“About that,” Riley said, his face growing serious. “I don’t kill kids.”
“They’re old enough to vote. And smoke. That older one might even be legal to drink.”
“Still kids. You didn’t see ’em, out and about. I’m tellin’ ya, they might be adults, but they ain’t got adult minds. Especially that little one. Acted like he was five sometimes.” Riley shook his head. “Got no problem with dumping them in the middle of nowhere, let ’em fend for themselves, but that’s my limit.”
“I am not having them identify me in a lineup, understand?” Dayton’s eyes turned murderous.
“Far enough out, in this weather? Hell, might not ever find what’s left of ’em. Especially that white-eyed one. Fucker’s creepy. It’s like he knows you’re there even though he can’t see you.”
“Fair enough. You got that phone on you?”
“Yeah.”
“Give it here. Need to make a phone call.”
Chapter 27
“Evan, you don’t have to do this,” Jesse Baker cautioned before the unmarked police car pulled into the driveway of the modest house Cooper Lavelle rented. His brother’s house, Remy’s old house, had been sold off as part of the assets of the estate, and according to the family lawyer the proceeds were being put aside for Remy’s welfare. That, plus his government check, was what the young man had to live on for the foreseeable future. “I can get two more uniforms to…”
“No. I have to do this. The bastard probably knows what happened, and I’m gonna find out.” The thin man was furious, and his normally windblown blond hair was particularly messy as his hands ran through it in worry and frustration. “He’s been after Remy since we moved him out to the house, and the more I learn about the man, the more I wish he’d just fucking die.”
“Would save that kid a lot of heartache and grief, I agree,” Evan’s friend Eric Ingham said. “But I’d think twice about accusing him of something. Holds a grudge, he does. And how.”
“What do you mean?”
“I saw him once, just before Peyton and Emily died,” Eric said. The Inghams lived in the same subdivision as Remy’s family had. “He came looking for something, something Peyton wouldn’t give him. I was mowing the yard, but I could tell Cooper was furious with his brother. Hell, I could hear the screams even over the rider I use.”
“Anything happen?”
“No. No, he was careful there. Wasn’t much after that Peyton and Emily got in their accident. I don’t know what he was after, but I don’t think he got it.”
“Might never know,” Jesse said. “I doubt Remy would at this point.”
“No. And given how horrible he is to the poor kid, I think Remy would have given it up by now if he did know. Anything to get the bastard away from him.” Evan pulled the door handle as soon as the engine died. “Are you coming or what? ’Cause I can’t promise I’ll be civil if I see him.”
“Don’t do anything stupid,” Officer Baker warned. “I don’t need to be arresting you while we’re looking for those kids. Rachel doesn’t need that on top of everything else.”
Evan took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I know. That’s why I asked you guys to come.” He started for the front door. “Cooper!” he shouted. “Cooper, get out here!”
There was no answer.
“Cooper Lavelle, open up!” Jesse shouted. “Police!”
Still no answer. Evan began pounding on the door when the cheap wooden barrier swung open of its own accord. “Should we go in?” he asked.
“Door’s open,” Jesse reasoned. “And we are looking for three vulnerable adults.” He led the way in. “If it falls apart in court, they can blame me. I’d do the same thing if it was my Allen gone missing.”
The three men picked their way through the wreck that Cooper called a house. Beer cans littered the carpet, and a trash bin full of empty scotch bottles greeted them as they made their way through the kitchen. The smell of liquor was overpowering. Dishes sat in piles along the countertop next to the sink, and the whole place had a layer of grime on it that made Evan shudder.
“Poor kid,” he said, thinking of Remy. “If we’d have known it was this bad…”
“It was better when Remy lived here,” Jesse said. “Kid cleaned up a little.”
“Explains why he doesn’t mind clutter, but he freaks at dirt. I didn’t know his folks well enough to know whether or not they were like-minded in that respect.”
“Becka always described the house as ‘lived-in.’ Emily wasn’t a dirty person, but she didn’t mind a pile of clothes here and there.” Eric’s wife had been friendly with their late neighbors, and had made a habit of coffee on Sunday morning with the late Mrs. Lavelle.
“Cooper! It’s the police!” Jesse called out. “We just wanna talk!”
Silence greeted them. “Not here,” the officer said.
“I say we should be out looking for him. Seems kind of coincidental that Remy and the others go missing and now Cooper’s nowhere to be found.” Evan’s eyes shone in the dim light, almost pleading with the man.
Jesse pulled out his phone. “Yeah, Sarge,” he said. “We’re at Cooper Lavelle’s place. Seems the man’s skipped out.” He paused. “That’s what we thought, too. Okay. Thanks.” He turned to Evan and Eric. “We’re putting a Be On the Look Out on him. Cooper Lavelle is now being sought as a person of interest in the disappearance of Joshua Long, Samuel Davis and Jeremiah Lavelle.”
Evan’s face tightened in wonder. “Jeremiah?”
“Yeah,” Eric said. “Some old family name, I guess. Peyton and Emily always called him Remy.”
“I know that’s how he signs things,” Evan said. He sighed. “Damn. And we’re no closer than where we started.” He threw up his hands in frustration. “Where the hell are they?”
The silence was broken by the ring of Evan’s cell phone. “This is Evan,” he answered, his whole body taut and pensive.
“Evan? Is that what they call you now?” The voice was one that Evan heard in his nightmares. He knew he would remember it for the rest of his life.
“What…what do you want?” Two pairs of eyes stared at the thin man, who motioned them to stay quiet.
“Can’t a man say hello to a friend? Liam, I’m hurt.”
“Friend isn’t exactly the word I’d use to describe us.” Evan paused. “How did you get this number?”
“Hmm. Let’s see. How did I get this number?” the voice on the other line drawled. “Three guesses, Liam. Why, I’m guessing you even know the names.”
Evan’s heart dropped to his feet. “No,” he breathed. “Oh, God, no…”
“Afraid so. Now, way I see it, we’ve got a lot to talk about. We can do this one of two ways: you come quietly, somewhere private where we can chat, or I can make a few quick phone calls and let this hole-in-a-wall town know exactly who their upstanding citizen used to be. Your choice.”
“Where are they?”
“Safe. For now. Can’t make any promises, you don’t play nice.” There was a long pause. “Now, you wanna play nice?”
Evan took the phone in his hand and gripped it, waving it in the air as though he wanted to smash it into a million pieces. His teeth gritted so hard they hurt. “So help me God, if you hurt them…”
“Completely up to them. And you. I’ll call tomorrow. And Liam? Best keep this to yourself. Don’t want any party crashers this time, understand?”
Cornered, Evan sighed. “Yes. I understand.”
“Good. Tomorrow then. G’bye.” The line cut out.
“Son of a bitch,” Evan whispered. “Son of a bitch!”
“Evan?” Eric asked, his normally cheery face looking pale. “Evan, what’s wrong?”
“Something we should know, Evan?”
The filthy room started to spin. The already frayed nerves the man possessed were now beginning to snap. “He’s got them,” he said, repeating it like a mantra. “Oh, shit, oh, shit, oh, shit…” Evan’s heart began to race, and before
long his friends were on the phone calling for an ambulance.
Chapter 28
The bar was a dive, even worse than Rick’s Landing. The scotch was watered down, and the seating was moth-eaten and full of old cigarette ash. It was here that Cooper nursed his third scotch, accompanied by the four Mason brothers.
“Guy better call, Cooper,” Steve Mason said, staring into his pint of Guinness. “All we’ve heard about is how this job’s gonna pay out handsomely, but so far it’s been all talk.”
“Need a payday,” Travis seconded. “Debt’s runnin’ a mite high.”
“It’ll pay, it’ll pay,” Cooper reassured them. “You got the room ready?”
“Yeah, two of ’em. Not nowhere near each other. You better hope this works.” Jack Mason pounded his boilermaker and called for another. His beefy frame sagged over the worn metal chair that stood at the sides of the table. “I’d hate to take the money out of your hide.”
“No need. Told you, I have a line on some cash.”
“Seems strange that you need the kid for it,” said Lowell Mason. “And his friends.”
“Carrot and stick,” Cooper explained. “Kid ain’t gonna lift a finger for me. But he would for those friends of his.”
“You hope,” Jack repeated. “Seems like an awful lot of work for a government check.”
Cooper smiled. If only they knew. “Well, money’s money. You want what’s yours or not?”
“No argument on that front,” Travis said, settling the matter. The sound of a phone blaring through the cheap music got the table’s attention, and Cooper picked it up. “Yes?”
“You the dude from the store?”
“This is.” The Cajun smiled.
“I’m interested.”
“Good, good. Where could we meet?”
There was a pause. “Someplace quiet. Know a place?”
“Let’s say the Sawback. Hole in the wall in North Kingston. Two hours.”
Another pause. “Two hours. And hey? Be forthcomin’.”
“Two hours. You got it.” Cooper looked at his unlikely partners. “See? Easy.”
“I’m thinkin’ we might need some toys, brothers,” Jack Mason said, lifting his three hundred pounds off his chair. “Travis, take our friend up to the Sawback. Get good seats.”
“Will do. Bring fun stuff.”
“Always.”
Chapter 29
Rachel ran through Hope Memorial hospital, her heart racing. “Evan Dyer,” she nearly shouted at the admitting clerk, her voice nearly gone. Ragged breaths heaved from overtaxed lungs, and the poor clerk stared at the mess of a woman wide eyed.
“Miss, are you all right?”
“No, she’s not all right!” Frank Parker said, his arthritic knees slowing him down. “After the time she’s had, lad? For heaven’s sake, answer the woman!”
“I’m…I’m fine,” Rachel eked out, struggling to take in oxygen. “Wh-where’s Evan?”
“Family?”
“Fiancée,” Frank spat. “Where is he?”
The clerk scanned the screen in front of him. “Third floor. Three twenty-eight.” He pointed at the elevators. “Are you going to need a wheelchair?”
“I’ll manage.” Rachel staggered toward the mechanical doors, nearly falling. A hand rested against the small of her back.
“Calm down, lass,” Frank said. “You’ll do those young men of yours no good if you kill yourself.”
“What am I supposed to think? First the kids, now Evan collapsing.” She worked hard not to let a stray tear fall. “What the hell is going on?”
Frank shrugged as the floor bell dinged. The pair rode the lift three flights and made straight for the room, where both Jesse Baker and Eric Ingham sat outside. “Can’t go in yet,” Jesse said, stopping Rachel just before she went in. “He’s still out cold. Docs are in looking at him.”
“What happened out there? Cooper, he didn’t…”
Eric shook his head. “Wasn’t there.”
“Wasn’t there? Then you tried the bars, right? I mean, the man practically lives in them.”
“Called every one he frequents. Seems he’s not welcome at most of them. Ran too high a tab.” Eric sank back into the uncomfortable plastic chair he had been sitting in for the past hour. “He’s nowhere to be found.”
“There has to be something we can do. Too much of a coincidence, Remy goes missing and then we can’t find that bastard, right?”
Jesse stopped her. “We’ve got a BOLO out on him. Rachel, that’s not what put Evan here.”
Now the redhead was totally confused. “Then what?” Her green eyes grew wide. “What happened?”
Both men shrugged. “He got a phone call. From the sounds of things, he knew who was on the other end of the line, and it scared the living shit out of him. I mean, literally—the shit out of him.” Jesse waved a hand toward the hospital room door. “There’re a few questions I have to ask him too, Rachel. Professional ones.”
“Why?”
“We heard Evan’s end of the conversation. Between you and me? I think he knows who’s got the kids. I think there’s something he’s not telling us. And I think that’s what caused him to lose it and end up here.” The big man’s voice was solemn as he spoke.
“You can’t possibly think he would harm those lads,” Frank said, ready to fight. “Evan would never…”
“I’m not saying he would, Frank. I am saying there’s something he’s not telling us. And whatever it is, I’m willing to bet it’s going to be key to finding Remy, Sam, and Josh.” The officer shrugged. “I love him too, but this isn’t the time for secrets.”
Rachel looked in through the double-paned glass at the form of the man she loved, lying still on a hospital bed as a team of physicians scribbled on pads in front of them. “Oh, for heaven’s sake! Hurry up!” she cried. “Don’t they realize what’s at stake here?”
At her words, the figures filed through the door. “Evan Dyer?” one of them asked, a short man with a balding gray patch and tortoise-shell glasses across a button nose.
“That’s us.” Jesse stood up. “What’s wrong with him?”
“In a word? Shock. He’s had a tremendous shock to his system. I’d say his nerves are shot, but that might be putting it mildly. Has he had anything happen recently?”
It was all Rachel could do not to burst into peals of uncontrollable nervous laughter. “Are you kidding?! Do you ever leave the damn hospital? Our kids are missing, there’s a crazed, drunken madman somewhere in the middle, and…and…”
“Children? Missing?” The doctor looked aghast and puzzled.
“Evan and Rachel, here,” Jesse said, gesturing toward Rachel, “run a boarding house for young people with disabilities. Their three tenants went missing Saturday night; haven’t been seen or heard from since. We’re worried that foul play might be involved, so it is extremely important that we talk with Evan about the last phone call he took.”
“He needs complete rest,” the doctor warned. “And no more shocks to the system. Given the current state of his health, it’s more important than you realize.”
“What’s wrong with him?” Rachel demanded. “Evan’s never been sick…”
“Young lady, his system has been compromised. He might seem healthy, even normal, but we can’t seem to give him anything to calm him down. His heart is racing a mile a minute, and it could lead to arrest if we don’t do something soon.” The little man looked at Jesse. “You say this happened after a phone call?”
“Yeah,” Eric offered. “One minute he’s on the phone, the next…” Long hands waved in the universal symbol for “it’s over.”
“Whatever it was, it was enough. And we don’t know what’s causing our usual antianxiety drugs to be ineffective with him. Has he ever taken anything for anxiety in the past?”
Rachel shook her head. “Not that I know of. We’ve been together five years, and I’ve never seen him take anything stronger than an over-the-counter ibuprofen for
a headache. He hates doctors, and won’t set foot in a pharmacy. I buy the ibuprofen for him!”
“Family, next of kin? I’m working with an incomplete profile here. Something is causing this man to be resistant to the drugs he needs.” The doctor glanced over at his patient, now dozing in a fitful sleep. “We’ve given him a sedative, but that’s only a temporary solution. He needs to face the problem at its source, or there’s no guarantee this won’t happen again.”
“Nothing. I know he has family in the South somewhere, but none he speaks to.”
“Then we need to find them. Fast.” Hard gray eyes looked at the little group assembled before him. “I’d like to allow his system a chance to recover. Twelve hours minimal. And no additional stress; he needs to be calm. I can’t emphasize that enough. Try to find the family; get his back records. It’s the best I can do.”
“Not good enough,” Jesse said. “We’ve got three vulnerable adults missing, and right now, doc, their welfare is my priority. I need to talk with him, now.”
The doctor shook his head. “Twelve hours. I can’t cut it any further. Unless you’d like to kill your only lead with a fatal heart attack, then by all means, I’ll wake him.”
Rachel leaned against the window, finally bursting into tears. “This isn’t happening,” she cried, sobbing into Eric’s shoulder. “First the kids, then Evan…if anything happens to any of them…”
The doctor wrote something on a prescription pad and handed it to Frank. “See she gets this,” he said. “I don’t know what their daily lives are like, but…she’s going to end up right next to him if she’s not careful. I appreciate that this is an unusually stressful time, but…”
“Thanks,” the Englishman said crisply, pocketing the slip. The doctor shrugged and left, heading down the hall toward the next patient. “I’ll get started in looking up Evan’s family,” he said to the others. “I think we might find some answers there.”
“Where would you start?” Jesse asked. “Evan’s never been real forthcoming with his past. I never questioned it, really—everyone’s got skeletons, I suppose—but we don’t even have a starting point.”
In the House On Lakeside Drive Page 14
