Montana Standoff

by Sharon Dunn

  “The only way to end this is to find Crew. I’m going to start by asking around at the homeless shelter. I have a friend who works there.”

  Bryan let out an exasperated sigh. “Then I’m coming with you.”

  “Fine, if that is what you want to do.” Her tone was defiant, but Sarah found herself secretly grateful for his help and protection, however stirred up he made her feel.

  They came to the mall on the edge of town. “Where is this homeless shelter anyway?”

  “On Division Street. I guess a lot of this is new since you were last here.”

  Bryan nodded. “I’ve only been back for five months.”

  She took in a breath, trying to calm down. “What made you come back here?”

  “An investigation I had been working on in Spokane for more than a year. Turns out Discovery is ground zero for the whole operation.” Bryan slowed down as they entered the heart of town.

  “Oh.” So it was his work that had brought him back here. She couldn’t hide her disappointment. Why had she even hoped that he’d come back to see her?

  “The last I heard of you, you had left for college. I assumed you were never coming back,” he said.

  Her spirits lifted. “You kept tabs on me?”

  “I stayed in touch with some of the people even if I didn’t come back,” he said.

  “When I left, I didn’t intend to come back. But then, Crew was here and my adoptive parents were here.” She turned to look at him. “I guess Discovery will always be home for me.”

  He held her in his gaze for a long moment. She thought she saw affection in his eyes. What was running through his head? Did Discovery only hold bad memories for him?

  The evening sky turned gray as they approached the dead-end street where the homeless shelter was. Sarah checked her watch. They had maybe an hour of daylight left.

  Once it turned dark, the chances of finding Crew would be close to zero. The homeless shelter came into view.

  Sarah craned her neck to look out the back window. How long did they have before this new group of men caught up with them?

  SEVEN

  Bryan glanced in his rearview mirror. Nobody was behind them, yet he couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. He parked the car beside the shelter and looked over at Sarah. She still had the same clothes that had gotten soaked in the river earlier. The ruffled button-down shirt she wore might have been white at some point but he doubted it ever would be again. He hadn’t changed either since getting back to town. His T-shirt was ripped, his worn jeans sported mud stains and he had bruises on his arms. “We look like homeless people.”

  Sarah laughed, a soft, easy laugh that had always been music to his ears. “We’ll blend right in.”

  As they approached the shelter, they saw two men seated on the steps while a third used a bucket as a chair. One of the men on the steps stared at the ground and hugged himself, but the other man met Bryan’s gaze.

  Sarah stepped forward. “I’m looking for Crew Langston. Have you guys seen him?”

  The man who refused to make eye contact shot up abruptly from the steps and wandered away, shuffling his feet.

  The man on the bucket squinted and tilted his head toward the darkening sky. “Crew Langston?”

  Sarah directed her comment toward the man on the bucket. “He’s a tall, thin guy with dark hair. Likes to wear denim shirts and a bandanna around his neck.”

  The man on the steps let out a heavy breath and said, “I don’t know the guy.”

  “I heard he got clean and got himself a place on Sixteenth Street.” The man on the bucket touched his matted gray hair.

  “I didn’t hear anything like that,” the man on the steps replied.

  “You don’t even know the guy.”

  The other man lifted his chin in the air and crossed his arms. “I know his name....”

  The two men had descended into one of the illogical discussions common to people with mental illness. They probably weren’t going to get any more information out of them. Could they trust the information they’d been given?

  Although he doubted he’d get much of an answer, Bryan gave it one more try. “Do you know the address on Sixteenth Street where Crew is living? Or even what the house looks like?”

  The man on the bucket shook his head. “Didn’t see it for myself. Just what I heard.”

  “You ask too many questions,” said the man on the steps, cutting a suspicious glance toward Bryan. He closed his eyes and turned his head, indicating that the conversation was over.

  Bryan tugged on Sarah’s shirt so she stepped away from the two men. “Sixteenth Street runs most of the length of town.”

  Sarah crossed her arms and stared up at the sky. “That would be wonderful though if my brother had a place of his own. If it’s true.” Her voice held a note of hope. “It’ll be dark soon. I suppose we could drive up and down the street and hope we see him.”

  Bryan pulled out his cell phone. “There has to be a faster way.” Who did he know who could connect him to that kind of information? “Even if Crew does have a place, I doubt he’s staying there right now. I’m sure word has gotten to him that those thugs are looking for him.”

  “They might not know Crew has a place. It was news to me and I’m his sister.”

  She could be right. His training as a detective told him to follow whatever lead, no matter how thin. “Give me a minute to make some calls.” He’d start with one of the officers whose patrol took him on that street.

  “I’m going inside to talk with my friend Julia. She might know something.” Sarah trotted up the stairs and disappeared.

  Sarah’s voice floated out from an open window. He felt a tug at his heart when he heard her ask a question and then laugh. He had to admit that he still cared for her after all this time, but after the way he’d been so immature and let her down all those years ago, she’d probably want nothing to do with him once they found Crew. Sarah’s voice faded and Bryan turned his attention to figuring out where Crew might be living.

  After talking to a couple of officers, Bryan managed to narrow a probable location down to a two-block area where someone matching Crew’s description had been seen in the last few weeks. It was something, anyway. He glanced up from his phone at the warm glow coming from the homeless shelter. Maybe Sarah had had better luck.

  * * *

  “Hey, Sarah.”

  Sarah looked up in the direction of the voice. A man dressed in a long coat and knit hat offered her a gap-toothed grin.

  She couldn’t find Julia in the shelter and had wandered out the back door to see if anyone else knew anything about Crew.

  She turned toward the man who called her name.

  “Eddie?” Eddie was one of Crew’s friends. They’d eaten lunch together months ago when Crew called her and asked if they could meet. Eddie was not an addict, but a man prone to wandering when he went off his schizophrenia medication. Though he looked closer to forty, Eddie was in his mid-twenties. His parents, an older couple, had gotten used to a pattern of their son coming in and out of their lives. They supplied Eddie with a cell phone so he could call them when he wanted to come home.

  From the light she saw in his eyes, she was catching him on a good day.

  Eddie edged toward her. “I heard you asking around. You’re looking for Crew?”

  She nodded as hope fluttered in her heart. “Do you know where he is?”

  “I saw him less than half an hour ago. I can take you to him. It’s just over by the fairgrounds.”

  Sarah turned in the direction Eddie indicated. The high chain-link fence and labyrinth of buildings that made up the fairgrounds were visible from the homeless shelter. Because the buildings were underutilized, the fairgrounds were a known hangout for homeless people when events weren
’t being held there.

  “Can I get my friend to come with us?” She pointed in the general direction Bryan might be.

  “No, only you. That guy’s a cop. I can tell.” He sounded afraid. “We should hurry. Some guys were after Crew. He might not be there much longer.”

  Sarah steeled herself. Eddie had huge trust issues. It wasn’t really surprising that Bryan made him nervous. She didn’t want to scare him away. She had to find Crew. “You’ll stay with me, Eddie?”

  Eddie looked at the ground, shifted his weight. “It’s not far.”

  He led her through an opening in the fence that surrounded the fairgrounds, past several buildings and corrals. Four homeless people huddled in a tight circle craned their necks as Sarah and Eddie passed by.

  “In here.” Eddie pushed open a door that had a broken padlock. They stepped inside a long, narrow exhibit building. Sarah squinted. The building had a series of low-walled stalls where kids showed their 4-H animals. Shadows covered most of the building.

  “Where is he?”

  A tiny light came on at the other end of the building.

  “Crew?” Sarah walked toward the light. She heard a scuffling sound behind her and when she turned back around, she saw that Eddie had disappeared.

  Sensing danger, Sarah stopped. Had Eddie been spooked? Was that why he’d left her behind? A man at the other end of the building stalked toward her. She squinted. “Crew, is that you?”

  “Sarah Langston.” The man came closer, holding a flashlight. He was dressed in a suit. As he drew near, she saw that he was clean-shaven. “I have a message for you.”

  “Is it from my brother?”

  In the distance, she heard Bryan shouting her name. His voice grew louder.

  The man seemed on edge, glancing from side to side.

  “Please tell me. What is the message?”

  “Sarah.” Bryan stood in the doorway.

  When Sarah spun back around, the man was gone.

  Bryan approached her. “What were you doing here?”

  “There was a man who might know something about my brother.”

  “A homeless man?”

  “No—well, yes and no. The man who was waiting here for me wasn’t homeless. He was wearing a suit. But it was one of Crew’s friends who led me here.” Sarah tried to sort through what had just happened. “He lied to me.” Eddie must have been paid to be the courier and bring her to the other man. That’s why he’d claimed to have seen Crew. He knew she wouldn’t come unless she thought she’d be meeting her brother.

  “What did the man say?”

  “You scared him away.” Sarah walked the length of the dark building with Bryan following her. “He said he had a message for me.”

  “He didn’t say specifically he had a message about Crew?”

  “No, but what else would it be about?” She stood beside the half-open door the man must have slipped out of. She stepped outside into the darkness. The man had clearly been nervous and was probably long gone by now. Eddie would be much easier to track down. “We have to find Eddie. He must know something.”

  They searched the fairgrounds, the shelter and an area by the river where homeless people often slept. No sign of Eddie.

  Bryan placed a supportive hand on Sarah’s shoulder as they headed back toward the car. “I’ve narrowed down the possibilities for where Crew’s place might be. Let’s go see if we can find it before we call it a night.”

  Bryan’s car rolled slowly down Sixteenth Street. Most of the houses looked like single-family dwellings. Nothing Crew could afford even with assistance.

  “There, maybe.” Sarah pointed to a three-story building that had a number of apartment units. A man stood outside, tossing a garbage bag into a Dumpster. Sarah jumped out of the car and approached the man who looked to be about college-age.

  “I’m looking for someone.” She pulled out her phone and clicked through her photos until she found a picture of Crew. “This man.”

  The young man looked at the photograph. “Yeah, I’ve seen that guy.”

  Sarah’s spirits lifted. “Really?”

  “I’ve talked to him when he was on his way home from work. He lives in the basement apartment over there.” The man pointed across the street. “Haven’t seen him around for a couple of days, but he’s got a roommate.”

  “Thank you.” Sarah headed across the street.

  They descended a concrete stairway and Sarah tapped on the door. “I know he’s not going to be here. But maybe the roommate knows something.”

  “It’s a place to start.” Bryan sounded encouraged, too.

  They waited. Sarah rocked heel to toe. “It’s kind of late. Do you think the roommate is sleeping?”

  Bryan leaned forward and tapped on the door a second time—louder this time. “The clock is ticking for your brother. We can get somebody out of bed if we have to.”

  Sarah smiled. Glad she didn’t have to do this alone even though it was Bryan who was helping her.

  They heard footsteps and then the door swung open to reveal a man dressed in a brown uniform. He was a few years younger than Crew, clean-shaven with a narrow face and thin nose.

  “We’re sorry to bother you so late at night,” Sarah said.

  The man shrugged. “Actually, I was just getting ready for work. Graveyard shift, security.”

  Bryan leaned in the doorway. “We wanted to talk to you about your roommate, Crew Langston.”

  “Crew hasn’t been around for like three days. Which is really weird because the guy has been hyperresponsible since he got clean.”

  “I’m his sister. Do you know where he might have gone?”

  The young man’s face brightened. “You’re Sarah? Why don’t you come in?” He stood to one side so they could enter. “I’m Nick Sheridan, by the way.”

  They stepped inside. The apartment was clean and sparse.

  “Like I said, I don’t know where he’s gone. They called from his work. He didn’t show up for his shift there. That old beater car he bought is gone, too.”

  So Crew had saved enough to buy a car. How long had he been clean? Why hadn’t he told her? “You have no idea where he went? He didn’t say anything to you?” Sarah fought off a rising sense of desperation as she struggled to find the right question to ask.

  Nick shook his head.

  She asked the question she was dreading the answer to. “Do you think he started using drugs again?”

  “He was pretty serious about his recovery. He wanted to give it a full six months before he told you to make sure he was going to make it this time.”

  “He said that?” Sarah’s throat went tight from joy. Tears formed at the corner of her eyes.

  “Yeah, your opinion of him means a lot to him.” Nick buttoned up the shirt of his uniform. “If you don’t mind, I’ll be late for work if I don’t get going.”

  “Oh, sorry.” They still didn’t have any information that would give them a clue as to why Crew would disappear or why the men were after him.

  The man picked up his keys and headed toward the door.

  Bryan spoke up. “Was there anything unusual in the days before he left?”

  Bryan’s question seemed to spark something. “Come to think of it, a blonde woman came to see him about a week ago. She wasn’t someone I had ever seen him with before.” The man moved toward the door and Sarah and Bryan followed him.

  “Do you know what they talked about?”

  He stepped outside. “They went for a walk. When she arrived, she seemed upset or scared.” He shrugged. “I only saw her that one time. Crew disappeared a few days after that.” He placed his key in the door and locked it.

  Bryan pulled a card from his wallet. “Let us know if you hear anything more from him or remember an
ything else.”

  Sarah dug through her pockets for a card of her own. “I really need to talk to my brother.”

  The man examined both cards. “Sure, I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”

  They stepped up into the dark night and headed toward the car. Sarah slipped into the passenger seat and the heaviness of fatigue set in.

  “So tell me where your friend lives and I’ll drop you off,” Bryan said.

  Sarah gave him directions to Cindy’s house. “And for your information, she does have a husband, but I have no idea if he owns a gun.”

  “She lives in town?”

  Sarah nodded.

  Bryan cruised through the quiet residential streets. A warm glow came from some of the house windows. Others were dark.

  Sarah’s life had flipped completely upside-down from where she had been this afternoon when she thought she would leave her house after lunch and finish a day of work. She’d found out that her brother had gotten his life together and had fallen off the face of the earth all in a few short hours. And now Bryan was back in her life. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. His police training was invaluable and had already saved her life. For that, she was grateful. Dormant feelings of attraction had been stirred up by his return. But every time she thought about how he had abandoned her when she’d needed him most, a shield went over her heart.

  Thinking about what Bryan meant to her after all these years would make her fall apart. She preferred to focus her energy on finding Crew.

  She voiced the thought that teased the corners of her mind. “If it’s not drugs or a debt, what is it? What’s happened to my brother?”

  Bryan shook his head. “Hard to say. I wonder who this woman is who came to his place...if she’s the reason he’s gone underground.”

  “I doubt he had much money. He couldn’t get far.” Sarah felt a rising frustration at the lack of answers. She watched the houses clip by through the subdivision. “That’s it. Cindy’s house is on the cul-de-sac.”

  Bryan slowed and checked his rearview mirror. He sat up a little straighter. “Is there another friend you might want to stay with?”