by Jeff Carson
“Yeah?”
“Have I told you thanks yet?”
He said nothing.
“I want to figure this out and get you on a plane first thing in the morning.”
“Sounds good.”
“I’m serious.”
“Okay. Let’s start with seeing if your friend is home.”
She walked to a rotating door and pushed through.
“You’re welcome,” he said, following after her.
His ears popped as he entered a lobby of finished stone and sculpted steel. A muscular man in a suit stood up from behind a counter, looking unimpressed with their appearance.
Earlier, Luke had turned her oversized jacket inside out to hide the FBI logo, giving her a confused-child look, but she approached the man confidently and slapped the counter.
“Help you?” the doorman said. He stood a half-head taller than Wolf’s six foot three. His ebony eyes raked over Wolf, taking in the wet clothing, and stopped at his swollen nose.
“Are you serious?” Luke asked.
The man looked at her. “Kristen? Holy shit, girl. I didn’t recognize you. Thought a couple of whack jobs were coming in here.”
She put an elbow on the counter. “How are you, Terrence?”
“I’m fine. Geez, girl. What happened to you? You look like you been sleeping out on the street.” He flicked a suspicious glance at Wolf. “What’s going on?”
“It’s a long story. Let’s just say we’ve had a rough day.” She smiled. “Now can you please call Edwin and tell him I need to come up?”
“And who’s this with you?”
“A friend.”
Terrence stood unmoved, then chuckled deep in his gut as he picked up a phone. “I have a Ms. Kristen Luke down here to see you, sir.” Terrence closed his eyes. When he opened them they were locked on Wolf. “Okay. She also has a friend with her … a man.” His gaze slid to the passing train of umbrellas outside. “Yes, sir.”
He hung up with deliberate slowness, an amused twinkle in his eye. “Damn fool’s gonna see you.”
“Damn fool my ass.” Luke turned and walked toward the interior glass door.
“Be nice to him,” Terrence said, sitting back down.
Wolf followed, noting her lack of response.
The door clicked and they walked through, Luke with her head down. They reached the bank of elevators and she pressed the up button.
“Why do I hear the chanting of a Colosseum horde in my head right now?” Wolf asked.
She blew air from her lips. “Edwin’s harmless.”
The elevator dinged and the doors opened, revealing more glass, polished wood, and some soft yacht-rock in the ceiling.
“Nicest guy you’ll ever meet.” She stepped in and pressed floor ten. “That was the problem.”
The elevator zipped upward fast and the sparkling city rose into view out the windows.
Wolf turned and whistled. The buildings and streets below shrank as the water came into view, reflecting dozens of lights from passing watercraft.
“That’s Elliot Bay. You can see the Olympic Mountains there.” She pointed. “If it’s not raining or nighttime, that is. There’s the Space Needle.”
“What does Edwin do?”
“Has a fish wholesale company. Or … something.”
He eyed her.
She rolled her neck and petted her hair, then rubbed the swollen spot on her forehead.
“Looking good,” he said.
She gave him a double take. “You need to ice your nose.”
The elevator stopped, and they could see they were in the highest building in the vicinity because they looked down on penthouse terraces.
The door slid open, revealing a dimly lit hallway.
Luke walked out, hung a left, and slowed her pace.
A man leaned in a doorway, his arms crossed. He was tall with wavy blond hair and a short, slightly darker beard. He wore a red-and-black checkered flannel untucked over designer jeans that ended at wool socks. They’d just stepped into a coffee commercial and Edwin was the boat captain sipping at the helm.
Luke stopped so Wolf did too.
“Edwin.”
“Kristen.” The man’s face was as hard as the wooden frame he stood in. “What are you doing here?”
“I need your help.”
“Who’s this?”
“This is David Wolf.”
He squinted. “This is David?”
Luke looked away, and Wolf saw the side of her face reddening.
“Sorry it’s so late. Do you have company?”
He shook his head.
“So, can we come inside or not?” she asked.
Edwin stepped aside. “Of course. Come in.”
Luke darted past him, leaving Wolf and Edwin in the hallway.
They extended their hands at the same time.
“David.”
“Edwin.”
Edwin had thick, rough hands that suggested he spent time on the boats he bought fish from. Or whatever it was he did.
“Come in.” Edwin’s tone was resigned. “You guys are welcome here.”
“Thank you,” Wolf said. “Very much.”
Wolf stepped into the large open-plan apartment and looked down at a multicolored compass inlaid onto an otherwise dark wooden floor. The interior decor told him Edwin was a world traveler with a taste for fine things, and, as far as he could tell, money was no object. The place was brightly lit and soft jazz emanated from a speaker behind him. The walls were matte gray, which would have matched the view of the Seattle sky through the floor-to-ceiling windows on all sides of the penthouse had it been daytime.
“Nice place,” he said, marveling at the twinkling lights, dark patch of sea, and the glowing low clouds outside.
“Thank you.”
Luke had already shed her coat and had her head in the refrigerator. She came out with a loaf of bread in one hand and a bag of lunch meat in the other. “Edwin?”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
Wolf salivated.
“You guys look hungry.”
“Oh, shit.” Luke raised a sandwich to her mouth and took a bite, dropping a chunk of turkey onto Edwin’s granite countertop. “You have no idea.”
Edwin closed the door behind Wolf. “I’ll take your coat. Go ahead. Eat.”
Wolf gave his jacket to Edwin and edged to the kitchen. He tossed politeness aside and dug into the food.
Edwin grabbed a beer and put it in front of Kristen.
“I’m thinking water,” she said.
With an air of infinite patience, Edwin swapped the beer for two bottles of water and held them out for Luke and Wolf.
“Thanks.”
“Thank you.”
Wolf washed down the last of his sandwich with a greedy gulp and watched Edwin walk to a window.
Luke ate in silence. When she’d finished, she walked into the open living room and sat down in a bulging leather chair. “Ah. I’m so beat.”
Edwin turned and eyed them in turn. “Why do you two look like you’ve been sleeping out in the woods after being attacked by wild animals?”
She shrugged. “Long story.”
“I have all night.”
“Nothing to do on a Friday night, eh?”
He shrugged. “Not since you left.”
She pretended not to hear and leaned forward to untie her shoes.
Edwin stared at her for a long moment, then turned back to the windows.
Wolf’s eyes locked on a cell phone perched on the coffee table next to an open book.
A fresh wave of rain pattered the windows, audible over the jazz.
“So you’re not going to tell me?” Edwin asked, eyeing them in the reflection.
Luke pulled off her shoes and sat back. “We’ve gotten into a little trouble.”
“Like, the kind of trouble that brings you here instead of your division headquarters?”
“Yeah. Something like that.”
Edwin tur
ned and locked eyes with Luke.
“And thank you,” she said. “We just need a place to stay for the night.”
Edwin nodded.
“And then we’ll get out of your hair tomorrow morning.”
Edwin smiled, looking to Wolf like he’d heard that line before. “Okay. David, you’re about my size. I’ll give you some fresh clothing if you want. Or you can use my washer and dryer. And, no offense, but you two could use a shower. I own three fishing boats so I’m used to bad smells, but you two …”
Luke got up and disappeared into a hallway.
“You still have some clothing here,” Edwin said.
Luke shuffled back into the open.
“In my closet. On the floor to the right.”
She nodded and walked away.
Edwin motioned with his hand. “Take a seat. Relax.”
Wolf walked to the end of a leather couch and looked at the mud smears on his jeans. “I’m a little dirty.”
“Whatever. Take a seat. Damn rain. It’s been forty-seven days, you know.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“Not nearly a record, but kind of makes you want to stick your head in the oven.”
Wolf sat down.
“What happened to her head?”
Wolf looked at the clouds and rain smudging out the top of the Space Needle. “She was in a car accident.”
“Really?”
“Hey,” Luke came out wrapped in a towel. Water ran in the background. “You have any shampoo less toxic than the stuff in there? More flowers, less green dandruff petroleum product?”
Edwin sighed. “You got in a car accident?”
She looked at Wolf.
“Okay, not that you should put anything on that wound of yours, but your shampoo is under the sink.”
“Oh, okay. Thanks.” She disappeared back into the hallway and a door clacked shut, snuffing out the sound of running water.
Edwin sat down, his face red. He crossed his legs and shrugged. “I don’t know why I still have her stuff here.”
Wolf let the soft patter of rain and Miles Davis fill the silence. “She’s unique,” he said.
Edwin blew a puff of air through his nose. “Yeah. So she told me you were getting married down in … where was it? I know it’s in Colorado.”
Wolf wondered how. “Rocky Points.”
“Rocky Points. Yes. Where’s that?”
“Center of the state. In the mountains. Hey, do you think I could use your cell phone?”
“Yeah, sure. Why? Yours dead?”
“Yes.”
“I have a charger right over there on the wall.”
Wolf eyed it, paranoid thoughts of being traced flitting through his mind. “The call is very important. I’d rather not wait for it to boot up.”
Edwin handed his phone over. “Yeah, sure. Just unlock it. I don’t use one of those security PINs.”
“Thanks.” Wolf stood and pointed toward twin glass doors leading to what looked like a study.
“Right. Use my office.” Edwin strode fast to the doors, opened one, and flicked on an overhead light. “Here you go.”
Inside, a gleaming wooden desk faced floor-to-ceiling windows framing the Seattle skyline. Pictures of Edwin on various mountain tops—hands up, beard longer and caked with ice—adorned one clay-colored wall. Shelves stacked with leather-bound books lined the other, accompanied by more pictures of him, outdoors, in different countries and on the deck of a boat. Near the window stood a marble pillar with a globe on top. Red thumbtacks poked from the sphere’s surface, so numerous that it looked to have sprouted hair.
“Some … adventures I’ve taken.”
The guy may have been harmless, but he was certainly not boring. Many of the tacks were in the middle of the ocean. “What kind of adventures?” Wolf realized he was stalling. He should have been talking to Lauren by now.
“Treasure dives. Summits. Digs.” Edwin shrugged. “Some just places I’d read about and decided to point my boat and go. Kristen and I dated for six months. Never got her on my sail boat once.”
Wolf nodded absently and raised the phone.
“Right. Take a seat if you like.” Edwin backed out of the room and closed the door.
Although his muscles and bones longed to sit in the leather roll chair next to the desk, he staked out a swath of space next to the window, big enough to pace in.
His heart pumped wildly and instead of wondering why, he dialed Lauren’s number.
She picked up after a single ring.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s me.”
She cleared her throat. “David.”
“Were you sleeping?”
“No. How are you?”
“I’m fine. How are you?”
“I’m fine.”
“I’m sorry I haven’t been able to speak.” He took a breath. “It’s a long story.”
A woman’s voice mumbled in the background.
“Who’s that,” Wolf asked.
“Margaret. Your mom was over here for a while but she went back to her hotel.”
“Oh.”
“She’s here keeping me company. Just a second.” A door closed in the background. “Everyone’s freaking out. Thinking I’m on suicide watch or something.”
Wolf stared out the windows. “I’m sorry.”
“I know.”
He said nothing.
“So what’s going on up there?” she asked.
“We went to the hospital this afternoon. Kristen woke up. Then we … got into some trouble this evening.” He stopped talking.
“Are you okay?”
Wolf eyed the glass doors. Edwin clanked pots in the kitchen and Luke stood with him, wearing an oversized long-sleeved shirt and nothing on her legs.
“I went down to the station this afternoon,” she said. “They didn’t know what was going on either. They hadn’t heard from you.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” He could think of nothing else to say.
The phone was silent, then her crying burbled into his ear. He focused on the bay through the streaks of rainwater pulsing on the glass. “I …” He stopped himself from apologizing again.
“You don’t have to say you’re sorry, David,” she said. “You have to do what you have to do. It doesn’t matter what day it happens. Duty calls and you do your duty. That’s what you do. That’s one of the reasons why I love you.”
He closed his eyes, feeling like he’d been submerged in a warm pool as relief flooded through him. “Thank you, Lauren. I love you. I’m just … I am sorry.”
“Bad timing,” she said.
“Listen. I don’t know exactly what’s going on yet, but we’ve run into some bad people tonight. I know we’re halfway across the country, but I’m not sure what they’re capable of.”
“I’m already packed.”
The immediacy of her answer made him straighten. “You are?”
“Yes. I packed us up tonight, when your mom left.”
Wolf nodded. “Okay.”
In the relatively short time Wolf and Lauren had known each other, they’d been through some traumatic experiences. Wolf had been on the hunt for Ella Coulter and her kidnappers before he and Lauren had been on their first date. A year later, a serial killer had emerged in Rocky Points and terrorized the people of Sluice–Byron and surrounding counties, propelling Lauren and Ella from Rocky Points and into Aspen for shelter and peace of mind.
The previous summer Wolf had stared death in the face and he’d been assured by his would-be-killer that Lauren and Ella would continue to pay for Wolf’s sins after his demise.
Wolf had never spoken of that moment directly with Lauren, but he’d come up with a plan and made her promise that if he was ever compromised again she’d pack their bags and leave with her daughter. There would be no explanation, no indication of where they were going. If pressed, they were to give a false location. Life had taught him that evil existed in the world, and men could use lov
e to dispense hate without a second’s hesitation.
Just leave, he’d told her.
“I’ll take care of cancelling everything tomorrow morning,” she said. “And then we’ll leave. They’re coming to get the tents on Monday.”
“I just want you two safe.”
“We’ll get safe,” she whispered, her throat thick. “I love you, David.”
“I love you, too.”
“Tell—”
The line clicked.
“Hello?”
He stared through the water streaming down the glass and lowered the phone.
Chapter 28
Wolf took his turn in Edwin’s guest shower, mildly surprised by how much grime came off his body given his earlier drenching.
The water warmed his core. A marble seat beckoned through the steam but he ignored it, fearing that if he sat he’d never get up. Images of the women in his life flickered in his mind: one a seven-year-old wearing an ice-princess backpack, another in scrubs, her squinted green eyes like cut jade, and one more with eyelashes like feathers, wearing nothing from the waist up.
He turned off the shower and toweled off, then wiped the condensation from the mirror. Tired eyes stared back at him. His nose was swollen and two-day stubble had thickened to a dark-brown beard that hid the wrinkles at the sides of his mouth.
He ran a hand over his hair and pulled it forward, disliking the hip look that Lauren and Ella had encouraged him to try for the wedding. He thought he looked desperate, chasing a style that would certainly be out by the next issue of GQ but immortalized in a dozen wedding photos.
His thoughts turned to the previous night. The way things looked, he and Luke were trapped in crossfire involving Special Agent Hooper’s death. Luke had clearly been sucked into something brutal, something two special agents were willing to shoot people on the beach over, and kill one of their own.
He put on the jeans that Edwin had lent him. They were tighter than he was used to but were better than the denim now lying in a muddy pile on the floor.
The smell of food seeped under the door, pulled in by the ceiling fan overhead, and Wolf’s mouth flooded.
He pulled on a dry T-shirt, approving of the loose fit and beer logo stamped on the breast.
He opened the door and stepped into the scent of searing fish and spices. Sounds of sizzling food, laughter, and music came down the hallway. He padded further and saw Luke and Edwin in the kitchen. Edwin had finished a punchline and was out of breath. The grin on his face stretched his beard, and the red of his skin looked hot enough to ignite it.
