“Drink your coffee.” His voice was still gentle. Forgiving. I didn’t get it at all.
“What, are you Jesus or something?” I grumbled as I sipped the coffee. Why was he always saving me?
“I’d like to think Jesus would have better hair,” he quipped.
I couldn’t help snorting with laughter. It took my mind away from the dark place.
“Why aren’t you arresting me? It’s not your job to forgive people. You can’t pick and choose which laws to enforce.”
He shrugged. “I don’t have to. Ever heard of the statute of limitations?”
I shook my head. It sounded like something complicated that got talked about in front of one of those fancy old buildings in Washington D.C..
“It means the police can’t prosecute certain crimes if it’s taken too long to get the perp. And for theft, it’s seven years.”
I frowned and did the math. “So I can’t be prosecuted for it anymore?”
He shook his head. “Nope. And since you have no priors, I don’t see the issue with you working at the precinct. But if it makes you feel better, you should tell Bob about the whole thing. And be sure to include the why.”
“I don’t like making excuses for myself.”
He nodded. “I know. And I’m sure Bob does, too. It takes all kinds to run an effective police department. You should hear what Sean did before he joined the police.”
“Sean?”
“Yep. But that’s not my tale to tell. Now coming back to your dad, do you know where he is staying?”
“I guess at his own house in Phoenix. We’re not so far from there.”
“Pity he’s not in town. I’d run him out.”
“Why? Why aren’t you throwing me out of your house? I’m not trustworthy.” It was a point my dad had labored over and over.
“Sure you are. You were a hungry kid. Be kinder to yourself. C’mon, let’s get some sleep.”
As if that was settled, Rick took the cups out and we went upstairs. I touched the door handle to go inside my room but Rick took my hand and led me across the hallway.
“You shouldn’t be alone after such a difficult encounter.”
“Oh.”
I didn’t have my pajamas so I stripped down to my underwear and slipped beneath the covers. Rick got in behind me and held me. I felt like we fitted together perfectly. His strength and gentleness warmed my heart.
More than that, he made me feel safe in a way no one ever had. Safe to be myself. He made me feel accepted, even the parts of myself that I didn’t like.
Rick
Avery was a little too efficient with the paperwork and now neither of us had anything to do except talk, eat and play Solitaire on our computers.
“I’m not sure Bob’s going to make this a permanent arrangement,” she commented through a mouthful of pizza. “He’s gonna have to pay seven bucks an hour and I don’t have any work.”
“It’ll come. This is always the quietest part of the year.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. The snowbirds get down here at the end of November and then we’re up to our ears in minor complaints. None of it needs any policing, but we do need to write reports on every damned thing that comes in. You’ll have more work than you can count.”
“Yikes.”
“Last year we even had to co-operate with an FBI case. Huge drug bust.”
“In sleepy old Snake Eye?”
I was about to reply with more details but the phone rang.
“Rick?”
I groaned silently. It was Mr. Ryan.
“How can I help, sir?” I tried to stay polite.
“For sure there’s someone at the Clifton place, this time. There’s lights in the windows!”
I frowned. “How can that be? The building has no electricity supply.”
“I don’t know how they’re doing it, but I’m tellin’ ya, there’s lights! Come and see for yourself!”
He put the phone down. I looked over at Avery.
“We got a call out.”
She clapped her hands together with enthusiasm. “Ooh. A ride along! That’ll break the night up.”
“You’re not gonna like this one. It’s the old spooky Clifton place.”
“Aw. No! Not fair!” She visibly deflated. I wanted to reassure her, but she was only expressing the same things I was thinking on the inside.
“It’ll be character-building,” I told her with a shrug. The best way to encourage her was to make out like this was no big deal. Leading from the front.
We headed out in a tense silence. I wanted to be more reassuring but I didn’t know what to say because secretly I was uneasy. The streetlights ended about half a mile out from the end of the town and the only light on the deserted highway was the headlights from my squad car, throwing the rocks and plants at the side of the road into an eerie contrast.
I stopped outside the abandoned building and avoided looking at it. Across the street, Mr. and Mrs. Ryan’s lights were out. I turned off the engine and got out. Avery followed suit. Side-by-side, we looked up at the Clifton place.
There were no lights on, now, and for all the world, it looked like no one had set foot inside since it had been closed down. The building was three floors high and clad in old, dried out wood that hadn’t been painted in a long time. Parts of the roof were gone and some of the windows were broken, like dead, black eyes gazing emptily out at us.
“Imagine how scary it must have been to be a child, with no parents, alone in the world and sent to this creepy house,” Avery whispered.
It was a grim prospect.
“There’s no one here, now,” I decided. “And we won’t be able to investigate so well without any electricity. We’ll have to come back in the morning.”
“Great idea,” Avery said quickly, and she was back in the car before I had even turned around.
I started the engine and drove back into town, wondering how Mr. Ryan could possibly have seen any lights on. The place was quieter than a graveyard.
Avery
I spent the rest of the night with a serious case of the heebie-jeebies, dreading the moment when Bob and either Mike or Sean arrived. Once we weren’t needed at the precinct, Rick had said we’d return to that creepy building out in the desert.
“You’re pretty quiet tonight,” Rick said.
“Yep.” I didn’t elaborate. Annoyingly, I finished all my work and had nothing to do but ruminate. To take my mind off our impending trip into Satan’s schoolhouse, I decided to get the Vanderhosen case back out.
I was still trying to put Derek Vanderhosen’s family tree together. His mom’s name was on his birth certificate as Eileen Griggs. There had been a Ludlow Griggs, possibly Derek’s uncle, who got a DUI in sixty-five, and that was all I’d found in the precinct’s record room. I wasn’t sure I was very good at researching things that were so old. If it couldn’t be solved with an internet search, I was stumped. And this case was definitely not online.
“Rick, you got a minute?” I asked. I wanted to solve this by myself, to prove I had what it took to become a cop, but I was clearly out of my depth.
“Sure. What’s up?” He turned to look at me and I held out my case notes.
“Derek Vanderhosen. I found someone with the same last name as his mom but that’s all the family he had.”
“Well, that’s why it’s a cold case.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“If it had been a straightforward case to work on, don’t you think the skilled and experienced detectives working on it fifty years ago would have solved it, back when everything was fresh?”
Huh. “I guess that makes sense. So where do I go from here?”
He looked at the papers I’d put together. “Honestly? You might just have to call it quits. That’s the thing about cold cases. They’re not always solvable. It was impossible at the time of the murder. Now it’s even more impossible.”
I couldn’t accept that. This case was m
y ticket to a permanent job at the precinct. If I couldn’t crack it, I didn’t deserve to be here. I knew there had to be more evidence somewhere. I just didn’t know the first thing about police procedure.
“I promised Mrs. V. I’d find her guy,” I said in a quiet voice.
Rick nodded and when I looked up, I saw sympathy in his eyes. “I know. And it’s hard even for seasoned cops to call it quits when a trail just dries up. But sometimes you have to let go and put your energy into the work in front of you. And since Bob’s just pulled into the lot, you and me are about to go check out the House on the Hill.”
“But it’s not on a hill,” I pointed out, feeling more than a little confused.
“It’s a movie. Or something. C’mon. Let’s update Bob then hit the road. We can stop at IHOP on the way back.”
“But there isn’t an IHOP between there and here,” I protested.
“I know.”
His tone was a little infuriating. Like, where did he get all his knowledge from? I got up and started following him.
“Mornin’ Rick, Avery.” Sheriff Bob honest-to-God touched his hat as he greeted us. Who even did that?
“Morning, Sheriff,” Rick replied. “Listen, we got a call about the Clifton place last night. I’d like to check it out.”
“What was the report?” Bob asked.
“Mr. Ryan saw lights on in the windows, but when we got there, all was dark,” Rick explained. I nodded and remained silent.
“Okay. There’s some heavy-duty flashlights in there.” Bob pointed at a drawer and Rick pulled out two huge, yellow flashlights.
“You could use those to light up a TV show,” I quipped.
Rick chuckled. “We might need them. See you ‘round, Bob.”
“Good hunting,” Bob replied. We stepped out into the bright morning sun and Rick drove out to the house once more.
The journey was far more pleasant this time, when the sun lit up the road and there were no shadows behind anything. He parked in the same place we’d been the night before, and in the daylight, instead of seeming terrifyingly spooky and imposing, the Clifton house looked impotent. Brittle. Sun-worn. A ghost of a house.
“Ladies first,” Rick said.
“Screw that,” I replied, indicating for him to go ahead. It was only sensible. After all, he was the cop with the gun. I’d seen horror movies. If there were any ghosts in that place, he could spend time shooting at them with bullets that went right through them while I ran away and told Bob.
Or something.
We walked to the main door and Rick turned the handle. Wooden panels littered the ground and it was clear it had been boarded up before someone had broken in.
“Don’t you need to dust that wood for fingerprints?” I asked.
“Too dirty. C’mon, we’re going in.” Was it my imagination, or did he take a deep breath before stepping through the doorway? That was silly. He wasn’t scared of anything.
I followed him and had to stay still for a moment to let my eyes adjust after the sunshine.
“Use your torch,” he reminded me as he put his own on. I clicked mine on and the gloomy interior was thrown into light.
The staircase had huge holes in a couple of the steps and it didn’t look very safe. The walls were missing their sheet rock in places, leaving the wooden frame exposed. I tried to imagine this as a sanctuary for children and I just couldn’t. It was a chamber of horrors.
“Let’s split up. We’ll cover more ground,” Rick said.
I laughed, because I thought he was joking, but then he walked off. I followed him.
“No way. I’m not splitting up. That’s how the janitor always gets Scooby and Shaggy,” I pointed out.
“It’s standard procedure,” he said.
“I’m not a cop,” I reminded him, feeling a little hypocritical about saying that.
“Fair enough. Hey, look at this.” He pointed to something on the floor.
“Scratches?” I asked.
“Lots of ‘em. And they look pretty fresh.”
My mind immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusion.
“Werewolves?” I asked.
He snorted with laughter. “No. Smaller. This is dogs. Duke did something like this to my downstairs bathroom door when he got stuck in there for an hour this one time.”
“Dogs...” My jaw fell open. “Wait. Strays?”
“Maybe. Although Mr. Ryan reported seeing lights out here and I doubt stray dogs have any use for lighting.”
“The missing dogs? What would they be doing here?”
“I don’t know. But we have scratch marks and look, a lot of fur of different colors. Let’s look around some more.”
Beside a window, it got even weirder because I found a small, silver metal disc.
“Oh, God, Rick, you need to see this,” I told him, my stomach wobbling as I read it.
“What is it?”
I held it out for him to see.
Rick
When Avery held out the metal thing, at first I thought it was a coin. When my eyes focused, I realized it was a dog’s identity tag. And the words were familiar.
“Duke,” I read aloud. It was followed by my phone number. “Oh, geez. This is where they’ve been bringing the missing dogs. That’s why our air con guy was driving out of town.”
The idea that Duke had been here last night, maybe even standing in this exact spot while Avery and I had been outside wondering about entering the building, was pretty hard to live with. When we found the guy who had taken him, I was going to ensure they threw the book at him.
I hoped my dog was all right.
I’d had Duke ever since he was a puppy. I’d found him abandoned on the side of the highway. We never did find the people who had done it. Could’ve been anyone. I kept him and raised him. Gave him all the affection he could ask for. And now he was gone. It wasn’t fair.
I had to find him.
Although we had both touched the tag, I bagged it and looked for any other clues.
“Hey! That baby picture. I’ve seen it before!” Avery had picked up what looked like a dusty piece of paper from the floor. “It was in the box from Mrs. V.”
I didn’t understand. “You mean you dropped it?”
“No. I just found it on the floor.” She turned it over. “Oh my God. “George Griggs. April fifty-one.” Griggs was Derek’s mother’s maiden name.”
“When was Derek born?” I asked.
“Fifty-three.” Her eyes met mine and I knew immediately neither of us fully understood what we were looking at.
“There was a file cabinet in the other room,” I said. “I think we should take a look.”
We made our way there. The drawers were labeled alphabetically.
“G to L, second drawer,” I said. Avery pulled it but it only moved a little before it got stuck.
“Is it locked?” she asked.
“I think the metal has changed shape over the years. Here. Let me try.”
I got my knife into the locking mechanism and forced it open. The drawer slid out with a shrill squeal that unsettled me.
“Ugh. What a horrible noise,” Avery grumbled. “Let’s see... Griggs... Griggs... Aha.” She pulled out a file and opened it. “George Griggs. Born to Eileen Griggs. An unmarried mother. Adopted at birth.”
“Put it away. You can look through it when we get out of here. Right now we need to examine the house for more evidence of the current crime taking place in the present day. Also, I want my dog back.” I knew my tone was pretty stern, and more than a little grumpy, but I didn’t want to spend any longer in this place than I had to. And I didn’t want to miss any vital clues about Duke’s whereabouts.
“Sure.” She stowed the file in her purse and we kept looking around, but we didn’t find anything else. More than ready for bed, we stumbled out of the house and headed back for the squad car. Mr. Ryan saw us and ran out to talk.
“Officer! I gotta show you something!” He held out his pho
ne. At first, I wasn’t sure what I was looking at, because the screen was black and fuzzy, but then the sound started. Barking. Different sizes of dog.
“Get ‘em out,” someone shouted.
Amidst the black fuzz on the screen, lights flickered, and suddenly it became clearer that this was a recording of the Clifton place. Two figures moved past one window. I went back and watched it again, zooming in on that window.
“Definitely two of them,” Avery remarked.
“That’s really helpful. May I take a copy, please?” I asked Mr. Ryan. He nodded. I air dropped the file to my own phone as I didn’t want to impound his, especially with dog thefts taking place right on his doorstep.
We went back to my place and I felt several steps closer to finding Duke, even if I had no idea where to look next. We knew there were two thieves, now.
“So air con guy takes the dogs,” Avery began as we had our last decaf coffee before bed. “Then he takes them to that Clifton house. Where someone else picks them up and transports them... where?”
“We don’t know. But now we’ve seen where they’re meeting, we can maybe catch them in the act. I’ll let Bob know as soon as we get back to the precinct, this evening.”
Avery
“No fair, I want binoculars, too,” I complained.
Rick sighed. “I have to see. It’s my job.”
We were on stake-out again. This time, Bob, Mike and Sean were all working a double shift to watch the Clifton place, too. No one wanted Mr. Freeze to get away a second time. It was pretty hard to hide three squad cars in the open desert in broad daylight, but after sundown, it was actually quite simple. The guys had clearly done this sort of thing before, and now they waited in silence, headlights and engines off, watching the house from three different directions. Rick and I were in the same car, of course. Mike and Sheriff Bob were in the second, and Sean was alone in the third.
Rick was using night vision binoculars and I was largely feeling like a spare wheel.
“C’monn, let me have a turn,” I said.
“Here. Use the FLIR device and quit complaining.” He handed me the thermal imaging device and I held it up to see what was going on.
Stay All Night: Arizona Law 2 (Arizona Heat Book 6) Page 12