Red Tide

by Peg Brantley

  “Saxitoxin? As in Red Tide? In Colorado?”

  “Every one of the last four animals tested positive for it. There is no doubt.”

  “But how? And why?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine, but if you think there might be a connection between the animal deaths and your current cases, we need to tell Sheriff Coble.”

  She sensed that he wasn’t finished. “What else, Scott?”

  He cleared his throat. “As a precaution against animal-borne diseases and illnesses, my policy has always been to request the location of each dead animal brought to my clinic, whether by an individual or by the county. Sometimes the individuals have to guess, but the county crews know I want the information and they’re very good at making a note. The thing is, although some of the animals were in scattered locations, a significant number came from one particular area. It’s not very populated, but the homes there are priced in the high end of the stratosphere... like fifteen million and up.”

  “Where?” Even in Aspen Falls, that price tag carried some weight. Of course, just because there seemed to be a concentration of animal deaths in one particular area, it didn’t necessarily connect. The political fallout could be huge. “How many homes are we talking about in the area?”

  “No more than four.”

  “You need to get with the sheriff on this now. I’ll come in when you need me.”

  “So you don’t think I’m some kind of crazy conspiracy nut?”

  “You might be a conspiracy nut, Scott, but as far as this case is concerned I’m as much of a pecan as the next guy.”

  “I’ll take it to Coble and for your information I’ll fax you the list of homeowners in the area with the highest number of dead animals.”

  “Good. Send your autopsy results too, the ones where you confirmed saxitoxin.”

  “Sending them now.”

  Two minutes later, she was standing in front of the fax machine gathering the papers as they came out. She took the stack of information to her desk and sat down to take a quick look.

  When she got to the listing of homeowners near what she now thought of as Ground Zero, she recognized the first name, a well-known Hollywood celebrity with more money than brains. Her gaze travelled down the list.

  She stopped, shocked, at one that came a lot closer to home. Interesting.

  Jax trusted that Scott would have called Sheriff Coble right after sending her the fax. She forwarded it on with a note. The personal connection of that one name unsettled her. Her paperwork could wait a little longer.

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  There are different kinds of stillness.

  There’s the stillness after sex with someone you love, in which the intense emotional connection lingers with softened edges and amazing mental images.

  There’s the stillness after a party, in which a hint of sparkle and laughter remains in the air. It’s the stillness of friendship and tomorrow’s promise.

  Then there’s the stillness after people gather to mourn, in which the depth of emotion leads in another direction, to a place where everyone is alone. Grief is a place, even in the most lush surroundings, that is solitary. There is nothing but the loss. Jamie longed to go there, to touch her loss and make it familiar, to begin to understand so she could live through it. She needed to feel Ellen’s love envelope her so she could find the strength to breathe again.

  But Teague was right there. “I want you to come home with me for tonight.”

  “I’m fine, Teague. Really, this is where I want to be.”

  He shook his head. “Not good enough. Your friend was murdered. Who’s to say you won’t be next? Get a friend or a neighbor to take care of the dogs. You’re coming with me.”

  She sighed. “Okay.” She grabbed her coat and scarf. “I’ll call Irma and ask her to come and get the dogs for the night.” As an afterthought, she walked to her desk and left a note for Jax. They’d planned to get together later.

  Jamie made arrangements with Irma, whose home had more than enough square footage to handle the five dogs for one night. She pulled out some dog food that Irma would be sure to see when she came by to round up her guests. Jamie tugged on both her coat and scarf and went into the back to find Gretchen and get her in. Her heart buoyed at the sight of the golden.

  “We’re all going for sleepovers tonight, Gretch, but I’ll see you tomorrow.” Gretchen loped into the house ahead of Jamie.

  Tail in the air, the beautiful animal went in search of her comrades after first checking to see whether there was anything interesting in her food bowl. Jamie followed close behind.

  Gretchen suddenly stopped in front of her. Her tail dropped and she turned to Jamie with a confused look in her eye. Then she walked with purpose over to Teague and lay flat on the floor, her alert posture.

  Of course, Teague didn’t notice, but Jamie did.

  Gretchen had alerted at the feet of the man Jamie had begun to think might be her life partner, her soul mate. She set aside her time for grieving. She needed to think. Even though she knew better, she tried to construct a plausible scenario that would cause Gretchen to register death, to alert as she had. Where could Teague have been in the last few hours that would generate Gretchen’s alert? Where could he have come in contact with decaying tissue? She could think of only one answer.

  The tiniest smile split Teague’s face.

  Jamie went into the family room and sat on the sofa, too terrified to move, still wearing her coat and scarf. She and Teague were alone. As much as she wished for other people to be around at this moment, at least the situation would not jeopardize the lives of others. If she could avoid it, she’d just as soon it would not jeopardize her own either.

  Teague Blanton was at least peripherally involved in the death of one her dearest friends. An hour ago there would have been no question. Jamie would have been grateful for Teague’s protective stance, and she would have been foolish. Now, every word, every gesture, became critical.

  She tried to push the truth away from her mind, to reject it as too horrific to be real. It simply can’t be Teague. But in her heart she knew.

  There are different kinds of stillness, but deception wasn’t really still. Deceit swirled, dipped, moved just beyond reach, threatened to erupt through the floorboards to expose her. She’d always been terrible at hiding things from others.

  But Teague’s deceit lay low to the floor, like fog. His deceit was subtle, sinister. Jamie shivered. Does he know what I learned from Gretchen’s alerting at his feet? Maybe he thinks Gretchen just laid down in front of him. She listened as Teague turned on the dishwasher and closed some cupboard doors. His next move would be to come to her.

  She closed her eyes and forced herself to slump deeper into the cushions. She listened as he paused in the space between the kitchen and the family room. She sidled against the padded arm of her sofa, feeling his gaze as he evaluated her, watching for any sign of awareness. She steeled herself. He would make his own decision soon. She would call the sheriff when he left.

  She smelled him as he got closer to her, the heat from his skin on hers. The cushion that had been her home for the last several hours dipped with his weight. She wanted to throw up.

  Something pricked her neck.

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Jax turned over the conversation with Scott Ortiz in her mind as she drove to her sister’s house. There had to be a correlation between the animal deaths and the murders. But saxitoxin?

  Red Tide, from which biotoxins are produced, including the daddy of them all, saxitoxin, is a naturally occurring algal bloom, but it’s found primarily in large bodies of water like the Gulf of Mexico. How the heck did it get to Aspen Falls?

  Assuming she and Scott were on to the what and test results on the recent victims confirmed it, the question became who and then why? Why would some sicko use a biological weapon to kill people? Were they targeted or chosen at random? Is it something more? She checked her rearview mirror and punched in her sister�
��s speed-dial.

  Jamie didn’t answer her phone. Dammit. Jax prayed it was because Jamie had unplugged it for some rest, or maybe that she and Ciara had gone to get something to eat. But we’d planned on getting together. Jamie wouldn’t have gone off with Ciara without calling. Jax double-checked her messages. Nothing from Jamie.

  She pulled onto the long drive, turned off the engine and checked the sheet of addresses again. How coincidental that this guy should live at Ground Zero. Under different circumstances, Jamie would get a kick out of it. She opened her car door and the silence tickled her anxiety button. Where are the dogs? She also thought one or two mourners might have stuck around so Jamie wouldn’t be alone. She walked up to her sister’s front door, her footsteps sounding loud and measured in the quiet. The door was unlocked. It wasn’t unusual, but it bothered Jax anyway.

  “Jamie?” The silence seemed to answer her back.

  Jax called her sister’s name a couple more times. No response. No Jamie. No dogs.

  She walked farther into the house.

  The dishwasher in the kitchen indicated a clean load. Jax checked the coffee pot. It was filled with Jamie’s French Roast and ready to go. She walked over to the desk and saw a note on Jamie’s stationery laying attached to the granite counter. Irma has the dogs. Gone to Teague’s. Will wait for you there. Don’t go to bed before we can talk. Jamie had written down the address and basic directions.

  Jax compared addresses. The same. And Irma Moses has the dogs. Okay. That explains their absence. Why didn’t Jamie just take the dogs with her to Teague’s? Or leave them here?

  “Hello, Jax.” The voice was deep, penetrating. He was so confident that he didn’t need to repeat himself.

  She couldn’t move.

  “I was disappointed, but not surprised, that you decided not to play the game with me.”

  Play the game? What’s he talking about? Oh, shit! The two hundred thousand dollar bribe to delay the toxicology tests! Oh, God! Jax gripped both her address list and the note from Jamie as if they would keep her safe.

  “Your husband played, and he accepted a much smaller sum to play with me. But then, your lab is still functional, isn’t it? I guess one gets what one pays for.”

  The lab? My lab! Phil!

  “You’re looking for your sister. I can take you to her.” His voice was clear, concise, promising.

  Jax moved toward the voice, her arms raised in an instinctive self-defense posture. She felt a pinch in the back of her neck, and things shivered a bit before they went gray.

  “Just relax. My plane is waiting.”

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  He had already moved Jamie from his home in Aspen Falls. She had required some additional medication for the transfer, but it couldn’t be helped. The new location would be a lot more interesting, a lot more functional, and a lot more convenient for him over the next seventy-two hours.

  The old Mile High Stadium, where Bronco games were sold out every fall and winter, had a neighbor the television networks rarely ever mentioned: a hotel high enough that anyone on the upper floor could look out over the football games. The rooms were renowned for their football day parties, even though only a small fraction of the attendees ever actually watched the action in the stadium.

  When the new stadium was built, he’d held the rights to some property north of the sports arena. The city and the Bronco organization had tried to push their agenda on him, making sure he could build only so many stories, but he had pushed back. Consequently, he’d been grandfathered and was now in the process of building a structure that would once again overlook the gridiron battles. His concession was to promise in writing and in perpetuity that the building, including the higher floors, would be used only for business purposes from nine-to-five on Monday through Friday. Absolutely no one, including cleaning staff, could ever occupy the upper floors during a Bronco game.

  The frame of the building had been erected and the first two floors completed, and there were enclosed portions on each of the other floors to store equipment and supplies. He’d secured Jamie in one of them before he had flown back to Aspen Falls.

  An expanded plan had more potential, and his plan had expanded significantly.

  Jacqueline Taylor was a huge acquisition. He’d be able to play with their genuine emotions for a bit. He could try to experience what the death of a sibling meant to someone who really cared.

  He drove around the back of his building to the loading dock where his construction crew received deliveries. He’d used a flatbed dolly from the dock to move Jamie, and it was still there. He grunted as he hoisted Jax’s drugged body onto her wheeled chariot.

  Everything was coming together, and with bonuses. His months—years really—of planning were about to pay off. He almost experienced some kind of genuine emotion. Pride? Excitement? He shook his head. Not quite there.

  Teague Blanton dumped Jacqueline like a sack of potatoes in the storage shed next to her sister. He pulled out a roll of duct tape and secured her ankles and wrists. He ran it twice around her face to cover her mouth, then pushed her over. Her head thudded a little on the concrete, but it was nothing to be concerned about.

  He still needed to move the equipment into place for his Sunday launch. He hadn’t wanted to set up too early, but with each passing day, the risk of discovery lessened, especially since he’d given his entire crew a few days off with pay. It was hunting season, so no one questioned a thing.

  The trailer he’d towed behind him three days ago from Aspen Falls held everything he required. He’d make as many of his preparations as possible now, then come back after dinner to have a little fun with the ladies. He had plenty of time.

  Tonight, he’d have a special, late-night, pre-celebration dinner at Elway’s. His luxury suite at the Ritz-Carlton, the big one this time, was secured. Sunday afternoon the entire city, even the nation, would be forever changed.

  He wondered whether he would be changed as well.

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  Jamie worked at her duct tape restraints with a carpenters nail she’d found wedged between a supply box and the wall of the shed. After jabbing her wrist enough to draw blood, she finally figured out a kind of punch-saw motion that, at least in her imagination, seemed to be doing the trick.

  She didn’t want any more drugs pumped into her system, so she faked more drowsiness than she felt whenever Teague came around, but he’d been gone for quite a while.

  Jamie figured she was somewhere in Denver. They hadn’t been in the air long enough to be out of the state. She was in a large empty building or a warehouse of some kind. Nothing cushioned sounds and she smelled metal, like tools and grease.

  There was loud traffic, then silence, then traffic again. A busy city street with stoplights. She didn’t think it could be the Springs, either. The traffic never entirely let up here like it still did in Colorado Springs. At least it hadn’t in the last several hours.

  Who was this man she’d imagined might be the one? She remembered his smile and the charm and the respect she thought she’d read in him when they’d first met, as well as the flattering attention he’d lavished on her. What a fool I am.

  Tears propelled out of her eyes and the cloth blindfold grew damp. She needed to blow her nose. Another strip of fabric was pressed against her mouth, stretching her lips into a painful shape. She’d at least been able to work the bit of cloth stuffed in her mouth to a place where she could breathe even though her nose was clogged.

  Other than the obvious involvement Teague Blanton had in Ellen’s torture and murder, there must be some reason he had taken her to hold her captive. Why in Denver? And why didn’t he just kill me?

  Finally freed, Jamie’s hands fell to her sides. Pain shot up both arms to her shoulders. Her wrists throbbed and she brought them in front of her to rub some life back into them. Sweat trickled down her sides. Her coat felt bulky.

  How long have I been tied up? Gray light filtered through the blindfold and she i
nched it up over her right eye just enough to see her surroundings. She closed her eye against the glare. Set her fingers to loosening the grip on the gag covering her mouth. She didn’t want to over-loosen either of them unless she knew she could get away. She needed to either be gone when Blanton returned or have surprise on her side.

  She heard someone approaching. Something thudded to the floor. A padlock unlatched, chains clanked, and the shed door pulled open.

  Jamie lay in the corner, her back against the wall, her hands behind her. Need to move a little. He’ll know I can’t still be out. She moaned, then fell still. She forced herself to keep her body slack even as she focused on what she could hear.

  There were no words, just his breathing and a small grunt as he hauled something across the floor, something new and heavy to join her. The hairs on the back of her neck and along her arms stiffened. The body of a person had settled next to her. Dead or alive, she couldn’t tell.

  The door to the shed closed and the padlock snapped closed. She pulled her hands from behind her and pushed her blindfold out of the way. Oh, God, no! Jax! No, no, no, no!

  Jamie moved to undo the restraints that bound her sister. Her mouth. Her eyes. Finally, her hands and feet. It took a long time. She fought not to rip the restraints from Jax’s body. Each one of them was an assault against Jamie for believing in the wrong man one more time and pulling her sister into something that might cost both of them their lives.

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  Only after she’d freed Jax of every bit of duct tape and the gag did Jamie concentrate on the rest of her own, her mind scrambling to consider their next step. We have to get out of here.

  The first issue was to break the lock on the door holding them in. After she released the last of her own bindings, she tested the door. It gave a little, but not much. She pressed her back against the wall furthest away from the padlocked door. She closed her eyes, shot off a prayer and bolted for the barrier, digging deep with her right shoulder. The aftermath resulted in a rattling-thunder sound no one nearby could have missed. She hoped that Blanton was far enough away that he hadn’t heard it.