Death Takes a Ride (The Cate Kinkaid Files Book #3): A Novel

by Lorena McCourtney

  But she felt a twang of disappointment that wherever Andy Timmons had once lived was obviously gone. Another dead end. However, disappointment did not plunge her appetite into depression, and the pulled-pork sandwich she had in the barbecue restaurant was great, meaty and juicy. Hey, she’d have to tell Mitch about this place.

  It wasn’t until she got home that the thought occurred to her that concentrating her search on Lily Admond might be the best way to find Andy. She got on the computer and, using a database Uncle Joe subscribed to for Belmont Investigations, found a rural address for a pickup in Lily’s name. Cate knew it was probably an old address, but hopefully worth checking out. She thought about going out there yet today, but a call from Uncle Joe made her decide to put it off until later.

  She called Mitch to see if he wanted to run over to Uncle Joe’s with her, and he came by a few minutes later. Clancy was riding shotgun in the front seat when Cate opened the SUV door. He offered her a sloppy face kiss, which Cate managed to detour to her elbow. Mitch shooed him into the backseat, where he curled up in a red-plaid, padded doggie bed.

  “You bought Clancy a bed?”

  “I leave him here in the SUV a lot. I didn’t want him to be uncomfortable. He can take it with him when he goes back to his owner.” Mitch changed the subject. “So they really did it.”

  “That’s what Uncle Joe said.”

  The truth of that was verified when Mitch parked in front of Uncle Joe and Rebecca’s house. A motor home filled the driveway, big and bulky as a tyrannosaurus rex on wheels. A mural of a desert scene, complete with cactus and howling wolf, decorated the back wall. Uncle Joe stepped out of the door, can of Pledge in hand. He beamed the same way Mitch had when he’d just bought his Purple Rocket motorcycle. Men did like their motorized toys.

  “You’re going to drive that down the highway?” Cate said. “It’s enormous!”

  “Not all that big,” Uncle Joe scoffed modestly. “It’s only a thirty-footer, and they make them a lot bigger than that. C’mon in and take a look around.”

  “Where’s Rebecca?”

  “In the house getting sheets and blankets to make up the bed.”

  “Is she going to drive it too?” Cate asked.

  “She says not, no way. But I’m thinking she’ll change her mind after a while. Drives like a dream.”

  Cate eyed the metal hulk again. Dream, nightmare, whatever.

  Uncle Joe held the door open, and Cate and Mitch stepped inside. Clancy was still in the SUV.

  Cate strolled the interior length of the motor home. Two big seats up front for driver and passenger were on a higher level than the living area, wide console between them, TV above. A sofa and small upholstered chair, kitchen counter with double sinks, propane kitchen stove, microwave. A dinette with upholstered bench seats overlooked a window across from the kitchen, a refrigerator/freezer beyond. Bathroom on one side of the aisle, small tub and shower on the other. Queen-size bed in back. Storage cabinets tucked in everywhere. Not an inch of wasted space. And, Cate had to admit, all quite cozy and comfortable looking.

  “So, how soon are you taking off in it?” Mitch asked.

  “Well, not within the next fifteen minutes.” Uncle Joe grumped, as if fifteen minutes was the time frame he’d prefer. “We’re still waiting for Cate’s PI license. And I have to get a tow bar put on the car so we can pull it behind the motor home. We’ll probably take a couple of short trips to see how everything goes, but I’m thinking we’ll be seeing the northern states this summer and hitting the Florida beaches by fall.”

  Cate and Mitch went to church together on Sunday, as usual. It was a gorgeous spring day, blue skies with a decorative sprinkle of fluffy clouds, the kind of day that made Cate think maybe God was showing off just a bit. Oak trees with a haze of new growth, red tulips along the walkway to the church, scent of freshly mowed grass. Clancy waited in his red-plaid dog bed in the SUV. After church, Cate asked Mitch if he’d like to take a drive out in the country.

  “A see-the-countryside drive or a working-type drive?” he asked.

  Hmm. Mitch knew her all too well.

  “I could check on an address that might be connected with a case I’m working on,” Cate admitted. To sweeten the prospect, she added, “But we can find a place for Clancy to run out there too.”

  “Okay. Sounds good.”

  They went by Mitch’s condo and then Cate’s house to change out of the clothes they’d worn to church. Octavia sniffed at Cate’s shoes as if she suspected Cate had been fraternizing with a hairy dog.

  “Yes, we’re taking Clancy along,” Cate admitted to the cat. “But you don’t even like to ride in a car, so you shouldn’t be complaining.”

  Deaf Octavia couldn’t hear her, of course, but it always seemed as if the cat got the gist of their conversations. Sometimes Cate suspected her of some super-cat ability to read lips. She considered that possibility now as Octavia gave her an accusing, blue-eyed stare.

  Nah. That was Twilight Zone stuff. Cats could not read lips. But in case this one could, Cate added, “But you know you’re my favorite furry creature in the whole world.”

  Following Cate’s directions, Mitch headed west on the road to the coast, then, a few miles out of town, turned off to the south. More turns brought them to Mad Crow Road. Trees, a few nondescript cattle, and a couple of big-eyed deer, not people, populated the area. Cate didn’t spot any crows, mad or otherwise. A hand-scrawled sign at a gravel driveway identified the address she was looking for, a Wood For Sale sign tacked to the post below it. A double-wide mobile home sat beside several outbuildings well back from the road. Of more interest to Cate was the travel trailer under a nearby madrone. She felt a flutter of excitement. Had she hit the jackpot and found Lily and Andy already?

  “Yeah, I know Lily,” the guy who came out from behind a mountain of firewood said in answer to Cate’s question. The statement wasn’t rude, but his up-and-down assessment of her held a hint of “what’s it to ya?” challenge.

  He was tall and lanky, with heavy boots and a black stocking cap that revealed a shock of hair as red as Cate’s own. The tail of a blue-plaid flannel shirt hung over his faded jeans, and a chain saw dangled from one hand.

  Cate tried not to think about those old chainsaw massacre movies. Which, of course, made her think of them in full gory detail. Plus more stray thoughts about chainsawed bodies, body parts tucked away in freezers and basements. Or maybe woodpiles.

  “What do you want to know for? She in trouble?” he asked. The unfriendly attitude suggested their both having red hair did not establish an instant bond with Cate.

  “No, nothing like that,” Cate assured him. “Actually, it’s a friend of hers I’m trying to find.”

  “That punk Timmons? I told her she was off her rocker having anything to do with that deadbeat. He’s bad news all the way.”

  Cate revised her hope that Andy Timmons might be found with Lily in the nearby trailer. Chain Saw Man’s attitude suggested that if Timmons showed up, he’d run him off the property. Maybe off the planet.

  “You’re Mr. Admond?” Mitch asked. Apparently he was thinking the same thought that had just occurred to Cate, that this might be an ex-, or even current, husband.

  “Lily’s my sister. She divorced that scumbag Admond, so Connie and I were letting her stay in our travel trailer. He come sniffin’ around once, but I don’t think he’ll be coming again.” He gave a sharkin-a-flannel-shirt smile of satisfaction. A chain saw was no doubt an effective ex-husband deterrent.

  “Lily got tired of being stuck out here in the boonies, so I pulled the trailer into town for her. I wouldn’t of, if I’d known she was going to take up with that Timmons jerk.”

  Either Lily was the world’s worst at picking men, or her brother was unfairly prejudiced about her choices.

  Cate glanced toward the small trailer out back. “But now she’s come back alone?”

  “Her and Timmons wanted to take the trailer down to Arizona or Nev
ada or somewhere, but I said no way. I went and got it. I tried to talk some sense into Lily and get her to move back out here, but she wouldn’t do it. I should of drug her back out here anyway.”

  He could probably see, as Cate could without even knowing Lily, how far he’d have gotten with that.

  “So they went on down to Arizona without the trailer?” Cate asked. She kept a wary eye on the chain saw.

  The guy looked her up and down again. The inspection apparently did not upgrade her status. “I don’t see any reason I should be blabbing to you about where she is.”

  The brother might not approve of his sister’s choices in men, but he was still protective. Cate hesitated, wondering how close she had to stick to Halliday’s “confidential” instructions. Before she could decide, the brother turned and clomped back to the far side of the woodpile. A moment later the roar of the chain saw put a final punctuation mark on their visit.

  “I don’t think we’re going to get any more information here,” Mitch observed. “Why are we looking for this woman and her friend?”

  Cate started to tell him, but that matter of “confidentiality” shot up like a stop sign. She sometimes shared generalities about cases with Mitch, and he’d helped her several times and come to her rescue more than once. She couldn’t imagine that his knowing details of this case could matter. But clients had a right to confidentiality, and Matt Halliday had been specific about it in this case.

  “It doesn’t have anything to do with murder or dead guys or anything like that,” Cate assured him.

  Mitch swiped a hand across his forehead and shook the pretended sweat toward the ground. “Whew. That’s a relief. For a minute there I figured now we’d be looking for a place to dig up a dead body.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. If that were the case, I’d have brought a shovel and a body bag,” Cate said primly.

  For a moment he looked as if he believed that, then he grinned. “True. You’re quite efficient. Okay, then, what now?”

  “Now we find a place for Clancy to run.”

  Which they did. A clearing along a creek, where Clancy roamed with his nose to the ground and his tail waving like a skinny whip above the tall grass. He dug a hole, dirt flying behind him. He chased something unseen in the tall grass. He splashed in the creek and came back to happily shake cold water all over them. Mitch found an old towel in the SUV with which to dry him off, but Clancy had other ideas.

  He grabbed the towel in his teeth and ran away with it. Mitch took after him and enveloped him in a flying tackle. They rolled around in the grass and dirt, Clancy’s tail wagging all the time. Uh-oh, Clancy was getting away again—

  Cate dove into the mêlée. And then all three of them were rolling around in the dirt and grass. Dog hair. A flying foot—Mitch’s, not Clancy’s. A floppy ear in Cate’s mouth. A dog footprint on Mitch’s forehead. Whap of dog tail across her leg. Cate clamped an arm across Clancy’s neck. Sloppy dog kiss. Smells of grass and earth and wet dog.

  Clancy wiggled away, but then he jumped back on top both of them and everything scrambled together like some new brand of wrestling match. The People vs. Clancy!

  The People are winning! Cate has the towel. Mitch has a dog tail. Clancy is down.

  No, Clancy is up! Clancy has the towel. Cate has a handful of nothing. Mitch is flat on his back. The People are down.

  The People are giggling. Clancy is plopped down, panting. If dogs can grin, that’s what Clancy is doing.

  Cate flopped onto her back in the tall grass. Hey, I’m happy! She was here with Mitch and Clancy and the sun was shining and the grass smelled like spring and sunshine. Thank you, Lord! She spread her arms and legs and made an angel figure in the grass. Mitch spit out dog hair or dirt. Maybe both. He grinned at her. Clancy offered her the towel.

  Mitch staggered to his feet. He offered Cate a hand to help her up. She gave him a foot instead. Clancy jumped up and stuck his nose in her ear. Cate giggled some more. Grass tickled her nose. Mitch scooped her up in his arms. Clancy jumped and danced and barked.

  Mitch looked into Cate’s eyes.

  Then he dipped his head and kissed her, long and thoroughly. She couldn’t hear Clancy barking now. Cate wrapped her arms around Mitch’s neck and kissed him back.

  “I think we lost the battle,” Mitch murmured. “Clancy still isn’t dry, and he has the towel again.”

  “Who cares?” Cate stretched up for another kiss.

  When Mitch finally set her down, he said, “I believe we’ll have to dry the dog off more often.”

  When they got back to town, Cate showed Mitch the restaurant she’d discovered, and they shared a big platter of barbecued ribs. Cate thought he’d take some bones out to Clancy, but Mitch said cooked bones weren’t good for dogs.

  “Neither are chocolate, coffee, or macadamia nuts,” he added.

  “All of a sudden you’re the big dog expert?”

  “You can find anything on the internet.”

  Where Mitch had apparently spent a fair amount of time surfing in the dog world. If it weren’t for the fact that he kept asking when Blakely would take his dog back, she might think he was getting attached to the big hairy mutt.

  She knew she was.

  By that evening, Cate reluctantly decided she’d have to call Matt Halliday first thing Monday morning and tell him she’d reached a dead end on Andy Timmons. Failure rankled her, but she didn’t have any more leads. A call from someone else on Monday morning changed her mind. Maybe she did have a lead.

  Cate never answered her cell phone with the Belmont Investigations name, so all she said was, “Hello?”

  “I’m looking for Cate Kinkaid?”

  “This is Cate.”

  “Hi. You talked to us about Lily and her boyfriend? At the RV park?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “I happened to run into her later. Well, not exactly run into her. I saw her working at the counter in the convenience store behind the station where I gassed up. The baby was asleep, and I didn’t want to leave her alone in the pickup, so I didn’t go inside. Sometimes awful things happen, you know?”

  “Right. You shouldn’t leave a baby alone in a car.” Cate asked for the address of the convenience store and jotted it on a scrap of paper. “I really appreciate your calling.”

  “I’d rather you didn’t mention to Lily that it was me who told you about her, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “My husband wouldn’t want me calling you. He says we should keep our noses out of other people’s business.”

  Cate was curious why the woman did call. She didn’t ask, but the woman seemed to feel obliged to offer an explanation.

  “I probably wouldn’t of called, but I didn’t like that Andy. Lily acts kind of tough, but she’s okay. Just kind of … mixed up.”

  Using information acquired from the brother, Cate said, “She went through a divorce a while back.”

  “Yeah, and she’s scared of that guy. He knocked her around a few times. I don’t think Andy hits her or anything like that, but it sure looked to me like he was mooching off her. She works so hard, and all he ever seemed to do was watch TV or tinker with that old motorcycle. Although I never did see it even running. I just thought if you found her …” Her voice trailed off as if she wasn’t certain what she’d thought, but she’d like to see something better for Lily. “Well, maybe she’s dumped him by now. I hope so.”

  “Thanks again for calling me.”

  Cate grabbed a jacket and headed for the convenience store.

  14

  No one matching Lily’s description was working behind the counter. Cate took a quick tour through the aisles, but all she saw was a young guy stocking a shelf with Froot Loops. The store was busy, and she bought a cappuccino from a machine to sip while waiting for a lull.

  When the lull came, she stepped up to the counter. “Hi. I’m looking for Lily Admond. I think she works here?”

  “Yeah, but she’s just part-time, on weekends, s
o she isn’t here today.” The middle-aged woman in jeans and blue sweatshirt busily rearranged a candy display as she spoke. “During the week she works for some housecleaning outfit.”

  “Do you know where she’s living?” Actually, Cate doubted the question would get her anywhere. It wasn’t information an employer was likely to hand out to some stranger. To make the request sound more personal, she added, “She moved out of the RV park where she’s been living, and I’m worried about her.”

  Worried was stretching it, Cate thought guiltily. But that woman from the trailer park had sounded worried. So maybe there was something to worry about.

  “She’s had this guy hanging around,” Cate added in a meaningful way.

  “Yeah, he’s been in here a couple times. Not someone I’d want hanging around my daughter.”

  Apparently, if all these non-fans got together, Andy Timmons might qualify as the Guy Most Likely to Be Voted Off the Planet.

  A customer stepped up with a six-pack of beer and a sack of taco chips. His impatient look told Cate to buy something or get out of the way. She got out of the way but stepped up again when he was gone.

  “I’d really like to find her before Andy talks her into leaving the area or something,” Cate said.

  “Lily hasn’t worked here long, but …” The woman touched an I’m-thinking finger to her chin. “She must of filled out one of those forms for tax records and stuff when Everett hired her. It might still be here, if Everett hasn’t given it to the bookkeeper yet.” She opened a drawer and shuffled through a clutter of papers. “Hey, yeah, here it is.”