by Unknown
Impatience filled her. “I don’t deal in gossip and conjecture. Especially when it comes to my employees. And where would you even hear this?” If he wasn’t in the lab, Finn was at her side. It wasn’t as though he had time to sit in the diner with Dorie and hear all the latest scuttle about what was going on in town.
He gave her a level look. “I hired someone to come and talk to people. Just to ask a few discreet questions. The gentleman even struck up a conversation with Hank’s wife at the grocery store. Talked about her son, Zeke. The flu season. The woman told him how lucky they’d been because the boy had been healthy all winter, unlike last year when he was constantly sick.” He saw her expression and nodded grimly. “Yeah. I wouldn’t have bothered you with this, except for that fact. If Hank’s child wasn’t in the hospital, why wasn’t he at the forest when we responded to the call about Yembley’s body?”
_______
“I’ve got a few more names of those properties I was following up on,” Hank told Keira when she summoned him to her office. “I can get them if you want.”
She was at her desk. She didn’t invite him to take a seat. “I wanted to talk to you about something else.” Her gaze direct, she asked, “How’s your son?”
He looked immediately wary. “Zeke? He’s fine. I mean, he’s better.”
“You called Phil the morning we responded to the call about Yembley’s body and said you’d been in the hospital with him and couldn’t join us until later.” A muscle twitched in the man’s jaw. “Care to revise that story?”
He looked away. After a moment, he said, “I never lied to you.”
“You lied to my undersheriff, knowing he’d pass the message on to me, so it’s the same thing.” Impatience filled her. “What’s going on with you, Hank?”
She’d never seen him look so uncomfortable. “I’ve…Amy and I are having problems. There’s…I’m seeing someone else.” At that moment, Keira knew Finn’s information had been correct. She didn’t want to hear any of the details. There was only one course of action to take. “And you were with her when we got the call?”
He nodded miserably. She gave a long sigh. “Get your things and go home. You’re suspended for a week without pay.”
The man’s attention snapped to hers. “You can’t…” He swallowed what he was going to say. “I know I screwed up, Sheriff. But it’s the first time, and I swear it will be the last. You need me tonight. So does the team.”
“We have to have people we can depend on. Apparently that isn’t you.” His face darkened, but he went silent. “Get your life in order before you come back. I don’t interfere in my deputies’ private lives, but yours affected the job. Fix it.”
After a brief hesitation he gave a jerky nod, and turned on his heel and went out the door.
Once he’d gone, Keira put her head in her hands. Damn it all to hell. The timing couldn’t be worse. When her door opened again minutes later, she jerked upright. Relaxed a bit when she saw Finn.
“Now I know why they used to shoot the messenger.”
He came in, dropped into a chair. “Was it bad?”
She released an impatient breath. “No, it was pathetic. He’s a good deputy. Great skills, impressive instincts. How can he be so stupid?” There was nothing to be done about it now. “Lying to his superior would get him fired in most departments I know of. The fact that he’s usually a damn fine investigator meant he only got a week’s suspension. But he’s not on the op tonight.”
“He shouldn’t be.” Finn’s expression was grim. “We don’t want anyone on the team we can’t trust, especially with the stakes we’re facing.”
“We can’t afford to be down a man either,” she shot back, and then shook her head. “There’s nothing to be done about it now. We’ll make do with the people we have.”
“You were pretty engrossed in something when I came in earlier.” He nodded toward her computer. “Was it important?”
With difficulty, she tried to pick up the mental threads she’d been following before he’d interrupted her. “It was something Paulus said yesterday, about knowing the forest well. And I started wondering who else might be as familiar with it. We’ve followed up with hunters and trappers. But there’s a group called Friends of the Forests.” She turned back to her computer and selected another story and clicked on it. “Obviously, there are representatives from various government agencies. But there are volunteers in this organization who might be of interest to us.” She pressed the command to print the picture and after a moment her printer began to whir.
Finn retrieved the image as it passed into the tray. Studied it. “Well, that’s an eclectic bunch.” When she held her hand out, he gave her the photo. Keira looked at it. Doug O’Shea was in it. Hank and Brody. Gary Paulus, Beau Chandler, Arnie Hassert, and Roger Wilson. There were a couple of other strangers wearing the uniform of park rangers. She was a little surprised to see her deputies in the photo.
She dropped the picture on her desk. An image of Tiffany’s note flashed across her mind, and she snatched the sheet up again. Stared. “I think…I might have just figured out what Tiff was trying to tell me with those weird doodles in the message. She was attempting to give a clue about who the killer was. And if I’m not wrong, he’s in this picture.”
_______
The sound of the door rolling open had quickly become Tiffany’s least favorite noise in the world. She slid over toward the center of the pole. He flipped on a light and she winced, hiding her face in her shoulder to block the sudden glare.
She knew it was dark outside. Tiff was positioned in a way that anyone looking in either of the two windows would never see her. But paned glass let daylight in. And day had just faded, but not long ago. Maybe an hour. Time passed in a blur. There was only the constant rubbing of the chain along the pipe threads to break the monotony, and she was growing convinced that her plan had no chance of succeeding. The links still held strong.
“I brought you something to eat. You’re going to need your strength tonight.”
The words filled her with dread. “Why? What will happen then?”
The mouth showing behind the facemask curved in a chilling smile. “That’s when I make you a star. Well, you have a bit part. And I doubt Saxon will earn much of a role. It’s her special investigator who might make a game of it.” He drew closer. Sniffed. “Jesus. You stink.”
“Well forgive me all to hell.” Whatever he had in his hand was hot. She could see the steam rising from it. Maybe she could throw it in his eyes. Blind him. “Your accommodations lack a few basic amenities.”
“You won’t have to worry about that much longer.”
Terror sprinted down her spine at the answer. She’d seen his handiwork. Yembley hadn’t come back once he’d left, but parts of him had. This man had shown them to her and laughed and laughed. Her time was running out. She was no closer to a plan then when she’d first been brought here.
Her mind scurried around the issue like frantic little ants. He crouched to set the bowl on the floor. Stew. There was meat of some sort floating in it, and the sight of it made her gag.
Getting up, he took a key from his pocket and approached her. He didn’t unlock the cuffs, just the chain. She’d still be bound while she ate.
He unlocked the chain.
She grabbed at the links as she pretended to crumple to the ground, close enough to the bowl to send it teetering.
“Careful, you stupid bitch.” When he squatted to right the dish, she gathered the length of chain in her hands and sprang. He reacted quickly, half rising at her action, but she jumped on his back and attempted to wrap the chain around his neck.
With a roar he surged to his feet, his fingers clutching at the links. Her bound hands restricted her movement, so she threw herself backward, trying to use her weight to press the chain hard against his throat. He toppled over her, pinning her beneath him, then reared forward and slammed back violently against her. Her head cracked against the pavement wit
h enough force to have unconsciousness rushing in. He ducked out of her awkward embrace and scrambled to his feet.
There was a roaring in her ears and a gray haze across her vision. Tiffany was aware enough to see his booted foot rear back. Pain exploded again and then she knew nothing at all.
_______
“Is this everyone?” Sergeant Gomez looked around the room.
“No, where’s Han…” Brody’s words ended on a squeak as Phil stepped smoothly on his foot.
“It looks like it,” Keira answered. Two of her jailers had joined them, as well as three MSP agents. With two of the city cops, Gomez, Stevens, her deputies, and she and Finn, the group was twelve strong. In two-person teams, they could only cover six of the locations found in the pictures from O’Shea’s shed.
After finding the GPS on her cruiser, she knew exactly where the killer was going to be. Wherever she and Finn were.
Adrenaline began to knock in her chest. She quickly named off the pairs that would team together, before handing out copies of the location photos and handheld GPS devices.
“What happens if the woman is at a spot we don’t target?”
Brody’s question was fair, and one she and Finn had debated endlessly. “There’s a reason he put a location device on my cruiser.” She saw members of the group who weren’t in her department look up, surprised. “I think he’ll arrange to appear wherever Finn and I are. He needs us engaged to fulfill this game of his. Or he may attempt to pick us all off, one member at a time.”
“I’d like to see him try.” The MSP agent who muttered the words looked familiar. In the next moment, Keira recalled he’d been on Danny’s search team.
“If we don’t show up, he might think we haven’t put the clues together yet. He’ll leave and come back tomorrow night.” That’s what she expected he would do, but one thing she’d learned working homicide was that killers were notoriously unpredictable. They were a product of their own psychoses and grandiose fantasies. No one could be entirely certain how one would react in any given circumstance. She tried to inject more certainty than she felt into her next words. “He’ll need Tiffany alive to continue to engage us another time.”
But once they began the contest that the offender had set in motion, Keira’s friend ceased to serve a purpose. And no one was more cognizant of that fact than she was.
“Are there any other questions about this assignment?” The silence that greeted her question was not unexpected. They’d been poring over the details for hours. Her gaze went to the clock on the wall. “Then let’s get our gear on. Time to roll.”
_______
Each group would leave their cars along little-used skid roads and logging roads, whatever would be closest to their assignment. Keira and Finn got out of the cruiser and shouldered their department issued rifles. He carried a backpack, as well. They started walking. It would be two miles to their assigned location. Coupling the weight of their Kevlar and the deep snow they’d encounter, it would feel like twice that.
They moved silently, saving their breath for the walk. Last night’s blizzard had rearranged the snow into drifts in some places, leaving other spots almost bare. The reflective strips on the back of Finn’s helmet made him easy to keep track of in the shadows. Each of them was marked similarly, to lessen the chance of losing an LEO to friendly fire. She was very much aware that the strips would make them targets from the right vantage point. Which made finding cover crucial at all times.
When they reached their assigned location, Finn used his free hand to reach for hers. Squeezed hard. “Stick with the plan.” He barely breathed the words, but she was close enough to hear him. They took up positions on either end of a cluster of firs they’d scouted yesterday. There was another clump one hundred yards ahead of them. If they were in the right location, Tiffany would be there, too.
The temperature hovered in the single digits. By the time an hour had crawled by Keira’s feet had turned to ice. In another thirty minutes, she was doing finger exercises to keep the circulation going.
Every once in a while, she’d see the glow of a yellow pair of eyes. A doe meandered in front of them once before stopping, as if their scent had reached her even while they were hidden. She bounded away, and Keira and Finn were left alone again.
She strained her ears but heard nothing outside the occasional crack of a tree limb. Noises traveled in a forest. The sound of shots fired would reach them from all but the furthest assigned area. But getting to that spot in a reasonable time would be another matter altogether.
The branches on one of the firs straight ahead of them trembled. Keira stared hard at the place, scarcely daring to breathe. She fully expected another deer or possibly an elk to make its way out of the cluster of trees.
Instead, out stepped a woman.
Although she was dressed in dark clothes, the fall of blond hair gave her away. Keira felt her heart rate slow. She and Finn raised their rifles as if synchronized.
There was something odd about the way her friend was moving. Her arms were secured behind her back. Lifting the night binoculars to her eyes with her free hand, Keira studied her more closely. Mouth taped shut. Legs unbound. They’d have to be to walk here from wherever she and the kidnapper had come from. The snow was past her knees, but Tiffany was moving with exaggerated actions, lifting her feet high. Jostling her torso up and down.
“Got it Tiff,” Keira thought silently. Only hours ago she’d figured out the hidden message her friend had tried to send her with that note. She’d known then who the killer was. But without a shred of proof, the knowledge had been useless. The woman stopped in mid-motion as if responding to a command they couldn’t hear. Everyone waited as if frozen in place.
“Your move, Sheriff Saxon.”
Voice changing megaphone, she realized instantly. Not loud enough for any of the other law enforcement to hear. He’d selected the different spots with privacy in mind. She knew it wasn’t happenstance that she and Finn were in the right location.
Like lambs to slaughter. Mary’s words flitted across her memory.
“Are you willing to trade yourself for this worthless bitch? Throw your weapon out, then come out slow, hands in the air. Or I shoot this piece of shit in the back before your eyes.”
She exchanged a look with Finn. Imagined the command in his face behind the helmet guard. Going over possible scenarios wasn’t the same as being confronted with the prospect of her dearest friend being gunned down. Keira inclined her head. “I’m coming out,” she called. “Don’t shoot.”
And then she dropped to her knee, squeezing off a shot that would seem much too close to the other woman. “Get down!” she screamed. Tiffany dove to the side, rolling through the snow in a blur of motion. The cluster of firs exploded with gunfire around them.
She and Finn peppered the clump of trees with shots for a full minute after Tiff rolled out of Keira’s vision. When they stopped, they heard only echoes.
“Beau Chandler!” Her voice reverberated in the space. “You are under arrest for the murder of Danny Saxon, Joseph Atwood, and Bruce Yembley. Throw down your weapon.” Finn was speaking quietly into the radio, alerting the others of the shooter’s location. Then he put the radio away and shrugged out of the backpack. Reached inside. Each of the teams was equipped for this exact situation. He hurled a canister of tear gas into the opposite cluster of pines. With a nod toward Keira, he took out a portable mask and, lifted the shield of his helmet to affix it. While she provided cover, he ran in a crouched arc to round the trees the man had hidden in.
A minute ticked by. Two.
“Saxon.”
She froze. The voice was quiet. And much too close. A figure clad all in black rose from behind a fallen log twenty feet to the right of her. One arm was looped around Tiffany’s neck. His rifle was pressed beneath her chin. “I suppose you’re wearing a vest. Pussy. No matter. They end just above the base of the spine anyway.”
“That’s right. You like to shoot people
in the back, don’t you, Beau?” Keira gave one quick glance at her friend then concentrated on the man behind her. “Very sporting of you.”
“Sporting will be when I cut down your armed consultant right in front of you. After I finish this bitch.” Tiffany’s head bent back with the force of the rifle barrel pressed against her skin. “Put down the gun.”
“I don’t think so.” She angled around, searching for a better shot.
“Do you want her dead? Drop the fucking weapon!”
“You can’t shoot us both at the same time, asshole. This forest is crawling with law enforcement. How are you planning on getting out alive? We’ve already radioed them your location.” It wouldn’t take Finn long to ascertain the man was gone. And he’d check back here first. Keira inched to the side. Chandler was a head taller than Tiffany. She just needed to keep him talking a few more minutes.
She wouldn’t get them.
“You’re gonna die like your old man.” He shoved Tiff aside. Shifted his weapon to aim it at her. Keira moved to get clear of the woman as she squeezed the trigger. Something slammed into her chest. Knocked her off her feet. Time slowed. Sound came from a distance. Muted shots. Screams. And her name being yelled over and over.
She lay spread-eagled in the snow, struggling to breathe, staring at the night sky peeking through silvery birch branches. The pulsating pain was intense. She thought of her dad. And wondered if this was what dying felt like.
_______
Keira put down her cell when Phil Milestone walked into the hospital room. “Phil.” Her voice was filled with every ounce of the desperation she was feeling. “You’ve got to get me out of here. They took my clothes. And King, that prick, has them convinced that he’s my family physician. I swear to God if the man touches me I’ll shoot him.”
It was one of the rare times she ever saw her undersheriff crack a smile. It was a broad grin, tinged with relief. “Figured it would be simpler to come over here than to have you call every five minutes.” He came further into the room to stand beside her bed and eyed her critically. “You look like hell.”