Burning Proof

by Janice Cantore

  But he’d killed Bart too soon. Gil could do a lot of things and do them well, but he was slowed by the inability to use his legs. He’d failed to realize just how much he’d come to count on the guy. Now someone was here; someone had tripped that first explosive setup. The only thing that calmed him was knowing they couldn’t get to him in the man cave from the house. He was still in control. He’d confront them the way he wanted to confront them.

  He stopped what he was doing and tried to think. There was no way he’d have the house wired in time. He had no idea how many people were at his front door, and in any event, the blast was sure to bring the troops, the negotiators. Barone had no intention of negotiating. He put down the tools he was working with and rolled to where he could see his outside monitor feed. All he saw was snow and he figured they’d cut the feed. Either that or the blast had disabled it.

  No matter, he thought. I’ll just go with plan B. He slid into a thick bulletproof vest and grabbed his assault rifle. The heavy bag of ammo clips he placed on his lap, not certain he’d be able to use them all but planning to give it a try. He rolled into the garage, toward the door control. He could hear the girl whimpering and struggling in the van; he hadn’t had time to pull her out yet.

  For a second he paused at the van, wondering if he should just put a bullet in her head.

  Nah, he didn’t want to take the time. He was about to go out in a big way, and it was imperative that he prove to everyone that he was at the top of the food chain.

  Stopping at the door button, he slapped a clip into the rifle and then chambered a round. He was ready to rock and roll and take as many with him as possible. He punched the button and prepared to fire as soon as the door was up high enough.

  CHAPTER

  -63-

  MOLLY WAS RIGHT. As Abby listened to Luke try to explain to the local police why he was certain Gil Barone had Callie, she could tell they were skeptical.

  “Turn here.” Molly pointed. “He lives at the very top of this street.”

  Though she knew there was no guarantee Barone was headed home—after all, he’d tried to dump Molly in the desert—Abby followed her instructions because there was no other option at the moment.

  Luke disconnected from the police, letting out an exasperated breath. “They’re sending someone to the shop, even though I told them that we just drove by and he’s not there.”

  She glanced at Luke and saw the frustration on his features. “He does all their computer work; we must be wrong,” he said, throwing up his hands.

  “They eat lunch with the guy. Callie has seen every cop in town with him.” Molly’s voice was tight, grim.

  As they climbed the hill, Abby prayed Callie was okay, that they weren’t too late. Just then she heard a loud boom and saw a puff of smoke in the distance. She slammed on the brakes.

  “What was that?”

  “Gunshots?” Molly asked.

  “Sounded like a bomb, an explosion,” Luke said.

  More smoke billowed ahead. Abby turned to Molly. “That’s his house there?”

  “At the very top. It’s the last house on the street. What if it’s on fire and Callie’s in there?”

  Abby stepped on it and continued up the hill. From the corner of her eye she saw a car, or the tail end of a car, disappear to the left, but she wasted no time looking after it. Her attention was on the house at the end of the street.

  “That’s it,” Molly said as a large single-story ranch came into view.

  The driveway split; to the left was the garage and to the right the front entryway, which appeared to be smoldering. There was also a brick retaining wall about four feet high off to the left, winding around the front of the house, that Abby noted would provide decent cover. That thought made her question the wisdom of bringing Molly along. But that wasn’t what made Abby stop the car. What made her stop was the body she saw in the driveway.

  “Luke . . .”

  “I see it.” He turned to Molly. “Get down in the backseat, call 911, and tell them what you’ve seen and heard.”

  She nodded. “Callie?”

  “We’ll check,” Abby said. “I promise. But call; we need the troops here. Something bad is going down.”

  Molly slid down on the floor and pulled out her phone.

  Abby nodded to Luke and they both got out of the car.

  She’d brought her .45 on this trip and removed it from the door panel. Luke was unarmed, and Abby prayed that whatever had happened here was already over.

  She’d stopped the car back about thirty feet from the body. She and Luke approached it cautiously.

  “Is this Barone?” she asked Luke.

  He shook his head. “Never seen him before.”

  The man was obviously dead. His face was a bloody mess, and the waxy color of his skin told Abby that the heart was no longer pumping. Abby was tempted to check for ID when she heard a rumble that indicated the garage door was opening.

  “Cover,” she said to Luke and they trotted toward the retaining wall. Before they reached a safe place, she saw a man in a wheelchair appear in the opening and raise an assault rifle. He started shooting.

  At first the shots went wild until he found his target. As Abby dove for cover, she saw the man look their way. At the same moment they reached the safety of cover, bullets began pinging the wall, kicking up dirt, shredding the plants, pulverizing the brick wall. They didn’t have much time. He was screaming as he fired, but Abby couldn’t make out what he was saying.

  “Do you hear sirens?” Abby yelled to Luke.

  “All I hear are bullets.” He glanced back toward the car. “If he decides to shoot up the car, Molly doesn’t have a prayer.”

  He voiced Abby’s greatest fear. The troops were coming, but did they have the luxury of time?

  “I agree. I’m open to suggestions.”

  “He’ll be reloading soon.” He pointed across the driveway. “I’ll draw his fire and you take a shot.”

  She stared at him.

  He smiled. Those sharp, clear eyes held no hint of fear or doubt. He put a hand on her shoulder as the shooting paused. The sound of an empty clip bouncing on the ground was followed by the clang of a fresh clip being jammed into place.

  “He has to be stopped,” Luke said. “I trust you.”

  He was up and running before Abby could argue.

  She stood, training her weapon on the man in the wheelchair as he raised his rifle to aim at Luke.

  He was wearing a ballistic vest.

  “O Lord, protect Luke,” she prayed as she shifted her aim and fired.

  CHAPTER

  -64-

  THE RIFLE CLATTERED TO THE GROUND and Barone tilted forward, screaming. He fell out of the chair. Abby kept her gun trained on him, ready to shoot again if he tried to reclaim the rifle. But he didn’t. He simply writhed and bled a lot. Luke was there in a flash, kicking the rifle away. Sirens were closer, but Abby could tell by the bright-red blood she’d hit an artery. She’d aimed for his shoulder, a part exposed and free of the vest, and had hit where she wanted. Obviously the bullet had done a lot of damage.

  “He’s a mess.” Luke knelt next to him.

  Abby approached them, gun pointed away. “We have to find Callie.”

  “He’ll bleed to death.”

  “I won’t let him die.”

  They both turned as Molly limped toward them, grimacing in pain, sweatshirt off. She got on her good knee, casted leg out to the side next to Gil, and made a pressure bandage with her sweatshirt. He writhed around but was obviously growing weaker.

  “I’ve got this,” Molly said, face confidently set. “Find Callie.”

  Abby looked at Luke and he stood. Together they jogged into the garage. Behind them the first emergency vehicles pulled up. They heard Molly yelling to them that Barone needed immediate attention.

  With the sounds of emergency vehicle traffic behind them, Abby called for Callie and strained to hear if there was any response. In spite of the noi
se of diesel engines as fire trucks pulled up, Abby heard banging.

  “Over here.” She pointed to the van and Luke tried to open the side door.

  “It’s locked. I need to find the key to get it open.” He glanced at the scene around Barone and knew asking him for the keys was not an option. He moved around to the front of the van and peered in the window. “I can’t see anything.” He tried the front door, and it too was locked.

  He looked around and grabbed a bat leaning against the wall. Abby stepped back as he smashed the window. In another second he had the side door sliding open.

  Abby was aware that several officers had joined them in the garage as Luke jumped inside, moved the bike, and tenderly picked up the bound girl. Abby watched as his large, strong hands gently removed the duct tape from the weeping girl, telling her it was all going to be okay now.

  “Callie!” Molly called out. Abby saw that the paramedics had taken over with Barone, and Molly came toward them, supported by a firefighter.

  Luke lifted Callie out of the van and set her on shaky legs, and the girls embraced. The officers turned questioning looks their way, and Abby explained what had happened as the firefighter stepped forward to check Callie’s injuries.

  Molly wiped her eyes and looked at Abby. “You were right yesterday. I know that now.” She hugged Abby. “Thank you for not letting the bad guy win.”

  “Thank God, Molly. Thank God. He is our help in every situation.” Abby wiped the girl’s tears.

  Molly nodded. Callie called for Molly and she went to her sister.

  “Amen to that,” Luke said as Abby stepped back to where he stood. His warm gaze soothed her and he held out his hand. “Great shot. I knew you’d have my back. Faye will be thrilled by our success today.”

  His brilliant smile cut Abby two ways. She wanted his excitement and happiness directed her way but realized she was too late; he was already captivated by someone else.

  Abby was still processing the events of the morning when her phone rang.

  “Abby, where are you?” It was Bill, and his voice sounded uncharacteristically tense.

  “I’m in Tehachapi with Luke and Woody. Why? What’s the matter?”

  She and Luke were sitting in an office at the police station, eating sandwiches. They’d spent hours at the scene as the local cops went through Barone’s residence. Besides the body in the driveway, there was a second body in the backyard, identified as Barone’s partner, Bart Meechum. But the man in the driveway had no ID. His face had taken the brunt of a blast that had been tentatively identified as a bomb, a booby trap rigged to explode at the front door. Who he was, why he was there, and why Barone killed him were mysteries.

  Luke and Abby had been excused to get something to eat and were waiting for a debriefing by the detectives in charge.

  “Something has come up,” Bill said. “A family doing an excavation in their backyard—they were going to put in a pool. They dug up a skeleton.”

  “Yeah?” Wary now, Abby frowned. “What does that have to do with me?”

  Luke reached over and placed his hand over hers, apparently reading her angst.

  “Body had been wrapped in plastic and the clothing was still intact, and in the back pocket was a wallet with ID and credit cards. The ID . . . Well, Abby, the ID belongs to your father, Buck Morgan.”

  “What?” Abby’s body went numb. She felt a roaring in her ears as her pulse raced.

  Luke tightened his grip on her hand, but she barely noticed. She saw him staring, concern in his eyes. He mouthed something—it might have been “What’s wrong?”—but she couldn’t hear the words.

  “We’ll need DNA to be certain,” Bill was saying, “but this might be your dad.”

  CHAPTER

  -65-

  WHEN ABBY DISCONNECTED the phone call with Bill, she turned to Luke and told him what her partner had said. Luke couldn’t find his voice for a minute.

  “I think it would be important to find out who owned that house twenty-seven years ago,” he said finally, worried about Abby and what this could mean to the investigation that affected them both. The information had rocked her world; he could tell that by the expression on her face.

  “Bill said they were looking into it,” Abby said, her voice not even sounding like Abby.

  “It’s okay if you want to leave, to go home and be briefed on what’s up with this news,” Woody said. He’d arrived just after lunch, having missed all the action at Barone’s house because he was out with the dog rescue agency. “Maybe I should even drive you.”

  Abby looked away and said nothing for a moment.

  Luke knew this information was a 9.9 on the Richter scale, but he had no idea how to help Abby deal with it.

  “I can fill the local cops in on anything they might be missing,” he said.

  After a minute she sighed and turned back to them. She was herself again. The news had unsteadied her but not knocked her down.

  “I’ll wait. I want to speak to Molly once more before I head home. That’s the most important thing right now, not me. Bill will call when he has more information.”

  Luke relaxed. She was fine. This wasn’t affecting her like an earthquake. He’d been so wrong about reading her lately. Was that a good thing or a bad thing?

  “I need to apologize again for keeping the information about Lucy Harper from you. It’s obvious to me that you have peace where that investigation is concerned. Knowing about her would never have thrown you for a loop. I’m embarrassed I ever thought it would.”

  “I’m not fragile. Part of me understands a little bit why Woody would have tried to protect me, but not you. I thought you knew me better than that. You should have trusted me with the information when you first got it.”

  Swimming in guilt, Luke started to say something but she stopped him.

  “You just reminded me—I never read what you gave me. I never had a chance to look at what was in the envelope.”

  “That’s right.” Luke looked around. “Where is it?”

  “Still in the car.” She stood and left Woody and Luke in the office.

  “You didn’t read it?” Woody asked.

  Luke shook his head. “It’s for her, not for me.”

  “Sorry about reading that situation wrong; we should have told her.”

  “Don’t blame yourself. I could have just as easily argued harder. Water under the bridge now.” He tried to swallow the regret he felt but knew it would be a long while before he forgave himself. He prayed that whatever was inside would be good news for Abby.

  Abby returned to the room. She sat down and tore the envelope open. Luke held his breath.

  “It’s a letter from my dad.” She frowned. “‘To whom it may concern.’” After a second she looked up, amazement on her face.

  Kelsey was almost home when her phone buzzed, startling her. When she saw that it wasn’t the chief, she relaxed. She was in the back of a cab, having dumped the rental car in a rough section of LA and hailed a taxi to take her home. Quinn had rented the car; there was nothing in it to connect to her, and she had no interest in explaining the broken window. She’d taken his bag of C-4 with her but wasn’t certain what she’d do with it. The phone call was from an old PD friend, and she answered it.

  “There’s something up at Gavin’s old house.”

  “What?”

  “You know, the place he had on Granada. The people who live there now dug up the patio to put in a pool—”

  Kelsey went numb and barely heard the rest of the sentence.

  “Anyway—” he was still talking—“turn on the TV. You’ll see the pictures from the helicopter circling above.”

  She thanked him for the information and disconnected as the taxi pulled up in front of her town house.

  Her friend had been wrong on one count. The house on Granada had not been Gavin’s; it had been hers. He’d lived there with her when they were engaged. But what had just been dug up in the backyard was the reason she had him move
out, the reason they’d eventually cancelled the wedding. She’d lived there only another year before selling. She’d lost track of how many times it had changed hands since then.

  It was only a matter of time before a connection to her was made.

  She opened the front door, stepped inside, and closed it, leaning back against the solid wood as fatigue crushed her like a hammer. Kelsey couldn’t think; she couldn’t plan. It was the proverbial rock and hard place. Her life was over if she turned on her employer, but would her employer help her if suspicion crouched on Kelsey’s doorstep?

  After what seemed an eternity, Kelsey mustered the strength to take the bag of C-4 to the garage. There she unlocked the large gun safe. There was only one gun in the safe; the rest of the shelves were home to a paper trail. Some of what she had here might save her from some trouble, but a lot of it would damn her in more ways than one.

  A question plagued her, something she couldn’t answer at the moment: what was she going to do with all of it?

  CHAPTER

  -66-

  IN SPITE OF KNOWING that there was a big mystery waiting for her in Long Beach, and that Ethan was back and wanted to talk, Abby spent another night in Tehachapi. Things at Barone’s house hadn’t been completely wrapped up the day before, and she, Luke, and Woody weren’t released to go back to their hotel until after midnight anyway. Abby wanted to speak with Molly. So after breakfast and one more meeting with the local cops, their part was finished for the time being and Abby got her chance to reconnect with the girl.

  “I’m okay,” Molly said. She was back on her rolling walker and upbeat in spite of the dark circles under her eyes. Abby guessed she hadn’t gotten much sleep after the disturbing day they’d spent sorting out Barone and all that he’d done. “I hated you for a while. I told my mom you were nothing but a big bully.”