Sudden Second Chance

by Carol Ericson

  “How’d your meeting with the DEA go the other day? You never got back to me.”

  Duke’s head rolled to the side and he watched Beth’s eyelashes flutter closed. Had that meeting been before Beth’s foot got caught in a bear trap or after someone had taken a shot at her?

  “They’re pulling all the files for me regarding drug activity in the area at the time of the kidnappings. Is someone getting anxious?”

  “I’ll tell you who’s getting anxious—Stanley Gerber, that’s who.”

  “Stan the man? The director of our division?”

  “We had a situation, top secret. It all worked out, but Gerber wanted to know why you weren’t on the case.”

  “And you told him I was in cold-case Siberia?”

  “I did, and he wanted to know on whose orders.”

  “I guess Vasquez, his second in command, doesn’t keep him up to date.”

  “I’m guessing he’s having a few words with Vasquez right about now.”

  “Do you think he’s going to pull me off the Timberline Trio case?”

  Beth opened her eyes and nudged him with the heel of her hand.

  “Maybe, but I’d like you to follow up with the drug connection first so we can show something for our efforts there.”

  “I’ll see what I can do as soon as those files come through from the DEA.” Duke sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. “What, no homework duty tonight?”

  “It’s Saturday. I’ve been coaching soccer all day.”

  “Father of the year, Mickey.”

  “I’m glad someone thinks so. Keep me posted on the drug angle and I’ll put in a few hundred good words for you with Gerber.”

  When he ended the call Beth shot up next to him. “Are you getting yanked off this case?”

  “Maybe, but not before I wrap up some loose ends.”

  She tapped her chest. “I’m your loose end. We need to discover what these pictures mean.”

  “Let’s get some dinner while you wait for Rebecca’s callback.”

  “I can’t face going into town tonight. After hearing about that explosion, the townspeople just might come after me with pitchforks.”

  “There’s that new development near Evergreen with a couple of chain restaurants.”

  “I could use a bland chain restaurant about now, but I need a shower after crawling around that cabin floor.”

  “Meet you back here in thirty minutes?”

  “I think I can manage that.”

  He went back to his own room, his mind in turmoil. He and Beth had figured someone had to have been tracking them to know their whereabouts this afternoon—unless Rebecca had told someone.

  If someone had put a tracking device on his rental car, he’d never know now that the car had been destroyed. The rental company had already towed it away.

  Why wouldn’t someone want them to find some old pictures? Unless that cabin had something to do with the Timberline Trio case, these threats against Beth made no sense at all.

  He’d been concerned when she’d decided to stay in town because he’d figured the people threatening her would assume she was still on the Timberline Trio case, but maybe the attacks had nothing to do with the Timberline Trio.

  Maybe someone had objected to Beth’s personal quest all along. But why? Why should one woman’s journey to find her beginnings cause anyone to feel uneasy?

  Showered and changed, Duke returned to Beth’s room.

  She opened the door, her face alight with excitement. “Rebecca called me back and she’s going to look into that property as soon as she gets the chance. She’s having dinner with her fiancé, but he’s flying back to New York later and she’s going to return to her office for some work.”

  “Then let’s enjoy our dinner with some endless breadsticks and all-you-can-eat salad.”

  She paced in front of him. “I don’t think I even need my crutches anymore.”

  They drove across town in Beth’s rental to the newer area that owed its existence to Evergreen Software. When they walked into the restaurant, they barely warranted a glance from anyone.

  These were the newer residents of Timberline and, except for that glitch with Wyatt Carson, they were far removed from the Timberline Trio tragedy.

  Over dinner, Duke ran his new theory past Beth. “I was thinking in the shower.”

  “That’s where I do all my best thinking.” She bit off the end of a breadstick and grinned. That interlude in the cabin had transformed Beth from the scared creature of this afternoon. He’d expected her to be wrung dry from the experience and the discovery, but she’d been energized by it—vindicated.

  “Beth, it occurred to me that the threats against you may not have anything to do with the Timberline Trio case. It could be that someone here doesn’t want you to discover your identity. Maybe someone discovered your true purpose and has been doing everything he can to drive you away from that purpose.”

  She stabbed a tomato with her fork. “I thought of that, too. What if...? What if my birth parents don’t want me?”

  He dropped his fork and interlaced his fingers with hers. “Are you prepared for that?”

  “I came out here to find the truth. I can handle it.”

  “Beth.” He squeezed her fingers. “You came out here because you thought you were Heather Brice and you expected to be reunited with your long-lost, loving family. It’s not going to be that way.”

  “I know.” She gave him a misty smile. “But the fact that you stayed with me, helped me, didn’t turn away from me when I told you about the miscarriage...well, that means more to me than ten loving families.”

  He brought her fingers to his lips and kissed the tips. “I’ll ride this out with you until the end.”

  After dinner, they closed the place down over a shared dessert and coffee for him, decaf tea for her.

  As they got in the car, Beth’s phone rang.

  “Hi, Rebecca. I’m with Duke. I’m putting you on speakerphone. Do you have anything for us?”

  “I have the owner of that cabin for you. You know Serena Hopewell, the bartender at Sutter’s?”

  “Serena owns the cabin?”

  “She’s owned it for over twenty years.”

  “Does she live there?”

  “Doesn’t look like she ever lived there. It’s been a rental, under Raney Realty, for quite some time.”

  Duke leaned toward Beth’s phone. “Inherited property?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Who’d she buy it from?”

  “Some management company—LRS Corp. Never heard of it. Hey!”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “My lights just flickered.”

  Duke grabbed the phone from Beth. “Rebecca, are you in the office alone?”

  “Of course I am. Who else would be nutty enough to be working on Saturday night?” She cursed. “The lights just went out in my office completely. Is it raining?”

  Duke and Beth exchanged a glance and Beth asked, “Are your doors locked?”

  “Of course. What’s wrong with you two?”

  “Rebecca.” Duke kept his tone calm. “Your life is in danger.”

  As he uttered his last syllable, the line went dead.

  “Rebecca? Rebecca?”

  He tossed his phone to Beth as he tried Rebecca’s number. “Call 9-1-1.”

  Rebecca’s phone rang until it rolled over to voice mail.

  Beth jerked her head toward Duke and covered the phone. “The operator is asking me what the emergency is. What should I say?”

  He snapped his fingers and she handed the phone to him. “A woman I was speaking to on the phone thought she had an intruder and then her phone went dead. I can’t reach her now.�
�

  “Name and address?”

  “Rebecca Geist with Peninsula Realty.” He gave the operator the address of Rebecca’s office and his name, and then he ended the call. “A deputy’s on the way, but so are we.”

  Beth had retrieved her phone from the console and had been trying Rebecca’s number.

  “Any luck?”

  “Keeps going straight to voice mail.” Beth hugged herself, bunching her hands against her arms. “I’m worried. Someone must’ve known she was doing all this research for us. We should’ve warned her against going back to her office alone.”

  “She was going back to do some work, not just for us. Anyone who knows Rebecca must know she burns the midnight oil at the office.”

  “Especially someone like Bill Raney.”

  As he hit the accelerator, Duke drummed his thumbs on the steering wheel. “She said some corporation had sold the property to Serena. Do you remember the name?”

  “It was three letters. L something, but I’m not sure.”

  “Why harm Rebecca over information like that? She’s not the only one who has access to those records. That’s public information.”

  “I hope that’s you thinking out loud because I have no idea.”

  “Unless it’s just to further intimidate you, drive you away.”

  “Yeah, like that’s going to happen.”

  “Beth—” he put a hand on her bouncing knee “—we can research that corporation and Bill Raney and Serena Hopewell from any place. Maybe you should spread it around that you’re leaving, there’s no story and you’re tired of the pranks against you.”

  “And then actually leave?”

  “Yes, leave. We can continue looking into all of it—the identities of those women, the history of that cabin.”

  “I’ll think about it.” She pointed out the window. “Look! It’s a squad car in front of Rebecca’s office.”

  “Good.”

  As he pulled in behind the police vehicle, an ambulance came up the road, sirens wailing.

  “Duke.” Beth grabbed his arm.

  He threw the car into Park and shot out of the driver’s side just as another squad car squealed to a stop.

  His gut knotted as he charged up to the front of the building.

  Deputy Stevens stepped in front of him. “Oh, it’s you. You called it in, right?”

  “What happened? Where’s Rebecca Geist?”

  Stevens gestured him inside and Beth grabbed the back of his jacket, limping behind him.

  Holding up a hand, Stevens said, “Beth, you might not want to go in there.”

  “The hell I won’t.”

  The revolving lights of the emergency vehicles lit up a hellish scene inside the offices of Peninsula Realty. Papers littered the floor, file cabinets lay on their sides, spilling their guts, computer equipment had been smashed and in the center of it all, Rebecca Geist broken and bloodied.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Beth cried out and staggered toward Rebecca. She dropped to the floor beside her. “She’s still breathing. She’s still alive.”

  “We know that, Beth. The EMTs are here—make way.”

  Duke touched her shoulder. “Let them do their work, Beth.”

  She covered her face with her arm as Duke helped her to her feet. “Oh, my God. It looks bad.”

  “She took a bad beating, but maybe we saved her life. There’s nothing we can do for her now.” Duke led Beth outside, where they spoke to the deputies.

  They explained how Rebecca had been doing research for them on some cabins and how she’d complained of the office lights going out while she was on the phone with them.

  Stevens asked, “Did she say anything else after that?”

  “Her phone went dead and that’s when we called 9-1-1.”

  “I was the one who responded first and I think I scared the guy off.”

  “Did he leave any footprints? A weapon? If he beat her with his fists, you’re going to be looking for someone with some battered hands.”

  “I think he may have used a hole-punch.”

  “A hole-punch?”

  “You know. One of those heavy, three-hole punchers? There was one next to the body. I’m sorry—next to Rebecca.” Stevens wiped his brow beneath his hat despite the chill in the damp air. “She was conscious when I got here and her pulse was strong. I think she has a good chance of making it.”

  “Her fiancé.” Beth folded her hands across her stomach. “She’d just had dinner with him and he was on his way to New York.”

  “Her coworkers will know how to reach him. From what I understand, he’s loaded, flies a private jet into Timberline.” Stevens waved the other deputy into the office. “What kind of research was she doing for you? Was it for the show?”

  “There’s not going to be any show on the Timberline Trio for Cold Case Chronicles.” Duke curled his arm around her hip and pinched her. “Rebecca didn’t come up with anything new, and Beth’s decided there’s not enough for a whole episode on the case.”

  “I’m sure quite a few people will be relieved to hear that. It’s a little different when you have the FBI working on something behind the scenes and not splashing it all over TV.”

  “I may be wrapping up here soon, too.”

  “Well, maybe those kids were snatched by that Quileute creature.”

  “Not even the Quileute believe that, Sheriff.” Beth’s lips formed a thin line.

  They said good-night to the sheriff and Duke caught Stevens’s arm. “You’ll let us know how it goes with Rebecca, right?”

  Stevens shot a sidelong glance at Musgrove shouting orders and nodded. “I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything.”

  Beth collapsed in the passenger seat. “I hope she’s going to make it.”

  “I hope so, too. She had a lot of head wounds and those bleed profusely. It might look worse than it is.”

  She pushed her hair from her face and pinned her shoulders against the seat back. “Before I do leave, Duke, I’m going to talk to Serena about her cabin.”

  “Are you going to ask her who sold it to her? Because I can’t remember what Rebecca told us.”

  “That’s one question.”

  “You might want to ask her how she could afford to buy a cabin like that on a waitress’s salary—be more discreet than that, but you know what I mean. Don’t you think that’s weird?”

  “That and the fact that she doesn’t even live in it and Doug told us it’s not rented out much.”

  “Be careful, Beth. Let people know you’re done with the story, that you’re leaving town.”

  “I will. I don’t want to get anyone else involved. I’ve put Scarlett in danger and now Rebecca.”

  “And maybe Gary Binder.”

  “Do you think he knew something about that cabin? Do you think he was at the hotel to talk to me?”

  “Maybe, or it could be his drug connection.” He tapped his phone. “I got an automated email from the DEA tonight indicating the files I requested are ready for viewing, so I’m going to work on that tomorrow. And you’re going to work on getting a flight out of Seattle. I can drive you to Sea-Tac anytime.”

  That night they made love again and she held on to Duke for dear life. If she had to give up her search in Timberline, he might be the only family she ever had.

  * * *

  THE NEXT MORNING DUKE, already dressed in running clothes, woke her up with a kiss. “Wish you could come with me.”

  She held up her foot. “As soon as this heals, I’ll be right there with you.”

  “Do you want to have brunch at that River Café when I get back?”

  “Okay, and then I’m going to find Serena and that’ll be it for me.”

  “Whic
h means you’ll be on your laptop this morning looking into flights from Seattle to LA and on the phone with Scott to tell him the story’s off.”

  “Yes, sir.” She saluted. “Scott’s going to be so happy this fell through. He warned his father it was a bad story.”

  “So, you get to keep your life and pump up Scott’s ego in the process. It’s a win-win.”

  Two hours later they parted ways after brunch. Duke’s rental-car agency had replaced his SUV. Luckily for them, they had used different rental companies or one company would be left wondering just what the hell was going on in Timberline.

  That was exactly what she wanted to know.

  She drove into town, wishing she hadn’t eaten so much at brunch. When she sat down at the bar at Sutter’s she didn’t want Serena to think she was there just for her.

  A call to Chloe had already confirmed that Serena was working today. When didn’t she work the bar at Sutter’s? Maybe that was how she could afford the upkeep on that cabin.

  All eyes seem riveted to her when she walked into the restaurant. If someone wanted her out of Timberline, it could be any one of these people.

  She hobbled to the bar on one crutch and hopped up on a stool.

  Serena placed a cocktail napkin in front of her. “What can I get you?”

  “I’m just going to have lunch again, if that’s okay.”

  “Fine with me.” Serena dropped a menu on the bar and got a beer for another customer.

  Beth made a show of studying the menu and then closed it and folded her hands on top of it.

  Serena returned. “Ready?”

  “I’ll have a ginger ale and a bowl of lentil soup.”

  Serena shot the ginger ale into a glass from a nozzle. “Not too popular around here anymore, are you?”

  “No, and I can’t do a show when the residents have turned against me. I’m calling it quits on this story.”

  “You can’t blame people for getting cold feet. A lot of weird stuff has gone down since you’ve been here.”

  “Yeah, like someone shooting the gas tank of Agent Harper’s rental car and blowing it up.”

  “Shows how desperate some of these people are. You don’t mess with the FBI.”

  “That explosion—” Beth toyed with her straw “—happened outside of your cabin.”