Valerie watched from a distance. Blake purchased his ticket and went into a bar to await his boarding time. She viewed the overhead screens and got the gate number and time of the next flight for Eugene, Oregon and then she got busy. Before she’d nailed down her job in at Reno’s only TV station, she had worked at the airport as a ticket agent for an airline. She knew everyone at the airport and was still employed as an on-call/part-time employee. She generally worked during peak holidays or when they needed her to fill-in on the evening shift for someone who called in sick. Being an employee meant she still enjoyed the perks of the job. She was going to get on that flight!
It was nearly a four-hour flight to Eugene on a thirty-passenger airbus. While in flight, Blake booked a rental vehicle and plugged in the addresses of the airport and the hospital into the GPS. The flight movie wasn’t something he wanted to see, and he didn’t feel like playing games on his iPad. He closed his eyes to bring up some good memories from the last several days. Valerie Hannah was one heck of a woman. She was spoiled, pretentious, and actually a little naïve, but he thought she was darn near the perfect woman for him.
Valerie had used a free flight pass that was still valid and had cleared through employee security. She had changed into the spare airline uniform she kept in her locker in the employee changing room. Regulations required that she had to be in uniform to use her flight pass and she sat in the flight attendants section of the plane for the entire trip, using a pull down extra seat specifically designed for employee use. It was tight quarters even with only her and one other attendant, but at least the attendant was someone she knew. Her luck was holding. Blake had booked a flight with same airline where she worked. She could probably have finagled a seat even if it was with another airline, but this made it easier all around. So far, so good. She had followed Blake, and he didn’t appear to be aware that she was following him. She was a little concerned about when she had to show herself, but she’d worry about that when the time came.
Blake left the airport rental car agency in a Ford Escalade, the only rental vehicle among the many small compact vehicles that was large enough for him to be comfortable. He was going through a section of road leading out of the airport, which seemed to have speed bumps every thirty feet. As he went over a particularly high bump a little too fast, he heard a muffled grunt. He waited until he was in a clear area, and he pulled over to the side of the road in front of a warehouse. Cutting the engine, he pulled his gun, went to the back and opened the hatch.
“Freeze! What the hell!” Blake exclaimed, lowering and swinging his weapon into clear space. Valerie was sprawled facedown across the back luggage area.
“Oh, hi,” Valerie said with a perky smile. “Help me up, please.”
“Stay right there!” Blake ordered as he holstered his gun. “What the hell are you doing here, Val?”
“I followed you. I want to see Caitlin, and I knew you were going to her,” Valerie pouted putting on her best look of innocence.
“How did you get into the vehicle?” he demanded.
“I was already in it. Rental cars are never locked, and it was the only one in the lot big enough for you so when you went in to do the paperwork, I got in. The windows are all tinted dark, so after you put the suitcase in, I jumped over the backseat. This is the first time I’ve ever followed anyone, and it worked! You didn’t even know I was following you. I could be an investigative reporter,” Valerie gave him a big smile, all innocent and harmless.
Blake couldn’t believe what he was hearing. She thought this was some kind of game or lark. He grabbed her around the waist and lifted her part way out, but he leaned back against the vehicle and pulled her partially over his lap. “You might think it was fun and games, but I call it obstruction and interference with federal law enforcement. You’re going to learn right now that my job is not a game, and I will not tolerate interference.” He raised his large hand and landed a hard smack on that rounded bottom of hers.
“Ow!” Valerie screamed.
Smack!
“Ow! Stop it Blake! Ow! Ow! Blake you’re being mean! Ow! Ow! Oh! Stop it! Ow! Valerie’s voice got shriller as her bottom began to sting and burn.
“Blake! Stop, please, please, stop! Ow! Ow!”
Blake stopped for a moment. “Will you ever try a stunt like this again?” he demanded.
“No, I promise! I won’t, I won’t,” Valerie wailed.
“This will make sure you remember,” Blake said and he laid several more really hard smacks on her thighs and the underside of her buttocks.
“Oh! Oh!” Valerie was dancing and holding her bottom when he let go and set her on her feet.
“See that you do remember,” Blake growled at her angrily. “I could have shot you! It would have been a damn shame if I’d killed the woman I intend to marry!’
Valerie stopped dancing around and stared at him. “What kind of man are you? You walloped me and announce that you’re going to marry me!”
“Yes,” Blake said yanking her to him and giving her a hard kiss. “If you’re going to marry a U.S. Marshal you have to learn when it’s playtime and when it’s not. Following me when I’m on duty is not playtime!” He gripped her arm and marched her to the passenger side of the car, giving her bottom an addition swat ever other step that had her dancing and yelping. He opened the car door, and as she bent to get in, he gave her one resounding hard wallop that made her scream.
He got into the driver’s seat and looked at his watch. “I’m going to get us a hotel room, drop you off and head for the hospital.”
“I want to see Caitlin!” Valerie wailed her mascara smeared from her tears.
“Ms. Randolph isn’t here, and you’re not supposed to be here,” Blake exclaimed angrily. “I’m dropping you off at the hotel. I’ll be back as soon as I can. I’m planning on making love to you when I get there, but if you give me any more trouble I’ll blister that sweet tail of yours—understood?”
Valerie sniffed back her tears and nodded. She wanted the loving, and she wanted Blake, but she wasn’t all that fond of the idea that he wanted to blister her backside.
* * * * *
“Marshal Bennett was given Rohypnol,” Doctor Michael Ramsey explained to Blake when he arrived at the Sacred Heart Medical Center and showed his credentials after already receiving a phone call and a fax of the authorization for the release of information from the U.S. Marshal Service. “The drug was administered by direct injection, so he was rendered unconscious within seconds. Whoever did this called an ambulance right away, reported his location and reported what he’d been injected with, the exact amount and time of the injection. All the dispatcher was able to report was that it was a woman’s voice, and she was very precise. Those phone calls are recorded if you need it. We took lab samples, and verified the drug was in his system. We’ve given him an IV of saline solution. It won’t do much except maybe reduce the side effects. He may have a headache and some dizziness.”
“Any idea when he’s going to wake up?” Blake asked.
“He was brought in at 9:40 am. It’s 2:00 pm now, it may be another five or six hours, we’ll probably keep him tonight for observation.”
“Good luck with that,” Blake said knowing his partner. He checked Chase’s cubicle in the ER and Chase was out cold. He called Hank Stubbins to update him, and they agreed that putting out an APB on Caitlin would only alert the Rigoltees that she wasn’t in their protective custody.
Meanwhile, Edwina Caitlin Randolph was at a used car dealership selling her Jeep for cash. She had reverted back to her previous alias because the Jeep title was in that name. After signing over the title, she removed the tags and took a bus to another car dealer on the opposite side of the city. She used another set of identification to purchase a small used compact car. After driving off the lot, she exchanged the temporary tags for license plates from Oregon. She was on the highway heading north in less than two hours. She made one phone call to the hospital, and identifying herself
as Chase Bennett’s sister, and was told that no information could be given out. She hadn’t expected any. She only wanted to verify that he’d gotten to the hospital. She thanked the nurse on duty and said she would be arriving soon. In actuality, she put her foot on the gas and never let her speed drop one mile less than the legal speed limit. At least she knew he was in the hospital, and she could hope that he was okay. If Chase had been angry before, he’d kill her if he caught up with her now.
* * * * *
“Not a trace,” Blake said as he watched his friend getting dressed. Chase looked like he had the worst hangover of his life. His eyes were bloodshot, and every movement seemed to cause him pain, but he was stubbornly checking himself out of the hospital.
“No one disappears that fast,” Chase groaned.
“She has experience and – face it, partner – she’s smart. She outsmarted you twice, and she’s had a lot of time to perfect a plan of escape. The Jeep has already been sold. It’s sitting on a used car lot. You said she had good fake identities. She’s probably already chucked the Edwina Potter identity and is using another.”
“What about the Concrete, Oregon connection?” Chase demanded.
“Sixty-two acres of prime real-estate sitting on the Sauk River,” Blake reported. “It was purchased by Edwina Caitlin Potter two years ago. According to the agent who checked it out, there’s a large house with a three-car garage. The house is partially furnished and the garage is empty. It has solar heating panels and a wind turbine. The taxes are paid, and a security service checks on the house randomly. Electric service is turned on but with the wind turbine and solar panels storing electricity, the electric company is actually buying back unused electricity, so it’s a pretty nifty setup, very self sufficient. No other services were connected. She’s not there.”
“I’ve got to find her,” Chase growled.
“She doesn’t want to be found and she smart enough to stay under both our radar and Rigoltees' radar.” Blake said wearily. “Look bro, give it up. She’s gone. Go home to Texas like you planned.”
“I can’t,” Chase said. “I’m in love with her and have been for years. I’m not willing to give up on her. I know in actual time we haven’t been together that long, but it’s long enough to know she’s the one for me. Can you understand that?”
Blake thought about the woman he had waiting for him in his hotel room. “Yeah, actually, I can.”
* * * * *
Valerie waited for two hours for Blake to return before she called him. He said he was working, and he’d be there as soon as he could. She rubbed her sore bottom. She still couldn’t believe he’d hit her. Her daddy would have called it discipline. She turned on the TV, flipped through all 128 stations and found nothing of interest. She did see a recast of the Mustang segment, and she watched her performance critically. Even though the segment had gotten Caitlin into trouble, she’d looked beautiful even wearing that old flannel shirt and scruffy jeans. Caitlin wasn’t tiny but she made Valerie look like giant. She’d always been tall, and she’d been built since she’d turned fourteen. The boys had flocked around her, although her daddy had driven them off until she was allowed to date at seventeen. By then even she knew the boys were mostly after only one thing, and that was to see how fast they could get into her pants. She’d kept them out until she’d been eighteen, and she’d fallen for a sweet story that turned out to be a lie. Since she’d left home, it had been one lie after another. She was desperate to believe that Blake was different, but she didn’t want a man who wanted to wallop her. She wanted a man that would pamper and indulge her.
Valerie walked over to the lobby and asked the clerk if there was a shopping mall nearby. The clerk smiled at her and pointed up the street. She smiled and headed for the Bloomingdale’s sign. Two hours later, she returned by cab because she had too many bags to carry. She justified the two new pairs of shoes, and the three new sets of matching panties and bras as necessary because she didn’t have anything with her. The new slacks, and blouses she simply needed—she couldn’t run around in an airport uniform forever. The sexy lingerie - well she smiled - that was for Blake. She’d spent the money that Blake had left on the restaurant table and she didn’t feel the least bit guilty about it. She’d also added to the totals on her Visa cards. She’d bought dinner for them too, Chinese that they could heat up in the microwave and eat in their room because she had a surprise for Blake.
* * * * *
The hospital insisted that Chase had to be escorted from his room to the lobby in a wheelchair. He hated it, but he complied - rules were rules.
Blake went out ahead of them, to get his vehicle from the parking lot and met him at the lobby entrance.
As soon as the orderly shut the car door, Chase turned to him. “Did you happen to notice the flight schedule back to Reno tonight?”
“Why?” Blake asked. “You told the doctor you’d go straight to the hotel and sleep off what’s left of the side effects.”
“I’m going back to Reno to take a crack at that friend of Caitlin’s. I’ll see if I can get any more information out of her,” Chase said.
“Valerie is here,” Blake admitted. “She’s should be in my hotel room.”
Chase gave his partner an assessing look.
“Hey, I didn’t bring her,” Blake grumbled. “She followed me and when I found her, I took her to the hotel. She identifies herself as Ms. Randolph’s best friend. Val thought she was with you.”
“Is she interfering with our case because she’s Caitlin’s friend or because she wants another crack at a news story?” Chase demanded.
“She didn’t know anything about Caitlin’s past. She’s worried about her, and she added up the facts wrong. She knew Caitlin was with you. I was coming to you, so she figured Caitlin was here, and she followed me. I don’t think she’ll try that stunt. We had a little discussion, and I think I set her straight.”
“Did that discussion include a king sized paddle?” Chase asked gruffly.
Blake chuckled. “No, it was my hand on that deluxe sized booty of hers. It made a fine target, and I don’t think she’ll try that stunt again. In this case, it actually works out in your favor. You can talk to her tonight and get a decent night’s sleep.”
“You’re involved with her already?” Chase grumbled.
“Yeah, I am, and I got involved before I was officially assigned to the case, if we even have a case. She’s not a case suspect or a witness, so I haven’t violated any protocol.”
“That was fast,” Chase said.
“It was, but its right,” Blake admitted with a grin. “That spoilt little drama queen hasn’t quite figured it out yet, but if I have my way, she’s going to be popping out my babies soon.”
“Jesus,” Chase grumbled. “I know Cait drugged me, but what the hell happened to you?”
Chapter 6
Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada, October
Caitlin sat on her deck enjoying an early morning cup of coffee. It was only early October but the morning temperatures were in the mid-teens. By midday, they would be in the low forties if the weather followed the predicted pattern. Her neighbors kept warning her that the weather could change in a matter of minutes and sub-zero temperatures weren’t anything to ignore. The Purcell Mountains, visible from her deck were covered in deep snow and a beautiful sight to behold. She’d begun her life on the east coast, traveled to the west out of necessity and now she had once again relocated, but this time outside her home country. She smiled. If this was being exiled, she was enjoying it.
She finished her coffee and went back into the house, only to hear a knock at her door. She startled, because she wasn’t expecting anyone. She went to the window and peered out. A large blue SUV was parked in her driveway but no one was on her front porch or yard. She opened a drawer, pulled out a Glock 9-mm handgun and stepped around to slide outside a side door. She peered around the corner. No one was there.
“Scared?”
Caitli
n whirled around and dropped her arm. “Damn it, Chase, that’s a good way to get killed.”
“You would never fire without determining your target first,” he said mildly. “Someone trained you well. Are you Caitlin, or should I call you Colleen--Colleen Caitlin MacFarland?”
She stepped back. “I’m always Caitlin. Am I going to need this gun to protect myself from you?” she snapped disagreeably.
“I don’t think warming your backside equals getting shot,” Chase said, walking away and around to the back of the house. He stood in the yard and looked over at the mountains. “Wow, we’re not in Kansas anymore! That’s a view worth paying for.”
“I did pay for it,” Caitlin said dryly. “And I’ve never been to Kansas.”
“It’s a lot like Texas, only greener,” Chase admitted. “It’s a lot of flat land and prairies, but once a Texan, always a Texan.”
“What are you doing here, Chase? Am I going to have to relocate again?” Caitlin demanded, resigned to the worst.
He shook his head. “Can we take this inside? I could use some coffee, but I’m making it and making you drink some of first. I’ve learned the hard way not to trust you.”
Caitlin lips twitched and headed up the deck stairs. She didn’t try to stop him from following or deny him entry.
True to his word, Chase followed her into the kitchen and dumped the nearly full pot of coffee down the drain, rummaging through her cupboards until he found a can of unopened can. “Can opener?”
“It’s in that big crock by the stove.”
He opened the coffee can and actually inhaled the vapors as they escaped. “Strong or weak?”
“Strong.”
He counted out nine spoons of coffee and assembled the old fashioned percolator.
Caitlin's Conspiracies Page 6