by C. M. Sutter
“Nah, not so much. That’s all state land west of there according to the green area on the map. So centered between those three towers is Minocqua,” Jack said.
“And that makes total sense, boss. It’s a very touristy area for outdoor enthusiasts in the summer months. There are plenty of lakes for fishing and boating for the guys, and the downtown area has restaurants and shopping for the ladies. It’s a tourist haven, especially for people from Milwaukee and Chicago.”
“That’s all true, Amber, but your online search and phone calls to that area have exhausted the lakes that advertised rental cabins on them.”
“I know, and Billings and Clayton said they checked all of the no-motor lakes with and without cabins. They came up empty.” I rubbed my forehead. “What are we missing?” I looked at Carolyn. “Nick doesn’t have a boat, does he?”
“No, not to my knowledge, anyway.”
“Does he have a website for his rentals?”
“I truly don’t know, Kate. If he did, I wouldn’t know how to log on to it.”
“Is there a computer here?” Jack asked.
Carolyn shook her head. “We don’t have a home computer, but he does have a laptop that he never lets out of his sight.”
“Meaning it’s with him?” I asked.
“I’m afraid so, Amber.”
Jack tapped his fingers on the table. “If he keeps it that close to the vest, there must be something on it that can incriminate him.”
Jade’s phone buzzed on the table. She gave it a glance. “Excuse me, Spelling is calling.” She walked down the hallway and answered.
Jack spoke up. “Let’s break while Jade talks to her boss. Get up, stretch, and regroup. We’ll know in a few minutes what Spelling learned about the tax returns. Evidence of Brian and Nick working together at Prentice can really solidify our case against them.”
Kate got up and poured another round of coffee. “Nick’s tax return would show all of the rental property locations too.”
Jack gave her a nod. “It definitely should. Having the cabin’s address would be enough to end this once and for all. We’d contact the local sheriff’s office and have them get eyes on the cabin. We need to know definitively if anyone is there and if the Lumina and Nick’s Accord are at the property. Don’t forget, Trish can be used as a hostage if she’s there with Brian. I’ll ask to have an ambulance on standby too. We have to think this through carefully before we act on anything.”
I gave Jack my best frown. “We wouldn’t be a part of it?”
“It would be a team effort. The locals can surveil the area until we arrive,” Jack said. “If something goes down in the meantime, they’ll have to move in, otherwise we’ll be there to escort Nick and Brian back to our jail while they await trial. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. I want to hear what Spelling found out first.”
Moments later, Jade returned to the table. “Well, I have good news and bad.”
I let out a groan. “That figures.”
Jack shushed me. “Go ahead, Jade. What did Spelling get from the tax returns?”
“They show that Nick and Brian’s employment at Prentice did indeed overlap. Nick was a scientist there for eight years, and Brian worked as a janitor there in 2005. Coincidentally, his janitorial duties took place in the building where Nick worked. Somehow, they got acquainted and hit it off.”
I smirked at the thought of them being friends. “Their occupations certainly didn’t draw them together. They didn’t have anything in common intellectually.”
“Maybe it was their love of fishing and being outdoors,” Jade said.
Carolyn shook her head. “I don’t think so. Nick never expressed an interest in fishing. It had to be something about Brian that drew him in.”
“Brian is misogynistic—he despises women. To him and his cousin Mark, women should only be seen and never heard.”
Carolyn stared at the table and brushed away invisible crumbs.
“Mom?” Natalie reached out and held her mother’s hand in her own.
“I would describe your father the same way. Maybe those other men have been his role models and mentors over the years.”
Jack turned his attention to Jade. “Was that the good news?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Then go ahead and give us the bad.”
“The rental properties are on a business tax return and have been filed under Deer Path Holdings, LLC. A warrant for a business tax return without evidence of fraud or wrongdoing will be more difficult to get.”
I blurted out my frustration. “Damn it! We need to catch a break sooner or later.”
“Unfortunately, it’s looking more like later,” Kate said.
“Okay, pack it up, guys. We have more resources to work with back at the sheriff’s office.” Jack turned to Carolyn and Natalie. “Carolyn, why don’t you lock this place up and go home with Natalie until we have everything resolved? You’ll be safer there, and you won’t be alone.”
Natalie agreed with Jack. “That’s a great idea, and Finn needs to know his grandma better. You’re welcome to stay as long as you want, Mom.”
“I promise I’ll keep both of you abreast of our findings,” Jack said. He handed two cards to Natalie. “Write your cell numbers on the back of this one, and I’ll keep it with me. The other has my contact information. Call me anytime with your concerns and don’t make contact with Nick again. We’ll take it from here.”
“Thank you”—Carolyn looked at everyone around the table—“all of you. The accusations against Nick haven’t sunk in, and nothing has been proven yet, but I’m extremely thankful that you’re going to get to the bottom of it. If he is guilty of those crimes, then he needs to be locked up. If he isn’t, well, I just might divorce him, anyway. He isn’t the same man I fell in love with and married all those years ago.”
Chapter 50
I had a feeling we’d be pulling an all-nighter. Jade reluctantly went home, but since this wasn’t her case, she couldn’t help us on the Brian Cox part of it, anyway. She said she’d call if Spelling had any luck getting a warrant for Nick’s LLC tax return.
I sat at my desk, my face propped on my fist, and stared at the notes I had taken all week long. I hoped a clue would pop up and slap me on the face, but it didn’t happen. Across the room, Jamison and Horbeck went about their usual nightly duties—catching up, signing documents that needed to be submitted to the courthouse, and answering tip line calls, but the calls that came in seemed to be dwindling.
“Are you guys getting any calls that have merit?” I rubbed my tired eyes and glanced at the clock—9:07 p.m.
Horbeck leaned back in his chair and stretched. “Nah, same old shit. The driver’s license photo of Brian on the news resembles somebody’s second cousin from West Virginia, that type of thing.”
Jamison added his two cents. “Or they just saw him at a nickel slot machine in Vegas.”
I groaned and turned to Kate. “What did Clayton and Billings do with their lists of no-motor lakes they called?”
“Which ones? They had one list with websites that showed resorts with cabins, and another list that was taken from the plat books had the names of those who owned large parcels of land.”
“I don’t care, I just need to feel busy. I’ll give them a second look.”
Kate jerked her head toward the two empty desks in front of ours. “They’re probably still on their desks.” When I walked to Chad’s desk, she stuck out her hand. “Give me one too. I don’t know what we’re supposed to do with them, though. They’ve already contacted everyone, didn’t they?”
“Yeah, that’s what Clayton said.” I let out a puff of air. “Unless Nick talks once he gets home or Spelling can actually convince somebody to sign off on a warrant for the LLC’s tax returns, we’re up the creek without a paddle.”
“Nick might talk if he’s offered a lighter sentence.”
“We don’t actually have anything except newspaper clippings and a p
hotograph of a cabin. That doesn’t prove Nick killed anyone,” I said.
“Unless the coroner can confirm that those three women had failed lobotomies and died because of it.”
“The lobotomies weren’t needed, and who even does them anymore? That’s what stumps me. They were normal women without any medical issues, at least that’s what Jade was led to believe. If Nick actually did lobotomies on them, I think it was for a thrill, to see what he could turn those women into.”
“You mean like a slave? Could he be a misogynistic scientist with a God complex?”
“Yeah, why not? Spending time with Brian and Mark, who have that male superiority attitude already, apparently rubbed off on Nick. Even Carolyn admits he’s different and not in a good way.”
“We’re on the right track, aren’t we, Amber? That was the same cabin as the other pictures, wasn’t it?”
“Of course it was. Don’t start second-guessing yourself. Look over those resort websites again. Check out every picture twice. At least we know Nick is somewhere in the Minocqua area. That in itself will narrow it down even more. He’s out there on one of those lakes. Let’s review everything again.”
Jack walked out of his office. “Go home, ladies. Until Nick Connor is spotted on the drive to North Bend, we have nothing.”
“Speaking of that, why don’t we box him in? Let’s go to him instead of him coming to us. Look how much time we’d save if we were within a few minutes of Brian’s location. We don’t know what he’s done to Trish. She could need medical help as we speak.”
Kate jiggled her computer’s mouse and pulled up a map of Wisconsin. “The main road going north and south is Highway 51,which would be the most logical, or he could cut over to Monico and head south on 45, but that’s a roundabout way. No matter what, there are only two roads leading south out of that area. Nick doesn’t know he’s under suspicion for anything, so he’ll probably take the most direct route, which would be Highway 51. He won’t see us coming.”
“And who’s going to go—you, me, and Amber? That leaves the sheriff’s office pretty shorthanded.”
Jamison waved away Jack’s comment. “We can handle things, boss. Clayton and Billings will be here in the morning, and if they need somebody else to pitch in for a few hours, they’ll call Mary and Mitch. The problems aren’t here, they’re in Oneida County.”
“Wait one minute!” Kate jerked her head toward the rest of us as she flipped the pages of her notepad.
Jack pushed himself off the office doorframe. “What is it?”
She slapped the desk with her open hand and then shook it. “Damn that stung, but I think I found what we need! The name of Nick’s LLC was Deer Path Holdings, right?”
“That’s what Jade said, why?”
“Billings checked into dozens of no-motor lakes and crossed them off as no help, but there’s one here on Deer Path Trail. I can’t read what’s under his chicken scratching, though.”
Jack crossed the space to Kate’s desk in three strides. “Let me see.”
“It could be the phone number. Call Natalie quick and ask her what Nick’s cell number was again.”
I dialed Natalie’s phone as fast as I could and wrote down Nick’s number. I read it aloud as Jack and Kate tried to read what Billings had scratched out.
I ripped open my bottom desk drawer and pulled out the magnifying glass. “Here, use this!”
“That’s better.” Jack held the glass over what he could see under the pencil marks. “I see what looks like the word Cole and a 612 area code.” Jack nodded. “The area code is right for the Minneapolis area, and it looks like the last two numbers of the phone number match Nick’s. Who the hell is Cole, and where are those damn plat maps?”
Kate tapped her computer keys. “We can pull them up online, boss. All I have to do is enter the county and the name of the road. It should zoom in on that area.”
I rolled my chair to Kate’s side and held the slip of paper that had been on my desk for two days. “One of the names on this slip is Cole.”
“Son of a bitch, we’re finally making progress,” Jack said. “I’m just not sure what it’s telling us.”
Kate pushed my chair back. “Give me some space. You’re making me claustrophobic.”
I swatted the air. “Just hurry up and find the damn road.”
“There it is.” Kate pushed the zoom bar all the way to the right. “It’s a circle road—one way in and one way out.” She punched my shoulder. “And it’s on a lake. That has to be it!”
“Damn you, Kate, that hurt.” I rubbed my shoulder.
Jack pointed at the screen. “Zoom out again so we can see exactly how to get there. Better yet, let’s head downstairs. We need Luke and Lee’s help.”
Kate and I followed Jack down the two flights of stairs to the tech department. Luke and Lee sat behind their desks and worked on pinpointing Nick’s location within a few miles.
“We have something, guys,” Jack said as he burst through the double doors. “Pull up a Wisconsin map and zoom in on the Minocqua area. We have a road name where Nick and Brian may be hunkered down. I need a crystal clear satellite view to see if there are cabins back there.”
“Sure thing, boss,” Luke said. “Give me the road name.”
“It’s Deer Path Trail. According to the map image, the road circles a small lake—one way in and one way out. That has to be it. All we need is to see cabins along that road and then we’re heading out.”
Kate and I stood behind Luke and watched as he entered the road name and waited for it to come up. He clicked on the Detailed Satellite Imagery tab and maneuvered the mouse in and out to get a good look at everything along that road.
“Hold up. Push back a bit. I know I saw more than one roofline a second ago,” I said. I leaned over Luke’s shoulder, focused on the screen, then pointed. “Right there. Can you get close to ground level with that program?”
“Yep, I just have to switch it to ground view. Okay, let’s look again and check through the tree cover.”
“Humph,” Jack said. “Sure as shit, there’s a large cabin with a carport. Okay, move ahead slowly and see if there are more cabins farther in.”
I flinched and held up my hand in a defensive block when Kate raised her fist. “Don’t even think about it.” I grinned when I saw several more cabins. “It looks like we’ve got a long drive ahead of us. I’ll start the coffee.”
Chapter 51
Cole woke to the buzzing alarm on his phone. He sat up in bed, rubbed his eyes, and silenced the noise. He pocketed the phone and walked to the bathroom, where he splashed cold water on his face. A minute later, the door to the second bedroom opened, and Brian stuck out his head.
“Leaving?”
“Yeah, I’d like to be home by seven o’clock. I’ll miss the morning traffic, and the old lady will still be asleep.”
Brian chuckled. “So it’s back to the ball and chain and real life, huh? Damn that sounds boring.”
“There will be plenty of opportunities ahead. I have a new arena back in my old stomping grounds. Hell, we have the cabin here and the Watersmeet location now too. Mark and I will come to visit you, and that’s when we’ll raise all kinds of ruckus. I’ll find a few more ladies, invite them back to the house, and the fun will begin.”
Brian chuckled. “I like the sound of that. So, should I tie Trish to the seat when we travel?”
“Of course. Who knows what a child’s mind is capable of? She could try to jump out of the car. I’d suggest placing tape over the passenger-side door handles and window buttons too. Everything will be fine once you get to Watersmeet. That’s when you can really kick the training program into high gear. Turn that bitch into the woman you want. I guarantee, after a few harsh consequences, she’ll learn to do exactly what you want and be happy to please you. Think of it like training a dog. She’ll be loyal and obey commands after a few hard lessons.”
Brian nodded. “I’m looking forward to it. I can’t believe you�
��ve never done a procedure on your old lady.”
“We’d have to go into hiding if I did. There are too many people who know us, and they’d raise all kinds of questions.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Brian raked his hair and looked across the room at Trish, who was tied to the couch and sleeping. “Drive safely, man, and text me once you’re home. Thanks for everything, buddy, and tell Mark to give me a call next week.”
“You got it. Remember, don’t leave until after dark and only drive the back roads.”
Brian walked Cole to the door and gave him a pat on the back. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
Chapter 52
By ten thirty, Jack, Kate, and I were in a cruiser and heading north out of town. Our drive to the Minocqua city limits would take nearly four hours. According to the Deer Path Trail location on the map, the dirt road loop and cabins that surrounded Bethany Lake were another three miles northwest of town. The plat book showed a small secluded lake that had a seventy-acre parcel of privately owned land around it. The initials C.C. were written in the center of the plot of land.
Once we turned off Washington Street, Jack merged onto the highway.
“What do you think the C.C. stands for on the plat map?” Kate asked.
I looked over my shoulder and shrugged at her in the backseat. “Who knows? Maybe something relating to company or corporation. You’d think the initials D.P.H. would be written instead for Deer Path Holdings.”
“Nothing is ever easy to figure out,” Jack said, “but I have a good feeling about this. I think we’re finally on the right path—excuse the pun.”
Kate and I napped off and on while Jack drove. He prided himself on being a good nighttime driver, where I, on the other hand, hated oncoming headlights constantly glaring in my face. The thought of a deer jumping out in front of my car was another reason to keep me off country roads as much as possible in the late hours. Luckily, most state highways had chain-link fences along the ditches just for that reason.
