by Dale Mayer
One of the sons nodded. “That was about a month ago.”
“Why would you remember that?” Laszlo asked.
“Because he was really arrogant. There was just something about him.” The younger man shrugged. “At the time I thought he was a snobby American. The kind who would flip you off. He had such a dismissive attitude to everything we had in the store. As if he expected a full line of French cuisine here for him or something.”
The men nodded. “Do you remember his face at all?”
He tapped the photo. “That face. But he had a hat on. There was something about his eyes. I can’t remember the color, but it was that look.”
“Look?” Cade asked.
Laszlo continued to translate.
“Yes. Cold, dead almost.”
The father reached over and patted him on his hand.
Laszlo turned to Cade. “His father says he has a great imagination.”
“Cameras?”
Laszlo asked then turned to the men. “They only keep for 30 days. And we’re past that now.”
The men thanked the three attendants and turned back to the vehicle.
“Thoughts?” Talon asked as they all got inside the car, sitting there for a moment.
“Well, it was him. We just don’t have any proof.”
“No, but if the detective can track him down from when he first left the rental agency, the license plate will confirm the damage wasn’t there prior to the rental. The agency should have a driver’s license with a photo ID for us.”
“How long will it take him to get that information?”
“Unfortunately the detective has a life. And he’s off duty. He went home to have dinner with his wife and kids. I really don’t know if he’ll do anything about this tonight. I don’t know if anybody at the rental agency will be there at this hour. It’ll have to wait until morning.”
Cade groaned. “You know? It would be much easier if the world worked on a twenty-four-hour clock.”
Talon smiled. “It would. Unless you were called in to work outside of the schedule we wanted to work.”
They were still wrangling when they pulled up to Laszlo’s home. They walked inside to see Jair sitting, waiting for them. Cade hated to see the young man so pale and nervous. His face lit up with relief when he saw Laszlo.
Immediately a flurry of Norwegian flew from his mouth. Laszlo talked in a calming voice. By way of explanation he said, “He spoke with his friend, the detective. Jair is worried we’ll be in danger.”
Cade could understand that. Laszlo and Jair had already been through enough and had come close to losing their father. “I don’t think we’re in danger. But has he considered that maybe he and your father are?”
The brothers spoke a little longer, as Talon and Cade headed toward the kitchen.
“Has anybody considered that maybe the accident was enough?” Talon asked Cade.
“Laszlo is suffering.” Cade nodded.
“His brother already had a terminal disease,” Talon stated. “His father is now injured and probably will suffer a lot over the next years that he has left. And that, in turn, just twisted the screws tighter into Laszlo.”
“Meaning that he will be tortured more by the hired gunman leaving his father alive, now in this broken state?” Cade asked, confirming.
“Exactly. Maybe the hired gun didn’t mean to kill him,” Talon said. “Maybe, even if he had killed him, that would be fine too, but maybe he’s thinking this is even better.”
Cade shook his head. “That’s cold.”
Talon looked at him. “But it’s the truth.”
Chapter 6
It was late when Faith stumbled out of the hospital towards the hotel. She’d stayed with Elizabeth as long as she could today. The doctors had come to do their evening rounds, but they saw no change in Elizabeth and expressed how she wasn’t likely to change again. Still, Faith had stayed for another hour, just talking with Elizabeth, and then felt the fatigue pull. Not to mention the fact Faith hadn’t eaten in hours.
She gathered up her stuff and headed outside, smiling at the brace of fresh air. She walked across to the hotel and stepped into the small coffee shop. She wasn’t terribly hungry but knew she needed to eat something. A bowl of soup and salad would suffice nicely.
Upstairs in her room, she pulled out her laptop and sat on the bed. With her cell phone beside her, she caught up on some backlogged stuff. She filled her mom and a couple friends in who were concerned about her and Elizabeth.
Thinking of friends, knowing Cade didn’t quite fit that bill—though he had been concerned enough to get her the accident report and to get her set up in this hotel—she sent him a text, asking if he was okay and if he’d learned anything about Laszlo’s father’s accident. She was surprised when he responded quickly.
Maybe. We’re running through the details now. There’s a chance I found a vehicle, but it was a rental.
A rental? So you should be able to track it then? Right? She hit the Send button, thinking at least he was getting some answers.
Responding, he called her. Surprised and yet delighted, she said, “You didn’t have to call me. I know you’re busy.”
“Did you check the time? It’s past eleven here.” There was a note of humor in his voice. “I wouldn’t have called you, but obviously you’re still awake.”
“The time change is quite brutal, isn’t it?”
“It can be,” he agreed. “And we did find out some stuff today, but we’re not likely to get any good answers.”
“At least Laszlo has a chance to see his father, and hopefully his father will be okay.”
“He is at home and healing. But he’s older. He’s definitely a senior, and this is very difficult for him. He has the home care attendants who come in and help him too.”
She winced. “I don’t know what’s worse, accidents with old people where they’ll struggle to recover—and maybe not ever quite fully—or something like Elizabeth, where she was young and vibrant, with a whole life ahead of her.”
“Neither are good. They just are. And that makes them bad news for all of us. When the people we care about are hurting, it’s never good.” His voice lowered. “And, of course, it’s still supposition. Just because we pinpointed a rental vehicle that went out to the accident site doesn’t mean we have any way to prove that its driver was the person who did it.”
“And a rental vehicle, does that give you a picture?”
“Not necessarily. But maybe.”
She frowned at that. “Meaning, a driver’s license should have been used to rent the vehicle. I can see that.”
“It doesn’t mean it does us any good. It was a month ago. The person flew out again most likely. And he could have rented the vehicle using false papers. It’s a simple process for anyone who knows what they are doing.”
“That’s even worse. Playing the tourist is easy, as they come and go and are never seen again.”
“True enough. When are you heading home?” he asked rather abruptly.
“Well, I have the week off. I’m just not too sure how long Elizabeth will be in this state.”
“That sucks. Just because she’s like this now doesn’t mean there won’t be changes over the next few weeks.”
“Exactly. She could be like this for quite a while.”
“Well, for your sake and Elizabeth’s, I hope she recovers while you are here to be with her.”
“Wouldn’t that be wonderful?” she said.
“Yes, it would. For now, I’ll say good night,” Cade said quietly. “Hope tomorrow is a better day for you.”
She chuckled. “You too.” She hung up.
But she couldn’t sleep now. She thought about all the elements that went into a hit-and-run and the things the police had to find in order to track down the driver. It was tough. On impulse she typed a message, I know it’s a long shot, but could you send me his photo? I just want to make sure I don’t know who he is either.
We’re w
aiting for a full-face photo came Cade’s reply. But attached is the one we found from the traffic cameras.
She transferred it to her laptop and brought it up. She stared at it for a long moment. It was almost familiar. There was just that eerie tickling awareness going down her spine that said maybe she did know this person. But she had to think about why. And just how sure of it was she?
He texted again. Any luck?
Slowly, not sure she should, she replied. Maybe. … Thinking about it …
Instantly the phone rang in her hand. “You’ve seen him? You recognize him?”
“I’m not sure,” she said. “Maybe …”
“Maybe?” he asked in ominous tones. “What do you mean by that?”
“His face, what there is of it, is familiar. That’s all I can say. Something about the way I can only see the lower jaw.”
“When could you possibly have seen him?”
She chuckled. “I’m a pilot. I see people all the time. Sure, I spend a lot of my time in the front of the plane, but I always stand at the door to greet my passengers and to take time to look at them. I also see them when I come through the waiting lines. I also work with a ton of people.”
His voice was thoughtful. “Do you think you’ve flown him before?”
“I’m not sure. Let me sleep on it. I’ll see what pops in my head during the night.” With that she hung up again.
The face bothered her. She couldn’t think why. But instinctively she knew the eyes above had a cold, almost dead look to them. Like he didn’t give a shit about anything. She’d seen those eyes, that look. Now, if only she could remember when and where.
The trouble was, frustration didn’t help her sleep. An hour later she was still awake. Finally she fell asleep, but it was to nightmares of strange faces and bearded men weaving in and out of her consciousness, and just as she was starting to wake up, they would get hit by a vehicle.
Finally it was morning, though only six. She sat up to read her texts. There was no going back to sleep for her. The little bit she’d had made her more tired. And unfortunately she had no answer for Cade as to who the man in the photo was.
She got up and had a quick shower. Then she brought up her laptop to check the news around the world and to check her emails. It appeared everything was calm. She often wondered about that phenomenon. Her world was in complete chaos, and yet the rest of the world just coasted on its axis, as if nobody out there gave a damn that she was on rocky ground. It was probably the way it was supposed to be. You had to deal with your own personal chaos in your own way.
She dressed quickly, pocketed her phone, repacked her laptop and headed downstairs.
The receptionist called her as she was about to walk out. “You didn’t say how many nights you were staying,” the man said in a guttural English.
She smiled. “I don’t really know. At least tonight though.”
He nodded and plastered a big smile on his face. “Nice to have you.”
It was seven-thirty when she walked out of the hotel. She crossed the street and walked the block to the hospital. Nobody had contacted her through the night, but that didn’t mean Elizabeth had gone through her night easily.
As she walked to Elizabeth’s room, one of the nurses smiled at her. “She had a good night.”
Relieved, Faith smiled. “That is such good news. Surely she’ll pull through this.”
The nurse shrugged. “The doctors are hopeful. But it’s far too soon to tell. It’s easy for us to see this as a positive sign, but it can turn just as quickly the other way.”
The nurse walked past, and Faith slipped into Elizabeth’s room. There was just something about the smell of a hospital. However, the attendant noises were reassuring, hearing the machines and the various sounds they made as they beeped and droned beside Elizabeth. Faith walked to the foot of her friend’s bed and studied her face.
“It’s me again, Elizabeth. Faith. I’m back to visit for a while.”
There was no recognition on her friend’s face, no stirring of the fingers, nothing. But she did look more rested. As if she was content to let the drugs keep her under and was no longer fighting to surface or was no longer in pain, the lines of worry and stress had eased back from her face. When Faith had first arrived, Elizabeth had had an almost contorted tightness to her cheeks. Whereas, right now, she had a relaxed look to her face.
As Faith sat, wishing she’d swung by the cafeteria to pick up coffee and something to eat, the nurse popped her head in and said, “We’ll be bringing breakfast around for the patients soon. Can I get you a tray?”
Surprised and touched, Faith answered, “Thank you. I would appreciate that.”
And the nurse disappeared just as fast.
While she waited, Faith brought up her laptop and once again took a look at the picture Cade had sent her. This time the sense of recognition was even stronger. But the answer to where she knew him from and who he was stayed just out of her reach. She set the laptop on the small table beside her as her phone rang. It was Cade.
“No, I don’t know who, where or why, but, yes, I do recognize him,” she said calmly. “And I know that’s absolutely no help. All I can tell you is that it’s bugging me, but I haven’t come up with any answers.”
“If you do, let me know,” he said. “And, by the way, how is your friend?”
“The nurses were a little more hopeful this morning. Every day Elizabeth manages to stay alive and to fight is a day her body manages to heal that much more.”
“I’ll call you later then,” Cade said. “But don’t forget this is really important. If there’s any way to dislodge that information from your brain …”
“I’ll try,” she said firmly. “But, like I said, I’ve seen a lot of people.”
“Think about that look. And where else you might have seen it. Somebody’s driver? A passenger with the hat down low? Somebody who was arguing? Somebody at a ticket counter giving people trouble?”
“You think he’s an argumentative type?” she asked quietly. “I know the eyes are about all that are missing in this picture, and yet I know they are dead. Cold, like they don’t give a shit about anything or anyone. What I don’t remember is how and where I have that impression.”
“Interesting,” he said slowly. “Another potential witness said the same thing.”
“I’ll dredge my memory some more. But I don’t know any way to unlock that little bit of information. You and I both know what it’s like to have something sit just outside your reach, where you can’t quite put your finger on it, but it’s there nonetheless.”
“All I ask is that you keep trying,” he said firmly. And with that he hung up.
She stared down at the picture and froze. Instantly memories came flooding back. Cade had been right. She’d seen him when driving. Back home. In Santa Fe, New Mexico. This man had been driving a car. And she’d almost hit him accidentally because he cut into her lane. He’d followed her down the block. When she’d parked at the bank, he’d pulled in behind her. She’d been unnerved, wondering exactly what he might do. She hadn’t hit him, but it had been a close encounter.
At the same time, he’d also been at fault for cutting into her space. It had shocked both of them. But there was something about the look on his face. She had wondered if she should talk to him. Then he hopped out of the vehicle, pulled his hat down low and called out, “Learn to drive better, bitch.”
She’d stiffened at the time, shot him a look, realized his shoulders were set with anger, but it was those eyes, that glimpse she’d caught. He tilted his hat back as she opened her mouth to apologize, and, when she saw that look, it said she better not say the wrong thing. She stared at him for at least ten seconds, then she turned and walked into the bank.
Inside the bank she’d looked out the window to see if he was still there. He was, but then he drove away.
She didn’t have anything to go by other than that chance encounter. But there had been something about him that
had left an indelible mark. She picked up her phone and called Cade back. “I remember where I saw him.” She quickly explained.
“In Santa Fe?”
“Yes. I was heading to the bank.”
“Any idea when?”
She sighed. “The day after I came back and shared the cab with you.”
“Just a few days ago?” he asked, almost in a roar.
“Yes. Why?”
“Well, if it’s the same person we think is doing this, it could mean another friend of ours is in danger.” He ended the call abruptly.
She stared at the photo on her laptop, then at the dead phone in her hand and realized the man she’d seen outside the bank could be capable of doing anything. And she was delighted he was a hell of a long way from her right now.
Cade turned to face the others. They all sat around the kitchen table, data sheets spread all across its surface. Laszlo said, “She saw him?”
Cade nodded. “In short, she said she would never forget the dead, cold look in his eyes.” He quickly shared the little bit she’d remembered, then added, “I never thought to ask any more questions. I was just shocked she recognized him.”
“Coincidence?”
“Not necessarily. Not if he’s coming after us individually, after our families.”
“But we’re not all in Santa Fe.”
“No, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t keeping tabs on those of us who are.”
“Badger?” they all said in unison.
“He’s the most vulnerable right now.”
Cade was nodding, already had his phone in hand, dialing Erick. “I know it’s late, but I have to forewarn him.”
A sleepy voice answered.
“Erick, there’s been a strange development.”
Cade told him about the face they’d found on camera. “I sent it to you, but I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to look at it yet. However, Faith says she remembers seeing him in New Mexico.”
“What?” Erick mumbled, as if shaking the sleep out of his brain. “Who is Faith?”
Cade shrugged, not sure how to explain. And that’s when Laszlo spoke across the table in a louder voice. “Cade’s girlfriend. The pilot he shared the cab with the other day.”