An edge of frustration shoved at him. He understood the necessity of not giving out information over the phone just because someone they didn’t know claimed to be in a position that made it okay. What he didn’t like was the delay of waiting for the detective to get around to calling the Marshals Service office to verify his identity…and whether that phone call would be brought to Thom’s attention.
He turned toward Tara. She sat on the couch in the same position as he’d left her. He sat down next to her, putting his arm around her to provide some comfort. “How are you doing?”
She leaned her head against his shoulder. “I’m doing okay. It was just such a shock about Danny.”
“It sure was. I was totally unprepared for that step. The only question is whether it relates to what we’re working on or did someone else from his past have it in for him, with the timing of the reprisal being unfortunate.”
She looked up at him. “Isn’t that the same thing you said about Pat’s murder? You wondered if it was connected with this or an unrelated incident from his past?”
He jerked to attention, then stared at her as if he was trying to comprehend what she had said.
She sat up straight, glanced toward the door, then back at him. “What’s the matter? Did you hear something?”
“You said it…is this the same as Pat. Of course!” He grabbed his personal cell phone and punched in a phone number.
“Steve…they fished Danny Vincent out of Puget Sound this afternoon. He was shot. Could you contact the Seattle police and see if you can get a ballistics match with the slug you took out of Andrew Carruthers? I have a witness who confirms that they knew each other and puts them together in a closed-door meeting with some other people. It’s just too coincidental having the two of them both shot and dumped in the water within days of each other…the same as having five out of six witnesses in the same case all die of accidental deaths in less than six months. Since you’re currently investigating the Andrew Carruthers’s murder, your captain couldn’t possibly object to you following up on a lead, especially if it helps get you closer to solving your case.”
He quickly terminated his conversation with Steve, then placed a call to Ken Walsh. “Someone out there must be truly desperate to have depleted their ranks this way, or else whoever it is has such a huge ego that they think they don’t need anyone else. First Pat and now Danny. Andrew ‘Pat’ Carruthers was a top-notch hit man with an impressive record of successful scores. Danny was John Vincent’s nephew and probably the one who took over the illegal operations…” He paused a moment as a new line of thought occurred to him. “Or perhaps he tried to take over and failed, with this being his reward.”
“One thing’s for sure, Brad. Whoever is behind this has ice water for blood. Very cold and calculating, highly ambitious, with no loyalty to anyone. A power struggle could certainly explain the reason Danny was eliminated…kind of a winner-take-all situation. But to do away with someone as useful to the criminal element as Andrew Carruthers was a truly ruthless act probably born of desperation.”
“How’s your schedule? Do you still anticipate arriving at the cabin about four o’clock in the morning?”
“Yes. I’ll see you then.”
“Give me a call when you hit the village. Cut your headlights when you get to the driveway. I’ll have the garage open for you so you can get your car out of sight.”
“IT’S GOOD to see you again, Ken.” Brad shook hands with his friend. The retired marshal stood just under six feet tall. With his distinguished looks and dark hair graying at the temples he had the appearance of a banker or judge, but the steely glint in his eyes clearly said he was not to be taken lightly in spite of his sixty years of age. “Did you have any problems on the way up?”
“Nothing. No suspicious vehicles in my neighborhood and no one followed me. I doubled back a couple of times to make sure.”
Tara walked into the kitchen, drawing both men’s attention. “Good morning.” She poured herself a cup of coffee, then held up the coffeepot toward Ken with a questioning look.
Ken extended a warm smile. “Yes…I’d love some coffee.”
“I suppose I should officially introduce the two of you. Ken Walsh, this is Tara Ford.” Tara and Ken shook hands. “Tara is the one and only remaining witness from the John Vincent trial. She’s what this is all about.”
Ken seated himself at the kitchen table. “All you gave me on the phone was a quick overview. Now that I’m here, do you suppose you could fill me in on the details? You needed some false identification for this young lady and Thom Satterly is curious about your activities and it has to do with the John Vincent case. And now Danny Vincent has been murdered. So, how does all of this come together?”
Brad filled Ken in on the details of how he had stumbled across the case and what had happened since he’d started poking around. “And that brings us up to now. Tara has insisted on putting herself out in the open as bait.” He shot a pointed look in her direction. “A situation I’m not happy with, but have reluctantly agreed to try.”
Ken regarded Tara. “That’s very brave of you, young lady.”
Tara slowly shook her head. “I’m hardly brave. It’s just that things can’t go on like this. I can’t live constantly looking over my shoulder, running from one hiding place to another…” She glanced at Brad, but had to quickly look away as emotion welled inside her. She addressed her comments to Ken. “Brad was wounded because of me and his career is in jeopardy. I can’t let the situation continue. There has to be an end to all of this and it isn’t going to happen if we continue to run and hide. I’m the one they want, so it’s up to me to take a stand.”
Ken threw an admiring glance in Tara’s direction, then looked at Brad. “You were wounded?”
“It’s nothing, just a little scratch. Of greater concern to me is a leak of privileged information from our offices. Danny Vincent was at the top of my list as the person receiving the information. Right now my money is on Doreen Vincent, but she’s completely disappeared—which is the main reason she’s now at the top of my list. She constructed a new identity for herself, even going so far as to hide ownership of Green Valley Construction behind a maze of dummy corporations and holding companies.”
“I assume you’ve tried all the regular avenues of investigation in trying to locate her?”
“As much as I can without going through official channels. I’ve come up with something that I think nails her down, one little slipup in her false trail, but it’s only speculation. Right now I’m waiting to hear back from the Seattle police about their investigation into Danny’s murder. They wouldn’t talk to me when I called. They needed to call the Marshals Service and make sure I was who I said I was. If I haven’t heard from them by eight o’clock this morning, then I’ll call again. I have some questions I need answered and preferably before Tara makes herself a target. Steve’s going to request a ballistics comparison of the bullet that killed Pat with the one that killed Danny.”
Ken reached over and poured himself some more coffee. “What’s your plan for today?”
“I’m going to make a show of leaving so it will appear that Tara’s here alone. I’ll double back on the fire road behind the cabin, leave my car parked there and wait. Then she’ll walk into the village to do some grocery shopping and other routine errands. You’ll stay here to cover the cabin in case anyone tries to get in and wait for her while she’s gone and you’ll be here when she returns, hidden upstairs, out of sight. I’ll keep Tara under surveillance from the time she leaves the cabin until she returns.”
Ken frowned as he glanced from Brad to Tara then back to Brad. “That’s pretty risky. What if they take aim at her from a distance from a concealed location?”
Brad glanced at Tara before responding to Ken’s question. “That’s exactly the point I made, but Tara insisted that this is what she wants to do.” He gave her hand a quick squeeze. “And I’m not sure I’d be able to stop her short of locking her
in a closet.”
Ken directed his question to Tara. “Is that right, young lady? Do you fully understand the risks involved? If someone puts you in the crosshairs of a rifle scope, there isn’t anything anyone can do to prevent you from being shot and most likely killed.”
Her voice was soft, but it did not contain any hesitation or uncertainty. “Yes, I fully understand the risks involved. This is the only way. It’s something I have to do if we’re going to put an end to this nightmare.”
A sinking feeling lodged itself in Brad’s stomach. He fully understood the risks, too. He wasn’t sure precisely when he began falling in love with Tara, but the night they made love for the first time had brought the realization into crystal clarity. And now the woman he loved could be killed and he would be unable to prevent it. Just as it had been several years ago with his wife. His anxiety level shot up. He had spent two hours last night trying to talk Tara out of doing this. He had even gone so far as to tell her that he forbid it. He very quickly found out what a huge mistake that had been. He had done everything he could, but she stubbornly held on to her decision.
In retrospect he had to admit to himself that he would have done the same thing if he had been in her position. But would he be able to go on if anything happened to her? It was something he had to put out of his mind before it drove him beyond the realm of what needed to be done.
The ringing of his Marshals Service cell phone interrupted the moment. He grabbed it. “Harrison.” He listened as the Seattle detective identified himself.
“I have a very tight time frame here and appreciate you getting back to me so soon. I have questions about your investigation of the Danny Vincent murder. In order to save time, I’ll give you all my questions, then we can go over what you have. Who did you notify of the death and where did you reach that person? Are there any leads on suspects or motive that you’ve held back from the public? The news broadcast said shot in the back of the head. Was there just one shot? Any other signs of trauma? Do you have an autopsy report yet? If not, do you have an educated guess about the time of death?” Brad listened as the detective gave him what information they had accumulated so far.
“I see. I can give you a little bit of help on your time frame as far as Danny’s whereabouts earlier yesterday.” Brad provided the detective with the time Danny had been sighted at Mount Rainier, then concluded his conversation.
Tara couldn’t hold back her curiosity any longer. “What did he say? Did he have any useful information?”
“Not too much. With Danny’s criminal background they had the possibility of more suspects than they needed. They haven’t had time to sort it out yet and narrow it down to a viable list. Apparently death was caused by one single shot to the back of the head. An initial inspection showed no other trauma such as would have been inflicted in a fight, or even any signs that he had been physically restrained. It looked as if someone walked up behind him, aimed and pulled the trigger without his being aware.
“They should have an autopsy report in an hour or so. The notification of next of kin was his father, but this is where it gets interesting. The father is in very bad health in a nursing home and wasn’t able to come down to make an identification of the body. The person who showed up said she was his cousin, Doreen Vincent. She gave a phone number and address, which have since been determined to be a lie. It seems that our mysterious Doreen has a sense of humor. The phone number turned out to be an unlisted number belonging to the chief of police and the address was a cemetery.
“The description of her was short red hair and oversized sunglasses. She was dressed in jeans, a sweatshirt and boots. The morgue attendant didn’t really pay much attention beyond that. He did say that he thought she was wearing a wig. It seems his wife has one just like it. That loosely fits the description of the unknown woman seen entering the house of the first witness who met an untimely demise and corresponds with the short red wig hairs found at the scene of the third death.”
Tara perked up at the information. “That means Doreen is still in Seattle, or at least she was yesterday. So, we know for sure that it’s a woman we’re looking for, someone in her early thirties.” Then a new wave of reality hit her. She went to the window, pulled aside the drape and looked out at the road. “I wonder if she’s out there right now, watching the cabin and waiting to see what we’re going to do.”
“What we’re going to do—” Brad gave a gentle tug on her hand to get her to move away from the window “—is carry out our plan just as we discussed it.”
She looked at him, questioning without showing any fear. “Should I be on the lookout for someone in a short red wig wearing large sunglasses? Do you think she’ll stick to that disguise?”
“There’s no way of telling. You’ll need to be aware of anyone who appears to be the right size and age. She could even try to disguise herself as a man, so also keep alert for someone with a beard and mustache as a disguise. Of course, she’d be short for a man…” Some little fact was trying to shove its way out of his memory and into his consciousness.
“Brad?” She touched his arm. “Is something wrong?”
“No…I was just trying to remember something.” He shook his head. “It’ll come to me.”
Brad turned on the television. Ken joined them in the living room and the three of them watched the early-morning news. Tension coursed through Brad’s body. Ken personified calm, but then Brad had never known him to be any other way. Tara’s tensed muscles belied any attempt on her part to appear relaxed. He nervously checked his watch. He had set nine o’clock for the time he would make his very visible departure from the cabin.
He tried to sit still. He forced his attention to the television set in an attempt to get his mind off his worries. There was a commercial on. The product eluded him, but the content jumped out and grabbed him. A woman and man on the dance floor at a formal occasion, he kissed her and the resulting excitement was so great that it literally knocked her out of her high heels.
Brad jumped to his feet. “That’s it! That’s what has been bothering me.”
He turned excitedly to Tara, who rose to her feet. He grabbed her shoulders. “I’m six foot one and there’s nothing I can do to make myself any shorter. I can shave my head, bleach my hair, put on a false beard and mustache or even give myself a prominent scar across my face through the use of theatrical makeup, but I can’t make myself five-ten. I can, however, add some height with the type of shoes I wear…how thick are the soles and how high the heels. Cowboy boots would make me a perceived couple of inches taller. It’s the height that’s been bothering me, but now it makes sense. When I followed up on something I thought would take me one direction, I ended up stopped by the height. I followed up with the optometrist, but was stymied by the height.”
Total confusion covered her face. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about Doreen Vincent! The solution has been right under our noses the entire time. You said the photograph of her and John on his desk was taken at a country club party celebrating her graduation. I’ll bet she was wearing high heels…making her appear two or three inches taller than she really is. Am I right?”
Tara scrunched up her face as she visualized the photograph. Her eyes widened in surprise. “You’re right…she was wearing heels.”
AT NINE O’CLOCK Brad took his car out of the garage and pulled it around in front of the house. He climbed the three steps to the front porch. Tara came out of the cabin and stood on the porch with him, both of them highly visible to anyone watching.
Even though it was unlikely that anyone was close enough to hear, he spoke louder than normal so that the words would have added impact to whomever might be listening. “I don’t like leaving you here all alone, but I have a lead that I need to follow in person…an informant who has information for me about Danny Vincent’s murder.” Tara walked him to his car as they continued to talk.
“Make sure you set the perimeter alarm as soon as you g
o back inside, and keep it on. I should be back by midafternoon. Don’t answer the door if anyone knocks. I’ll knock on the front door, then I’ll call to you to let you know it’s me. Don’t turn off the alarm until then. As soon as it’s off let me know, but don’t open the door. I’ll unlock it and let myself in. Now, are you sure you’re going to be all right here by yourself?”
“I’ll be okay. With Danny gone, no one knows we’re here.”
“Don’t take any chances. Right now while I’m standing here, go inside and lock the door, then set the alarm.”
As soon as Tara was inside, Ken joined her, making sure he stayed out of sight from the window. They watched as Brad got into his car and drove away.
She looked at Ken. “Do you think that was convincing?”
He offered a confident smile, his voice carrying an upbeat quality obviously meant to relieve her tension. “I was convinced.”
DOREEN VINCENT WATCHED from her hiding place among the rocks on the other side of the road until Brad’s car had disappeared around the curve. She took off the headphone she had put on as soon as Brad and Tara stepped onto the porch and turned her attention back to the cabin. So, Brad had an informant who claimed to have information about Danny’s murder and he’d be gone most of the day. Her last-minute decision to purchase the high-powered directional microphone had been a good one. If only it was the type of equipment that could have heard what was being said inside the cabin as well. She already knew about the perimeter alarm system. Danny had told her what happened when he had tried to get in the cabin. But beyond that, it seemed that Brad had provided additional security procedures for Tara to follow.
She stood up. She had been hiding in the rocks since daylight and needed to stretch her muscles. Having Brad leave Tara alone at the cabin had come as a surprise. She needed to have the two of them together. They both had to be eliminated. Too bad about Brad. She liked him, but there was no way she could leave him out of this, not with everything he knew. He had signed his own death warrant when he started snooping around and digging into things that weren’t any of his business.
In His Safekeeping Page 22