Sable Quinn Trilogy Boxed Set

by K. J. Dahlen

  “How do you know that?” Mason asked.

  “Noah knows exactly where we are and what we’re doing. He’s going to use Brandi to get what he wants,” Sable said.

  “You said yesterday he wants his father’s knife. What’s all that about?” Mason asked.

  “We aren’t sure yet,” Nick answered.

  “We did find a possible motive,” Marie said.

  Mason turned to her. “What did you find?”

  “I researched a rash of bank robberies in several states. We discovered Micah and Richard might be bank robbers. If it was them, they got at least four million dollars that is still unaccounted for,” Marie told him.

  “We also found out Micah purchased a warehouse here in the city about fifteen years ago. We’ve been trying to discover his aliases so we can find the warehouse,” Sable said.

  “You’ve been busy since we saw you last. But how on earth did you find out Micah bought a place?” Mason asked.

  “Noah called me last night,” Sable told him.

  Mason was quiet before he asked, “Are you working with this guy or against him?”

  Sable’s hands curled into fists. Nick noticed but shook his head. He turned to Mason. “I think you owe the lady an apology. You have no idea what she’s been through the last few months. I can be a real bastard and simply take over this case but I don’t want to do that. Your department knows this town and that can give us an advantage we wouldn’t have if I took over. I’d rather work with the local police than work against them. There’s something you have to understand; we want to avoid anyone else being murdered and if you fight us, that’s what’s going to happen. Noah isn’t going to wait while we coordinate our information. He’s got one of our agents and he wants to murder another one. I’m not going to let that happen. Now are you willing to work with us or am I going to ask you to step aside and let us do our job?”

  Mason’s mouth tightened into a straight line, accenting the frown lines on his forehead. “If I’m out of line, then I apologize. All I asked was to be aware of what was going on. I have the safety of my city to think of.”

  “And I have the safety of my agents to think of,” Nick told him. He began to pace. “I feel so helpless in this room while some psycho just kidnapped one of my crew. He’s already proven he’s capable of murder and he’s threatening the life of another of my team. You have police and crime scene investigators scouring the alley for clues and I’m stuck here.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I need to be where the action is. I guess I’m not used to taking the second chair in the investigation

  Mason asked, “Where in the investigation are we?”

  “We found out that Micah and Richard might have been behind a rash of bank robberies a long time ago. Noah is staying at a warehouse Micah bought here when he wanted to settle down. We know that much.”

  “What do you think he’s going to do with Brandi?” Mason asked.

  “He’s going to use her to get his father’s knife back,” Sable said.

  “What’s the hang up with his father’s knife?”

  “We aren’t sure, but we’ll find out,” Nick told him.

  Sable left the conference room and went to her bedroom. She had brought up her luggage at some point during the morning. She went over to her briefcase and opened it. In the top pocket she pulled out a plastic evidence bag. She knew she shouldn’t break the chain of evidence, but she had to find out what made this knife so important to Noah. She snapped on a pair of gloves.

  Going over to the window, she took the knife out of the bag and in the light of the day, she looked the knife over very carefully. It was a wicked looking blade attached to an ivory handle. There was an R etched into the ivory and Sable wasn’t sure if it was for Reardon or Richard.

  She looked the knife over from tip to base almost turning away until she noticed a small chip in the handle near the base of the blade. She frowned at the sight of the chip and debated whether she should break protocol even more by digging into the chip. She decided with Brandi’s life at stake she had extenuating circumstances. She walked over to her luggage, looking around for her manicure kit. She took the fingernail file and went against everything she knew. She was shocked when the handle snapped in two pieces. Inside one part of the handle, a key fell out. She lifted the key and saw four numbers etched on the side.

  Sable carefully placed the handle back in the bag and placed the bag on the bed. She picked up a pen and wrote down everything she did and noted the time and date on the paper. She then tucked the paper and the evidence bag inside another evidence bag and sealed the new bag. Then she picked up the key and examined it a little closer. It looked like the key to some kind of safety deposit box, but the four numbers embedded on the side of the key told her it was something else entirely. It looked like some kind of combination, but to what and where was the locker or safe that the numbers would open? She quickly removed the necklace from around her neck and added the key to the chain. Replacing the necklace, she picked up the handle and fit it back on the blade of the knife. Tucking her necklace down inside her shirt, she went back to the conference room.

  She walked over to Mason and handed him the knife. “This is what Noah wants badly enough to kidnap and murder for. Do you think it’s worth the price he’s willing to pay?” She didn’t tell him or any of the others what she had just found. For now, that was her little secret. She was hoping they wouldn’t notice the paper or the extra evidence bag inside. She knew she was breaking protocol but she couldn’t help it. She had to keep the key away from Noah.

  Mason took the knife and looked it over. He raised his eyes to her. “No, I don’t think it’s worth the price.” He handed the knife back to Sable and she placed it on the table.

  “I don’t either.” Sable told him.

  Mason glanced at the clock on the wall. “The real estate office should be open now. Maybe you should call and see if they can help you find Micah’s warehouse.”

  Sable walked over to Quentin. “Do you still have the surveillance tapes on your computer?” When he nodded, Sable asked, “Can you bring them up? I want to see them.”

  Quentin brought up the tapes and they watched until Sable pointed to the screen. “What is that?”

  “What is what?” he asked.

  “Bring up the gunman’s hand; his left hand,” Sable said.

  Quentin froze the image and clicked to enlarge the shooter’s left hand. When the image became larger, they could both see the S tattooed on his skin. Sable glanced over at Nick. “Micah is one of the bank robbers and we found the proof.”

  Nick and Mason came over and looked at the tape. There on the screen was the evidence they needed. Nick looked at Sable. “I wonder what they did with the money.”

  “I think that’s what Noah considers his birthright.”

  “That must mean he knows where the money is,” Nick said.

  Sable looked at Mason. “Can you do a track and trace on Brandi’s phone? I can give you Noah’s phone number too.”

  Mason called in the request. When he was finished, he turned to Sable. “Why did you need a track and trace?”

  “Because Noah is going to call, even if it’s only to tell us he’s got Brandi,” Sable told him. “I would like to know where he’s calling from.”

  As if on cue Sable’s phone began ringing. When she answered, she heard Noah’s voice.

  “Hello, Sable.”

  “What do you want?”

  “That’s not very friendly.”

  “I’m not feeling very friendly with you right now. Where is my friend Brandi?”

  “She’s here right beside me.”

  “Is she okay?”

  “For the moment she is, but she may not stay that way for long.”

  “Can I speak to her?”

  Sable waited for a moment then she heard Brandi’s voice. “Sable I’m here.”

  “Are you ok?”

  “Yeah, I guess so. My head hurts and I’m cold and wet
, but I guess I’m ok.”

  “Why are you wet?”

  “I don’t know. It’s dark where I am.” Then Sable heard Brandi cry out as Noah took the phone away from her. “Are you satisfied she’s alive and well?”

  “She better stay that way. What do you want?”

  “You know what I want. Are you willing to give me the knife?”

  “Yes. I’ll give you the knife if you give me Brandi back.”

  “I really don’t think you are in the position to make demands,” Noah told her.

  “If you think I’m going to turn over the knife and get nothing in return, you’re plain crazy.”

  “Once I have the knife, I’ll let you know where she is, but I’m not going to be around when you find her.”

  “I don’t think so. If you want the knife, then I want Brandi back.” Sable caught Mason’s thumb’s up. The track and trace had worked.

  “I’ll think about it," Noah said then hung up the phone.

  Sable asked, “Please tell me you know where he’s calling from.”

  Mason smiled. “He’s up on the bluff.”

  Sable looked at Nick then back to Mason. “He’s where?”

  “We have the Mississippi river on one side of the city and we have Granddad’s Bluff on the other. The track and trace tracked him to the bluff area,” Mason explained.

  “OK, so he’s up on the bluff. What up there is cold and wet?”

  “What do you mean cold and wet?” Marie asked.

  “Brandi said she was cold and wet and that it was dark where she was. She couldn’t say anymore but she sounded okay otherwise.”

  “The bluff top is mostly farm area. There isn’t a whole lot up there,” Mason said.

  Marie snapped her fingers. “There are caves. My father has a farm up on the bluff. When we were children, my two brothers and I found them. We spent many hours exploring the caves.”

  “Do you remember where these caves are?” Sable asked.

  Marie nodded.

  “We need to hurry. He told me I wasn’t in any position to demand anything. I told him if he wanted the knife, I wanted Brandi back,” Sable told them. “He said when he had the knife, he would let us know where we could find Brandi.”

  “And you don’t trust him to keep his word?” Mason asked.

  Sable glanced at Mason. “Would you trust the word of a serial killer?”

  “No, I guess I wouldn’t. Hell, he doesn’t have anything left to lose,” Mason said. He looked over at Marie. “I’ll get every available officer to meet you up on the bluff.”

  “Tell them to meet us at the Thomas farm. I’ll have to show them where the caves are.”

  “Bring flashlights and hand held walkie-talkies,” Nick requested.

  Twenty minutes later, Sable, Nick, Quentin, Marie, and Mason gathered at Marie’s father’s farm. Mr. Thomas joined them while they waited for more police to join in the hunt.

  “Dad, has anyone been up here today?” Marie asked.

  Mr. Thomas cocked his head to one side and said, “Your mom heard a car drive past a little while ago. It hasn’t come back down yet, but it may have gone the other way.”

  “Has anyone been up to the caves lately?” Marie asked.

  “Now that you mention it, there has been a young man up around the caves the last few days,” Mr. Thomas said. “I’ve noticed he’s been there a couple of times this week.”

  If Noah was coming and going, he wouldn’t want anyone to notice. Sable moved to Nick and whispered, “We have to get these people out of here until we catch Noah.”

  “I was thinking the same thing,” Nick spoke quietly. “I’m not looking to give him two more potential victims.” He turned to Mason. “Maybe we should clear these folks out until we know for sure where Noah is staying.”

  Mason shrugged. “Mr. Thomas, I think you should collect your wife and leave here for your own safety.”

  Marie’s dad smiled and shook his head. “I’m sorry, I can’t do that. I’m in the middle of the combining season and I need to finish getting the crops in before the snow flies.”

  “Dad, please just for a day or two,” Marie begged. “This guy is really dangerous and I don’t want to see you or Mom in his way.”

  Ben Thomas stared at his daughter with worry lines on his forehead. His face, usually calm, looked anything but just then. The lines deepened around his mouth and under his eyes. “What exactly is going on here?” He looked beyond his daughter to the others. “Is there something I need to know about?”

  “The man we think has been coming to your caves is a serial killer,” Sable came forward. “We think he kidnapped a member of our team and brought her up here to kill her. The caves would be the perfect place for him to murder someone.”

  Ben turned to face Sable. “Why would the caves be the perfect place?”

  “No one but the locals knows the caves are there. He could murder her and leave town. No one would find her bones for years, and by then, he would be long gone so the murder couldn’t be blamed on him. The local police would figure she got lost,” Sable told him.

  “If we leave him alone, he’ll just go away. He has no reason to hurt me or my wife. We haven’t done anything to him,” Ben told them.

  Sable stepped closer to him. “Mr. Thomas, I’m begging you, just leave for a couple of days. He can’t afford to take the chance you haven’t seen him and can identify him to the police. He’s already taken one agent and at this point we don’t know much about him. We don’t know what he’s capable of. I don’t want to have to worry about you too.”

  Ben sighed deeply. “Ok, I’ll get my wife and leave for a couple of days. Even if I don’t think this guy has any interest in us, I’ll do it.”

  Several police cars pulled into the yard and half a dozen officers joined them. Everyone gathered to be told what their assignments would be. Sable looked around the farm but didn’t know what she was looking for. She prayed Brandi would be there. Within minutes they were being transported to the edge of the Thomas property. The caves were located on the hills beyond the corn field. Between the corn field and the caves there was a strip of trees.

  At first glance, Sable didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Marie led the way to the opening of the caves she and her brothers found when they were children. Armed with flashlights everyone entered the caves. There was only room for one or two in the main cavern so everyone took a different direction. Sable moved off to the left of the main cave. The caves seemed to go on endlessly deeper and deeper into the side of the bluffs. She could hear the echo of people calling out Brandi’s name. The air inside the cave was damp and getting cooler the deeper she went. She reached out and touched the walls around her and her hand came away slimy wet.

  Sable made her way through the labyrinth of smaller caverns. The only light came from her flashlight as she moved deeper into the bluff. It was a few minutes later she began to notice footprints in the dirt. She knelt down to see them better. They looked like a man’s boot but were deep. She didn’t notice any drag marks in the area.

  She stood up and with her flashlight trained on the boot prints, she followed them deeper into the caves. The boot prints came and went in the uneven ground below her feet. She paused at one point to get her bearings and realized she had become completely separated from the others. The silence surrounding her became eerie and the feeling of being so alone spooked her. She almost turned back but she cocked her head and listened. She thought she heard a noise ahead of her. It almost sounded like a groan of pain.

  Shining the light in front of her, Sable followed the sound. Fear built inside her as she moved through the cavern. Sweat beaded on her forehead and her muscles tensed as she stepped forward into the unknown. Her body was ready for anything, but she prayed there was nothing ahead of her. She didn’t want to find Brandi in any condition other than alive. The flashlight revealed a turn in the path, and when she rounded the corner, she saw a bundle in the corner of a larger cavern to her left.
Shining the light on the bundle she thought she recognized the bundle as clothing. Moving toward the clothing she thought she saw it move.

  “Brandi, it that you?” Sable whispered loudly.

  The bundle moved and groaned louder. Sable came closer and turned the bundle over? “Oh Brandi, what did he do to you?” Sable cried out. She checked her friend for injuries and found there were too many to count. Dried blood had soaked her clothes. She had a mat of blood in her hair that ran down her neck. Her face was smudged with dirt and several bruises. She had taken a bad beating from Noah. There were several stab wounds in her upper body. When she looked at what Noah had done to her friend, Sable felt a growing rage inside her.

  “Brandi, wake up honey. Please wake up.” Sable cried out to her friend. Tears rolled down her checks as she brushed the hair away from her friend’s face. Sable noticed Noah had carved a word in her forehead. With shaking fingers Sable traced the letters of word TRAITOR.

  Sable wept as she brushed the fresh blood away from Brandi’s eyes. “Please Brandi, please wake up.” Brandi’s blood stained her fingers and clothes.

  Brandi groaned and tried to open her eyes. “Sable, is that you?” she whispered raggedly. Her eyes closed and she groaned again curling her body into Sable’s. “What happened to me?” she whispered. “What did the bastard do to me? I hurt so much. It even hurts to breathe.”

  “Oh, Brandi…” Sable tightened her arms around Brandi. “You’re going to be okay.” Even as she said the words out loud she knew Brandi wouldn’t make it. Noah had done everything but taken her life. He left her to die alone in the dark. “Hang on, help is here. We’ll get to out.”

  “Nick, I found her.” Sable yelled. The echo of her voice bounced back from several directions. She began rocking back and forth with Brandi in her arms. “Nick, please follow the sound of my voice. I found Brandi.”

  Brandi turned her head and struggled to open her eyes. She saw the look of fear on Sable’s face. “He won’t stop until he kills you, too.” She whispered to Sable. “He really wants you dead.”