Patti tugged out of Eve’s grip. “I’m her mother. She belongs with me.”
“She doesn’t know you.”
“I never lied to her. You did.”
“You abandoned her!” Nick said. “Why are you so set to get her back all of a sudden?”
“Her father wants to meet her.”
Eve wet her lips. “Who is it, Patti? Is he a decent man?”
“I think so.”
“Why didn’t he stand behind you when you were pregnant?” Nick demanded.
“He was married then. His wife couldn’t have kids, and he wanted them, so they divorced. If I can get custody of Keri, he’ll marry me.”
“Oh, he sounds like a real winner.” Nick thrust his hands in his pockets.
“Don’t do this, Patti,” Eve begged. “Please think about it.”
Patti’s eyes were as hard as ice chips. “He loves kids. And he wants Keri. I’m going to make sure he gets her.”
“So it’s not that you care about her,” Nick said. “You just want to use her as bait to hook some guy who was too much of a good-time Charlie to stick with his wife. He’s not getting our baby.”
Our baby. Eve was beginning to like the way he wrapped them both in his protection.
Patti’s mouth worked, but she said nothing before stomping off. Eve wished she could call her sister back, heal the wounds between them. Instead, she tucked the papers in her purse. “Tell me she won’t win, Nick.”
“She won’t.” His gaze held hers.
“Thank you.” Little by little he was creeping back into her heart, and she didn’t know how to stop him. “Want to join us for coffee?”
His smile emerged. “Sure. I’m supposed to meet someone here later anyway.”
She almost warned him not to get his hopes up, but she found that her own kept resurrecting as well. Who was she to tell him not to do something she found impossible to resist?
EVE AND BREE LEFT WITH THE CHILDREN WHEN MONTGOMERY asked for Bree’s help, and the rest of the crowd thinned out at the coffee shop. Nick kept the outside table and watched the people walk by. Zack should be along with Judd any minute.
He shouldn’t be wasting his time. A better use of these minutes would be combing the woods for the missing woman. He sipped his strong black coffee. The nisu bread was smelling better and better.
He was about to go get a snack when he saw Zack’s black hat. The other man spotted his wave and came toward him with Judd in tow. “What can I get for you?” Nick asked when they reached the table.
“Nothing for me,” Zack said. “I don’t drink caffeine.”
“How about you?” Nick asked Judd. It was an excuse to look the guy over better. The casual clothes fit him, but the man looked out of place in the jeans and plaid shirt. He’d be more comfortable in a suit and tie.
Judd nodded. “Thanks, but I limit my coffee to the morning.”
“Suit yourself. Have a seat.” Nick dropped into the green metal chair again. He waited until the other men were seated. “We’ve seen each other several times now, Judd, and I’ve never asked what you do.”
“I’m a physician’s assistant.”
Nick would have guessed he was a lawyer or something. “Did Zack tell you about the serial killer I’ve been tracking?”
“A bit.” Judd looked bored.
“You choose which caches your group goes after, is that right?”
“Yes, of course. They trust my judgment.”
“What about the day we went out by the bay? The day we found the woman whose hands were cut off.”
“I chose those caches.”
“What were your criteria?”
“Just one: I wanted to go out to the bay that day. It was a nice day.”
“That was all?”
Judd looked up with an angry flash in his eyes. His cheeks surged with color. “You suspect me, is that it? Typical pig,” he snarled.
The transformation from confident professional to infuriated man made Nick rear back in his chair. “Whoa, I’m not accusing you of anything.”
“No? It sure sounded like you were.”
“We know Gideon has some ties to the geocaching sport. I’m just trying to get a feel for how it all works. You’ve been present at the discovery of two bodies now. Seems strange, don’t you think?”
Judd set his chin. “No.”
“Do you have much contact with others who play?”
“Of course. It’s a small community, so to speak. I’ve been to many events.”
“Ever been up here?”
“Sure. Many times.”
“Is the sport popular up here?”
“It’s popular everywhere.” Judd stood. “I really need to get going. I’m meeting a friend for dinner.” He glanced at Zack. “Coming?”
Zack offered Nick a glance of apology as the two shook hands in parting, but he followed Judd. Nick watched them leave and wondered how he might find out some more information about Judd. That flash of temper just might have been telling.
18
THE DOGS STRAINED AT THE LEASHES. ANOTHER TWENTY people thronged the small sidewalk where the woman’s shoe had been found. Bree kept a tight hold on Samson as the handlers listened to the instructions.
Montgomery had them lined up. “You’ve all got walkie-talkies. Call in your position if you find anything. Don’t approach the site. We don’t want the evidence contaminated.”
“He’s sure we’re going to find a body and not a survivor,” Bree whispered to Naomi.
Naomi took a firmer grip on Charley’s leash. “Heel, Charley!” The dog sat back on his haunches.
Deputy Montgomery dismissed the line searchers and went to join the dog teams. “I want you to move fast on this, Bree.”
“As long as he didn’t put her in a car, we’ve got a good shot,” Bree said. “Are you coming with us?”
He shook his head. “I’ll stay at search headquarters, eh? Call me when you find something.”
Bree nodded. “Let’s go,” she told the other searchers. Naomi followed her. Bree had trained ten other dog teams, but none of them were available today. This victim’s chances rested on Bree’s and Naomi’s shoulders.
She opened the paper sack containing the woman’s shoe and let the dogs sniff. “Search, Samson,” she said.
His intelligent eyes turned toward the woods, and he strained at the leash anew. Bree unclipped it, and Samson sprang into the underbrush. She ran after him. His tail swished in the air, and she knew he had the scent. The trail led deep into the forest, past stands of white birch and oak trees. Charley barked as he ran in the same direction and caught up with Samson.
Samson leaped over a fallen tree and splashed through a creek. On the opposite side, he stopped. His legs stiffened. His tail came down. While it was exactly what Bree expected, she slowed and hung her head. Dead. Hannah was dead. The dogs had stopped by an old outhouse. The remains of a cabin sat by the stream, a few rotting rafters supported by crumbling walls.
The dogs were milling around outside the outhouse. “I’d better check it out before I call Montgomery,” Bree said. She approached the doorway. The door itself had long since been torn off its hinges.
The body lay just inside the door. Bree stepped away but not so fast she missed seeing the partial peanut butter sandwich on the woman’s chest. Or the fact that she had no face. Her feet, severed just above the ankles, were nowhere to be seen.
“She’s in there?” Naomi asked.
Bree nodded. She leaned her forehead against a tree and waited for the shakes to pass. No matter how often this happened, she never got used to it.
“Want me to call the deputy?” Naomi asked.
“I’ll do it.” Bree settled on a fallen tree and dialed the jail. “I found her,” she said. She read him the GPS coordinates. When she hung up, she called Kade at the park headquarters. “Can you check the geocaching Web site? See if there’s anything new.”
“Sure, hang on.”
She li
stened to his steps move to his computer. “We found her, Kade.”
“Oh, baby, I’m sorry. Dead, I assume from your voice?”
“Very. He didn’t bury her though.” She told him about finding the body’s location and listened to the tapping of the computer keys over the phone line.
“Hang on a sec.” His keyboard made a few more clicks before silence fell between them for a few seconds. “Nothing here,” he said. “Maybe he didn’t want it found yet. You might have messed up his plans.”
“I’d like to mess up more than his plans,” she said. “Thanks, honey.”
“You okay?”
“I will be. See you tonight.” She clicked off the phone. The brush rustled, and Bree turned to look. They probably shouldn’t have come out here without any protection, though most people would hesitate to approach with two dogs guarding them.
Will Donaldson stepped from behind a tree. Two other men with rifles flanked him. One man had a deer over his shoulder—a doe to boot. Will put his hand out to stop their progress when he saw the women.
He looked so different from the other members of Job’s Children. Bree had to wonder why he was drawn to the group. His hair was spiked and styled, and his jeans were pressed. He could have stepped out of an Esquire magazine, yet here he was in the woods with hunters.
Bree gave a pointed stare at the guns and deer. “Hunting season doesn’t start until November.” Will’s smile struck her as ingratiating and smug. When he didn’t answer, she nodded at the other men. “I’m Bree Matthews. My husband is a park ranger. None of you should be carrying weapons. And that deer is illegal.”
“Bree,” Naomi murmured. “We’re a little outnumbered here.”
Will laughed and spread out his hands. “Hey, back off, Mrs. Matthews. We found the deer.”
“And I suppose someone else shot it?” She pointed at the gaping hole in the animal’s side, an obvious gunshot wound.
“We heard a shot and came running,” the man on Will’s right said. Bulky and balding, he wore a T-shirt that read “Live Off the Land.”
“Then you should have called the park department,” Bree said. “I’m afraid I’ll have to seize the deer and call this in.”
“I don’t think so,” the man said. “We found it fair and square.” The three men turned and plunged back into the thick brush.
Bree started to go after them, but Naomi grabbed her arm.
“Don’t be stupid,” Naomi said. “They have guns. We can tell Kade about it. It’s not like they can get very far. We both identified them anyway.”
“I hate poachers,” Bree said.
“I hate getting shot more,” Naomi pointed out. “I think we’ve got enough trouble right here without asking for more.”
Bree nodded as her cell phone rang. She pulled it out and saw Kade’s number. “Hey, I just found a poacher,” she said.
“And the GPS coordinates just popped up,” he said. “She’s one of Gideon’s.”
THE SUMMER DAY COULDN’T BE PRETTIER, BUT NICK WAS IN NO mood to enjoy it. Not with the investigation hanging over his head. The last thing he wanted to do today was answer questions from IA.
He popped a Rolaids into his mouth, then got out of his SUV and approached the jail. The village looked quiet and peaceful, too, a chimera that hid the darkness swirling around their heads.
He stepped into the office and saw Montgomery sitting at the desk. “Is IA here yet?” Nick asked him.
“Yeah, Campbell called. He was on the outskirts of town and wanted directions to the jail.”
“That’s probably him parking.” Nick nodded toward the red car that rolled to a stop at the curb. “Where can we meet?”
“The deputy said to use his office. They found the missing woman with the search dogs. Same MO. Missing face too. This time the feet were cut off.”
He winced. The door opened, and the man who came through the doorway had to stoop to enter. “What are you, six-ten?” Nick blurted.
The man glowered and ignored the question. “Nick Andreakos?” he asked. “I’m Captain Grant Campbell. Is there somewhere we can talk?”
“Right this way.” So no time for niceties. The guy wanted to get right to business, which was fine with Nick. The sooner this thing was laid to rest, the better.
He pointed to the two chairs by the desk, but Campbell went around and sat in the chair behind the desk. A little psychological warfare, but Nick knew where he stood. This guy couldn’t intimidate him.
Nick settled into the chair and leaned back, striving for a relaxed pose. Campbell narrowed his eyes, and Nick had to choke back a grin. He’d played this game too many times himself.
“So fire away,” Nick said. “I’ve got a serial killer to catch. The sooner we get this settled, the faster I get him off the streets.”
“You seem very flippant about such serious charges.” Campbell opened the file he’d laid on the desk. “Excessive force, trespassing, even manslaughter has been mentioned.”
Nick’s smile faded. “You know that’s a boatload of crap. What was I supposed to do? Let Bechtol haul that woman off where we’d never find her?”
“These are serious charges, Captain. I have to investigate them.”
“What do the Alpena officers say? You’ve surely questioned them as well.”
Campbell looked down. “Well, yes, I did. They say Mr. Bechtol and his compound fired first, which is exactly what I would have expected them to say. They aren’t going to implicate you and themselves willingly. I need proof.”
“What more proof do you need? You’ve got all the ammo recovered from the compound, thousands of bullet casings on the ground, the testimony of the other officers. I don’t see what more I can give you.”
Nick tried to think of any personal reasons Campbell could have for coming after him but couldn’t think of a thing. As far as he knew, they’d never met. Maybe his dad would have an idea.
“The woman you rescued has corroborated these charges. Don’t you think she would have been grateful for the rescue if it were done properly?” Campbell asked.
“I’d like to talk to her myself,” Nick said. “Have you had a therapist talk to her? I think she was beginning to bond to her captors. It happens. She was with them for several weeks.”
“Not to a woman like her. She’s a therapist herself and sees no need to speak to anyone.”
“I think we should insist on it.” Nick wanted to stand and pace, but he couldn’t give Campbell the satisfaction of watching his agitation. Acid churned in his belly, and he longed for another antacid.
Campbell flipped the folder shut. “The real issue is that you tend to use force way too often, Captain. I can’t believe I’m the only one who has questioned how often you pull your gun.”
“I challenge you to come up with a single time I’ve used force when something else would have worked,” Nick said. “I didn’t get to my position by letting the bad guy get away. Or by being brutal. I work smart. I’m not bragging—you can read that in my file.”
“So you say.” Campbell stood. “I’ll talk to my supervisor about your answers, but until then you’re still on suspension.”
“I need to find the man who’s after my wife!” Nick jumped to his feet and balled his fists.
“Your ex-wife, Captain.” Campbell brushed past Nick and went down the hallway. “You neglected to mention that when we first spoke.”
19
EVEN AFTER TWO DAYS, SAMSON WAS STILL UPSET FROM HIS discovery of Hannah, so Eve and Bree played hide-and-seek with him and the children along the beach before supper. The spray of cold water from Superior cooled Eve’s hot face. It felt good to be doing something. Just waiting for Gideon to strike next kept her on edge.
“The initial hearing is tomorrow,” Eve told Bree. She sat on a rock and dug her toes into the cool sand. Davy and Keri screamed with excitement as a wave sloshed around their ankles. They ran through the spray, then back to the partially completed sand castle. Samson barked and ran
around them. When the cold water hit him, he yelped and ran back to Bree.
Eve laughed and hauled the cold, wet dog onto her lap. He promptly nestled against her and fell asleep.
“It’s going to be okay.” Bree sat on the sand.
“Ronja thinks so too. She found a rap sheet on Patti. Problem is, I’m not so sure I want to hurt my own sister in court. I left a message at the hotel asking for her to come here to talk to me.”
“Has she called?”
“No.” Eve would like to believe Patti never got the message, but she knew better.
“Are you remembering anything new at all? Won’t that be crucial for your case in court?” Bree voiced Eve’s own fears.
“I sometimes get a brief flash of emotion that feels like I’m remembering something. Then it’s gone.”
Bree didn’t seem to be listening. Eve turned to see what had caught her friend’s attention and saw Nick’s broad-shouldered figure at the top of the cliff. His head turned toward them and he waved, then started down the rock steps that led to the water.
Eve shoved the dog off her lap, tucked her windblown hair behind her ears, and stood. From the grim slant of his mouth, she assumed his appointment with IA hadn’t gone well.
Keri ran to him, and he scooped her up, wet sand and all, then put her back down to play and continued on his course to Eve. “I hear you found her,” he said to Bree. “You doing okay?”
Bree nodded. “It’s never easy.”
“How did it go?” Eve asked.
Nick made a face. “Not great. I’m still off the case for now.” His cell phone rang, and he answered it. “Hey, Dad, what do you have?” He listened in silence and moved away. “The next one would have the tongue missing again.” His voice was softer as though he didn’t want her to hear. “The last one might be the tongue too. Or hands maybe.”
Eve studied his back. It sounded like he knew what Gideon was looking for. Why hadn’t he told her?
Nick closed his phone and turned back around.
Eve examined his face, the way he wasn’t looking at her, the tight line of his lips. “You know something.” Funny how she could read him and not even realize she was remembering how to do it.