On the Hunt

by SUE FINEMAN

“I’ll send them,” said Margaret. “Call and let me know where. Or maybe we’ll bring them when we come to visit.”

  Stan grinned broadly and grabbed the two suitcases. He spoke quietly to Mia. “Young lady, I don’t know what you’ve done with my real wife, but I like this one.”

  Mia smiled. “I like her, too.”

  Margaret flew through the front door with her coat and purse. “Wait for me.”

  “Oh, yes.” Stan winked at Mia. “I like this wife.”

  Mia kissed him on the lips and sat in the back seat. On the way to the airport, she called Stipes on her cell phone. “Dave is on his way, and I’m on my way to the airport in Philly.”

  “Good. I don’t know how long we can keep Dinah and Edwin Edwards separated, and she won’t talk with anyone but Dave.”

  “Did she say anything at all?”

  “She said her husband killed two men and embezzled money from a company in Philadelphia. She said she knew Dave’s parents, and she knew she could trust him.”

  “I see.” Mia didn’t want to say too much where Dave’s parents could hear, and she didn’t want to reveal anything personal.

  “I don’t know if these murders in Philly are connected to Nadine’s death or not,” said Stipes. “I guess we’ll find out when Dave questions her.”

  At the airport, Mia hugged and kissed Margaret and Stan. “Thank you so much for everything.”

  “We’ll see you soon,” said Stan. “After you and Dave get through this murder investigation, we’re going to take a trip.”

  “Wonderful.” Mia didn’t know if Dave would want to stay with her, but she couldn’t say that to his parents. They seemed sure there was a wedding in the future.

  If only she could be as sure.

  <>

  Coming back to Seattle without Mia felt strange, but Dave was anxious to get to work and get this case resolved.

  Kowalski met him at the airport and drove him to the Seattle office. “Dinah Edwards has been put in a hotel here in Seattle. She hired an attorney, and they’re on their way.”

  “What about her husband?”

  “She left him, and I promised her no one would tell him where to find her.”

  Dave took a deep breath and blew it out. He’d made some notes on the plane, what they knew and what questions he needed to have answered, but this was essentially Dinah’s show. She’d agreed to talk to him for a reason, therefore she must have something important to say. “I want you to sit in, Kowalski.” Dave spent the next few minutes telling Kowalski what he’d learned in Philly, including his father’s former relationship with Dinah.

  When Dinah and her attorney arrived, Dave sat with Kowalski on one side of the table, and Dinah and her attorney sat across from them. A camera mounted on the wall would catch every nuance of the conversation, including body language. “Before we begin, I’d like to say something for the record. I’ve just spent several days in Philadelphia visiting with my parents and talking with some of their friends. When I learned my parents knew you, Mrs. Edwards, I had every intention of removing myself from this case.”

  “I don’t want to talk with anyone else. If you’re anything like your father, I know you’ll treat me fairly.”

  “You do understand I can’t show you any favoritism?”

  “Yes, I understand.” Her hands shook, probably because she couldn’t drink or smoke here in the office. “Let’s just get this over with.”

  “All right. Why don’t you tell us what you know and we’ll ask questions to clarify things for the record?”

  Dinah told Dave about her daughter’s hatred of her stepfather. “Edwin treated her like a piece of trash, and the more he treated her that way, the more she despised him. She overheard Edwin and me talking about something that happened in Philly, and she used it to blackmail him.”

  “Would you like to tell us what happened in Philly?”

  “He found a way to steal from his company. The president and vice president found out and faced him with it, so he killed them.” She gave the company name and the victims’ names for the record, and she gave enough details about the murders for Dave to believe her.

  “How long have you known?” Kowalski asked.

  “Since before we married. I knew if I said anything to anyone, he’d kill me and my daughter, so I kept my mouth closed.” She glanced at Kowalski and then settled her gaze on Dave’s face. “I know what you’re thinking, but I was sick and tired of trying to make it on my own. I had a daughter to support, and I didn’t want her to have to sell her body like I sold mine.”

  Dave brought the conversation back to the matter of Nadine’s murder. “So Nadine blackmailed him. Why didn’t he just pay her off?”

  “Because he didn’t trust her. She hated him for pulling her out of school in Philly and dragging her to Clover Hills. She called it the armpit of America, and she hated it there. I wanted to send her back to Philly to finish high school, and Edwin absolutely refused. He cut all his ties there and so did I, and he didn’t want Nadine going back.”

  Dave reached for an answer. “Did Edwin kill Nadine himself or did he hire someone to do it for him?”

  “I don’t know who actually killed her, but Edwin is responsible. He drove to Portland with Ken Knight. One of Assad’s people met them there. Calvin Shaker, I believe. I didn’t know what happened until after Edwin got back. I asked why he didn’t bring Nadine home, and he said she wouldn’t ever be coming home. He said she wanted ten million and he refused. She threatened him, so he had someone take her out on a boat, hit her on the head, and push her overboard. I know he didn’t do it by himself, because Nadine never would have gotten on a boat with him. She knew Calvin Shaker from the club in Tacoma, and according to Edwin, they’d had a little fling when she worked at the club. She would have gone anywhere with him.”

  Shaker wouldn’t kill again. He was the man Mia shot on the mountainside outside Clover Hills.

  “Were Knight and Shaker working for Edwin at the time?” Kowalski asked.

  “Yes. Edwin thought he could get rid of Nadine by giving her to Assad for his harem, but she escaped. Assad didn’t want to take her, but people will do anything if you give them enough money. Assad told Edwin they’d keep her for a few weeks for training and then she’d be sent away for good.”

  “And you went along with that?” asked Dave.

  “I didn’t know what they were doing until after they killed her, and Edwin told me if I didn’t keep my mouth closed, I’d end up in the river with my daughter.”

  Dave watched her eyes and knew she wasn’t telling the whole truth. Nobody connected with this case had told the whole truth except the girls who’d been kidnapped.

  He’d known in his gut Edwards was responsible for Nadine’s death. Why didn’t Edwards leave the country instead of moving to Clover Hills? He’d stolen enough to live anywhere he wanted, yet he’d chosen a run-down mountain town here in the States.

  Whether or not she served time as an accessory in her daughter’s murder, Dinah Edwards had to live with the consequences of her actions. With no consideration for her daughter’s safety, she’d married a killer. If she didn’t go to prison, she’d undoubtedly drink herself to death. Even though she’d lost her daughter, Dave couldn’t summon any sympathy for the woman. She’d chosen her own path in life. Too bad Nadine had to pay the price for her mother’s mistakes.

  The questioning continued for hours, with periodic breaks so Dinah could go outside to smoke. Finally, after Dave had pulled all the information he could from her, he ended the session.

  <>

  Mia had a two-hour layover in Denver. During the layover, she called Stipes. “What’s going on there?”

  “Dave and Kowalski are in Seattle with Dinah Edwards and we have a watch on the Edwards house. He hasn’t been arrested yet, but he will be soon, I hope.”

  She didn’t know whether to go to Seattle or to Clover Hills. They’d turned in Dave’s second rental car at the airport when they left, a
nd her car was in Clover Hills, along with the rest of her clothes. “Is Dave coming there when he’s finished in Seattle?”

  “I assume so. Do you want someone to pick you up?”

  “Yes, please.”

  “I can’t drive with this cast, but I can send Murphy.”

  “Okay.” She gave him the flight number and estimated time of arrival. “Tell him I’ll meet him in baggage claim at Sea-Tac.”

  She wanted to call Dave, but she didn’t want to interrupt his work. In the beginning, he didn’t think they’d find any of the girls alive, and when they’d found Nadine Lynderman’s body, Mia had begun to lose hope, too. Finding Meredith alive and well gave everyone a big boost of much-needed hope. Going inside the house in the desert and finding the other girls made all their work worthwhile. Too bad they couldn’t save Nadine, but she was dead before Dave and his people arrived in Clover Hills.

  Wandering in the airport terminal, waiting for her next flight, Mia made one more phone call, this time to Greg. After they caught up on family news, Greg said, “So you met Dave’s parents?”

  “Yes, I did. Nice people. I think I like them better than Dave does.” She told Greg about the lipstick on Stan’s collar. “Is that why you didn’t want me with Dave?”

  It took Greg a few seconds to respond. “Dave told me if he ever got married, he’d cheat just like his old man. I don’t want you to have to live like that, sis. You deserve better.”

  Now she understood Dave’s mixed signals. He didn’t want to end up in a marriage like his parents’. “Consider me warned. I’ll call you later, Greg.”

  Could she live like Margaret, looking the other way while her husband cheated on her time and again? No, she couldn’t. The first time her husband cheated on her, she’d be cleaning her gun. The second time, he’d be gone. Greg’s wife wouldn’t put up with it, and Bo would never cheat on Callie. She’d never seen a couple more in love than Bo and Callie.

  Mia wanted that kind of love, the happily-ever-after promised in fairy tales.

  If only Dave wanted the same thing.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Murphy met Mia at the airport and drove her to Clover Hills, to the Four Leaf Clover. The hospital bed was gone, and Stipes had moved upstairs to the room directly across the hall from Mia’s. His door stood wide open.

  “Mia, I’ve been waiting for you. How was the trip?”

  “Slow. I hate hanging around airports. Dave isn’t back yet?”

  “No, he’s staying in Seattle tonight. He’ll be up tomorrow. Kowalski said the session with Dinah Edwards went well, but Dave wants to talk with her again in the morning.”

  Disappointed, Mia said goodnight and went to her room. She took a quick shower and crawled into bed.

  Sometime in the night, Mia heard someone else in the room, but she couldn’t see who it was. It could be Dave, but she didn’t think so. Dave would have made his presence known. She’d put her gun on the closet shelf before she left with Dave, too far away to do her any good now.

  She rolled toward the side of the bed, ready to jump out, but the intruder grabbed her hair and pushed something foul-smelling over her nose and mouth. She kicked and scratched and fought, knocked the phone off the hook and the lamp on the floor, but the man held on tightly. Finally, she forced herself to go limp.

  The man pulled the cloth off her face and she gulped air, but she kept her body limp while the intruder wrapped her in the blanket and threw her body over his shoulder. Blackness hovered around her and threatened to swallow her whole, and she knew she’d breathed too much of the chloroform or whatever he used. She fought to stay conscious. Her survival might depend on staying awake.

  He carried her down the stairs, and she thought he’d take her outside and throw her in the trunk of a car. But he didn’t.

  Another man whispered, “Have any trouble?” and she recognized the voice as Edwin Edwards.

  The man carrying her said, “Damn bitch fought like a tiger.”

  She’d fight again, but if they knew she’d heard them, they’d probably kill her on the spot. With this drug in her system, she was in no shape to fight now anyway. Better to stay limp and quiet and wait for the right opportunity.

  <>

  Dave rolled over and grabbed the ringing phone. Was it morning already? “Yeah.”

  Stipes said, “Dave, Mia is missing.”

  He sat up, suddenly wide awake. “What the hell do you mean?”

  “Her door wasn’t closed all the way this morning, her phone was off the hook, and the lamp was on the floor. She’s gone and so is the blanket from her bed.”

  “Find her! I’ll be there as soon as I can get there.”

  “What about—”

  “Get a team over to Edwards’ house right now. Tear the place apart if you have to. If he had a hidden bedroom in his house, he must be hiding other things.”

  Dave disconnected and immediately called Kowalski’s hotel room. “I’m leaving for Clover Hills. You’ll have to take over with Dinah Edwards.”

  “Did something happen?”

  “Yeah. Someone snatched Mia out of the Clover Leaf last night. I want every spare agent in Clover Hills asap, and I want you to grill Dinah. Find out what her snake of a husband would have done with Mia.”

  <>

  Mia couldn’t see anything with the blanket over her head. Something clicked and scraped, and then the two men carried her into a chilly, dark room. They stopped and the man carrying her legs dropped them for a minute while the door scraped and clicked again.

  A little light flashed on the blanket now and then as they carried her, probably a flashlight. Then they dumped her on the cold, rocky ground. The man who carried her feet walked past her, and she heard their footsteps moving away from her. As soon as she knew they were gone, she untangled herself from the blanket. It was pitch black. Not a speck of light anywhere. Struggling against the drug in her system, she tried to clear her head and figure out what to do. Stay calm, Mia. Part of her wanted to get up and run, which she couldn’t do in the dark, and part of her wanted to go to sleep.

  Which way had they come in? Head first, her muddled brain told her. The two men had carried her into the tunnel head first, dropped her on the ground, and kept walking in the same direction. There had to be two ways to get in and out of this cave or tunnel. They hadn’t gone outside after the men took her, so one entrance had to be inside the Clover Leaf. The back left corner of the Clover Leaf nestled into the hill, and a high retaining wall on the side of the parking lot held the hill back. The entrance from the Clover Leaf had to be behind the bar.

  She’d figured it out, but what good would it do her now? She was still stuck in here, in the dark, with a drug in her system that threatened to knock her out.

  Unable to stand without getting dizzy, she pushed herself to her knees, wrapped the blanket around her cold body, and faced toward the way she’d come in. If she could find the door and make enough noise, Stipes and the others would help her. If she could stay awake long enough to find the door.

  She began to crawl toward the door, feeling often for the wall on her left.

  How far had they come into the tunnel? How long had those men carried her? A minute? Two or three minutes? Or a few seconds?

  The cold air chilled her, and the stony, damp floor hurt her knees, but she pushed ahead, crawling toward the Clover Leaf.

  She remembered Neen talking about Dave being afraid underground. Right now she understood. She’d never been so scared. Would those men come back to kill her, or were they waiting for Dave, so they could kill him, too.

  A few feet down, she felt for the wall on the left and it wasn’t there. She backed up a little and found it. Maybe the tunnel turned. Mia sat back on her feet and breathed deeply, trying to clear her head. Had those men carried her around a corner? No, she didn’t think they had. Reaching toward her right, she felt for the other wall. It continued straight ahead. She crawled about three feet, constantly feeling for the wall on the rig
ht, and then reached back for the wall on the left. It was there, but there was a hole, an empty space.

  She backed up to investigate and found another branch of the tunnel. Mia left her blanket at the mouth of the branch while she stood and followed the branch for several feet. She could touch both sides at once, and it didn’t go far. It turned to the left and about six feet later, it ended. Filing the information in her mind, she returned to the main tunnel, wrapped her blanket around her shoulders, and continued toward the door.

  What she wouldn’t give for a flashlight and a clear head. And shoes. The cold, rocky dirt floor hurt her bare feet.

  <>

  Dave broke every speed limit from Seattle to Clover Hills. He sped through a speed trap in Fife and another near Spanaway, but no one stopped him. If they had a safe place to land in Clover Hills, he would have taken a helicopter.

  He burst through the door into the back room at the Clover Leaf. “Did you find her?”

  Stipes shook his head. “Murphy took a team to the Edwards house to search there.”

  “Damn! We missed something.”

  “We sure as hell did,” agreed Stipes.

  A dozen employees had keys to the building. The front desk, where the keys were kept, wasn’t manned all night, so someone could have taken Mia’s room key.

  “Employees?”

  “They all check out, and the doors, front and back, were locked when I went up to bed last night. I didn’t think we’d need to guard our own people or I would have bunked in with Mia last night.”

  “Like hell.” Dave didn’t want Stipes sleeping with his woman, and he didn’t want Mia in danger. Edwards had to be behind this. If he hurt Mia, he’d pay for it. One way or another, he would pay.

  Stipes’ cell phone rang. Seconds later, he snapped the phone closed and turned to Dave. “Murphy found something in the basement wall. Could be a door. They had wine racks covering it, but he saw scrapes in the basement floor where someone had pulled the rack out from the wall. They haven’t figured out how to open it yet, and Edwards isn’t cooperating.”