Deserving of Death (CJ Washburn, PI Book 1)

by James Paddock

  "Okay."

  More conferencing. "You'll know we're there when we fly low right over the top of you. Bill will need to check the roads for a place to land so watch and be there fast. He's anticipating, from what he can see on Google Earth, that we'll land on Sand Road. Chances are the locals won't pay much attention if we are in and out fast."

  "Okay," CJ said again. "I'll be waiting."

  "Thirty seconds on the ground, Bill says."

  "Thirty seconds." He let his heart beat for a few seconds. "Stella."

  "I'm still here, but we've got to get going."

  "I just wanted to say, I'm sorry. I..."

  "I'm sorry, too, Clint. See you this afternoon. Bye."

  The phone went dead and CJ tried to understand why he couldn't get the words out that he wanted to say. Maybe it was because even more now than ever, he loved her, but he didn't want it to seem like he was saying it just because of what she was doing. For certain, for himself, he wanted to make sure he was saying it for the right reason.

  He restored the office to how he’d found it and then scurried over to where he could hide and wait. There wasn’t a creek. It was more like an irrigation ditch with a few inches of water. He settled and hoped he wouldn’t fall asleep.

  Chapter 16

  CJ found himself in the middle of a monsoon, wind, thunder and rain whirling and pounding around him. Suddenly he realized he was asleep and in the middle of a nightmare. He struggled to push out of it, rolled over and half fell into the ditch. He splashed to his feet, remembering where he was, making sense that the sounds from his nightmare were actually that of a plane flying low overhead.

  "Stella!"

  He half jumped, half sloshed across the ditch, pushed through the brush and stumbled onto the road as the plane finished its bank to get lined up to touch down. CJ looked both ways for traffic—there was none—and then over at the trailer from where he'd made the call. He could see the backend of a red truck and hoped he'd left the place the way he'd found it, no evidence that he'd been present. He also hoped they'd overlook the strange long distant charge on their phone bill.

  He stood in the middle of the road until he was certain Stella and Bill had seen him and then stepped off just as the wheels touched. Thirty seconds later he was scrambling head first into the space behind Stella, and Bill was accelerating. The plane never came to a complete stop and not a word was said. By the time CJ got himself righted and settled, seatbelt buckled, they were well clear of the area and banking south.

  "We're not going to have cell coverage for very long," Bill said to Stella, "so make the call now."

  CJ looked between Bill and Stella, trying to guess who she was calling, assumed it was her sister. Bill was a big guy. He wasn't fat, just tall—his head nearly brushed the overhead—and broad shouldered. Next to him Stella looked like a little girl. She punched numbers into a cell phone and waited for the connection to go through.

  "We've got him," she said without any introduction. "No, no problems. Hold on. I'm handing the phone to him." With that she passed it back to CJ.

  CJ took it, looked at Stella's smiling face for a minute then said, "Hello?"

  "Daddy! Are you alright?"

  "Trish! Yes, yes, I'm fine, thanks to some great people here. Are you okay? I was worried that the police would show up at your door and throw a scare into you."

  "They did and yes they did. I don't think they ever believed me that I didn't know where you were. Why didn't you tell me you were coming?"

  "I wanted to surprise you."

  She grunted something sort of like a laugh, sort of not.

  "I'm really sorry for all this. You don't really believe I did this, do you?"

  "Of course not, Daddy."

  "I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

  "It sounds like that happened a couple of times, and this guy doing the killing is taking advantage. Stella has told me everything."

  CJ put his hand on Stella's shoulder. "She's been wonderful." Stella put her hand on top of his.

  "Should I come home? Is there anything I can do?"

  "No. Stay in Idaho. You don't need to get involved in this. I just need to get back and help find this guy."

  "The FBI thinks it's you, Daddy."

  CJ squeezed his eyes closed when he heard the tears in his daughter's voice.

  "I've seen the movies about serial killers," she said after she'd taken a deep breath. "This guy isn't going to quit. Maybe you should turn yourself in so that the next time he strikes it'll be obvious it wasn't you."

  "That means another woman has to die to set me free. I don't want that to happen. And then, what if he does quit, or moves to another part of the country, or out of the country for that matter."

  "He's probably not that smart, Daddy."

  "He was smart enough to turn the heat on someone else. He's probably smart enough to figure out what he has to do to keep it there."

  "You can't stay on the run... a fugitive!"

  "I'll figure something out." He listened to her sniffle, looked out at the mountainous horizon ahead. "You're not on your cell phone, are you?"

  "Of course not. I'm using Dillon's."

  "Who's Dillon?"

  "My boyfriend."

  "You have a boyfriend? When did this happen?" It was after he said it that CJ realized he knew about Dillon, but he hadn't heard anything more about him in a long time. He'd sort of forgotten. "Aren't you still thirteen?" he said to try to hide his momentary lapse. "Since when are you allowed to have a boyfriend?"

  "Daddy!" With that she laughed. CJ loved to hear her laugh.

  "You give Dillon a big kiss for me."

  "I sure will, Daddy. You call me and let me know what's happening, but call on Dillon's phone. Stella has the number."

  "I will."

  "Stella sounds nice."

  "That's because she is. I love you, Trish."

  "Love you, too, Daddy."

  CJ handed the phone back to Stella. She punched a number for speed dial, waited and then said, "Hey sis. We've got him and are heading back. Everything went as planned. See you tonight."

  When she put the phone away, CJ reached around the seat and touched her face. "Thank you for doing this."

  "It's what we do. We take care of each other. But you really need to thank Bill."

  "Thank you, Bill," CJ said to him. "I'll be forever in your debt."

  "You're quite welcome, however all I'm doing is supplying quicker transportation. Stella was already on her way, stopped long enough to drop Lucas back off. She was going to drive all night to get here to try and find you before the police did."

  "You were?" CJ asked her.

  "Yes. Bill and Sara talked me into waiting, was sure that you'd call me for help. He fueled and serviced his plane just in case."

  "I couldn't call you, assumed they'd have a watch on your phone."

  "You assumed right," Bill said.

  "I don't know how you thought of calling Sara," Stella said, "but I'm sure glad you did."

  CJ took her hand. "Me too."

  Chapter 17

  CJ stayed awake until they stopped for fuel somewhere in northern Nevada. After consuming vending machine junk food and bottled water, he slept the rest of the way to Albuquerque. He awoke in a fog. Stella was shaking him and yelling in his ear.

  "Is everything okay?" CJ asked as he looked around. Bill was already out of the plane chocking the wheels and attaching tie-downs.

  "Yes. We need to get going."

  After climbing out and while walking across the small air strip to Bill's SUV, Stella explained that the plan was to spend the night and drive to Tucson in the morning. After that, she had no plan.

  "Does Dan know what's going on?"

  "No," Stella said. "I don't think he suspects that I'm doing anything, probably wouldn't want to know about it if he did. He's keeping me informed but he's not asking questions."

  CJ thought about Detective Payne and suspected that he knew a lot more
than he was letting on. Dan was no dummy; he was quite capable of piecing things together. CJ also saw how Dan was putting his career on the line if he did suspect what Stella was up to. He decided he needed to take back all the bad things he'd been thinking about him. "Does he have any leads yet? Were there any usable forensics found in the trunk of my car?"

  "If anything's been discovered, he hasn't told me. But then, your car is in Idaho, he's in Tucson and the FBI has control. He sounded very frustrated the last time I talked to him. In his words, he's a basketball player who after being benched, got a new coach who tied his hands behind his back and sent him back in."

  CJ couldn't picture Dan settling for that.

  He climbed in the backseat of the SUV and Stella got in next to him. She rested her head on his shoulder. "I was so scared. I was afraid they'd find you and something would go wrong and you'd get shot."

  He put his arm around her.

  "If you think you need to turn yourself in, I'll understand," she added.

  "I'm not ready to go there yet. We've got until tomorrow to talk about it."

  For a time they rode in silence. From what CJ could tell the airstrip was well outside the city, and they were going nowhere near the city. They turned off the main highway and drove along a narrow, paved road until the pavement ended and then continued for another couple of miles into the hills, throwing dust behind them. When Bill turned off of that he came up to a steel gate. He hit a button on his visor that looked much like a garage door opener and the gate started swinging in.

  "If anyone wants to set foot on my property they'd better be a friend or relative, or have a warrant," Bill said to CJ's questioning look in the rearview mirror. "I know you used to be a cop, Clint, but I won't hold that against you as long as Stella will vouch for you. You hurt Stella, though, you hurt the entire family."

  "Bill!" Stella said.

  "Just saying how it is, Sis. On the other hand, Clint, if Stella needs help, she has the power of the entire family standing next to her and as long as you're with her...."

  They came to a stop in front of a large ranch-style adobe home. Two black Labradors, each nearly as big as Bill himself, appeared out of nowhere.

  "Sit tight a minute, Clint, while I let them know you're friendly. They don't take kindly to strangers." He got out and said something to them, put his hands on their heads and then waved CJ out.

  CJ had never owned a dog but otherwise liked them, except when he was entering their property when he was a cop. Stella slid out behind him and they didn't seem to pay her much mind. Their eyes were on him. Of course they knew who Stella was.

  "This is Duke and Duchess." Bill touched each of them, slapped them on their shoulders, and added, "They're really just big babies."

  Sure they are, CJ thought. Tentatively, he approached them, scratched their ears, felt the muscle along their necks and shoulders.

  Bill rubbed their heads and slapped their shoulders again. "They’re okay by you now. Let's get inside. Sara likely has dinner ready and I'll bet you're hungry."

  After the vending machine food, CJ was ready for anything.

  Chapter 18

  Dinner was fabulous; baked potato, corn-on-the-cob, huge steaks. CJ thought it was more than he could handle, but before he knew it there was nothing left on his plate but a bone and two corncobs, and Sara was pushing apple pie in front of him.

  Although he could see the similarities in the sisters, there were some striking differences. Where Stella's features were round and smooth, Sara was sharp and angular. She also stood about two inches taller and carried a bit more bulk, not fat, more like ranch-hand muscle. Like Stella, however, she had all the proper female proportions. They were two fine looking women.

  “Aunt Stella,” Lucas said around a bite of pie. “Am I going back to Tucson with you tomorrow?”

  His mother reached over and touched his hand. “No, Lucas. Maybe another time, if we can squeeze it in before school starts back up.”

  “Okay,” he said. CJ couldn’t tell if he was disappointed or relieved. “Where’s Mr. Washburn going to sleep?”

  “Mr. Washburn is with Aunt Stella so he’s going to stay in the guestroom with her.

  “Oh.” Lucas thought for a minute. The sisters exchanged looks. “Does that mean they’re married? Should I call him Uncle Clint.”

  Stella laughed. “No, Lucas. We aren’t married, but we are a couple, which means for adults it’s okay to sleep together. And yes, you may call him Uncle Clint.” She looked at CJ with a bare twist of her head, and smiled.

  “Are you going to get married?”

  CJ looked between Sara and Bill who, it appeared, were letting the conversation go wherever it was going. They were both grinning and Sara was exchanging looks with her sister.

  Stella wiped her mouth with her napkin, and set it to the side of her plate. “No, Lucas. There are no plans at this time.” She gave him a big smile. “But it was sure nice of you to be interested enough to ask.”

  From the mouths of babes, CJ thought.

  Stella turned to CJ. “Close your mouth, sweetie. Haven’t seen any flies in here that need to be caught.”

  Lucas laughed until he fell out of his chair and then everyone laughed, even CJ.

  After dinner CJ sat with Bill and Lucas, watching a nature program on alligator wrangling in Florida. The women were cleaning up in the kitchen. While Lucas asked questions of his dad about alligators, CJ thought about how the perp was able to get so much personal information so quickly and have the wherewithal to act on it. He thought about his conversation with his daughter. She thought that because the perp was a serial killer, he wasn’t very smart. In actuality, serial killers had a twisted intelligence. Some had an innate ability to clean up behind themselves so as to leave no forensic evidence. Others knew how to sidetrack investigators with planted evidence. Some could manage to go completely underground for a while, then surface years later, sometimes in another city. A rare few could ingratiate themselves into the investigation as a consultant, or official of some kind. In all cases the perp had either an uncontrollable urge resulting from a major trauma in their past, usually their childhood, or was driven by a brain injury or illness. In either case it never just stopped. They never had the control to kill three or four times and then cease altogether. They might be able to pull it in check for a time but, like an alcoholic, the urge was always there. Unlike the alcoholic, however, there was no serial killer anonymous to help them through it.

  Hi. My name is Charles.

  Hi, Charles.

  I’m a serial killer. It has been eight months since my last kill.

  “Clint!”

  CJ looked up at Stella and the thoughts melted away. For just a brief second one of his thoughts hung back as though demanding more attention.

  “Let’s turn in,” she said. “Long day tomorrow and it’s starting very early.”

  With that CJ’s mind cleared of all speculation. He wanted nothing more than to curl into a spoon with Stella until they fell asleep. He was suddenly surprised with himself that he didn’t want sex, actually hoped she didn’t either.

  CJ undressed down to his boxers and climbed into bed. He stared up at the ceiling, his mind flitting between trying to figure out the profile of the killer and thinking about Stella minutes or even seconds from climbing in next to him. It flashed back at him again that there was something about the aspects of a serial killer that he had already thought of that was important, but his mind seemed to dance around it.

  Stella came out of the bathroom brushing her hair. CJ loved her hair. It reached to her shoulder blades, a mix of rich brown and deep red, and when she moved in the light just right all he wanted to do was bury his hands in it. She stood facing him in a long T-shirt. He wondered what she was wearing under it, if anything.

  “What’s your plan tomorrow?” she said.

  His gaze went from her thighs to her eyes. She raised an eyebrow. He loved the way she could do that.

  “I
don’t know,” he said. “Since you have a rapport with Dan right now, I’d say call him first thing in the morning, see if he has anything new.”

  “Should I tell him that you’re not in Idaho any longer? Anything?”

  He shook his head. “Not right off. Let’s play it by ear, see what he has. There’s something that’s bugging me about this whole thing and I can’t seem to get my thumb on it.”

  “Other than the fact that you’re the prime suspect?”

  “Yeah. Other than that.”

  She set the brush aside and climbed in next to him. “I don’t want to fool around tonight. I just want to be close to you.”

  “I don’t want to do anything either,” he said as he pulled her toward him.

  She rested her head on his chest. “That’s not what your face was saying a few minutes ago.”

  “I liked what I saw. Can’t turn that off.”

  She gave a little snort, the same snort CJ knew accompanied a smile. They lay quiet for a time and then she rolled to face away. He matched her roll to spoon against her and put his arm around her to cup a breast. Within minutes they were both asleep.

  Chapter 19

  At 4:00 am, the alarm Stella had set on her phone went off. By the time they were downstairs Sara had coffee, eggs, toast and bacon on the table. CJ ate in silence while the sisters talked about their mother. Their father had passed away about 4 years before of stomach cancer. Just over a year ago their mom met someone, online. Six months later, with only a few days warning to her daughters, Mom left the care of her Albuquerque home with Sara and moved to Cleveland, Ohio.

  “A trial run,” Stella said for CJ’s benefit.

  “And how’s it going?” CJ asked.

  “We’re not really sure.”

  “I’ve visited twice,” Sara said. “As far as I’m concerned, the jury is still out. He’s not too well off, but seems nice enough. Not like he’s a serial killer or anything.” Sara put hand to her mouth. “Shit! I’m sorry. Didn’t mean that.”