by Kaje Harper
“Thanks.” Will poured himself a mug. Casey couldn’t see his face, but the slump of his shoulders was the same one he got up with. He’s not just tired, he’s sad. Maybe I shouldn’t ask him. It was the hundredth time he’d rethought his idea, but Will turned and raised an eyebrow like he knew something was up and said, “What?”
“What what?”
“I know you, Case. You have something to say and you think I won’t like it, and you’re thinking about not saying it, because I’m so feeble and fragile lately. So out with it.”
“You’re not feeble.”
“I’m not fragile either.”
“No.” Casey rubbed a hand over his mouth. “The truck driver finally agreed to make an identification from a photo lineup, in exchange for a plea bargain. He picked out Landon, without hesitation.”
“Damn.” Will dropped into his chair and closed his eyes.
“We knew it was likely.”
“Yeah, but…”
But Will had hoped differently. Casey actually hadn’t, since the trail went damned cold beyond Landon. But then he hadn’t known the man outside of brief glimpses. Will had seen him grow up, at least in scattered moments. “So that’s something. A starting place.”
Will rubbed a hand over his mouth. “Starting? Isn’t it the end of the case?”
“Theoretically. But getting a conviction based on eyewitness testimony bought with a plea bargain? That’s always chancy. There’s plenty of motive, but no physical evidence.”
“You mean Landon could get away with it?”
“Hopefully not. The Iowa City PD is coordinating with us. They should be able to get a warrant to search his bank records, maybe find a withdrawal to match that payment to the trucker.”
“I want to wring his neck.” Will’s voice shifted low and harsh. “I want to smash him in as many bits as Graham and Annmarie were. Beat his head in. How could he? For money! I’d have given him the money, to save them. Damn it!” His hands shook on the coffee mug.
Casey wanted touch Will, but he wasn’t sure if that would be the last straw. He sat quietly as Will’s breathing steadied.
Eventually Will met his eyes. “Do you think he’ll be convicted?”
Casey took a breath. This was the dicey part. “Maybe. I came up with a way to get more evidence.” He paused.
“Why do I get the feeling I won’t like it?”
“Because you know me well.” He finished off his coffee. “I got this idea from what Peterson did to us. Landon thinks he’s got away with murder. I played the investigation pretty close to the chest. We did a hit-and-run inquiry, but it looked like it stalled out. No one said anything about murder, no questions were asked, no one tried to stop his inheritance although the will’s still in probate. As far as he knows, the trucker’s long gone and never knew him by name anyway. He thinks he’s safe.”
“Bastard. I’ll safe him.”
“Mm. I had Deputy Ruiz call him up yesterday and claim to be the trucker. He offered to keep his mouth shut for fifty thousand dollars.”
Will sucked a sharp breath. “Hell, yeah. What happened?”
“Landon’s a cool customer. He knows the trucker can’t turn him in to the cops without incriminating himself. He pretended not to know anything and not to care. It wasn’t a perfect act. You could tell he was shook. But his reaction wasn’t as strong as I’d like for a jury.”
“Damn it.”
“Deputy Ruiz is a smart guy and he thinks on the fly, so when Landon was about to hang up on him, Ruiz said, ‘I bet that other dude who inherited half would be interested. I bet he’d pay me money for the evidence.’”
“Oh.” Will blinked. “What did Landon say?”
“He tried to laugh, but then he started yelling at Ruiz about slander and telling him to watch his back because if he was making trouble for someone, bad things might happen to him.”
“Does that count as a threat?”
“Not quite. Too many ifs. The thing is, I didn’t plan to drag you into this, and Ruiz says he’s sorry, but I might need to ask if you’d work with us.”
“Ask.” Will sounded fierce. “Yes.”
“You’re sure?”
“Certain.”
Casey still hesitated. One of the best things about Will was how honest he was, down to the core. Asking him to lie felt wrong. But Will thumped a fist on the table and said, “Let me help.”
“Okay. Come in to the station with me. We’ll get your permission to be recorded, and then you’ll call Landon, with Ruiz as a witness.” His idea, Ruiz’s case. With only four days till his January 6th retirement, he was doing this fast but by the book. Mostly.
“Call Landon? What’ll I say?”
“We’ll go over it on the drive.”
He thought Will might hesitate, but there was only fierceness in his expression. “Let me get out of my barn clothes.”
***
Will glanced at Rob Ruiz. “Are you sure it’s recording?” He was delaying, but he needed another moment.
The deputy checked something on the laptop in front of him, then nodded. “We’re all set. Do you want to go through it again before you do it for real?”
Will shook his head. He didn’t want to do this at all, except he had to. He’d been eighteen the first time he met Landon, and the kid had been what, maybe ten? Visiting his grandparents’ ranch, a city kid through and through but with something in his eyes that Will had recognized— a little lost, a little lonely. For a while, he’d thought they might connect, but Landon never got to stay for long. I have to know for sure, in my gut, that he’s guilty. Or not. His identification could be one more lie from a hired killer with a drug problem.
Ruiz picked up a pen and poised it over a pad on the table in front of them. “I’ll be right here. I’ll write down suggestions if need be.” He tapped his ear bud. “I’ll hear everything.”
“Okay.” Will took a long, slow breath, glanced over at the mirrored wall where Casey presumably stood behind the one-way glass, and touched Landon’s contact. He raised the phone to his ear. This was going to be anticlimactic if Landon let him go to voicemail, as he usually did.
But Landon came on the line quickly. “Hey, Rice, what’s up?”
Is he too eager? Nervous? Will pinched his own leg to remind himself to settle down. “Hey, Landon, sorry to bother you.” He heard the cowboy twang in his voice reflecting his nerves, and let it thicken. Landon had never thought Will was smart, in any way that counted. That could work for him now. “I got the weirdest call.”
“Like what? Spam? Why’re you telling me about it? I didn’t give anyone your number.”
Definitely nervous. “About you. In a way.”
He let the silence drag until Landon said, “What way? What did he say?”
He. “Look, I know we ain’t never seen eye to eye, but you were on the ranch every year since I’ve been there. You got along good with Graham and Annmarie.”
“Of course. They were my grandparents. Such a tragedy, the way they died. I miss them a lot.”
“You didn’t want anything to happen to them. I can’t believe you did.”
“Of course not! Not for any sum of money. I wish they’d have lived to a hundred.”
So do I, you bastard. He wasn’t sure at what point he’d become convinced, but Landon had never been willing to give him the time of day. This whole conversation was fake. “Well, this dude calls me and says he has proof you had the Slaters killed. Proof, mind you! That he’ll sell me.”
“It’s a lie!”
“O’course it is. I just wanted to warn you. I’ll let you go now.” He paused but didn’t cut the connection.
“No, wait! What exactly did he say? I want to know.”
“Just some weird stuff about how you hired him to run them down. I bet it wasn’t even the hit-and-run driver. Just someone making trouble.”
“Right. Absolutely. Son of a bitch wants to get me in trouble.”
“Although you did get
almost two million dollars…” Will let his voice trail off. “But I don’t believe him. You wouldn’t trade your only family for money.”
“Hell no! I didn’t, I swear.”
“He said he had some kind of recording. He said he’s going to call back.”
“Recording? Of what?”
“Dunno. I’ll block his number. Just wanted you to know.”
“Don’t do that!”
“What? Why not?”
“Um,” Landon mumbled. “I, um, want to figure out who it is. That’s libel, or slander. I could sue him!”
“Don’t you think that’s borrowing trouble? Best to act like we don’t even care.”
“No. I mean, who knows what he might accuse me of next? I need to talk to him.”
Will paused. Beside him, Ruiz scribbled, then turned the page to Will.
Will nodded. “I could conference you in the next time he calls.”
“No!” Landon’s voice cracked emphatically. “If he sees you’re adding me, he’ll disappear.”
“Isn’t that the idea?”
“But then I’ll never know who it is. Can you, um, ask him to meet you? Tell him you’ll buy the evidence.”
Will glanced at Ruiz. Ruiz nodded hard. “I guess.” He squinted at where Ruiz was scribbling dollar signs. Oh. “But he wants money. I’m not paying for some kind of faked up trick.”
“No, of course not. Just pretend you will. Arrange to meet him, then let me know where.”
“That’s awful complicated.”
“Listen, Rice,” Landon said loudly. “You may not care that someone’s accusing me of murdering my own grandparents, but I do. I want to meet this son-of-a-bitch and I need you to set it up.”
“Y’know, Landon, I’m not your servant.” He paused, wondering if he should be more friendly, but Ruiz gave him a thumbs up. “I don’t have to do anything for you. I’m not getting in the middle of some crazy grudge match you and this guy have going. Not my problem.”
“Shit!”
Will waited. If Landon was innocent, he’d be calling Will names and hanging up on him.
Instead Landon said, “You’re right. You don’t need to do anything, but I’d consider it a real favor if you’d set up a meeting. That’s all. I just want a look at him.”
“I dunno. You’re not, like, gonna beat the guy up or something?”
“I swear. The only beating will be done with lawyers.”
And if you believe that, I have some oceanfront in Kansas for you.
“You swear?” Does Landon really think I’m that stupid? Maybe he did. He knew Will hadn’t even graduated high school because Will had told him, years ago, encouraging Landon to get an education before he realized the last thing Landon wanted from him was any kind of mentoring. Landon had always looked down on the ranch hands, like hard work meant no brains.
“Absolutely. Hand to God. It’s got to be one of my buddies trying to mess with me.”
Will glanced at Ruiz, who gave an exaggerated shrug. He said, “I don’t know. I guess I can do that.”
“Thanks! It’s driving me crazy. You tell him to meet you with the evidence and you’ll have the money for him. Then tell me when and where.”
Ruiz scribbled again. Will squinted, then said, “You… don’t think it’s really the guy who ran them off the road, do you? I’m not meeting with a murderer?”
“No! Of course not! It’s someone fucking with me, being an asshole.”
“I guess.”
“Listen, Rice, just set it up. Right? I’ll owe you, big. Or do it for Grandma and Grandpa, so they can rest easy.”
Will gripped the phone until he thought it might crack, breathing through his nose. Don’t you dare try to use them against me, you goatfucking douchecanoe. Channeling his two guys in that insult steadied him. He glanced over where Casey would be standing, on the other side of his own reflection. “You’ll actually show up in my place? Aren’t you in Iowa?”
“Yeah, but it’s just four hours. I can be there. You meet the dude, I’ll hang out nearby, take his picture, sue his ass off.”
“I guess.” He held off, waiting.
“Come on, Rice, you can’t let this bastard get away with a lie like that.”
“Okay. Okay, when I hear from him, I’ll call you.”
“Thanks. I mean it. Grandma and Grandpa always said you were a stand-up guy.”
“Right. Later.” That was as much as he could manage through gritted teeth. He looked at Ruiz who scribbled “hang up.” That was easy to do. The silence on the other end beat Landon’s lying voice all to hell. He set the phone on the table far more gently than he wanted to.
Ruiz tapped his laptop, turned, and gave the mirror a thumbs-up, and a moment later Casey opened the door.
Will didn’t get up. He wasn’t sure his knees could hold him. “He’s guilty. The son of a bitch killed them for two million dollars!”
Casey looked straight at him and nodded. No words. That was one of the good things about Casey— he knew about bad stuff going down and how sometimes there were no words that made it better. Scott would’ve tried to find some. Although, paradoxically, Will suddenly missed Scott. He pushed to his feet slowly, a hand on the table, and found he could stand after all. You just go on. Key to his life.
Casey said to Ruiz, “I could only hear Will’s side of that. What do you think?”
Ruiz rubbed the back of his neck. “It’ll help, definitely, but there’s no admission of guilt in there. We need to go through with the rest.”
“The rest?” Will turned to Ruiz.
“Telling him you have a meet-up set. Lure him down here. Get him to do or say something he can’t explain away.”
Casey stepped close and put a hand low on Will’s back. “You’d just have to do one more phone call. We’ll keep you away from the actual meet.”
Will stepped away and glared at him. “Whatever it takes. I can be there. Hell, I want to. I want see him nailed.” His skin felt slimy and raw. He desperately needed another shower, even though his hair was still damp from the last one.
Ruiz said, “Thanks, Mr. Rice. I’ll let you know what we need next.”
Casey visibly pressed his lips together. Will bet it was killing him not to be in charge. He probably wanted to whisk Will away and wrap him in cotton wool, or maybe a bulletproof spacesuit, or both. Will said, “Yeah, whatever it takes. You need me at that meeting? I’m on board.”
“Hopefully we won’t have to get a civilian close to our suspect,” Ruiz said, “but thank you.”
“I’ll take Will home,” Casey said. “Get your report written and backup copies made. I’ll be in for the late shift briefing.”
“Yes, sir.”
Will brushed past Casey out of the room. Casey was a pace behind him up the hall and past the front desk where Alanis Foster frowned at them but didn’t say anything. He knew her casually, but they hadn’t said a word to each other since Casey came out. He’d always thought she had a bit of a thing for Casey, even though she was ten years older, so maybe she hated him for snagging her man. He couldn’t bring himself to care.
The air outside the station was freezing, but at least it was clean. Hell, manure was cleaner than what he’d just heard. Will took a deep breath. “Let’s go home.”
***
Scott struggled to knot his tie while listening to Will and Casey on speaker phone. Will alternated between angry and sad, and Casey sounded cold and shut off, locked in professional mode. Casey said, “I have to go in less than an hour. The roads are a clusterfuck tonight— thawed this afternoon and now freezing hard. You’re lucky to be in San Jose.”
“No doubt. You drive safe out there.” He wished there was something he could do for his men, but he was almost late for a meeting with his coach and the Leafs GM. He gave the damned tie a sharper tug. “Maybe you should warm each other up before Casey heads out. I suggest blow jobs.”
“Sex doesn’t fix everything,” Casey snapped.
�
�No. But if you don’t unclench your jaw you’re gonna bust some teeth.”
Will said, “And you want me to stick my dick in there?”
Casey laughed, and Scott drank in the sound. “See, Case? You gotta do it, just to reassure him you won’t bite off body parts.” After a silent moment, he said, “At least kiss the man. He had a hell of a day.”
“I could do that.” Casey must’ve held his phone by their mouths, because the kiss sound came across clear.
“That’s better. I wish I could be there. Or at least give directions.”
Will sounded breathless. “I’m up for directions. We have half an hour.”
“Sadly, I have a team meeting. Something big. I’m actually wearing a suit on a day off.”
“Pictures or it didn’t happen,” Will said.
Casey asked, “What’s it about? Your goalie getting injured?”
“Probably. Although Coach already called us together for the ‘Don’t let yourselves get hit by a fucking bicycle while jogging on a fucking bike path, just ’cause we’re in a fucking warmer city’ lecture.” Not like they’d needed it. You wouldn’t think a bicycle could to that much damage, but apparently their goalie’s knee was well and truly wrecked. He’d be out for the season, at least.
“I hope you get someone good,” Will said.
Casey added, “The Marlies first string goalie is decent, but they’re leading their division. Would the Leafs break that up?”
“By calling the goalie up? Sure. That’s what the minors are for. He’s probably sleeping with his phone.” Although he did feel bad for his old team.
“Right. Well, keep in touch. Call us later, maybe?”
“I’ll do that. Be good to each other, and I mean good.”
Will actually chuckled, so Scott hung up without reminding Casey to drive careful on the ice. Not worth making himself feel a micron better by reminding Will that Casey would be at risk soon. Damn it. He wanted to be with his guys tonight, not schmoozing with the team and the GM.
When he reached the hotel conference rooms, he was surprised to see just Nate Goldstein, who centered the second line, pacing the carpet. Nate glanced up as he approached. “Oh, good. I was wondering if I was in the wrong place.”