by Stacy Green
“I need you to step aside now,” Gina said.
“But I’m supposed to…”
What? What was she supposed to do? The reality of the situation crashed down on Dani. Two lives lost in this house, maybe more depending on the skeleton’s story. Were there even more?
“Right now, all we’re going to do is take pictures,” Gina said. “We’ll do some swabbing, see if we can gather some DNA. Test for other fluids.”
“All right.” Dani took one final look around the room. This time, she saw the exit. Partially hidden between the sideboard and cupboards on the southern side of the room was Ironwood’s other basement door. “There’s the access to the graves.” Dani pointed.
“If it’s locked, we’ll call you back inside. For now, I need you to wait in the parlor. Sit in front of the fan and try to relax.”
Gina gently pushed her aside, blocking Dani’s view of the room. Struck dumb, she half-staggered through the dining room and into the foyer. Out of the house. She had to get out of this house.
Then she was outside, smothered in heat and crumbling to her knees on the old wooden porch. She teetered forward. A sharp, stinging jab in the meat of her palm–her first Ironwood splinter.
“Dani?” Cage materialized out of nowhere. He thundered up the steps and then knelt in front of her. He wrapped one big hand around her forearm and gently tilted her chin up with the other. She rested her head against his shoulder.
“What happened? Is it the heat again? I’ll get you some water.”
“No.” Dani choked. “It’s…I can’t go back in there right now.”
He searched her face, his own twisted into an expression of confusion and concern. The wrinkles across his forehead smoothed out, and his eyes widened. “The butler’s pantry. You opened it.”
Dani nodded.
“Does Gina think that’s that where he killed them?” Cage spoke softly, reminding her of the way she’d heard mothers deal with small children.
“I don’t know, but the killer did something to those men in that room.”
“Are you going to be sick?”
“No. I just need to catch my breath. Make everything stop spinning.”
Cage still held her arm. His warm hand slid across her shoulder to pat her back. “All right, then.”
Inhale, exhale. Cage’s patting matched the pattern of her breath. Her vision kept blurring, and she trained her gaze on the strong hand supporting her arm. Long fingers, closely trimmed nails, a couple of freckles. Her head stopped swimming.
He smiled, and she felt groggy, as if she were waking up from a long, dream-laden nap. Inexplicably, her face drew closer to his, and she didn’t know what would have happened if he hadn’t taken her gently by the shoulders.
“You going to pass out?”
Dani took another large gulp of air and then carefully sank back to her knees putting her hand on her thighs. “Gina said they had evidence that might help clear you. Is that why you’re here?”
Cage mirrored her. “Yeah. Probably shouldn’t tell you what though. You’re not involved in the case being a civilian and all.”
She thought she saw his eyes twinkling. “Talk to me as your friend, not a cop. We’re friends, right?”
His lips twitched with the hint of a smile. “Guess you could say that.”
“So what is it?”
“A receipt,” Cage said. “A receipt on one of the bodies. Date matches his estimated time of death.”
“And the receipt is from before you started working here?”
“Six months before.”
Unexpected relief washed over Dani. “Good, that’s good.”
“Want to know what else they found?”
“Gina shouldn’t have told you. Should you be telling me?”
Another grin. “She didn’t tell me this part. I have other sources.”
Jeb, no doubt. Dani didn’t ask. “So share.”
“There was a bag of personal effects next to the bodies. Last night, we assumed whatever was in the bag belonged to one of the victims. Now, we’re not so sure.”
“Why?”
“It’s weird. A baggy coat took up most of the bag. Black cotton that was at least two sizes too big for either man.”
“In this heat?”
“Exactly. Even in winter months, we don’t need heavy coats. Or gloves.”
“Gloves?” Her sense of calm was short-lived. A burst of energy had her staggering to her feet. Cage followed, arms out as if he expected her to topple over again.
“Deerhide gloves. Two pairs. Heavy and strong.”
Now the heady adrenaline pounded through her system. “I need to talk to Gina.”
13
The excited, hard-to-understand Yankee was back. Dani raced into the house. “I can’t believe it. It’s obvious, though, isn’t it?”
Cage matched her frenetic pace. “What are you doing? And what’s so obvious?”
“Like I said, I need to ask Gina a question. And by the way, you’re sure you’ve never been in the pantry?”
Understanding her when she started rapid firing was getting easier. “No. Why?”
“It’s been worked on recently. By someone who gave a damn. And by someone who had a key.”
Cage barely had time to process her words. Voices and chaos echoed from the butler’s pantry.
The floodlights from the basement had been brought up and plugged in, extension cords stretched taunt across the hallway. Lander’s bickering accompanied the brisk click of a digital camera.
“Let Seth do his job,” Gina said. “One step at a time.”
“I am,” Landers griped. “But we need to get that door open and establish it was how the killer got the bodies into the basement.”
“We will.” Gina ground out her words through clenched teeth. She caught sight of Cage and narrowed her eyes. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Thought I wasn’t a suspect anymore.”
“Not what I said. You’ve moved down the list. But not off. So beat it.”
He stood on tiptoes to peer over Gina’s head. Bloodstain on the floor, left after a solid attempt at cleaning. “So this is probably it.”
Gina pressed her lips together.
“Perfect setup,” Cage said.
“Ain’t it, though?” Landers stepped out of the room looking like a badly dressed turkey. His multi-colored tie did nothing to hide the threat of his belly popping a button on his brown shirt. Latex gloves and navy blue booties provided the final garnish.
“I mean, this room supposedly hasn’t been opened for years,” Landers continued. “Killer is either someone with real knowledge of Ironwood or had plenty of time to explore the place.”
Dani stepped in front of Cage, the top of her head barely reaching his chin. “Landers, I told you, someone has done restoration work in that room. It’s recent, too. You can still smell the chemicals.”
Landers nodded. “Well, Cage here has been doing a lot of work on the house. And he does care quite a bit about her. Made that clear yesterday, didn’t you?”
Cage refused to take the bait. “Don’t think the church did much in the way of security. Probably figured locking the rooms up was enough. Guess someone else managed to get inside. I do have another job, you know. Work a lot of nights. Not always here to keep an eye on the place.”
Landers grunted. “Well, we’ll be searching the rest of the place today. See what we find.”
“Probably nothing. I’ve moved plenty of junk out of here in the last year.” Cage kept his tone neutral, but his body leaned forward, fists at his side. He’d like to connect one of them to Landers’s fat mouth. “Trash, too.”
“And isn’t that convenient?”
“Sure is. Saves your sweating ass a lot of work.”
“You think this is a joke?” Landers stepped past Dani, shunting her aside.
Cage caught her by the arm. Tense muscles beneath silky soft skin. “You don’t push women out of the way, Landers.”
“Your book is about as interesting as a how-to manual.”
“Go ahead and smile,” Landers said. “Your friend Jaymee had some big skeletons under her skirt. Bet you do, too. Hell, maybe you lured those men here with some special favors? Playing a little boy tag, are you Cage? Can’t have the girl, turn to the boys. Or maybe you’ve always been that way. God knows you look the part of a damned–”
“All right.” Gina stepped between them. “Landers, knock it off. Cage, out. I’m not going to tell you again.”
He didn’t move, fighting the desire to snap Landers’s neck. Landers could speculate all he wanted to about Cage. But he wasn’t going to bring Jaymee into this mess.
Dani had pulled her arm out of his grasp, but he knew she was staring at him, questions about Jaymee and him no doubt speeding through her sharp mind, putting the pieces together.
“Cage, I’m warning you. Sooner you let us do the job, sooner you can get back to something like normal.” Gina pushed him back a step.
“Go on, boy,” Landers taunted. “We’ll find out everything we need to.”
Gina rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “I said enough. This is a murder investigation, not a damned pissing contest.” She pointed to the foyer. “Cage, off the property. Next time I have to tell you, you’ll be in a jail cell.”
“Wait!” Dani said. “Gina, I need to tell you something.”
“Dani, I assure you, we are talking every precaution with the room. And we’re about ready to open the inside door, so we’ll need you again.”
“What kind of shoes were they wearing?”
“Excuse me?” Gina spoke to Dani, but her eyes were on Cage. He shrugged. He’d leave after he heard what Dani had to say.
“The victims.” Dani pointed to the blocked-off pantry. “Did you look at their shoes?
“That’s evidence and not of importance to you,” Landers said.
Dani ignored him. “Look at them. I bet they are cheap soled, nondescript. Something an expert couldn’t match.”
Gina regarded Dani with a look stuck somewhere between admiration and exasperation. “How did you know that?”
“Cage told me what was in the bag. A coat too big for either victim and deerhide gloves.”
Cage swore. At the same time, both Landers and Gina started shouting.
“You are a suspect, Foster.” Landers looked ready to explode.
“Thanks a lot,” Cage hissed in Dani’s ear.
“Sorry,” she whispered back and then held up her hands. “If you two would stop yelling, I might have a lead for you.”
Cage was damned tempted to throw Dani over his shoulder and toss her out the door back into the blistering heat. She’d just blown his chance at getting any kind of inside information on the case.
“What are you talking about?” The bags under Gina’s eyes gave her a haggard appearance, and it was clear she had little patience as she addressed Dani.
“One of the biggest issues I fight as a preservation specialist is the amateurs who like to trespass in abandoned buildings. They call themselves urban explorers. Most of the time, I call them thieves. Some just like to explore the houses for kicks when they’re bored. But some of them plan ahead. And they’ve got some tricks to escape the police.”
“Which are?”
“First off, the heavy gloves. They come in handy if you’re breaking a window or crawling through a broken one or jumping a fence. You get the point.”
Eyebrows knitted together, Gina nodded. “And the baggy coat?”
“Heard a guy bragging once that a baggy, black coat was the best way to beat the cops. He claimed one night he dropped to the ground, covered himself with the coat, and fooled police less than forty feet away. He looked like a black blob of junk.”
“And the shoes?”
“Instead of some sort of heavy boot to protect their feet if they stepped on a nail or glass, they wear cheap, thin-soled shoes that can’t easily be matched. So if they leave footprints, doesn’t matter.”
“So you think these two may have been sneaking around Ironwood, looking for scraps?” Cage asked. Even as it said it, the idea made perfect sense. Ironwood certainly wouldn’t be the first abandoned historical home to be violated.
Dani turned to him, cheeks and eyes glowing with excitement. “Remember the front tile? The missing kitchen hardware? I could tell people had been inside this house and taken things. At the time, I figured it was renters, but now I’m not so sure.”
“So we’ve got a start on the victim identification. Find the people who take this exploring seriously–and for profit.” Landers said grudgingly. He nodded curtly at Dani. “Not bad.”
“Thanks.”
Gina traced her bottom lip with her index finger. “No, not bad at all. If you’re right, that narrows down our victim pool. You think one of these explorers would have taken the time to restore this room?”
“Not a chance,” Dani said. “These people strip these old houses looking for the easy buck. I doubt any of them would consider restoration worth their time.”
“Good to know.” Gina gave Cage another nasty look. “Why don’t you walk Cage out and then meet us back here?”
He dipped his head in compliance. Dani followed him down the hallway, her short legs barely able to keep up.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t think about getting you in trouble. I was just so excited to have made the connection.”
“Don’t worry about it.” He stopped at the front door, bracing himself against the brass handle. “So you think these guys may have been illegally exploring when they were killed?”
“Sure seems like it. But why they were killed is beyond me.”
“You’re sure the pantry’s had restoration work done?”
Dani described what she’d seen in the once-locked room. “There is no way that sink would look like that without some serious elbow grease.”
“And someone who knew what they were doing?”
“To an extent. Restoring an old sink–if it was in working condition–is different than say, a window or crown molding. It’s less intricate, and there’s a wealth of information about old house restoration online. But I’d say if it wasn’t done by an expert, someone who cared quite a bit about the house did it.”
“Or someone who intended to pull out the sink and sell it. That’s probably worth some money, right?”
“It is. But the smart thing to do would have been to remove the sink and then restore it. That way you’re not stuck working in that closed off room with the heat and chemicals. And if that were the case, why didn’t the killer–assuming he is the one who restored it–sell it?”
“Maybe he ran out of time.”
“Maybe.” She bit her lip, peeked up at him, and then shuffled her feet. “You should probably go. You are a suspect, after all.”
“Landers. He’s an ass.”
“With a valid point.”
Cage’s stomach dropped more than he would have anticipated at her doubt. “You’re saying you consider me–”
“I don’t really know you, so my answer should be yes.” Her cheeks flushed. “But I’m saying no.”
“But?”
“But while Landers is an ass, he made a good point. You do care about this house, and everyone knows it. I bet you could have figured out how to restore the sink. And even worse, I’m pretty sure whoever opened the pantry did so with keys.”
“I never had the keys to the pantry.”
“I know. But Landers may think you could have somehow gotten access. You should play nice with Gina until you’re officially cleared. She ordered you off the property. You’re going to leave, right?”
“Sure. I can play by the rules.”
“Right.” She shook her head, but she was smiling.
; He hated to say anything after all she’d dealt with already this morning, but she needed to be prepared. “Listen, you’re going to have to walk through the crime scene. And I don’t know what you’ll see on the stairs. The killer likely used them to bring the bodies to the basement. Just…prepare yourself.”
The smile fell. “I’m trying. Where will you be?”
He retrieved his keys out of his pocket. “Off the property.”
14
The heat inside the pantry seemed to stagnate in one place: wherever Dani stood. Another round of dizziness hit, and she steadied herself against the wall. She’d forgotten to eat this morning.
At least she didn’t have anything to throw up.
But her stress wasn’t limited to the bodies, or to the idea that the men may have been killed because they were doing something she absolutely abhorred, or to Cage’s being a legitimate suspect. No, that would make too much sense. The nauseating energy flowing through her had one source: her absolutely certainty that Cage hadn’t hurt those men.
Landers cleared his throat. “We need to get on with this.”
“Of course,” Dani shot back. “We wouldn’t want to derail your mindless persecution of an innocent man.”
Lander’s already flushed face turned spotty purple. “Excuse me, ma’am, but I don’t think you’re qualified to make that assumption. Especially since you’ve been here all of one damned day.”
She checked her watch. “Technically, I’m on my second day. And maybe I just have better instincts about people than you.”
“Dani.” Gina cut in before Lander’s head burst. “I understand your defense of Cage, but that’s not why you’re here. Let us do our jobs, please.” Her tone was kind, but the look in her eyes left no room for argument.
Dani clamped her mouth shut, nodded, and started across the small room. Careful not to step in the foreboding brown stain on the floor, she reached the crevice between the two walls of cupboards. She couldn’t help but do a quick study of their condition, and up close, it was clear they had been completely refinished. The wood was smooth and shining with a new coat of varnish. The hardware was solid brass and recently cleaned. Her hand reached for the cupboard, anxious to see what–if anything–was inside, but she caught herself.