David Wolf series Box Set

by Jeff Carson

  Wolf nodded and pulled down the waist of his jacket. “What about Jack?”

  “He’s coming to the office and we’ll go from there. I have his suit and everything in the truck.”

  Sarah shut off the lights as they walked out of the room.

  “Was Kevin Ash at his father’s party the other night?” Wolf asked as they walked down the hall.

  “No. Why?”

  Wolf didn’t answer. “And Chris Wakefield today? You were talking about his mother’s suicide with him and Kevin?”

  “Kevin and Chris are pretty good friends, and Kevin’s been helping Chris since his mother’s death. Kevin’s mom died a couple of years ago, so this is bringing up a lot of sad memories for him, too. It’s a whole mess. I feel so bad for these kids. This news about Stephanie’s going to be devastating.”

  Wolf stopped. “Kevin’s mom died? In Tahoe?”

  Sarah turned around, then narrowed her eyes. “Yeah. Before they moved here. Why? What?”

  “How did she die?” Wolf asked.

  Sarah fluttered her eyelids. “I … he doesn’t like to talk about it, but I think a bad car crash. I don’t push him.” She tilted her head. “And, David, you need to use a little compassion here. Pull back from the cop routine a tad with these kids, okay?”

  Wolf nodded. “Sorry. I’m just wondering is all, I guess. Just trying to figure out what the hell is happening around here, and I’m not sure where all the lines are drawn yet.”

  Chapter 10

  “I’ll take two eggs over easy, bacon, and hash browns. Wheat toast.” Charlie Ash looked up at the waitress. “I’m still feeling like breakfast.” He gave her a dismissive smile and looked out the window before she could chat him up anymore.

  “Sh-should I wait for your two other guests to arrive?”

  The cowbell on the door jangled, and Ash watched the two men he’d been waiting for enter through the front entrance. They stomped their feet and looked around. Ash raised a hand and waved them over.

  He looked up at the waitress. “You can put my order in. These guys won’t be eating lunch with me.” Ash put his menu down and stacked the other two on top.

  She nodded and picked them up with a small hesitation, then left. She did have a great ass. No wonder that heli-pilot Cooper was all hot and bothered about her. Too bad she was a simple moron who couldn’t be taken out in public, like ninety percent of the rest of this town.

  Elias Klammer walked in front of his bodyguard, or assistant, or whatever he was, all the while staring at Ash. Ash ignored what was surely meant to be a threatening glare and looked out the window at the trees piled with crumbling snow.

  “Charlie,” the man said, sliding into the booth across from him. Chawley it sounded like with his ridiculous accent.

  Ash did not answer, and he shook his head when that freaking smell hit his nostrils. No matter how many times he smelled it, the cologne these two Austrians chose to wear was offensive to his nose every time. It was like Polo cologne mixed with ground beef.

  “Jesus, you guys bathe in cologne before you leave the hotel?”

  Klammer relaxed his eyes and looked out the window. The bigger, younger guy known as Prock, more like Prick, sneered and put an elbow on the table. He clenched his fist and stared at Ash.

  “Give me a break,” Ash said, rolling his eyes, careful not to give the underling any satisfaction by looking him in the eye.

  The waitress came back up to the table.

  “What did I say?” Ash raised his voice a few decibels. “They’re okay, thanks.”

  She popped her eyebrows and leaned back on her heels, and then scurried away.

  Klammer kept quiet and motionless while his assistant took off his leather gloves, tucked them into his hat and set the hat on the table.

  “We are paying you a large amount of money to get what we want,” Prock said in his thick Austrian accent, not even knowing how comically similar he looked and sounded to a younger Arnold Schwarzenegger. “And it is obvious we are not going to get it.”

  Ash glared at Klammer and pressed his lips together. “Why is your thug talking to me right now?”

  Prock slapped the table, clanking the knife and fork in front of Ash and spilling some coffee over the edge of his mug. Ash looked down at the sloshing liquid and waited for the sudden silence in the restaurant to ramp back up to a murmur.

  “Okay.” Ash smiled easily at the big guy. “Now that you have everyone’s attention … I’m sorry, did you have something to say?”

  Klammer’s lip curled in a self-satisfied smile. This rich man liked to stay back in the shadows and watch his hired muscle work. He looked like he was sitting front row at the arena, watching his prized fighter.

  “Like I was saying.” Prock leaned forward.

  Prock was an imposing man, Ash had to give him that. His thick, fur-lined jacket was unzipped, making him look huge, taking up more than half of the booth across the table. But Ash knew it wasn’t the coat creating an illusion; the man was chiseled like a sculpture of Zeus underneath. Ash had marveled at the man’s physique when they’d met on Thursday night. Had to be two hundred and twenty-five pounds of solid muscle.

  And if the man’s muscles weren’t sphincter-clenching enough, then his eyes would do the trick. They were the color of dead grass. The whites were like milk, at times giving the illusion that he had only tiny obsidian circles inside those eyeballs. He used them well at the moment, as if he was staring into the fear-center of Ash’s brain.

  “We want that contract,” Prock said. “And we have paid you to get the votes.”

  “Why are you spelling this out for me? You think—”

  “It is obvious those votes we are paying you for are not there. The Hitchens woman had her nose up Irwin’s ass all last night at the party, and Mayor Wakefield is clear about his intention to vote for Irwin as well. Another thing that is clear is that nobody likes you.”

  Prock stared, letting his last jab sink in.

  “Listen—”

  “How you became chairman of this county council is mind-boggling. Despite your position, your influence is none. Laughable. So you can see why we are confused as to why you are even calling this meeting. You should be running.” The big Austrian’s eyes narrowed. “You should be hiding.”

  The waitress came over, clanked a plate of food in front of Ash, and walked away without a word.

  Ash looked up at her ass again and blinked. He picked up his fork and pulled the bed of hash browns on top of his eggs, and then started mashing them together.

  “I’m glad you two are taking this tone with me because it makes the next thing I have to say that much more enjoyable.” Ash took a fork-full of hash browns and eggs and put it in his mouth, and then took a bite of crispy bacon.

  Klammer licked his lips as he watched Ash eat, and Ash smiled. Dangling things in front of people when they were desperate for them was his favorite pastime.

  “As of two nights ago”—he set down his fork—“I have sealed the votes for your company. What you saw last night at the gala meant nothing; what you think you know about the inner workings of the seven members of the council is nothing!” Ash slapped the table and hissed the last word, hushing the dining room into silence once again.

  Prock looked around the room with indifference and then to his boss sitting next to him.

  “And how have you done that?” Klammer finally spoke up.

  Ash swiped his hair back to the side and took a sip of coffee. “That’s for me to know and for you to reap the benefits from. That is, if you pay me the necessary price.” Ash took a bite of his food, and then looked up to see if the hook had set.

  Prock’s eyes were wide open in either a murderous or amused glare, Ash couldn’t tell.

  “What are you talking about?” Klammer leaned forward and pointed his finger at Ash. “We’ve already paid you five hundred thousand dollars. For nothing.”

  Ash looked around the room. Satisfied that nobody was watching or
bending an ear their way, he leaned forward. “The price has doubled.”

  The two men sat back and mumbled expletives in their foreign tongue.

  Prock turned to Klammer and started chattering in German, and Klammer held up a hand.

  Klammer stared at Ash, searching his eyes. “This plan of yours, it wouldn’t have anything to do with the demise of the mayor’s wife, would it?”

  Ash dropped his fork and wiped his mouth. After another glance to make sure no one was listening, he lowered his voice and said, “What? The mayor’s wife was diagnosed with a rare, progressive form of MS a year ago. Unfortunately, treatment had little effect, and she suffered neurological symptoms. She—”

  “Yes,” Klammer said. “I’ve heard about her disease from the mayor himself.”

  Klammer narrowed his lids and relaxed them, searching deeper into Ash’s eyes.

  Ash picked up his fork and took another bite. “Five hundred more, or I can ease up on my plan and let Irwin have the votes. I’ll be fine either way, gentlemen. You can rest assured of that. Have a good flight back to Austria.”

  Ash took a bite of bacon. A bite of eggs. A sip of coffee.

  Klammer’s upper lip rose and fell, then he looked resigned as he signaled for his man to leave.

  “I’ll be in touch,” Ash said, taking another bite.

  Prock picked up his hat and gloves from the table, his freaky eyes boring into him as he did so.

  The hook was set.

  The leather booth creaked as they left.

  Chapter 11

  It was one o’clock and Wolf was starving, so he drove into the parking lot of the Sunnyside Café. He’d be able to grab a bite in under an hour and still have plenty of time to prepare for the funeral at two-thirty, and he needed some time to sit and think.

  As he parked the SUV, he was startled to see the Austrian he’d been talking about with Sarah come out of the door, followed closely by a shorter, older man.

  They walked away from Wolf, both dressed in puffy coats with fur flowing out of the necklines. Jonas Prock, Sarah had told him. Followed by his boss. What had Sarah called him? Clam, Calm, or something?

  Wolf sat and watched as they climbed into their Toyota Land Cruiser with rental plates and drove away. Though he couldn’t see their eyes behind their mirrored sunglasses, they looked to be extremely upset, hissing words to one another with clenched jaws, steam shooting out of their tight lips.

  He put on his hat and got out, watching the vehicle drive up Main toward the south, toward the mountain, where they were probably staying at one of the more expensive resorts in the ski base village. It would be easy enough to find out.

  The hinges squeaked and a cowbell clanged as he stepped inside the Sunnyside, and heads turned and nodded in greeting.

  Wolf nodded back and surveyed the room.

  Charlie Ash sat in the corner, glaring at him over his wire-rimmed glasses for a second and then concentrating on a cup of coffee.

  On a hunch, Wolf approached the table and sat down. Wolf wore jeans over thick long underwear, but he could still feel that the seat was warm and stretched out.

  Ash said nothing to Wolf, just put down his fork on his empty plate and sipped his coffee.

  Wolf said nothing back, just took off his hat and threw it next to him. He raked his fingers through his hair and beard.

  “Hi, Sheriff,” Laura Reese said with a smile as she stopped at the table.

  “Hi, Laura,” Wolf said.

  “Need a menu?”

  “No thanks. I’ll take a barbecue bacon burger, medium, fries, Coke.”

  “You got it.” She ignored Ash as she set a check on the table and took his plate.

  Ash gave her a fake smile with squinted eyes and watched her go. “Great ass on that girl.”

  Wolf took off his coat and put it next to him, then looked at Ash. He was dressed in a black suit, white shirt, and dark-blue tie. His face was shiny, closely shaved. His thin lips smacked and his tongue picked pieces of food out of his teeth while his tiny gray eyes behind the gold wire frames looked everywhere but at Wolf. His ash-gray hair was a little out of place, not quite covering his bald spot on top, which made him look like he’d just been smacked in the face with an open hand. Or maybe Wolf was just fantasizing.

  “I take it you’re going to the funeral today?” he asked.

  Ash nodded and sipped his coffee. “Tough business about Jen.”

  Wolf nodded and looked out the window, then glanced back at Ash.

  Ash pushed a crumb with his fingernail, and then he placed his palm on the table. “Well, see you up there.” He grabbed his coat and began sliding out of the booth.

  “How are the Austrians liking town?” Wolf asked.

  Ash stopped short of getting up and gave Wolf an appraising look. He parted his lips and then closed them. “They’ll know one way or the other in two weeks, when the council votes on the bids. Just like I told them.” Ash stood up.

  “They couldn’t crack Charlie Ash? Looks like they didn’t try very hard. Didn’t even pay for lunch.”

  Ash picked up the check from the table. “A nine-dollar breakfast at Sunnyside? Gonna cost a lot more than that.” He winked. “Oh, hey, you have fun at the gala last night? Wait, were you there?”

  Wolf smiled. Last night Ash had come to their table, schmoozing with the Sluice County and neighboring Byron County officials, one hand on Commissioner Heller’s shoulder, the other on ex-Sheriff Burton’s, asking questions of each person, careful to use their name and the names of their children when applicable, telling a witty joke that was just edgy enough without being dirty, all the while pointedly ignoring Wolf without so much as a glance.

  “It was fun,” Wolf said.

  Ash slid back into the booth and put both palms on the table. “What did you think about the whole thing?”

  Wolf blinked, not taking whatever bait he was laying out.

  “About the two counties merging,” Ash said.

  Laura came over and gave Wolf his Coke.

  “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said, walking away.

  “I think it’s going to be great for both counties. You know the shit we have to go through to get money from the state right now? They hate the fact that we’re still appointing government officials here in Sluice. If we want Rocky Points to be the next Vail or Aspen, which is just inevitable really, the whole government system needs to be restructured. We need to grow up. Join the twenty-first century. I think it’s a perfect idea to merge Sluice and Byron counties. It’ll open up appropriations funds with both the state and federal governments. Both counties are going to benefit. And the biggest benefactor? That’s gonna be Rocky Points. I’m telling you, we’re going to boom. This place is gonna be on steroids.”

  Ash looked at Wolf expectantly.

  Wolf took a sip of his Coke. “I heard the talk last night, Charlie.”

  “Oh, really? You don’t seem too interested in the idea.”

  Wolf looked out the window and back at Ash. “I’m well aware of what you’re getting at. And it’s my understanding that, along with the sheriff, all county council positions would become electable positions as well.”

  “You’re right,” he said, leaning forward, eyes bright. “No more appointments. It’s going to be great. Elections are my bread and butter, always have been. It’s equal parts art and science when it comes to inserting a desired someone into an elected office. Doesn’t matter how entrenched someone is in a position of power, with the right approach and campaign, you can send them packing. In some cases, ruin their entire career, their reputation, wreck their chances of ever having one again.

  “I would know, I’ve won four elections and served in four different government positions and on five different election committees over the years.”

  Ash looked out the window and took a deep breath, looking like he was reminiscing about the good old days, or looking forward to the new. Then he slid out of the booth and walked
away.

  Laura placed Wolf’s food on the table. “You all set?”

  “No,” Wolf said.

  “What do you need?”

  He looked up at her. “Sorry, yes. I’m all set.”

  Chapter 12

  Wolf stood in line with Sarah and Jack. There were seven people ahead of them, and then six, so they shuffled on the marble floor to keep the line moving.

  “What did she look like?” Jack whispered.

  “Jack,” Sarah gasped.

  Wolf gave him a disappointed look, and looked back up the line.

  “Sorry, I’m just wondering. Closed casket?”

  “Enough,” Sarah said with a warning glare that lowered Jack’s gaze to the floor.

  Thanks to Jack’s question, now Wolf couldn’t help but think about Jen Wakefield’s head. When he’d arrived at the Wakefield’s house on Friday, he’d seen the damage done first hand. Whether or not it was something Jen had been aware of when she’d pulled the trigger, the gun had been loaded with a bullet designed to rip as it passed through flesh, and it had been messy.

  As they stepped forward again, Wolf ignored the chatter around him and concentrated on the front of the line. Charlie and Kevin Ash had just reached the mayor and his son.

  Charlie was first, grasping Chris’s hand with both of his and giving a somber nod, along with what looked to be some heartfelt words. Hang in there, kid. If you need anything, let me know.

  Next came Kevin, who hugged Chris, and Chris hugged him back like a good friend does when they’re comforting each other in the worst of times. When they parted, Charlie and Mayor Wakefield came back into view behind them. Wolf saw the mayor whispering something into Ash’s ear, and Wolf could have sworn he saw bared teeth.

  Ash pulled away, raked a hand through his hair, and walked away slowly, not turning around as he slowed to wait for Kevin.

  Kevin gave the mayor a hug and a somber word or two and walked after his father. Then they disappeared out the door.

  “I’m so sorry,” Wolf said, shaking Chris’s hand. Chris looked up at Wolf and nodded, and then Wolf shuffled to Mayor Wakefield. “I’m so sorry, Greg.”