by H. P. Bayne
At the moment, his plan was to allow Lars and Tessa to herd them toward the passageway and the drop-off at the end of it. There, luck willing, Dez could throw himself into Evan hard enough to knock him over the edge, thereby taking him out of the line of fire. Dez would likely draw fire, but he was hopeful he could push through a bullet wound to disarm Lars.
Sully, it seemed, had other plans.
“I’d think twice if I were you. Carter’s here, and he’s not happy with either of you.”
The disembodied voice boomed out into the large rocky cavern, echoing and directionless. Tessa spun in place, forcing Dez to look away to avoid being blinded by the light from her headlamp.
Lars barked out a swear word. Instead of shifting his attention from Dez to locate the source of the voice, he lunged and dug the barrel of the gun into his prisoner’s left side. Dez felt something inside him shift torturously, and he cried out, dropping to his knees beneath the weight of the pain.
He might have been imagining it, his brain not entirely under his control at the moment, but Dez thought he could just make out his brother’s growled command: “Sic ’im.”
Dez had seen Pax in action once before, had been in much the same state as he was now when the canine had all but ripped a man apart. Pax’s attacking snarl was like that of a hellhound. Lars reacted as anticipated as large teeth and a strong jaw connected with flesh: with an inhuman howl, the sound of both terror and agony.
Dez looked to his right in time to see Tessa direct her light into the recesses of her bag. What she was searching for was so far unknown, and he was happy for it to stay that way. Evan had managed to remove himself a few paces, but took this as his opportunity, rushing Tessa with a shout.
Tessa fell back before Evan could reach her, a startled cry on her lips that immediately followed the dull sound of an impact. A second such sound followed, and then came the crack of stone on stone.
While he didn’t have a good view in the dark, Dez guessed someone was hurling rocks at the woman. Who was anyone’s guess, as Sully had already materialized from the shadows, calling Pax off in order to deliver a series of closed-fisted blows to Lars’s face and head. Dez’s attention shifted fully to his brother, and he had to remind himself not to use his name as he fought to draw Sully’s focus to him.
“Stop! Stop! Hey, I’m okay. Just get his gun, and see if you can find something to tie him up, all right?”
Sully gave Lars one more shot to the jaw, his hand hovering in the air a long moment as if searching for an excuse to follow up with another. Finally, his hand drifted back down and he directed any remaining aggression at flipping Lars—now out cold—onto his belly and tearing the drawstring from the man’s hoodie to bind his wrists.
In the meantime, Evan had taken control of the helmet, and its beam revealed Tessa lying in a crumpled heap on the rock floor, blood seeping from her right temple.
Seemingly satisfied Tessa was no immediate threat, Sully turned his attention to Dez, ripping through the tape binding his wrists.
“You okay?”
“I will be, but I think the cracked rib is now a fully broken one.”
Sully uttered a growl that held all the danger of Pax’s. “Want me to give Ahlgren one to match?”
“I think Pax already got the ball rolling on that. Is Lars even alive?”
“He’ll need stitches, but he’ll live.”
“What about Tessa?”
“Just a cut and what’s turning into a killer goose egg,” Evan said from a few feet away. “There’s some more duct tape in the bag. Should I tie her up?”
Dez nodded his chin toward Tessa’s prone form, indicating for Sully to look after it. “Go give him a hand, okay?”
“We should get out of here,” Evan said. “That rock was falling from somewhere, and the last thing I want is to get stuck in a collapse.”
Sully spoke while kneeling to tape Tessa’s wrists behind her back. “Nothing’s going to collapse. That was Carter.”
“What?” Evan’s voice held all the surprise Dez felt at Sully’s words.
“He was protecting you,” Sully said. “He’s proven before he’s capable of moving objects when he wants to. I have a feeling this time, he really wanted to.”
“So it was Lars and Tessa then?” Dez asked. “He showed you?”
“Not Lars. I didn’t see him anywhere. But he met with Tessa. Everyone had assumed he was killed by the cave collapse, but it wasn’t. Not exactly anyway. Carter was shot.”
Evan turned a heated glare at the woman at his feet. “By her?”
Sully shook his head. “No. She’d already left. I couldn’t hear what they said—I never can—but I know he confronted her, threatened to tell people about their relationship if she didn’t change her mind about their breakup. It wasn’t long after she left Carter’s killer turned up.”
“It wasn’t Lars?” Evan said.
Sully shook his head. “It was Prescott Montague.”
Dez’s breath caught in his throat before a full gasp could cause further pain. “Jesus Christ. Montague? The judge killed Carter?”
“Carter didn’t even have time to say anything, including about the fact he had photos—no doubt the reason no one went after them before. Montague did all the talking. I had the impression Montague threatened him. Not him directly, but his family. When he died, Carter believed his parents would be in danger if Montague’s role in the shooting was found out.”
“Why would he think that?” Dez asked.
“I think Montague outright said it.”
“So the prick knew about Tessa and Carter back then?” Dez said. “He made like he was shocked when I told him, and he did a pretty damn good job of it.”
“He probably was shocked, but not for the reason you think. He realized you’d uncovered his motive for murder. Combine that with Carter’s photos and he’d find himself in an interview room faster than you can blink. He needed to act, and fast, but he couldn’t do it himself. So he contacted Lars or Tessa. They had plenty to lose, too, enough to give them reason to want to kill you to keep what you knew quiet. No doubt Lachlan was next on the hit list.”
“Hold on,” Evan said. “So how did Carter end up buried in the crawl?”
“He dragged himself in to get away from Montague,” Sully said. “He doesn’t remember anything else. He passed out before the collapse.”
“Did Montague cause it deliberately to hide evidence?” Dez asked.
“I don’t think so,” Sully said. “Not directly anyway. It’s possible the force from the gunshot triggered the collapse, given the cave was already unstable. Or maybe it would have happened anyway. I doubt we’ll ever know for sure.”
“You told me he didn’t suffer,” Evan said. “But he did.”
“Not for long. He didn’t feel anything. I think the bullet severed his spine after it entered his body. Between that and the shock, he didn’t feel much of anything. I think he was alive when the cave collapsed, but he wasn’t aware of it. He was unconscious when he died.”
Any questions for Sully—and, for his part, Dez had several—would have to wait. He could make out the sounds of sirens nearby, and he suspected they were coming this way.
“Did you call the police?” Dez asked his brother.
“Eva and Raynor.”
“Since Raynor’s off duty, and I’m hearing more than one siren, that means there are patrol members coming this way who don’t know about you. Get out of here and don’t let anyone see you. I’ll cover for you.”
“Lars is going to know someone attacked him. Someone who wasn’t either of you. There will be questions.”
“Evan and I will tell them some random Good Samaritan and his dog gave us a hand and took off without leaving a name. Right, Evan?”
“You saved our asses,” Evan said. “Yeah, I’ll cover for you.”
“They might have trouble finding you,” Sully said. “They don’t know the way to this entrance. I don’t want you sitting here in
definitely when you need to get to a hospital.”
“Hey, if I need to, I can walk out of here easy enough,” Dez said. “I walked in, didn’t I? Go. Get out of here.”
Sully didn’t look sold but obeyed nonetheless. But not before providing one further piece of information.
“Remember the metallic sound we heard last night when we were moving through the north side of this cave?” He reached into his pocket, pulling out the ring Dez had seen in Montague’s photo.
Dez took it, wiping it clean of Sully’s prints before holding it up to better examine. No question. It was definitely the same ring. No mistaking a rock of that size. “She lost it there?”
Sully shook his head. “Montague planted it. Carter showed me that too. I think he was trying to set her and Lars up in case something came out about the murder. Goading them into killing you would have been icing on the cake. Who’d buy anything they had to say after that?”
Dez grunted an affirmative. It made sense.
Sully patted his leg for Pax to follow, leaving Dez with Evan and their two would-be killers. Lars was groaning and Tessa was starting to stir, leaving Dez with precious little time to ensure Evan was indeed on board with the plan.
“Please, Evan, if there’s any way you can keep Oliver’s role in all this to yourself, I’d really—”
“I get it, okay? I won’t say anything. I promise.” He leaned in, as if to better ensure their waking prisoners didn’t hear whatever he planned on saying. “He’s going to go after Carter’s real killer, right? I mean, the guy isn’t going to walk away from this, is he?”
“That’s why no one can know about Oliver,” Dez said. “It’s what he does, and he’s made too many enemies doing it. Yeah, he’s going to get him. We all are.”
“I always felt like it was my fault, what happened to Carter, that he died because I didn’t go with him. But it wouldn’t have mattered, would it?”
“Carter’s death wasn’t your fault,” Dez said. “You didn’t do anything wrong. We’re going to make sure the people who are at fault pay for what they did.”
“How? The only person who can say what happened is dead.”
“Not the only one,” Dez said. “I’m banking on it Tessa will sing like a canary once she’s questioned over the contents of the Xbox. It’s in the duffel bag, right?”
“Yeah. I’m thinking they planned on dumping it alongside you and me, huh?”
“No doubt. And it’s in one piece?”
Evan dug through the bag, removing the item in question. “As far as I can tell.”
“No matter. The KRPD has some wizards in their IT department. Those guys can do anything.”
“Okay, but even then, Oliver said Tessa had already left by the time Montague shot Carter. She might not have seen anything. What then?”
Good question. The obvious answer was unhelpful, requiring a seasoned judge—a man used to pressure of the highest sort—to crack in an interview room. Dez couldn’t imagine a scenario in which Montague would willingly provide a confession.
Which left them with yet another problem. Carter had at last revealed his killer.
But it was up to them to figure out how to bring him to justice.
28
Sully had made it most of the way to the parking area when he realized he was in trouble.
He had planned to take Dez’s SUV, expecting his brother would be headed to the hospital in either the back of an ambulance or with Eva. What he hadn’t anticipated—stupidly, in his estimation—was finding his way barred by police and EMS.
The parking lot was swarming, three cruisers and two ambulances already on site along with a conservation officer’s truck. No doubt the park had been contacted to help police locate the cave. As much as it relieved Sully help would come quickly to Dez and Evan, he was far from pleased to be faced with another challenge.
He stayed long enough to see the police tape going up, sealing off the parking area until police could determine what, if any, evidence it contained. There would be no way out this way, and a hike back to town was out of the question given the distance.
Another possibility presented itself as Sully watched Dez being led to the back of a waiting ambulance. Eva was at his side and would, no doubt, stay there. But someone else was hovering nearby, someone Sully might be able to ask for help.
He sent out a quick text to Forbes. I need a way out of here.
Forbes pulled his phone from his pocket, eyes shifting from the screen to sweep the expanse of his surroundings. When that didn’t provide an answer—Sully had managed to conceal himself and Pax behind one of several thick shrubs—he returned to his phone.
Where are you?
Nearby, Sully responded. Meet me near the bike trail parking area in ten minutes?
Need twenty, Forbes said.
Twenty minutes turned into half an hour, but Forbes kept his word, arriving as promised at the small parking lot in question. He waited until Sully and Pax had clambered into the back seat before speaking.
“What the hell?” he said. “Braddock told me you think the judge killed the kid. That’s nuts.”
Sully found as comfortable a spot as he could on the floor, giving Pax all the space he wanted on the seat. It didn’t matter so much if anyone saw the dog as long as Sully went unnoticed. “I realize that, but it’s true. Carter showed me.”
“Setting aside the fact that’s also nuts, how the hell am I supposed to go about proving that?”
Sully had thought about that while waiting for Forbes. “I found a key card in a trunk in Carter’s room and a key near where he was killed. Dez and I drove all over the place trying them in various doors, but we came up with nothing. We didn’t try Montague’s house.”
“And you want to do that now?”
“It’s as good a time as any, right?”
“Wrong. I’ve got two suspects to process and question in a double kidnapping, and my sister’s going to want me back at the cabin sooner rather than later. I can take you as far as the city centre, but after that, you’re on your own. Until one of our birds sings, I’ve got nothing on the judge. So far, they’re both exercising their right to remain silent. As of now, the only thing tying Justice Montague to anything is your word. Given I can’t bring you into the open, that gets me nowhere.”
And that got Sully nowhere. He considered a next move as Forbes drove them through the park. The best he could come up with was Lachlan. Sure, Montague was his client, but Lachlan Fields still possessed the spirit of a cop. He would salivate over the idea of playing a role in a guilty judge’s downfall.
“Could you drop me off at Lachlan Fields’s place?” Sully asked. “I’m hoping he can help me figure out what to do next.”
That changed Forbes’s tune in a hurry. If he and Dez rubbed each other the wrong way, Forbes’s relationship with Lachlan was akin to a pair of brawling porcupines. No way he’d allow the now-private investigator to show him up.
“You think the keys might work at Montague’s?”
Sully raised an eyebrow. From here, all he had was a glimpse of a seat back, but the other man’s voice revealed plenty.
“Yeah, it might. I didn’t have time to ask Carter about the keys before Lars and Tessa showed up with Dez and Evan, but I think it’s a real possibility.”
Forbes didn’t say anything else, instead pulling over to make a phone call. Sully listened to this end of the conversation, Forbes questioning whether Lars and Tessa would need medical treatment.
“Call me as soon as they’re released,” he said a moment later. “And make sure the officers guarding them know not to speak to them in the meantime. I don’t want this botched, you hear me?”
He disconnected, his next words directed at the hidden passenger in the back seat. “They’re being taken to hospital to be checked out. Lars might be a little longer. Sounds like he’s got some dog bites and a broken nose needing attention. I won’t bother to ask if you know anything about that. Braddock’s been peddlin
g a story about a disappearing Good Samaritan and his dog.”
“Someone should give that dog a steak,” Sully said.
“Piss off. Listen, this buys us a little time. I took the keycard and the key from Braddock. We’ll take a spin past Justice Montague’s, see where that gets us.”
Sully sat up once they were out of the park, sharing the back seat with Pax as Forbes steered them through the city.
En route, Sully filled the detective in on the investigation into Carter’s death, providing as much of a rundown as the skeptical Forbes was able to absorb.
“I don’t know,” the detective said when Sully had finished. “This all seems pretty out there. I mean, what am I supposed to do with this? No court is going to convict a guy—and a judge, no less—on the word of a ghost.”
“If you can get Lars or Tessa to crack, maybe that will be enough.”
“I’m thinking all they’re going to say is that Montague called to tell them your brother had gotten his hands on the Xbox and that it contained some seedy photos of her. I highly doubt he actually told them to kill anyone.”
“But even asking them to destroy evidence, that would be enough to bring him in, right?”
“That’s obstruction at best. It’s not evidence of murder.”
Sully shrugged, the best he could offer as a response given Forbes’s valid point. They drove in silence until reaching the upper-class neighbourhood the Montagues called home.
“Any idea how we’re going to talk our way inside?” Forbes asked as he scanned addresses in a search for the right one. “He’s never met you, and he won’t be happy to have a Major Crimes investigator turn up on his doorstep. I’m not keen on spooking the guy before I’ve got reason to. Could be he’s got some evidence somewhere he might hide or destroy.”