by Mac Fortner
“Where would you like to go?”
“Aspen.”
“Colorado?”
“Yeah. You ever been there?”
“A few times,” I said. “I love it.”
“I haven’t been there yet. But I’ve seen pictures.”
“You’ll love it.”
“Okay,” she offered, “You fly, and I’ll buy.”
“You’ve got yourself a deal.”
“How did you mean it?”
“How did I mean what?”
“When you told Robin you loved her.”
I looked at Kailey apologetically.
“I’m sorry about that. It slipped. Old habit.”
“Yeah, probably. Let me know if you do though.”
“Love her?”
“Yeah.”
“Kailey, I do love Robin, but I’m in love with you.”
“You are?”
“You know I am.”
“I know, but I’m scared.”
“Don’t be.”
We drove in silence for a few minutes.
“Turn right here,” she said.
I did. “Where are we going?”
“I need a donut.”
“I know just the place.”
~***~
Robin checked in with Chief Leland. He was more than cooperative.
“We could use some help on this one,” Leland speculated. “It appears that Derringer is being framed, but if we don’t get some proof, he could go to prison for the rest of his life.”
“Cam thinks that Tracy Alexander has something to do with all of this” Robin said.
“Me too, but again we have no proof.”
“Do you know if she’s who she says she is?”
“We don’t have any proof that she’s not.”
“I’d like to talk to Bret Condors,” Robin said.
“I don’t see why not.”
Leland wrote down Bret’s address and handed it to Robin.
“The guy, next door to Jason Fields, ID’d Cam, as the man he saw at Jason's house the night he was murdered,” Leland said.
“Cam told you he was there. Jason was killed at Diane’s house.”
“Just sayin’.”
Robin left the station. When she got into her car, she saw a note on her windshield. She pulled it off and read it; ‘Back off,’ was written in childlike print.
She remembered Cam getting that same message the last time she was here. Just before he was beaten to a pulp and left naked in the middle of the road on Cudjoe Key. It was from the Sheriff Station then.
She tucked the note away and drove to the address Leland had given her.
The house was run down. There was a good years’ worth of junk on the front lawn. The grass, or weeds, had grown up around the debris.
Robin knocked on the front door, and it opened slightly. It hadn't been closed securely. She drew her gun and announced herself.
“Bret. I’m agent Anderson of the FBI.”
No answer.
She pushed the door open further and peeked inside. The furniture was old and worn. Pizza boxes and beer cans were scattered around the living room.
“Bret.”
Robin entered the house and moved from room to room. It was empty except for a mattress on the floor in the bedroom. Lying on the mattress was a young man. He appeared to have overdosed. There was a rubber strap next to the body and an empty syringe.
Robin didn’t need to check for a pulse. She called Chief Leland.
While the forensic team was going over the crime scene, Robin knocked on neighbors doors. Most weren’t answered.
Two doors down and across the street, a woman answered the door wearing a thin nightgown. She looked to be about seventy-five but was probably around fifty-five. The cigarette hanging from her mouth added a few years to her looks.
“Sorry to bother you,” Robin said and flashed her badge. “There’s been some trouble––“
“Killed him, didn’t they?” the lady said.
“Killed who?” Robin said.
“That drug dealer that lives down the street.”
“Drug dealer?”
“Yeah, that’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”
“Yes, ma’am. The young man that lives there died. We don’t have any reason to believe there was foul play. Did you see anything?”
“I see plenty,” she confirmed, waving her hands around as if she meant she saw things others couldn’t see. “Cars coming and going at all hours of the day and night.”
“Did you see anyone today?”
“Nope, not until the police showed up.”
“The police?”
“Yeah, you know, the sheriff. About an hour ago.”
“You saw the sheriff enter that house an hour ago?”
“Yes, I did.”
“How long was he inside?”
“Fifteen minutes or so, but my door was closed. I watched through the window,” she said and flipped her cigarette into the front yard.
“Why is the FBI here asking so many questions?”
“Thanks for your help ma’am. I may need to talk to you again.”
“Anytime. Is there some kind of a reward?”
“No, I’m afraid not. May I have your name please?”
“Dorothy Reed, R-e-e-d,” she said spelling her last name.
“Thank you, Dorothy. I’ll be in touch.”
Robin returned to Bret's house. Leland was standing in the bedroom where the body was still sprawled on the bed.
“Find anything?” Robin asked.
“No. It looks like an overdose. Hard to say if he had any help.”
“There was no struggle?”
“No, doesn’t appear to have been.”
“I’ve got one for you,” Robin said.
“What?”
“Sheriff Reynolds was here about an hour ago. A neighbor said she saw him enter. He was here about fifteen minutes.”
Leland shook his head. “Holy shit.”
“Bag that needle,” Robin said.
Chapter 38
I changed into my running clothes when we got home. The donut made me feel guilty. I told Kailey I would be back in an hour. She said she’d go get some steaks for tonight.
It was a good day for a run, but it didn’t take long, and I was soaked. I changed my course and ran to the gym to work out in the air conditioning.
I was doing bench presses when a figure appeared over me. I was looking at her upside down, but I could tell it was Tracy.
I racked the weights and sat up.
She had on her exercise outfit. No doubt keeping those guns in shape.
“Hello Tracy,” I said.
“Cam.”
“I’ve been looking for you.”
“I haven’t been hiding. You were right behind me all day yesterday. Why didn’t you say–Hi?”
“I was hiding.”
“Not very good at it. Are you?”
“Maybe I wanted you to see me.”
“Maybe.”
We stared at each other while we both tried to think of something else witty to say.
“Did you find your husband?” I said.
“No. I don’t have one.”
“Shocking.”
“What do you want from me?” she said.
“The truth would be a good place to start.”
“I told you the truth the first time I saw you, except for the husband part.”
“Oh, you mean the man that was following you?”
“Yes. I’m glad he’s not following me any longer, but I didn’t expect you to kill him.”
“I didn’t kill him.”
“Looks like you did.”
“Where were you when he was being shot?”
“With the sheriff.”
“I met your partner.”
“That’s not my partner. He’s my old boss. It was his jewels that were stolen from the cruise ship.”
“Why did you go see him?”<
br />
“He called me. He wants me to help him get the gems back.”
“Are you going to do that?”
“That’s what I’m doing right now.”
“By talking to me?”
“Yeah, all roads lead to you, Cam. Four murders, drug dealing, and possession. One of the men you killed had a necklace from the heist on him.”
“You mean three murders, don’t you?”
“Maybe.”
“Who else did you kill, Tracy?”
“Not me, you.”
Tracy laughed. “I gotta go, Cam. I’ll see you around.”
She left. I watched her walk out the door. I had a bad feeling. She’s up to more than she let on. Who is she?”
~***~
Toby pulled the glass from his desk drawer and had a deputy run it to the lab. “Tell them I needed the ID on those prints yesterday,” he said.
“Yes, sir.”
The duty officer stuck his head in the door. “Chief Leland’s here to see you.”
Toby sighed, “Send him in.”
Toby stood and extended his hand. They shook.
“How can I help you?” Toby said.
“I just came from Bret Condors’ house. Robin Anderson went there to talk to him. He was lying on his bed. Looks like he might have OD’d.”
“Really? I just talked to him today,” Toby said, heading off any surprises.
“That’s why I’m here actually,” Leland said. “A neighbor said they saw you there just before he died.”
Toby stood. “Are you accusing me of something?” he barked.
“No,” Leland said shaking his head and holding up his hands. “I was just curious about why you were there.”
“I wanted to go over his statement with him again. I didn’t believe him. This office has known Cam for a long time. I just wanted to get some facts straight.”
“Did you?”
“No, he stuck to his story.”
“Was he high while you were there?”
“Looked like it to me, but I couldn’t really tell. His girlfriend was pretty high though.”
“His girlfriend?”
“Yeah, she was sitting naked on the living room couch.”
“She wasn’t there when we found him. There were some girl’s clothes on the floor.”
Sheriff Reynolds looked stunned.
“I don’t know how she could have gotten out of there on her own.”
“Maybe she had some help.”
“That neighbor, did she see anyone else come and go?” Toby said.
“Not that she said.”
“Was the back door unlocked?”
“Yes. We figured it usually was.”
“Maybe she freaked when he OD’d, and ran out the back.”
“Naked?” Leland said raising his eyebrows.
“I don’t know about that. I wonder if there was a close neighbor she could have gone to.”
“We need to go back and check the neighbors a little better,” Leland said.
“Now what happens to our case against Cam?” Toby asked.
“We still have his statement.”
“I don’t think that will hold up.”
“We also have the cocaine from his boat,” Leland said.
“Yeah, there’s that.”
“We need to talk to Cam too,” Leland said.
“Yeah, I’ll go do that if you don’t mind.”
“Be my guest.”
Chapter 39
On the run back home I couldn’t help but wonder who the fourth victim was. I was sure there was one, and I think Tracy is behind every one of them.
When I arrived, there was a sheriff’s car in the parking lot. What now?
Toby was sitting at the table on the patio. He had what appeared to be a glass of tea.
“Cam,” he said holding up the glass.
“Hi sheriff,” I said.
“Kailey was kind enough to get me a glass of tea.”
“Always good on a hot day.”
“Have a seat,” he said.
I sat down across from him. Kailey came out and joined us.
“Did you have a good run?” she said.
“An interesting one.”
“Well,” Toby said, “I have some news for you. I don’t know if it's good or bad at this point.”
“Fire away,” I said.
“Bret Condors OD’d this afternoon,” he said.
So that’s who the next victim was.
“OD’d? Are you sure?”
“We're sure he OD’d but were not sure it was an accident.”
“You think someone might have helped him?”
Toby just shrugged his shoulders.
“You need to find out where Tracy was this morning,” Kailey said.
“Yeah, I’ll ask her, but we don’t have any reason to believe she would do that.”
“She would,” Kailey weighed in.
“Where were you today around noon, Cam?”
“Really Toby,” Kailey said, “You’re going to try to blame this on Cam too.”
“I was flying, with a salesman and Kailey,” I said.
“Flying?”
“Yes, I bought a new plane.”
“Where’d you get the money for a plane?”
“Out of my checking account,” I said. “I’m flush nowadays. It’s all accounted for, and the taxes have been paid.”
“Sorry. I had to ask,” Toby said.
“Asked and answered. Now, where does that leave us on the drug charges?”
“The case is weaker on the dealing charge, but the possession charge is hard to hide,” Toby said.
We sat for a moment, and Toby sipped his tea.
“Okay,” he said standing, “That’s all I have for now. I’ll let you know if anything develops.”
“Thank you, sheriff, for letting us know about Bret.”
“Just doing my job,” he said, put on his cowboy hat and left.
“That was strange,” I said to Kailey.
“Yes, it was. I don’t think it was a coincidence that Bret died before he could tell the truth.”
“No, neither do I.”
Robin came home at four o’clock. Jack, Diane, and Chad were already there. The grill was hot and ready for the steaks.
“Did you have a productive day?” I asked.
“I need a drink,” she replied.
“One of those, huh,” Jack said.
Kailey handed Robin a drink.
“I got some news today from Sheriff Reynolds,” I said. “Bret Condors––“
“Yeah, I already know,” Robin said. “I was the one who found him.”
“Oh,” I said. “I better get you another drink.”
“I’m fine,” she said waving her hand. “Just a little confused.”
“Someone killed him to keep him from telling the truth,” Kailey reasoned.
“Yeah,” Robin said. “Sheriff Reynolds was there an hour before I found the body.”
“Toby?” I said.
“Yep.”
“He was here a while ago. He didn’t say anything about that.”
“No, he probably wouldn’t. One of the neighbors told me, I told Leland, and Leland talked to Toby. Toby told Leland he was there before Leland could even ask him.”
“Well,” Chad said, “I can get the drug dealing charges dropped. We didn't get a chance to question the witness, but the rest, I don’t know.”
I told them about running into Tracy and the conversation that pursued.
“We followed her to Bret’s house. She probably would have killed him then if we weren’t there.”
“We’ve got to find out who she is,” I said.
~***~
Toby was seated at his desk when the report came back on the fingerprints. He looked them over once and then read them slowly. When he finished, he sat the file on his desk and leaned back in his chair.
“Holy shit,” he said.
Chapter 40
&nb
sp; Sheriff Reynolds went to the DoubleTree Resort to see Tracy.
She answered the door with a towel wrapped around her. Her hair was wet.
“Sorry about that Tracy,” he said. “But we need to talk.”
“Come on in,” she said, turned and walked back to the mirror in the living room. Her hair dryer was plugged in there.
It’s too steamy in the bathroom,” she said. “Fix yourself a drink while I finish blow-drying,” and pointed at the bar.
Toby went to the bar. He wasn’t a big drinker, but he needed something to take the edge off. After all, Tracy was a real beauty, and she was almost naked.
He fixed a bourbon on the rocks and took a seat where he could watch her. He tried to look as though he was thinking about something else but it wasn’t working.
Tracy turned off the dryer and laid it on the dresser. She went to the next room to put on her dress.
From his position, he could still see her in the mirror. She dropped her towel and stretched her arms over her head running her fingers through her hair.
Toby was getting seriously aroused and starting to sweat.
Then she turned and looked at him in the mirror. She smiled and curtsied. “How’s your drink?”
“Couldn’t be better,” he said.
She laughed and pulled her dress on over her head.
After fixing herself a drink, she took a seat opposite Toby.
“What do you want to talk about,” she said.
“I have this feeling that you might have killed Bret Condors.”
“Me?” she said. “Why would you think that?”
“It doesn’t matter why. What matters is that there was a girl in the apartment with him when it happened.”
“A girl,” she said. “I didn’t see any girl.”
“Did you come in the back door?”
“Maybe.”
“She must have seen you. She left in a hurry. She was naked. Kind of makes me think she hid in a garage or maybe she lives next door or something.”
“How do you know she was there?”
“I was there right before you were,” Toby said.
“Why?”
“I wanted to make sure his story would hold up. If we’re going to frame Cam, we needed his help. But it’s a little late for that now, isn’t it.”
“He wasn’t going to be any help,” Tracy said. “He called me and said he wanted more money and if I didn’t give it to him he would tell the cops that I paid him to lie.”