On the Hunt

by SUE FINEMAN

  She cocked her head. “What do you want?”

  “You. I want you.” The words slipped out as if they had a life of their own. He wanted to take her back to the hotel and make love to her right now.

  She swallowed hard and said, “If I win, I want in on this case.”

  He gazed into her eyes for several seconds. “Why do I get the feeling neither one of us will win?”

  “You need me, Dave.”

  Yes, he did. In his bed. He leaned down to kiss her, but voices on the trail below them stopped him. They stepped to the side and waited for the other people to pass.

  “Mia, is that you?” said the woman. “My, you’ve grown into a pretty woman.”

  Mia smiled. “Thank you. Mrs. Ayers and Jeff, this is David Daniels, one of Greg’s friends. He’s a little scruffy right now, but I think we might be able to convince him to shave his beard while he’s here.”

  Dave reached out to shake their hands. “We heard about Tonya. Is there anything we can do to help?”

  “The local police won’t do anything. I called the FBI and the man I spoke with said they’d look into it, but I haven’t heard a thing since then. I don’t know if they’re trying to find her or if they just pushed it back on the local police. If they did, we’ll never find her.”

  Dave glanced at Mia and she nodded slightly. “I’ll check the trail,” she said, and disappeared down the trail with her binoculars.

  He turned to Mrs. Ayers and her son. “I’m going to ask you to keep a very big secret. I’m not David Daniels. I’m Special Agent Dave Montgomery, with the FBI.”

  The hopeful look on the woman’s face tore into his soul. He didn’t want to bring this woman bad news, but they didn’t have much chance of finding those three girls alive after this long. The local cops should have asked for help months ago, but they didn’t seem to give a rip whether anyone ever found the girls. “Mrs. Ayers, I don’t want you to tell anyone I’m here, not even the police or the rest of your family.”

  To his surprise, Mrs. Ayers reached out for a hug. “Thank you. Thank you so much for coming.”

  After a brief hug, he said, “Let’s walk on up the trail in case someone is watching.”

  As they walked, Mrs. Ayers and her son filled him in on Tonya’s habits, her work, her friends, and where she was last seen. He already knew it all, of course, but he let them talk in the hopes they’d say something he didn’t know. Mia quietly walked up behind them, but she kept looking around. At one point, she stopped and pointed.

  Dave turned to see a black bear in the woods about a hundred yards in the distance. The four of them watched the bear back up to a tree and rub his behind. Dave laughed and looked down to see Mia smiling. He’d rather watch her than the bear.

  “Did Tonya come up here?” he asked quietly.

  “Oh, yes,” said Mrs. Ayers. “This was her favorite place to come when she was troubled about something.”

  “Was she troubled about something before she disappeared?”

  Jeff put his hand on his mother’s shoulder. “Yeah. Finals were coming up, and she’d been working so many hours she’d let her school work fall behind. She was afraid she wouldn’t graduate with her class.”

  Mrs. Ayers looked surprised. “I didn’t know that.”

  “She broke up with her boyfriend a couple months before that,” said Jeff. “He graduated the year before and they talked about getting married, but he wanted to wait until he could find a better job. They had a big fight about it, and he went off and joined the Army.”

  “Where did she work?” asked Dave, but he already knew. She’d been working at the Four Leaf Clover.

  Mrs. Ayers answered. “She worked as a waitress at the Four Leaf Clover for awhile. One night they asked her to work in the bar, and she did. She came home with a fist full of money that night and said they told her she could work in the bar all the time if she wanted.”

  “Was she old enough?” Dave knew she wasn’t. A high school kid had no business working in a bar.

  “No,” said Jeff. “She told them she was twenty, but she was only seventeen.” He shrugged. “I guess nobody checked her ID, or maybe they didn’t care.”

  “Someone is coming,” Mia whispered.

  Dave waited until the young couple passed them on their run up the trail before asking, “Did Tonya do anything besides serve drinks?”

  “What else was there to do in the bar?” asked her mother.

  Jeff shook his head slightly, so Dave said, “Nothing that I know of.” Jeff, standing behind his mother, nodded his thanks. Apparently, nobody had told the girl’s mother what actually went on in the bar. Maybe Tonya danced and maybe she just served drinks, but unless he could get someone to talk about it, he’d never know. Whether they were protecting Tonya’s memory or shielding her mother, he needed to know the truth.

  Mia motioned to Jeff and they walked down the trail a little ways before she spoke. “I remember Tonya liked to dance.”

  “Yeah, she loved it.”

  “So do I. Jeff, did she dance in the bar?”

  “Yeah, but Mom doesn’t know.”

  “She won’t hear it from me. Do you know if anyone paid special attention to her?”

  Jeff wrapped both arms on top of his head. It looked like he was trying to hold his head on. “That’s why she and Bobby broke up. There was this older guy who made a big deal about her dancing. I don’t know who he was or what he told her. When she first disappeared, I thought she might have run off with him, but she left everything behind, including her cat. There’s no way in hell she would have left her cat.”

  Dave and Mrs. Ayers walked down the trail toward them. “Thanks for talking to me, Jeff,” said Mia.

  “I just want to find my sister.”

  Mia rubbed his arm. “I know.”

  They walked down the trail toward the cars together, catching up on family news. Mia had always liked the Ayers family. Tonya was the youngest of the Ayers kids, a sweet-faced blonde whose figure blossomed when she hit puberty.

  Before they reached the parking lot, Mia said, “If anyone asks, you met David Daniels on the trail. He’s my friend and my brother’s college friend, nothing more.”

  Dave’s hand flew to his chest. “Hey, that’s my speech.”

  Mrs. Ayers smiled, but the worry stayed in her eyes. That wouldn’t go away until they found her daughter.

  Mia stood with Dave beside her car, watching Jeff and his mother drive away. Her heart ached for Mrs. Ayers. Mia wanted to help find her missing daughter and bring this ordeal to a close, but this wasn’t her case. It was the FBI’s, and Dave Montgomery was no doubt the agent in charge.

  Dave’s breath fogged in the chilly air. “Mrs. Ayers said they come up here quite often, that she feels closer to Tonya here. Jeff won’t let her come alone. I don’t know if he’s afraid she’ll stumble across a body or what, but he comes with her nearly every day.”

  Mia unlocked her car. “She hasn’t given up, has she?”

  “No, she thinks her daughter is still alive.” Dave opened the car door. “I wish I felt that confident.”

  Mia sat behind the wheel. “I think she’s still alive, too. Tonya was working in the bar, dancing, maybe stripping, and making big money. Some older guy took a personal interest in her. He wasn’t a local. She could be in a city somewhere, stripping.” Or hooking, if someone forced her into it. The girl Mia knew wouldn’t do it willingly.

  “She’s a pretty girl,” said Dave.

  “More than pretty. Pictures don’t do her justice.”

  “Funny, I remember thinking the same thing about you when we were in college.”

  His soft, deep voice sent tingles down her arms. Mia gazed into his eyes. She’d had a huge crush on Dave years ago, and he still had the power to stir her senses. It would be so easy to fall in love with him, scruffy beard and all, but she couldn’t allow it to happen. This bright, handsome city guy with the quirky sense of humor was not for her. No matter how attracted s
he was, it would be foolish to go beyond friendship with her brother’s best friend.

  Mia drove away thinking about Dave when she spotted a plume of black smoke over the town. “Something’s on fire.”

  “The hotel?”

  “No, it looks like a house.”

  In seconds, she knew which house. She pulled over down the street and watched the firemen spray water on Aunt Leona’s blazing house. Flames licked out the windows and smoke darkened the sky. The chill of the cold mountain air felt nothing like the cold that skittered up her spine. Someone had sent her a message. They wanted her gone. “If they think this will chase me away from Clover Hills, they’re dead wrong. I have no intention of leaving here until I find out what happened to Tonya Ayers.”

  “Mia, this is not your investigation.”

  She turned to face him. “Someone just made it my investigation.” Lowering her voice, she added, “I’m not leaving.”

  He took a deep breath and blew it out. “Then stay with me. From now on, people in this town will think we’re lovers, because I don’t want you staying anywhere alone.”

  “Maybe Mrs. Snyder saw—”

  “Maybe she did. Kowalski will be up tomorrow. If anyone can get that old woman to talk, it’s Kowalski.”

  If not for the kid with the knife, she wouldn’t have come to Clover Hills, and if she hadn’t come, Aunt Leona’s house wouldn’t be burning. Mia crossed her arms over the top of the steering wheel and rested her forehead on them. How could she tell Mom? Why would these people bug the house and then burn it? Because she was a cop? Would they try to kill her if she didn’t leave Clover Hills? What would they do to Dave when they learned his true identity?

  With all the commotion over the fire, she’d forgotten to call Bo, and she really needed to hear his voice, especially now. “I need to call Bo.”

  Dave stepped out of the car, and Mia glanced at Mrs. Snyder’s house. The old woman stood on her porch, and she wasn’t watching the fire.

  Mrs. Snyder was watching them.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Dave turned his back to the fire and walked down the street to call Kowalski. “Get to Clover Hills asap.”

  “You still want Stipes undercover?”

  “No, I want you both to come in looking official and scare the pants off the locals, especially the cops. While Mia Gregory and I were out hiking this morning, someone burned her house. I think the cops are involved, and I don’t mean just with the arson.”

  “Is this Greg’s sister we’re talking about?”

  “That’s her. I want you to interrogate us right along with everyone else. Treat us like shit if you want. I don’t care. Just get here.”

  Dave disconnected. Turning to look at the car, he saw Mia’s shoulders heave, and she wiped the tears off her face with her sleeve. All the physical evidence of her childhood memories had gone up in smoke. Greg talked about coming up here every summer from the time they were little kids, how the boys slept in the loft and Mia would sneak up after their parents went to sleep. She’d crawl between Bo and Greg, and their mother would find her there the next morning.

  He missed that kind of closeness with his siblings. Dave had two sisters, but they’d never been close. His sisters were twelve and fifteen years older, and when Dave was a small boy, the girls baby-sat while their parents went out. The girls resented him, as if it was his fault their parents had an active social life. Once his sisters left for college, they stayed gone. Now they both had kids of their own, and he seldom saw them.

  Dave spent a week with his family every other year. They had nothing in common. His father still ran the family business and still hoped Dave would come home and run it someday, but accounting and investing didn’t interest him. Dad made a good living, but sitting behind a desk all day would drive Dave up the wall. He had some investments of his own, and thanks to Dad they’d done well, but to mess with that stuff all day every day? To obsess over the market’s ups and downs? No, thanks.

  Dave lived well, but the only thing he’d splurged on was his airplane. The bureau paid some of the ongoing expenses because he used it on business. He loved to fly, loved the feeling of freedom, of being untethered from the ground and the heavy load of responsibility he carried in his job.

  Glancing in the car window, he saw Mia wiping her face. He opened the car door and leaned down. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded. “Bo has some good news. They’re expecting a baby.” She blew her nose and wiped her eyes again as he slid onto the seat beside her. “He didn’t want more than two kids, but he’s so excited he’s about to pop. The adoptions became final, so this will officially be number three.”

  “How is the business doing?”

  “Great. You’d think he’d been breeding horses his whole life. I’m glad he’s so happy.” She said the words, but a fresh bout of tears streamed down her face. Bo’s happiness tore her apart.

  Dave squeezed her hand. “Your turn is next.”

  “I had a turn, and his family didn’t want me.” She blurted out the words before she fled the car.

  Dave walked around the car and handed her the handkerchief from his back pocket. “Why didn’t his family want you?”

  She wiped her face again. “They have ties to the English royal family, and his mother didn’t want to muddy the pedigree. Bo warned me, but I didn’t listen. I thought I loved the jerk.”

  He pulled her close and tucked her head under his chin. She needed comfort, which he gladly provided. “Honey, it was their loss.” How could anyone know Mia and not love this smart, witty, compassionate, beautiful woman?

  Police Chief Ken Knight strolled over, his eyes scanning first Mia and then Dave, and Dave had to fight to keep from planting his fist in the man’s ugly face. Couldn’t he see that Mia was too upset to talk with him now?

  “Miss Gregory?”

  Mia turned to Knight, already composed and professional. “Yes.”

  “What do you know about the fire?”

  “Nothing. What do you know?”

  “I’m the one asking the questions here.”

  Dave glared at Knight, one hand on Mia’s back and the other hand fisted and ready to swing if this idiot blamed Mia for burning the house.

  Mia’s back stiffened, but she answered politely. “I left early this morning, had breakfast at the Four Leaf Clover, and then went hiking with David.”

  “Anyone see you two on the trail?”

  “Mrs. Ayers and Jeff. We ran into them on the way back to the car.”

  Dave pried his jaw apart and asked, “When did the fire start?”

  “Around eight-thirty or so, as near as we can tell. Probably sparks from the fireplace.”

  Dave glanced at his watch. It wasn’t quite nine, and the fire raged. He felt the heat from across the street. Either the fire started before eight-thirty or someone had used an accelerant. Flames licked out the windows and crawled across the porch floor. A whoosh brought the porch roof down and the firefighters sprayed water on it before the sparks could fly away and start the neighboring homes on fire. At this point, the fire burned so hot they could only try to stop it from spreading. They couldn’t save Mia’s house.

  Mia said, “The ashes in the fireplace were cold before I left this morning.”

  “Did you leave something plugged in? Curling iron or something?”

  “No. Why don’t you question the woman next door? She watches everything.”

  Chief Knight stared at her and Dave for several seconds before walking away. Dave had a feeling the chief already knew how the fire started and who started it. He’d either done it himself or he’d ordered it done. “Mia, did you know him from before?”

  “No, the old police chief died last year, and I think the town council brought this guy in from somewhere. The officer who pulled a gun on me yesterday grew up here. I don’t know where he got his training or even if he has any.” She stared at the flames shooting out the roof. “The next time someone pulls a gun on me, they’ll
have a surprise coming. I may not have saved much from the fire, but I have my wallet and my gun.” She unzipped her fanny pack and put her hand on her gun.

  Dave wanted to get Mia away from the fire scene, but her car was hemmed in with fire engines and police cars. Bad enough to lose her family’s home. She didn’t need to watch it turn to ashes. “Lock the car and leave it here. We’ll buy you a few things and see if we can get a bigger room at the hotel.”

  “I can take care of myself, David. No matter what happened in Tacoma with the kid and the knife, I can take care of myself.”

  Mia walked away and Dave followed at a respectful distance, giving her time to herself. Maybe she could take care of herself under normal circumstances, but nothing in Clover Hills was normal. Someone had targeted her. Until he knew who that someone was and why they didn’t want her here, he wouldn’t let her out of his sight. Besides, he’d waited forever to have her to himself, without Greg’s interference, and he didn’t want to risk losing her now.

  The phone call to Bo had upset her. At first, Dave thought she cried because of the fire, but it wasn’t just about the fire. Bo had a wife and family, a place to belong, and he was happier than he’d ever been. Mia was miserable, with her career at risk, and the family of the man she loved had rejected her. If she’d go, Dave would send her to her family in Texas, but she wouldn’t leave here now. Not after this. Mia was a cop, and with that came curiosity. She wouldn’t go anywhere until she knew who burned her house and why.

  Mia fought to keep her composure, but she felt like screaming. How dare they burn Aunt Leona’s house? They knew she and Dave went hiking today. If they didn’t hear it on the bug on the lamp, then someone at the Four Leaf Clover told them. They obviously wanted her gone, but she’d never dreamed they’d go this far to get rid of her. And she didn’t understand why.

  The only clothes she had with her that hadn’t been destroyed in the fire were on her body, and she had no intention of going back to her apartment in Tacoma to get more clothes now. She stopped in front of the only clothing store in town and turned to Dave. “Are you following me?”

  “Who, me?”