Sudden Second Chance

by Carol Ericson

  Serena’s eyes narrowed.

  “I mean, you own that cabin, right?”

  “I do. Excuse me.” Serena moved to the other end of the bar to take an order. She didn’t return to Beth until she brought the soup.

  “One lentil soup.”

  “Did you inherit that cabin?”

  “Who, me? My folks never had any money, didn’t even come from this area.”

  “So, you bought it?”

  “I bought it after the Timberline kidnappings. Prices dropped off then. The lumber company had already pulled up roots. I got a good deal from an anxious seller.”

  “That person must’ve regretted it once Evergreen Software moved in here and prices went up again.”

  “Actually, it wasn’t a person, just some big corporation that owned other properties. I got lucky.”

  “Is the corporation still around? What was the name of it?”

  “Why do you care?”

  Damn, she’d come across as too nosy. She took out her phone and feigned interest in her text messages. “I don’t, really. Just curious—occupational hazard.”

  “I don’t remember the name of the company. I’d have to look it up in my paperwork, wherever that stuff is now. Oh, hello, Jordan. Can I get you something?”

  Smiling at Beth, he pointed to her soup. “I’ll have some of that and a cup of coffee, if you’ve got some fresh.”

  “Coming right up.”

  Jordan swiveled on his stool to face her. “I heard you’re not going to do the story.”

  “Word travels fast.” She placed her phone on the bar.

  “Small town.” He lifted a shoulder. “Too bad.”

  “Are you one of those who was pro-story? I would’ve thought you’d be against it because of the business interests you have here.”

  “Thanks, sweetheart.” He dumped some cream into the coffee Serena had brought him. “I’m a forward-thinking person. I think any publicity is good publicity. That whole mess with Carson kidnapping those kids and playing the hero didn’t hurt business or our reputation. Some people are too sensitive.”

  “Like your friend Bill Raney.”

  “Bill has a lot to be sensitive about. He’s a failure. People like me and that little firecracker, Rebecca Geist...we have nothing to fear.”

  “Did you hear what happened to Rebecca last night?”

  “Damned shame, but then, you tend to attract unwanted attention when you’re successful. Like you.” He sipped his coffee and met her gaze over the rim. “Do you really want to give up?”

  “I don’t consider it giving up. There’s just not enough here to produce a compelling story.”

  He winked. “You haven’t talked to me yet.”

  “That’s not from a lack of effort. You’re a busy man, Mr. Young.”

  “Jordan, and I’ve got some time right now. Maybe what I have to show you will make you reconsider your decision.”

  Her heart thumped. Jordan had been around for a while. He just might know more of Timberline’s secrets than anyone else since he also seemed to be tight with the town’s movers and shakers.

  “That depends on what you’ve got for me.”

  “You know that cabin you wanted to see out on Raven Road? The one where the agent’s car exploded?” He hunched forward and cupped a hand around his mouth. “I can get you inside.”

  Beth’s gaze darted to Serena counting money at the register. “It belongs to Serena.”

  “Yes and no. Let’s just say it’s more complicated than that.”

  “How can you get into the cabin?” She couldn’t exactly admit to Jordan that she’d already been inside. She didn’t want to get Duke into any trouble, especially if it turned out that Jordan knew the real owner.

  “Let’s just say I’m like this—” he crossed his fingers “—with the management company.”

  “H...he doesn’t have to be there, does he?”

  “He doesn’t even have to know. It’ll be our secret.” He put his finger over his lips and glanced at Serena.

  “Okay. What time?”

  “How about right now? I don’t have any meetings until later this afternoon.” He rubbed his hands together when Serena put his soup in front of him. “Thanks.”

  When she walked away, he dropped his spoon. “I’ll tell you what. You’re staying at one of my hotels, the Timberline, right?”

  “Yeah, the one that needs cameras.”

  “I have a little business to attend to there. Why don’t you head back to the hotel, let me finish my lunch, and I’ll meet you there and we can go over to the Ravens together.”

  “The Ravens?”

  “That’s what the cabin’s called. Most of the owners of these cabins, especially the ones outside of town, named their places.”

  “I didn’t even know that road was called Raven Road.” Beth’s hands grew clammy just thinking about the Ravens and she grabbed a napkin and crumpled it in her fist. Her breath started coming in shallow gusts, and she slid from the stool. “Can you excuse me for a minute?”

  She made a beeline for the ladies’ room and hunched over the sink, breathing in and out. Just talking about the cabin was causing her to freak out. How would she handle another visit there? But Jordan was offering her another opportunity to take a look at the place and she couldn’t refuse.

  She splashed water on her face and gave herself a pep talk in the mirror. Pasting a smile on her face, she returned to the bar.

  “Sorry about that. So, the Ravens is on Raven Road.”

  Jordan studied her face for a second. “It’s a local name, not on the maps. Ravens are important to Quileute legends, so I guess that’s where it came from. Does that sound like a plan? You can wait for me in the parking lot of the hotel. I won’t be long, and then you can decide if you really want to give up on this story.”

  “Okay. I’d love to see inside that cabin...for my own reasons.”

  “Excellent.” He took a spoonful of soup into his mouth.

  “Anything else?” Serena picked up Beth’s bowl and dropped the check.

  “No, thanks.” Beth left some cash on the bar, swept her phone into her palm and nodded to Jordan.

  Beth took her time getting back to the hotel, since Jordan had to finish his lunch anyway. She stopped by the market and picked up some water and a bottle of wine. If this was going to be her last night in Timberline with Duke, she might as well make it special.

  She pulled her phone out of her pocket to leave him a text message. She tapped her screen, but her phone wouldn’t wake up. She powered it down and tried again. The battery must’ve died.

  Jordan had said he had meetings in the afternoon, so they’d be done at the Ravens before Duke finished working on the DEA files anyway.

  When she pulled into the hotel’s parking lot, Jordan was just walking out of the hotel.

  She grabbed her crutch and scrambled from the car. “That was fast.”

  “It was just soup. What took you so long?”

  She held up the plastic bag with one hand. “Stopped for a few things.”

  “Perishable?”

  “No.”

  “Why don’t you leave them in your car?” He looked at his watch. “My meeting was earlier than I thought, and I’m going to have to make this fast.”

  “Oh, okay.” Leaning back into the car, Beth placed the bag on the passenger seat.

  She used her crutch to navigate to his black sedan and the open passenger door.

  “How’s that foot of yours?”

  “It’s getting better. In a few days I think I can put more pressure on it and get around without using a crutch.”

  He helped her into the car and slammed the door.

  On the way to the cabin he asked about
her theories of the kidnappings.

  She stared out the window at the passing scenery before answering. She really hadn’t given the Timberline Trio much thought, especially once she’d found out she wasn’t one of them.

  “I’m not sure, maybe child trafficking, as awful as that sounds. Maybe those kids were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “It was a strange and scary time, especially for those with children.”

  “You didn’t have children to worry about?”

  “My wife and I were never fortunate in that regard.”

  “And then you lost your wife... I’m sorry. People do talk in a small town.”

  “Lorna drowned.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  She’d changed the mood in the car by mentioning his wife. He seemed thoughtful as he gazed over the steering wheel.

  He never remarried, so Lorna must’ve been the love of his life.

  When he made the turn onto Raven Road, her fingers curled into the leather on either side of the seat and her pulse rate quickened. She’d thought getting into the cabin and finding the picture of the woman with the locket had dispelled her fears, but the anxiety still hovered at the edges of her mind.

  Jordan dragged a hand across his face. “Did you call Agent Harper? I know he was interested in the cabin, too.”

  “My phone’s battery died. He’s working, anyway.”

  “On a Sunday?”

  “He works when he gets the call.”

  “I have to admit I’m a little relieved.”

  She tilted her head. “Why is that?”

  “He’s an officer of the law and, technically, I’m entering the cabin without the owner’s knowledge.”

  She smirked. If Jordan only knew Duke had been breaking and entering just yesterday. “I don’t think he’d report you. So, do you think the Ravens is connected to the Timberline Trio kidnappings?”

  “Could be. Back in the day, it was used for some illicit activities.”

  “Really?” Like prostitution? Her stomach felt sick at the thought of the pretty strawberry blonde involved in anything sordid.

  “I don’t know that much about it, but the Ravens had a reputation around that time. I thought that’s why you were out here yesterday.”

  “I think Duke, Agent Harper, may have gotten some hint about something like that, but we barely got to the front door when the car exploded.”

  “Makes you wonder if some of those old characters are still hanging around, like what happened to Binder. Coincidental that he died in a hit-and-run accident right after telling the FBI a little about Timberline’s drug culture.”

  A chill swept across Beth’s body and she hunched her shoulders. She dug her phone out of her pocket and tried waking it up again.

  “Still dead?”

  “Yeah.” She dropped it back in her pocket.

  “Reception is bad out this way, anyway.”

  He swung around the yellow tape tied to a tree where Duke’s car had been parked and rolled up the pathway to the cabin.

  “Stay right there, Beth. I’ll help you out.”

  He appeared at the passenger door and jingled a set of keys as he gave her his arm for support. “We can get inside the right way this time.”

  “This time?”

  “Well, you didn’t get in at all yesterday, did you?”

  “N...no.”

  Her uneasiness still nibbled at the edges of her brain, but it differed from the sheer terror she felt yesterday.

  He held her arm as they walked up the two steps to the front door. He used the key to unlock two locks on the door and pushed it open.

  The front door opened right onto the sitting room where she and Duke had removed the floorboards and found the pictures.

  “After you.”

  She hesitated, and Jordan put a hand on the small of her back. “We’re not going to get caught.”

  As soon as Beth entered the room, beads of sweat broke out on her forehead. Her dry mouth made it hard to swallow. The room closed around her and she hung on to her crutch as the room began to spin.

  “You feel it, don’t you, Beth? She led you here, didn’t she? Your mother led you to the place where she was murdered.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Duke pushed back from the desk in the conference room at the sheriff’s station and stretched. If the Bureau pulled him off this case, at least he could leave with a good report regarding the drug trade in Timberline and who was behind it. A biker gang called the Lords of Chaos controlled the drug trade on the peninsula. They also ran women and weapons. A thorough investigation of that gang might lead to additional information about the kidnappings.

  He checked his phone. Nothing from Beth. He texted her, but the message didn’t show as Delivered. He tried calling and his call went straight to voice mail.

  Maybe she was getting something from Serena.

  Unger tapped on the open door. “Thought you’d want to know. Rebecca Geist is out of surgery. It looks like she’s going to pull through, but they’re keeping her in an induced coma until the swelling on her brain goes down.”

  “Thank God. Did her fiancé make it out here?”

  “He’s on a flight back right now. Do you need anything in here?”

  “No. I skipped lunch, so I might take a break in a few minutes and pick up something.”

  “I can recommend the sandwich place two doors down.”

  “Thanks.” When Unger left, Duke rubbed his eyes and went back to the Lords of Chaos and their dirty deeds.

  As he scanned a bulleted list, a name jumped out at him—LRS Corporation. That was the name Rebecca had mentioned before she’d been attacked. He ran his finger beneath the text on the screen. The Lords of Chaos had rented several properties from LRS and used some of them for their illegal activities, including cooking meth.

  Duke switched to a search engine and entered LRS Corporation, Timberline, Washington. He skimmed through the relevant hits.

  LRS stood for and was owned by Lawrence Richard Strathmore, who’d passed away about twenty years ago. He’d been around during the time of the kidnappings.

  He clicked through a couple of biographies. The man and the corporation had owned a lot of property in Timberline at one time. His wife had passed before he did and they had one daughter.

  Duke whistled through his teeth. Strathmore’s daughter, Lorna, had married Jordan Young.

  Duke jumped up from his chair and stuck his head out the door. “Unger?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Need to ask you a few questions.”

  Unger walked around the corner with a sandwich in his hand. “Sorry, man. I would’ve gotten you something when I went over there earlier if I’d known you were gonna be holed up in here all morning.”

  “That’s okay.” Duke waved him to the chair as he perched on the edge of the conference table. “Jordan Young is a widower, right?”

  “Yeah, his wife died about ten years ago—drowned.”

  “His wife was Lorna? Lorna Strathmore?”

  “Not sure about her maiden name, but Lorna’s right.”

  “Wasn’t she loaded?”

  “I heard something like that. Young got his money the old-fashioned way—he married it.”

  “You ever heard of LRS Corporation?”

  “I’ve seen the name on a few things. Why?”

  “That was the name of Young’s father-in-law’s company—owned a lot of property in Timberline.”

  “Now Young owns a lot of property in Timberline. Why are you asking?”

  “Just a curious connection between him and something Beth was looking into.” Duke rubbed his chin. “You know much about him?”

  “Between me and you?�
�� Duke poked his head out the door and then closed it. “He likes the ladies, and I think he shares that with my boss.”

  “Is the sheriff married? I don’t see a problem for Young since he’s widowed.”

  “I guess I’m being too discreet for the big-city boy, huh? What I mean is Young is into hookers, and I think Sheriff Musgrove is, too, which is a problem for both of them, as far as I can tell.”

  “Wow, you need to get rid of that guy. He’s going to bring the department a world of hurt otherwise.”

  “Tell me about it.” He swung open the door. “Anyway, that’s about all I know about Young, about all I want to know about him.”

  “Thanks, Unger.”

  Duke tapped his thumbs on the edge of his keyboard. Jordan Young sold that cabin to Serena Hopewell. Why? Was he the one who’d stashed those pictures under the floorboards? Were those women hookers? Was the one who had Beth’s locket a hooker?

  He needed to reach Beth, tell her everything. He tried her phone again, and again it went to voice mail. This time he left her a detailed message about Jordan Young.

  Had she even seen Serena today? Maybe Serena had already given Beth the same info about Young.

  He shut down the computer and stacked his files. Then he locked the conference room door behind him.

  “Unger, I’m going to Sutter’s for some lunch.”

  “All right, but the sandwiches down the street are just as good.”

  “I need something else at Sutter’s.”

  The Evergreen lunch hour must’ve ended because Duke walked into a mostly empty restaurant. He noted Serena working behind the bar and wove his way through the dining room tables to get there.

  “You just missed your girlfriend, the TV reporter.”

  “Did she talk to you about the cabin?” Duke hunched forward on the bar.

  Serena’s eyes widened. “Why are you two so interested in my cabin? It’s just a cabin like any other on the outskirts of town, and it has no relation to the Timberline Trio case.”

  “That you know of.”

  “Do you want something to drink or are you just here to harass me?”

  “Who sold you that cabin, Serena?”