatures in and do more harm than good in the end. We want them to call us. We can spare some compassion for small orphans when we have the resources to save them.”

  “What percentage of orphaned wildlife will be endangered species?” one man in the back row asked.

  Kade hesitated and saw Landorf’s warning scowl, but he felt reckless today. “Right now, 100 percent of them. But my dream is to see a facility that is open to any wildlife in need of aid and support. I hope to see our department come to that decision as well.”

  “How can concerned citizens help get that done?” the reporter who had pressed for information about the murder wanted to know.

  “They can write park headquarters, speak about it in the media, and donate money for the center,” Kade said. “I can use all the help I can get.”

  There was a smattering of laughter at his words, and several turned to stare at the head ranger’s tight-lipped face. The snickers died, and after a few more questions the reporters began to file out of the room for the tour of the facility. Kade knew he was in for it.

  “I want to talk to you when you’re through,” Landorf said in a clipped voice. He turned on his heel and stalked out of the room.

  Kade gathered up his notes and stuffed them into a folder. He led the reporters through a tour of the building, showing them the cages for the smaller wildlife, then took them out back to the aviary and pens for larger animals.

  The reporters asked more questions and took pictures, and he thought the tour went very well. When the last of them had gone, he cut across the parking lot and went inside park headquarters. On the way through the lobby he snagged a cup of coffee, then went down the hall to Landorf’s office. He stood with his shoulders squared a
nd his hands behind his back.

  “You were way out of line, Ranger,” Landorf said.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “That’s all you have to say? No explanation for your insubordination?”

  “You know how I feel about the center, sir. It just came out.”

  “I’m afraid I’m going to have to write you up, Matthews. This will go in your record. If you had any dreams of moving on to bigger and better parks, you have just killed them with your own hand.” Landorf pulled a paper toward himself. “Get out of here before I throw something at you. You wasted a perfect opportunity to garner goodwill for the park. Instead you let them see there was a conflict about the center and made it look like you were just a civilian who happened onto a dead body, just a good ol’ boy with no ambition. Make no mistake, if I could fire you over this incident, I would. In the future, I’ll handle the media myself.”

  Which was what his boss had wanted all along. Landorf was always looking for ways to put himself and his department in the limelight. Kade suddenly felt sorry for his boss. From scuttlebutt he’d heard around the office, he knew Landorf was single and had returned to Rock Harbor to care for an overbearing mother. This office was probably the only place he felt he had any power.

  “What are you staring at?” Landorf snapped. “I said get out of here.”

  “Yes, sir.” Kade escaped to the hallway and went to his office. Shutting the door, he leaned against it and took a deep breath. That hadn’t gone well. He’d never been written up for anything. His job was something he took seriously, something he sought to excel in. But there had been nothing else he could do. Landorf’s railings reminded Kade of the constant belittling he’d heard from his father.

  You’ll never amount to anything, Kade. When you’re sixty-five, you’ll still be in Rock Harbor working in some dead-end job and wishing you’d listened to me. You could be a vet or a doctor, but you’re throwing your life away to work for the park service. What kind of job is that for a man? You’ll never make the money you could make as a vet. You can help animals that way too.

  Kade put his palms over his ears. “Shut up, shut up,” he whispered. Though he knew the words should have no power over him, he ached with a fierceness that surprised him.

  His father was gone now, buried for over ten years. His words should have lost the power they once held. Kade bowed his head and prayed for his heavenly Father to remove the last vestiges of the little boy who was afraid to run and climb into his daddy’s lap.

  22

  The boats rocked in the water as the waves lapped against the sides. “Okay, now watch your dogs,” Bree said. “The difference between a mediocre dog team and an exemplary one is in learning to read your dog’s body language. Somewhere out here, I’ve dropped the cadaver scent. When your dog recognizes the scent, he may do one of several things. His tail may go down and then he may leap into the water. He might defecate or urinate. Don’t scold him if he does. He’s just reacting to the stress of the scent.”

  “What does Samson do in a water search?” Cassie Hecko asked. She sat with her hands folded in her lap.

  “He leaps overboard and bites at the water where he detects the scent. I’ll let him go first to demonstrate.” She leaned forward and took Samson’s head in her hands. “Search, Samson. Go, boy!”

  She began to putter the boat along. Samson leaned his head to the left and whined. Bree turned the boat in that direction. “Notice how Samson let me know which way to turn? You have to read your dog’s body language.”

  Samson broke into a volley of barks, then leaped over the side of the boat and began to bite at the water by a large boulder just offshore. “He’s found it,” Lauri said. “I don’t know if Zorro will ever be able to do that.”

  “Sure he will. All the dogs will. It just takes practice.” A glint of metal caught her eye, and she turned to look. A man in khakis stood along the shore with binoculars to his eyes. Quentin Siller.

  “I’m sick of this,” she muttered. She veered the boat to the boulder. “Take over, Naomi,” she said. She stepped onto the boulder. “Come with me, Samson.” The dog clambered out of the water onto the rock and shook himself, then raced after her.

  Bree stumbled over the rocks. “Quentin, I want to talk to you,” she called.

  He dropped the binoculars and reached down toward the ground. Too late Bree recognized the item lying on the grass at his feet—a rifle. He casually grabbed hold of the stock and brought the barrel up to point at Bree.

  Bree dived for the ground as a bullet zinged over her head. Quentin could have shot her if he had wanted to. He was just warning her to stay away. Samson growled and launched himself at Quentin. “No, Samson!” she cried, reaching out toward him.

  Foolish, that’s what she was. Bree raised her head as her dog closed the distance between himself and Quentin Siller. If Samson was injured because of her impetuousness, she’d never forgive herself. “Samson, come!” she cried.

  Quentin brought the gun around as Samson leaped for his chest. Another shot went off, and Bree heard her dog’s ferocious growl. She scrambled to her feet and looked around for something to use as a weapon. Nothing, not even a branch.

  Samson lunged and sank his teeth into Quentin’s wrist. He howled and dropped the gun. Swearing, he turned and ran off into the woods. The thrashing of branches was followed by the slam of a vehicle door.

  Dragging the gun toward her like a trophy stick, Samson came proudly to Bree. “Good dog,” she crooned past the dryness in her mouth. “That scared me half to death.”

  Her students came running from the boats. Bree called Mason and told him to find Anu before Quentin found her.

  The man waited beside the abandoned warehouse ten miles out of town. He glanced at his watch and huffed impatiently. Kids today didn’t have the work ethic they once had. He remembered when the young men he hired always showed up on time and did what they were told without arguing. At least these guys had done the job well. The sheriff didn’t have a clue who had made his little problem go away. Permanently.

  Finally he heard the blat from the old jalopy the men drove as it roared along the dirt road. He went to his car and got out his briefcase. He laid it on the hood of his car and opened it. Forty-five hundred dollars was a small price to pay for a job well done.

  The car stopped and two men got out. They came toward him, and he mentally shook his head at their leader’s belligerence. Lempi would end up dead or in jail one day. He had a chip on his shoulder the size of the Ontonagon Copper Boulder.

  “Let’s get this over with so I can get home,” he said. “I promised you each fifteen hundred. Here’s your money.” He held out envelopes with the money in them.

  Lempi put his hands in his pockets. “The rules have changed. We hadn’t counted on things going this far. We want five each.”

  “Five thousand! Are you nuts? I don’t have that kind of money.”

  “Oh, come on! You make so much money off us, you could move on anytime. It beats me why you’re still here.”

  “I’ll move on when I’m ready,” the man snapped. “I’m not paying any more money. You agreed on fifteen hundred, and that’s what you’re getting.”

  “The sheriff might be interested in talking to you if he knew about your little operation.”

  “He’d be more interested in talking to you. You pulled the trigger.”

  “I could cop an easy plea.”

  “You could.” He regarded the insolent pup through narrowed eyes. “But you’d still go to jail for a lot of years. No one gets off scot free when the rap is murder.”

  Lempi paled. He grabbed the manila envelope the man still held out. “Okay, fine. But you’re going to have to start coughing up more money, or you can find some other lackey.”

  That was the last thing the man wanted to do. There wasn’t time right now. His biggest shipment of the year was about to take place.

  “I’ll double what you’re making. But you’re going to have to do anothe
r little job for me.”

  Lempi’s budding smile faded. “Another shooting?”

  The man hesitated then slowly shook his head. “Not yet, though I’m not ruling it out. I want you to search Anu Nicholls’ house.” He told them what he was looking for. “The man who finds it gets a bonus of twenty-five hundred dollars.”

  Lempi snorted. “Peanuts! Make it five grand.”

  “Four, and that’s it. I’ll do it myself before I pay more.”

  “I’ll do it,” Vern spoke up. “Quit fighting like a pack of dogs. We’re supposed to be a team.”

  “I’m glad someone realizes that,” the man said. “I need it done soon. Like tonight or tomorrow. Are you both in?”

  They nodded. Time to mend fences. He put his hand on Lempi’s shoulder. “You have a prosperous future ahead of you, son. Just reel in your impatience and trust me.”

  “You’re about as trustworthy as a barracuda,” Lempi said, his face expressionless. “You proved that with Ben.”

  The man’s smile faded. “He was going to blow the whistle. It was all of our necks on the line.”

  “Cut the friendship bit and tell us what we have to do. You want the old broad dead?” Lempi asked.

  “Not yet. Just find it for me.”

  “What if she shows up while we’re working?”

  The man hesitated then shrugged. “It shouldn’t be too difficult to search the place while she’s gone.”

  Lempi nodded. “But if she shows up, she’s toast.”

  He shrugged. “Whatever.”

  The library was full to overflowing with children. Excitement shone from Davy’s green eyes. He tugged his hand out of Bree’s and ran forward to join his friends in the circle of children waiting to hear today’s story. Samson followed and was greeted with excitement by the children. Thank goodness the whole town had adopted the dog. He’d be frantic if he had to leave Davy.

  “I thought I might find you here.” Hilary poked her head in the room. “I brought my secretary’s little girl down for story hour. Nothing was going on at the office, and Lynette had an appointment in Houghton.” She turned to the little girl at her side. “Join the other kids, Meredith.”