Lonesome Lake

by Lesley Appleton-Jones

  He stood with his gun trained on the trees. “Is it a bear?”

  “It’s the killer,” she blurted as Po hobbled up beside them. He pumped a shell into his shotgun and pointed it at the trees as he scanned the area for movement.

  “Don’t let him get away, Uncle Cal.”

  “What are you talking about?” Raines asked, his tone bewildered.

  “Mrs. Milbourne’s killer. He’s going to get away if you don’t hurry. He just grabbed me in the woods.”

  She saw Po and her uncle glance at each other. Surprise registered on their faces, followed quickly by doubt.

  “I’m serious. He’s in the woods over there.” She pointed.

  They turned in that direction. Raines told Po, “Take her back to the house. I’ll check it out.”

  “You need backup.”

  Raines shook his head. “No. You stay with the girls. We can’t leave them on their own.”

  In silent agreement, Po handed him a flashlight from his jacket pocket.

  Raines added, “Call Holly.”

  “Not Holly Jakes,” Abbey blurted. “She won’t believe me.”

  Before Raines could respond, Melody yelled from the porch, “What’s going on? What are you doing?” Fear quivered in her voice.

  She held Memphis by the collar. He was straining to run to them and started barking.

  Raines called out. “We’re okay, Melody. Stay there. We’re coming back in.”

  Abbey hissed, “We can’t go in, Uncle Cal. He’ll escape.”

  He lowered his voice. “If someone is out there, he just heard that, and he’ll think he’s safe. Now go with Po while I check it out.”

  “Is it a bear?” Melody yelled back.

  “We think so,” Raines shouted, before lowering his voice. “Let’s not scare Melody any further than she already is by discussing what happened, Abbey. Okay? Get her back upstairs and keep Memphis with her. He helps settle her.”

  Abbey rolled her eyes. He was always so worried about Melody. “I want to go with you.”

  “No way. Now get going.”

  She realized the futility of arguing with him. He would never let her do anything dangerous. “Fine,” she said letting him hear her annoyance. “Be careful when you enter the woods. There’s a fallen tree about fifteen feet in.” She pointed to an area of the trees, and he started running.

  Abbey watched until the night engulfed him before turning to join Melody on the porch. Her sister’s pale face, as well as the tight grip she had on the dog’s collar, signaled her distress. She felt a rush of sympathy. “Don’t worry, Mel. We just heard something, so Uncle Cal’s gone to check it out.”

  “Does he need Memphis for protection?”

  Po ruffled Melody’s hair. “No. He’s armed. He’ll be okay. How about we get Memphis back to bed? The pup looks done in.”

  The dog looked wired like he was ready to chase down the biggest rabbit he’d ever seen. Abbey stroked his head.

  Melody bit her lip and stared off to where they’d last seen her uncle. “Shouldn’t we wait for him?”

  “I need to make a call,” Po told her. “So let’s all head in.”

  Five minutes later, Abbey heard sirens.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Holly found Raines walking down the road about a mile south of his house. She opened her window and called out, “Did you find anything?”

  He shook his head and strode over to her Jeep, anger accentuating a razor-thin scar on his lip like he was channeling Elvis. “Po filled you in?”

  “Yup,” she said, her eyes on the scar. She had no idea how he’d got it but wasn’t about to ask.

  “I heard a vehicle on the road as I ran through the woods, but by the time I reached the street, it was long gone. I checked for tire tracks. There are some closer to the Milbournes’ place, but they look old.”

  “Why don’t you get in, and I’ll run you home.” She tossed a bag on the front seat into the back. “So you think someone chased Abbey?”

  “I do. She’s used to the forest. She rides out here all the time.”

  “But it’s so dark. Even I’d be freaked out,” Holly said.

  “She’s a tough kid. Believe me. She doesn’t scare easily. Someone was out here, and when I find him, I’ll crush him.” His voice was rough with the threat.

  “But who could it be?” Holly asked as she turned onto his driveway.

  “Let’s go ask her what she was doing out here tonight. Maybe she knows something.”

  Holly pulled up outside his house, gravel crunching under the tires. “Abbey won’t want me in there.”

  Raines said nothing for a moment, clearly weighing the pros and cons of having her participate. They both knew Abbey blamed the entire Caxton PD for what she perceived as a miscarriage of justice that resulted in her father’s incarceration, but she had a special loathing for Holly.

  Uneasiness settled in the pit of Holly’s stomach as she recalled how forlorn Abbey had looked as she stood beside her father and watched as they exhumed her mother’s body. “Why don’t you just fill me in?”

  “You need to hear this. It could be related to the Milbourne case. Maybe the killer decided to return to see what he’d done and cut across my land like Bell did.”

  Following Raines up the front steps, she looked around, stalling for time before she had to face the teenager. A dot-com millionaire had remodeled the property ten years earlier, turning the New England connected farm into a compound designed for leisure activities. The businessman had converted the barn attached to the house into an indoor swimming pool with a gym, as well as adding an expansive six-bay garage to the property for his snowmobiles, ATVs and other toys. The garage had an apartment above it where she heard Podell Monroe now lived. The old stables had been rehabbed into a suite for guests at one end, with a wine cellar and home movie theater at the other. Raines also made renovations. Rumors were he’d turned the ell that connected the house to the barn into a recording studio and had built new stables with an indoor riding arena for Abbey.

  Raines held the door open for her. As she entered his house for the first time, two things struck her at once: the aroma of fresh coffee and a sense of airy space. Holly considered her olfactory system on par with a black belt in karate and could smell a coffee bean a mile away. Someone had just brewed a pot. As she homed in on its location, she took in his home.

  A substantial redesign of the interior had created an open floor plan. It was spacious and light. Exposed oak beams framed the interior. Moody, atmospheric artwork hung on walls painted a bright white. An old Wurlitzer, full of vinyl, stood under one of the paintings.

  A four-sided stone fireplace provided separation from the front entrance and served as the focal point. Stairs on her right led up to a balcony, which overlooked the main living area. Two overstuffed couches faced each other across a weathered wood coffee table. A pair of leather bucket seats from an old car served as chairs and were placed either side of the fire. Several guitars rested in stands near the couch.

  Positioned with a view of the fields out back, a ski-lift chair swung suspended from one of the beams. A couple of immaculate motorcycles—an Indian and a Norton—stood balanced on stands in the far left corner. On the right, a grand piano sat in front of the window.

  Holly gaped. She couldn’t help it. Cal Raines was the only cop she knew who didn’t need to earn extra money by working a paid detail.

  Walking to the right of the fireplace, Holly followed her nose to the kitchen area and the fresh pot of coffee. Po sat at a built-in breakfast nook that was large enough to seat a party of twelve. He nodded to her as he bit into a sandwich stuffed with about a pound of ham.

  Abbey sat next to him nursing a cup of hot chocolate. She glared up at Holly when they walked in. “What is she doing here?”

  “Holly needs to know what happened.”

  Abbey stood up. “I’m not telling you anything until she leaves.”

  Chapter Forty-Six

 
Holly couldn’t blame Abbey after what she had done to her, but Raines said in a tone that meant business, “Sit down, Abbey.”

  She glared at him but complied.

  Po gave Holly a friendly smile.

  Raines walked to a cupboard, retrieved two cups and offered Holly coffee.

  She nodded and pulled out a stool at the kitchen counter. Confused, she looked down at it. It wasn’t a stool. It was a western-style saddle, complete with stirrups. It took her a moment to realize that the saddle was screwed to a wooden frame designed to turn it into a barstool.

  As she stepped into a stirrup and hoisted herself up to the counter, she shook her head. Rock stars and the things they spend their money on, she thought. But it surprised her to discover how comfortable it was. Lucky she had jeans on, though. Mounting the stool wouldn’t have looked so graceful in a skirt. Not that she ever wore a skirt.

  Raines sat down at the breakfast nook table opposite Abbey. He was pale and drawn, Holly noticed, like he’d had the fright of his life.

  Abbey avoided looking at Holly and asked her uncle, “Did you find him?”

  “No, but we’ll search again in the morning.”

  Abbey scrunched up her face in disappointment.

  “What happened tonight?” he asked.

  “Someone grabbed me in the woods.”

  “Do you know who it was?”

  “No.”

  “What were you doing out there at this time of night?” His voice sounded strained, like he was fighting to control his emotions. Abbey had really rattled him.

  “I went over to the Milbourne house to see if I could find anything that would help catch the killer.” She said with a satisfied smile.

  “You were at the Milbourne house? What the hell were you thinking, Abbey?”

  “I wanted to find something, a weapon or some evidence, to help solve the case.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “I wanted to help.”

  Raines ran a hand through his already disheveled hair. “Not only is that dangerous, but you can’t walk all over an active crime scene.”

  She held up her right hand. “The police have finished over there.”

  “You know better than that. It’s an ongoing investigation.” He shook his head. “Something could have happened to you.” He paused. “Something did happen to you.”

  “I’m fine,” she snapped. “No need to overreact.”

  He looked a little stunned, Holly thought, or hurt. She couldn’t read him well enough to tell the difference.

  He ignored the dig. “How did you get there?”

  She hesitated before saying, “Through the trail in the woods.”

  “Do you think someone followed you back from the Milbourne property?”

  “I don’t think so?”

  “Were you alone?”

  All of a sudden, she found the table’s woodgrain interesting.

  “Abbey?” Raines pushed her.

  “I was alone when someone grabbed me.”

  Holly glanced at Raines. It was obvious she was lying.

  He hadn’t missed it. “You know how important it is to tell the truth, right?”

  Abbey just sat there.

  “I’m going to ask you again if you were alone all night. I want you to think about how crucial it is that we know everything that happened so we can figure out what’s going on. We can’t do that if you don’t tell us the truth. Okay?”

  She glared up at him. “It’s not fair.”

  “What isn’t, sweetheart?”

  She thrust her chin out in defiance. “That my uncle is a cop. I’m living with a human lie detector. I can’t get away with a thing.”

  He studied her face. “Is there something you need to get away with?”

  “See? That’s exactly what I mean.”

  “What?”

  She folded her arms across her chest. “You’re questioning me as if I’m a suspect. In case you’ve forgotten, I’m a minor. Shouldn’t I at least have a lawyer?”

  Po coughed and Holly faked a yawn, covering her mouth with her hand to hide a smile.

  Raines gently placed a hand on his niece’s shoulder. “Abbey, this investigation isn’t a game. It’s dangerous. We need to know what happened tonight.”

  She shook off his hand. “I know it’s not a game.”

  Raines just sat there, seeming to be at a loss on what more to say. Holly had never seen him so far out of his depth. He always appeared so confident and seemed to know exactly what to do, but then, he’d never had to raise teenage girls before.

  He persisted. “Who were you with tonight?”

  She hugged her arms even tighter. “I don’t want him to get into trouble, okay. He only came to help me.”

  “Who is he, Abbey?” From his tone, they could tell he was prepared to sit there as long as it took to get an answer.

  She looked daggers at him. “His name is Jesse, okay. Now you know everything.”

  Holly doubted that.

  Raines kept pushing. “Is this Jesse the same kid Po told me came over to check out his bike? The same kid you didn’t seem to care for?”

  “Yes.”

  “And how long have you known Jesse?”

  She looked back down at the table. “Not long.”

  “So, you went out in the middle of the night with someone you don’t know?”

  She gave him that so what shrug teenagers master so well.

  “Did anyone else know you were out tonight?”

  “No.”

  From behind the kitchen counter, Po said, “Jesse told me he lives over at Pine Ledges with Olivia May.”

  Abbey unfolded her arms and leaned forward. “Who’s Olivia May? Is she his mom?”

  Raines shook his head in disbelief. “If you don’t know that, you don’t know him. You were out in the middle of the night with a kid you don’t know. What were you thinking?”

  Abbey glanced over at Holly. Ignoring his question, she pulled out her phone.

  Raines sighed and said with a softer tone, “Put the phone away and tell me what happened tonight.”

  She grimaced but slipped her phone back into her pocket. “Look. We didn’t do much. I met Jesse at the end of our driveway, and we rode around on the trails to the Milbourne house.”

  “What? On the back of Jesse’s motorcycle?” He didn’t sound angry. He sounded worried. “Did you have a helmet on?”

  “Yes, Uncle Cal. I had a helmet on.”

  He scrutinized her for a moment with cool, gray eyes until she began to squirm in her seat.

  “So he’s familiar with the trails leading to the Milbourne property?” he asked.

  Abbey picked at a cuticle and drew blood. “Yes.”

  Holly thought about the dirt bike tracks they’d found at the back of the Milbourne house. Add that to the possibility the break-ins were the work of teenagers, and Jesse became more interesting by the minute.

  Raines asked, “What did you do when you got there?”

  “Nothing. The police were there, so we left. No big deal. He dropped me off at the end of the meadow so I could sneak in.” She paused, most likely expecting a lecture. When he said nothing, she continued. “I’d almost made it home when you pulled up. That’s when I decided to hide in the woods until you went to bed. And that’s when someone grabbed me.”

  “Did you see the person?”

  “No.”

  Raines reached across the table to cover her hands with his. “You could have been hurt.”

  She said nothing, but Holly noticed that she’d turned up her hand to hold his.

  “You shouldn’t be out alone with Jesse. What were you thinking, sweetheart?”

  Holly considered it obvious what Abbey had been thinking. A cute teenage girl meets a teenage boy with a motorcycle. It wasn’t brain surgery. But she kept her opinion to herself.

  Abbey pulled her hand away from her uncle’s. “It wasn’t Jesse who grabbed me.”

  “Did you see him?”
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  “No. He grabbed me from behind, but I could tell. The man was strong. Jesse’s strong for a kid, but not that strong.”

  If it wasn’t Jesse, Holly thought, who was it? No one else knew she was going to be there. Why would someone else be sneaking around on Raines’ property? Unless it was the killer. Or Jamie Bell looking for another photo op.

  Raines continued, “Yet you were able to get away.”

  “It’s not Jesse. All he wanted to do was help me catch Mom’s killer.”

  Holly heard Raines suck in his breath. “You mean Mrs. Milbourne’s killer, right?”

  “No. The same man killed my mom and Mrs. Milbourne.”

  “You can’t be serious?” His eyes searched her face as if he’d misheard her.

  Holly had never heard him sound that helpless.

  “It makes perfect sense,” Abbey said, with a mean edge to her voice as she turned to stare at Holly. “I did it because I don’t want the police to miss any evidence like they did in Mom’s case. At least Dad has an ironclad alibi for this murder. Detective Jakes is going to have to find someone else to pin it on.” Her voice started to quiver. “Maybe she can dig up another body for a clue.”

  Holly tried not to show how the words hurt her. It was difficult to see Abbey so desperate and to know she’d caused her pain. The kid appeared physically and emotionally drained and very close to tears.

  Raines must have noticed, too, because he smoothed back a lock of his niece’s hair and said, “It’s late. Why don’t you head up to bed?”

  Abbey’s lips tightened. “You have to admit there’s a possibility.”

  “How about we discuss it in the morning?”

  She bolted upright, banging the table. “Fine! But just think about it. Two murders in a town this size. This isn’t the city. What are the chances that we have two different killers here in two years?” She pointed her Holly and shouted, “But Detective Jakes is never going to admit she was wrong when she arrested my dad. And that’s why I was out there searching for proof.”

  “Abbey! That’s enough. We’ll talk tomorrow,” Raines told her with more weariness than anger. “And I don’t want you hanging out with Jesse until I know more about him.”