“Wonder what this building used to be,” Beth said. She nodded toward the words United States of America carved above the entrance.
“Jim said it was the old federal office building,” Bill said. “They turned it into a hotel a few years back, I guess. Well, at least that’s what Jim said.”
I took a moment to look up. Below the words Beth had mentioned, and directly above the entrance doors, was an eagle, with shields carved into the stone to the bird’s sides. The first three stories of the building that included the carvings were tan. Above the first three floors were another ten stories of gray brick. It was a good-looking old building, and if it had been federal at one time, I guessed it made a good fit for us.
We walked under the glass-and-steel awning and entered through the doors into the maroon-and-tan marbled entryway. I grabbed the brass railing and climbed the couple of steps. Directly ahead of us were a pair of brass-doored elevators. We found the front desk, got the keys for our rooms, and took the elevator up. All four of us were on the sixth floor yet spread out a bit. Though Beth’s and my rooms were next to each other in numbering, the spacing between them seemed odd—her door was quite a ways farther down the hall. Bill’s and Scott’s rooms were on the other side of the elevators. The plan was to get settled and meet downstairs in a half hour. I slid the plastic key card in the door and pushed it open.
“Hmm,” I said to myself. “Guess I wasn’t expecting that.” I took a step inside and let the door close at my back. My line of sight went left to right across the modern suite. I left my suitcase near the front door and walked to the desk to set down my laptop bag. Then I pulled off my suit jacket and hung it over the back of the office chair.
“Let’s see what the rest of this place looks like.”
I grabbed my suitcase and headed to the left, through the open doorway to a single bedroom with a king-sized bed. I tossed my suitcase onto the bed, walked through the next doorway, and flipped on the light of a giant marble-covered bathroom.
“Nice place,” I said in approval. I flicked the light off and plopped down on the bed. I grabbed my phone from my pocket and dialed Karen. She picked up within a couple of rings.
“Hey, hon,” she said. “I just got home a minute ago. What’s up?”
“Nothing. We just got to a hotel in Omaha.”
“Omaha?” Karen asked. “I thought you were in Des Moines.”
“Yeah, we’re chasing. Had a couple things tied to these two today that brought us this way.”
“Do I want to know?” she asked.
“I’m sure you can find out if you flip on the television.” I pushed my suitcase off the bed and swung my feet up onto it. I put my head on the pillow, stretched out, and stared at the ceiling. “They’re running, basically killing anyone in their path along the way. We need to come up with something to put us in front of them. Otherwise, we’ll keep doing the same thing—looking at what they leave behind and scratching our heads.”
“Do you know where they’re headed yet?”
“No clue. The last point we have them is in a stolen car, with a possible hostage, heading west on the interstate a few miles from here. By morning, who knows where the hell they’ll be?”
“Nothing you can do anymore tonight, huh?”
“We’re going to meet downstairs in a bit and discuss it. Aside from getting in our cars and aimlessly driving, hoping we spot them, no. As bad as it sounds, we almost need them to strike again to even see which direction they’re going.”
“Sorry, babe.”
“Yeah, anyway, I’m sure I’ll get my fill of talking about the investigation over the next few days. Let’s change the subject. What are your plans for the night?”
“Absolutely nothing. Well, I shouldn’t say that. I’m going to continue to make sure these couch cushions don’t go anywhere. I just started a new series. Well, I started it a few days ago actually, when you were sleeping. I’m about halfway done with the first season now.”
“New series? You’re starting new shows without me?”
“There’s only three seasons so far. I figured I could get the whole show done while you were gone. I don’t think you’d like it anyway.”
“What is it about?”
“Um, a psychic that helps the LAPD with unsolved murders. He gets visions of the crimes after reading the files. Well, then he and a pair of detectives follow up on the visions and solve the case.”
“Sounds believable,” I said.
“It’s television, Hank.”
“So that’s it? He gets visions and solves the case? Sounds like a hell of a skill to have.”
“Well, he also gets messages from the dead victims, which helps.”
“Of course he does. What kind of messages? Text? E-mail?” I asked.
“They come in his dreams.”
I chuckled. “Probably fine that you’re watching that one without me.”
“Kind of what I thought,” she said.
I brought my wrist up in front of my face and caught the time. “Hey, babe, I’m going to need to run. I’ll call you a little later.”
“Okay. Love you. Be safe.”
“Love you too, and I will. Enjoy your psychic-cop-dead-talker-guy show.”
Karen laughed. “I will. Talk to you later.”
“Bye.” I clicked End on my phone.
I rolled over in the bed, kicked my feet off the side to the floor, and sat up. I had just about enough time to make myself a cup of coffee from the room’s mini coffee maker before I had to be downstairs to meet with the team. I was pretty certain the flavor would be awful, but the caffeine was going to be needed. I stood, walked to the next room, with the desk and sofa, and made my coffee. With the cardboard cup of coffee in hand, I let the room door close at my back and made a left toward the elevators. I heard another door behind me when I was halfway down the hall. I glanced back to see Beth.
“Wait up,” she said.
I did.
Beth came to my side before we continued down the hall. “Nice suites, hey?”
“Yeah, Jim must be buttering us up for something.”
“His birthday is probably coming up would be my guess. Anyway, I just called Ball.”
“For?” I asked.
“I think our best chance of catching up with these two is going to be connected to this girl, Molly McCoy.”
“What do you mean?”
We stopped at the elevator doors, and I thumbed the button to take us down.
“Think about it,” she said. “This guy was in Louisiana. As far as anything I’ve heard from Scott or Bill, he doesn’t have ties to anything up here, so why come up here? I mean, if your goal is to flee out of the US and you’re in Louisiana, common sense says you go to Mexico. It’s a nine- or ten-hour drive—not twenty-four and across an entire country that’s looking for you.”
“Right,” I said.
The elevator doors opened and took us inside. I hit the button for the lobby.
“So by that logic,” I said, “what Scott was thinking might be right. These two could be headed for somewhere in Montana. From there, they may be crossing the border.”
“No real way to know for certain,” Beth said. “But we need to be prepared if that is a possibility.”
I nodded. “We don’t have anything else to really go on. At least starting to monitor everyone in Montana that’s ever been connected to her, is an attempt to get ahead of them.”
“I agree,” Beth said.
The elevator doors opened and let us out into the lobby. Beth and I headed for the lounge.
CHAPTER TEN
Nick and Molly sat in camping chairs around a campfire. The site they sat at, rented by an RV-traveling man named Joey, and his wife Heather, was across the road and one down from Nick and Molly’s campsite. Molly’s eyes were locked on the three-foot flames flickering and illuminating the area.
“Another beer?” Joey asked.
“Nah, I don’t want to drink all your beer. I’m
good,” Nick said.
“Ah, we’ve got plenty. Heather here isn’t much of a beer drinker, and I just picked up a thirty pack.” Joey stood from his chair near the fire and walked to the cooler sitting outside the front door of the RV. The man looked to be in his forties and wore a pair of faded blue jeans with a black hooded sweatshirt. Joey flipped the lid and reached his hand inside the cooler. Ice, beer cans, and water crunched together. Joey flipped the lid closed and walked back toward the group. He handed Nick the beer. “Are you girls good on drinks?” he asked.
“I’m fine, babe,” Heather said. She swished the wine remaining in her glass. The woman’s blond hair hung down over her thin face and covered her shoulders.
“And you, Katie?” Joey asked.
“I’m still good, thanks,” Molly said.
The man briefly looked at the fire and walked back toward the RV. He pulled a few logs from what he called the RV’s basement and walked them back to the fire. Joey tossed two on and retook his seat in the camping chair between his wife and Nick.
“So, Tim, how long have you been in construction?” Joey asked.
Nick cracked open his beer and took a drink. “What has it been? Sixteen years now? I’ve been doing it since I was fresh out of high school, basically.”
“Commercial or residential?” Joey asked.
“Commercial. I do okay. It pays the bills.”
“He’s being a bit modest,” Molly said. “He does better than just paying the bills. His income allows me to stay at home with our daughter. Her grandparents are watching her for the next few nights though, while we get some time away.”
“That must be nice,” Heather said. She took a drink from her wine.
“So, Joey, you said you owned a restaurant franchise?” Molly asked.
“A few of them, actually.”
“Eight now,” Heather said. “All around the Atlanta area, where we’re from.”
“Wow, that’s pretty cool,” Molly said.
“Yeah, we have a really good staff,” Joey said. “We’re kind of hands off and only pop in when needed, now. Early retirement, I guess.”
Nick chuckled. “Sounds like the good life.”
“It wasn’t without a lot of elbow grease in the early years,” Heather said.
Nick turned in his chair and looked back at the RV parked behind them. “What is that, Joey? A 2014?”
“Fifteen, actually. We just picked her up the beginning of the year,” Joey said. “We had a couple-year-older one that we traded in. Are you guys into RVing?”
“We borrowed a Dolphin for a short trip a while back. We’re in the market for picking one up, actually. What model is that?” Nick asked.
“Forest River Berkshire.”
“And what is that, a forty?” Nick asked.
“Yup. Forty with four slides.”
“Baby, isn’t that kind of what we’ve been looking for?” Molly asked.
Nick nodded his head and took another drink from his beer. “Yup. Same make and model as the one I want. Damn things are hard to find. We kind of had it narrowed down between a couple makes and models but couldn’t actually find one of these locally to look at.”
“Well, hell, you guys want a quick tour?” Joey asked.
“Wow, yeah, for sure,” Nick said. “I mean, if you don’t mind a couple of strangers roaming around your place for a minute.” He chuckled.
“Nah, no sweat.” Joey stood from his chair and waved Nick and Molly toward the RV.
The couple stood and followed him.
“Coming?” Joey asked. He looked at his wife.
“Um, sure,” Heather said. She stood from her chair and followed them to the door of the RV.
Joey opened the door and stepped up inside.
Nick followed him. “The white tile is nice,” he said.
“Yeah, that was an upgrade over the laminate that it comes with, but we liked it in one of the ones they had at the dealer,” Joey said. “The granite counters in the galley were an upgrade as well.”
Nick stepped in farther, allowing Molly and Heather to get inside. Directly to Nick’s right were the driver and passenger seats with a center console dividing them and filled with an LCD screen and buttons.
“Wow,” Molly said. “This is so much nicer inside than our last one. I like the color of the cabinets all around.”
“Thanks,” Heather said. “That was my doing. Joey wanted to go with a lighter color.”
Nick turned to face the back of the vehicle. Immediately to his left was a small love seat near the door and then the kitchen—or, as Joey said, the galley—beyond it. The kitchen area ended with a full-size stainless refrigerator set into a half wall. Beyond the refrigerator was a hallway leading back toward the bedroom and restroom area. Nick looked to the right. Going down that side of the RV was a booth, shaped like one from a restaurant, followed by a full-size couch. The half wall directly across from the refrigerator held a flat-screen television at the top and a fireplace at the bottom.
“This thing has a fireplace?” Molly asked.
Nick quickly interrupted. “Yeah, babe, remember when I showed you that you could get that?”
“I think I would have remembered that,” she said.
“Turns on with a remote control,” Joey said.
“Oh, that’s so cool,” Molly said.
“Come on, I’ll show you the back,” Joey said.
Nick and Molly followed Joey into the hallway located between the refrigerator and the fireplace.
“This is the bath, here,” Joey said. He opened the door on the right.
Nick and Molly poked their heads in to look, and Nick nodded in approval.
“And we have a small spare sleeping area with bunks here.” Joey opened the door directly across from the restroom. Nick and Molly repeated the process of looking into the room, not much deeper than a closet with a pair of bunk beds inside.
“And back here is the main bedroom.”
Nick and Molly entered. Nick quickly glanced over his shoulder to see Heather standing in the kitchen area, staring back at them. Then he looked back into the room, where a king-size bed took up most of the floor space. A pair of nightstands sat to the bed’s sides. The back of the RV was cabinets to the sides of two mirrored closet doors. To the left were more cabinets surrounding another television.
“What has your mileage been like?” Nick asked. He figured it to be a suitable question.
Joey waved Molly and Nick from the bedroom and had a seat on the couch near the television and fireplace. Heather stood in the kitchen, pouring herself another glass of wine. Molly walked toward her with her empty glass and then put her back to the granite counter near the oven.
“We’ve only taken one trip this year where I actually tried to pay attention to the mileage,” Joey said. “We went and visited Heather’s parents in Phoenix right after we got it. I think it was around eight miles a gallon, staying around the speed limit. Not too bad, but then again, it’s no economy car. That mileage was with a dinghy, so I’m guessing it could have been a little better.”
“Dinghy?” Molly asked.
“Towing a vehicle,” Joey said. “You guys will have to get up to speed with your RV lingo.”
“For sure,” Nick said.
“Well, aside from the upgrades in here, we also ended up getting the entertainment package for outside. Have you seen that?”
“No,” Nick said. “What’s that consist of?” Nick reached into his back pocket and took the handle of his garrote in his hand.
“Let me show you.” Joey stood from the couch and headed for the door of the vehicle.
“Actually, Joey,” Nick said. “Can you show me the cockpit?”
“Oh, absolutely,” Joey said.
He walked Nick to the front and had him take a seat behind the wheel. Joey went through the various controls of the vehicle with Nick. Nick glanced back at Molly, still in the same spot in the galley. The man’s wife was playing on her phone a few feet
away.
Nick looked back at Joey. “How long were you guys planning on staying?” he asked.
“Well, we paid for a week. Heather and I are making our way out west to see some family.”
“Sure,” Nick said. “So, as far as getting these things hooked up to power, water, sewer, all that when you arrive at a place like this, and then getting everything disconnected, how does that work? We never did it with the one we’d borrowed.”
“I could go through it with you in the morning if you like. We’re on our own right now—not hooked up to anything for the night. It was dark when we rolled in—figured I’d relax, have a few beers, and take care of all the hookups in the morning, you know?”
“Cool. Yeah, that would be great.”
“Do you want to go and check out the entertainment outside?” Joey asked. “It’s pretty neat, actually. Just above the basement doors, there’s a grill that pops out, television and stereo, the works.”
“Yeah, lead the way,” Nick said. He waited for Joey to turn and then lifted himself from the captain’s chair. Nick pulled the garrote from his pocket. “Molly, baby, did you want to go ahead and kill Heather for me now?” Nick asked.
In a single motion, he crossed his arms and looped the wire around Joey’s neck from behind. Nick pulled the two handles away from each other while Joey flailed with his hands, trying to fight Nick off, which would do no good. Over the sound of Joey’s feet kicking and his arms flailing and slapping off of the walls, a woman screamed, and glass broke. Joey quit fighting within thirty seconds. Nick stared back into the galley to see Molly sitting on top of Heather. Molly had broken the wine glass on the edge of the counter and used it to stab the woman.
“I saved her for you to finish off, babe,” Molly said.
“One second, dear.” Nick held his position, gave the handles one final yank, and let the man drop to the floor. He pulled the garrote from Joey’s neck and walked to Molly and Heather.
Molly stabbed the broken wine glass into the woman’s stomach again. Heather made a sound like a gag. Molly lifted herself off the woman. Heather’s hands went to the wound, and she rolled herself onto her stomach. She weakly pulled herself across the white tile, leaving a blood-smeared trail behind.
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