by Rebecca York
“Yes.”
“Well, it might take a while to get them back. Like until the end of the tourist season. If you announce it then, everybody who counts will have forgotten about it by next spring,” Weston suggested.
Sage kept her gaze on Chief Judd. She had the feeling he didn’t like the solution, but he said nothing. Probably because these people had the power to hire and fire the police chief.
She and Ben had been so intent on the discussion that it never occurred to either of them that someone else could have been listening too. Not until a man burst into the room from the back of the house. He was wielding a gun and looked like he could breathe fire as he shouted, “Hands in the air. Make a move and I’ll drill you.”
Chapter Thirteen
Sage dragged in a strangled breath.
“It’s Gary Baker,” she whispered.
Laurel’s father. Lord, had they been wrong about him all along? Had he been involved in his own daughter’s kidnapping after all?
“Take out your gun,” he said to the chief. “Use two fingers and drop it on the floor. Then kick it this way.”
Judd’s shoulders were rigid, but he complied.
Gary kicked the gun under a heavy chest at the side of the room.
“Who are you? And what do you want?” Martin Kendley, the bank president demanded.
“I’m Gary Baker. The girl you’ve been discussing like she’s a piece of trash that got tossed out of a car window is my daughter, Laurel.”
Some of the people in the room sucked in a sharp breath. Others uttered startled exclamations.
“And you’re doing nothing to find her,” Gary added.
“What can we do?” Mayor Hinton asked.
“Admit she’s a kidnap victim. Call in the FBI instead of leaving the investigation to your puppet police chief.”
“Wait a minute,” Judd snarled.
“You deny it?” Gary challenged.
“There’s no proof she’s been kidnapped,” the mayor interjected. “Her mother doesn’t even think so.”
“Then why did you pay her to get out of town?”
Nobody answered.
“Somebody here knows what happened to my daughter. I’m going to start shooting you, one by one, until I get some answers,” Gary said. “Maybe that will break your code of silence.”
Sage glanced at Ben. “We can’t let him shoot people. What are we going to do?”
“We need a distraction,” Ben muttered.
“You go around back, the way he did. When I see you behind him, I can—”
“No.”
“You didn’t even let me finish. I can throw something at a window. That will draw his attention, and you can bring him down.”
Ben considered the idea, then answered with a tight nod.
He took off, moving quickly around the house, and Sage hoped he wouldn’t have any problem getting in.
She turned to the grounds, looking for something to throw and found a flower bed bordered by egg-sized rocks. Picking up two, she brought them back to the window.
“Who has information about my daughter?” Gary asked.
“Nobody,” the mayor answered. “Can’t you see we’re as confounded as you?”
“All I can see is some kind of conspiracy.”
Sage peered in the window, praying that Gary didn’t start shooting. She didn’t like these people or what they’d done to conceal an obvious crime, but she didn’t see how shooting any of them would help the situation.
She waited with her heart pounding. Ben had disappeared, and she was afraid he’d run into some kind of trouble. Precious seconds ticked by, until finally she saw a flash of movement behind Gary. It was Ben, moving quietly down the hall.
She held her breath. The people in the room must be able to see him. What if one of them gave him away? When she’d come up with this plan, neither of them had thought of that danger.
oOo
As Ben closed in on Gary, he could see the people in the room, and they could see him, too.
Their expressions were comical. Surprise. Bewilderment. Relief. He moved faster, praying that he could get to Gary before they gave him away.
A windowpane shattered, and he knew Sage must have thrown the rock.
“What the hell?” The anguished father got off a shot at the glass, but Ben was already tackling the man, wrestling him to the floor, grappling with him for the gun.
oOo
After throwing the rock, Sage was at the wrong angle to see what was going on in the house. Fear surged through her as she rushed inside and pelted down the hall. When she entered the meeting room, the assembly had turned to chaos, with many of the people rushing the door.
Desperate to get to Ben, she fought the tide, shouting, “Let me through.”
Elbows and shoulders slammed into her, but she kept pressing forward and made it to the front of the room where she saw Gary and Ben wrestling on the floor. Judd had retrieved his gun from under the chest and was holding it pointed at the struggling men.
“Don’t shoot,” she gasped, afraid that he was going to hit Ben.
The chief glanced at her, his expression a mixture of relief and anger.
Gary made a strangled sound, and her gaze zinged back to the two men fighting for control of the weapon. Gary still had his finger on the trigger, and he managed to get off another shot, but it went into the wall.
Ben slammed the man’s chin with his head, and Gary roared in anger, flailing with his free hand, catching Ben on the side of the face.
Ben rolled on top of the man, pinning his free arm down with a leg while he bent the gun hand back.
When Gary screamed and dropped the weapon, Ben punched him in the jaw.
As Gary finally went slack, Judd darted in and whipped out handcuffs. “Out of the way,” he bellowed.
Ben climbed to his feet, and the chief rolled the unconscious man to his stomach, pressing a knee into his back as he pulled his hands behind him and cuffed them.
Sage rushed to Ben, who was breathing hard. “Are you all right?” she asked urgently.
“Yes. Are you?”
Her reply was interrupted by the chief. “You again. How did you two happen to be here?”
Ben ignored the end of the sentence. “Lucky we showed up, don’t you think?”
Judd glared at him. “What are you doing here?” he repeated.
Sage started to answer, but Ben closed his hand around her arm and she swallowed her explanation.
“We saw Gary Baker in town and followed him. He led us to this meeting,” Ben explained.
Judd gave him a narrow-eyed look, but there was no way he could prove that Ben was lying about how they’d managed to make their nick-of-time appearance.
“How much did you hear?” he asked.
Ben kept his gaze steady. “Enough to know that you’d better announce those DNA results when they come back.”
The chief glanced at the mayor, then back at them.
“I’ll run my department as I see fit,” he said, but Sage couldn’t help thinking he was blustering for show.
Ben shrugged. “I’m hoping you’ll do the right thing.”
Gary had started to struggle against the cuffs.
“Get these things the hell off of me,” he moaned.
Judd hauled him up. “Come on,” he said, leading him toward the door.
Sage had been so focused on Ben and Judd that she hadn’t noticed that some of the people who had fled had come quietly back to the sitting room.
“Thank you,” Mayor Hinton said. “That could have gone rather badly.”
Doris Jenkins nodded. “To say the least.”
Sage looked around at the town leaders who were now focused on her and Ben. “Does anyone have any idea where to find my sister?” she asked.
Some people shook their heads. Others gave a negative reply.
Sage kept her gaze on them. “You’re sure?”
“If we knew, we’d tell you,” Doris said, but
Sage thought she was only speaking for herself.
“If you come up with any information, let us know.” Ben handed out some of his business cards.
After waiting for responses and getting none, they headed for the door.
Outside, more of the people who had attended the meeting stood around talking in small groups. When a patrol car pulled up, everyone’s attention riveted on the two uniformed officers who got out and went into the house. They returned a few moments later, escorting Gary Baker to the vehicle.
One of the officers opened the back door and put a hand on Baker’s head to guide him into the backseat. With the prisoner secured, the car pulled away.
“What’s going to happen to him?” Sage asked.
“He’ll be transferred to the State Police,” Ben said. “I doubt that he’ll get bail.”
“So he’s out of the picture?”
“Yes.”
Judd still hadn’t come out, and Sage wondered what he was still doing in there.
Her focus switched to the crowd of onlookers. With the patrol car gone, she and Ben were now the main event.
Trying to ignore the scrutiny, she reached for Ben’s hand and held on tight. “I was scared when I heard that shot,” she whispered.
“I’m fine.”
She wanted to pull him into her arms, but not with everybody staring at them.
Ben looked back at the crowd, repeated his request for information and handed out more business cards. In answer to questions, he also repeated his explanation of how they’d gotten there.
“Maybe somebody will have a change of heart,” he said as they finally walked down the drive.
“I’d like to think so.” She glanced back to make sure nobody was nearby, then added, “That was a good idea to say that we’d followed Gary instead of them.”
“Seemed like the better alternative. And if you stretch your imagination, it’s true.”
“Oh, right. He was in that last car we saw.” She thought about Laurel’s father bursting into the meeting. “Poor Gary. I guess he’s as worried as I am.”
“Only he came here half cocked—prepared to start shooting people.”
“Too bad that’s his style.”
She stopped talking abruptly when she saw Malcolm Varney, the men’s clothing store owner, coming toward them.
Ben looked at him inquiringly. “Did you remember something about Laurel Baker?”
“No.” He looked around to make sure nobody was close enough to hear them. “But there was something about another girl.” He lowered his voice. “I was out at Pine Fairways, and I heard two of the caddies talking about seeing something in the swampy area near the course.”
“Like what?”
“Bones.”
“Oh yeah?” Ben asked. “Where, exactly?”
“I didn’t ask.” He paused for a beat, then added, “Because it was none of my business.”
“But it is now?”
“I don’t like the idea of hiding a crime. Murder.”
“So you don’t think they were talking about an animal?”
“No.”
“And you didn’t report it?” Ben pressed.
The man bristled. “It was . . . hearsay. It still is. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“No. You did the right thing. We appreciate the tip.”
oOo
Inside, Chief Judd, Mayor Hinton and George Myers waited until the rest of the people had exited the building.
“That was unfortunate,” Hinton said.
“I don’t think the girl’s father is going to give us any more trouble,” the chief answered. “He’s going to prison for that stunt.”
“What about Sage Arnold and Ben Walker?” the mayor asked.
“That’s another matter. They saved our bacon a little while ago, and people took note of that.”
“Yeah.”
The chief shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “We still have to consider the other matter.” He looked at George Myers. “At lunch you said you have a shipment coming in later tonight?”
The Pine Fairways owner nodded. “I’m increasing my private security.”
Judd gave the other two men a long look. “This project of yours is getting risky.”
“It was always risky.”
“It’s getting harder to look the other way.”
“That’s too bad, because you’re in this as deeply as we are.”
Judd responded with a tight nod.
“Just keep on doing what you’re doing, and everything’s gonna be okay,” the Pine Fairways owner answered.
Judd forced himself to say, “Right,” when he really didn’t think so.
oOo
Sage watched Varney stride back up the lane. “At least he told us that much. But how would we find a body over there? I mean, the way the golf course is built, it’s bordered by a lot of swampy land. They had to truck in a ton of dirt to get fairways they could use.”
Ben looked thoughtful. “There might be a way.”
“Care to share what you’re thinking?”
“I’d like to see Pine Fairways again.”
He passed through town toward the golf club and turned onto the carefully tended property, driving past the large, well-landscaped houses that lined the fairways.
“It looks like they’ve got a rule about spending a minimum amount on your home if you want to live here,” Ben said.
“George Myers has to maintain his standards,” she said, unable to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.
Ben passed the clubhouse and continued on a loop road that circled the property. In back of the homes were stands of pines, oaks and other hardwoods.
“You’re right. A lot of swamp to cover,” he muttered.
Pulling to the shoulder, he got out of the car. Sage followed him as he walked across well-tended grass to the trees beyond. She could see large areas where the ground looked boggy.
Ben gestured. “Is that a river back there?”
“Yes.”
“The same one where the warehouse was located?”
She nodded.
Out on the road one of the white jeeps that had followed them on their previous visit pulled up in back of their car. A uniformed rent-a-cop climbed out and approached them. “Can I help you?” he asked.
“We’re just looking for a good place to pick up pine cones,” Ben said.
“For what?”
“For my girlfriend’s craft projects. She makes them into Christmas ornaments.”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to do that somewhere else.”
“No problem.”
They walked back to his car and climbed in.
“Pine cones,” Sage said. “He probably thinks we’re trying to figure out a way to rob some of the expensive houses.”
“Which is why I didn’t give him any argument.”
She looked at him. “We went to the warehouse because you had . . .” She let her voice trail off, then started again, “You had some kind of premonition that we were going to find something there.”
“Yeah.”
“Did you get the same feeling here?”
He hesitated before answering. “No. Maybe that was a one-time deal. But we can’t ignore a tip from a local resident.”
They drove in silence for a few minutes.
“It’s not like you can look for a body with a metal detector or anything,” Sage said. “You need a dog.”
“A dog. Yeah,” Ben answered. “But we don’t have one.”
“What do you have in mind for finding a bone in a haystack?” she asked as they drove back to the motel.
“I need to talk to one of the other Decorah agents. Cole Marshall.”
She waited for him to tell her what he had in mind, but he didn’t speak again.
When she stepped inside their room, he hesitated in the doorway. “I need to speak to him in private.”
“Why?”
“It’s better that way.”
<
br /> Without further explanation, he walked outside again, closing the door and leaving her wondering why he was suddenly withdrawing from her.
Chapter Fourteen
Outside, Ben punched in the Decorah Security number and asked to speak to Cole Marshall.
Moments later, the other agent came on the line.
“I’m glad I caught you.”
“Aren’t you on a case in Doncaster?”
“Yes. And I’m hoping you can help me with a problem down here.”
Cole waited for more information.
“Sage Arnold and I are looking for her missing sister. It turns out there are other women who have gone missing—most of them Eastern Europeans who came here to work in the restaurants. Sage and I believe we found one of the bodies in an old warehouse.”
“Yeah, we heard Mark Linton had to spring you from jail. I can’t imagine that was any fun.”
“Not much.” He paused and cleared his throat. “This is a basically hostile environment, but we just did a favor for the chief of police.” Briefly he explained about keeping Gary Baker from shooting any of the town’s leading citizens.
“What do you need from me?” Cole asked.
“There may be another body laid out in a swampy area near the golf course. I was hoping you could come down and help me find it.”
“You mean my alter ego,” Cole said.
“Yes.”
Like Ben, Cole had special powers that made him particularly useful as a Decorah Security agent. But his paranormal ability was different. Cole was a werewolf, which was why he’d been sent to the Windward. He’d used his animal sense of smell to locate a woman who’d been kidnapped and taken there.
“When do you need me?”
“As soon as possible.”
“I can leave now.”
“I appreciate it.”
Ben gave Cole the name of their motel and the room number, then clicked off and stepped back inside.
Sage looked at him expectantly.
His stomach clenched because he knew this wasn’t going to be a very satisfactory conversation from her point of view.
“Cole Marshall will be down here in a couple of hours.”
“The guy you met on the Windward?”
He nodded.
“What’s he coming for, exactly?” she asked.
“To help me search for the body.”