by Lyn Stone
If he blew up enough people and places who had nothing to do with his former arrest, they couldn’t tie the bombings to him. Of course, he meant to get that judge, above all. And Vanessa, of course. First he had to discredit her and show her up. If it hadn’t been for her, he would still have Brenda and the kid. He wouldn’t have been forced to get rid of his wife and spend four years of his life in that hell hole.
Maybe losing Brenda had worked out for the best, though. Now the Walkers, including Vanessa, had no one to leave everything to except his little girl. He knew from all Brenda had bragged, that her grandfather had a fortune in bonds stashed away for retirement. The old man probably had a fair amount in trust for Delinda’s education, too. James could sure use that.
All he had to do now was set up an alibi and throw suspicion off himself. Not a problem. Vanessa was about to help him do just that.
Vanessa exited the car and skirted left, ready to fire. Hightower smiled at her, his fingers locked behind his head. He continued rocking in her grandfather’s chair. “Hey, Vanessa, what’s up?”
“Down on the ground, James!” she ordered. “Hands behind you.”
He kept rocking. “You and your bud here plan to arrest me, honey?” he taunted. “What for?”
Clay grabbed him and thrust him face first onto the boards of the porch. In seconds, he had him cuffed and was reading him his rights. Hightower offered no resistance at all.
Vanessa rolled her eyes and shook her head, exhaling with relief as she holstered her weapon. “Dammit, James.”
“Hoping I’d run so you could shoot at me again?” he asked with a chuckle. “I haven’t done anything. Just wanted to see my little girl was all. Where is she?”
“A bit late to be showing fatherly solicitude, don’t you think?” she asked, taking one of his arms to help Clay lift him to a standing position.
James hadn’t changed all that much in the last four years. His Indian heritage didn’t show except in the high cheekbones. He was tall, almost as tall as Clay, of a wiry build and handsome, but in a too-slick, creepy kind of way. His dark blond hair had grown longer, its sun-streaked length caught at his nape with a braided leather thong. His lazy grin showed even, white teeth, a nearly perfect smile.
James would be a normal, good looking guy, she thought, if not for his eyes. The color of weak tea, they had no depth, no expression at all, unless he got too angry to hide the evil in them. Then he could be downright scary. Brenda had been terrified of him.
“Solicitude, Vanessa? You always did impress me with your vocabulary. How about the term probable cause, or evidence? Heard of those?”
“Shut up, Hightower,” Clay advised as he searched him. “He’s clean except for this.” Clay tossed Vanessa the small bone-handled pocketknife he had located.
She had hoped there would be something more incriminating in James’s pockets. “What made you think you could waltz in here this morning and snatch Delinda away from my grandfather?”
“Hey, I just went up to the old cabin and while I was there, decided I’d walk on over here and see how the kid turned out. Just wanted to see who she looks like. You’re the one who started shooting. Scared me to death.” He grinned up at her.
“Let’s go and get him locked up,” she muttered to Clay.
James gave a protracted sigh. “Now, Vanessa, what you got on me, huh? Prints? No. Eyewitnesses to place me at your little crime scene? No. But go ahead and make yourself look stupid if you feel that cocky.”
“You ignored the banishment order,” she said. “Officially you are trespassing.”
“I’ll plead guilty to that,” he agreed, nodding enthusiastically. He glanced at Clay. “Tell her what will happen then, Tonto.” He squinted in the twilight. “By the way, do I know you?”
Clay smiled. “Not yet, but if they do turn you loose, we’re destined to become very well acquainted.”
Hightower twisted to look at Vanessa as she walked behind them. “Ooh, this one scares me bad, Van. Where’d you find him?”
She didn’t answer, merely opened the hatch of her vehicle and helped Clay stuff James in the back. “Cuff his ankles to his wrists,” Clay ordered. “Let’s get this hog to market.”
Vanessa didn’t miss the worried look Clay wore because hers probably mirrored it exactly. Hightower was right about the charges. When they took him in, they would have the devil of a time holding him for long with only circumstantial evidence that he was involved in the bombing.
He would argue that Lisa Yellowhorse could have planted what she’d said she had found in her trash. There was nothing but Vanessa’s own gut feeling, James’s former military training in explosives and a probable motive for revenge that could link him in any way to the bombing at the casino. And she couldn’t prove he had fired at her in the woods by the creek yesterday. She still had to justify firing her own weapon. He had been armed, but it was her word against his that he had been.
Her gaze locked with Clay’s as they got into the car to take James back to town. “What do you think?”
Clay glanced at the back of the vehicle where James lay, obviously listening. “Well, at least we’ll know where he is for a while.”
There was that. But why had he shown up here, virtually turning himself in to them? Judging by the sly looks and verbal taunts, he had something already in the works, something he thought they had no chance of stopping. Or had he come to her grandparents’ house in hopes of catching the older couple alone with Dilly?
“Better have EOD step up that search,” Clay advised, “and have a look in some less obvious places.”
Vanessa nodded as she drove down the mountain with their prime suspect. Clay had come to the same conclusions she had. The suspect was entirely too willing. Something was set up.
When the authorities had held James for as long as they could for merely trespassing, they would have to release him. In the meantime, half of Cherokee County could get blasted off the map and he would be home free with nothing to tie him to it.
“I wonder what he’s got up his sleeve,” she muttered.
Clay gave her a look that advised silence on the subject until they knew for certain Hightower couldn’t hear them.
Could she keep her people safe from this monster? She had not been able to save her cousin, and as hard as Vanessa had tried to get justice for her, James had only received what amounted to a slap on the wrist for Brenda’s murder. Four measly years. Now he must think that with a little more prior planning, he could get away with anything.
Questioning Hightower proved futile. Clay silently approved Vanessa’s decision to cut short the interrogation and use the time lo try to discover what he had been up to. They left him in custody and went over to the city hall where a sort of command post had been set up in one of the small conference rooms.
There, Vanessa arranged for several canine teams to report an and deployed them to the homes and businesses of everyone involved in Hightower’s arrest and trial. She got search warrants granted for every place she could think of that he might have stayed since his release.
She was getting cooperation on all fronts, but no one seemed lo view the investigation with the urgency that she did. High-lower was playing the role of repentant ex-con who only wanted a little peace in his life. No one paid him much attention.
Clay added help on another avenue. “My people at Sextant are looking at anyone he might have connected with in prison, all visitors, and also reviewing the records of all outside calls he made or received while he was behind bars.”
“Thanks,” Vanessa said, offering him a weary smile. “I just wish we knew exactly what he plans. That smirk of his tells me he’s got it lined up, whatever it is.” She glanced up at the wall clock, wondering how much time they had to foil disaster. It was nearly 3:00 a.m.
“Let’s go,” Clay told her as he pushed out of his chair. They were still at the command center where they’d been going over all the search data and adding their reports. “You’re dea
d on your feet and there’s nothing else you can do until something’s found or they can’t hold him any longer.”
With a final look at the county map with all its flagged pins denoting possible targets to search, she rose, too. “You drive?” She tossed him her key ring.
He deftly caught it and opened the door for her, ushering her through with a palm at her back. His touch warmed her, a brief spot of comfort in a dark and dreary night. She could do with more contact like that, she thought with a sad smile. Wasn’t likely to happen though, and that was probably for the best.
She didn’t like to lean on people and he obviously didn’t like to be leaned on. They were partners on this op, but she wouldn’t be pulling her weight if he had to hold her hand.
If he had any further suggestions, he would offer them. If he saw her making a misstep with running the investigation, he would be the first to set her straight. That, in itself, reassured her. He was giving her all the assistance anyone could ask for in a situation like this. But a genuine hug sure would be welcome.
Vanessa slept in the car on the way up the mountain to the cabin. Slightly disoriented, she woke when the engine cut off.
“Wait in the car,” he ordered. “I’ll have a look around before we go in.”
“I’ll come with you.” If James had set a charge here, he’d had plenty of time to do it before they’d arrived to find him sitting on the porch. The search teams had begun already, but this place was farther out of town than most of the others.
Clay went one way around the outside of the cabin and Vanessa took the other. The heavy beams of the powerful flashlights they carried lit up the night in streaks as they searched high and low. When they met at the back porch, she was satisfied that James hadn’t gone crazy enough to wire the cabin, then wait for them to show up and take him in. Finding C-4 or dynamite here when he had such recent access wouldn’t exactly qualify as circumstantial evidence.
“All clear,” she said. “Back door key’s the odd-shaped one.” She watched him unlock with her keys and flip on the light switch. The bright yellow of her grandmother’s kitchen flooded her senses with badly needed comfort. Home. It smelled of chocolate-chip cookies and coffee.
“Hungry?” she asked, washing her hands in the sink. “I’m suddenly famished. We never did get around to eating. Let me see what we’ve got.”
She pulled a casserole out of the refrigerator and stuck it in the microwave. “Lasagna,” she told him, and with a wiggle of her eyebrows, punched the heat-up button.
Clay laughed. “Real Native American fare.”
Vanessa found paper plates and peeled two off the stack while he opened the cutlery drawer.
They were almost finished when she remembered. “Oops, I forgot to feed Billy. Want to come with me?”
He nodded and Vanessa thought she noted a look of anticipation on his usually stoic features. Come to think of it, that expression of stoicism had become fairly rare when they were alone together. It did her heart good to know he felt comfortable enough with her now to let some of his feelings show. Anticipation…worry…lust. She almost laughed at herself for being foolish enough to think about his wanting her. Even though it was true and she knew he did, that wouldn’t mean squat when it came to doing anything about it. He had already stated his views on that and they couldn’t be clearer. No more kisses and no sex.
She only wished she didn’t know he was attracted, or that the lust was not one-sided. Realizing his difficulty with abstinence made it a little harder for her to handle.
But she could be friends with him and ignore the sparks if he could.
They walked out to the fence. She carried the bottle she’d made up for Billy, and Clay shone the flashlight to light their way. The bear lumbered up, rising on his hind legs for the treat. “There you go, you greedy ol’ teddy.”
“What about the cats in the barn?” Clay asked.
Vanessa smiled. “The kitties are too young to do anything but nurse and the mama cat is an excellent hunter. She mostly feeds herself.”
“Any other mouths to feed?”
She collected the bottle Billy dropped at her feet. “No, that’s it. Guess we’d better turn in.”
He raised his hand and brushed back the strands of her hair that had worked free. “You are so���”
“Scatterbrained,” she interrupted, drawing away from his touch and starting back down the path to the house. “I should get more organized now that I need to look after things around here. Poor old Billy!”
Clay grasped her hand and halted her in her tracks. “Vanessa, I don’t know if we can ignore this.” He slid his arms around her and drew her close.
She knew he was going to kiss her. Lord, what temptation! If she allowed it, she knew what would happen next. Either Billy Bear would get the facts-of-life show right there on the path, or she and Clay would be racing one another for the nearest bed. She’d bet on the path thing.
With every ounce of willpower she possessed, she pushed Clay away from her. “I should act coy and say I have no idea what you mean, but I do,” she admitted, taking another step back, hoping to lessen the temptation. “You’ll hate yourself in the morning.”
He shrugged, planted his hands on his jean-clad hips and lowered his head. “Right,” he muttered. “I know you’re right. It’s just that���”
Vanessa broke in again. “Keep it up and you’re gonna talk me right into something, Clay. We need some sleep. Neither one of us is thinking straight. Let it be for now, okay?”
He nodded, shining the light back on the path and gesturing for her to precede him.
“You know I’m right,” she argued, feeling the need to justify her rejection of him and maybe explain to her unruly body why it couldn’t have what it definitely craved.
Suddenly the sky lit up in the distance and what sounded like a sonic boom reverberated the air a half second later. Vanessa halted immediately and grabbed Clay’s arm to steady herself. “Oh, God! Somewhere in town! Let’s go!”
Clay kept an eye on Vanessa as he surveyed the damage to the strip mall that had housed several souvenir shops and an art gallery, now smoking rubble.
“Definitely not a gas leak,” Officer Mike Haygood said as he ambled over and joined Clay in the littered parking lot. “All electric here. No mains nearby.”
Merchandise littered the area. Clay crouched to pick up a small doll in a white leather-fringed costume. Dirty, but otherwise undamaged, the brown plastic features stared back at him. He tilted it so that the eyes blinked.
Had Vanessa played with one like this as a little girl? He had seen a bow-and-arrow set stapled to a cardboard target lying nearby. That would have been more her speed, he thought. She had to be frantic with this happening in her hometown. You’d never have known it to look at her though.
“Well, Hightower’s got a solid alibi since he’s sitting in jail,” Haygood said.
“If there’s anything left of a timing mechanism, he doesn’t,” Clay said.
“Van could be wrong about him.”
Clay didn’t think so and he didn’t believe Haygood thought so either. “You know anyone else we should be looking at?”
“Not offhand,” the cop admitted. “Just playing devil’s advocate.”
Vanessa joined them. She looked pointedly at the doll Clay was holding. “I’m surprised anything survived intact.”
He handed the toy to her. “Want to go play good cop/bad cop with Hightower?”
“Only if I get to be bad cop,” she replied, casting a frustrated look at the destruction around them. “He’s responsible. I know he is.” She looked at Haygood and must have recognized his doubts. “Mike, you like him for this, too, right?”
“I’m trying to keep an open mind about it, but in the long run it doesn’t matter what I think, does it?” He nodded to Clay, then went about his business.
“Longtime pal of yours or yet another cousin?” Clay asked.
She grinned. “Friend. Asked me to marr
y him once.”
Clay carefully concealed the spurt of jealousy that ripped through him. “Only once?” he asked, forcing a smile. “Gave up pretty easily, didn’t he?”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, third graders don’t set a very high priority on hooking up permanently. He forgot to check back with me after recess.”
“Third grade, huh? No second thoughts about your refusal?”
“Oh, you bet.” She nodded. “Several times in high school after he went from scrawny bookworm to hunky halfback, but he was already in love with someone else.”
Clay thought he had detected an undercurrent of jealousy in Haygood. Maybe it was just a proprietary attitude because the man had grown up with her. Clay didn’t know exactly how these things worked. He hadn’t formed any attachments like that during his school years. Always the outsider, even now.
He held open the door of Vanessa’s vehicle for her and watched her get in. Then he closed it and leaned against it, his face close to hers. “I’m glad you told him no.”
She peered up at him, her beautiful dark eyes promising closeness even as she warned him away from it. “Don’t say things like that. It makes me want to do things you and I have no business doing.”
Clay backed off. He went around the car and got in, determined to rein in the need she stoked to fever pitch.
Why did he keep giving in to it when he knew better? Maybe it was that little touch of vulnerability hidden within her obvious capability. And how could she look so incredibly hot when approaching exhaustion, totally devoid of makeup and wearing clothes that made her look like someone’s little brother?
“My mouth gets ahead of my brain whenever I’m around you,” he grumbled as he slammed the car door and locked his seat belt with a little more force than was necessary.
“As confessions go,” she said with a heavy sigh, “I could have done without that one. Let’s get on with what we have to do, okay?”