by Rose, Kristi
I sniffed a lie.
He continued, “It’s not easy to lose someone and, trust me, I want more than anything to leave you to grieve, but Carson was working with me on something sensitive in nature. Something that could get me in trouble if my client finds out I shared. I was wondering if maybe you came across a file with my name on it?” He ducked his head in embarrassment.
I lied, too. Sorta. “There are no files. I have nothing. Certainly nothing with your name on it.” That last part was true.
“Maybe it’s in a safe or safe deposit box?” Cooper pressed.
“None of those, either.” Truth again. No need to mention the secret IT room or cloud.
Cooper harrumphed. His hand repeatedly balling up into a fist and then releasing. “Is that Carson’s backpack?” He eyed the pack between us.
“I wish I could help you, but I can’t.” I stood and glanced back at the Frontiersman, slipping the backpack over one shoulder. I tucked my phone in my skirt pocket.
Leo was walking toward me, dressed in his uniform. Maybe he had information about the guy who tried to grab my backpack.
Cooper stood as well. “I’m sorry if I’m being pushy, but I could be in real trouble here. Is there a laptop or bag where he could have stored it? Maybe he put the files on a thumb drive? How did you get his pack?” He eyed the pack on my back.
My spidey senses went on high alert. Maybe it was a coincidence to bring up the backpack, but I didn’t really believe in coincidences.
“Hey, Leo,” I said calling attention to him. Cooper needed to know that a cop was approaching and I was on a first-name basis with him.
“Samantha,” Leo said and surveyed Cooper. He came to stand next to me.
“This is Joe Cooper. He says he knew Carson, and Carson did some work for him.”
“With me. Not for me.” Cooper thrust out his hand.
In my skirt pocket, my phone came alive, buzzing and honking out the most atrocious noise I’d ever heard. I dug it out, pulling the pocket with it so that it fell like a droopy ear.
I studied the phone. The app Toby had installed was glowing red, so I pressed it. Immediately, a video came up. I recognized my house. A strange man was going through it, tossing cushions off the couch like a trainer tosses fish to seals. He seemed familiar, and it then dawned on me this was the same guy from outside the paper and Lockett’s office. Possibly the same guy from the casino.
“Are you kidding me?” I yelled. “Get out of my house!” I screamed at the video. He continued to toss my place. Then the unimaginable happened. Precious stepped through the door. A large urn in her hands.
Leo pressed against me so he could see the screen. He mumbled something into the mic on his shoulder.
“Run, Precious!” I said. I put the phone close to my face and watched as the man charged toward Precious. She flung the urn at him, but it crashed against the wall. He reached Precious and pushed her into the wall. She crumbled into a pile on my floor. He stared down at her for far longer than normal. Not that anything about this moment was relatively close to normal.
“Police are on their way, Samantha,” Leo said, then continued to speak cop talk into the mic on his shoulder.
Something inside me snapped. The world around me became hazy with a red-tinged glow. My barely contained anger exploded out. I glanced at Leo, then lunged for his gun. “Gimme your gun. I’m going to shoot this menace.”
Leo quickly side-stepped me and batted down my hand. “Are you crazy? You can’t have my gun.”
“I can’t sit here making fake polite conversation with this stranger. I have to do something!”
Leo eyed Cooper, then said to me, “I’ll take you there myself. Come on.” Leo grabbed me by the elbow and hustled me away. “Are you insane? Going for a cop’s gun? I could arrest you for that.”
“I’m angry,” I said and noticed I was outpacing him to the building. “And I’m not going to take it anymore.”
15
Monday
By the time Leo and I got to my house, which was minutes later, the burglar was long gone. Leo wanted to clear the place before letting me in. But on the ride there, I’d watched from the video monitor on my phone and knew the man was gone. I’d watched him get a text and bolt and then Precious come to and prop herself up against the wall.
While Leo went off to make sure the house was empty, I rushed to Precious. A slow trickle of blood ran down from her temple.
“How you doing?” I asked, crouching next to her. “You want me to call the paramedics?”
“He had the power of Bigfoot but definitely not the manners,” she mumbled.
I took her hand away and looked at the large bump and small cut on the side of her head. “I don’t think you need stitches. Come on, let’s get you to a chair.” I helped her up.
My downstairs living room, dining room, and kitchen had been tossed. Drawers opened and emptied, cushions off the couch, food spilled from the pantry. What photos I’d left on the wall and fireplace mantel were broken, smashed to the floor, their backs torn off.
“Do you think it was Bigfoot?” she asked as I lowered her onto the couch.
“Why would Bigfoot be in my house?”
“Why, indeed. Maybe because you live by the wildlife reserve. Maybe he was hungry.” She leaned back, resting her head against a cushion.
“I’m going to get you ice,” I said and went into the kitchen.
“You know what a crime scene is?” Leo said angrily as he came into the room. “Because you’re messing up mine.”
I packed a Ziploc bag with ice. “You’re just mad because I refused to wait in the car. You and I both know he was wearing gloves.”
“That explains why his hands were so soft. I don’t imagine Bigfoot has soft hands,” Precious mumbled. I put an ice pack to her head and put her hand over it to hold it in place.
Leo assessed for a head injury, asking her to track his finger. “What if he wasn’t alone or left a booby trap or something? Did you think of that?”
Nope, I hadn’t. But I trusted Carson’s system. Had there been a second guy, the video would have picked him up. There was a camera at the top of the stairs, though not in the bedroom. Apparently, Carson did draw the line in some places. Go figure.
Leo rubbed up and down Precious’s arm. “You’re gonna be okay, Precious. Maybe a slight concussion.”
“What a mess,” I said, suddenly overcome with exhaustion. I sat in the middle of my living room floor and buried my head in my hands. Seeing Precious get hurt had scared the living daylights out of me.
“I don’t know what’s going on here, but my guess is you’re in over your head,” Leo said, coming to stand next to me.
“You think?” I mumbled from between my hands.
He nudged me on the shoulder, and when I looked up, he was offering me a hand. He pulled me up and guided me to the overstuffed chair. After fixing the cushion, he pushed me into the seat.
“What do you think is going on?” Leo squatted beside me. Was this probing a part of his investigation or because he knew me? Not that it mattered, but I was scared, and having a cop in the house was nice. Having a cop friend in the house was even better.
“I honestly don’t know. Nothing has made sense since I was told Carson was dead.”
When the doorbell rang, we exchanged a questioning look, then I rose to get it.
“Bigfoot’s back,” Precious mumbled.
Standing on my doorstep was a tall, heavily bearded man who appeared to be my age. Clearly from Portland with his thin wire glasses, tight skinny jeans, and a salmon-colored button-down shirt. Attached to his pocket was a name badge. Cam, messenger from The Mountains.
“Good evening, ma’am. I’m Cam. I’ve come to talk to you about your ignorance. We all have them, so no judgment, but I’d like to help you with yours.”
I must have looked as incredulous as I felt.
He put up a hand in an attempt to stop me from speaking and smiled kindly. But he had
nothing to worry about from me. My brain couldn’t even process what was happening here.
“I know I’ve shocked you. Maybe even hurt your feelings. But I do it from love. Sister, I want to help you find the truth.” He handed me a pamphlet. On it was written Mountain Church. A silhouette of a mountain with a cross and a Sasquatch were under the church name.
“Are you kidding me? Is this a joke?” My mind was still on the break-in. I glanced at Precious and wondered if this guy’s appearance on my doorstep might be some sort of poorly timed joke.
Cam gave a slight smile. “I know, weird, right? But at Mountain Church, we can help you find your way. We can help you find the truth and see there is so much more around you. If only you open your eyes and look.” He tapped the pamphlet. “We can help wash away your sins. And you do have sins.”
My fuse was already frayed and short from the break-in and Precious being hurt. I wasn’t in the headspace to be reasonable. His words struck deep, and all I heard was a personal attack on my morals. I hadn’t asked to have a man cheat on his wife with me. I hadn’t asked to be the other woman. And, yes, ignorance was my defense.
“Sin?” I fairly screamed in his face. “You want sin? I’ll commit one right now. Then at least we can be on the same page.” Cam stepped back, and I stepped forward. I knocked the pamphlets from his arms like a football player strips a quarterback of the ball. Sudden and hard. Paper scattered everywhere.
“How dare you come to my house and talk to me about my sin?” I screamed, picking up papers and ripping them in two.
“Hey,” Cam said, “stop!” He tried to snatch the handful of papers from me. I stopped ripping and began repeatedly whacking him with them. He covered his face.
“What about your sin, Cam?” I screamed.
An arm came around my waist, lifted me from the ground, and spun me to the side. I was wildly beating the air with the pamphlets.
“You’ve come at a bad time,” Leo said to Cam. “And might I see your permit that allows you to go door-to-door?”
I stopped swinging and slumped against Leo, my feet dangling from the ground, tears on my face.
I assumed Cam showed his permit because Leo set me on the ground and faced me. He stared hard at me. “Help pick up these papers and let this guy go on his way.”
I nodded mutely. I picked up as many as I could then thrust them at Cam, who was staring oddly at me. When Leo wasn’t looking, I kicked Cam in the shin then stormed into my house.
A few seconds later, Leo followed, shutting the door behind him. I’d thrown myself back into the armchair and was wiping tears from my face. Precious was holding a pamphlet.
“He looked like Bigfoot, right?” Precious showed me the image with the Sasquatch under it. “So weird.”
“I feel like I’m in bizarro world.”
She said, “I think I was supposed to be here tonight so I could find out about this church. I’m going to check it out. You should come with me.”
“I think I’m uninvited,” I said.
“You two are a mess,” Leo said then pointed his finger at me. “You need to get a grip.” He’d basically said the same thing to me when I’d vomited all over his crime scene those many years ago.
“Really? Okay, I’ll do that right now,” I said and showed him my middle finger.
He nodded. “Very mature.”
“I’m having a really crappy week, Leo. Try to see things from my perspective, if only for a second. I’ve been living a lie. I don’t know what’s real and what’s not. My car was repo’ed, I had a guy try to steal my backpack, and a man break into my house. After someone broke into my office that I didn’t even know I owned. So, forgive me if my seams are starting to split.” I pointed to the door. “Forgive me if I fight back when someone tugs at them.” I let my head fall back to rest against the chair. “Are we done here? I have a house to clean up.”
The chair dipped slightly as Leo sat on the edge. I eyed him warily.
“Forgive me for being an ass. You have had a helluva week and”—he cleared his throat—“you’re holding it together remarkably well. Between this happening to you and someone trying to torch Graycloud’s restaurant, I don’t know what’s going on anymore.”
I sat up, astonished. “What? When did this happen?”
“Last week…Thursday, I think.” He rubbed a hand down his face, looking as exhausted as I felt.
Thursday was the day after Carson died.
“Is Graycloud okay?” I couldn’t imagine anyone messing with the giant.
“He’s irate. He thinks someone is trying to get his land.” Leo pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed wearily.
“Someone is stupid,” I said. “But they must know the land isn’t protected.”
Leo leaned back, studying me. “How did you know that?”
“I learned about it tonight. I also learned our parents”—I waved a finger between us—“are also landowners up there.”
“Yeah, I found out about that a few months ago.” Leo looked lost in thought.
“Did you know my dad and Chuck also experienced issues at their place of business? Break-ins. I find that curious.” Curious was my preferred word for my interest. It sounded better than nosy.
“Coincidence maybe?” He didn’t look convinced.
“I’m not sure I believe in coincidences.”
“Me, either,” he said.
“My parents’ restaurant has had deliveries gone missing,” Precious said.
“Not a coincidence,” Leo said.
“I pity the fool who rumbles with Graycloud,” I said, wishing I had the same awe Graycloud commanded and strength he exhibited.
“Maybe you should get some help. Beyond the police. We’re overwhelmed with stuff right now, and you won’t be on the priority list. Not that we won’t investigate this. It’s just that—”
“I know what you’re saying.” I slumped back. I was on my own.
Leo rubbed his chin. “What about that lawyer guy, the one who told you about Carson?”
“Yeah, funny thing about him. He doesn’t exist.”
“What? I talked to him.” His expression told me he thought I was nuts.
“I went to his office. It was cleaned out. Like he was never there.” I blew into my hands and made like I was tossing air into the wind. “Gone, like a ghost.”
Leo grunted in frustration. “Irony here is I would tell anyone else in your position to get a PI and try to figure this out. You need a professional to track down that lawyer and Carson’s real identity.”
“Wait, I’m a PI.”
Leo laughed, a real deep belly laugh. “Please, stop joking.”
“Show him,” Precious said. “He’s the sort that needs proof.” She laughed at her own joke.
I pulled up the image of my license on my phone and waved the screen in front of his face. “See. I’m legit.”
That shut him up. He grabbed my phone. “I’d like to know who signed off on your test. You did take a test, right?”
“Of course, I did,” I said with false bravado. I would like to know who signed off on it as well.
“When?”
“When what?”
“When did you take it?”
“A while ago.”
“Why?”
“Why what?” I could play this game all day if it meant he would drop the subject.
He sighed heavily. “Why did you take it?”
I scrambled for an answer. I’d always heard to stick as close to the truth as possible when lying. “Well, I’d started studying for it when I was in college. You know, back when I was studying to be a forensic photographer.”
His eyebrows shot up. “And that was so successful you figured, why not be a PI, too?”
“I had the flu!”
He rolled his eyes. “Continue with the story.”
“At first, I thought it might come in handy as a good backup plan.” I gave a one-shoulder shrug. “Then I got a wild hair and decided to do it.
You know…I’m not good at being a failure, so…”
“So ten years later, you decide to take the PI test. All while your husband is a PI, but you think he installs security systems.” He narrowed his gaze, disbelieving.
Yeah, the whole thing sounded lame and unbelievable.
He turned to Precious. “Look at me and tell me she’s telling the truth.”
“Which one of you? I see two.” She gave him a half smile.
He faced me. “My guess?” he said, pointing a finger at me. “Your husband—I’ll just call him that—took the test and put your name on it. Question is why and who signed the test? They had to be in on it.”
“Pfft,” I said. “That’s a crazy idea.” I couldn’t meet his gaze.
“Find out who signed that test and start asking questions.” He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I can’t believe I just said that.” He opened his eyes, his attention back on me. “Hire someone, hire that guy who worked with Carson. Get to the bottom of this. And watch your back.”
I said, “Consider it done.”
16
Friday
I spent the majority of the week being a good sister to Rachel, helping her through the process of coming to terms with deployment and leaving Cora with us. Correction, with my parents. She stated more than once she feared my influence over my six-year-old niece.
I also helped Precious. I took her to the hospital to have her head looked at then stayed up with her watching Harry and the Hendersons. I even helped in her office with filing while she logged data and information from her weekend out in the Hoh National Rainforest with her Bigfoot buddies a few weeks back. The entire group was very secretive. She wouldn’t even let me peek at what they’d discovered, but I could tell she was excited about it.
On Tuesday, I did a second drive-by the address on Lason’s contact form. I struck gold as a woman my mom’s age (I’m guessing, she wore a large brimmed hat) was out in the yard gardening. On Wednesday, Toby’s search told us the woman at the address was Molly Smith. Further digging indicated she was probably his mother. Unless Lason was into cougars, I was pretty sure Toby’s findings were right. Toby hacked into Lason’s social media, and there was nothing remotely scandalous there either.