Secrets at Cedar Cabin

by Colleen Coble

  Gina raised her hand to her mouth. “Shauna is missing?”

  “We’re hoping you can shed some light on it,” Zach said.

  “The coffee will be ready in a few minutes.” Gina tightened the belt on her wrap and perched on the edge of an oversized red leather chair. “Tell me what’s going on.”

  Lance returned to his seat. “Have you ever heard of Baker Holdings?”

  “Of course. It’s our family business. My grandfather started it. My dad took over for a while, but his heart was never in it. He loved music and went off to Nashville. My brother, Robert, took over when Dad left town, but he disappeared three years later. Then Harry began to run the companies. We had only been married about three years, and he just started his law practice. My grandfather is still around and can do whatever he likes, but he mostly lets Harry run things.”

  Lance exchanged a long look with Daniel. “What happened to your brother?”

  Her lids swept down. “No one knows. He simply vanished. My grandfather clammed up and wouldn’t talk about it. I always suspected someone killed him though.”

  “Was his name Robert Colley?” Daniel asked.

  “Yes.”

  “And your dad?” Lance asked.

  “Still in Nashville. He’s a music producer and helped my niece’s husband get his start. Kyle Bearcroft. You might have heard of him. Dad still has no interest in the family business.”

  Daniel leaned forward in his chair. “Why would you suspect someone killed your brother?”

  “Just the way my grandfather acted. He hired a private investigator, and he and Harry holed up in the office quite often talking about it. Every time I asked, neither of them would tell me anything though.”

  “Do you know what kinds of businesses Baker Holdings runs?”

  She frowned and shook her head. “Not all of them. They make scotch and some other liquor. One of the businesses is a gun shop. All kinds of things. I try to stay out of it.”

  “Do you have any other family? Other siblings?” Zach asked.

  “Just the niece I mentioned, my brother’s daughter. She lives in Idaho. I haven’t seen her in years.”

  “Amy Boone?”

  Gina nodded. “She’s married to Kyle Bearcroft, though Boone is his real name. He dabbles with the business some, I think, though Harry doesn’t like him much.” She lifted her head at a beep in the kitchen. “Let me get the coffee.” She rose and went into the kitchen.

  All the pieces were falling into place. Lance’s gaze connected with Daniel’s. If they could just get some kind of clue as to where Harry had taken the women. There were a lot of questions still to ask Gina.

  She came back with a tray of coffee mugs and passed them around to the men before taking one herself and retreating to her chair. “I should tell you that I told Harry earlier today—well, yesterday now—that I’m divorcing him. He’s never home, and we haven’t been close in years.”

  Lance took a sip of hot coffee. “How did he take that?”

  “He offered to get counseling, but he was just stalling. He doesn’t love me—he only loves the power being married to me brings him. I’m sure he’s worried Grandfather will toss him out of the business when we’re divorced, and quite honestly, it’s possible. You still haven’t told me what this is all about.”

  “The FBI has been investigating a trafficking ring operating in the area for some time. In fact, I suspect my sister is a victim of this ring. We’d been watching a cabin out on Red Cedar Road for some time because there was evidence the place was being used for trafficking. It was deeded to Baker Holdings. Then Bailey Fleming showed up with a deed to the place, and during more investigation we found the bodies of two young women. Further investigation turned up a male skeleton, probably killed about twenty-four years ago.”

  Gina’s lips parted. “Twenty-four years ago is when my brother disappeared. Is it him?”

  Daniel nodded. “The ME just identified him.”

  She held her hand to her mouth. “This will kill my grandfather.”

  “Are you familiar with the cabin that had been owned by Baker Holdings?” Lance asked.

  She shook her head. “Not really.”

  Struck out there. “Four women went missing earlier tonight. Shauna, Bailey Fleming, Ellie Blackmore, and an elderly lady named Lily Norman.”

  “I know Ellie, of course, and Lily. She’s the mother of one of Harry’s many mistresses, Olivia Fleming.” Her eyes went wide. “Wait, you said Bailey Fleming. Is she related to Olivia?”

  “Her daughter. Well, it’s actually complicated.”

  Gina’s mouth turned down. “Harry’s daughter?”

  “No. She actually kidnapped the child.” Lance didn’t want to muddy the waters with a full explanation. “So you knew Olivia when she lived here?”

  “Yes, for a lot of years.” Her mouth twisted. “I actually worried for a while Harry would divorce me over her, but she finally left town.”

  Lance shifted on his feet. “We suspect Baker Holdings is a front for the trafficking organization. Your husband runs it. We think he might have the women.”

  Gina gasped and put her cup of coffee on the table beside her. “I can’t believe he’d do something so evil.”

  “Do you have any idea where he is now, where he might have taken them?” Zach asked. “Please, Gina, Shauna’s life and our baby’s life depend on it.”

  “Of course I’ll help you. He said he was going to his mountain hunting lodge. I can tell you how to find it. But the rain we’ve gotten here is snow up there. I’m not sure you can get through.”

  “I’ve got a plane with snow rails,” Zach said. “I’ll get us there.”

  Every second of Bailey’s life compressed to this moment behind the wheel with the snow blowing across the windshield and the wind buffeting the car like a giant shaking a tree. She gripped the cold wheel with both hands and peered through the small hole made by the defroster. The blower blew out as much warm air as it could, but the engine wasn’t fully warm yet.

  In the passenger seat Shauna twisted around to look behind them. “There are two guys with guns!”

  As she screamed out the words, two bullets pinged into the back of the vehicle, and Lily cried out, cowering down in the backseat.

  “Get onto the floor!” Bailey pressed on the accelerator as fast as she dared, and the vehicle slid in the thick snow covering the drive.

  The blanket of white came halfway up the tires, so a good six inches. She’d driven in worse conditions, but not under such duress. Their lives depended on her keeping this Suburban on the road. Barely aware she was praying, she mouthed the words, “Help me, God,” over and over.

  The Suburban fishtailed as she maneuvered around the end of the drive and onto the road, then headed away from the lodge. “Which direction?” she asked Shauna. “I have no idea where I’m going.”

  “I don’t either. I’ve never been up here, though I’ve flown over it. Let me see if I can find a landmark.” Shauna chewed her lip and peered out the window. “It’s all hidden by blowing snow. I can’t even make out any houses.”

  They were in trouble if they were heading in the wrong direction. Bailey glanced at the compass on the dash. “We’re heading south. Is that good or bad?”

  “Bad, I think. South of town are the Olympic Mountains. I think we’re on Mount Olympus, so we might be heading up not down. Can you tell if we’re on an incline?”

  The snow distorted everything. Bailey slowed and rubbed her palm across her window to look out at the landscape. “I think we’re going up. I’ll need to go the other way.”

  “But we’ll run the risk of encountering those men with guns.” Shauna slammed her fist on her leg. “If only we had a phone.”

  “I’ll have to risk it. The snow will be worse higher up, and we’re likely to get stuck. We don’t have any gear to survive this kind of storm on our own.”

  Bailey slowed and searched for a place to do a one-eighty. A few vehicles had come thi
s way, and she could only pray there were enough tracks to confuse their pursuers. The men would likely think they’d headed toward town, so this could work out in their favor.

  Shauna pointed at a driveway with tracks leading in. “There! I think I see a barn. Maybe a cabin too.”

  Bailey slowed and turned into the tracks. She didn’t dare back out onto the road, not with the limited visibility. She could drive to the cabin back here and find a turn-around spot.

  “Shut off your lights,” Shauna said suddenly.

  Without asking questions Bailey switched off the headlights. Just before they were plunged into darkness, she’d seen a small track leading to a barn, and she veered into it and stopped. “You saw them?”

  Shauna was staring out the back window. “I saw headlights. I thought it might be them. It looked like a truck, and it went on past the drive.”

  “Let’s try to go the other way now.” Bailey put the vehicle in reverse and pressed on the accelerator.

  The tires started to grip, then began to spin. The Suburban slewed sideways and headed for a huge snowdrift to the right of the drive. “No, no,” Bailey muttered. “Come on.”

  No matter how she coaxed the vehicle or turned into the slide, the vehicle tracked toward the drift until the rear bumper was firmly buried in the snow.

  Bailey slammed her palms against the steering wheel. “We’re stuck. Let me see if there’s a shovel in the back or maybe in the barn.”

  When she got out, the frigid wind took her breath away. She had no hat, no gloves, just this jacket she’d found in the closet. It was much too lightweight to stop the cold wind from coursing down her back. There was nothing in the back of the Suburban but a jack and a toolbox. No shovel.

  She thrust her hands into her pockets and rushed to the barn. The door slid open when she shoved it, and she found a dry floor with tools hanging on the walls. She grabbed a shovel and carried it out to the SUV.

  She found Shauna trying to move snow with her hands. “Stand back,” Bailey said.

  She shoveled snow out from around the tires. “Let me try it now.”

  Sliding under the wheel was exquisite relief from the cold. She waited for Shauna to get in, too, then gently accelerated. The tires began to grip and edged the vehicle out of the snowbank.

  “You did it!” Shauna’s smile vanished as she looked out. “There are headlights veering into the drive.”

  Without stopping to think, Bailey accelerated into the still-open barn door. She threw the vehicle into park, then jumped out and slid the door shut and stood against it, her heart hammering.

  Had they been seen? She could only pray the blowing snow had hidden the outline of the vehicle sitting there with no lights.

  Ellie and Shauna got out and eased the SUV door shut, then joined her. “Smart thinking,” Ellie said.

  “It won’t be too smart if it’s them and they saw us drive in here. We’ll be trapped. They will surely see the tracks.”

  Shauna frowned. “Visibility is terrible. They might not be able to see the tracks unless they actually get out.”

  “At least we’re out of that wind.” Shauna’s breath fogged in the cold air, and she went to peer out the icy window. “The truck drove to the house and turned around. It’s coming back now.” She ducked under the window.

  Bailey listened for the slamming of a door or the sound of voices but heard only the howling wind. Her pulse throbbed in her throat until Shauna eased up to peek out again.

  “I see taillights. I think they’re leaving.”

  Bailey sagged against the door. Now what?

  Chapter 37

  Lance hunched forward and stared out the airplane window at the blowing snow. “Can we make it?”

  The rain had changed to snow quickly. “I’m used to flying in Alaska,” Zach said. “This is a baby compared to some weather I’ve flown in. My plane is equipped with radar, and I’ve already plotted our course.”

  Snow and wind buffeted the plane, but it flew steadily toward their destination. It was too dark and the visibility was too low to see much through the windows.

  Zach consulted his map. “According to my map, there’s a field behind the barn at the lodge Harry owns. I’ll land there and we’ll walk in the rest of the way. It shouldn’t be far.”

  Grayson pointed. “Is that it?”

  Zach glanced at the screen. “Looks like it.”

  The falling snow had begun to lessen, but the wind still howled like a banshee. Lance tensed as Zach fought with the controls, then brought the plane down into the field.

  He could only pray the snow wasn’t covering a big boulder that would appear out of nowhere and smash the nose of the plane. He only managed to exhale when the skis on the plane touched down, and the plane slid to a final stop.

  “Let’s go.” Lance fought to shove open his door against the wind. He didn’t wait for the other men to join him but set out through the three-foot-high drifts toward where he thought the cabin should be.

  Squinting through the darkness and blowing snow, he thought he saw a curl of smoke from the chimney. He prayed he’d find Bailey and the other women, safe and unharmed. He couldn’t let himself think about any other result.

  Zach went around him and reached the cabin first, but Lance and the rest of the men were right on his heels. Zach pressed the doorbell. When no one came immediately, he pounded his fist on the door. “Harry, it’s Zach!”

  No lights were on inside, so it was strange there was a fire sending smoke up the chimney.

  The other men went around to the side of the house. “No access there,” Daniel said.

  Zach opened the door and poked his head in. “Harry, you here?”

  Only the crackle of the fire answered him. He pushed on inside and Lance followed.

  “I’ll check upstairs,” Lance said. “Grayson, you check the kitchen. Daniel, see if there’s a basement. Zach, you can look in the living room.”

  The men spread out and began to search. Lance started for the stairs.

  “In here!” Zach called moments later.

  Lance rushed into the living room. Zach stood by a bar. Blood lay in pools on the floor and on the bar itself. There was a shattered bottle of scotch and a broken glass on the floor as well.

  “The girls have been here.” Zach choked out the words.

  Lance whipped out a plastic bag and used it to pick up a glass paperweight. “There’s hair and blood on this. I think it was thrown at someone’s head.”

  Zach’s hands curled into fists. “I hope it wasn’t one of the girls.”

  “I doubt they’d have been here pouring themselves a shot of scotch. It was more likely one of them threw the paperweight at one of their captors. Bailey has a mean arm. She was an all-star softball player,” Lance said.

  Daniel called out from somewhere. “Hey, down here in the basement.”

  Lance put down the paperweight, and they both rushed out to find the basement steps. They were in the back of the house near the kitchen. The basement door stood open, and Zach plunged down the steps toward the light.

  “Back here,” Daniel called to their right.

  The basement had over eight feet of headroom, and it had been nicely finished with drywall and tile floors. Lance barely noticed the pool table and Ping-Pong table as he rushed to where Daniel stood in the doorway of a small room. Grayson crowded into the space that was filled with electronics and screens.

  Glass crunched under Zach’s shoes as he pushed in too. “What happened here?”

  Daniel stooped and surveyed the scene. “Looks like someone broke out a two-way mirror. I’ll bet it was one of our resourceful women.” He stepped through the door into the other room. “So they were probably being interrogated here while someone else watched. My money is on Harry listening back here. Then the girls were left alone, and one of them bashed out the window so they could escape.”

  Lance wanted to believe they’d gotten away, but it didn’t all add up. “What about the blood up
stairs? I would have guessed they would have left here and rushed outside.”

  Daniel shrugged. “I don’t know. Let’s go scout around outside and see if we find any vehicles or people to question. The rest of the team should be coming soon.”

  The men hurried upstairs and through the kitchen to the entry. The wind still whipped around as they stepped outside into the darkness. A couple of post lamps sent a bit of light into the swirling snow, but it was hard to see. Lance pulled a flashlight out of his pocket, and the other men did the same, but even with four flashlights, the darkness only retreated a few feet.

  Grayson knelt. “Looks like a few vehicles came through here recently. The tracks have started filling in with snow.”

  Lance gestured to the outbuilding. “Let’s see if there are any vehicles in the barn we can take to follow.”

  Tension strummed down Lance’s spine, and he wished the dawn would come so Zach could take them by plane. He waded through the thick snow to the barn and shoved open the door. “There are a couple of snow machines in here.”

  “One of them is mine,” Zach said. “I have to be there.”

  “We all do,” Grayson said.

  Bailey rubbed her freezing hands together. “Okay, we’ve got to get down the mountain to town and find help. We will probably need to make a run at getting out of this barn and through the drifts. Everyone back in the vehicle.”

  The sound of her own fake optimism made her want to throw up, but she couldn’t let the other women know how her knees trembled at the thought of maneuvering this big Suburban down the mountain in the snow. She’d seen no guardrails, and the slightest mistake could send them off the edge of the road and into disaster.

  Her gaze connected with Lily’s, and the old woman’s blue eyes were lucid and clear. “The judge is a very bad man. Olivia didn’t want me to tell the police what I saw.” She looked away and plucked at lint on her sleeve.

  Bailey touched her shoulder and prayed for the clouds to stay gone. “What did he do?”

  Lily looked back up. “He buried a man in the backyard. I think that’s why Olivia left him.”