“There’s more.”
“What?”
“A lot of purchases were made on the credit cards at the casinos at the coast. Looks like he started staying there several weekends a month.”
“That’s where he was going? When he said he needed some time off? Was he gambling?”
“I made some inquiries. The casino hotel front desk people knew him really well. Said he was always upbeat and friendly. They considered him a good customer. Claimed he liked craps.”
“I’ve never heard him talk about the casinos. I’ll have to ask Mom if he mentioned it to her.”
“There aren’t any cash advances or ATM withdrawals at the casinos. He must have been gambling with more cash, but he needed to use the credit cards for the room. When I saw the charges I’d hoped that he was simply spending some time on the coast, maybe seeing some live music at the hotel, but since you found all that cash in addition to the conversations I had with the employees, he was definitely gambling. A lot.”
“How did he hide this from everyone?”
“I’ve asked myself that over and over. I saw him almost every day. I had no idea any of this was going on.”
“Ladies and gentlemen! Please stand for our national anthem!”
Stevie glanced back to the ring, where the announcer was handing his microphone to a small girl. She squinted. “Is that Brianna?”
“Damned right it is. You didn’t know Brianna was going to sing the anthem?” Zane removed his cap.
“No! Carly didn’t say a word.” She strode over to the rail, grabbing a free spot to get a clear view of her niece. Brianna’s sweet voice came through the speakers. It quivered momentarily, but she got her courage up and pushed through.
“Go, sweetheart!” Stevie whispered. “She’s really good,” she said to Zane.
He nodded, his gaze locked on Brianna.
Stevie held her breath as the childish voice soared through the rocket’s red glare, perfectly nailing every note and drawing cheers from the crowd. “She did it! Carly’s going to be so proud!”
“Good genes,” said Zane. “Glad to see it was passed to the next generation.” He put his cap back on as the crowd gave Brianna a standing ovation.
She gave a deep curtsy, grinning at the attention, clearly enjoying the spotlight.
Stevie’s heart wanted to burst with pride. She wiped at a tear. “I hope my mom caught that performance.”
“I’m sure she’s here. The whole town is here. Look at the stands.”
The risers were packed. Solitude liked nothing better than a town celebration.
“Thank you, Brianna Harding! Let’s give her another hand, folks!”
Stevie clapped until her hands stung.
“Everyone ready for a rodeo?” Deafening cheers rose from the stands. “But first, let’s remember why we’re celebrating here today.”
Stevie knew what was next. She’d been hearing the story since she could walk and every announcer told it before the rodeo started.
“About a hundred and fifty years ago, there was a fine Irish family that lived on the coast. They were hardworking people and they had a heck of a lot of kids.”
Hoots sounded from the audience.
“Now, the Irish loved their big families, but one of the Irish sons decided he’d had enough. He was tired of sharing everything with his brothers. Way back then they piled as many kids into a bed as they could, and they shared the water in the tub for their weekly baths. The parents washed first and then each kid got a turn in the used bathwater. By the time the youngest kid got a bath, the water wasn’t very clean anymore.”
More shouts and laughter.
“So one day this son left. He packed his bag, kissed his mama, and set off on his own pony. He was eighteen years old and had been considered a man for a long time. It was time to find a place where he could plant his own roots. He rode east from the coast, following our Rogue River for several days until he came to a crest that overlooked the water. He took off his horse’s bridle, caught some fish, and relaxed in a grassy spot, enjoying the silent woods. And do you know what he said?”
A series of incomprehensible shouts went up from the crowd. They’d all heard the story.
“That’s right! He looked up at the sky and said, ‘Thank you, Lord, for bringing me to this piece of solitude.’ And he built his first cabin on that spot. That young O’Rourke boy stuck out the first wet winter all by his lonesome and eventually persuaded a young woman to come live with him in his newfound solitude and raise a family. You all know we still have a strong line of O’Rourkes here today who’ve continued to call Solitude home. Where are you guys?”
Stevie saw Faye stand up and wave a hand while the audience cheered. She spotted Katelyn O’Rourke a few rows behind Faye, and wondered if her three brothers had come to town for the celebration. Faye’s sons had moved away from Solitude, not willing to embrace their family roots over their desire for solid employment.
“Fucking bitch.” Someone slurred the words to Stevie’s left. She whirled and discovered Alex Rollins had picked the spot beside her against the fence. His hair was too long and in need of shampoo, and it appeared that his face hadn’t seen a razor in several days. The alcohol fumes along with his sour breath made her take a step back into Zane. Alex’s gaze was focused across the ring on Faye.
She couldn’t believe this was the same man she’d seen two months ago when he brought his son in for an interview related to the teen death at the lake. Alex Rollins had been a clean-cut father concerned about his son. Now he looked like he’d been living on the streets of LA for a few weeks.
“Alex,” Zane said. “Watch the language, please.”
Alex turned bleary eyes to Zane. “I can fucking say whatever I want. Free country. That bitch fired me. She’s told everyone in town I did crappy work at her precious hotel. Wasn’t true. I’m good at what I do. She didn’t even give me a chance, she just sent that asshole Burrowes to tell me not to come back to work one day.”
He glared across the ring again, not seeing the court gallop around the ring with their flags streaming behind them. Stevie stepped back as the horses pounded past them.
“No explanation other than I wasn’t up to their snooty standards. Now I can’t get anyone to hire me. I used to have the best reputation for custom cabinetry in Rogue County! People always called me first. Now I don’t get a chance to bid on a job.” Bitterness flowed from his tone as he swayed against the fence.
Stevie glanced at Zane, who shrugged. Alex was right, he could curse all he wanted; but now he’d triggered Zane’s close attention, making him watch for any signs that Alex needed to sleep off his drunk in a holding cell. There was always somebody who drank too much and caused a ruckus at every public event. Would it be Alex tonight?
“Is Peter here?” Stevie asked.
“Somewhere with his friends,” Alex slurred. “My friends are avoiding me. Jerks.”
“Maybe because you’re drinking too much,” said Zane.
Angry eyes looked at Zane, but Stevie noticed Alex had enough wits about him not to insult the police chief.
“Before we get the adult events started, we’re gonna give the kids a chance to have some fun. You all ready to see some greased pigs?” Cheers sounded, and Stevie noticed the growing crowd of small kids below the announcer’s stand. She spotted James’s five-year-old son in the group, pointing at the nearby pen of pigs. He seemed too young to be in the crowd, but country kids knew their way around farm animals from a very young age.
“I’m sure people will start calling you again for bids,” Zane said to Alex, his attention split between the drunk man and the squealing pigs. “Things have been slow. I doubt there’s much work right now.”
“No, there’s always work for what I do. That O’Rourke bitch has blacklisted me in this town, and I don’t know why. My work is good, and I didn’t sleep with her daughter like everyone else has.”
Zan
e bit his cheek, and Stevie raised a brow at him. “Me neither,” he told her.
“I might have to move,” Alex continued sullenly. “Maybe out to the valley or up to Portland. Don’t want to move.” He leaned heavily on the fence.
“Open the gate!”
Shiny pigs rushed the arena and the kids swarmed, diving onto the backs of the slick animals and sliding off into the dirt. Stevie kept an eye on her nephew as excitement lit up his face. He lunged for a pig, did a face-plant in the dirt, and was up on his feet tearing after another before Stevie could catch her breath.
“Boss, we’ve got a situation.”
Stevie and Zane turned. Carter stood behind them, his face pale and his hand resting on the weapon holstered at his hip.
“What happened?” Stevie asked, adrenaline boosting her heart rate.
Carter glanced at Alex, who was blatantly listening. “Let’s go somewhere else.” He shifted his weight from one boot to the other. His eyes wide, he constantly scanned their surroundings, nervous energy burning out of his pores. Stevie and Zane exchanged a look.
“Let’s go,” said Zane. “Have a good evening,” he said to Alex. “Stay away from any more beer, okay?”
Alex snorted at him and turned his attention back to the arena and pigs.
They walked with Carter for twenty feet until he stopped, turned to them, and whispered with a cracking voice, “We’ve got a murder. JD Hearne’s been shot. Two bullets in the back of the skull.”
CHAPTER NINE
JD’s death was fresh. The blood on the ground hadn’t fully dried.
The body was on its chest in the dirt, its face turned to the side, giving Zane a view of the bloody back of the head. The hair was long and Zane recognized the clothes he’d seen JD wearing at the Dairy Queen earlier that day.
Christ. We just saw him.
Guilt rocked through him for his earlier judgment of the young man.
Zane pressed his lips together and glanced at Stevie, who viewed JD’s body with a blank expression. She’d asked Carter on the way over if JD’s brother Eric had been contacted, and Carter said that the Rogue County sheriff had sent someone to notify him in person. Zane wondered if she’d wanted to do it. She and Eric had a history; maybe she felt she should be the one to break the news of his brother’s death. But she’d kept silent. Leaving Zane to wonder way too much about their previous relationship.
JD Hearne had been found on the edge of the rest area between Solitude and the coast. To call it a rest area was a stretch. There wasn’t any free coffee or bathrooms or semi parking. It was a wide graveled area on the side of the two-lane highway, with a spigot that was labeled “fresh water for drinking” and a metal garbage can overflowing with garbage. Zane noted that the only vehicles present were from the Rogue County Sheriff’s Office. The body had been found by two teens who’d stopped for a bathroom break . . . even though there were no bathrooms. Zane stepped carefully through the woods as he followed Carter and Stevie to the scene. Because it wasn’t an official rest stop, people simply stepped out of view of the passing traffic to relieve themselves.
The teens had nearly tripped over the body in a small clearing fifty feet from the road. The rest area was far outside Solitude’s city limits, falling under Rogue County’s jurisdiction. Rogue County had set up lighting for the scene and had a small team of investigators crawling through the brush and photographing the corpse. Seth was already at the scene and greeted the three Solitude cops as they arrived.
“You think this is part of the recent drug deaths?” Zane asked Seth.
“Definitely. We found a piece of C-22 between here and the road. You’ve seen it before, right? Little red strip of tissue paper soaked with the chemical in a plastic sleeve. Someone must have dropped it.”
“Maybe it was left by someone at a different time,” Stevie said. “We don’t know how long it was there.”
“True,” Seth agreed. But it wasn’t mashed into the dirt; it was on the leaf of a bush and fell off as one of our team walked by. I think it was recently dropped.”
Stevie nodded, and Zane wondered if she was searching for a way to soften the blow for JD’s brother. Or was she just being a good cop and not accepting everything at face value?
“Did you already tow his vehicle?” Zane asked.
“There wasn’t one,” said Seth grimly. “I doubt he came on foot. And he definitely wasn’t alone; he’s been executed. The prints in the dirt indicate he was on his knees and shot in the head. Someone was not happy with him at all. After the autopsy we’ll see if he had bacon in his system. He could have been dealing or using. I don’t know yet.”
Stevie opened her mouth and closed it.
“Shells?” Zane asked.
“No. Picked up,” Seth replied. “We’ve got some pretty good footprints. You can see where the shooter planted his feet when he shot JD from the back. If we find a suspect, we’ll try to match the shoes. The database for matching shoe prints to manufacturers is fantastic. We’ll pour some molds of the imprints, and in a few days we’ll know exactly what our guy was wearing, but to my eyes they look like some heavy work boots, definitely not a tennis shoe.”
“Anything else left behind?” asked Stevie.
“There’s so much trash back here, we’re not sure what belongs to our scene.” Seth gestured to the area. “Don’t know why people can’t use the garbage can. There’s only two reasons to walk back here: to take a piss or do something illegal.”
“There’s one other thing they do back here,” said Stevie, pointing at a used condom in the dirt.
Zane groaned, but gestured at one of the forensics team to snag it for evidence.
The three of them turned as voices sounded from the direction of the road, and the brush vibrated as people approached. Eric Hearne appeared with two Rogue County officers. “JD?” he asked in a shaky voice, looking at Stevie.
She stepped in front of him and put a gentle hand on his chest, stopping him from moving any closer to the body twenty feet behind her. “Yes, it’s JD. Don’t get any closer until they finish collecting evidence, okay?”
Eric looked over her shoulder. “Oh, God.” His shoulders shook. “He was shot? Who did this?” His voice rose and cracked. “Have you figured out who did it? I was just with him a few hours ago!”
Stevie stepped closer, putting a hand on his face and guiding his gaze to hers. “We don’t know yet, Eric. We’ll find the person who did it. Very soon, I promise. Is there anyone you can think of who was angry with your brother?”
He ran a hand through his hair and looked past Stevie again. “I don’t know. I didn’t hang out with JD very much . . . maybe about once a week. He did some odd jobs at the resort, and I know he was job hunting at the coast and talking of moving over there, but I don’t think he had any leads.” He looked at Stevie with wet eyes. “Oh, God,” he repeated. “Why? I don’t understand!” He covered his eyes, and Stevie pulled him into an embrace.
Zane looked away.
Seth caught his eye and lifted one shoulder. What can you do?
Zane wasn’t going to be an ass and tell Eric to keep his distance or insist Stevie shut down her caring side. He could deal with it.
“What kind of vehicle does JD drive?” Zane asked Eric. “No vehicle was left here.”
Eric raised his head, wiping at his eyes. “Ford Ranger. An older one. And I can get you a key to get into his apartment if you need to go through it. Obviously someone drove him out here . . . or else they took his truck.”
“Makes sense,” agreed Zane. “Now we’ll figure out who.”
Stevie watched Eric leave with the officers, his shoulders in a deep slump. Her heart broke for him. He hadn’t been particularly close to his younger brother, but they were the only siblings in the family. Realizing she hadn’t seen Bruce in nearly a week, she made a mental note to have coffee with her younger brother. You never know when you’ll lose someone.
She wasn’
t going to repeat the mistake she’d made with her father.
Zane put a hand on her shoulder. “You okay?”
She gave him a weak smile. “Just thinking I need to see Bruce.”
“He’s not involved with JD, is he? They’re about the same age.”
Stevie blanched. “Lord, no. As far as I know they don’t run with the same crowd. I simply realized I hadn’t talked to him for a while. Seeing a family get shattered like this makes me want to pull mine close.”
Zane nodded and looked back toward the body and investigators. “I can understand that.”
“Do you see why I wanted you to reach out to your father?” she whispered. It was an inappropriate time to ask, but she couldn’t hold back the question.
He met her gaze. “I do. And I see why you feel the way you do. Does it help that I’m thinking about it now? I could go for weeks without a single thought about my father, but now he’s crossed my mind several times a day since you said something.”
Her heart warmed. “That’s the first step. No pressure.”
“The barbecue is tomorrow,” he pointed out.
“It doesn’t matter. There’s no deadline for you to meet. And my mother will happily throw a barbecue whenever he comes to town. It might be better with just family instead of half the town.”
“I don’t know what’s going on in this town,” Zane said quietly, watching the investigators with JD’s body. “It seems like everything has gone to hell since I took over. What happened to our peaceful Solitude?”
“It started before you took over. Ever since my father died the balance has been out of whack, and we’re scrambling to bring everything back into line,” Stevie said slowly, thinking of the deaths. “The whole town is struggling. There’s the heat, the murders, and the drugs.”
“I think it all started with the drugs,” said Zane. “Someone plunged a poison into Solitude, and people are being killed by it. How many more have to die before we get it under control?”
“Hopefully none,” said Stevie.
Her Grave Secrets (Rogue River Novella Book 3) Page 6