Cold Call: A Cold Poker Gang Mystery

by Smith, Dean Wesley

  The rumbling sound got louder and louder until it seemed to shake the entire forest around him.

  Both Lott and Julia had decided to stay in place, hidden, until they saw Fleet. Williams was more than rich enough to send in a helicopter as well. And if he had heard the conversation Lott had had with Fleet, a helicopter in quickly might be the only way to deal with this mess.

  The valley around Lott was now shaking and pine needles were falling from the tree over his head. It was like a thumping sound, but he couldn’t see anything.

  Suddenly, like a bad science fiction move, the first helicopter turned on bright floodlights about a hundred feet over the large parking area.

  The light was so bright, Lott had to turn his head slightly to let his eyes adjust.

  The helicopter expertly landed to one side of the wide parking area.

  The helicopter was large and looked almost like a National Guard military-style chopper. How was that possible? What kind of pull did Fleet and Doc have, anyway?

  A second helicopter, much smaller, that looked like a private helicopter, came in for a landing on the other side of the parking lot, much closer to the Jeep and where they were hidden.

  Both helicopters cut engines, but the sound of them slowing down still seemed to shake the trees and the valley. Those landings must have been heard thirty miles away.

  The door to the smaller helicopter slid open first and Fleet stepped out. He was still dressed in a silk business suit, dress shoes, but no tie. Not wearing a tie had to be a first for Fleet.

  In all his life, Lott had never felt so relieved to see someone.

  Lott holstered his gun and climbed down the slight slope, brushing off pine needles from his hair and sweater as more men poured from the two helicopters.

  Julia came around from the back of the Jeep, smiling.

  She came over to Lott and put her arms around him and hugged him.

  He hugged her back and that felt flat wonderful.

  Then together, arm-in-arm, they moved toward Fleet as the noise of the helicopters finally died off into the still dark trees.

  Fleet smiled and shook Lott’s hand, then gave Julia a hug.

  “I’ll tell you,” Fleet said, “I need to call your daughter and Doc before they both have a fit. Never seen two people as worried as they were. They are almost to Boise as we speak. And Andor is having a fit down in Las Vegas as well.”

  “Talk about worried,” Lott said, laughing, the tension slowly draining. “You should have seen us about eight hours ago.”

  “This place is damned creepy at night,” Julia said, her arm still around Lott.

  They headed back up the steps toward the lodge. A number of men with high-level equipment were scanning the grounds and the area.

  Two other men from the larger helicopter came up to Lott and Julia. “Detectives, where is the body you found?”

  Lott pointed past the home to the shed down by the edge of the water.

  Both men nodded and carrying bags, headed there at a brisk walk.

  “FBI forensic field team,” Fleet said, explaining them as the two men walked away.

  Fleet pointed to the other group doing the scanning. “FBI surveillance team. The best. Another branch of them are also watching Williams as we speak.”

  “What about the poor girl adducted in Seattle?” Julia asked.

  “With your lead on the embalming,” Fleet said, “and my people tracing the ownership of the casket manufacturing and shipping company, they found her after Williams had already got her ready to ship to McCall. The FBI replaced her out with a dummy and the casket is on its way to McCall as Williams scheduled.”

  “She was alive?” Julia asked a fraction of a second before Lott could.

  Fleet smiled. “She was alive. Heavily sedated, but very much alive.”

  Julia started to cry softly and then said, “Thank you, Trish.”

  Lott knew exactly what she meant. Her friend might be dead, but her death had saved another life. And who knew how many others.

  Lott hugged Julia with one arm as Fleet went on.

  “That has not been announced yet in any fashion because the FBI want to really make sure this Williams guy goes down for all of his crimes. In all three states. And they want who has been working with him as well. They haven’t even told the local Seattle police yet for fear of a leak to Williams.”

  “A trap?” Lott said, surprised. “They are setting a trap?”

  “That’s the plan,” Fleet said, “if we find here what you are afraid we are going to find.”

  “Can we help?” Julia asked, her voice intense.

  “They tell me that is also the plan,” Fleet said, smiling.

  And Lott loved the look of that smile.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  May 15, 2015

  6:30 A.M.

  High Mountain Valley

  Near the Central Idaho Primitive Area

  Julia was very relieved that the FBI surveillance had found no sign of anything being broadcast from around the house or the valley in general. So in theory, for the moment, Williams didn’t know they were on to him.

  If they actually were. All this might be a wild goose chase, but no one seemed to be treating it that way.

  And the information had saved his latest target, which just made Julia smile.

  The morning sun still hadn’t hit the tops of the peaks around the valley, so it felt more like the middle of the night than the morning. The air had a hard, crisp bite to it and the rain from the night before had made everything slick, especially the log stairs leading up to the house.

  Julia and Lott had both held onto each other while climbing those, and Julia had no idea at all how Fleet made it up them in his slick leather shoes.

  Both Julia and Lott only had on sweaters with shirts under them, so they were both starting to get cold as they stood with Fleet talking about the events.

  Fleet didn’t seem to notice the cold air at all, even though he was only dressed in a dark silk suit and a dress shirt.

  After about ten minutes, the three of them had made it up to the front porch of the large log home. Julia unlocked the front door of the lodge again and let in the surveillance team to do a sweep as they waited on the porch.

  After ten minutes, the team came back out and said, “All clear. No bugs at all.”

  Lott and Julia and Fleet headed inside and Lott went right to the fireplace to start back up a fire while Julia put on water for tea and turned on lights.

  “I have breakfast coming in shortly,” Fleet said. “I figured you two would be hungry.”

  “Very,” Lott said as Julia realized she was hungry after all.

  Julia moved over and stood at the kitchen window near the dining room table for a moment, watching as the two men worked on Trish’s body just outside the shed, clearly doing preliminary tests.

  As a detective, she had watched that process many times. She knew what they were doing.

  Along the end of the lake another group of agents were setting up their gear for the dive into the cold water. She did not envy those divers at all in that dark, cold water.

  Julia could see four other agents walking slowly up the road toward where the road came into the valley, looking for where a car or cars might have gone over the edge.

  They had extremely strong flashlights that they mostly trained along the edge of the road and sometimes down into the water.

  As the fire got going and Lott came into the kitchen area, two men and a woman came in, all carrying equipment.

  The woman looked at Fleet. “We’re going to need to set up here in the living room area.”

  “Anything you need, agent,” Fleet said.

  The woman put down the case she was carrying, nodded to the two men, and came over toward them. She was tall at maybe six feet, had on dark jeans, a dark stocking cap over short brown hair, and a heavy jacket with FBI on the front and back.

  She had the jacket open exposing a brown sweater with a tan blo
use under it. Her eyes were dark and very intense.

  The FBI agent extended her hand to Julia, pulling off a thin glove as she did so.

  “Detective Rogers I presume. I am FBI Special Agent Carol Munn.”

  Julia shook her hand, smiling. “Thank you for coming in so fast and on such short notice.”

  Agent Munn just smiled and nodded at Fleet. “Tough to say no to this man, even in the middle of the night. Especially with the information you two found.”

  Agent Munn turned to Lott. “Detective Lott, a pleasure.”

  “I assure you, Agent Munn, the pleasure is all mine.”

  “Long night, huh?” Munn asked, laughing lightly.

  “Very,” Lott said, smiling.

  Then Agent Munn turned back to Julia with a serious look on her face. “I am very sorry to hear about the loss of your friend.”

  “Thank you,” Julia said, nodding.

  There was nothing else she could say.

  “Fleet mentioned you might have a plan for us,” Lott said after a moment.

  “We do,” Agent Munn said, nodding. “Fleet and I and your daughter came up with the basics of it earlier this morning. But first I would rather see what we find here.”

  Julia nodded. “Makes sense.”

  “You know Annie?” Lott asked.

  Julia glanced up at him. She could tell that Lott was surprised.

  “I worked with her and Doc on a couple of cases over the last year,” Agent Munn said. “They are an amazing couple.”

  “That they are,” Julia said, smiling up at Lott who just looked surprised.

  “Agent Munn,” one of the agents setting up equipment in the living room said. “We may have found something.”

  She turned and went back into the living room, pulling off her jacket as she went and tossing it to one side in a chair.

  On one laptop screen an image was flickering and then settling as someone on the other end stopped moving the camera.

  Julia and Lott and Fleet followed Agent Munn, standing back behind the couch, but still able to see the computer screen in front of the one agent who was sitting on the couch, the laptop on the wooden coffee table.

  It took Julia a moment to understand what she was seeing. When she did, she looked out the window toward the road.

  There, the four agents looked like dark shadows in the slowly increasing light. They were up about a hundred feet above the water. A bright light was being shown down at the ground where they were.

  “There are dozens of different tire tracks going over the edge here,” someone said who was up on the road. “Some old and weathered, some newer.”

  There was intense silence in the living room broken only by the popping of the fire.

  “Secure that location completely,” Agent Munn said to the agents on the hill. “Then continue your search.”

  “Understood,” the agent who had been talking said.

  “Tell the dive team what they may be in for,” Agent Munn said to the other agent not behind the computer.

  He nodded and went out the door.

  Julia glanced up at Lott, who looked puzzled as well. Julia knew why.

  “Agent Munn,” Julia said, “none of the women who disappeared, besides my friend, had a car in this area.”

  Munn turned and looked at Julia, then Julia saw the understanding hit Munn’s face.

  “I’ll get my people on that,” Fleet said. “That kind of research in a small area like McCall as to who is buying cars is safer coming from my people.”

  Agent Munn nodded. “Thank you, Fleet.”

  Then Agent Munn smiled at Julia. “Very good thinking, Detective.”

  All Julia could do was nod.

  They may have found a serial killer’s body dump. And if that were the case, down in those smooth, black waters out there were many, many innocent women who had died horrible deaths.

  If they were out there, at least their families would now get closure.

  Part Four

  THE SET UP

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  May 15, 2015

  7:15 A.M.

  High Mountain Valley

  Near the Central Idaho Primitive Area

  Lott wasn’t sure if he could eat even though he was hungry. Not with what was going on outside. The divers were just getting ready to go into the water.

  But when a tall guy with dark hair, a light flight jacket, and a golf hat brought in six large boxes of fresh doughnuts, a couple thermos of coffee, what looked to be a form of egg sandwiches on muffins, plus orange juice, Lott changed his mind.

  Fleet thanked the guy, said he would set things up, and asked the guy to bring up the rest as soon as he could.

  “There’s more?” Julia asked, shaking her head as she dug into sacks and boxes.

  “About three times this much,” Fleet said.

  Fleet had clearly brought enough food for all the agents working out there in the cold and the three in the living room.

  Both Lott and Julia helped set up the kitchen counter and the dining room table with all the food as Fleet made a satellite call back to his people in his office in Boise working on computers to get them searching for who had bought a lot of used cars in this area.

  And under what name.

  Then he handed the phone to Lott. “Your daughter wants to talk with you. They just arrived at their Boise offices.”

  Lott laughed and took the phone.

  “Out on a date and you send the FBI,” Lott said to Annie over the phone, winking at Julia, who laughed.

  “Dad, stop fooling around,” Annie said. “Are you and Julia all right?”

  “We’re fine,” Lott said. “And it is wonderful to hear your voice. I want to thank you and Doc and Fleet here for rushing to the rescue. It was a long and scary night last night, I must admit.”

  “Had us scared to death as well,” Annie said. “I know this Williams psycho. Worked two of his cases, remember. He’s capable of anything.”

  “We’re fine,” Lott said. “Honest. And Fleet and Agent Munn here are taking good care of us. So what’s this plan I’ve been hearing about?”

  “We’ll wait and see if what you think is there in the lake is actually there,” Annie said. “Doc and I are going to meet you at the Cascade airport later today and we can talk then.”

  Lott remembered Cascade. It was a nice town about thirty miles to the south of McCall. They had gone through it on the way to McCall.

  “Sounds like a plan,” Lott said. “Except I need one more favor of someone very young.”

  “What’s that?” Annie asked.

  “Actually, it’s two favors. We need a ride out of here through the air and someone to drive our car back out.”

  Annie laughed. “Roads that bad going in there?”

  “Oh, you have no idea,” Lott said.

  Beside him Julia just nodded in agreement.

  In the background behind Annie, Lott could hear Doc laughing so hard it sounded like he might bust a gut. Doc knew central Idaho and had spent his summers in here and on the River of No Return rafting since he had been in college.

  “Have Doc drive you in here some day,” Lott said, shaking his head at the laughter in the background.

  “Not a chance,” Annie said. “I’ve seen those mountains, been down the rivers with Doc. Don’t worry, Fleet can give you a lift to Cascade and we’ll get someone in there to drive the car out.”

  “Thank you,” Lott said.

  “Yes, thank you,” Julia said loud enough for Annie to hear over the phone.

  “And tell Andor we are all right, would you?” Lott said.

  “I will, Dad,” she said. “See you soon.” Lott could tell that Annie was barely containing her laughter as well as she hung up.

  “Doc and Annie are laughing at us flatlanders,” Lott said, smiling at Julia.

  “I’m with you two,” Fleet said. “I’d rather just pay for that car and let it sit than drive it out of here myself.”

  “We�
��ll get an agent to drive it out,” Agent Munn said from the living room, laughing.

  “Thank you,” was all Lott could say.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  May 15, 2015

  7:30 A.M.

  High Mountain Valley

  Near the Central Idaho Primitive Area

  Julia took a cup of coffee and one of the fresh doughnuts. She wasn’t sure if the coffee would help her stomach, but for the moment she needed to stay awake and alert and strong coffee with a little cream had helped her do that for years on the job.

  Especially when Jane had been young and sleep had been a luxury.

  Lott did the same, only he added a little sugar to his coffee and took a doughnut with a cream filling.

  “Going to pay for this later I’m sure,” he said.

  “After the long night,” Julia said. “We can afford a little price to stay alert.”

  “Agreed,” Lott said, smiling and sipping his coffee.

  Julia did the same, letting the wonderful smell and taste kick back some of the tiredness.

  She had just finished her doughnut and half her coffee when one of the men who had been working on Trish’s body came through the door. He had removed his forensics overalls and his gloves. He was fairly young, not more than thirty, with dirty blonde hair and pimples on his cheeks. He had on the standard FBI dark jacket and dark jeans and tennis shoes.

  Agent Munn stood and came over to him and Julia and Lott and Fleet joined her.

  “You have a preliminary report, Doctor?” Agent Munn asked.

  The doctor, who was clearly also an FBI agent, nodded to Julia and said simply, “I am sorry for your loss, Detective.”

  Julia was surprised. Clearly everyone knew on this team.

  She nodded back as the young blonde doctor turned to Agent Munn.

  “As was evident, the victim was embalmed. All organs were removed and her blood replaced with standard embalming fluid and a hardening agent of some sort, which kept down all decomposition. We should be able to trace the fluid back to an exact mortuary because of the special mixture used.”