Desolation Point

by Lisa Phillips

  Franz was on the run—probably split when he’d seen the FBI agent show up. He would likely grab a stash of personal belongings and cash, and then he’d be in the wind. They couldn’t let that happen.

  Laney sniffed. “He has an office.” She lifted both hands and pointed west. “At the other end of the neighborhood. It’s a trailer.”

  Drew glanced at Mark. He was staring at Laney with an interesting expression on his face. “Mark.”

  His friend blinked, then looked at him.

  “Both of these people need to be in custody.”

  Ellie said, “Pending a list of serious charges.” She looked about as happy as he felt.

  Drew pushed out a breath. “You got this?”

  Mark nodded. “Go get that other guy. I’ll call this in.”

  “State police?” Ellie asked him.

  Mark nodded. “I have them on their way. They’re completely up to speed on what’s happening. At least, they were before we came into this house.”

  Ellie said, “Okay. Good.” Then she turned to him. “Let’s go get Franz.”

  “You’re coming with me?”

  She said, “Are you going?”

  He nodded. Of course he was. There was no way he’d let a murderer get away. Who knew what Franz could tell him about his father’s death? The man might be a criminal and was probably a liar along with it, but Drew wanted the chance to find out anything he could.

  “Then yes, I’m coming.” Ellie lifted her chin. “You think I’m going to let you do it alone?”

  Drew said, “No, ma’am.”

  Mark coughed to cover his laugh. Drew didn’t much care. He pulled the second gun from his belt and handed it to her. At the back door, he said, “Ellie.” Just loud enough to get her attention.

  She turned to him.

  Drew leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

  She touched both sides of his face, awkward with a gun in one hand. Then she tugged his head down and kissed him far more thoroughly than he’d kissed her. When she was done, he lifted his head, a smile playing on his lips.

  She said, “You, too.”

  And then they went to find Franz.

  Together.

  Chapter 20

  The patio stopped around eight feet from the back door. Beyond that was nothing but dirt.

  “We could head around front. Get the truck,” Drew said. “Drive over there.”

  She shook her head and headed out. “He’ll hear us coming.”

  “Barb didn’t.”

  Did he have an answer for everything? They’d been enjoying a very nice—but also distracting—kiss just a moment ago. Now they were at odds again.

  “This way.” He motioned to the dirt ahead of him, angling west.

  She was just looking for the road on the other side of this hill. Still, she followed him. Then she saw it. Footprints in the dirt. “He came this way?”

  “I saw him run.”

  “You didn’t go after him?” She realized how that sounded the second the words left her lips. “Never mind. I’d have done the rescue part first as well.”

  “Good,” he said, over his shoulder to where she followed him. “Because I was worried for a second you’d have left me there.”

  “You’re a big strong guy, you’d have been able to handle it.”

  “So could you,” he said. “And I know that because you did. You got yourself and your father through it, long enough for me to show up with Mark.”

  Her father. Seeing Drew, her relief had been so all encompassing that she had forgotten for a second her father was back in that room. “I’m still praying he comes out of this still in one piece.”

  “They hurt him?”

  She didn’t have an answer. “I just hope he’s okay when Mark gets him back to the hospital.”

  Drew hit a concrete sidewalk and pushed himself onward with a groan. Like his jog wanted to be a sprint, but he just couldn’t make his body move any faster. He led the way to the far end of the deserted neighborhood where the office was. The pace was punishing. The only way she knew he felt it as well was because of the heavy breaths he heaved out each time.

  Ellie was about ready to collapse. But the idea they could be seconds away from bringing down a murderer injected energy into muscle and sinew. She prayed for the strength to go beyond her considerable limits right now. God could gift her with energy and focus.

  She needed it desperately.

  She needed Him.

  And yet, for years she’d pushed God away. She’d refused to let Him come in, afraid that comfort would mean weakness. She’d preferred to shut herself off from any feelings, good or bad. Loss was something she would carry with her for the rest of her life. But hopefully she could share that with Drew, and a renewed relationship with her Heavenly Father. A relationship full of rich blessings.

  She prayed that Drew was the beginning of a lifetime of blessings.

  “There!”

  She saw it as well. The trailer that housed the office for this neighborhood under construction. The light inside was on, and the front door was open. “He’s in there.”

  Energy surged through her. They were so close to finishing this she could almost taste it.

  Drew slowed. He held out his arm, and she allowed him to sweep her to one side. It wouldn’t go well if they alerted Franz to the fact they were outside. They angled to the right of the door.

  Inside she heard something hit the floor and smash. A computer monitor maybe? Did he know breaking it didn’t destroy the hard drive? Unless it was one of those built-in computers.

  She looked at Drew and saw his teeth set hard, the muscle in his jaw tense enough it stood out.

  Liquid spilled, and the sound continued. A pour of whatever it was out onto the floor. The furniture. She smelled it. “Gasoline.”

  He had to have grabbed it from some generator, or other equipment. A contractor’s extra stash for when his motor ran out.

  And now he was using it to burn down the office.

  Drew said, “You take the back. Make sure you grab him if he comes out. I’ll watch the front.”

  The pouring stopped. He wasn’t going to go in but wait for Alan to come out.

  She nodded, then raced around to the rear door around back. She watched the windows and saw when the flicker of flames began. Heard the whoosh as gasoline caught fire, ignited to burn. Consuming everything.

  Did Alan Franz plan to die inside?

  She shifted her weight, ready to move whichever direction was necessary. Held her gun loose in front of her. Ready to shoot at—

  The back door flung open, and Alan Franz stumbled out, coughing. Smoke poured out along with him. Not a firebug, he seemed surprised and…kind of charred.

  “Hands!”

  He started.

  “Put them up, Franz. You’re under arrest!”

  His face twisted into a grimace.

  “Down on the ground. On your knees.”

  She saw him hesitate, but she had him. He lowered to kneel on the dirt. She kept her attention on the whole scene. Everything around her, and not just the man and the fire and herself. Drew had been surprised when that man hit him at the bowling alley. She wasn’t going to allow the same thing to happen to her.

  “Drew!” She called for him, then said to Franz, “Interlock your fingers behind your head.” When her partner rounded the single-wide office, she said, “I need cover.”

  He nodded. “On it.” He kept his gun aimed at Alan.

  She stowed her weapon in the holster on her hip and walked around Drew, careful not to move between his gun and the bank manager. She pulled a zip tie from her partner’s back pocket and used it to secure Alan’s hands. “I need some of these. They’re pretty handy.” She hauled Alan to his feet.

  “Alan Franz, you have the right to remain silent.” The rest of the Miranda rights rolled off her tongue.

  Alan started to shake his head before she’d even finished outlining
his rights as she had explained them to him. “No one’s going to point a finger at me. You have nothing.”

  “Yeah,” she said, sighing. “Except for the fact we witnessed you shoot Simon Mills. Aside from that, nothing. Right, Drew?”

  His lips twitched.

  Alan shifted, turning his shoulders to get a look at her face.

  She wasn’t that interested in any kind of explanation. Or excuse. “Let’s go.”

  They set off, back toward the house where he’d held her hostage. “Laney was the one who said you wanted me to sign over my father’s property. To sell it to you. Before you killed me. You think I’m going to believe that was all some kind of lie?”

  “It’s true.” Alan didn’t seem quite so scary now that he was in her custody. She’d seen him shoot someone, but he wasn’t going to hurt anyone else. Not now.

  He continued, “I was forced to do it. You don’t know what he’s like. We’re all under his thumb.”

  Drew put out a hand, forcing them both to stop. He moved so his face was close to Alan’s. “Are you saying someone else is in charge of this little group of yours?”

  Alan shifted. To be fair, he seemed a little nervous.

  Drew said, “You’re scared.”

  Alan nodded, a jerky movement.

  “You just burned down that trailer to save your own skin,” Ellie said. “And now we’re supposed to believe you’re being forced to do all this?” She’d seen absolutely no sign so far that he was taking orders from someone else. “Why don’t you tell us who it is?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “I’ll be dead before I’m booked into the county jail. I’m not saying anything.”

  . . .

  Ellie had seen her father off in an ambulance, promising she would be there as soon as she wrapped up this scene. Drew was glad for that. He was feeling selfish, not wanting to let her out of his sight. Even to see her father? His emotions were all over the place.

  He was completely exhausted, but he also wanted to scoop her up in his arms, pile her in a car and take her somewhere quiet where they could eat something and get some rest. Maybe watch a movie neither of them cared about and fall asleep at opposite ends of a couch.

  All of which was ridiculous, considering they hadn’t established any kind of relationship.

  Yet.

  “Dude.”

  He spun to face his friend, jarred from his thoughts. “Don’t call me that.”

  “You weren’t responding to anything else. Are you asleep on your feet?”

  “Probably.”

  “And your knee?” Mark asked.

  “If I sit down, I doubt I’ll be able to get up again.”

  “What? You won’t?” Ellie closed the rest of the distance between them, breaking off the conversation she’d been having with two officers of the state police. “I thought you were doing all right.”

  Drew wasn’t going to lie to her.

  Mark rocked back on his heels, a smile on his face. “The stoic hero wishes to plead the fifth on the subject of how badly he hurts right now.”

  Drew could have punched his friend. Thankfully, though, Ellie laughed. Then she clapped her hands over her mouth. “Sorry. That’s not funny.”

  Drew shook his head. “It’s not not funny.”

  “Yeah.” She sobered. “Like Alan telling us there’s someone else at the head of the class.”

  He nodded. They had Laney, Deputy Coughlan, and Alan all in custody. Surely one of the three could tell them who was in charge. If there even was someone in charge.

  “You think he was telling the truth?” Mark asked the question, half turned to observe the state police vehicles where they’d stashed the three separately so they couldn’t talk to each other.

  Drew wasn’t sure. But he didn’t have the chance to say anything because the state police captain strode over, his hand out. “Drew Turner. It’s good to meet you. Heard a lot.”

  “You too, Captain…?”

  “Peakes.” He motioned to Mark. “Your friend here keeps us apprised on your uh…activities for the bureau.”

  Drew grinned. So he was the subject of stories Mark told to his cop buddies. He folded his arms and glanced aside at his friend. “Is that right?”

  Mark shook his head. “We need to talk to all three, and we have to do it simultaneously. We need answers now. There isn’t time to play them off against each other.”

  Ellie, who’d been glancing curiously between them all with a seriously cute look on her face, said, “We can convince them that if they’re the first to talk, they’ll get the lightest consequences.”

  Captain Peakes said, “What’s your read on them, Deputy Maxwell? Which do you think will be the easiest to get talking?”

  One was her colleague. One was the bank manager and a murderer.

  The other was supposed to be her best friend.

  Ellie said, “Laney.”

  He’d known that was what she would say before she even said it. Ellie was going to put aside her hurt and do her job, just like she had been doing for years. But it worked. He knew she felt, and did so deeply. Though he figured she didn’t want to admit to that.

  “I’ll go with you.”

  She turned to him. Drew said, “Mark can take the deputy, pressure him as a federal agent. The captain and his people can take Alan Franz. That leaves us with Laney.” He saw the question on her face, and answered it. This wasn’t about him babysitting her or thinking she couldn’t do her job. “I can’t question anyone. I’m not a cop, so I don’t have that authority.”

  This wasn’t about him taking over. It was about him supporting her.

  “Okay.” Agreement, but it was all professional. Nothing more.

  The others agreed, so he and Ellie went to the vehicle where Laney sat looking out the window at them.

  They both rounded the car. Ellie got in the back while Drew got in the driver’s seat.

  “Don’t bother.” Laney’s voice was quiet, and sad.

  “Too bad,” Ellie said. “You don’t have a choice now. Like you’re not going to have a choice when they convict you and send you to jail. How long that sentence is will be entirely up to you, and what you say in this car right now.”

  Drew turned to see Laney frown. He’d pulled out his phone and was recording the conversation, so they could admit it as evidence of her cooperation—or her guilt.

  “What are you talking about?” She glanced between them, her gaze not quite landing on her best friend. Like it was too painful to face Ellie. Drew understood that. She was worried she’d ruined the trust between them, and to be honest she had.

  Would they be able to repair it?

  Drew said, “When we were talking to Alan Franz, he mentioned someone else. He told us that person is the one pulling all the strings. That they are the one in charge, and he was just following orders.”

  Laney’s lips thinned.

  Ellie said, “Do you know who that person is, Lane?” Did she know she’d dropped the “y” in her friend’s name like that? The way two people who cared about each other would do. The way her father had called her “El.”

  Laney looked out the window again. “Is that what they’re asking them?”

  Ellie said, “Yes. And if you’re first to cooperate, that’s going to look good with the judge.”

  “Are you going to visit me in jail?”

  “If that’s what you want.”

  Laney turned back from the window. “I do. I want us to work our way back to friendship.”

  “That’s gonna take some time,” Ellie said. “But I want to try.”

  Drew swelled with pride. This woman’s strengths knew uncharted depths, so deep he wondered if even she was aware of how far down it went. That she could draw on it like this, not with ease but with the strength of her resolve.

  She looked like she was about to cry, so Drew broke off his gaze. He didn’t want to trigger that well of emotion she was fighting to keep in check.

  Later there woul
d be plenty of time for her to cry on his shoulder. To take her to her father, so she could cry on his. Drew wanted dinners. Coffee dates. He wanted her to come on an assignment with him over a few days of vacation, just because he knew how much her strengths would mean to his work. And he was pretty sure he could persuade Mark that it was a good idea.

  Or he would give up the work that took him out of town. Stay local and take pictures for a living.

  “Alan Franz did a lot because he wanted to, but there was someone giving orders.”

  When she didn’t say more, Drew said, “Who?”

  Laney sucked in a breath, then said, “Mayor Porter.” She lifted her gaze to meet his and said, “He’s the one who killed your father.”

  Chapter 21

  The hallway was dark except for a security light at the far end. His door open, slightly ajar. Not enough to see the man inside.

  She unsnapped the strap that secured her gun in its holster. Ellie left it where it was, her thumb in the pocket of her jeans so it was close enough. But she’d still look casual.

  Was she really going to do this?

  Everything that had happened the past few days was because she’d sought out a man. The first time, she’d gone to Drew for help. Professional assistance from someone she’d thought was a private investigator. Now she knew he was far more than that.

  Her favorite artist.

  A federal contractor.

  There was so much to him that she had no doubt she’d be discovering new sides for years to come. Ellie was very much looking forward to it.

  She prayed as she approached the door. Her body had been pushed to the limit, and this wasn’t done. It would be soon, but right now she needed to be at her best. Focused. Her reactions on point. If he had a weapon, Ellie might be forced to make that split second decision no cop wanted to make. Fatigue could cost her the future she wanted with Drew.

  Ellie listened for any sound from the inside of the office. Then she toed the door open.

  He sat at his desk, the light from the desk lamp a yellow glow that illuminated his face but left swaths of dark shadows that twisted his features.

  “Mr. Mayor.”