So where had she gone now?
Back at the station, he sat at his desk, going through the motions. He took out the business card Hauck had given him that first time he came by. Talon Global Security. Partner. A phone number back in Connecticut.
And underneath it, his mobile.
You are a cop, aren’t you? the bastard had taunted him. That’s your problem. You figure out what to do …
He had a way of finding numbers. Most detectives could. There was the formal way, which required a warrant, and that’s the way you absolutely went when you knew it was going to be run through the system. But there were less forthright ways, too. People who worked for the phone companies, who could assess anyone’s account. Save a whole lot of time and trouble. And the chain of evidence didn’t have to be particularly clean on this job. This situation wasn’t going anywhere near the system. This time, he wasn’t about to be arresting anybody here.
A couple of hours later Wade had a conversation over his cell and had gotten what he was looking for. In the last twenty-four hours, there were three calls to Hauck’s cell phone from the same number in the local area code, 970.
The rest was easy. All you had to do was plug the phone number into Google and it came up right in front of your eyes.
Tom Whyte. Snowmass. And an address out on Elk Creek Road near Snowmass.
Wade didn’t know who he was, but who else would possibly be calling Hauck from here?
So if the rest was easy, how come it sure didn’t feel that way? He took off for the rest of the day, citing personal matters, convincing himself over and over exactly what it was he had to do. He came up with a plan, a sketchy one, he knew, but the best one that presented itself. What he didn’t know was whether he could actually go through with it when the chips were on the line. It was either Kyle or Dani, and like the man had said, one of them needed him more than anything in the world and was his own flesh and blood. That was the way he had to look at it. He looked at his hands, hands that had shaken the hands of lots of famous people who had passed through Aspen over the years. Hands that had done a lot of things he was ashamed of, too.
Now they had to do one more.
He went to his garage and opened a Styrofoam box, then dug around amid the old clothes and personal effects, and pulled out that old bottle of Dewar’s he’d kept there for years. More as kind of a test, knowing it was always there, and he’d passed it for these few years. He’d passed the test well. He undid the foil and opened the cork. He didn’t even look for a glass. He just looked at it like the devil next to him in the room and took in two long gulps. The first liquor that had touched his lips in years.
He wanted to feel ashamed, but he couldn’t. The whiskey was harsh and fiery, but it still felt like an old friend, someone almost forgotten through the years, but who had now walked through his door and all past affronts were forgiven. He took another large gulp and then one more, until he’d made his way through a quarter of the bottle. He felt it burn, like a truth that was long delayed, but clear.
Then he just sat down in his garage and stared. He could see it now. What he had to do. It wasn’t much of a way out. Only the easier of two bad outcomes.
These hands had done a lot of things in his life he was ashamed of.
What was one more?
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE
“Tell that dog to shut up!” Wade said, flashing the beam of light at Blu, which only agitated the dog further.
The Lab was on his hinds, pulling against Dani, going crazy now. He didn’t really know Wade; he’d met him only one or two times. Maybe it was the uniform or the light flashing in his eyes. Or maybe only that Wade was even out here in the dark. Poking around with a gun.
“What the hell are you doing here, Wade?” Dani asked him again, her eyes going to his weapon.
“Who else is here?” Wade ignored her question, shining the light up at the house.
“No one. My friend will be back any minute, so unless you’ve got some reason to be here, Wade, it would be a good idea to—”
“Put the dog away, Dani. You’re coming with me.”
“What are you talking about? I’m not going anywhere with you, Wade. You’re acting kind of weird. You seem like you’re drunk. And you still haven’t told me—”
“Not drunk enough that I don’t know what to do,” he said, cutting her off. The dog continued to try to get to him. Wade took a step back. “Shut him up, I said.” He pointed the gun at Blu. “Or I’ll take care of him myself!”
“Wade! Don’t!” Dani yanked on the harness, pulling Blu as close to her as she could. “He’s just scared, that’s all. Can you blame him?”
“He damn well ought to be scared. I’m afraid you have to come with me, Dani. That’s why I’m here. Don’t make a fuss. It’s all official business. Here …” He put the flashlight in a holster on his belt and took out a set of handcuffs. “Put these on.”
“You’re arresting me …?” She looked at the cuffs and knew that wasn’t what he came here for. “How did you even find this place, Wade?”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m just taking you down to the station, that’s all. Some people in Templeton made a complaint. I have to do this, Dani. Just put these on or I will. We can discuss it there.” Blu tried to lunge, continuing to growl. “And get your goddamn dog out of my face, or I’ll take him down!”
“No.” Dani pulled him back. “Who made a complaint, Wade? What people?” Blu almost lunged out of her grip, as if trying to protect her.
Wade’s eyes flashed wildly. “You keep that animal leashed or I’ll shoot him, you understand? Right in front of you.” He pointed the gun as if he was about to fire. “I swear.”
“Wade, don’t! Please. Put the gun away. He’s only trying to protect me.” She thought she could wait this out until Geoff came back. Which had to be in minutes. But then what would happen? Things could get a whole lot worse. The way Wade looked, the erratic gleam in his eye, if someone else suddenly drove up, Dani didn’t know what would happen then. “Wade, tell me what’s going on.”
“Just do what I say, goddammit! For once, just do it. Get the dog inside, or you won’t like what happens. Just get him inside.” He kept jabbing the gun at Blu. “Or I’ll shoot him right where he’s standing, you hear …? I can do that. No one’s gonna ever think twice on it. I swear.”
“Okay. Okay,” Dani pleaded. “Wade, please …” He looked like he might do anything with that wild look in his eye. Her heart was pounding out of control. “I’ll bring him in. I’ll come. I’ll come. Just back off now.”
She dragged Blu around the back. The door to the yard was still ajar. She didn’t know what to do. She could run inside the house with Blu and lock the door. Then what? Wade might do anything. He seemed crazed.
“Put these on,” he said, dangling the cuffs in front of her.
“Wade, please …”
“Put ’em on! Or, so help me God, I’ll shoot him between the eyes. Is that what you want, Dani? You want to see your dog die?” His eyes were wild and fiery. She’d seen him mad many times, but never, ever like this.
“Okay, okay!” she screamed back. “Okay! Blu, go back inside now, baby … please.” She pushed open the door and tried to drag him inside. If she was going to lock herself in, this was the time. But Wade came around and put his hand on the door as the dog went back in, Dani letting him go ahead.
Then he shut it on him. Blu came back up with his paws against the glass, barking again.
Dani looked at Wade. “Wade, you’re scaring me, please …”
“I think I told you to put these on.”
“Wade, I’m not going anywhere with you. You know I can’t.”
“Oh, you’re going … You’re damn well going with me, or else I’ll—” He took her arms and wrenched them around her back and slapped on the plastic cuffs, screwing them tight on her wrists, digging into her.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because there’s no damn other choic
e, Dani. There just isn’t. That’s why. Now c’mon.” He took her by the arm and pushed her forward around the front of the house. She left Blu standing up in the window, barking. He pushed her down the driveway, Dani stumbling in the sandals she had on. About halfway down the drive she saw Wade’s white police SUV, parked out of sight on the side. It had what looked like a parasail strapped on the top. She had a feeling of dread about what was going to happen. If she could stall him, Geoff might come back. He’d know this was something bad. Whatever he was, Wade wasn’t a killer. He wouldn’t just shoot them. Though he seemed crazy tonight and maybe he had been drinking, and she didn’t know what he would do.
He said, “Get in,” opening the passenger door.
“Wade, where are you taking me?” Dani demanded, fears springing up. “I know we’re not going back to the station.”
“I said, just get in, girl.” He pushed her inside and slammed the door shut behind her. “You’ll see.”
“You have to tell me, Wade!”
He went around and climbed into the driver’s seat beside her and locked the doors. She was trapped. Then he started the car up and slowly backed down the remaining part of the driveway, then went into a turn and headed back on Snowmass Creek Road toward the main highway. About a half mile down the road, a set of lights came up on them. Dani saw that it was Geoff, coming back, and when they passed she screamed out his name, futilely, pounding the window with her two fists in desperation, yelling “Geoff, Geoff!” as he drove by.
On Route 82, the main road in the valley, Wade turned west toward Carbondale. They stayed silent for the next few minutes, Dani desperately trying to figure out what she could do. Bound. Helpless. Trapped.
When they finally came to the turnoff for Carbondale, Wade passed right by.
“I thought we were going back to town?” Dani said, for the first time a real feeling of fear rising up inside her.
“You didn’t give anyone any choice, dammit,” Wade said.
“What do you mean, Wade?” He had the police radio on. There was a crackle from all the local departments coming in. A bar fight in Snowmass Village. An ailing car off the road near Basalt. “What do you mean I didn’t give you any choice?”
He looked at her. “I told you not to stick your nose in it, didn’t I? How many warnings did I give you? To just butt out.”
“People were killed, Wade. My friend was killed. They tried to kill me up there as well a couple of days ago. And Ty. But you already know about all that, right? That’s actually what we’re doing here, isn’t it?” Her eyes drilled on him. It was like he was being controlled by somebody or something. “What the hell have you gotten yourself into, Wade?”
“Hell,” he said, continuing to drive. “Living hell. Nothing else to call it.”
“And now you’re going to do, what, climb deeper in it? Drag me in, too?”
“Don’t blame it on me. You dragged yourself in, Dani. You’ve been in it since you walked in my office that first day.”
“What are you going to do to me?” she pressed.
This time he didn’t answer. He just continued down 82, occasionally turning up the police radio to listen to the chatter.
“Just sit there. Nothing you can do about it anyway. I can’t let them kill him, Dani. I can’t. I’ve done enough wrong. That’s where I hold the line.”
“What are you talking about? Kill who?”
She saw it in the tightening on his face. The predicament he was in. She knew only one thing would make him do this. “Kyle?”
He switched lanes, turning the radio up higher.
“It’s Kyle, isn’t it? What are they making you do, Wade? They’re squeezing you, aren’t they, and you’re about to do something terrible? You don’t have to do this. You’ll regret it the rest of your life.”
He put on his blinker. “Maybe I will.”
He pulled off the highway at the outskirts of Glenwood Springs, and turned onto what Dani knew was Red Mountain Road for a while and started to wind into the hills.
She knew where she was. At the top was Cutter Point. She’d been up there once, with a bunch of paragliding friends. It was the spot they jumped from in Glenwood. There were houses on the road at first, on both sides, and past them, aspens rising into the sky as the road turned from paved to dirt.
There was nothing up there but a sheer drop.
“Where are we going?” Dani asked, trepidation setting in.
“Just shush.”
“You have to tell me, Wade! Where are you taking me?”
“There’s only one place up here, girl. I think you know that.”
Her thoughts flashed to Ty. She didn’t know if he was alive or dead now. Only that he hadn’t answered her all night and she’d called several times. It was clear he wasn’t going to save her this time. He wasn’t anywhere near her. Even if he was alive. She wrestled against her cuffs. She tried to slip her wrist through, but it only made the clasps tighter. She’d been stupid, she realized. She’d been stubborn and foolish, and bulled her way into things she didn’t belong in. Even Ty had told her that. She had dragged him in, too. And now she was going to pay. Wade had the flushed countenance of a trapped, hunted animal, looking for some way out of the box, but with a single-minded determination to do what he had to do.
He continued to wind up the road as it narrowed, putting on his brights.
“Please don’t do this to me, Wade. You were married to my mom. We’ve known each other since I was a child …”
“Best just hold on, Danielle.” The crackle of the police chatter grew thinner and less audible the farther up they climbed.
There was a time in her life when she had trusted him. He wasn’t exactly loving—she wasn’t his, Kyle was—but he was always fun and full of life. When she was a kid, he’d taken the two of them camping and rafting. She and Kyle. That’s how she first got started. When her mom got sick, he’d taken her to her college back east, almost like a dad. And now he was taking her where …? To do what? Kill her. Doing someone’s dirty work to shut her up. The car wound up higher and higher up the mountain. Dani knew it went two thousand feet up. There were no lights up here. Only the moon. There was a series of narrow switchbacks with only boulders to act as a guardrail; even by day it would make your stomach uneasy. Dani eyed the lock switch next to Wade. She thought about diving across and slamming into him when he slowed at one of the turns. Forcing the vehicle off the road. The car would surely roll. She didn’t know how high up they were now, but there were still trees to block their fall. Then maybe she could make her way out and run for it.
Whatever he was going to do, she wasn’t going to just go willingly. Without a fight. No way.
“Wade, I know they’ve gotten to you somehow. But you don’t have to do this. We can take it to Sheriff Warrick. This isn’t going to help you, Wade. Only suck you in deeper.” She saw she was talking to a stone wall. “Wade, listen!”
He put his foot on the brake and slowed to about ten miles an hour as they went around a turn, the car wheels grazing the edge. The lights of the valley flickered far below them. Dani suddenly dove across him and grabbed hold of the wheel and jerked it to the left toward the edge as hard as she could.
“What the hell are you—”
The vehicle lurched, its front wheels rolling off the embankment, teetering a second or two on the edge, just a foot or two from rolling off and tumbling down the mountain. It was her only chance. Dani kept the wheel pinned as Wade slammed on the brake, the vehicle hanging there over the darkness, front wheels spinning.
“You dumb little shit …” Wade said. He ripped her hands off the wheel and swung the back of his into her face.
Dani’s head snapped back, and she felt the warm drool of blood running down her chin.
She tried to dive across him again, this time to unlock the lock switch and somehow get out of the car. But Wade blocked her and pulled her back by the hair and struck her again, opening her lip. Dani gasped with pain. He pushed
her back over to her seat, keeping his hand pinned on her throat, his thumb digging into her larynx, causing her to gag.
“Wade! Wade, please!” she pleaded, trying to tear away his hand. Tears burned in her eyes. “What are you trying to do? You’re hurting me!”
He kept his hand pinned there. Choking her. Driven by some uncontrollable urge in his ruined life to protect what he knew was now beyond protection. His rage seemingly built up from so many things. Anger. Shame. Guilt. Futility.
“Wade, please …” She shook herself free. “What’s the plan?” Dani stared at him incomprehensibly. “What are you going to do, Wade? Tie me into that parasail up there and throw me over the edge?”
He just kept his hands on her.
“Who’s going to believe it? Geoff’ll know that’s not how it happened. What are you going to do, kill him, too? People know I don’t even do this, never mind drive up here and do it at night.
“And how did I even get up here? Geoff was out. My car’s at my house. How are you going to figure that one out, Wade? It doesn’t make sense. Nobody’s going to believe it.”
He stared like some mute, hunted animal.
“What’s your plan, Wade? What’s the goddamn plan?”
“I don’t know what the fucking plan is!” he screamed. He took his hand away from her and pounded the steering wheel several times. “I don’t have a plan!”
Dani looked at him, barely able to breathe. “Wade, please …”
She sat there, catching her breath. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She thought she had reached him. She waited for his breaths to calm. Then he turned the car back from the ledge and righted it on the road.
“Do that one more time I’ll shoot you here,” he said, and pulled out his gun.
He threw the car back in gear and continued climbing.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX
One Mile Under Page 32