Pearson pulled the Chevy to a stop on the shoulder before the scene and they both got out. A tow truck was already backing down an embankment, and rescue personnel were all standing around watching. No one appeared to be in any kind of hurry.
“What the hell do you think happened?” Pearson asked Wolf over the top of the Chevy as she slammed the door shut. “Think he ran off the road?”
Wolf said nothing and just gave a slight shake of his head.
As they approached the wreck, it became clear that the tow truck was hooking onto the bumper of another vehicle, an old Ford pickup truck with a missing tailgate and bed filled with decaying straw. The truck was in a ditch and partially obscured by overgrowth.
On the pavement near the SUV, blocked by a ring of yellow tape tied to orange highway cones, were two shapes covered in black plastic. Wolf thought back to his assessment of the girl and measured his memory against what he saw lying there and realized with slight relief that neither of those two bodies belonged to the girl he’d met in the diner.
But one of them was assuredly the overweight sheriff.
Being new to the scene, no one paid Pearson and him much attention. One of the highway patrol guys had a camera out and was snapping pictures. He was working with a woman, also in uniform, wearing little blue booties and white latex gloves. She went to and crouched next to both bodies, uncovering each in turn and letting the man with the camera ghoulishly snap pictures of what looked like massive head traumas on both.
“This wasn’t an accident,” Pearson said clinically. “Look at those bloodstains on the concrete over there, and that one farther up. Shot in the head. Execution style. This is not good.”
“The girl?” Wolf asked.
Pearson sighed. “Yeah, I know. She’s not here, obviously, but who’s the other guy?”
Wolf shook his head, not understanding who the guy was either. He had never seen him before, and there wasn’t much to go on, given the old guy was caked in blood.
“What it looks like to me,” Pearson said, crossing her arms, “is that someone got the sheriff to pull over, shot him from behind when he got out, then shot the other guy, who was probably the driver of the truck. Maybe the other guy was only an innocent bystander? Maybe he was carjacked elsewhere? I can’t tell for sure.”
She circled closer to the scene and Wolf followed along beside her.
“What we do know,” Pearson said, “is that the girl was traveling with the sheriff. We know that from that deputy. And now she’s gone.”
She bent to pick up a small stone. “It’s pretty obvious she was taken. But when? I mean…if this all happened last night, whoever took her could be tens or maybe even hundreds of miles away by now.” She huffed and threw the stone into the field by the road. “And here I was thinking this was going to be easy. If whoever is behind this is willing to kill to…?”
She trailed off as they grew within earshot of the deputy they’d met in the station house. The woman appeared shocked and out of sorts. Her eyes were puffy and red, and heavy tears were rolling down her cheeks as she stared at the twin bodies. She gave a heavy sigh and wiped under one eye when Pearson stepped in front of her.
“Can you tell me anything about what happened?” Pearson asked.
Anger replaced the sadness, soon simmering in the deputy’s eyes. “What the hell does it look like? Someone shot and killed poor Eugene. Who could have…? Who could have done such a thing? His wife just had a baby… We’ve never had… They just…”
Pearson nodded sympathetically, asking, “Do you know if that young woman was with him? Has anyone reported anything about her yet? I’m sure you can understand that time is—”
The deputy glared so hard that Pearson stopped talking. After a few seconds, Pearson continued. “I’m sorry about the sheriff, but we need to locate that girl. Quickly. Can you help?”
The deputy mumbled, “You two don’t belong here.” She drew herself back and pointed down the road toward Crow Canyon. “Go! Get the hell out of here. Now!”
Pearson retreated a yard or two, palms showing. She ran up against Wolf, who had not backed off.
“Wait,” the deputy said. She stepped backward one more step and shakily drew her sidearm. She pointed it first at Pearson and then at Wolf. “Where the hell were you two last night?”
- 26 -
HOSTESS WITH THE MOSTEST
BACK IN TOWN, Wolf sat across from Pearson at the same white Formica table with the red cushion booths, inside the diner, just off the main drag. After being alibied by the motel owners, they’d been released from custody, and Wolf had fetched his bike and parked it just outside next to Pearson’s rented Chevy. This was to be their goodbye meal. There was nothing else either of them could do for the girl, and Wolf wanted to put the whole thing behind him. After finishing, he planned to hit the road again, maybe even make Colorado by nightfall. The girl who called herself Melody had been dutifully reported to the system and was now marked as missing statewide.
Pearson had no more leads to follow and planned to head back to Chicago and check in with the other missing girl’s family there, figuring the parents might have more information that could spark something new she could go on.
Wolf hadn’t wanted to leave the girl who called herself Melody behind, but without anything further to go on, he had little choice. Even so, the entire issue with her disappearance was festering inside him like a spreading infection, and for once in a long, long time, he was not hungry for food. He was hungry for something else entirely, and he hoped the winds of the road would sort out what that was.
Pearson had asked him to come with her. She still wanted him to help with the other case. But he wasn’t ready for that just yet. He’d come to a decision to move on from both her and the girl he’d met.
Too many entanglements. He wasn’t ready yet to be entangled.
Tammy stopped by their table. She had the pad and blue pencil in her hand, ready to take their order, looking nervous as she waited.
She tapped the pencil against the pad. “I heard about the sheriff. I also heard you two were there and know what happened to him. Can you tell me a little bit about it? Eugene was a friend of mine. He wasn’t a bad guy at all. He—”
She stopped, sniffed. “Why would someone shoot him like that? It never happens here. Why would they do something so…?”
Pearson said, “I don’t know for sure, but we think had had a young girl riding with him. Now she’s missing, so whoever took her is probably the one who shot Eugene.”
“You mean the small brunette? With the silver earrings? She was—”
“Yes,” Wolf answered. “With me.”
“I hope she is all right.” She bit her lip. “You were looking for another missing girl earlier, right?”
“Yes,” Pearson said slowly, “I was. Do you remember something about her? Something new you didn’t tell me earlier?”
Wolf could sense that Tammy was holding something back. Something she didn’t want to say just yet. A short silence was usually the best way to draw it out. Let her think about it for a moment and let her conscious guide her to the right decision.
Or not.
He waited until he could see that what she wanted to say only needed a touch of prodding to come spilling out.
“You can tell us,” he stated in a firm tone, helping the process along.
He watched her carefully.
She furtively glanced back at the kitchen. “Can’t tell you anything right now. Order something, okay? When JT gets to it, I’ll come back.”
Wolf and Pearson both ordered even though he had no appetite. Tammy scribbled their order down and walked it over to the silver holder and clipped it in place and spun it toward the kitchen. The guy in the back, JT, had been scrutinizing her carefully as if she were guilty of something, but he grabbed the ticket nonetheless and disappeared into the kitchen. She lifted a fresh pot of coffee off the burners and returned to the table.
“I want to tell you so
mething, but I really, really shouldn’t. You guys are not cops, are you?”
Wolf shook his head.
“No,” Pearson added. “Do I look like a cop?”
Wolf thought she did, but he remained silent.
“That girl,” Tammy said in a hushed voice. “That other one. The other girl…I think I might know what happened to her.”
Pearson sat up straighter and cocked her head to one side. “What? Tell me.”
“I…well…” Tammy leaned in closer. “It’s difficult to say, but…JT said we were helping these girls. And I…I mean, getting them back in contact with their parents and all. I believed him at first, but then I started to get suspicious of him, you know. I really shouldn’t have been, because he’s my husband, but…” She shook her head. “I found out he wasn’t telling the truth. Can’t say what was happening…but, no, I really don’t know. But I did find out that they weren’t being sent back home like he said they were. He lied to me about that.”
“Girls?” Pearson asked. “Are you saying there were more than one…or two?”
Wolf’s narrowed his eyes.
“Yeah, quite a few,” Tammy said, blinking rapidly. “I think they were being taken for something bad. Really bad. When I spoke to JT about it, he told me to shut my damn mouth. Then he gave me this.” She pointed at the bruise around her eye barely hidden by makeup. “It’s not quite healed yet after a full, entire week. But that’s okay. He’s done worse to me before.”
“And where is it that these girls usually end up?”
“I don’t know for sure. Some guy’s been coming to pick them up, I think. He does it right here. In the diner. We just keep them busy long enough for him to show up and start talking. I swear I thought he was someone from some organization that was helping them get home.” She huffed and shuddered. “Now I know better. The guy used to just sit with the girls and talk. Then they walk out of here together. I don’t know what he says to them, but it works like magic. When I saw you at first—” She indicated Wolf. “—I figured you were some new guy they sent to start picking them up. I was worried about that, so I called the cops. I probably shouldn’t have. Sorry.”
Pearson nodded back calmly. “It’s not your fault.”
Wolf took that for a lie, but a comforting one.
“And,” Pearson continued, “what happened to the girl from before? The one I showed you a picture of. The one who was…the cause of your bruises.”
“She…I told her to skedaddle before the guy got here.”
Wolf looked to Pearson, who nodded back. Her eyes narrowed to match his.
“So, can you help us?” Pearson asked.
“I shouldn’t.”
With a sigh, Pearson reached out to touch her on the elbow. “It would be best if you did.”
“I…maybe I got something that might help,” Tammy said. “I got the phone number of the guy JT was doing business with. I don’t know if he was the same one who was coming in here. But, maybe you could check him out? He might know something.”
Tammy backed away. “I’ve been worried sick about them girls, but I didn’t want to—I just couldn’t tell anyone. I couldn’t even tell Eugene. See, I got no money and no place to go if this place closes down and JT kicks me out. His family is rich, and they are bad people, I mean really bad people.”
She looked over her shoulder at the kitchen again and then back. “I’m sorry. I just don’t know what else I can do.”
“Everything will be all right,” Pearson said.
Tammy shook her head again. “I just hope those girls are okay. I really do.”
She scribbled something down on her pad, tore it off, and passed it to Pearson, then wiped under one eye with the back of her wrist. “That’s the number JT had for the guy. Now, please, don’t let anyone know I gave it to you, okay?”
“We won’t. I promise,” Pearson said.
She refilled the coffee cups one last time and went to return the pot to the burner behind the counter. She snaked her way to the cash register and stood there, stealing nervous glances at the kitchen.
“You get all that?” Pearson asked. “So does that convince you? You gonna stick around now and help me out?”
Wolf lifted the steaming cup to his lips. The coffee was fresh and hot and smelled strong. He had a choice to make. He could get on his motorcycle as he had planned and leave it all behind. Leave Pearson, whose company he enjoyed but knew that any relationship between them would never last more than a week or two. None had lasted. To stay with her also meant he would have to go after someone or a group of someones who had killed the sheriff and another guy in cold blood, just on the slight chance they still might have the girl in their possession. They’d probably want to kill anyone else that got in their way, and do so without a second thought. It wouldn’t be the smart thing to do, nor the safe one.
It wasn’t a tough decision to make.
“Yes,” he said, sipping his coffee.
- 27 -
TURN AWAY
OUTSIDE THE DINER, Pearson pulled Wolf close, stood on tiptoe, and kissed him full on the lips.
“What was that for?” he asked as they separated.
“Just because…” she breathed and wiped his cheek with her thumb.
According to the contact called Morgan that Pearson had spoken with while still in the diner, the phone number Tammy had given them belonged to a cell phone purchased in Boston, Massachusetts. Her contact had gone a bit further and told her that the phone had been showing up on cell towers all over the country, first pinging those in downtown New York City, and then in Denver. Also, her contact had told her something they could probably take action on—the same cell phone had been used in Nebraska, not more than a few hours ago. But there was not a valid name associated with the phone number. Just an account number and a credit card that belonged to a seventy-six-year-old woman in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Walking side by side, they stopped at a storefront across from the diner, about three buildings down, near a small drugstore. Displayed in the large plate-glass front window were various kid’s toys and cheap items packaged in plastic shrink-wrap. Among those items was a selection of pre-paid cell phones with purple stickers on them indicating their discounted prices.
“Prepaid phones,” Pearson said, knocking on the window with her knuckle, “almost untraceable.”
While Wolf waited, she went into the store and bought one of the phones and returned to meet him outside by the curb. She broke open a pack of AAA batteries and put them in a black box that she attached to the phone with a gray cord. The phone came alive with a beep, and a yellow light began to flash.
“Best way to find out who that other phone belongs to is to give the number she gave us a call and see.” And she did call it after setting the cheap phone into a mode so he could hear what came back from it. She dialed the number and it rang and was almost immediately answered by a recorded voice informing them that the other party was not available, and to please leave a message.
She bent forward, closer to the phone. “This is Alice from Cyntax Communications. I’m contacting you because there is a problem with nonpayment of your current bill, sir. There will be no charge for this phone call or your return call, but I will need you to contact us at your earliest convenience, or we will be forced to terminate your service after 48 hours.” She went on to give the account number she’d received from her contact and the same number as the burner phone to call back on, then ended with a “Thank you, sir. Have a nice day.”
“How do you know the phone belongs to a man?”
She grinned. “A woman just knows these things. And since it is also a prepaid, and was picked up right away, I figured the phone was still turned off when I called. Men do that, women usually don’t. We also could have gotten lucky if whoever owned that phone recorded a private greeting.”
“Private greeting?”
“You really don’t know much about these, do you? You’ve never owned a cell phone?�
�
“No.”
“Okay. Just seems odd.” She sighed. “All this does tell us something. Whoever owns that phone is who we need to find—and quickly.”
“Do you think you can?”
“Morgan put a trace on it. I know her. She’s good. She’ll text me the second she sees that phone pop back online.”
- 28 -
REROUTE
MONTEZ TURNED THE phone he’d taken from Vaughn back on precisely at the appointed time, right to the second. He did not have a charger for it yet, and the battery was already getting low. He’d already made a note to stop and get one, almost wishing he hadn’t ditched the burner phone he’d had before, but the boss had insisted he do so, paranoid prick that he was.
Almost immediately, the phone registered that a call had come in from an unknown number and a voicemail message was waiting for him. Montez stared at the return number on the screen and wondered if he should perhaps call it back, then figured he’d listen to the voicemail first, then decide. But, before he could do that, the phone started vibrating in his hand.
He recognized the number on the screen and answered on the second ring. “Yes, sir,” he said into the cell phone. “It’s all been taken care of, sir. It’s just me and the kid now, and you can trust us like you can trust your own children.”
“I do not have children, Mr. Montez.”
Damn, Montez thought, back it up. “Well, then, sir, you got nothing to worry about from us, sir, is all I’m saying. You can trust us completely, and I mean it.”
“Do you have the girl?”
“Yes, sir, we do. She’s safe and sound and secure.”
“Good. Undamaged, too, I hope. Where are you now?”
“We’re on our way back to New York, sir. Like we were instructed to do.”
There was a pause. Montez wet his lips.
“Mr. Montez, there has been a change in plans. I now need you to bring the girl directly to me.”
Montez drew a breath and spoke from the side of his mouth. “And where is that, sir?”
Wolf Who Walks Alone: A Raymond Wolf Mystery Novel Page 12
