“How would the feds know about you?” Ron asked. “And how would they know you were in Great Falls?”
“There’s only one other person I talked to in Idaho,” JP said. He looked at Ron.
“You don’t mean Gina,” Ron said. “But she didn’t even know who you were.”
“We don’t know that for sure. And if the cops put pressure on her, she may have told them everything that happened the last couple of days, especially if they convinced her your life was in danger. She may have thought she was helping you.”
“Maybe,” Ron said, his head dropping forward slightly.
“But she didn’t know where we were going,” Sabre interjected.
“Damn!” JP slammed his fist into the palm of his other hand. “They put a tracking device in my car.”
“What are you talking about?” Sabre asked.
“Remember when we were leaving the restaurant after we met with Gina?”
“Yes. The kid bumped our car in the parking lot,” Sabre said knowingly.
“That’s right. That was no accident. I think he was back behind our car and planting the tracker. He kept asking for my ID, but he didn’t really want it. They knew I wouldn’t stick around and even if I did, it wouldn’t matter. I’m sure he had a fake ID and insurance card.”
“Do you think Gina was working with them then?” Sabre asked.
“She would have had to be. They must’ve been already questioning her. I expect she told them about the stranger she had met and they didn’t buy it.”
“Or,” Sabre pressed her lips together in a slight grimace. “Is it possible Gina is the one killing the thugs? I’m just throwing it out there.”
Ron scowled. “Why would she do that?”
“Maybe she’s been into you way before you were into her, like before you went to Hayden.”
“You mean like some secret, psycho admirer?” Ron said.
“Or maybe she’s working for someone else,” JP interjected. “She did say she was brought up a military brat. My guess is she isn’t afraid of guns.”
“Her folks weren’t in the military,” Ron said. “Her dad was a professor at some college in Ohio. Her mother was a nurse.”
“Gina knew a lot about Killeen, Texas,” JP said. “At the very least, she’s been there. Why would she lie to me about being military?”
“Or lie to me about her background? I just don’t know what to believe. She always seemed so normal.” Ron held his hands in his face for a few seconds. He looked up shaking his head. “I’m sorry. I should never have told you to check on her.”
“You didn’t know, Ron. And besides, we don’t really know if she has done anything,” Sabre said. “It’s not your fault.”
Ron stood up. “What do you mean it’s not my fault? It’s all my fault. All I wanted to do was keep you safe and now I’ve put you in even more jeopardy.”
“I’m afraid it’s worse than that,” JP said. Ron and Sabre both looked at him. “If they’ve been tracking us from Coeur d’Alene they know we went to Clancy, and that’s going to point the finger right at you again, Ron, for the latest murder.”
Sabre stood up, walked over to Ron, and placed her hand on his shoulder and looked directly at JP. “We need to find out who is doing this so we can clear Ron and we can all go home. Any ideas?”
“I have one,” Ron said. “Why don’t you go back to Arizona, Sabre? JP, you can leave too, if you want. I can hide on my own.”
“No,” Sabre said. “I’m not leaving you and besides JP and I may both be wanted for harboring a fugitive at the moment. We need to clear this up for all our sakes.”
“I like Ron’s idea,” JP said, “but since I know you aren’t going anywhere we need to come up with something else.”
“Like what?” Sabre said.
“My first inclination is to set a trap for the killer, but we can’t do that with the feds in the way. If they find Ron, he’ll be arrested. And as you said, it’s likely the rest of us will be as well.”
Sabre turned to Tuper in hopes that he might have an idea. He always seemed so uninvolved with whatever was going on around him, and then all of a sudden he would offer some great insight, usually without anyone asking. He slowly brought his head up, shrugged his shoulders, and said, “I got nothin’.”
“Ron, do you trust Marshal Mendoza?” JP asked.
“He always seemed to do right by me.”
“He left a message for me at my office saying he could still relocate you if we come in now. Would you consider that?”
“No,” Sabre spoke up. “He’ll turn Ron in.”
Ron nudged Sabre. “Look,” he said, moving his chin toward the door.
Sabre turned her head to see a young girl about four years old staring at her. She recognized her as the little girl who sat across from her earlier in the dining room. Her round, dark brown eyes were fixated on the stranger. Sabre walked toward her and knelt down. “Hi there. What’s your name?”
“Katie P.,” she said and then dropped her head.
“What a pretty name you have.”
Katie P. looked up wearing a smile planted all the way across her blushing pink face. She spoke in a quiet, soft voice. “You’re beautiful. Like an angel.”
Sabre was shocked and amused by the comment. “You’re beautiful too, Katie P.”
“I have to find a hiding place,” she yelled as she scurried past the cows and out of the barn.
“So do we,” Sabre muttered as she returned to the men. “What are we going to do? We can’t stay here.”
“Sure you can,” Tuper said. “They don’t know you’re here at the colony. All they know is that JP was in Clancy and that you are likely with him. From there you went to Great Falls. If they had the car bugged, the trail stopped at Dimes Casino.”
“And you don’t think we’re putting these nice people in danger?” Sabre asked.
“They want to help,” Tuper said. “It’s their way.”
Chapter 31
Tuper spent the afternoon helping Jacob. JP and Ron did a thorough search of Tuper’s car looking for a tracking device, but they came up empty-handed. Then Ron helped the pre-school instructor supervise the children as they played in the snow. When Sabre left Ron, he and seven or eight children under the age of six were about to place the head on a really fat snowman.
Sabre walked toward the barn in search of JP. She had last seen him walking in that direction with Benjamin. When she opened the barn door and went inside, she could hardly believe the sight before her. JP was seated on a milking stool, pulling the cow’s teats in a very rhythmic pattern. His bucket was at least three-quarters full with the white, foamy milk that he had just extracted from the cooperative bovine.
“A sight I never imagined I’d see,” Sabre said, as she walked up behind JP. “Did you just learn that?”
“This ain’t my first rodeo. I used to help my grandpa milk. You don’t forget it. Want to give it a try?”
“No, I think I’ll pass.”
“Suit yourself.” JP gave a few more pulls and then stopped. He picked up the bucket and set it to one side. He slapped the cow on the hind end and said, “Good girl, Bossy.” Then he stood up and carried the bucket to a large metal milk can and poured it in. After washing his hands in the sink near the shelf with the milk cans, he said, “Let’s take a little walk.”
They left the barn and walked around two buildings in the opposite direction of the entrance road. The entire complex contained only five buildings—each of them quite long—but the buildings were all situated on only a few acres of land. The girls had told Sabre there were large fields where they plant a vegetable garden and grow alfalfa, wheat, oats, barley, and other crops, but they were now all covered with snow. In addition, there were hundreds of acres beyond the fields that belonged to the colony. Sabre wondered how far their land stretched.
JP leaned against the building and pulled Sabre into his arms. He looked down at her. “Are you sure we’re doing the righ
t thing, Sabre?”
Sabre looked up at JP, catching his eye. “I have to stay and help Ron, but I’m okay if you want to leave.”
“You know that I won’t leave you and I’m not concerned for myself. It’s you. It’s your career and everything you stand for. You realize we may have committed three or four felonies that I can think of, and if we piss off the feds they are very likely to prosecute.”
Sabre reached up and stroked his face with her gloved hand. “I know. I’ve thought about that, but I don’t know that we can do anything differently at this point. If Ron comes out in the open, he’ll be killed for sure. And it’s not like WITSEC can keep him hidden. Those felons already found him in at least three places while he was under their protection. How does that happen?”
“It sounds like a leak in the system to me.”
“Do you still think Ron killed those men?”
“I haven’t ruled it out completely, but the more I get to know him, the more I think he’s incapable of killing. I keep thinking about what happened to him when he was young, how he accidentally killed his best friend. I can’t even imagine the pain that caused him.” He grimaced.
“But you can imagine the pain, can’t you?” Sabre said after seeing his expression.
JP took a deep breath. “I’ve killed two men in my life. I shot one of them when I was on the force. The man was crazy wild on drugs and was shooting at us. Even then, it was a horrible feeling to kill someone. It took me a long time to work through it. In my mind I knew I’d done the right thing, but it still hurt in my gut to know that I had taken a life. You were there for the second one and it wasn’t any easier then. Lots of restless nights followed.” JP shook his head. “Ron was just a kid and he killed his best friend. How do you ever get over that?”
Sabre leaned against him and he pulled her closer to him. For a few seconds everything felt good again, but the feeling didn’t last long before reality set in. “I wish we could just stay like this,” Sabre said.
“Me too,” JP said. “But I have to do something. There’s no Internet access here and the phone reception comes and goes.”
Sabre pulled back. “What are you thinking?”
“I need to learn everything I can about the men Ron sent to prison. I need to know about the people Ron had relationships with during the past seven years.”
“Why don’t you ask Ron about his relationships?”
“I talked to him at length last night. I have a few names I can check out, but I can’t do it from here.”
Sabre shifted her feet. “Where would you go?”
“Just far enough to get good phone reception and Internet access. I can go into Great Falls with Benjamin this evening.”
“You can’t go there. They’ll be looking for you.”
“Not where I’m going. On the weekends, Benjamin works a night shift at a small motel on the edge of town that is privately owned. He said it’s the last hotel or motel before you leave the city. I can use the office computer.”
“You’ve already set this all up, haven’t you?”
“Yes. I leave shortly after dinner. Tuper will be here to keep an eye on things.”
“I don’t like it,” Sabre said, “but we have to do something. Maybe I should go with you.”
“I considered that, but it’s asking too much of Benjamin. It’s better this way.”
“I feel useless sitting around here. Is there anything I can do?”
“Talk to Ron. You’re good at getting information out of people. Maybe you’ll learn something new. And find out everything you can about Gina Basham. I think there’s way more to that woman than we know.”
“Do you really think she could be the killer?”
“She’s on my short list.”
Sabre kicked at the snow. “I’ve never felt so helpless.”
JP cupped his hands around her face and drew him into her, placing his lips lightly on hers, kissing her tenderly. When he stopped she laid her head against his chest. Sabre wondered what it would be like to make love in the snow.
“You’re cold, aren’t you?” JP said.
“That’s not exactly what I was thinking about,” she said.
He smiled. “Me neither.”
Chapter 32
“Tell me everything there is to know about Gina Basham,” Sabre said.
“She seems almost perfect, but I’ve only known her a few months,” Ron said. “I think I was getting pretty lonely before we met. I haven’t had any real relationships since I’ve been in the Program because I’ve been afraid to get too close.”
“So why now? Why Gina?”
“I think I was initially attracted to her because she reminded me of Carla, but after I got to know her better that all changed. Although she looked a bit like her, she was very different. Gina was very independent and self-confident. Still, I don’t think I would have become so involved except that she kept pursuing me and frankly, it felt pretty good. We have a lot in common. The outdoors are as satisfying to her as they are to me. She’s very competitive so when we play softball or go hiking, or whatever, she doesn’t expect me to ‘give her a break.’ In fact, she can often outdo me. I can just be myself…well, as much as I can be myself.”
“How well does she know you?” Sabre asked.
Ron pulled a package out of his pocket and tore it open. He held it out to Sabre. “Want some jerky?”
Sabre looked at the package. “Is that Papa Nacca’s?”
“Yes.”
“As in John Naccarato? That Papa Nacca?”
“Exactly.”
She snatched the package from his hand. “Where did you get that?”
“I found it on the Internet. I ordered a case of it. This one is my favorite.”
Sabre reached in the plastic bag, took out a stick of jerky, and read the label on the package, Fresh Green Chile. She chewed on the beef. “This is so good.” She paused, savoring the beef. “So, they finally got the jerky business going.”
“Yeah, and it’s just as good as it was when we were kids.”
Sabre took another bite and looked at the package again. “Is that John on the package?”
“I think so,” Ron said. “I let Benjamin taste it last night. He really liked it, so I gave him a package. He said he would share it with the others. I told him to take it with him to work and share it with JP.”
After Sabre put away another piece of jerky, she nudged Ron. “So, answer the question. How well does Gina know you? Does she know anything about your background?”
“No. When we go into WITSEC, they give us an identity that we have to learn. When you have to move they give you a new one, but they try to keep it as similar as they can so it doesn’t get too confusing. I’m always an only child. I think that’s so I don’t have to explain about siblings and maybe forget what I said and get caught in a lie. We keep our religious affiliation unless it’s directly related to why we are in the Program. We come from simple backgrounds so nothing is too easy to check. My parents have been teachers, grocery clerks, county workers, truck drivers, and stuff like that.”
“You never told Gina where you grew up or anything about your family?”
“I wanted to, but I never did.”
“So, who are you now? Who is the Buck Crouch Gina knows?” Sabre asked, as she continued to chew on the jerky.
“Buck Crouch’s family was from Tucson. He went to grade school in the Sunnyside School District. When he was about ten years old his parents moved to Iowa. He lived there until he graduated from high school and went to work in a local feed store, where he eventually became the store manager. One day he left to see what else there was out there. That’s when he came to Hayden, and that’s the man that Gina knows me to be.”
Sabre gazed at Ron, focusing on every word. “Did they give you a personal background?”
“Absolutely. They tell you about your first kiss, the time your heart was broken, some foolish things you did as a child and a teenager.—They all he
lp you sound like a real person. But every time I shared one of those intimate details about my fake life with Gina, I felt a little wedge push us further apart. After a while, I tried not to talk about any of that. It just didn’t work for me.”
“And the lives before? Were they as hard?”
“Not so much because I never got close to anyone.”
“No one at all?”
“There was one woman I dated for about two months. I think that was my record. Her name was Charlene. Charlene Gerardi. A beautiful, sweet woman. Quite smart, too. She was studying to be a nurse.”
“What happened?”
“She was a single mother with a four-year-old daughter. An adorable, little girl. At first I didn’t think it would matter, but then I met her and I knew I couldn’t put that little child at risk.”
“Did you give Charlene’s name to JP?”
“Yes, but I don’t really think it will lead anywhere.”
“Were there any women you can think of that may have been a little off kilter?”
“JP asked me that too. Only he asked me if I remember meeting anyone who may have been ‘thrown off the wagon a few too many times.’ Does he always talk like that?”
Sabre laughed. “He’s got a lot of sayings. Says he learned them from his grandpappy. We call them JPisms.”
“I couldn’t really think of anyone who acted strange except a neighbor I had in Wyoming who watched everything in the neighborhood from his window. He only came outside at night. We figured he thought himself to be a vampire or something. Whenever anything strange happened, they always blamed him, but I’m not sure he ever did anything.”
“What do you mean by strange?”
“Someone would lose their cat or trash cans would be turned over. We were living by a mountain. People lost their cats to coyotes all the time and raccoons got into trashcans, but it’s a lot more dramatic to blame the ‘crazy vampire guy’ than the wild animals that were roaming around. I gave his name to JP, but that’s about all I could come up with.”
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