“Trust me, that’s a blessing,” Luke stated with a grin. “What Lianne does to eggs is not for the faint of heart.”
She punched him on the arm. “I didn’t grow up in a restaurant like you did with a knack for cooking. I serve food to customers, not prepare it.”
Luke nipped her around the waist and danced her over to the buffet. He captured a stuffed mushroom from the tray and dangled it near her mouth. “It’s okay with me if you never learn to whip up a decent stew. You have other more interesting talents I prefer.”
“I do, don’t I?” she said, laughter in her voice.
“We needed this,” Lando told Gemma, piling his plate high with steak fajitas. “After the kind of stressful day I’ve had, it’s always good to relax around friends and family.”
Gemma stared at her ex. She knew that look well. “You had a run-in with Louise.”
“I did, but I’d rather not talk about it and ruin the evening.”
She rubbed his shoulder. “Understood. And when you go to Zeb with the problem, whatever it is, I’ll completely understand that you shared it with him and not me.”
He cut his eyes to hers. “How did you know I planned to do that?”
“I’m a witch slash psychic, remember? If only I could use my impressive gift to figure out where Marissa put the orange mint she got from Rima last spring. Rima couldn’t find it either. But she’s given me an idea, one that could lead to a totally new dark chocolate cheesecake flavor.”
Leia came in after everyone had picked up their appetizers and drinks, slamming the door behind her. “You know what infuriates me about this town?” She didn’t wait for anyone to answer and didn’t act like she expected anyone to offer a rejoinder. “I’ll tell you what I hate. Louise came in tonight with the mayor. That Fleet Barkley is a piece of work. Those two got into a huge argument and when I pointed out that they were bothering the other diners and needed to keep it down, they turned on me. Then when I asked them to take it outside, what do you suppose they did next?”
“They didn’t take it outside,” Lando suggested.
“No, they did not. Instead, they banded together and acted like they were suddenly best friends, criticizing me for my aggressive approach to a customer, claiming that I overreacted.”
“Louise and the mayor, coming together in public? That doesn’t sound like Fleet.”
Leia whirled on Lando. “I swear if I didn’t know better I’d think the whole thing was a setup, a phony fight they used to make the restaurant look bad. I’m telling you something is definitely going on between those two. They were downright cozy afterward, making up by ordering an expensive bottle of wine and finishing it off just before closing time.”
Gemma set down her plate and angled toward Lando. “Sounds like Louise is actively going behind your back to rally Fleet to her side, making sure she doesn’t get fired.”
“But Fleet has gone out of his way, especially over the last few months, to tell me how much he couldn’t stand her. His disdain for her goes back years to when I first took over as chief. Not to mention all the times Fleet showed up in my office reiterating how Louise was a pain in the butt, which is almost daily. He hasn’t shut up about it since I’ve known him.”
“After tonight, I wouldn’t believe anything that comes out of Fleet’s mouth. Playing dirty is what Louise does. This proves it because the mayor seems to have had a change of heart about all of it. Little weasel,” Leia breathed out as she turned to inspect the buffet. “How’d the shrimp cocktail go over?”
“As you can see by the empty platter, it was a big hit,” Gemma replied and got a nudge in the ribs from Leia.
“Grab something to drink and meet me out on the patio. Bring Lianne and Mom with you. Better ask Rima and Willow if they want to join us. I wouldn’t want hurt feelings if my future in-laws think we’re talking about them.”
Gemma did as she was told and rounded up the females, herding them outside under the stars.
Leia had already removed her shoes and stretched out on the lounger, staring up at the sky.
“What’s up?” Gemma wanted to know as she handed Leia a glass of Ballard chardonnay. “What’s so important that we’re out here so the men can’t hear us?”
“Oh, that. I just wanted to get off my feet. And it’s a beautiful night, too pretty to be stuck inside. That being said, we may have a problem. Now that I’ve settled down and replayed the whole thing, maybe that disagreement wasn’t staged. I heard a spattering of what Fleet was angry about, something to do with his father, something that happened a long time ago between Louise and Aaron. Fleet kept accusing Louise of putting pressure on him, withholding information, and being unreasonable.”
“Why would Fleet care about what his father did at this point? Aaron Barkley’s been dead for five years or more,” Lydia pointed out.
Rima nodded. “At least. Some people say he was a shady character with a questionable past. I know for a fact Aaron had some type of connection with Louise that goes way back to when she first arrived in town, back thirty-four years or so ago. She couldn’t have been more than nineteen back then.”
Lianne was quick to speculate. “An affair maybe?”
Rima seemed uncomfortable talking about it but decided to take a seat in one of the other deck chairs. Idle chitchat wasn’t her style. But Rima decided this might be the perfect opportunity to finally open up. “Maybe at first, but a lot more than that by the time Louise and Aaron had been in town a couple of years, at least that’s how it looked to me. I was a year younger than Louise back then. I remember coming into town and seeing this brash, rude woman flit from one job to the next. One week she’d be working at the dry cleaners and the next waitressing at Captain Jack’s Grill.”
Leia traded looks with her mother. “You’re kidding? Louise used to work for the restaurant?”
Lydia’s eyes got bigger. “I’d completely forgotten about that. But like Rima said, it wasn’t for long, three weeks maybe, before Louise was off doing something else. She finally settled down when she went to work for Coyote PD.”
“If you remember Louise back then you probably remember that truly awful summer in 1984. I was home from college. The worst summer in my life began in June, everything around me seemed to shatter in heartache. It changed my life forever. I remember asking, why do these terrible things keep happening.”
“What terrible things?” Gemma prompted.
“For one, the car wreck that killed my older brother, Hank Montoya, out on the old logging road, not the section where those women were buried in the spring, but the spur that connects to the Interstate. It’s a little farther away from town. That spot they call Dead Man’s Curve.”
Goose bumps ran along Gemma’s skin. She heard herself speak the words, “The ninety-degree hairpin curve.”
“Yes, that’s the one,” Rima said in agreement. “I’ll never forget the evening Chief Caulfield knocked on our door with the news, telling us Hank was gone. I was devastated. My whole family was. I remember going to his funeral and watching Donna, my sister-in-law, sitting there with my two little nieces on her lap. Hank’s death took away a piece of me, took away my spirit, took away the head of our family. His death put more of a strain on us. We were already struggling on the reservation. We counted on Hank’s income just to eat. That was before Theo. I wouldn’t meet him for another year, wouldn’t move onto the compound with the Longhorns for another year after that. Before Hank died, college had been a struggle anyway. Not with grades, but with money. There never seemed to be enough of it. After he died, I wasn’t sure I should continue. My mother insisted I try, though. So I took a job in the cafeteria, cleaning up, washing dishes, anything I could do before my first class started. I look back on that summer as a turning point, not because of the hardships, but knowing I’d never quite be the same again. Ever. I stopped being a naïve kid the day Hank died. Life changed when we lost him.”
Willow put a hand on her mother’s shoulder for support. “Tell
them about the other thing.”
“Well, that’s also around the same time a young girl was found dead on the beach, something that I took to heart, another something I had a difficult time getting over because it happened so close to when Hank died. I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on around town. Why all this death all of a sudden?”
Gemma sat down next to Rima. “Are you talking about the fourteen-year-old Jane Doe?”
“Yes. However, at the time, no one was sure how old she was. Caulfield never found out her name or where she came from. To this day I still go out to the cemetery every June and bring extra flowers, some for Hank’s grave and some for the unknown girl.”
“How close together were they, the deaths?”
“A week apart, as I recall. I guess I was still reeling from Hank’s death when the girl came up dead. It seemed so surreal at the time.”
Gemma squeezed Rima’s hand. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”
Leia got up and went over to her future mother-in-law. “I’m sorry, too. I had no idea this discussion would lead to making you feel so sad.”
“It was a long time ago. But sometimes things happen that are so hurtful, the pain never truly goes away. I was very young and impressionable, and in such a dark place that when the second deadly accident occurred it really pushed me over the edge.”
Gemma and Leia traded looks. “There was another accident that summer?”
“Same place as Hank’s car wreck out on Lone Coyote Highway, at that hairpin curve. Another car ended up in the ravine. I had to go to another funeral that August for Lindsay Bishop. After that, I remember thinking it was one of the worst summers I’d ever had here, and I love it here. I was so glad to see it come to an end, though, so I could leave Coyote Wells and get back to school, that I made up an excuse and left a week early before Labor Day.”
“Mom’s family might’ve been dirt poor, but she got a full scholarship to Oregon State,” Willow said with pride, resting her hand on her mother’s shoulder. “Graduated first in her class and came back here to teach.”
Rima patted Willow’s hand. “I do love the area. That’s why I never moved away. And then I met Theo and we started our own family. But I don’t like looking back to that summer when everything seemed so fall apart.”
Back inside, the guys were still standing around the buffet, nibbling on what was left.
“So it’s just like middle school all over again,” Theo began, “guys in one part of the house, girls in the other. Or in this case, they’re outside gabbing. I’ve never seen my wife so chatty.”
Lando gazed through the sliding glass door and grinned. “Look at that. For once, Gemma seems to be listening. That’s gotta be a first. God knows she doesn’t listen to me.”
“Lianne, too,” Luke said. “Whatever they’re discussing, it must be fascinating. Lianne’s hanging on every word.”
“They’re bound to be talking about us,” Zeb offered as he dipped a chip into the guacamole. “Women are notorious for sharing every detail of their lives on any given day.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Theo stated. “But your mother is rarely so animated. Look at her. She’s dabbing at her eyes. Maybe I should go see if she’s all right.”
Through the glass, Zeb studied his mother. “I bet she’s talking about Hank. She only gets that upset when she remembers her brother. Hank died before I was born, out on that stretch of road they nicknamed Dead Man’s Curve. She doesn’t talk about him often, but when she does, she gets all weepy just like she is now.”
Theo scratched his chin. “I bet you’re right. Rima’s never gotten over losing her oldest brother. Even though Hank was an alcoholic and drank like a fish, she thought he hung the moon. It was inevitable that he’d end up losing control of his car that day and crashing into…something. His car rolled over twice before it hit the bottom of the ravine and stopped. It shoulda caught on fire, but it didn’t.”
Lando’s ears perked up. “That was a bad spot to be driving drunk.”
“Blind stinking drunk. And yes, it was. That was before I met Rima. But a year later she was still distraught, still haunted by Hank’s untimely death.”
Lando filed the information away in his brain and took that opportunity to take Zeb aside. “I need to talk to you.”
“About what?” Zeb asked, dipping a chip into a cheesy, spicy concoction.
“I may need your help with something.” He went into his plan on how he intended to learn more about Louise.
“And this intensive background check, you think it’ll provide a motive for Mallory’s murder?”
“Ultimately, yes. I need to do this on two levels. Computer and lots of legwork.”
“Let me guess, I’m the legwork.”
“For now, yeah.” Lando told him about Gemma’s find.
“Holy cow. I always suspected Mallory was into something illegal, just never caught her in the act. Where’s the ten grand?”
“Locked up for safekeeping.”
“You mad at Gemma for going in there like that?”
“I was. But as she pointed out, we might not have found the money if she hadn’t gone rogue. I hate it that she does things like that, though.”
“I hate it that Leia works like a dog at the restaurant. But it’s her thing, what she loves. We can’t change who they are, we can’t alter what’s in their DNA.”
“I’m not sure sleuthing is in Gemma’s DNA. Part of me is blown away that she got by Dale like she did and the other part wants to slap the cuffs on her to teach her a lesson.”
“I’d be careful teaching Gemma a lesson. There are bound to be consequences. I tried that once with Leia and your sister didn’t speak to me for almost a week.”
Lando chuckled. “Thanks for the tip. Some days I think things between us are going great and then she does something like this. Putting my job in jeopardy has to stop. It’s reckless. What if Dale had spotted her? She could’ve been shot. She doesn’t even take into account what could’ve happened out there in the middle of the night.”
“Then make it clear in cop terms. Was she that good at B&E or was Dale just sloppy?”
“Good point.”
“I thought you’d planned to keep Dale away from any job that had to do with Mallory.”
“Jimmy sent him over there. This case is already so messed up I don’t think it matters much.”
“When do you want me to start this legwork?”
“First thing tomorrow or whenever your schedule allows, the sooner the better, though.”
“For a chance to get something on Louise or Mallory, I’ll make time.”
Later, while she was getting ready for bed, Gemma went over Rima’s conversation with Lando. As she slathered lotion on her face and arms, she hit the high points. “That’s three fatal accidents we know about at that same spot in the road.”
“The high fatality rate no doubt played a major role in the state’s shutting it down and re-routing the highway away from the coast.”
“Did anyone profit from that decision?”
“You’re suggesting that someone staged those car accidents in an attempt to lobby the state to alter the northward route out of town?”
“Maybe. Although when you say it like that it does seem preposterous.”
“Hank and Michael both worked for the casino. Maybe there’s a connection there.”
“So you do think three accidents are more than a coincidence?”
“It bears checking out. Who’s this Lindsay Bishop?”
“No idea. But when all this went down Louise hadn’t been in town long enough to make tried-and-true lasting friendships.”
“Every town has a backstory. We just need to find out what ours is.”
Gemma scooted closer. “I want to go back out to Shadow Canyon.”
“To see what’s in that cave?”
“Among other things. I feel drawn to the area, similar to how I felt about Mystic Falls. My grandparents had a connection to t
hese places. I can feel it in my bones.”
“I could tell that by the photos in the entryway. Your grandfather had a knack for photography. And not just when your grandmother was his subject.”
“He did, didn’t he? I wonder if he ever encountered Aponivi on his trips into the countryside. I’m sure he and Marissa knew about Kamena. There’s a photograph I found that shows Mystic Falls in all its glory. If you look close enough, you’ll see the outline of a figure standing in the spray, a misty form. It’s a dead ringer for Kamena. Which means she was there the day he took the picture, watching, observing.”
“Imagine, Kamena in spirit form giving a shout out. Your grandparents must’ve been aware of the history. I wonder why he didn’t sell his photos?”
“Probably sentimental reasons.”
“Can the trip to the cave wait until the weekend? I don’t want you going out there alone.”
“I’d prefer to go sooner. I need to see what Aponivi wants me to see.”
He rolled on top of her to nibble her throat. “And what does the holder of truths want to show you that can’t wait until I have time to go with you?”
She yielded as he traced a line to her mouth. “I’m sure it’s something important. But right this second, you’re distracting me.”
“That’s the plan. I’m tired of talking about Louise and Aponivi.”
She reversed their positions. “Then let’s don’t.”
14
After Lando left for work the next morning, Rufus set up a din of barking and wouldn’t stop. The dog shot toward the front door. His tail-wagging was the big giveaway. Her pooch had a habit of doing that only when someone came into the courtyard that he wasn’t sure about, someone he’d never seen before.
Through the peephole Gemma spotted Van Coyote standing halfway into the quad, between the fountain and the stoop. Apparently he hadn’t found the nerve to make his way up to the front door yet.
Gemma calmed the dog and opened the door, startling her half-brother.
For several long seconds, they stared at each other. It was Van who broke the awkward silence.
Shadow Canyon Page 15
