One Last Scream (Special Agent Ricki James Book 2)

by C. R. Chandler

  “Sure,” Demi said. “Sure. You work with that hunky chief from Dimsum Bay, right?”

  “Dabob Bay, Ms. Lansanger.”

  “Is that chief as good-looking as his picture?” Demi blurted out. “I looked him up after he called me about Max.”

  “I’ll arrange an introduction,” Ricki said dryly. “I’m hoping you can give me the number for Barbara Metler?”

  Half expecting to hear Barbara who? her nerves leaped to life when the PI’s assistant said, “Mrs. Metler? Sure, sure. I have it right here in my client log. Hang on a minute.”

  Ricki walked over to the desk and pushed Dan aside as she reached for a pen and a scrap piece of paper. She held her breath and waited for what seemed to be a hell of a lot longer than one minute before Demi finally came back on the phone and slowly read off a phone number.

  “Area code 6-3-0. That’s in Chicago?” Ricki asked.

  “Nearby. Mrs. Metler lives in Oak Brook. Very ritzy area,” Demi said. “Can you really get me an introduction to Chief Thomas?”

  Oh brother. “Sure,” Ricki said easily. “The next time you’re out here, you let me know. I’ll get it all arranged.”

  “But—”

  That’s as far as the young woman got before Ricki cut her off. “Thanks for your help, Ms. Lansanger. I’ll be in touch.” She hung up before Demi could say another word, only to find Dan staring at her.

  “Ms. Lansanger?” He smiled. “I thought the chief said he’d rather live out his life alone in a cave than have to talk to her again.”

  Ricki waved an airy hand in front of her. “There are a lot of sacrifices you have to make in the line of duty.” When Dan laughed, she dialed the number she’d written down and waited. The call went directly to voice mail. Apparently no one in the Metler household, in the very ritzy neighborhood of Oak Brook, was answering the phone today. She listened to the greeting with its lengthy list of instructions, waiting for the beep that indicated she could leave a message. When it finally sounded in her ear, Ricki smiled.

  “Hello. This is Special Agent Ricki James with the investigative bureau of the National Park Service. I’m calling for Barbara G. Metler, who owns the land in northwest Washington close to Olympic National Park. I would appreciate a call back at your earliest convenience. We’ve found your brother.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “Then you think this Metler woman was Maxwell Hardy’s client?”

  “There’s a good chance.” Ricki shifted her weight to a more comfortable position in the folding chair in front of Clay’s desk. She hadn’t been able to catch up with him the night before, so was sure to make his office her first stop that morning.

  She was careful to keep her wrist still in her lap, mindful of the small warning throbs it had been sending out since that morning, when she’d rescued the box falling out of Dan’s grip. Not the best move for a wrist with a hairline fracture. But she considered it an even trade for everything she’d learned today. “I looked up the neighborhood she lives in. Like Demi said, it’s definitely on the ritzy side, so she fits the description of a client Hardy would take care of personally.”

  Clay swiveled a half-turn in his chair and looked out the window into the thick stand of trees that surrounded three sides of the building. “Maybe she’s been looking for her brother all these years.”

  “If she has, she doesn’t seem too anxious to hear about it,” Ricki said. “I’ve been waiting to hear back from her, but so far, nothing.”

  He shifted his gaze back to her. “Which leads to the other possibility.”

  Easily following his line of thought, Ricki nodded. “Yeah. She could have been sending that PI around every few years to make sure nothing had been disturbed.”

  “And her secret remains safe?”

  She shrugged. “Someone’s secret anyway. Unless you think she followed Hardy out here and shot her own PI.”

  Clay shook his head. “Odds wouldn’t be good on that one, but people have done stranger things.”

  Thinking about her last case, and why all those people had died, Ricki nodded her agreement.

  The chief tapped a finger against the screen of his computer. “I put an inquiry in to the Chicago PD. They sent a detective out to interview Ms. Lansanger in person and came up with the same answers I got.” He winced. “And the same impression. It seems she cried all over the Chicago detective too, poor bastard. He let me know that I owe him a big one.” Clay’s casual posture said plainly enough that he wasn’t worried about it, which had Ricki fervently hoping the emotional Ms. Lansanger never made it out to the Bay and demanded her promised introduction to the “hunky” chief.

  The object of Demi’s fascination glanced at his wristwatch. “It’s getting late. I was hoping we could . . .” He stopped midsentence and looked past Ricki. “Hey, Bear. Something I can help you with?”

  “Sounds like you’re already doing that.”

  Ricki shot to her feet and moved to block her ex-husband’s view of the chief. Behind her, she heard the distinct scrape of boots on the floor as Clay got to his feet. “Get a grip, Bear. What do you want?”

  “I wanted to let my wife know that I was back in town and picked Eddie up at the diner. He’s at Mom’s house.”

  “Ex-wife, and fine. Great.” Ricki gave him a pointed look. “You could have called and let me know instead of making the drive up from Brewer.”

  Bear hadn’t moved from his place in the doorway. He stood with his arms crossed over his broad chest, blocking the only exit, as he shifted his glare from Clay to Ricki. “I also need to talk to you about the schedule for our son this week, now that he’s out of school.”

  “Also could have been done over the phone,” Ricki said, but she waved toward the hallway. “Since you’re here, let’s talk. Out in the parking lot.”

  He sent a smirk over her head, aimed at the man standing behind the desk. “That’s fine.”

  “I’ll meet you outside.” Having no patience for what she considered a juvenile and purely unjustified show of male ego, Ricki put enough warning into her voice to draw a startled look from her ex.

  When Bear disappeared into the hallway, Ricki turned around and found Clay grinning at her. “Need me to come with you?”

  She snorted at that. Not likely. “No.” She pointed a finger at him. “Stay here.”

  “Not a dog, Agent James.”

  “Not in the mood, Chief Thomas.” She turned on her heel and stomped out the door. She had a murder to solve. She didn’t have time for this crap.

  When she pushed through the front doors, Bear was leaning against one of the thick pine posts holding up the roof of the porch.

  “I’m sorry,” he blurted out before she could open her mouth. “I was out of line. I’m just not used to walking in and hearing guys hitting on you.”

  Her annoyance quickly deflating, Ricki let out an exasperated sigh. “Not very flattering, but apology accepted. And he wasn’t hitting on me.” At his dark look, she grinned. “You didn’t give him a chance.” When he continued to glare at her, she walked over and sat on the railing next to him. “Funny attitude coming from a guy who spent the weekend, and an extra night, with his good friend, the clerk at Mountain Outfitters.”

  She’d only been guessing, but it must have been an accurate one because Bear’s cheeks turned a very bright crimson.

  “Ah, come on, Ricki.”

  Perfectly willing to let him squirm for a bit more, she huffed out another breath. “I thought we came up with a rule about no sleeping with a customer?” The devil on her shoulder had her cocking her head to one side and lifting an eyebrow. “As a matter of fact, I think that was your rule, wasn’t it?”

  “Ah, come on, Ricki,” Bear repeated, scuffing one heel against the porch’s wooden floorboards. “She wasn’t even the customer. Her friends were.”

  “Oh. Well. Then I guess she was along on the hike as your guest?”

  He squinted at her through the fading light. “You aren’t goi
ng to let this go, are you?”

  “Not until you apologize and mean it.”

  “I’m sorry,” he groused. “There. Are you happy?”

  “Very.” She gave him a sunny smile. “Now what about Eddie’s schedule this week?”

  Ten minutes later she walked back into Clay’s office, the smile still on her face.

  “I guess that went pretty well,” Clay said.

  Ricki nodded and slid back down into the folding chair. “It seems Bear’s new girlfriend requires more of his time.”

  Clay lifted his hands off the keyboard he’d been clicking away at and turned to face her, his gaze wide. “He has a girlfriend?”

  She lifted a hand and wiggled it back and forth. “Or something. I’m not sure what her status is, but they are definitely dancing between the sheets.”

  Clay laughed. “And you intend to hold that over his head?”

  “If it means Eddie spends more time at home? Oh yeah.”

  His grin grew wide enough to split his face in two. “You’re an evil person, James.”

  “I’ll make a note that you think so,” Ricki said, then quickly turned around at the knock on the door casing, half expecting to see Bear standing there. But it was Ray, looking bemused as his watery gaze fixed itself on Ricki.

  “There’s a lady here to see you.”

  When he stopped and seemed to lose his train of thought, Ricki gave him a gentle prod. “Did she give you her name?”

  “She says you called her.”

  Ricki blinked, then looked over at Clay. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “If you’re Special Agent James, I can assure you, I am not kidding.”

  A woman appeared in the doorway as Ray simply melted out of sight. She was tall, with silver hair brushed back from her face to emphasize the large brown eyes staring boldly at Ricki from across the room.

  “I’m Barbara Graham Metler, and I believe you left me a message about my brother?”

  Quickly gathering herself together, Ricki stood almost at attention and nodded. The woman with her inbred air of superiority had that kind of effect on people. “I’m Special Agent James.” She gestured toward Clay. “And this is Police Chief Thomas.” She paused for a moment. “Welcome to the Bay, Ms. Metler. I have to admit, I’m surprised to see you here.”

  “I’m surprised to be here.” Barbara Metler marched across the room and set her huge purse down on Clay’s desk before gingerly lowering herself onto the edge of the folding chair next to Ricki. “Very functional,” she commented politely in what Ricki was sure the woman thought passed for a compliment to someone on a lower level than the exalted one she occupied.

  “It’s Mrs., not Ms., as a matter of fact, and your message said you’d found Benjamin.”

  “I believe so. The medical examiner will need to make a positive ID. If you have any . . .” Ricki closed her mouth when Mrs. Metler pulled a large manila envelope from her voluminous purse. “I brought his dental records. Now please tell me why you think you found him, and where?”

  Ricki started with the last question, since that was the easier one to explain. “We found him on your land.”

  “My land?”

  “You’re the owner on record, Mrs. Metler. Fifty acres, about twenty minutes away, near Massey.”

  “I’ve never heard of Massey,” their unexpected visitor said. “But I do own land somewhere in Washington. It might be around there.”

  “You’ve never seen the land?” Clay asked.

  Mrs. Metler turned her head to look at him. “Of course not. I don’t have any reason to. The foundation bought the land many years ago for an investment. They had no real interest in it, and Benny had only put in a formal request to purchase it himself just before he went missing. It was another ten years before the board finally decided to sell it, so I bought it.” She faced Ricki again. “To hold it for him until he came home.”

  “Was Benjamin a park ranger, Mrs. Metler?” Ricki asked.

  “Please. It would be easier if you called me Barbara, and yes. He was. He signed up as a lark, and to annoy our father, who had expected him to go into the family business.”

  Becoming a ranger on a whim would explain why he’d resigned after only a couple of years. It didn’t sound as if he’d ever had any intentions of making a real career in the park service. “Did you know that he was leaving the rangers?” Ricki asked.

  Barbara nodded. “Of course. He said he’d had enough of mucking about the woods and was ready to live back in civilization again.”

  Must have been a lousy ranger, even for that short of a time, Ricki thought, but she kept her expression neutral. “When was the last time you heard from your brother?”

  “On April eighth, Agent James.” She paused. “Forty-nine years ago. He was supposed to be driving back for my wedding, which had been planned for over a year to be held at the end of April. He wanted me to be sure that his tuxedo was cleaned.” She picked at an imaginary piece of lint on her smartly pressed jacket. “He called me almost every day, mostly to talk about nothing, really. Even though he was ten years my senior, we were very close.”

  Ricki exchanged a look with Clay before locking her gaze back on Barbara Metler. “Then I’m very sorry to inform you that the body we found is most likely your brother, and he’s dead.” She softened her voice. “He has been for quite a while.”

  Mrs. Metler sucked in a quick breath, then went very still. “Why do you think the body you found is Benny?”

  “He’d been given a numbered badge and it was still with his body, along with his uniform,” Ricki said. “And he was found on your land.”

  “How long has he been . . .” She stopped and looked at her hands. “How long has he been gone?”

  There wasn’t any good way to say it, so Ricki kept it as simple as possible. “Since the last time you talked to him. Or within a day or two.” When Barbara’s head jerked backward as if someone had slapped her, Ricki kept her voice low. “He was supposed to turn his badge in and complete his paperwork after his last shift on the tenth. He never showed up.”

  “Why didn’t they call us?” Barbara’s voice had gone from quiet despair to the edge of anger in nothing flat. “They should have called us when he didn’t report for work like that. It wasn’t like him at all.”

  Thinking it sounded very much like a guy who’d taken a job on a lark and then couldn’t wait to be rid of it, Ricki only shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe because he’d turned in his resignation.” And his supervisor probably thought the rich boy couldn’t be bothered to finish out his shift and turn in his badge.

  “Very lax,” Barbara declared indignantly. “When he didn’t arrive in Chicago as he’d planned, I called his supervisor, and all that man told me was that Benny had resigned and was no longer employed with the rangers. Then he said my brother had left town.” Her back had gone stiff as a board and her hands in her lap were balled into fists. “He lied. If you’ve found Benjamin on that miserable piece of land, then he never left here.”

  Ricki let the woman’s rant roll right over her. Even though she was sure Barbara Graham Metler had been expecting this news about her brother for literally decades, it didn’t lessen the pain to hear it out loud.

  “How did you find him?” Benjamin’s sister demanded. “After almost fifty years, how did you ever find him now?”

  “There’s a lighthouse on the land,” Ricki said. “We found him in there. Or rather your PI, Maxwell Hardy, found him, and then we found Maxwell Hardy and your brother.”

  “Max?” Some of the anger in Barbara’s gaze was replaced with confusion. “Max found him?” She looked around as if she expected to see the burly PI standing in one of the corners. “Why didn’t he call me? I’m the one who hired him.”

  “He couldn’t,” Ricki said flatly. “He was shot. Just like your brother.”

  “What?” Barbara stared at her, the color rapidly draining from her face. “Someone shot Benny?” Ignoring that the same thing
had happened to her PI, and a lot more recently too, her stunned gaze slid over to Clay. “Who would shoot Benny?”

  “Who would shoot your PI?” Clay countered.

  “I don’t know.” Barbara raised a hand to her cheeks and brushed away the tears that had started to leak from her perfectly made-up eyes, leaving tracks of mascara down her cheeks. “I just don’t know.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “So where did you leave it?”

  Hamilton’s face filled the screen of the iPad that Cy had propped against the desk lamp. Ricki and Clay sat on chairs in front of the screen while Dan and Cy stood behind them. Ricki thought they looked like they were taking a class picture, but for a last-minute meeting, it did the trick.

  “Benjamin Graham’s sister is bringing the dental records back in tomorrow,” Ricki said. “TK will be taking them to Tacoma so he and the ME can confirm the ID. Dan will be accompanying them as the representative from this office.”

  Her boss leaned back and scrubbed both hands up the sides of his face, then pressed his fingertips into his temples. “And you feel this is still our case because this Benjamin Graham never officially left the park service?”

  “Half your case,” Clay put in. “The dead PI, who was hired by Graham’s sister, is still mine.”

  A shadowy smile crossed Hamilton’s lips. “My apologies, Chief. Half our case.”

  “For our half of the double homicide, yes, sir, I’d say it’s our case,” Ricki said. “Graham never showed up for his shift, so he didn’t finish processing out.”

  “But his supervisor did it for him,” Hamilton stated. “An important point because I doubt if the deputy director is going to be too thrilled if Graham’s sister sues the service for fifty years of back pay.”

  Having no desire to get into a debate about a possible pay dispute, Ricki stuck to what she knew was a fact. “Yes, he did. But not until after Graham was killed.”

  Hamilton’s eyebrows immediately winged upward. “Oh? We’re now down to an exact date?”