“Ah,” she said in frustration. “Damn. I’m torn. Your brother’s up to something, and that woman is playing a role.”
“So you want to follow her like you’re in an episode of CSI: Miami?”
“It sounds insane when you say it like that,” she said urgently, as Donna’s white sedan pulled into the road. “Quick, she’s getting away!”
“Seriously?”
“I won’t be long, I promise!”
“What if she drives to Canada?”
“Then I’ll turn around before the border,” she offered with such a sense of immediacy that Jared was compelled to drop his car keys in her hand.
“Thanks, hun!” she called out, jogging to his car. “Coffee’s in the kitchen! Be back in a jiffy!”
Throwing his hands up, not that she could see, he grumbled, “Am I the only sane person left in this town?”
The second the engine started purring, she hit the gas. The white sedan slowed and made a left-hand turn about one hundred yards up the road, but Kate was gaining on her. She banged the same turn, letting out a stuttering breath of relief. She was only ten yards behind Donna. There was no way she’d lose her.
The journey seemed promising as Donna drove through the heart of Rock Ridge, but when she veered west then cut onto the freeway on-ramp, heading north, it dawned on Kate that the whole Canada joke might end up coming true.
They were only on the freeway for fifteen minutes, though. Donna’s white sedan jutted off at Exit 19 where the off-ramp merged into a quiet road, cutting east on the northernmost edge of Rock Ridge.
Soon Kate spied Drake’s Firing Line in the distance, and with no other businesses around, it was a safe bet the shooting range was Donna’s destination.
But why?
Well, thought Kate as she slowed the car to a crawl so as not to be spied by Donna should she glance in her rearview mirror, every good drug dealer needs a Glock.
CSI: Miami, indeed...
It wasn’t lost on Kate that Cookie Halpert had been seen in the very same establishment. The numerous crime stories weaving their way through Rock Ridge were tangling into a hell of a tapestry.
She rolled to a stop along the shoulder just shy of Drake’s parking lot and watched Donna hurry out of her sedan and disappear inside.
Hitting the gas, Kate rounded into the parking lot and was sure to park at a distance from the white sedan.
As she did, she suddenly remembered what Scott had told her. The explosives used to blow up the amusement park had been packed with gunpowder, and according to Scott’s forensics team, the device had been homemade.
Could Donna have been responsible? Was she on one side of the drug war, the man who had taken Becky on the other?
She wouldn’t get answers sitting in Jared’s car, though she was enjoying the chilled leather seats, which were so state of the art that they had their own cooling system. Reluctantly, she hopped out and walked briskly inside.
Just as she stepped through, she saw Donna in a heated argument with Drake, the owner of the firing line. They were standing at the far end of the corridor. Muffled pops and bangs sounded in the next room where the shooting range was.
As she neared, making her way up the corridor, Drake put his arm around Donna and led her through a door at the very back. When it closed, Kate’s hopes of finding out what in the hell was going on were dashed.
She reached the counter at the back, which barred the corridor from the back room they had disappeared into. To her right was a door marked Shooting Range. Curious, she pushed open the range door and saw rows of marksmen aiming handguns at targets at the back of the range.
She jolted after hearing Donna’s voice cut through the corridor, “I don’t have time for this, Drake!” Thinking fast, Kate ducked into the range and shut the door. She pressed her ear against it, but the pops and bangs of the range were deafening. The only sound that carried through was Donna’s high heels clicking down the corridor.
When she emerged, Drake was standing behind the counter and looking more than unnerved. He looked downright ill.
“Hey,” he said, locking eyes with her. “You can’t be in there without ear protection! You can’t be in there at all unless you sign in!”
She slipped out, shut the door behind her, and joined him at the counter, as it gradually dawned on Drake that he knew her.
“You’ve been here before. Kate, right?”
“That’s right,” she said and immediately launched into her first question. “Did you sell gunpowder to that woman?
If Drake had looked ill before, he looked thoroughly nauseated now, swallowing hard and avoiding eye contact.
“Drake, the amusement park was bombed. The explosion almost killed someone. If you know who did it, you have to say something.”
“It wasn’t Donna,” he said, interrupting her. “It was a man, a young man, but I don’t know his name.”
“You collect every last detail about everyone who sets foot in this place,” she pointed out. “You make copies of their IDs. How could you not know?” When he refused to answer, pressing his mouth into a nervous line, she itemized the facts. “Becky Langley was abducted. There are drugs at the Langley mustard facility. There are drugs at the Langleys’ inn. Tommy Barkow, the drug manufacturer, was murdered. And Donna Kramer’s address was on every box of cocaine. The very same woman who obviously has you under her thumb. A lot of people in Rock Ridge are scared and they aren’t talking. It’s time to be the guy who talks and shuts this operation down before it destroys this town.”
A glint of determination fired behind his bloodshot eyes. Drake leaned in close and said, “Two words. One name. And when I tell you, you’ll be just as immobilized as I am.”
Kate was so poised to hear the name, she wasn’t even breathing anymore.
Finally, Drake opened his mouth and said, “Dean Wentworth.”
Chapter Nine
It was unfathomable. Had the old man lost his mind? There was no way Dean Wentworth could’ve had anything to do with the explosion at the amusement park. It was his amusement park, for God’s sake. But as Kate walked out to Jared’s sedan, it occurred to her that if Jessica had discovered a box of drugs in Bradley’s room, Drake’s account provided some semblance of an explanation. Even still, it was hard to swallow.
She drove slowly and carefully back to the art deco house where Jared was waiting patiently. Inside, she found him at the kitchen table with his laptop.
“I’m back,” she told him, rounding through the kitchen, giving his shoulder a squeeze, and walking straight to the counter where the coffeemaker sat.
“How did it go?” He glanced up from his computer to look at her.
Whispering, she asked, “Is she here?” Kate hadn’t seen Donna’s white sedan outside, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
“No, she didn’t come back.”
“She went to Drake’s Firing Line.” Kate poured herself a mug of coffee. “Want one?”
“Ah, no, I’m good,” he said, lifting his mug off the table. “A shooting range? That’s weird.”
“Let me ask you...” She settled into the chair adjacent to his. “You work closely with the mayor—”
“Ut-oh, I’m not going to like where this is going, am I?”
“From Dean’s end of things,” she went on, “it would seem Scott would’ve had to clue Dean in on the ransom exchange, correct?”
“That’s right, but it’s not like he gave the mayor a choice.”
“Right,” she said, drawing the word out so she could think her point through before stating it. “What happened after the explosion?”
“Aside from Dean panicking?” Jared took a moment to recall. “Dean immediately put in a claim with his insurance company. The amusement park corporation has a policy, as well, so they put in a claim. And I know Dean was issued a huge compensation figure. Nearly a million, actually.”
That would explain Dean’s abrupt shift in mood, having gone from irate to cheerf
ul. What if he had killed two birds with one stone? What if he needed to thwart the ransom exchange for some reason, say, if having Becky in the kidnapper’s custody made her privy to things Dean wouldn’t want her telling Scott as soon as she was home again? And what if collecting insurance money was just an added bonus?
Jared continued with a question. “Don’t tell me you followed Donna to a shooting range and learned that Drake had something to do with the ransom exchange....”
“I don’t know Drake well enough to trust his word on anything,” she offered and took a long sip of her coffee, gearing up for all the furniture moving they would have to embark on.
Eric Demblowski’s comment that Kate was blind when a killer lurked in her own family, which had implied Jason could’ve had something to do with Tommy, was starting to make a shred of sense, unfortunately. Not because Jason was capable of such a thing, but he did work for Dean. He did run Wentworth Contractors, and he was at the helm of the construction site out east where the explosion had taken place.
Before she could let herself go there, thinking the worst, though doing so seemed to be her new mode of operation, Kate got to her feet. “Ready?”
“Let’s get this over with,” he said, rising from his chair and flipping his laptop down.
A grueling two hours passed. Together they carried items out to the U-Haul—the kitchen table, the living room couch, various shelving units and dressers. In the upstairs bedroom, they stripped the mattress and laughed when they gave up on carrying the floppy, heavy thing and instead let it tumble down the stairs. Once it was propped in the back of the U-Haul, they muscled the wooden bedframe down the stairs, a challenging task, though Kate had disassembled the four posters so it would actually fit down the hallway and stairs.
Finally, they had gotten every last item into the truck. Kate thanked Jared and waved him off, as he drove away. She stepped up into the U-Haul and gave Corey a quick phone call. He sounded annoyed and she apologized for having botched the timeline. After listening to him hem and haw at having to rearrange his day in order to go through inventory when she arrived, he ultimately caved to her request that she head over now. Kate thanked him again and started off down Pennsylvania Road.
As Corey wrinkled his nose, inspecting every ding and dent in the furniture, matching the blemishes against photographs of the items he had taken prior to renting her the furniture, Kate kept thinking about Bradley.
Corey concluded, “There’s no damage that I can find.”
“That’s a relief.”
“I’ll release the security deposit on the items. You should see the amount back in your account in about three business days.”
“Perfect.”
The deposit had been at a discount, though still sizable, and she could use it to clear her tab at Grayson’s as soon as the money came into her banking account.
Thanking him again, she started for the door. Outside, dusk was falling, but when she pulled the door open, she realized it looked much cooler than it was.
Last she had heard, Bradley delivered for Gino’s restaurant as a part-time job. If Kate were lucky, he would be working tonight and she would have a chance to ask him a few things without the awkwardness of trying to get Jessica’s permission. If Dean were involved in anything uncouth, Kate doubted Jessica would know about it, but by the same measure, she didn’t want to tip her off in case Drake had been wildly wrong.
Gino’s was located in the heart of Rock Ridge, on Main Street, a few doors down from The Rail, her favorite bar. She hadn’t had a proper beer in ages, or set foot in The Rail, for that matter. Though it was tempting to make a pit stop and calm her nerves, she overcame the urge and walked into Gino’s instead.
The restaurant was bustling with early-bird customers, who were chatting loudly in the booths while perusing the menu. The hostess greeted Kate, asking if she would like a table for one.
“Actually, I’m here to see Bradley if he’s working tonight.”
“Let me check the schedule,” she said, as she began tapping the monitor beside the hostess stand, which was typically used to track the occupied versus vacant tables. “I didn’t see him, but he generally goes in and out through the back. One sec.”
Kate waited patiently, as the young woman looked into it.
“He is working,” she said, though her eyes didn’t lift from the screen. “I think he’s out on a delivery.”
“But he’ll come in through the back?”
“Yes, there’s an alley behind the restaurant with a few parking spots in front of our rear exit. But trust me, you don’t want to wait out there. It stinks, thanks to the dumpsters.”
Kate appreciated the warning, but told her she would wait in her truck and wouldn’t be bothered.
It took a few minutes to drive around the block and cut in through the back alley.
As soon as she parked, she shifted the truck’s venting system from outside air to inside circulation, but it didn’t help the stench she’d been cautioned about. She hoped Bradley would return sooner rather than later, and when he did, she wondered where they might talk. The smell was giving her a headache.
Her cell vibrated in her overalls. When she looked at it, she saw Scott’s name and number flashing across the screen and immediately swiped the LCD.
“Hey.”
Scott cut in with, “Amelia made bail.”
“Good for her,” she said.
“When last we spoke, you had really gotten somewhere with her, Katydid. I’m still just spinning my wheels. She doesn’t trust me.”
“Well, Scott, you arrested her.”
“Bygones?”
“She might not see it that way just because she got out on bail.”
“No, you’re right. She almost missed Lance’s hospital release because of me. She’s not my biggest fan, I get it. Look, we need to help her understand that I only want to get to the bottom of this, and if she’s innocent then she has to help me completely clear her, and she has to tell me everything she knows.”
“Did you tell her that point-blank?”
“Yes, but like I said, she doesn’t trust me. I think if we all got together as a family, and I mean everyone—the boys, you and me, her and Lance—then she would be inclined to get all the facts out in the open. Not in terms of telling the police, but in the spirit of us sticking together as a family.”
“It’s worth a try.”
“What about tonight?”
“Sure, I should be home in an hour.” She hoped as much. Bradley hadn’t returned yet. Where the heck was his delivery? In Vermont?
“I can’t initiate this...”
“I’ll give her a call,” she offered, though it came out like a grumble. “Let’s say seven thirty at our place?”
“I doubt Lance will leave his house.”
“So you’re asking me to call Amelia to invite ourselves over and talk about things she doesn’t want to talk about?”
“Thanks, babe, you’re the best.”
Kate had to laugh, but told him she would get in touch with Amelia right away.
If Amelia was hard to get on the phone and even harder to convince of having this family meeting, Jason was downright impossible. Kate called his cell twice, leaving a voice-mail message the first time and simply hanging up the second, and then followed up with a compelling text message, which included the fact that if Amelia had agreed, then he should, too. Jared was next on her list, and being the good twin to his brother’s evil, he not only picked up right away, but didn’t take any prodding.
“Honey, could you give Jason a nudge,” she said before he could hang up. “I called, but...” She sighed, the sound of which was enough to get her point across.
“Sure thing, but no guarantees. I’ll swing by his house, as well, to cover my bases, but you know how that’s gone in the past.”
“Yeah, I know. Do your best. Seven thirty.”
“Right,” he said, getting off the phone.
She returned her cell to he
r overalls and stared out at the darkening alley. Headlights suddenly brightened the strip, as a car turned into the alley. She didn’t actually know Bradley’s car, and the one approaching looked a bit flashy to be a teenager’s property, but when the vehicle turned into the parking spot next to hers, she saw Bradley behind the wheel. Music was blasting out the windows until he pulled the key from the ignition and it abruptly cut out.
“Bradley,” she said, stepping out of her truck as soon as he climbed out of his car.
“Who’s that? Kate?” He squinted through the dimly lit alley at her. “What are you doing here?”
“Can I talk to you?”
“Out here?” he asked, approaching her. “It smells like garlic rotting in the sun.”
Ah, that was the smell. She was glad he’d identified it.
“What about in my truck?” she suggested and he shrugged, walking briskly around the front of her truck and hopping into the passenger’s seat.
“Smells like paint thinner,” he commented, sniffing around. “At least it masks the stench.”
“I always have been lucky like that,” she said dryly. “I wanted to ask you about a few things, but first I’ll say, you aren’t in trouble and I’m not going to get you in trouble.”
“So, what I’m hearing is, I’m in trouble.”
“No really, you aren’t,” she insisted, smiling at his clever teenaged logic. “We’ve known each other a number of years now. I saw the good in you when you were mixed up with the Anarchist Freedom Network and I know you’re still a good kid.”
“Okay,” he said skeptically.
“Your mom told me about a box of drugs in your room.”
“Wow, you do not beat around the bush, do you?” He laughed as though he couldn’t believe he was in this situation. “Look, it wasn’t mine, and yes, I know I shouldn’t have taken it, not because stealing is wrong, but because getting caught with two pounds of drugs is a felony.”
“It is.”
“Okay, so my mom already talked to me about this.”
“I’m sure she did. What I want to know is where you got it.”
“What, do you have a habit I don’t know about?”
Mrs. Fix It Mysteries, Season 2 (5 Cozy Mystery Books Collection) Page 27
