“It is,” Oliver agreed.
And Gideon was drawing ever closer while they were still in the dark.
15
THE LEAVES BURST FORTH WITH GREEN ABANDON FROM the trees that lined Kitchigami Street. Bree sipped the mocha Kade had brought her from the coffee shop. The children walked with them—Davy clinging to her hand and Keri skipping along beside Kade. She found herself looking at every stranger they passed. Was it the man with the hawkish nose or the one who smiled at the children?
They rounded the corner onto Houghton Street and started toward Anu’s shop. Samson kept running ahead, then stopping to look back as if to say, “Are you coming?” Four squad cars were parked in front of the sheriff’s office and jail. Deputies entered and exited the office with an undercurrent of excitement obvious in their quick movements and intent expressions.
“What’s going on?” Kade murmured in her ear.
One of the deputies glanced toward them and frowned. “Should I take the kids and get out of here?” Bree asked.
“I think it’s okay,” Kade said.
A deputy motioned to them, and they quickened their pace to join him on the steps to the jail. “Deputy Montgomery needs to talk to you,” he said. About twenty-five, the rookie wore his cockiness like a suit he wasn’t sure quite fit.
Kade cast a quick glance toward Bree. “I’ll get my wife settled, then stop back.”
The deputy took Kade by the arm. “He wants to see you now.”
Kade gave an angry start at the man’s insistence, and Samson growled and took a step toward the deputy. Bree put her hand on the dog’s head. “It’s okay,” she said. “We’ll just come with you.”
Kade’s frown didn’t leave, but he nodded. A sense of unease settled around Bree’s middle as Kade pulled his arm from the deputy’s grasp and opened the door for her and the children. She almost thought she saw pity on the deputy’s face.
Conversation stopped when they stepped inside. Deputy Montgomery’s face creased in a smile that seemed a little too hearty. “Kade, thanks for coming by.” His gaze flickered to Bree. “You’re free to go visit with Anu or whatever you want, Bree.”
“What’s going on?” Bree asked. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“No, no, nothing like that.” Montgomery’s eyes darted around the room. “If you’ll come back to my office, I’m sure we can get this cleared up.”
Kade’s eyes narrowed. “Get what cleared up?”
The other deputies shuffled their feet and looked at the floor. Bree took each of the children by the hand and led them toward the heavyset deputy. “Marty, would you mind keeping an eye on the kids?” His daughter went to school with Davy.
“Aw, Bree, I’m not a nursemaid,” he muttered.
He hadn’t been a deputy long enough to summon the authority another officer might have mustered. Bree almost felt sorry for railroading him. “I’ll just be a minute. I have a feeling this isn’t for little ears.” She knew she was right when he looked away and managed to nod. “Stay. Watch Davy,” she told her dog when he started to follow her.
She walked with Kade and Montgomery down the hallway lined with pictures of past sheriffs and deputies. The deputy led them into the last office. “This is Mason’s office,” she said.
Montgomery’s cheeks darkened to red. “I’m filling in for him, so I thought I should be where I could access his files.”
Bree wondered if she should warn Mason that Montgomery was gunning for his job. Her brother-in-law probably knew it though. He was pretty savvy about people. She stepped into the office and looked around. Mason usually kept the place as neat as a windswept beach, but today it looked like a nor’easter had come calling. Manila folders lay heaped on the desk, and she counted four half-full coffee cups.
Kade stood with his arms folded as Montgomery shuffled around the desk and dropped into the chair. Montgomery moved some papers. “Have a seat.”
“I’ll stand. We can’t leave the kids for long,” Kade said.
“What’s this all about, Doug?” Bree’s flight-or-fight response was surging like a Superior storm.
The man’s fingers tightened on his papers before he finally looked up toward Kade. “We found a shovel, Kade. The handle was engraved with your name.”
The words were so soft that they didn’t register at first with Bree. Kade’s shovel? So what?
“Near the body,” Doug continued. “There was a clump of dirt stuck to the metal. A piece of the rotted material from the woman’s blouse was in the dirt.” He cleared his throat. “I’m going to ask you not to leave town until we get this cleared up.”
Bree took a step toward the deputy. “You can’t be serious. Anyone could have used that shovel.”
Montgomery kept his gaze on Kade. “There are no other prints on the shovel except yours, Kade. Can you explain it?”
Kade spread his hands, palms up. “I use the shovel all the time to move plants or cover waste in the park. I don’t know who the woman is or how she got there. I certainly didn’t put her there.”
Doug finally glanced at Bree. “How did you happen to find the body, Bree? It seems a little suspicious now that we know Kade’s shovel may have been used.”
“You know the dogs found it,” she said. “It was a fluke.”
“How did you happen to pick that geocache to go after?”
How had she picked it? She and Kade had been looking through the entries, and he had pointed it out. No way could she tell Doug that bit of information. He would be sure to misunderstand it. “It was close to where we were going to be training the dogs.”
“That’s it?”
Bree nodded. “It’s been a fun hobby until now. We’ve always picked our sites at random.”
Montgomery still didn’t look convinced.
Kade took Bree’s hand. “I’m not planning on going anywhere. But you’re wasting time focusing on me, Doug. The real killer is targeting Eve. She got a threatening phone call. The killer told her not to leave town or he would hurt Keri. We’d like some protection assigned to the house.”
Doug frowned. “Did you hear this conversation?” he asked Bree.
“No, Eve told me about it. She was packing up to leave town when he called. She thinks he might really hurt Keri if she leaves. You’ve got to find him before he hurts Eve or one of the children.”
Doug didn’t look at Kade, but Bree could almost sense the direction of his focus. “It’s not Kade,” she said, raising her voice. “Are you going to give us some protection or not?”
“How well do you know Eve?”
“Very well. She’s lived with us for three months. You get to know someone pretty well when you live with them. She’s not making this up! Ask her ex-husband—he was there when the guy called her. Where is he, anyway? Isn’t he in charge of the investigation? He wouldn’t let you target Kade.”
“Captain Andreakos has been relieved of duty.” A smile started on Montgomery’s lips but vanished before it could reach its full wattage.
Kade and Bree exchanged glances. Bree could see the warning on Kade’s face. They’d have to figure out what was going on without giving the deputy the satisfaction of seeing their shock.
THE SUN STILL SHONE BRIGHTLY WHEN EVE EXITED THE COFFEE shop and glanced at her watch. A little after five. She stopped at a pay phone and called Bree’s cell phone. Bree’s voice was a little tense, but she assured Eve that Keri was all right.
She ended the call with Bree and started to walk away. She still hadn’t heard from Nick. His suspension would have upset him. That was probably what had caused him to miss the attorney appointment. She dug out his cell phone number and punched it in, then listened to the phone ring before being dumped into voice mail. Even listening to the deep tones of his greeting soaked into her soul like rain into soil at the end of a drought.
How could she love another man when Nick made her feel like this? What kind of woman was she that she could sleep with a man she didn’t love? She had no doub
t she didn’t love Will and never had.
A voice called her name, and she turned to look at a black Cadillac that pulled to the curb.
The passenger door flew open, and a short, buxom brunette in her fifties hurried from the car. “Eve!”
Eve found herself enveloped in a hug that felt like coming home. The woman’s skin lotion, a concoction of jasmine and other essences, filled her senses. Her arms went around the woman and clung, even though she had no idea whom she held on to.
When the woman finally pulled away, her eyes were misty. “I’ve missed you, koukla.”
Eve didn’t trust herself to speak yet. The unconditional love she felt coming off this woman in waves was like balm. “Who—who are you?”
“I’m Rhea. Nick’s mother. You poor child.” Rhea hugged her again. “You remember nothing?”
Eve shook her head. “Nothing.” For a minute, Eve had hoped this was her own mother. Why hadn’t she heard from her mom? Studying the other woman’s face, she wondered now how she could have missed the resemblance. Nick had Rhea’s mouth.
Rhea’s pity disappeared. She grasped Eve’s shoulders and gave her a shaking. “Where is my granddaughter? Why didn’t you seek to find out who you were? I don’t understand.” She turned to her husband as he exited the car. “Tell her, Cyril.”
“Leave her alone, Rhea. Can’t you tell she’s suffered?” Cyril grabbed her up and hugged her. “But Rhea is right for a change. You could have come to us.”
As if she even knew who they were at that point? Cyril was a big man, and Eve could see her ex-husband would look just like him in thirty years. Hadn’t Nick said his dad was a cop too?
Eve extricated herself from his arms. “I couldn’t,” she said. “I didn’t know where you lived. I have amnesia. I can’t even remember where our house is.”
Cyril studied her face. “You really don’t remember anything?”
She shook her head.
He shook his head and took her hand. “Spotty cell coverage all the way up here. Where is Keri?”
“She’s with my friend Bree. I’ll take you to her.”
They got back into the car, and Eve slid into the backseat.
Rhea kept up a steady patter of conversation as Eve directed them through town to the lighthouse. Cyril parked the car in the driveway, and Rhea and Cyril spilled out and hurried to the door.
Noting their eagerness to see Keri, Eve wanted to run. The past was here in the present, and she had no idea how to meet the challenges. She went slowly up the steps and entered the house.
Keri was in Rhea’s arms as the older woman talked with Bree. Cyril and Kade stood talking in low voices. Having Cyril here made her feel safe. Maybe it was his resemblance to Nick.
She went to stand beside him, and he put his arm around her and pulled her against his bulk. “You need a new sweater,” she said, wrinkling her nose at the pilled fabric.
“Hey, it’s a relic. Just like me.”
It felt natural to return his hug before stepping away. “What’s going on with Nick’s suspension?”
“Oh, you’ve heard?” Kade asked.
“Oliver told me. He’s Nick’s forensic sculptor friend.” She told the men about Oliver’s fear that the skull’s identification was being mishandled. “Can you fix this for Nick, Cyril?”
“I’ve tried. Someone higher up is ticked and wants to see it go through channels.”
“What is Nick accused of?” Kade asked.
“Unnecessary force.” Cyril’s frown pinched his mouth. “He was investigating a survivalist group, thought Gideon might be part of it. They had a compound outside Indian River. He found a woman hiker they’d kidnapped up near Stoney Creek. There was a scuffle getting her out of there, and the leader, Moses Bechtol, was killed.”
“Who’s this Bechtol?” Kade wanted to know.
“Nick and Cyril thought he might be Gideon,” Rhea said. “But Gideon is still around.”
“The shootout turned into a firestorm,” Cyril said. “Five of the group’s leaders ended up dead or dying. The guy who took over cried foul and filed charges against Nick.”
“Won’t the kidnapped woman testify?” Eve asked.
“That’s where it gets sticky,” Cyril said, his mouth pressing to a grim line. “She sides with the group. She’s a tree hugger—back to nature and all that. My take is she felt sorry for the kids.”
Eve winced. “Kids?”
“A dozen or so saw the whole thing. Some lost their fathers.”
“Are they all okay?”
Cyril’s eyebrows arched. “You know how Nick is about kids. You honestly think he’d put them in danger?”
She knew how he was about Keri, but that was all. “So can you get the woman to tell the truth?”
“No dice. She says there were three fatherless kids, and someone had to pay.”
“What did she think Nick should have done? Let them cart her off to somewhere else?” Kade put in.
“Exactly what I asked her.” Cyril snorted. “She said Nick was just trigger-happy.”
“So what is Nick facing?” Eve wanted to know.
“I think he’ll be cleared. Eventually. When our boys went through the compound, they took out enough weapons and ammo to keep al-Qaeda stocked for a year. ATF is having a field day trying to figure out how they got the firepower. And Nick’s version of how events went down is borne out by a boatload of expended shells. They were bent on taking him out.”
Eve shuddered and clutched herself. The thought of Nick being killed hurt her.
16
ONCE HE’D COME TO THE UNWELCOME REALIZATION THAT his hands were tied on the investigation, Nick jogged to the lawyer’s office but missed Eve. When he tried to call her at the house, he was dumped into Bree’s voice mail, so he spent the long day watching Jason cast the skull. It came out a little lopsided, and Nick wondered how this guy had even gotten the job.
If he dared leave Jason alone with the skull, he would have walked around town looking for Eve.
Nick glanced out of the van but saw no one he recognized among the people who had gathered at the sight of the news crew. He would have welcomed a distraction from Jason’s ineptitude. Sighing, he cast his gaze back on the bust.
Jason wiped wet plaster from his hands. “Once this is hardened, I can start putting on clay. Maybe tomorrow.”
Tomorrow. No wonder the bust looked odd. While Nick sometimes got impatient with Oliver’s meticulous attention to detail, it was necessary. Though he was tempted to say something, Nick held his tongue and glanced at the reporters.
The pair looked as if they’d been in a food fight. Bits of plaster clung to their clothing and hair. A streak of white stretched across the woman’s left cheek. But her eyes shone, and she still used her hands to punctuate her words. Nick thought she would have kissed Jason if she thought she could get away with it.
“This is so exciting,” she gushed. “You’ll be famous, Jason.” She looked to the photographer. “Did you get enough pictures?”
“I took ten rolls,” the photographer said, his shoulders drooping and fatigue pulling at his lips.
“Perfect. When can I see them?”
He looked at his watch. “It’s nearly six. I can develop them tomorrow.”
“Tonight,” she said in a hard voice.
He must have been used to her demands, because he just nodded and stumbled out the back door of the van.
Nick wondered how hyped she’d be about this process when it failed to bring an identification. Once Jason made the model, he could get the skull to Oliver. Oliver would redo it the right way.
But how long would it take before Jason let loose of it? Nick sighed and ran his hand around the neck band of his T-shirt. His stomach made a low growl, and he realized he hadn’t eaten since the beef pasty around ten. He glanced at Jason, who stood talking with the female reporter. Ogling was more like it. Nick rolled his eyes and hopped out of the van.
Music rolled in bright waves from som
ewhere, maybe a nearby park. The music was an interesting blend of folk and string band. Must be White Water. He’d heard they were hitting town. He walked to his SUV, jabbed in the key, and gunned it for the lighthouse. He felt faintly miffed that Eve hadn’t called him all day. Didn’t she realize he was as concerned as she was and would want to know what the attorney said? And he would have thought she’d be at least a little curious about what had caused him to miss the appointment.
The longer he thought about it, the madder he got. The vehicle barely hit the high spots in the road to the lighthouse. When he drew nearer, he realized they had company. He winced when he saw his mom’s big Cadillac in front.
He took the steps to the porch two at a time. Bree and Kade had told him to come right in without knocking. He pushed open the door and stepped into the foyer. Samson’s nails clicked on the wood floor, and the dog pushed his wet nose into Nick’s hand. “Hey, boy, where is everyone?” The dog whined as if he sensed Nick’s state of mind.
The kitten ran to him too. She purred and tried to climb his pant leg. He gave the animals a final pat, then went down the hall toward the low murmur of voices.
His parents were in the living room with Bree, Kade, and Eve. “I didn’t know you were coming,” he told his mother.
“We thought we’d surprise you.” His mom hugged him. “We can only stay a couple of days. I wanted to see Eve.”
He looked around, eager for a glimpse of his daughter. “Where are Keri and Davy?” he asked.
“In Davy’s room. He’s trying to teach her to play Candy Land,” Bree said. “You look tired.”
“I’m bushed. That idiot from Marquette is going to ruin this case.”
His dad took on a bulldog stance. “Let me take it over until you get the problems sorted out. You need to get to Detroit and handle the inquiry.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Nick said. “Not until we catch that monster.”
“You have to go,” his mother said. She touched his arm. “You’re tense, Son.”
“I’m fine, Mama.” He managed to smile to show her. “But no one is making me leave when Eve and Keri need me.” Why wouldn’t Eve look at him? Was the news about Keri that bad? “Eve? What did the lawyer say?”