Stalking Ground

by Margaret Mizushima

  Cole laughed. “You wouldn’t happen to have a dog treat on you? I owe this guy a few.”

  Chapter 31

  On their way down the mountain, the sun sank behind the westward mountains, and the elk began to bugle—a high, melodious whistle that slid up multiple tones and echoed through the hills. The sound heralded crisp autumn air and usually nourished Mattie’s spirit, but this time it resonated with loneliness, taunting her.

  While she led Cole back to the stable in the waning light, she stuffed her feelings back into a dark, deep place. His limp slowed their progress, but he insisted he could make it down from the mountain on his own two feet rather than waiting for a four-legged ride to be organized by the sheriff and rescue volunteers. He told her about how Juan Fiero saved his life and accused Carmen of murdering Adrienne, and Mattie told him how she and the others had found the injured man in the hay room.

  “So he was still alive. Can we find out how he’s doing?” Cole asked, gesturing toward Mattie’s walkie-talkie.

  Mattie keyed on her remote, connecting with Sheriff McCoy, who had evidently arrived at the property and taken charge. She asked him about Fiero’s condition.

  “He was alive when he left in the ambulance. Over,” McCoy said.

  “Copy,” Mattie replied before signing off.

  “Good,” Cole said. “He must have been too afraid of something to report Carmen to the police.”

  “He said Carmen’s uncle has control of his family, and he feared for their lives.”

  “Good grief. What will happen to him?”

  “Essentially, he’s an accessory to murder,” Mattie said. “But he’s also a witness. We’ll just have to see if he pulls through.”

  After that, they were silent as they labored tediously downslope through timber and rocky terrain. Cole appeared to be concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, while Mattie focused on trying to take the shortest but smoothest route to the barn. Bruno and Robo stayed close despite the slow pace.

  When they entered the glow from the yard light, Mattie could see the relief on Cole’s face. He hobbled onward, using his walking stick for support. Brody was standing out by the patrol vehicles, and he apparently spotted them. He walked out to meet them, giving Mattie a sweeping once-over before focusing in on her face.

  “Are you all right?” he asked, his voice gruff.

  His concern surprised her. “Sure. You?”

  “I’ll live.” Brody shifted his attention to Cole and offered a shoulder. “Can I help you, Dr. Walker?”

  “I’ll be all right. I need to get to my truck, so I can wrap this ankle. Then I need to check on Diablo and that other horse.”

  “Detective LoSasso will want a statement from you before you leave. Someone cut your battery cable, but I patched it.” Glancing at Mattie, Brody added, “LoSasso and McCoy are searching inside the house now. They want you there ASAP.”

  Mattie nodded. She’d hoped they would wait for her before starting the search, but she could understand their eagerness. “I’ll go now.”

  Cole reached to take her hand, causing Mattie’s cheeks to flush. She was thankful for the limited light.

  “Do you need my help?” she asked.

  “No. It’s just, well, I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you found me and helped me out of that mess.” He touched her cheek, and a wave of tenderness built inside her. “You look exhausted, Mattie. I wish you could go home and take care of yourself.”

  “It’s the eye that makes me look so bad, but I’m okay. Truly. You’re the one that’s beat up.”

  “I’ll call the kids and then stick around for a while. Go do your work. I’ll touch base with you later.” He squeezed her hand before releasing it. “And . . . thank you.”

  She nodded and turned away, not trusting her voice to speak. She struggled to switch off her emotions, something that was becoming harder and harder to do. Walking toward her vehicle, she noticed that Brody seemed to be on guard beside his. She realized that Carmen Santiago sat in the back of it. She diverted her route and approached Brody, signaling that she wanted to speak with him. He met her half way.

  “Has Stella questioned Santiago yet?” she asked in a quiet voice.

  “She refuses to speak without an attorney. I’ll take her to the station after the search.”

  “Okay.”

  “But Stella said the hired man talked plenty before the ambulance took him away. Briefing later.”

  Mattie nodded, went to her SUV, and loaded Robo into his compartment. After taking off his Kevlar vest, she checked his wound, was relieved to see the staples were still intact, and gave him some water. She drove to the fork in the lane and took the one that led to the house. Lights blazed through the large windowpanes, and she could see Stella and McCoy coming down the staircase from the upper level. Taking a deep breath to fortify herself against her fatigue, she slid from the driver’s seat and went around back to unload Robo. Time to get back to work.

  Before letting him jump down, she put on the collar he wore to search for dope. From the amount of money the property represented, she assumed that would be her purpose. She began talking to Robo in high-pitched patter. Together they entered the house, Robo dancing beside her, tail waving. His unlimited fount of energy never failed to amaze her. For him, his work was a never-ending source of play. She found the sheriff and Stella in the great room.

  McCoy greeted her with a question. “How’s the doctor doing?”

  “He made it down on his own, but his ankle looks pretty bad. He’s going to take care of it himself with his vet supplies and then check on the horses.”

  McCoy nodded.

  “Can you and Robo sweep this house for drugs?” Stella asked.

  “Sure.” Mattie focused her attention on Robo, patting him and holding him against her leg while he shifted his weight between his front feet. “You want to find some dope? Huh, do ya?”

  Mattie used the leash and her free hand to guide Robo in a sweep of the house, starting with the downstairs. After receiving no alerts from him there, she led him up the staircase and started in the room that looked like Carmen’s home office. Nothing. She’d felt certain that they’d find something in the office, so she was about to give up hope of uncovering a drug stash in the house. Maybe in the barn or one of the other outbuildings.

  She came to the master bedroom, appointed with heavy walnut furniture—headboard and footboard, dressers and nightstands, a settee near the fireplace—and lush, olive-colored bedding. Directing Robo forward, he made a beeline for the bed. At first he tried to crawl under it, but when he was too big to go all the way, he backed out and scratched at the floor. Then he sat. He looked straight into Mattie’s eyes.

  Full alert. “He’s indicating something under the bed,” she told the others.

  “We checked there,” Stella said. “There’s nothing, not even a dust bunny.”

  “Let’s move the bed,” McCoy said, crossing over to the far side of the footboard and trying to drag the heavy piece of furniture to one side. Mattie and Stella hurried to help, and soon they’d moved it away from its place.

  “Looks like nothing but flooring,” Stella said, getting down on her hands and knees and smoothing her hand over the floor. Excited, Robo joined her, giving each board a sniff. He fixated on a small dent in the floorboard, gave it one scratch with his foot, and then sat and stared at Mattie as if to say he’d done all that he could.

  “Thanks, Robo,” Stella said, probing the dent with her finger. “What are you trying to tell me about this divot right here?”

  With a delicate whisper of well-maintained gears, a three-foot square section opened up by sliding down and then under the rest of the floor. Startled, both Stella and Robo jumped away from the widening hole while Mattie and McCoy moved closer.

  Stella chortled. “Well, look what we have here!”

  Mattie knelt beside Robo and hugged him close, taking her eyes off the glorious sight and burying her nose in the fur
at his neck for a brief moment. Looking back at the stacks and stacks of plastic-wrapped bags that could only contain drugs, she watched Stella reach down with a latex-gloved hand to take out one of the wads of banded cash and rifle through it.

  “All one hundred dollar bills.” Stella took a moment to count them. “Looks like it’s sorted into ten thousand dollar bundles. My God, there must be close to a million dollars here.”

  McCoy stared into the vault, obviously thinking. “This organization reaches far beyond this one property in Timber Creek County. I need to call the CBI on this,” he said, referring to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. “And I’m sure they’ll bring in the Feds.”

  “Mattie,” Stella said, looking up at her with a gleam in her eye. “That dog has one helluva nose.”

  Chapter 32

  Wednesday

  The Timber Creek officers gathered for debriefing, all staring in glum silence at anything but each other. Disappointment and anger fueled the tension in the room.

  Mattie glanced at the clock on the wall of the briefing room. Five thirty: the sun would rise soon. Yesterday had been the longest day of her life, and since she’d still not had any sleep, the endless day was stretching into a two-day marathon. Robo had curled up beside her chair and fallen asleep. He snored lightly.

  McCoy spoke first. “So it’s out of our hands now. DEA agents are taking our prisoner to their Denver office. I’ll be informed of her disposition on a ‘need-to-know’ basis. There’s no guarantee we’ll be kept in the loop.”

  Brody had chosen to sit beside Mattie and Robo, and she could feel him simmering. “Will Carmen Santiago be prosecuted for Adrienne’s murder?” he asked.

  A pained look touched McCoy’s face. “I don’t know. I wish I could tell you she will, but . . .” He lifted his hands in a gesture of helplessness. He continued to explain. “They’ll use her as bait to get to her uncle, El Capo. They’ve been tracking his activities in the United States for months. This horse stable is believed to be a money-laundering scheme for proceeds from his prostitution and drug operation that extends from Juárez to Los Angeles. The thing is, it’s doubtful he’ll care enough about Carmen for them to use her for leverage against him in any way.”

  “So she might get a plea bargain,” Brody said, spitting out the words with distaste.

  “It’s possible,” Stella replied, looking grim. “But she won’t get away scot-free. She’ll serve time for Adrienne’s murder. And in her family, getting caught like this will mean a death sentence. I doubt she’ll last long in prison.”

  Brody rolled his shoulders and pushed back from the table, his chair scraping against the tan linoleum. Mattie could tell that Stella’s answer held no satisfaction for him. He would want to take part in the woman’s prosecution and see justice served with a murder-one conviction. They all would. But they were enmeshed in the downside of federal jurisdiction pulling rank.

  “I was able to access Adrienne’s computer prior to the Feds taking it for evidence,” Stella said. “I found a file that contained her notes regarding the horses. She documented the decline of a horse named Diablo and her concerns about a horse named Red. She suspected drug dosing of some kind.”

  As she continued, Stella eyed Brody, whose face had turned stony. “Juan Fiero told me what he witnessed. He said the lady, meaning Adrienne, accused Santiago of making the horses sick. Carmen went to her office, came out with her crossbow, and told Adrienne to run. She did. Carmen shot her in the back, and the bolt went clear through her chest. Fiero said she died immediately.”

  Brody pushed back from the table, bent forward, and placed his elbows on his knees. He stared at the floor, clenching his jaw.

  Stella continued. “He said he thought Carmen killed Adrienne because she needed to prove to her uncle that she was committed. He said that compared to her uncle, her evil side is very small. He thinks she’s probably as afraid of him as he is.”

  “How did he call into our tip line?” Mattie asked.

  “Adrienne gave him the TracFone,” Stella said. “They talked while they worked on the horses. He told her he wasn’t allowed to use the phone, and Adrienne gave him an old one that still had some minutes on it. After Carmen forced him to bury her body, he felt so bad about it, he had to call.”

  “The Feds have taken Fiero into custody and plan to transfer him to a hospital in Denver as soon as they can,” McCoy said. “Why did he hide the fact that he speaks English?”

  “He said he wanted to hide it from Carmen and her uncle. He believed it gave him an edge in case he could ever make a move to escape,” Stella said.

  “They’re pawns,” Brody growled.

  Mattie related to his frustration and nodded her agreement. The group shared a moment of silence. Mattie felt like she needed to say something to Brody but didn’t know what that could be. Stella beat her to it.

  “It pisses me off that we couldn’t mete out justice for Adrienne ourselves, Brody. But we have to hope the system will give her the punishment she deserves.”

  Stella had summed up her own feelings in the best way possible. “I think so, too,” Mattie said. “The important thing is that we were able to shut her part of the operation down and bring her to justice, even if what happens next is out of our control. And we solved the homicide case and made an arrest.”

  Brody shrugged. “Maybe so. But Adrienne’s gone no matter what we do about it.”

  Purely out of reflex, Mattie reached out to comfort him and put her hand on Brody’s forearm. His tension was evident in the tight, ropy muscle beneath his khaki shirtsleeve. “I’m sorry, Brody. I wish things were different.” She withdrew her hand before it became awkward.

  McCoy steepled his fingers at his chin and swept them with an all-inclusive glance. “I couldn’t be more proud of the way my officers performed out there last night. I don’t want you to lose sight of our accomplishment: it takes a well-trained team of professionals to break up an international crime organization and take down one of its primary players. You can be proud of the way you served our department, our state, and our country.” He paused for a moment, letting his words sink in. “I believe the local property owned by this crime organization will be appropriated by the federal government and eventually liquidated, and I can promise you that I’ll fight for our share of the asset forfeiture when the time comes.”

  “What about the animals?” Mattie said. “What’s their disposition?”

  “Timber Creek County Humane Society has assumed responsibility for the horses, and they’ll remain under Dr. Walker’s care until he determines if they can be saved or not.” He smiled in a slight way, as if recalling a memory. “Dr. Walker made it clear that no one was to even touch the Doberman but him. He put the dog in his truck as soon as he finished with the horses.”

  It was a relief to know that Cole would be in charge of the animals.

  McCoy continued. “I want you all to know that even prior to Ms. Howard’s disappearance, I’d been working with the county commissioners to approve a budget increase to add a detective to our staff. There’s no question that our increased crime rate justifies the expense.” He sent Stella a pointed look. “I hope you’ll consider applying for the position as soon as we post it.”

  Looking thoughtful, Stella gave him a slow nod.

  “Any questions or things you want to add?” When no one spoke, McCoy went on. “I’ve made arrangements for Deputy Garcia to extend his shift through the morning, and Deputy Johnson will also be on duty. You all can have the morning off, but shifts resume as scheduled at one o’clock this afternoon. For now, you’re dismissed.”

  With fog descending on her brain, it took a moment for Mattie to orient herself to the day. Wednesday . . . right. She and Robo were scheduled to work, so she’d better get home as soon as possible. Right now she’d trade almost anything for a few hours of sleep. When she pushed her chair back and stood, Robo awakened and scrambled to his feet. He stretched and yawned, haunches in the air.


  “Mattie, could I have a word in private before you go?” Stella asked.

  “Sure,” she said, hoping it wouldn’t take long. She rested a hip against the table while the men left, closing the door behind them.

  Stella searched Mattie’s face for a few seconds before she spoke. “I can tell the past forty-eight hours have been hell for you. I can read the pain in your face.”

  Tears prickled Mattie’s eyes, and even though she wanted to argue, she couldn’t speak.

  “I know you want to deny it, and I know you’re pushing yourself to carry on as if nothing has happened,” Stella said, the emotion behind her words making her sound angry. “But you’re one hell of an officer, Mattie, and I don’t want to see you break down. You owe it to your training, your career, and—yeah, you owe it to Robo—to take care of yourself. I’m not going to stand by and watch you self-destruct. You’ve got to take care of this now that this investigation is over and get yourself some help, or . . .”

  Surprised at the detective’s vehemence, Mattie looked her in the eye. “Or what?”

  Stella put on her too-sweet smile. “Or I’ll nag you until you do.”

  Placing her hands on her temples, Mattie rubbed the tightness that had formed there. “Good to know. Right now I need some sleep.” She started to pull away, but the need to tell someone the thought that had truly begun to nag at her made her turn back. “You know what’s bothering me the most now, Stella?”

  “What’s that?”

  “The fact that my mother must have known what was going on, and she didn’t protect me.” Mattie’s throat tightened and she couldn’t say more.

  Stella looked thoughtful. “Yeah, you’re probably right. But keep in mind that she was going through her own hell. That’s no excuse to fail to protect an innocent kid, but . . . who are we to judge? At least she recognized that she wasn’t providing what you needed and did the best thing she knew how to do at the time.”

  Bitterness flowed from Mattie’s chest into her words. “Yeah . . . relinquish her kids to the state.”