Forced to Kill

by Andrew Peterson

  ***

  Ten minutes later Jeremy drove them down State Highway 276 toward the marina.

  “Somebody’s screwing with us, right?” Nathan asked.

  “I’m afraid not.” Jeremy turned into the same condo complex they’d stayed in last night.

  Holly’s address led to a different building, but it stood uncomfortably close to their own.

  Jeremy parked fifty yards shy of their destination. “Is there any chance the bad guys could still be in there?” he asked.

  “It’s been three days, but let’s play it safe. I think Harv and I should be packing.”

  Jeremy opened the trunk and Harv removed their gun belts from the duffel bag. He watched Harv give the Sigs a quick assessment.

  “Suppressors? Subsonic rounds?” Harv asked.

  Nathan said no.

  Jeremy donned his Windbreaker with huge FBI letters on the back. “If anyone sees us walking around out here with guns, I don’t want them to be alarmed.”

  “Good thought,” Nathan said.

  They walked past two covered parking areas. Nathan pointed to his eyes, then pointed to the rear of the next condo building. Jeremy veered off to the right, staying as close to the condo’s wall as possible. He watched the FBI agent weave his way through some small shrubs and cacti growing in terra-cotta pots. If anyone looked out their sliding glass doors, they’d see Jeremy for sure. There was no place to hide in this arid landscaping. Nathan and Harv continued along the sidewalk and entered the courtyard between the target building and its neighbor to the left.

  “Looks like it’s the second unit on the right,” Harv said. “Are we worried about trip wires or booby traps?”

  “I don’t think so. From what we believe, they left in a hurry. We’ll be careful anyway.”

  They kept their Sigs holstered until they arrived at the front door.

  “You ready?” Nathan whispered. “I’ll take the lead and left.”

  Fingertips only, he reached for the knob.

  Chapter 13

  Unlocked.

  He slowly pushed the door, feeling for any resistance. None.

  Gun first, he rushed down the hall and pivoted to his left at an open door. A small bathroom. Empty.

  He sensed Harv slip past and cover his blind spot. He continued deeper into the condo and turned toward the bottom of some stairs. He pointed his Sig to the upper landing and froze. All quiet. No movement. He made eye contact with Harv and motioned to the top. He stayed put while his friend began a silent ascent.

  Harv was back thirty seconds later. They cleared the other rooms before heading into the living room and kitchen. Nathan noticed it right away. The smell. One he knew well. Familiar and noxious. They glanced at each other, rounded the hall corner, and stopped.

  What lay before them could only be described as hideous.

  The grisly aftermath of a cruel and protracted murder.

  A bloody chair sat in the middle of an expanse of plastic drop cloth. Dark red pools surrounded each leg. Dried and cracked. Countless bloody footprints encircled the chair. An end table had been hauled onto the plastic—the tools of pain adorning its surface. A filleting knife. Wire cutters. Pliers. And a small Coleman burner. A strip of plastic had also been laid into the kitchen with more bloody tracks to and from the sink.

  “Do you see it, Harv?”

  “See what?”

  Nathan didn’t respond.

  “Talk to me, Nate.”

  “Rage. Montez was pissed. That isn’t like him. Neither is leaving a scene like this. He’s making a statement.”

  “This was a violent interrogation, but I’m not sure you can draw that conclusion.”

  “I need to see the body.”

  Harv shook his head. “Nathan, that’s reckless. In your current mental state, it’s beyond reckless.”

  “I need to be sure.”

  “Sure of what?”

  He waved a hand. “That this wasn’t business as usual. This was personal for Montez.”

  “Personal? You’re thinking he knew Kramer? And you think seeing Kramer’s body will confirm that?”

  “Yeah, maybe. I don’t know. But look at this. Does this look like the aftermath of a professional interrogation, or a sadistic indulgence?”

  “No more over-the-top than what he did to you.”

  “Right, but it got personal by the end with me.”

  “We don’t have to go to Salt Lake in person. We could look at photos, or even view the body by video.”

  “It’s not the same.”

  “That’s exactly my point.”

  “Harv, I appreciate you trying to insulate me, but it’s something I have to do. I’ll be okay.”

  “Will you?”

  “Yes, absolutely. Come on, let’s go find Jeremy. This is his crime scene now.” They found him at the southwest corner of the building.

  “You guys look like you’ve seen a ghost. I take it you found something.”

  “The front door was unlocked,” Harv said.

  Nathan saw the curtains of an upstairs bedroom move slightly. “We’re gonna have company soon. Someone’s watching us.” He pointed toward the window. The curtains moved again.

  “I need to call this in right away,” Jeremy said. “And notify the Kane County Sheriff’s Department as well.”

  They led Jeremy down the hall into the living room where the FBI special agent stared, unmoving.

  “This is the worst I’ve ever seen.”

  Nathan shivered at the thought of Nichole Dalton and her two daughters. Would Montez really do something like this to children?

  “It looks like whoever did this left in a hurry,” he said to Jeremy. “They probably knew they were seen dumping the body and had to get out fast. I doubt they would’ve left things this way otherwise.”

  Jeremy agreed. “That sounds right. The body was dumped about a half an hour’s boat ride from the marina. By the time they got back, they wouldn’t have had much time to bug out.”

  “They must’ve beaten the response,” Nathan said. “If a deputy had been there when they returned to the marina, they would’ve been questioned about why they were mooring in the middle of the night, especially after a nine-one-one call about a body being dumped.”

  “What’s the typical response time to get here?” Harv asked.

  “I don’t know. If a deputy was in the marina area, it could be relatively fast. I’ll find out the exact times when sheriff’s units reported on scene.”

  Nathan looked at the end table with the tools. “I’m willing to bet those are your wire cutters we talked about, the pliers too. Let’s find out if they were bought here at the marina. If they match stock sold locally, somebody might remember who bought them. It’s a long shot, but we might catch a break. You’ve got a lot of legwork to do, Jeremy.”

  “No doubt. Since the wire cutters and pliers are still here, it probably means they wrapped him in the chain link here.”

  Nathan squinted.

  “What?” Harv asked.

  “The piece of chain link on Stiegler’s houseboat.”

  “If they wrapped Kramer here, why was there a loose piece on the houseboat?”

  Jeremy said, “If you’re thinking it was planted, I can’t see the logic of it.”

  “Let’s not worry about that now,” Nathan said. “It’s not critical at this point.”

  Harv looked at Jeremy. “If Kramer was wrapped in chain link here, he wouldn’t have been able to walk.”

  Jeremy agreed. “They carried him for sure.”

  “Let’s go over how we think this went down,” Nathan said, then paused to think it through. “The bad guys arrive sometime during the day and gain entry. They overpower Kramer and do their dirty work. Later that evening, they retrieve the chain link from their vehicle, wrap him up and carry him out, all unseen by the neighbors. They drive down to the marina, where one of them steals Stiegler’s boat. It’s too risky to move the body along the dock, so the vehicle with Kramer
’s body probably goes to a more remote beach location where they make the transfer. Maybe a loose piece of fencing comes off. They motor out and dump the body. Let’s assume they think they were seen. They rush back to the marina, moor the boat in a hurry, put back Stiegler’s key backwards, and retie the mooring knot differently. The same vehicle picks them up at the dock and they bug out without returning to the condo.”

  “Or they could’ve stolen Stiegler’s boat ahead of time and had it waiting at the beach. There’s no way to know,” Jeremy said.

  “My gut says they’d want to minimize the amount of time Stiegler’s boat was missing in case he returned. If our scenario’s right, it would’ve only been gone for a little over an hour.”

  “How many perps are we talking about?” Jeremy asked.

  “I’d have to say three or four.” Including Montez, he thought. “I suppose it’s possible to do all of that with only two, but unlikely,”

  “Jeremy, can you talk to the people staying in the adjacent condos?” he asked. “Maybe somebody saw them. We might get a description.”

  “I’ll definitely ask.”

  “Can you come back tonight and check the lighting between the buildings? They might’ve unscrewed some bulbs. You might get prints.”

  “No problem.”

  “We have to leave.”

  “Right. Wait.” Jeremy put his hands up to stop them. “You know who did this.”

  Nathan looked at Harv, then back to Jeremy. “Yeah, we do.”

  “It would make my job a whole lot easier.”

  “We can’t.”

  “I have to tell my boss something. This crime scene didn’t just land in my lap. He’ll want to know how I found it.”

  “You’ll have to decide how much of our involvement you share with him. The less you reveal about us, the better.”

  “You’re stand-up guys. I’ll think of something without compromising you. Can you be contacted after you leave?”

  “No.”

  “I figured you’d say that.” Jeremy handed him the keys to the sedan. “I can’t leave this crime scene unattended. Did either of you touch anything?”

  “Just my fingertips on the front doorknob. Do you need anything out of your vehicle?”

  “No, I can keep people away without using crime scene tape. Go on, get outta here before I change my mind. I’ll need your FBI connection, whoever it is, to explain to my supervisory special agent why I gave you my vehicle. You do have an FBI contact, right? Preferably kinda high up? SAC or better?”

  “SAC,” he confirmed. “We’ll leave the keys on top of the front right tire. Stay safe, Jeremy.” They shook hands and left the condo.

  Harvey drove the FBI sedan out of the condo complex and turned right at Highway 276. “I felt bad withholding info from Jeremy.”

  “Me too, but it’s the right thing to do. We should tell Holly she needs to call her counterpart in Salt Lake to cover Duns.”

  “We’ll also need her to arrange things with Salt Lake’s ME. We can’t just show up unannounced and ask to see Kramer’s body.”

  He pulled his phone and appreciated how easily a special agent in charge of a major FBI field office had made it to contact her.

  She answered immediately. “Was it the crime scene?”

  “Yes, I have you on speaker. Harv’s with me.”

  She hesitated for a second. “Was it bad?”

  He closed his eyes, thinking of the Dalton family. “Yes.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, but we need your help with a couple of things.”

  “Sure, no problem.”

  He briefed her on everything they had so far, including his theory that Montez knew Kramer, and that the murder may have been personally motivated.

  Holly seemed encouraged and said she’d get Henning to start following up on leads. Namely, the purchase of the tools and chain-link fencing and anything else that Jeremy might turn up with the neighbors. Because Montez hadn’t expected Kramer’s body to be found, his men probably hadn’t been too concerned about where they purchased their wares.

  “We need you to protect Duns from any negative fallout. He didn’t want to leave the crime scene, so he gave us his vehicle. He also doesn’t have an explanation of how he found the crime scene.”

  “I’ll take care of that. He’ll be fine.”

  “Thanks. We didn’t share any details, but he knows we know who murdered Kramer. I promised to tell him more when I could.”

  “You’ve got enough to do. I’ll take care of that too.”

  “Holly, it’s not my intent to dump all of this on you.”

  “I consider this a team effort. I’m just doing my share.”

  He sensed some unease in her. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

  “Nathan, hold on a minute.”

  Nathan waited on hold for a few minutes before she returned.

  “Holly, what’s going on?”

  “I’m closing my door, hang on.… Lansing just called. He knows you’re involved and he’s not real happy about it.”

  He looked at Harv.

  “I didn’t tell him,” she added.

  “We know that.”

  “He’s concerned about your further involvement.”

  “With all due respect, we don’t report to Lansing.”

  “Technically, neither do I. My boss is in Los Angeles. In fact, Lansing said it was my call. He made it clear this operation is outside the normal chain of command and that I’m to report directly to him on all matters related to Montez. He also made it clear that letting you and Harv proceed involves risk for all of us, and that my political capital is all used up.”

  “So you’re on the hook if we screw this up.”

  “I made a deal. It’s the price of your admission.”

  “The hell it is. You’re not taking the fall for anything. Period. If Lansing wants to get in the mud with me, he’ll regret it.”

  “Nathan, please.…”

  He heard the stress in her voice. The last thing he wanted to do was contribute to it. “I’m sorry, Holly, I didn’t mean that. I’d never do anything to damage your relationship with him.”

  “It’s okay. We’re all on edge. I just can’t stop thinking about that monster having Nichole Dalton and her daughters. It’s really tearing me up.”

  “Yeah, me and Harv too.”

  “Grangeland’s already in Salt Lake. I’ll have her meet you there.”

  “Grangeland’s in Salt Lake?”

  “Early this morning Lansing asked me to send one of my agents out there to do an assessment of Kramer’s body. Grangeland was the perfect choice. She has a master’s degree in forensic science. Plus, I had a feeling you’d end up there. She’ll get you into the ME’s facility.”

  “Thanks, Holly.”

  “We’re just pulling into Bullfrog’s airstrip,” Harv said. “We’ll be airborne in ten minutes. Can we call you after we land?”

  “Please do. I’ll give you Grangeland’s cell number. You ready?”

  Harv wrote it down.

  “Have a safe flight. And don’t worry about Lansing and me. We have an… unspoken understanding.”

  “He owes you a lot.”

  “Well, I wasn’t going to put it quite that way.”

  “Thanks again. For everything.”

  “Have a safe flight, and give my regards to Grangeland.”

  Chapter 14

  Nathan hadn’t felt real talkative on the flight. Hearing Mary Grangeland’s voice had brightened his mood a little, but something continued to bug him. Something deep in his subconscious, more than just the sight of Kramer’s torture and murder, and more than the missing woman and her girls. The more he thought about it, the more elusive it became, like a lost thought during a conversation. It felt important, which made it even worse. Maybe he would do the hypnosis thing.

  All in all, he’d thought he done a pretty good job concealing the hatred he felt toward Montez. He knew Harv sensed it. There wa
s little—if anything—he could hide from his friend. Deep down, he needed Harv’s stability more than Harv needed his maverick nature. One thing was certain, they were ten times stronger as a team.

  He broke the silence. “How long to Salt Lake?”

  “About thirty minutes. We’re coming up on Provo. You’ve been kinda quiet since we left the marina.”

  He didn’t respond, didn’t have to.

  “We don’t have to look at it.”

  “Somehow that seems… I don’t know…”

  “Cowardly?”

  “I wasn’t going to use that word, but yeah.”

  “Truth be told, I’m a little uneasy too.”

  “We’ll get through this. It’s just a body.”

  They looked at each other. No, it wasn’t just a body. Far from it. More like a malevolent version of Alice’s looking glass. A portal to a dark chapter in both their lives. A chapter neither of them wanted to revisit. Maybe the Company shrink had it right after all. Maybe hatred is the strongest of all human emotions. Nathan had survived his torture by tapping into what seemed like an endless supply of it.

  “You okay?” Harv asked.

  “Huh?”

  “You looked lost in thought.”

  “Thinking about Montez.”

  “Don’t obsess, okay?”

  “I was starting to, thanks.”

  Harv refolded his chart, putting Salt Lake City in the center of his knee board. “What are friends for?”

  “I feel like there’s a time bomb in my head.”

  “There is a time bomb in your head.”

  “I was hoping for an argument.”

  They flew in silence for a few minutes.

  Harv said, “We ought to get on the horn to Salt Lake approach and request flight following from here on. It’s a beautiful day, there’re probably more than a few fixed wings around.”

  “Good idea.”

  South of Provo, Harv entered Salt Lake’s approach frequency into the NavCom and made contact. Harv entered the assigned squawk number into the transponder and hit the IDENT button. Salt Lake approach saw them on radar right away. The approach controller informed them of traffic at ten o’clock, climbing through 5,300. Harv acknowledged the call. A few minutes later, Salt Lake approach handed them off to the tower. Nathan made the approach while Harv worked the radio.