Cut & Run

by Traci Hohenstein

  Rachel made the right. Within a couple of minutes, the lake came into view. “Wow, the lake is beautiful.”

  “Slow down. There’s the house; Terre Belle.”

  Rachel pulled up just short of the driveway. The large A-frame house sat on a heavily wooded lot that gave way to views of the sparkling lake in the distance. However, Rachel observed, “The house is a dump. Looks like no one has taken care of the place. I wonder whose white sedan is in the driveway.”

  Red got out the binoculars he kept in his backpack and took a look. “Copy down the plate numbers and send them to my e-mail.” He read the numbers slowly to her. “It’s a Mercedes. Doesn’t Melinda drive a Mercedes?”

  Rachel nodded as she e-mailed the plate numbers. “I remember seeing her and Alanna getting into Melinda’s car when I left Madame Verdene’s.”

  “I’ll see if I can get someone to run them to verify that it’s her car.” Red shifted in his seat and scanned the area. “Wonder what Melinda is doing at her brother’s lake house?”

  “Not sure, but I don’t like where this is going. I can call Chris and ask him if he knows Melinda’s whereabouts.”

  “Let’s wait and see what we can get off the plates. I’ll forward this to my buddy at the department. Hopefully, we’ll hear something soon.” Red shifted around in the car, scanning the area. “I don’t see any activity from here. Looks like a couple lights are on. Hard to tell from this angle. Drive a little farther down the road and let’s turn around.”

  Rachel shifted the car back in gear and headed down the dead-end street. No other vehicles or people in sight. She parked on the other side of the street and killed the motor.

  “Well, since no one else is around, let’s get out and take a look.”

  Red grabbed Rachel before she could open the door. “This isn’t some quiet little beach town. People have loaded guns in places like this, and they aren’t afraid to shoot.”

  “What else are we going to do?”

  “Welcome to your first official stakeout.” Red offered her some of the boiled peanuts he’d picked up at the last gas station. “We sit and wait.”

  “I don’t think Cajun boiled peanuts are on your diet, Red.”

  “Peanuts are actually very good for you.”

  “Yeah, regular peanuts. Not the ones boiled in a Crock-Pot with salt and Cajun seasonings and who knows what else.”

  Rachel took out her bottle of water and a granola bar.

  “Assuming that is Melinda’s car, what in the world is she doing here? Think Adam will show up?”

  Red looked at his cell phone. “I got more info on Adam.” He scrolled down the screen. “He works in a restaurant. Broussard’s. It’s in the Quarter. He’s a sous-chef.”

  “Call him. See if he’s at work,” Rachel suggested.

  Rachel watched the house as she waited for Red to make the call. She wondered how Adam fit into all this. He was at the gas station at the same time as Matt—just before the entire O’Malley family had been attacked. Coincidence? She thought not. Surely he was involved somehow—but as a murderer? It seemed like a stretch for a guy who had a small-time rap sheet. The guy was finally out of jail and had a decent job. Why would he put it all on the line for some plot of his sister’s?

  Red finished talking and hung up the call. “Adam doesn’t work there anymore, according to the hostess,” he said. “The manager is busy with the dinner rush, but she said he would call me back tomorrow afternoon.”

  “Here comes someone now.” Rachel pointed to the house. The sun was fading fast, but the figure coming out the house was very recognizable.

  “Melinda O’Malley,” she said. “I guess there is no need to run the plate now.” Rachel watched as Melinda casually got in her car. “Why am I not surprised? Stay or follow?”

  “Let’s follow her,” said Red. “There may be someone else inside the house, and I don’t want to be caught trespassing and take the chance of getting our heads blown off.”

  Rachel waited until the car got to the end of the road before turning over the engine. She kept her headlights off until she turned on the highway.

  Within a couple of miles, they arrived back in town. The Mercedes turned into a Cane’s fast-food restaurant parking lot and headed for the drive-through.

  “I guess she’s picking up dinner.” Rachel went around the side of the fast-food joint and then backed into a parking space.

  “So.” Rachel picked at her fingernail, her mind racing. “Why is she staying at the lake house? The place hardly looks like somewhere Melinda would stay. Her style is more a five-star hotel.”

  “A little rendezvous? Perhaps she’s having an affair as well?”

  They watched as Melinda took several bags of takeout food at the window. The blond driver was oblivious to anyone watching her as she popped a french fry in her mouth, then blazed out of the parking lot. Rachel waited until the Mercedes was a good way down the highway before following Melinda back to the house. They cruised past the address just in time to see Melinda walking inside with the bulging sacks of fast food.

  “That’s a lot of food for just one anorexic woman,” Rachel commented. “She’s obviously got company.”

  “You’re probably right, but I don’t think we’ll find out who it is tonight,” said Red. “Let’s grab a hotel. In the morning, we can head over to that marina I saw just off the highway. We can rent a boat and see if we can get a good look from the lake.”

  “Good idea.”

  CHAPTER 43

  The next morning, decked in fishing attire and armed with fresh bait and fishing poles, Red and Rachel set out in their rented boat.

  “Somehow I think this was a ruse to get some fishing time in,” Rachel said as Red went about setting up his line. They were a few hundred feet away from the lake house. Rachel had one eye on the backyard and one eye on Red.

  “Hey, got to fit it in while I can.” Red threw out his line and waited.

  Rachel checked her watch. “It’s almost nine o’clock. Not much going on.”

  “Give it a couple of minutes and then take out the binoculars. Do a slow pan of the house and coastline.”

  This could be a big break, and Rachel didn’t want to screw it up. If they didn’t discover any concrete evidence that Melinda was up to no good here, she’d be heading back to New Orleans and turning over everything to Agent Krapek and Detective Jones.

  Red popped opened a can of diet soda and calmly waited.

  “I don’t know how you can do that,” Rachel said.

  “Do what?”

  “Sit there so patiently.”

  “It’s an art.”

  Rachel reached in her bag and pulled out the binoculars. She started scanning to the east of the house and worked her way slowly down the coastline. She zeroed in on a man who was sitting with his back to the window, hunched over a counter in the kitchen area. No one else was visible.

  “I see a man sitting at a kitchen counter. Eating breakfast, scanning a newspaper or magazine,” Rachel said.

  “Melinda isn’t alone, then. Description?”

  “Dark skinned, maybe African American. Can’t see much.”

  She slowly brought the binoculars around to the living room. A large flat-screen TV was mounted to the left of a rock fireplace. Through the binoculars she could see that the TV was on. Upon closer inspection, she could tell it was some kind of news channel, but nobody was watching it. Both the couch and the chairs were empty. She adjusted the binoculars and started scanning the upper floors, when a movement caught her eye. Someone with blond hair, maybe a boy, walked across the room.

  “Wait! I’ve got another person on the second floor. Is that a bedroom? It’s someone young, but I can’t tell if it’s a boy or a girl.” Rachel paused and adjusted her lens, zooming in closer.

  “Definitely a boy. I can’t tell if it’s Patrick or not.” Rachel quickly scanned the rest of the second floor before putting the binoculars away. “No other activity.”

 
; “With no positive identification, there isn’t much we can do.” Red pulled his ringing cell phone out of his pocket. Rachel listened to Red as he talked to whoever was on the other line. The conversation lasted less than a minute. “Who was that?” she asked.

  “Adam’s boss from the restaurant. Adam was fired two weeks ago. That was all she could tell me, but then she alluded to the fact that the restaurant was missing some money. Although she didn’t come out and say directly that Adam took it.”

  “Given his criminal history, that’s possible.”

  Red felt a tug on his line. “Hey, I think I got something. Get the net.”

  Rachel waited while Red pulled in a large fish. “It’s a spotted bass,” he said, admiring the fish. “Too bad I can’t keep it.” He quickly pulled the fishhook out and tossed the fish back in the lake.

  “We should go ahead and call in. Let Krapek know what we’ve found, especially about Adam.”

  Red started up the motor on the boat. “Agreed. Let’s head back to the marina, turn in the boat, and give her a call. Let them handle it from here.”

  CHAPTER 44

  While they were waiting for Agent Krapek and her team to arrive, Red and Rachel posted themselves on Terre Belle again and watched the house. They were under strict orders from Krapek not to trespass on the property or attempt to make any move without her approval. She hadn’t been too happy to find out that Rachel and Red had gone to the lake house without letting her know.

  “Do you see that truck across the street from the house?” Red asked.

  “Yeah. I noticed it last night, too. It turned into the street when we were leaving.”

  Red turned around at the end of the street and came up from behind the truck. It appeared to be empty, although the driver’s-side window was rolled down.

  “Write down the tag number,” he instructed Rachel. “Can’t be too careful.”

  As they drove past, she jotted down the information and then handed it to Red. They left the neighborhood and drove to a gas station a mile down the highway.

  Rachel killed some time by wandering around the store at the gas station while waiting for Red to get the information on who owned the truck. While she was contemplating getting some snacks, a man walked in. She discreetly watched him out of the corner of her eye. He was black, handsome, around six two, and clean-cut, and was wearing dark jeans and a white button-down shirt. He grabbed a gallon of milk and a box of strawberry Pop-Tarts. Rachel scooped some spicy boiled peanuts into a large Styrofoam cup and added a large Diet Coke and some spearmint gum. She got in line behind the man. After he checked out with the cashier, the man turned around, almost bumping into Rachel.

  His eyes met hers. “Excuse me.”

  Rachel nodded, speechless. She recognized that face. It was the man in the FBI sketch. The one whom Matt had identified as the homeless guy who’d approached him on the afternoon of the attack. The one who had also been spotted in Houma. DeShaun McAllister, aka Moses. She wasn’t that surprised to see how clean-cut he looked; she’d always wondered if the Moses homeless getup had been just a costume or part of some elaborate ruse to get at Matt.

  Rachel hurried back to the car and updated Red.

  “I was so busy getting peanuts I didn’t even notice him pull in,” she said. “He’s driving Melinda’s car. Follow him.”

  “Okay, calm down. I can’t make it obvious.” Red pulled out of the gas station and hung behind the car.

  “Who did the truck belong to?”

  “Walter Caputo. He lives two doors down from Matt O’Malley.”

  “What?”

  “You heard right the first time. He’s Matt O’Malley’s neighbor.”

  “Huh.” Rachel watched as the car they were following turned down the road that led to the lake house. “Keep going.”

  “I am. We both know where he is going.” Red passed the road to the lake house, explaining to Rachel. “I don’t want to chance it. Get Matt on the phone. See where he is.”

  Rachel called Matt’s cell phone. He answered on the first ring.

  “Where are you?” she asked.

  “I’m out of town. What’s up?” he asked.

  “Lake Charles?”

  He hesitated before answering, “Baton Rouge.”

  “Really?”

  “How did you find out about the lake house?” Matt sighed, knowing that he’d been found out.

  “Red ran a background check on Adam. We discovered the lake house on his property records and decided to check it out.”

  “You’re good,” Matt said.

  Rachel listened as Matt explained his recovered memory of hearing Melinda talk to Alanna about Erin’s affair with Beckwith. He also told her about the night before, and how he’d seen Moses and Melinda having sex.

  “That recovered memory gave me a hunch that Melinda was somehow involved, so I followed her yesterday,” said Matt. “When she got to this house, I used our office software to check the property records. I was surprised to find out that Adam owned the house.”

  “It surprised us, too,” said Rachel. “So you had no idea that Melinda’s brother owned a lake house? She never mentioned it to you?”

  “No, she didn’t. I mean, I knew that her family originally hailed from the Lake Charles area, but as far as we knew, they never went back there.”

  “Are you in the truck by the house?” she asked him.

  “Yeah.”

  “Drive up to the Texaco, one mile to the east near the interstate. Meet us there. We need to talk.”

  CHAPTER 45

  After Matt arrived at the gas station, Rachel and Red convinced him to come with them to their hotel and wait for Agent Krapek and her team to arrive. They withheld the information about seeing a boy in the house because they knew that if Matt was aware, he would insist on getting into the lake house no matter what the cost. Since they didn’t know if Moses was armed, Red didn’t want to chance anyone getting hurt or put into a hostage situation.

  “I hate to ask this question, but is there any way that Chris is involved?” Rachel asked Matt. They were all huddled around the hotel’s lobby, waiting for Krapek to arrive. Matt was extremely anxious, and Rachel was trying to keep his anxieties about his kids off his mind.

  “I can’t say the thought hasn’t crossed my mind. Not that I think my brother would do anything to hurt my wife or kids, but my line of thinking is more that Chris may have known Melinda was a little unstable and knew that she was up to something. He should’ve shared that with me.”

  Red told Matt about seeing the surveillance video of Adam at the gas station. “Any reason why he would be involved?”

  “Of course. Anything Melinda asked Adam to do, he would. She has been bossing him around since we were kids. Adam is a troubled soul. When their parents died in the car accident, it devastated him. He turned to Melinda as a mother figure. She was all he had. As you probably found out, their grandmother is crazy as a loon.” Matt drummed his fingers on his knee. “Guess it runs in the family.”

  Rachel saw a black sedan pull up in front of the hotel. “FBI is here.”

  They watched as Agents Krapek and Phipps got out of the car and made their way to the lobby.

  “She doesn’t look happy,” Red said.

  After a quick hello to everyone, Agent Krapek sat down on the opposite couch. “Tell me what you got so far.”

  Red debriefed the agents on how he and Rachel came to be at Lake Charles, including seeing Moses at the gas station. Matt did the same, telling Krapek about his arrival at Lake Charles the day before and his suspicions about Melinda.

  “We looked into Adam Donnelly’s background, by the way,” said Red. “We called his place of employment, and they told us he’d been fired.”

  Agent Krapek was clearly annoyed. “Is there anything else you’ve checked out and conveniently forgot to tell us about?”

  Rachel felt like she was a kid being scolded by her teacher. This wasn’t at all how she imagined the situation hap
pening.

  Red saved her by taking the lead. “What’s the plan now?”

  “We’ll take it from here. Agent Phipps and I will go to the house and see what we can find out. Ask some questions.” She nodded to Phipps. “We’ll use the Lake Charles police for backup.”

  Rachel watched as Phipps walked away, phoning the local department.

  Krapek looked sternly at Rachel. “You guys can wait here. I’ll let you know what we find.”

  Rachel was itching to go along, but she knew Krapek was already pissed at her for not telling her about the lake house sooner. She didn’t want to push it with her. But she couldn’t stand to sit and wait at the hotel, either.

  “Can I speak to you in private?” Rachel asked Krapek. She wanted to tell her about spotting the boy. This was something she didn’t want Matt to hear. They took a walk outside while the rest of the party waited in the lobby.

  “I can’t say that I’m too happy about you keeping this information from us,” Krapek said.

  “We weren’t sure at first if it was anything worth your time,” Rachel said, leaning against the sedan. “There is one more thing you should know, and it’s something I didn’t want Matt to overhear. But I think you need to know before confronting Melinda.”

  Rachel told her about seeing a blond-haired boy through the lake house window when she and Red had been on the boat. “He was on the second floor, probably in one of the bedrooms.”

  “Are you sure it was Patrick O’Malley you spotted?” Krapek asked.

  “Not one hundred percent. But it was definitely a young boy, blond hair, with the same build and frame as Patrick. I’m just going on what I’ve seen in photos given to me.”

  “What about the girl? Mary Katherine?” Krapek asked.

  “No sign of her,” Rachel answered. “We’ve only seen Melinda and Moses outside of the home. No sign of Adam, Melinda’s brother.”

  “We need to let Matt know this. In case the kids are in the house, he can be on standby. I can’t imagine what they’ve been through, and having their dad there would be comforting.”

  “Please let me tell him,” Rachel said.