“There's…no…time…” Sassy said, looking up at him. The color was rapidly draining from her face and the pupils of her pale blue eyes were beginning to dilate.
“Doug,” Sassy said, trying to reach her hand to him, but only managing to move her index finger slightly off the ground. “Adam was…ru…he was helping run…drugs…”
She struggled to keep her eyes open.
“In the coffee beans…he was picking them up in Canada.”
Sassy coughed, choking on the blood that was trickling from her mouth.
“He…he pretended to be a missionary… he got the goods shipped to remote places in Canada…post offices on the Alcan. He told everyone that the coffee was for villagers to sell in order to raise money for a new church… near the border between the Yukon and Alaska. He even showed me the priest clothes he wore to do it in once…no one…no one guessed he was a fake.”
Grimacing in pain, she rested for a couple of minutes before resuming her story.
“Several truckers were in on it with him. They all carried fake log books on their trucks to make it look legit…like they were really picking up orders for A.C.’s—he called himself Reverend Carlson—church fund. He told them he had a bush camp about seventy-five miles away… and that he had a plane…”
Sassy stopped to spit out more blood before continuing.
“Adam told me he signed for the shipment using his fake missionary's I.D. Whichever trucker he was using would take off with the packages, and Adam would meet him up the road a few hours later. He said he would pull out the coke from the bags and load it onto a different truck along with building supplies that they would take to a barge going up the Yukon River to the fake church. Then the coffee got sent to the villages to fill real orders from Steve and Dan's regular customers—only the bags would be lighter than they were supposed to be. For a long time no one caught on.”
“Sassy, I have to warn you that you have the right to an attorney…” Tandry interjected, but Sassy weakly waved her hand to dismiss him and continued talking.
“Steve Bitten…Adam trusted him…” Sassy continued, gasping for air.
“It was Steve who set things up with the coffee brokers in Brazil. Dan wasn't in on it…didn't have a clue. It was only when the profits got put into Steve's own account instead of his and Dan's business account that things between ‘em fell apart.”
“Sassy, you need to rest now,” Tandry told her, hesitant to interrupt what was turning out to be a full-blown confession.
“No. I have to tell you this. So much harm has been done and I have to tell you…”
Sassy was getting weaker by the minute. She wiped more blood from her mouth. “It's all in the diary I kept. Here,” she said, struggling to reach into her jeans pocket to retrieve a small spiral notebook that she then laid on the ground beside her. “I figured I'd bring this for you to find since I was planning on checking out anyway…but since I'm alive…”
“When everything with the business and the deposits came out and Steve let Dan buy him out without pressing charges, A.C. got really upset. He started talking crazy in a way that scared me.”
“Sassy, I urge you not to say any more…”Tandry said for the third time, but she continued talking, seeming to gain strength from finally revealing the truth.
“When Steve split, Adam thought that maybe it was because he was afraid to stay in Alaska—afraid of Dan—that maybe Dan knew more than he should,” Sassy coughed again, taking a few minutes to take some deep breaths.
Tandry flipped through the diary, seeing pages of carefully written entries that included dates, times, and even—surprisingly for someone like Sassy— direct quotes.
“Before he left, Steve told A.C. that the two of them could set up somewhere else and that he would send for him. For the first year, Steve kept making excuses about it not being safe for him to come back to Alaska and not safe for Adam to come to Oregon…that's where he said he was. Steve told Adam that he was setting up a new business to use as a front down there. He told Adam he was going to have to handle things alone in Alaska.
Sassy began fighting to sit up, but she was too weak and laid back down again. Her eyes briefly rolled back in her head and she rested for a moment, before speaking again.
“Adam blamed Dan for Steve's leaving and for making Steve afraid to come back. Steve let Adam think that, except the part about Dan not knowing anything about the drugs. He told A.C. for sure that Dan knew nothing about the drugs —I remember the day that A.C. told me that. Adam didn't believe him, though, and decided Steve was covering for Dan. He figured those two were in cahoots…that they were probably taking his cut of the money now, leaving him out.”
“Dan wasn't, though,” Sassy said, turning to Ellie, who had joined the others in a circle around her. “Dan didn't know a thing.”
“Anyway, Adam figured that if he got rid of Dan, Steve would come back and take him on again like the old days.”
Sassy lay back again, clutching her abdomen. The siren from the ambulance coming all the way from Palmer wailed in the distance.
“Dougy…Doug…I tried to talk A.C. out of it. He promised me he wouldn't do anything to Dan. You have to believe me.”
Sassy was becoming agitated, which caused the blood to pour more heavily from both her wound and her mouth.
“We have to get you to the hospital,” Doug told her.
“Let me finish,” Sassy insisted. “I need to finish…”
An ambulance pulled up. Two EMT's exited the rig and brought a stretcher over to where Sassy lay. “We're going to start an IV,” one of them said, while placing an oxygen mask over her face.
“No!” Sassy told the medic, pushing the mask off. “I have to finish what I'm telling them.”
Looking at Doug, Sassy continued. “Adam told me about a week ago that he cut the cable on Dan's plane the night he picked up the horse trailer. He told me he put water in the fuel tank of Dan's plane, too. He must have dropped the cutters on the ground where I found them the next day. I picked them up and threw them on the table inside so the horses wouldn't step on ‘em.”
“Dougy…Doug… I'm sorry. You're a good man and you didn't deserve this. I should have told you about Adam back when we were looking for Dan. I just figured it was probably already too late to help Dan anyway, and I just couldn't turn in my own brother.”
Ellie stood frozen while tears trickled down her cheeks. Both Mara and Sarah, who had arrived right behind her husband, held onto her.
For several minutes, Sassy lay on the ground without talking as the medics brought in supplies and began working to get her ready for transport to the hospital. They slipped an IV into one arm and began running in solution. They also placed blood pressure and heart monitoring equipment on her, making a note that her blood pressure was fairly stable for someone with injuries as severe as she had. One of them stepped aside to radio information in to the hospital, at which time Sassy resumed her story.
“Adam told me that Steve had figured out a way to come back to Alaska right before Dan died, and that he and Steve were going to come up here and get the old books from Ellie to make sure there was no paper trail of their past. He said Steve told him that he was sure Ellie would give them to him, because she and Dan had settled up with him long ago and no problems had sprung up over the whole mess. I don't think Steve knew that Adam was planning on hurting Ellie. He just wanted to talk her out of those old books…you know… just to be sure there was no way to get him in any trouble down the road.”
The medics added another bag of solution to the IV running into Sassy's arm while she was talking, and adjusted the blood pressure cuff that she had dislodged while moving around.
“I got here right after you did, Doug, and Mara was already here. Adam didn't hear me behind him. I heard Mara tell Steve to let Ellie go…only she called him something else…but it was Steve she was talking to. I couldn't figure out why she did that…but, that's when A.C. slapped her…hard…across the face
.”
“I was standing behind A.C.,” Sassy said, again. “Right when Steve let Ellie go. That's when Adam shot Steve and that's when I shot Adam.”
Sassy coughed in the way that had become so familiar in the last half hour. She wiped more blood from her mouth with the back of her hand as medics checked the latest readings on her blood pressure and heart monitoring equipment. She rolled her head from side to side, struggling to breathe as they talked to her and tried to get her to settle down.
Doug watched her for a moment, part of him willing her to die and another part of him shocked at finally learning the truth.
“Sassy…” he said, not finding any more words to say. Sassy opened her eyes at the sound of his voice and tried to raise her head.
“I want you to know that I couldn't let A.C. shoot Mara, Doug. I knew A.C. had problems but I never knew he would stoop to murder. I watched him shoot Steve and Thor and I knew he wouldn't stop there. I had to stop him.”
“A.C. shot Thor and not Brad?” Doug gasped under his breath. By now Sassy was becoming delirious and writhing in pain. “Why? Why didn't I die? I shot my own brother!”
“I want to tell you,” she said, suddenly finding strength with which to grab Doug's arm, “I want to tell you so I don't go to hell—but I know I will anyway—that I passed Dan on horseback that first day of the search. I figured somebody would be by right after me, so I pretended I didn't see him and kept going. I was so angry with him for letting Steve leave the business. I just didn't…I just didn't care if he lived. Can you ever forgive me, Doug? Please forgive me…I beg you…My God! All I cared about was Steve, but Steve lied to me…”
By now the medics were actively working to calm Sassy down and stop her from what was turning into agitated, incoherent rambling. One of them held the oxygen mask over Sassy's face while another kept her from ripping it off. A third made a call on the radio, returning minutes later to inject something into her IV line.
“I'm gonna step back so you can work,” Doug said to the two medics before walking away.
This time Sassy did not resist the efforts of the medics to help her.
CHAPTER FORTY
Thor
KEN TANDRY WALKED OVER TO THE CAR WHERE HIS NEW BRIDE, SARAH, SAT while officers took statements from both Ellie and Mara.
“I'm gonna be a while,” he leaned into the open window to tell her, handing her the keys to his truck.
“I'll probably wait in the house with Ellie and Mara,” she answered.
Ken kissed Sarah on one cheek before walking over to talk to Doug. He stopped to let the ambulance pass. Doug Williams sat on the ground holding Thor.
“The bullet grazed his side,” Doug told him. “It could have been a lot worse.”
Thor looked up and started licking Doug's face. Suddenly Doug Williams was crying in fitful sobs. Thor licked the tears from his face before laying his head in Doug's lap.
“You heard Sassy say it was A.C. who shot Thor,” Ken said. “I know you said you thought it was Brad Edwards. I just picked up Brad Edwards’ gun. It was cold and the clip was still full. The gun was never fired, Doug.”
“Where were the cops?” Doug said with a glimmer of anger in his voice. “Both Ellie and Mara could be dead. And how did those two get out of jail and why were they up here?”
“I wasn't more than an hour behind Mara,” Doug continued, as he put his face in his hands. “I thought they would be safe—that there were officers up here—geez, Ken…”
Doug stopped himself from taking any more of his anger out on his friend.
“When Sarah and I pulled into the station around noon, half the squad cars for fifty miles were there and the other half were fanning out in a dual manhunt,” Tandry told Doug.
“Sometime around eleven—about two hours after they said Adam Carlson attacked you—he broke loose from his guard during booking at the police station and took the officer's guns in the process. He then took one officer hostage and had him drive over to Palmer Correctional, where he shot the gatekeeper and injured two more prison guards before getting Steve Bitten out of his cell. Another hour and Bitten would have been on his way to Anchorage to meet the feds, so go figure.”
Doug listened as Ken Tandry continued.
“As far as anyone knows, A.C. had no idea, that Steve Bitten was really Brad Edwards. Matter of fact, if anyone would have said the name Brad Edwards to Adam Carlson, they would have been quick to see that he had never heard of the man. This all happened about an hour after Mara picked up her SUV and headed up to Ellie's, but Mara got delayed when she stopped for gas and groceries.”
Doug sat stroking Thor's head as Tandry continued.
“Apparently A.C. and Steve headed straight up to Ellie's place where Steve went in to talk to Ellie. Doug, every available officer was tied up at Palmer Correctional and on the manhunt. When Mara pulled into Ellie's yard, she saw Brad coming out the door and Ellie standing behind him. About the same time, Adam jumped her, held a gun to her, and had her pull over between the two buildings. That's when Mara knew she and Ellie were in danger and called out to Brad. Later she said she didn't know why she called to him but said it just came out.
“Knowing Mara was there and hearing the commotion must have spooked Brad Edwards, who figured that Mara had blown his cover. He kept Ellie in front of him as a shield thinking that A.C. was going after him now, and not realizing that A.C also planned to kill Ellie—but Brad was wrong. “
“You mean A.C. planned to kill Ellie?” Doug asked.
“According to a statement that Adam made and that was overheard by the officer he kidnapped, who was later freed, Adam was not only intent on getting the books from Dan's business away from Ellie, but had convinced himself that Ellie knew more than she actually did. In his thinking, Ellie had had plenty of time to piece things together and had the potential to expose both him and Steve Bitten for their parts in the smuggling operation.
It wasn't until Mara called Steve Bitten, Brad, that he also realized that Steve Bitten was not who he said he was and, at that point, he moved from being dangerous to being erratic and paranoid.
Like I said earlier, when Steve Bitten turned out not to be who A.C. thought he was, A.C. shot him. Our best guess was that Mara was going to be next, and then Ellie, once A.C was free to go after her. You showed up right as everything was going down and Sassy came in right after you. It was just the perfect foil to what A.C. and Steve had planned to be a quick and clean operation.”
“When I left Sassy,” Doug said, “she knew I was pretty upset. I saw her get in her truck as I was pulling out. I think she was coming up to try to talk to me.”
“Somehow A.C. never saw his sister pull up behind him—maybe because of the timing with all the action surrounding Thor, Brad Edwards, Ellie, and Mara that was happening at the same time. I guess we'll never know the answer to that one,” Tandry said. “You know the rest. In all likelihood, a few seconds either way and both Ellie and Mara would probably be dead.”
Doug stared straight ahead. Never in his wildest imagination had he ever entertained any thought that something like this would be possible in his life.
“Adam Carlson has a violent past,” Tandry said.
“Besides his convictions, he is wanted in at least three states for crimes ranging from aggravated assault to rape. We found two fully loaded assault rifles and extra clips behind the seat in his pick-up.”
“Steve Bitten seemed like a nice guy. He did so much to help with the search for Dan. Now we find out he's someone named Brad Edwards, strange enough by itself, but he turns up to also be Mara's dead husband? No one could make this up, Ken,” Doug said, still trying to piece it all together.
Doug was obviously shaken. His head throbbed and his face was swollen from being assaulted by A.C. earlier.
“I can't explain the Brad Edwards piece to this puzzle yet,” Tandry told Doug.
“All I can tell you is that when I made the initial call to the feds about Brad Edwards
, they were more than interested in setting up a meeting ASAP to discuss how to handle him. The meeting is scheduled for tomorrow morning. In my experience, I've never known them to move that fast on a fugitive warrant.” Ken extended his hand and pulled Doug up to a standing position.
“One more thing, Doug. When I talked to the feds, they told me they have been actively investigating Adam Carlson and his connections to South America for the past year. Could be that A.C. knew they were closing in on him, which would have added to his desperation.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Doug answered.
“What with Brad Edwards supposedly having died in a plane crash in Brazil four years ago and now appearing as Steve Bitten up here about the same time frame ago, well, that raises some pretty interesting questions, doesn't it?”
“You don't think Mara was involved, do you?” Doug asked.
“Like I told you before, Doug, I don't think so. Sarah—who has been her best friend for fifteen years—doesn't think so, and even Sassy, if we can believe her, said Mara was innocent—but the investigation will bring it all out.” Doug wasn't sure what to think about Mara at this point, only knowing with the utmost certainty that Thor would not befriend her if there were anything sinister about her.
“Maybe we ought to get Thor on down to the vet, huh, Doug? I know you think it's superficial, but let's get it checked out, and I'm gonna need that bullet for evidence anyway.”
Doug looked at Thor's side and only then realized that the bullet was still in Thor, just under his skin. How could he not have noticed? With Ken's help, they got Thor to Palmer Veterinary shortly thereafter, where Thor got several stitches, a prescription for antibiotics, and Doug and his dog left with a plastic baggie containing the bullet, along with reassurance that Thor should be just fine after a few days’ rest.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Feather From a Stranger Page 21