by Maris Soule
Katherine heard a low, moaning sound and looked back into the house, afraid it might be her grandfather. To her relief, he looked fine. Sarah, however, was bent over, crying.
Misty tried to hug the girl and hold up her own blanket at the same time. She was struggling with the effort when Vince went over and put an arm around each girl, holding them close to his side. Speaking softly to the two girls, he stood like a bastion against the tide of people about to barge into the house.
The noise of tires on gravel and brakes squealing made it difficult for Katherine to hear what he was saying, but Sarah stopped crying and Misty nodded, and Katherine knew Vince was providing the first step in the months of counseling the girls would need to overcome what they’d experienced.
You bastard, she thought, looking back at Charles Bell.
He’d called her a Judas the day the police rescued her. Seventeen years hadn’t lessened his desire for revenge. That he’d found her in Skagway wasn’t a surprise. Anyone who didn’t appreciate Charles Bell’s intelligence was a fool. His taking Sarah also made sense. Not only did the girl resemble both his daughter as a teenager and also Katherine, but taking Sarah was a way of hurting Katherine.
But, why had he taken Misty? How had he known she would be here in Skagway, getting off the ship yesterday morning? And, why ask for so much money?
Misty had eliminated Charles Bell as a future threat, but she had also taken away the answers to those questions.
CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
The news media was forced to stay back on the main road to Dyea as the police, state troopers, FBI, a medical examiner, crime scene techs, and the assistant district attorney took over the house and yard. The Graysons’ bodies were found in the freezer in the garage. Since this was both a kidnapping and a murder, Vince knew everyone involved, including himself, would be separated and questioned. But, after a while, it seemed to him the questioning would never end. He kept looking for Tom and Crystal, asking if they knew Misty was all right. He kept getting the same answer: they would be along soon enough.
Doug Pierson, who was introduced to Vince as one of the seasonal officers, took Vince’s statement. At first Vince wasn’t sure if the officer believed his story of being stalked by a white bear or what happened when the bear turned and ran, so Vince showed him the claw marks on the poles surrounding the garbage cans. Closer to the enclosure they could smell the rotting meat Bell had evidently pulled from the freezer to make room for the Graysons’ bodies. The tuft of white fur still stuck on the house’s siding, and the spot where the ground was torn up as the bear regained its balance and tore off around the back of the house, confirmed Vince’s story. Officer Pierson was laughing when he walked Vince back to where the vehicles were parked and told him to stay there.
Vince did stand around for a while, watching men and women go in and out of the house, but something kept bothering him. Although he’d seen only the living room, dining area, hallway, and the bedroom where Bell had held the girls, he’d noticed a lack of electronic devices. There was no television in the living room, just a radio and a tape player. No computer on a desk or laptop on the table. No scanner or copier.
No fax machine.
Curious, Vince walked back into the house. He avoided the officers in the bedroom where the girls had been held and CSS techs in the living room. He didn’t want to get in anyone’s way, and didn’t want to spoil any evidence. Besides, he’d seen all he needed in those rooms.
As unobtrusively as he could, Vince opened the other doors along the hallway and discovered there were two bathrooms and three bedrooms in all. The master bedroom and bath looked like it hadn’t been used recently, but the other, smaller bedroom had obviously been used by Bell. The bed was unmade, clothes had been tossed on the floor, and a man’s wallet lay on top of a chest of drawers, set on its side so a picture in it could be seen.
Vince was looking at the picture when he heard Tom’s and Crystal’s voices. Without hesitation, Vince picked up the wallet and headed back to the living room.
Sarah had already been sent to the Skagway Clinic, accompanied by a police officer. Vince assumed her mother would go there. Misty, however, was still in the house, sitting in the kitchen with the park ranger Katherine had called that morning. Someone had found the girls’ clothes, and Misty was wearing a t-shirt and miniskirt.
Vince reached the end of the hallway in time to see Misty being hugged by Crystal. Although Vince couldn’t hear exactly what Crystal was saying, it sounded like she was asking Misty what Bell had told her.
Tom was standing back a ways, awkwardly staring at his daughter. Don’t let her down, Vince thought, knowing how important the next few minutes would be for Misty. The girl had just gone through an experience no one—female or male—should face. She didn’t need to be questioned by her stepmother. She needed her father’s uncensored acceptance.
“I asked what he said to you,” Crystal demanded, her voice rising. “What did he tell you?”
She’d used the word “said.” She hadn’t asked what Bell did to Misty. Vince might not have picked up on that difference if he hadn’t seen Bell’s wallet. Crystal’s insistence helped solidify his suspicions. “Tom,” he said, walking over to his friend’s side. “I hope you didn’t transfer that money.”
Tom looked at him, then back at his daughter and wife. “I okayed the transfer with my bankers, but I told Bob to wait for my call.” He looked back at Vince. “You don’t think Bob would have . . . ?”
“No, I’m sure he didn’t,” Vince said. “Go to her, Tom. Tell her you love her. She needs you, not Crystal. I’ll call Bob and make sure everything is all right.”
Tom started to say something, then nodded and stepped toward his daughter. Crystal was still questioning the girl, but Tom stopped her and opened his arms to Misty.
Father and daughter were in an embrace when Vince turned away and started outside. He’d left his satellite phone in Katherine’s Tahoe and was walking toward the vehicle when he saw Katherine. Changing directions, he headed toward her.
“Take a look at this,” he said, handing Katherine the wallet he’d removed from Bell’s room. “Tell me what you think.”
Katherine opened the wallet and flipped through the pictures. There were only two: one of a young girl, maybe ten or eleven; the other the picture that had drawn Vince’s attention. “That’s Crystal. Mrs. Morgan.” She looked up at him. “Whose wallet is this?”
“I found it in the room Bell was using.”
She looked at the picture of Crystal again, then flipped back to the picture of the young girl. “Oh, my God,” she said. “I remember this picture. He had a larger one in his house in Michigan. It’s his daughter, Sisi.”
“But, why the picture of Crystal?”
Katherine flipped back to that picture, then to the one of the girl. “Look at the eyes, Vince,” she said, showing him first one photo, then the other. “The shape of the mouth.”
He understood. “She told him Misty would be here. She planned this whole thing.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
Katherine took the wallet with her when she went into the house. She could see Crystal standing just inside the doorway to the kitchen. Misty and Tom were slightly to the side. “Sisi,” Katherine called out as she started toward the three.
Tom and Misty frowned, but Crystal looked directly at Katherine, the expression on the blonde’s face confirming Katherine’s suspicions. Now she knew why she’d thought Crystal Morgan looked familiar. It wasn’t because of that picture in Fortune magazine; it was because of the picture she’d seen seventeen years earlier.
Even with makeup, Crystal Morgan’s eyes were the same as the teenager’s who’d testified that her father had never molested her. The acne was gone from her skin, she’d lost a lot of weight, gained a more impressive bust size, and changed the color and style of her hair, but the woman standing in front of her was none other than Sisi Bell. “How could you?” Katherine asked, shaking her head. “No
matter what you said, I know what he did to you.”
Vince grabbed his satellite phone from the Tahoe and punched in the numbers for his office. This time his secretary answered. “Edith, I need to talk to Bob.”
“Bob’s not here,” she said. “I think he’s on his way to see you. He said he had to catch a plane.”
“Here?” Vince wasn’t sure why his partner would be flying to Skagway unless he, too, suspected Crystal might be involved in Misty’s kidnapping. “Did someone call and tell him Misty’s been found?”
“You found her?” Edith’s response was laced with relief. “Oh, thank goodness. Was it because the ransom was paid?”
Vince wasn’t sure he’d heard right. “What ransom?”
“The money Bob transferred just a while ago.”
“Bob made the transfer?” A sickening sensation invaded Vince’s stomach. “Transferred money out of Tom’s bank accounts?”
“Yes,” she answered, sounding surprised that he didn’t know. “He said it was necessary.”
“But, he wasn’t supposed to do that until . . .” Vince wished he could stop the thoughts racing through his head. “Edith, one of those faxes Bob received last night had a routing number on it. It was for the off-shore bank that Bob just sent the money to. I need the name of that bank and those numbers.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.
“Routing numbers. They’ll be on one of the faxes,” he repeated, then remembered what Bob had said. “They came in after you’d left yesterday.”
He could almost hear his secretary shaking her head. “Vince, I just received a summary sheet for the faxes we sent and received this week. Nothing has come in to or gone out from this machine for the last two days.”
“But, Bob said . . .”
Vince closed his eyes and leaned against the side of the Tahoe, a sinking sensation filling his gut. Bob had told him once that he thought Tom’s wife was hot. And, more than once in the last few months, Bob had made trips to the Morgan house. “Mrs. Morgan screwed up her computer again,” Bob would say.
Vince had a feeling it wasn’t a computer that got screwed up.
“Do me a favor,” he said to his secretary, still hoping he was wrong. “Go into Bob’s office and check everywhere you can think of to look for a fax. And, while you’re doing that, see if you see anything that looks like a routing number. Or the name of an off-shore bank.”
“What’s going on, Vince?” Edith asked, her tone concerned.
“I’ll let you know as soon as I know.”
He glanced toward the house. “What the heck?”
CHAPTER SEVENTY
Katherine didn’t expect Crystal to push her aside and run out of the house. The blonde almost ran into Ranger Susan Lange, dodged the assistant DA, and dashed by Gordon, heading for the cruiser he’d just left. “Stop her!” Katherine yelled.
Susan, the ADA, and Gordon all stopped and turn back toward the cruiser, but it was Vince who moved first. He dropped the satellite phone he was using and made a dash for Crystal. He reached her just as she opened the door of the cruiser. Katherine saw him grab the blonde by her hair and give a jerk back. Crystal screamed, her arms flailing as she fell backwards toward him. And maybe it was purely an accident, but Katherine had a feeling Vince purposely let go of Crystal’s hair and stepped to the side so her butt ended up on the gravel drive.
Susan and Gordon reached Crystal before she had a chance to scramble to her feet. Susan helped her up, but Gordon grabbed her arm, stopping her from escaping. Frowning, he turned and called to Katherine, “What’s going on?”
Katherine took her time walking from the house to the cruiser. “She’s Bell’s daughter,” she said. “I’m not sure exactly what part she played in this, but she was in on it. Before Charles was released, she visited him.”
“Two months ago, she flew back east to visit a sick uncle,” Tom Morgan said from behind Katherine.
She glanced back at him. “That would be about the time Charles was released. She must have met him and given him whatever money and paperwork he needed to get here.”
“How could you?” Tom asked, looking at his wife.
Crystal gave a shrug, and, with her free hand, brushed at the mud and gravel on her slacks.
“You said you wanted to take this cruise to get closer to Misty.”
Crystal Morgan scoffed. “Why should I bother getting closer to her? I heard you talking to your lawyer about a divorce. Months ago you and that weasel of a man were gloating over that pre-nup you made me sign and how it would keep me from getting to your money. I needed security.”
“But, to ask your father to take her . . .” Katherine said. “After what he did to you when you were a child? After what he did to me?”
Crystal looked at her. “God, he hated you for putting him in that hospital. He was more than willing to help me if it meant he could get to you.”
“So, for money, you had your stepdaughter and a fourteen-year-old kidnapped and raped, and four other people killed.”
Crystal shook her head. “I didn’t think he would kill anyone. And, he promised me he wouldn’t hurt Misty. How was I to know he would take another girl?”
“You have the right to remain silent, you have . . .” Gordon began reciting the Miranda warning as he handcuffed Crystal.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE
His secretary was still on the phone when Vince picked it up from where he’d dropped it. He wasn’t surprised when she said she’d found no faxes. Crystal Morgan was smart, but she would have needed help in getting money transferred to an off-shore bank.
“I’m coming back to the office,” he told Edith. “Whatever you do, don’t touch Bob’s computer.”
Vince found Tom Morgan back in the house. Father and daughter were in the kitchen, seated next to each other at the table. Misty had her head on her father’s shoulder, and Tom had an arm around her back. Neither said a word, but their body language displayed a closeness Vince hadn’t seen before.
As he neared the two, Tom looked up. “I’m taking her to the medical facility here in town in a few minutes. She says he didn’t do anything to her, but she rubbed her wrists raw trying to get loose. And, she did get loose,” he said proudly, pointing at the scratches on Misty’s arms and legs. “The bottoms of her feet are a mess.”
“I almost got away.” Misty straightened and grinned. “Twice. I used some of those techniques you showed me, Vince.”
“She’s a fighter, all right,” Tom said, and brushed a kiss against his daughter’s forehead before looking back at Vince. “But, that bastard kept her naked. Raped that other girl right in front of Misty. How could anyone . . . ?”
He stopped and pressed his forehead against Misty’s.
“My own wife,” he said, the agony of Crystal’s betrayal clear in his voice.
“And my partner,” Vince added.
Tom turned his head slightly to look at him. “Bob?”
“Looks like it. He didn’t wait for your call. Your money’s already been transferred to an off-shore account, and Bob’s left the office. I’m going to fly back to Seattle. With luck, I’ll get that transfer of your money reversed before he can get to it.”
“The money’s not that important. Not as long as I have Misty.”
“My reputation is,” Vince said. “I’m sorry, Tom. You were right. I didn’t do a good job protecting your daughter . . . or you. I just never thought he . . .”
It was Vince’s turn to be at a loss for words. “I should have realized Bob was involved. You were right. Why would Bell contact our office and not you, directly? I just . . .”
He stopped. Tom didn’t need excuses; he needed results. “I’ll get that money back for you.”
CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO
Katherine was talking to Gordon when Vince approached them. “Can someone drive me to the airport?” he asked. “I need to get back to my office.”
Gordon frowned. “We may need you here. I�
��m sure the assistant DA will want to talk to you.”
“I’ve got to go,” Vince said. “It looks like my partner is in on this. If I’m going to get Tom’s money back, I need to get to Seattle right away.”
“And, what about you? What’s your role in this?” Gordon asked, clearly suspicious.
“Let him go, Gordon,” Katherine said, remembering Vince’s persistence in finding Misty and the way he’d talked to the two girls while waiting for the police to arrive. “He’s not involved.”
“I’ll come back if you need me to,” Vince promised. “I just don’t have a lot of time to stop Bob from getting away with the money.”
“I’d take you,” Katherine said, “But, I need to make sure my grandfather—”
Gordon cut her off. “Take him. I’ll see to it that your grandfather gets to the clinic. You can head there after you drop him off.”
“If you’re sure. Poppa’s kind of confused.” She looked toward the house.
“He’s doing quite well, actually. He’ll be fine, Katherine. Now, get Mr. Nanini to the airport.”
Vince asked her to wait until he had a flight plan filed and was sure he had clearance to leave. They talked as he went through his preflight check of the King Air turbojet. “Gordon had Doug Pierson take Crystal back to the station,” Katherine said. “I don’t think she’s going to like her lodgings there.”
“Did she mention my partner?” Vince asked, glancing at her from under the fuselage. “Bob Lilly?”
“Not by name. She did say the money better be waiting for her when she got out of jail.” Katherine had found that amazing. “I don’t think she understands how serious these charges are. If she thinks she’s going to get off with just a slap on the wrist, she doesn’t know our DA.”
“Well, if I have my way, there won’t be any money waiting for her, no matter how long or short a time she’s in jail.”
