Crisis Shot

by Janice Cantore

  The group sparred back and forth for a few minutes before Dixon checked his watch. Casey was fifteen minutes late. That was very unlike her.

  “I’d better give her a call.”

  Before the mayor could punch in her number, Casey burst through the door. “Where’s the chief?”

  Oliver stood, recognizing immediately that something was wrong. “She’s serving a warrant. What is it?”

  “It’s Kayla; she’s gone. Someone disabled our alarm and took her from the house. My daughter has been kidnapped.”

  46

  It looked as though Beto had left in a hurry. The bed was unmade, and in the kitchenette, some tea in the microwave was still warm. Tess was putting on gloves when her phone rang. She saw it was Oliver, so she answered.

  “Chief, sorry to interrupt, but we’ve got a crisis here. Casey Reno’s daughter, Kayla, has been kidnapped.”

  Tess thought that she didn’t hear correctly and had Oliver repeat. She was cognizant that Logan was looking at her, perplexed, but this bombshell was hard to process. When it sank in, she told Oliver she would be right there and disconnected to explain to Logan what had happened.

  “Disabled the alarm?”

  “That’s what he said. That would point to Acosta; alarms are his business. But what on earth would he want with Kayla Reno? And his car is still here. He must be close.” She took her gloves off. “Steve, I’ve got to go back to the station, deal with Casey. Can you stay here with Gabe until I figure out what is going on with Kayla?”

  “Of course.”

  Tess turned to leave, but Charlotte stopped her.

  “Did I just hear you say Kayla Reno was kidnapped?”

  “I’m not sure that’s what happened, but she’s missing.” She moved past her.

  “Do you think Beto is involved?”

  “I’m not certain. That’s why I want to get all the facts as soon as possible.”

  “I need to tell you something about Beto, something my husband doesn’t think I know.”

  Tess stopped and faced Charlotte. “What?”

  “He’s been hiding money, cash, from his wife. My husband has been helping him. They think I don’t have a clue, but I listen to more than Cole gives me credit for.” She started to walk toward the back of the B and B and motioned for Tess to follow.

  “I’m in a hurry.”

  “You’ll want to see this.”

  Tess sent Logan to retrieve Bender and meet them at the back of the house. The terrain sloped gently here, and through the trees you could see the Rogue River rolling by.

  Charlotte strode up to an old and weathered tree trunk. She bent down as if reaching under the tree and something clicked. She straightened, moved a step away, and the stump snapped back as if spring-loaded. Tess stepped around and saw a door like the opening to a storm cellar.

  “What is this?” Tess looked to Charlotte to explain.

  “It was a hidden basement we found years after we renovated the house. Cole decided it would be a useful hiding place—for what, I don’t know. I let him deal with it because it kept him out of my hair. I thought he was building a man cave.”

  “What was he building?” Logan asked.

  “It’s a man cave, all right, but it’s also a survival shelter. It’s full of guns, freeze-dried food. Cole was letting Beto use it as a safe. The man didn’t want his wife to get any of his money. He stores a lot of cash here.”

  “Do you think he’s down there now?”

  “I really don’t know. Cole is going to be angry I showed this to you, but if Beto had anything to do with kidnapping Kayla . . .”

  Tess looked at Logan. Then back to Charlotte. She motioned to the shelter and asked Charlotte, “Is there any other entrance to this cave?”

  Charlotte shook her head.

  “But if Beto is in there, it’s not safe to just open the door,” Bender said.

  “We have to get in there,” Tess said.

  Logan stepped forward. “I agree, but he could be waiting in there for us to open the door. He could be ready for suicide by cop, and if Kayla is with him, it will be ugly.”

  “Or if she is with him, he could kill her while we wait.”

  “Or he has nothing at all to do with Kayla.”

  The ball was in Tess’s court.

  She turned to Charlotte. “There’s no other entrance or exit?”

  “No. Cole hoped it led to the hollows, and it might have at one time. But a possible passage is all concrete now.”

  “You have a key?”

  She nodded and pulled a ring of keys from her pocket and began to sift through them. “Cole doesn’t know that I made a copy of his key, but I had to know what was in there.” She handed it to Tess.

  Tess turned to Logan. “I’m going in.”

  He gripped her arm and started to say something, but she guessed he must have seen the look in her eyes because he simply nodded. “Then I’ve got your back.”

  Tess walked down the stairs. She put the key in the lock, then drew her weapon. Turning the lock, she pushed the door open, then brought her gun up with both hands.

  The room was well lit. She saw containers of freeze-dried food in rows across the back wall and a large gun safe. The safe was closed; the room appeared empty.

  “Beto Acosta, police. Show yourself, hands empty.”

  No response.

  Tess stepped inside and around a sofa and saw him. Beto was facedown on the floor, gun in hand, not moving.

  47

  “I’d bet overdose,” Logan said when he checked Acosta’s pupils. “But still breathing.”

  Tess nodded. They’d already called for medics. She’d secured his weapon, a 9mm, and a bottle of pills—looked like oxycodone, and it was three-quarters empty. There were also a couple boxes of the drug in the man cave and several more boxes in the PSS truck, boxes that never should have been in the possession of Beto Acosta.

  “Steve, can you handle the medics? I’m going to ask Gabe to search the premises. I need to go help Casey.”

  He stood. “No problem. Find the girl.”

  Tess climbed out of the basement, hurried to her car, and jetted back to the police station, where everyone was waiting for her.

  Tess met Casey’s husband, John, and listened as he told her where he’d searched and what he’d done since he discovered his daughter missing.

  “Did Kayla ever have anything to do with Beto Acosta?”

  “What do you mean?” John asked, face scrunched in fear and confusion.

  “Did they talk? Were they friends? Any connection at all?”

  “No. He sold us the alarm, but he wasn’t the installer. I’m sure she knows who he is, but she’s only fourteen years old. What would she have to do with him?”

  She folded her arms and considered this. What a strange coincidence that Kayla would be kidnapped the same time they were closing in on Acosta. Tess didn’t believe in coincidences, but that was what this appeared to be: a huge, ugly coincidence. She turned to Jeffers and the Renos; Pounder had gone to help Logan secure the man cave.

  “Del, you go to the Reno house. Search everywhere and everything. I’m going to notify the sheriff. We may even need to call in the FBI.” To Casey and John, “We’ll figure this out as quickly as we can.”

  Tess did all she could for the Renos and was about to make the call to the FBI when Logan phoned.

  “Hey, it might not mean anything, but Acosta came to after they shot him full of Narcan. He wouldn’t answer questions, but he said we needed to find Roger Dixon. For what it’s worth, that’s all I got out of him. He’s on his way to the hospital, in custody, with Pounder. I’ll stay here and help Bender search.”

  Tess thanked him and hung up, not sure if this was important. Oliver was with the Renos in the outer office. She logged in to her computer and punched in Roger Dixon’s name. There was an Oregon driver’s license, but no other record. Frowning, Tess found his number in her directory and dialed it.

  “Hello?�
�� a male voice answered, but it didn’t sound like Roger.

  “Mr. Dixon?”

  “Who is this?”

  “Sorry; it’s Chief O’Rourke. I’m looking for Roger Dixon.”

  “Are you clairvoyant?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Chief, this is Victor Camus. Helen Dixon is my sister. I just got to her house. Roger emptied their bank account, slapped her around, and drugged her, then packed his things and fled. I’m getting ready to take her to the hospital; my next call was going to be to you. You’d better find him before I do.”

  –––

  Tess got to the Dixon house in three minutes. Helen Dixon’s face was bruised and puffy, and it looked as if her wrist was broken. She insisted she didn’t need to be fussed over. Victor was as animated as Tess had ever seen him. He was unshaven, dressed in camo gear, and angry. One thing was certain: Roger was a dead man if the hunter found him first.

  “What happened, Mrs. Dixon?”

  “Please, it’s Helen. It was the activity at the bank earlier today that got my attention. The branch manager called and asked me about the withdrawal. When I confronted Roger . . . well, he just said he was tired of me. When I tried to get more of an explanation, he got angry and did this.” She pointed to her face and held up her arm. “He must have also drugged me because the last thing I remember before Victor woke me up is Roger packing his suitcase.”

  Victor jumped in. “She’d left a message for me when she found out about the bank account. But I was on a hunt and didn’t have service right away. As soon as I did get the message, I came straight here. Helen was out cold when I got here.”

  “How long has he been gone?”

  Helen looked at Victor, who shrugged. “I’m not sure,” she said. “It was after midnight when we quarreled; he’d been out all day. I didn’t confront him until he got home.”

  “Do you have any idea where he went?”

  “No. But I do have something you might find interesting.” Helen started to get up and Victor stopped her.

  “I’ll get it. Just tell me what it is.”

  “Top drawer of my desk, a brown envelope.”

  Victor retrieved the envelope and pulled out a strip of paper. “Roger Marshall?”

  Helen nodded. “I think that’s his real name. I don’t think he’s really Doug’s brother.”

  “What?” Victor stared at his sister. “How long have you figured that?”

  “You know he’s not who he says he is?” Tess tried to keep the astonishment from her face.

  Helen sighed, a sheepish expression on her face. “Chief, I’m an old woman who was blinded by a younger man who claimed to be madly in love with me.” Her voice broke and tears started. Victor hugged his sister’s shoulders.

  She composed herself. “We really had a good couple of years. But things have been off the last few months. I’ve been poking through his belongings. I found the name Roger Marshall on an envelope and wrote it down. I never had the courage to confront him about it.”

  Tess nodded. People often believed what they wanted to when it came to love and relationships.

  She told Victor she’d have someone file the report for his sister as soon as possible.

  “As soon as we get back from the hospital, I’ll be at the PD.”

  Tess retreated to her patrol car. She ran Roger Marshall through NCIC with the same vital statistics she had for Roger Dixon.

  When his record came up, Tess felt all her blood rush to her face. She remembered the day she’d seen Dixon in the market. The young girls, he was flirting with them.

  Roger Marshall/Dixon was a pedophile.

  48

  Oliver started when the chief squealed to a stop in front of the station. She burst into the station, obviously upset.

  “Is Mayor Dixon still in the council chambers?”

  “Uh, yeah, I think so. What’s the matter?”

  “I need to talk to him.” She strode out of the station and Oliver felt the need to follow.

  “I’ll let you know what’s going on as soon as I do,” he said to the Renos, who cast questioning glances his way.

  Oliver was on O’Rourke’s heels as she stormed into the council chambers.

  “What are you doing here?” Dixon demanded. “This is not the place for you right now.”

  “I think it is. Where’s your brother?”

  “What?”

  “You heard me. Where is your brother?”

  “Don’t you take that tone—”

  In shock, Oliver watched as Tess moved faster than he thought anyone could. She grabbed the mayor, spun him around, and had him in handcuffs while he sputtered.

  “What is the meaning of this?”

  She jerked on one arm and pulled him around to face her, bringing him up on his tiptoes.

  “He’s not your brother, is he? He’s a monster, a sex offender. A pedophile. And you’ve been covering for him. Where is he? You’ll go down as aiding and abetting if you don’t talk. Now.”

  Oliver saw Doug pale and his bluster ended. But what the chief had just said about Roger was beyond belief. Not his brother? Who was he?

  “I don’t know where he is.” Doug went limp in the chief’s grasp.

  “I don’t believe you. He’s got Kayla Reno, so you’d better give me something.”

  That statement rattled Oliver but not as much as the fact that Doug never denied a thing the chief said.

  “Diamond Lake,” came the whispered response. “He has a cabin there. Under a different name. Urban, I think. He doesn’t know I know that. If you’re right and he does have the girl, it’s possible he’d take her there. That’s all I have for you.”

  –––

  Tess drove like the devil north on Highway 62 toward Diamond Lake. They figured, based on when the Reno alarm had been disabled, Dixon had at least a two-hour head start. Oliver was in the passenger seat; he wouldn’t take no for an answer and she hadn’t wanted to take the time to argue. He knew Diamond Lake well; his family also had a cabin there, though he didn’t believe it was anywhere near Roger Dixon’s, or whatever his name was. And Diamond Lake was in Douglas County, not Jackson County. Tess had never been. Steve promised to do what he could to persuade the Douglas County sheriff to help, but he wasn’t sure how far his efforts would go.

  “He’s a good guy, a good cop, but old-school. He golfs with Mayor Dixon, and I know that he didn’t like all the negative press you got in Long Beach. He’s very politically correct.”

  Tess hated political correctness with a passion because she saw it as dishonest. She hoped this didn’t mean that the Douglas County sheriff would stand in her way.

  “Who is Roger, really?” Oliver asked.

  “A wanted man named Roger Marshall. He’s got child molest and child rape charges pending in three states back East.”

  “Oh, my word,” Oliver said.

  Tess glanced his way and saw his horrified expression.

  He went on. “The arcade. That’s why he had it in the market. He always said it was Helen’s wish.”

  “Afraid so. When I tried searching for Roger Dixon, I got no hit. Helen Dixon was having doubts about him. She found some paperwork with the Marshall name and hung on to it.”

  “She just held on to it?”

  “I didn’t get all of her reasoning or timing. I was in a hurry and she needed to get to the hospital. I hope to sit down with her sometime—” she turned to Oliver—“after I’m certain that Kayla is okay.”

  “Is he related at all to Doug?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “He’s been a good manager at the market for four years. How did he manage to get that job?”

  “How long has Doug Dixon been the mayor?”

  “One and a half terms, so six years.”

  “Maybe he put in a good word for the guy. From what I’ve heard, Dixon’s been a good mayor.” She shrugged and stepped on the accelerator to pass a slow-moving car. Bender should be not far behind her; s
he’d tasked him with sealing up the man cave for the time being and trying to get any more information out of the mayor if he could. He’d follow when he was able. Tess wanted a friendly face with her in Douglas County. Diamond Lake was a little over an hour away and Marshall had too big a lead for Tess to waste any time waiting. “So it’s possible he used some juice to get this guy hired.”

  “But why?”

  “Everyone has secrets. Doug Dixon must have a doozy he never wants out, and this guy knew it.”

  Tess sped past Union Creek and passed the turnoff to Crater Lake. Diamond Lake was off of Highway 230. Here, she had to slow. The road was winding and passing was inadvisable, but thankfully traffic was light.

  When she finally made the turnoff for the lake, she was stopped by two Douglas County sheriff vehicles blocking inbound traffic.

  Two men leaned against one cruiser. One had to be the sheriff. Tess eased to a stop, and the man she assumed was the sheriff ambled toward the driver’s side while the other headed toward Oliver on the passenger side.

  “You’d be Chief O’Rourke, I’m guessing.” Sheriff Hardin looked down his nose at her. Tess had never met him and only knew what Logan had told her.

  Stifling her impatience, Tess dusted off her most diplomatic tone. “Yes, sir, I am. And with your permission, I’d like to proceed to check out a lake cabin for a fugitive.”

  “So I heard.” He put his hands on his hips and straightened to his full height. Tess resisted the urge to get out of her cruiser and go toe-to-toe with him.

  Before she could say another word, Oliver leaned over. “Walter, we’re in kind of a hurry. Can we count on your assistance?”

  Hardin bent down. “Pastor Mac, is that you?”

  “Yes, I’m assisting Chief O’Rourke. Will you give us a hand instead of slowing us down?”

  Hardin went down on one knee, peering across the car at Oliver. “Pastor, I heard about Anna. I’m devastated. You know how she brought us meals when my Peggy had that stroke. I’ll be forever in her debt.”

  “I know. And we might just be on the trail of the man responsible for her death. Please let us go by. He’s possibly in a summer cabin.”