Eye for an Eye (An Owen Day Thriller)

by Rachel Ford

  “We’re not sure,” I said. “We haven’t been able to contact them. That’s why I called you.”

  “Me? Well, they’re not here. I’m in Florida.”

  “I know.”

  “They’re with my brother-in-law. Have you talked to him?”

  “Not recently. We haven’t been able to reach him, either.”

  “Wait, what? They’re camping. Why were you trying to reach them at all?”

  “We had some questions, about the body.”

  Another moment of silence, much longer this time. “The what?”

  “The body that Mr. Day found.”

  “Wait a minute, are you serious? Is this some kind of prank?”

  “A prank? No ma’am.”

  “Are you really a deputy?”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Where did you say you worked?”

  “Sheboygan, Wisconsin.”

  “Wait a minute.”

  “Ma’am?”

  But she didn’t respond, not to me anyway. I heard her talking to someone else in the background, low and quick. “He says he’s with Sheboygan County. No. How would I know how to spell it? That must be it. Yes, try that one.”

  Her and her unknown assistant went back and forth for a moment, comparing the numbers I’d given her with something they’d apparently found on Google.

  Finally, she said, “Jesus. He’s real.” Then, she said it to me. “You’re real, aren’t you? It’s not a prank?”

  “No ma’am.”

  “Jesus.”

  “I take it you were unaware of the discovery, then?”

  “Obviously. What the hell happened?”

  So I ran down a brief description of the report. I avoided mentioning her kids, but she inquired. So I told her the truth. Yes, they were there. Yes, both of them. Yes, they had both seen the body.

  “Jesus,” she said for a third time. “What the hell was Owen thinking?”

  “I don’t think he planned it.”

  “Was that a joke, Deputy?” Her tone was sharp and angry.

  “No, ma’am,” I lied. “I just meant that it was unavoidable.”

  She said nothing.

  “So is it safe to assume you haven’t heard from him?”

  “Not a word.”

  I started to say okay, but I stopped. The guy in the background, the one who had been searching our department information, said something. His voice was low, and I didn’t pick up much.

  But I thought I heard something about voicemail messages.

  “Did he leave any messages?” I prompted.

  “Well, yes, I guess he did. But nothing about a body.”

  “What did he say?”

  “Nothing really. He said they were fine.”

  “That was it? Nothing else?”

  The guy in the background said something low, and she said, “He mentioned calling him back. But he didn’t give a reason. If I’d known, well, of course I would have called him.”

  I agreed that of course she would have. It seemed like the right thing, in the circumstance. Then she wanted to know who left messages like that after they’d seen a dead body. It didn’t make sense, she said. What was he thinking? I said I didn’t know.

  Then, I asked, “Could you forward me those messages?”

  “Forget the messages, Detective: what about my children?”

  So I explained the situation: the campsite with the interrupted lunch, and the vehicle and bikes all accounted for.

  “Maybe they went swimming, or hiking, or something.”

  “We’re hoping so, ma’am. But we need to do our due diligence.”

  “Of course.”

  “So if there’s anything you could tell me about Owen Day – if he knows anyone in the area, if he has any friends or family – or property – nearby, that would be very helpful.”

  “No, not that I know of.”

  “No one who might, for instance, stop by and pick him and the kids up?”

  “No. Owen doesn’t really have any family.”

  “Do you know if they met anyone here? Maybe got to know another family? Got friendly with them? Maybe they could have been invited somewhere.”

  Megan snorted. “Have you met Owen, Detective?”

  “Deputy. And, yes ma’am, I have.”

  “Well, then you should know the answer to your own question. Owen doesn’t do friends. He barely does people at all.”

  “I’m not sure I understand.”

  “He’s antisocial. That’s on his best days.”

  Which made him a curious choice of babysitter and caregiver, I thought. But I kept that to myself. “I see.”

  “So no. I would have a better chance of winning the lottery than Owen would of making the kind of friends who would invite him anywhere.”

  “I see,” I said again.

  “But can’t you just, I don’t know, track his phone or something if he’s not picking up?”

  “Not without a warrant,” I said. Which wasn’t entirely true. There was all kinds of gray area about when we could and couldn’t access location data. The only thing really spelled out in law was that any evidence we gathered against Day would likely be inadmissible without a warrant. But I didn’t anticipate gathering evidence anyway.

  She sighed. “And you’ve tried calling him?”

  “Several times.”

  “I’m going to call him. I’m a hundred percent sure this is a big mix up. So I’m going to give him a call, and get it straightened out. Okay?”

  I told her that, by all means, she was welcome to try. “But first, can you send me those messages Owen left you?”

  “The voicemails?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, I think I deleted them already.”

  This time, the guy in the background’s voice came through clear enough to hear. “They might be under deleted messages, if you haven’t cleared those yet.”

  “Oh,” she said. “One minute, Detective.”

  “Deputy.”

  She vanished for a second time, with the line open. I heard murmurs and broken bits of conversation. Then, she came back. “Okay, I have them back. I’ll forward them to you. Same number as we’re on now?”

  I confirmed that that would work.

  “Okay. But I think it’s going to be a waste of time.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  I was dialing Deputy Wagner’s number when the phone started to vibrate. A name flashed across the screen.

  Incoming call from Megan Welsh.

  I stared at it. Of all the times to call…

  “Who is that?” Joey asked.

  “My sister-in-law.”

  “The kids’ mother?”

  “Yes.”

  “Answer it.”

  “And say what?”

  Jimmy raised the gun, until it was level with my head. Joey said, “Whatever she needs to hear.”

  “And remember: we’re listening,” Jimmy added.

  I said, “No shit, Sherlock.” Then I accepted the call and put it on speaker, leaving him glaring mutely. “Megan,” I said. “What’s up?”

  For a moment, I heard only silence. I wondered if maybe the call had dropped on her end. Then she said, “’What’s up?’ What’s up? Really, Owen?”

  The response took me by surprise. It took Joey and Jimmy and Shannon by surprise too. They exchanged glances, and Jimmy jutted the barrel forward. A warning and reminder nobody needed.

  “Megan, look we’re kind of busy here.”

  “Busy? Are you fucking kidding me?”

  “What’s going on?”

  “I just talked to a cop, Owen. A cop. He’s looking for you. He thinks you went missing. You and the kids.”

  Shit. “What? Of course we’re not missing.”

  “Then he tells me you found some kind of dead body – and you let the kids see it.”

  “I didn’t let them see it. They just…did.”

  “You were watching them.”

  “And th
e body was in the middle of the road.”

  “Jesus Christ,” she said. “Daniel’s already been strange enough since his dad died. You think that’s going to help him?”

  “Megan, I didn’t kill the guy. I didn’t know he was going to be in the middle of the road.”

  Jimmy snorted, like this was funny. Joey made a motion with his hand, a small, tight circle to indicate we should hurry it up.

  “You were watching them,” she said again. “It was your responsibility.”

  I said nothing.

  She said, “And now I’ve got a cop calling me, telling me he’s worried that you’ve all disappeared.”

  “Look, I’m sorry,” I said. “We were in the woods, that’s all. We had no reception. I see now I got a bunch of missed calls from him. But I’ll call him back, okay? So he doesn’t worry.”

  She considered and then sighed. “Fine. How are the kids? Can I talk to them?”

  Shit.

  Jimmy jutted the gun my way again. Joey made a slicing motion with his forefinger across his throat. I thought fast. “They’re okay, all things considered. But – look, maybe I should have said something before, but they’re not happy with how this played out. They don’t want to be here. They want to be with you.”

  “We talked about this already. They would have been bored,” she said.

  “Yeah, well, that’s not how they see it. They’ve been sad and mopey and miserable the whole damned time.”

  “You know, you got a lot of opinions about my parenting for a guy whose doing such a bang-up job the cops think my kids are missing.”

  “You’re right,” I said. “Maybe you should hear it from them instead. I can go get them, if you like.”

  Jimmy looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel. I prayed like hell she didn’t call my bluff – and he didn’t pull the trigger before she backed down.

  She didn’t, and neither did he. She said, “You know what? Don’t bother. We’ll talk when we get back. And you better say your goodbyes by then, because it’s the last time I’m going to make the mistake of trusting them to you. You can bet your ass on that.”

  The line went dead. Joey slow clapped, and Jimmy laughed. Shannon grinned at me. “Jesus. She wears your balls around her neck like a necklace, doesn’t she?”

  “Come on,” Joey said. “A little credit where it’s due. That was a hell of a performance.”

  “Too bad,” Jimmy said. “I haven’t got to shoot anyone today. I was kind of looking forward to him screwing up.”

  They were all enjoying this. I didn’t care. I was just glad to have survived in one piece – glad, and hoping like hell I hadn’t just sabotaged a rescue attempt.

  “Alright,” Joey said, “time for an encore.”

  “Give me a second,” I said. I was thinking about how I could salvage this. If Wagner had figured out that we were missing, Megan’s message would throw him off the scent. I needed to bring him back around. So I pretended to be catching my breath, coming down from some kind of adrenaline high.

  “Can I get a drink of water?”

  “Why not?” Joey said. “The man did well. Least we can do.”

  Shannon took a glass and filled it with tap water. She grinned as she handed it to me. “There you go, champ.”

  They were still having fun. They thought they’d won. Which was okay. Better than okay, really, because it meant they might let their guard down a little. I took a long, shaky sip. Then I set the glass down and nodded. “Okay. I’m ready to call Wagner.”

  * * *

  Deputy Austin Wagner, 1:48 PM

  I called Jade again. She didn’t answer. The call rang through to voicemail. I sat there, staring at my phone – furious at her, and furious at myself.

  She’d told me not to contact her, dammit. Was she really going to be mad at me for doing what she’d asked?

  Then my phone rang. I saw a number I didn’t recognize at first. But it looked familiar. Then, I remembered how. It was the state trooper’s number, the one who had ticketed Aaron Tesch.

  I answered with my name, and he introduced himself in turn. “You mentioned something about a three-person disappearance?”

  I told him the situation in brief: the missing uncle and two missing kids, and the confrontation with Tesch.

  “Tesch,” he said, like he was trying to recall the name.

  I gave him a description, and he made a quick, affirmative noise.

  “Oh yeah. I remember him. Real piece of work. Just got arrested, right? Up by you boys, if memory serves.”

  “That’s right. That’s where he and Day crossed paths.”

  “Ah. And you think he might have had some hand in your missing guy’s situation?”

  “It’s possible. Maybe kidnapped them. Maybe something worse.”

  “So what can I do to help?”

  “Well, do you remember anything that stuck out at the time? Was he agitated? Did the wife or kids seem off?”

  “The guy was an asshole. He said we were harassing him. I guess that was a reference to what went down by you. But other than that? No.”

  “Nothing at all? Nothing from the wife or kids? Nothing funny in the back of the vehicle?”

  “Not really, no. The wife looked a little aggravated when he started going on. Not with me, either. She was sick of putting up with him. That’s how it looked to me, anyway. But other than that…”

  He trailed off, and I prodded, “Yes?”

  “There was one thing, actually.”

  I sat up straight, pencil hovering above my notepad.

  “He said they were going to be late for check-in, at some campground.”

  “Do you remember which one?”

  He thought for several seconds. “Ash something. Ash Mountain, or Ash Lodge, or something like that. I can’t remember, though. But it was up by the Dells.”

  I thanked him and hung up. I had something to work with, finally.

  I put Ash campground Wisconsin Dells in my browser and hit enter. Two seconds later, the screen redrew with a list of results. The top hit was a website advertising White Ash Family Campground and Resort.

  Bingo. I jotted down the front desk number and the address. I’d need to figure out exactly where the campground was, to contact someone in the right Sheriff’s department. The Dells straddle four counties: Sauk, Juneau, Columbia and Adams. Contacting the right department would save me time, and egg on my face.

  I browsed to Google Maps and started to type the address in. My phone rang again. It was Megan Welch.

  I answered. “Mrs. Welch. Deputy Wagner here.”

  “I talked to him,” she said without preamble. “He’s fine.”

  “Really?” I asked. “Did he say why he wasn’t answering?”

  “They were taking a walk.”

  I frowned. A walk didn’t explain the hotdogs or the plates. It didn’t explain not answering my calls. “Did he say why he hadn’t been answering my calls?”

  “Yes. Like I told you: he was in the woods. He didn’t have reception.”

  “Because of the walk?”

  “Exactly.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Did you ask him to call me?”

  “He said he would.”

  “Okay,” I said again. “Thank you for your help, Mrs. Welch. And I’m sorry to have bothered you.”

  “I appreciate you being careful about my kids, and I know you’re just doing your job. But I have to tell you, Detective, that’s a call no mother ever wants to get. I’m pretty sure I’m not going to get a wink of sleep tonight, because of nightmares.”

  I apologized for her theoretical missed future sleep and assured her that wasn’t my intention. She told me I should really think of such things in the future. Then she hung up.

  I stared at the phone. Day had been ignoring my calls since yesterday. He’d been gone from his site since yesterday. There was no way in hell he’d been in the woods that long. Not with two kids. Not unless he was out of his mind.

  I cal
led Jansen.

  “Jansen here,” he said.

  “Where are you?”

  “At the beach. But not for fun reasons.”

  “You haven’t found anything yet, right?”

  “Negative. No sign of him. No one’s seen him since yesterday.”

  “I need you to drive back to the campsite.”

  “Okay. Now?”

  “Yeah. Tell me if he’s back.”

  “Copy that.”

  “Text me, right away. You understand?”

  “Copy,” he said again.

  Then he hung up, and I stared at my phone again. Something was wrong. Something was off. But what?

  Then, the cell rang for a fourth time. The screen read Incoming call from Owen Day.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “Deputy Wagner?” I asked as I heard the line connect.

  “Mr. Day,” he said.

  “I understand you were trying to reach me.”

  “Several times now,” he said.

  “I’m sorry. The kids wanted to go for a bike ride.”

  “A bike ride?”

  “That’s right. And we lost reception somewhere in the woods. I got back to the site, and I had a ton of messages.”

  “You’re at the site now?”

  Jimmy made a face and jabbed the gun in my direction. “Yes,” I lied. “But not for long. We’re heading out as soon as everyone gets into the vehicle. The kids are starving.”

  “I see,” he said.

  I hoped he did. If he’d been to our site, he knew our bikes had never left. But I didn’t know if he’d make that connection. So I added, “I talked to Megan.”

  “I see,” he said again.

  “She told me you were worried we’d been kidnapped or something.”

  “The idea had crossed my mind,” he said. “Especially after everything with Tesch.”

  “I haven’t seen Tesch since you arrested him,” I said. “Or any of his buddies. This has nothing to do with him. Like I say, we were just riding our bikes, took a turn down the amber trail, and I lost all signal.”

  There was no amber trail. But I doubted Joey or his crew knew that, and I needed to get Wagner thinking about kidnapping, and I’d already used the word once. Maybe using amber, as in amber alerts, would get him thinking.

  If nothing else, he’d know something was off the instant he checked a park map and realized there was no amber trail.