Clint Wolf Series Boxed Set 3

by B J Bourg

  When we’d returned Michael and Faleena to the boat launch, Michael had agreed to take us to his grandfather’s camp. Once there, Lou and I had searched every inch of the place, but we hadn’t located a shred of evidence to indicate the teenagers were lying. Michael had provided verbal consent to search his house in Mechant Loup east, and we’d sent a team out there while we were at the camp. They turned up nothing.

  With no sign of Rose and no evidence that they were involved in her disappearance, we were forced to let Michael and Faleena go. Now, as the truck and boat disappeared in the thick dust from the shell road, so did my hopes of finding Rose alive.

  My phone rang and I picked it up without looking at the display screen. “This is Clint,” I said idly.

  “Hey, you,” called a cheerful voice, “how’s it going?”

  I groaned inwardly. It was Jennifer Duval. “It’s going.”

  “Aw, you sound sad. Is there anything I can do to cheer you up?”

  Yeah, I wanted to say, leave town.

  “No, but thanks.” I was trying to be polite.

  “I heard you were out in Central Chateau at some boat landing. I’ve wrapped things up at the house, so I can head that way and give you a hand. It’ll be like old times.”

  “We’re all done here. I’m on my way back to Mechant Loup. I’ve got a long night ahead of me.”

  “Well, everyone’s got to eat, so why don’t you let me buy you dinner? I drove by this cool-looking little joint earlier and I thought it would be fun to have a burger. You know, for old times’ sake.”

  “Look, I appreciate the work you’ve done on this case—I really do—but we’re not having dinner together, or anything else.”

  There was a long pause. When Jennifer spoke again, her tone had lost its cheerfulness. “Wow, it’s a shame your wife won’t even let you have lunch with another woman. I didn’t figure her for the jealous type, but I guess I was wrong about her. And I know you didn’t used to be such a push-over.”

  “Susan’s got no reason to be jealous—I’m all hers and she knows it. Also, I’m no push-over.” I sighed in frustration. I wanted to tell her to go to hell, but I felt as though I owed her for processing the Fitch home, so I tried to be more diplomatic. “You know everyone judges us on appearance, and I don’t want it to appear that something’s going on between us when there’s absolutely nothing.”

  “Speak for yourself, mister.” Before I could respond, Jennifer broke out laughing. “I’m kidding, but whatever. If you change your mind, I’ll be staying at my brother’s house in Mechant Loup.”

  I groaned inwardly. “You have a brother who lives in Mechant Loup?”

  “Yeah, he and his family moved here last summer from La Mort. Like I said, call if you change your mind.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Right…” She dragged out the word. “You can use me, abuse me, and then just throw me away—like old times. Same old Clint Wolf I used to know.”

  I wanted to respond to her last statement, but she didn’t give me a chance. The call ended and I was left standing there, my thoughts turning immediately back to the case at hand.

  I needed to find Rose, but I didn’t know where else to start looking. We’d already gotten with the media and, although I hadn’t had a chance to look at a newspaper or television, her photo should’ve been plastered all over the state. Susan told me earlier that several dozen townspeople had shown up at the Murdock home and she had put them to work scouring every inch of cane field and cow pasture in the area. As of an hour ago, when I’d last spoken with Susan, they hadn’t turned up so much as a hair fiber for the girl.

  Meanwhile, Melvin had gone to every resident along Old Blackbird Highway and obtained copies of all the surveillance footage he could find, but after spending some time going through the footage, he and Amy hadn’t developed any leads.

  I’d received a text message from Amy about fifteen minutes ago asking if I needed anything. When I told her I didn’t, she said she was heading home to get a little sleep, but that she would be back out in a few hours. It was only at that moment I realized I hadn’t slept since Wednesday night, but I wasn’t even tired.

  I scoped out some desolate cane field roads and searched some old tractor sheds on the drive back to Mechant Loup, but I found nothing. Dejected, I headed home to check on Achilles, my solid black German shepherd. Susan always said he could hear my vehicle when I turned down Paradise Place—long before he could see me—and he would let out this excited yelp.

  I didn’t see him when I pulled into the driveway and he wasn’t barking. I frowned, checked the back yard. He wasn’t there. I unlocked the door to the house and stepped into the kitchen. That’s when I saw him. He was stretched out on the sofa, sound asleep. I actually thought I could hear him snore.

  Susan had told him on more than one occasion that he wasn’t allowed on the sofa, and usually he listened. I guess he sensed we were too busy to pay attention and he was taking full advantage of it.

  I slammed the kitchen door and nearly choked on my tongue when Achilles flipped up into the air, startled. He lost his balance and crashed onto the floor, but righted himself in an instant. He then stood there staring at me, his tongue dangling and an expression that seemed to say, “It wasn’t me.”

  Still laughing, I walked over and rubbed his head. “I won’t tell Mom if you don’t,” I said idly, my mind still focused like a laser on the case. After checking his food and water bowls and making sure the dog door was open to give him access to the back yard, I told him goodbye and warned him not to potty in the house. I then headed back toward the Murdock home.

  About a mile before I reached my destination, I rounded a curve in the road and could see two large forty-by-forty tents—one open and one closed-in—taking up the entire front yard. As I drew closer, I recognized Susan standing on the front porch with Pauline Cain, who was the mayor of Mechant Loup. Mayor Cain had done a good job of keeping the media informed and at bay while Susan worked, and I could see a couple of news vans parked on the eastern shoulder of the road.

  Although it was dark, Susan’s curvy figure was outlined in the glow from the front door of the home. I smiled to myself. I would know her figure anywhere. As for Pauline, I knew it was her because my headlights reflected against the expensive jewelry she wore.

  I continued cruising by the house and saw that there were about ten people milling around under the open tent. Some of them stood over active fryers and boilers, while others unloaded chairs and set them up around the half dozen tables that were neatly arranged under the tent. I figured the volunteer searchers would be coming in soon, and they would need something to eat.

  I had to continue on for a quarter mile down the road before I found a spot to park. As I walked back toward the house, the aroma of jambalaya and fried shrimp greeted me, and it was then that I realized how hungry I was.

  “Hey, Clint,” called a voice—I immediately recognized it as Melvin—from the bayou side, “do you have a minute?”

  “Sure.” I waited for a four-by-four truck to rumble by and then crossed to where Melvin was sitting in his boat. He was wolfing down a plate of food. Gretchen was beside him, and Geronimo was stretched out on the hull of the boat at her feet. I nodded in Gretchen’s direction and then turned to face Melvin. “What’s up, buddy?”

  “Do you think we’ll find this girl anytime soon?” he asked. “We’ve had people dragging the bayou all day and volunteers have been searching the woods all afternoon, but there’s not a hint of her ever having been there. My guess is whoever snatched her kept driving, straight out of the parish. Hell, they could be in California by now.”

  Melvin was right. If she had been kidnapped and her captor had kept driving, they could be almost anywhere in the country by now.

  “Well, every hour we don’t find a body is another hour I feel a little more relieved,” I said. “At least that means there’s still hope we’ll find her alive.”

  “Either that, or we�
��re not looking in the right place.”

  I winced, but I couldn’t argue with him. I’d worked too many of these types of cases when I was a detective in the city, and I’d already handled more than my share of missing person cases in Mechant Loup. Thankfully, most of them ended well, but the ones that didn’t…well, they were just tragic.

  Melvin took another bite of his food. He chewed slowly, savoring the flavor, as though he thought it would be his last meal for a while. Once he’d swallowed and could talk again, he asked if I’d interviewed the three bus drivers who had run their routes yesterday morning.

  “Amy and I saw the buses drive by in the camera footage and we were going to try and identify them, but I got called back out on the water,” he explained. “Someone thought they saw a body floating in the bayou, but it turned out to only be a plastic bag filled with crawfish. Ever since the girl’s picture hit the news wire, I’ve gotten at least five bogus sightings on the water. Anyway, the disc with the footage is still on my desk at the—”

  “Wait, did you say three bus drivers? You saw three buses in the camera footage?”

  Melvin nodded, taking another bite of food and holding up three fingers. “Amy said she thought you might’ve already interviewed them, but I wanted to be sure.”

  “I only spoke to two bus drivers.”

  CHAPTER 20

  Earlier…

  112 Rooster Drive, Mechant Loup, Louisiana

  Amy Cooke pressed the garage door opener on the sun visor of her marked patrol cruiser and watched as the back of the Lexus came into view.

  “Nope, girl,” she said aloud, “it wasn’t a dream. He really did buy you that car.”

  Trevor must’ve heard the garage door open, because the door to the house burst open and he came barreling out, wearing only jeans and socks. “You’re back! It’s about time.”

  Amy angled the patrol cruiser as far to the right as she could. She wanted a lot of room to open her door.

  “Hurry up,” Trevor called from the other side of the Lexus. “I’ve been dying for you to get in the driver’s seat.”

  Amy’s heart began to pound in her chest. If she saw what she thought she saw in the car earlier, she wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight. “Why do you want me to get in the driver’s seat?”

  Trevor’s face was beaming. “Just get over here before I change my mind.”

  “About what?” Amy walked around the back of the Lexus, almost afraid of what she would see. What if I’m wrong? What if it’s not what I think? When she reached Trevor, he handed her a set of keys.

  “Go on, crank ’er up.”

  Amy’s fingers brushed against his as she took the keys and he squeezed her hand.

  “I love you, Amy.” He kissed her softly on the lips. “I love you more than anything.”

  Amy felt flushed. She slipped into the driver’s seat and placed the set of keys in the console. She pushed the start button with her index finger and the engine purred. She was about to look up at Trevor when she saw it. Sucking in a mouthful of air, she extended her hand toward the diamond ring that was taped to the instrument panel. It was modest, but beautiful.

  “Dear Lord, Trevor, it…it’s beautiful.” When Amy turned to look at him, he was down on one knee.

  “Amy, I love you more than I love myself—and that’s how I know you’re the person I want to spend the rest of my life with.”

  Amy felt herself melting. At Trevor’s instruction, she held out her hand so he could slip the ring on her finger. It was a perfect fit. After admiring the ring for a long moment, she fell forward into his arms.

  “Yes…yes!” she said, her voice muffled from pressing her cheek against his shoulder. “One hundred percent yes!”

  Trevor wrapped his arms around her and they held each other tight. When he pulled away, she was sure she saw his eyes glistening, but he hurried and brushed his hand across his face.

  “I thought I saw the ring when I was in the garage earlier.”

  “I was wondering about that. For a police officer, you’re not very observant.”

  “I guess you just did a great job of hiding it.” Amy held up her hand to admire the ring. “I love it.”

  “And I love you.”

  Amy ran her fingers across Trevor’s chest. In a sultry voice, she said, “Well, Captain Trevor, I have a few hours to kill, so you’d better do what I tell you to do—and without hesitation. You wouldn’t want me using my TASER on you.”

  A boyish grin played across Trevor’s face. “And what do you want me to do?”

  Amy stood and slipped between him and the driver’s door, then began backing toward the entrance to the utility room, unbuttoning her shirt as she moved. When her shirt was open, she reached back to unsnap her bra. “I want you to take me right here, in the garage.”

  Trevor glanced over his shoulder toward the street. “But the door is wide open.”

  Amy smiled as her bra hit the floor. “A little breeze never hurt anyone.”

  CHAPTER 21

  6:30 p.m.

  4923 Old Blackbird Highway, Mechant Loup, Louisiana

  35 hours missing…

  Susan and Pauline Cain had moved under the open tent by the time I’d walked away from Melvin, but Susan was still on the phone.

  “Yes,” she was saying to the person on the other end. “I’ll have one of my officers meet you in the open field by the middle school.” A brief pause. “Yes, it’s a football field. The school is shaped like an ‘L’. I’ll have my officer turn the stadium lights on so it’ll be easy to see from the air. His name is Baylor Rice.” Another pause, then she repeated Baylor’s name. “Great, I appreciate the help.”

  “She’s got a helicopter coming from Magnolia Parish,” Pauline whispered. “They’re going to help search for Rose Murdock. Meanwhile, why don’t you get some food? There’s lots of it.” She pointed to a stack of paper plates on a nearby table. “I’ll even fix one for you, if you like.”

  “Thank you, but I’ll do it,” I said. “I’m sure you’ve got better things to do than serve your employees.”

  She shrugged. “I’ve been serving people most of the evening. One more plate won’t kill me.”

  I waved her off and set about fixing a plate. I heard Susan end the call with the pilot and then she got Baylor Rice on the line. When she ended that call, she met me near the pot of jambalaya.

  “Pauline said you’ve got a helicopter en route.” I shoveled a spoonful of fried shrimp onto a pile of white rice, and my plate bent under the weight of the food. “When will they be here?”

  “Within the hour. They’ve got forward-looking infrared cameras,” Susan said. “If Rose is out there, they’ll find her.”

  I nodded, glanced up at Susan. There was a Coleman lantern hanging from each corner of the tent, and there was enough of a glow from the flickering light to see the troubled expression on her face. I put my paper plate down and stepped closer.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  Susan chewed on her lower lip, glanced over her shoulder. A few volunteers were coming in from the field behind the Murdock home, and more would be driving up from Francis Fitch’s property. They would soon be crowding the area in search of food.

  “It can wait.”

  “No, why don’t you follow me to my Tahoe—”

  “I said it can wait.” Her voice was terse. “I’ve got stuff to do.”

  I hesitated, thought about pressing the issue, but her jaw was set. “Okay, then. I have to view some surveillance footage and then try to locate another bus driver.”

  “I thought you already interviewed the bus drivers.”

  “Apparently, three buses drove by here yesterday morning. I only interviewed two drivers. I need to find the third one and see if he or she saw anything.”

  “Okay, then, I’ll see you around. I guess we’re not going home until this thing is over.”

  I stood there with my food in my hand, watching Susan trudge off and wishing we could talk.
Something was eating at her, and I was positive it had to do with Jennifer Duval. I found myself cursing Jennifer under my breath—or at least I thought it was under my breath.

  “Who pissed in your coffee?” asked Pauline, who had walked up and was standing there with her arms crossed in front of her chest. Her jet-black hair danced in the breeze that was blowing in from the north. According to a local meteorologist, the temperature was going to start falling around midnight, and I could already feel a change in the air.

  “It’s nothing.” I took a bite of my food and chomped on it angrily as I walked off, heading for my Tahoe. I needed to view that surveillance footage right away. At least it might help get my mind off of what was wrong with Susan—

  “Detective Wolf!”

  I stopped, spun around. Laura Murdock, who was wrapped in a wool cape, rushed across the yard.

  “Mrs. Murdock.” I nodded my head. “How are you holding up?”

  She didn’t stop until she was right on top of me. She grabbed the front of my shirt. Her face was pale and gaunt. Her hair looked greasy. My insides ached for her.

  “Did you find her?” I could feel her warm breath on my face and the smell of fresh coffee was strong. “Do you know anything at all?”

  “Ma’am, we won’t stop until we find her—that I can promise you.” I frowned. “But at the moment, we’ve got nothing concrete. I’m fixing to run down another lead. With luck, this will—”

  “It’s her boyfriend.”

  I clamped my mouth shut. “Excuse me?”

  “The one you refused to tell me about.” She pulled the cape tighter as a gust of cold air hammered us. “Seth told me everything. I know it’s him. I know it’s that Michael kid. And I know the only reason you didn’t tell me was because you were worried I might go find him myself. But now that I know, you need to tell me what’s going on with him. Did you find him yet?”