Lonesome Lake

by Lesley Appleton-Jones

  She jumped up and snapped, “Why don’t you take it easy with that gun, you jerk.”

  A flashlight clicked on and hit her right in the eyes. “Abbey?” Scotty sounded shocked.

  “Get that damn light out of my eyes,” she snarled.

  He complied by holding it downwards. “What are you doing here? Jesus! I could have killed you.”

  She noticed he’d lowered his gun but hadn’t holstered it. She glared at him. “That wouldn’t surprise me one little bit.”

  “What does that mean?” He sounded dumbfounded.

  “You know exactly what I mean.”

  There was a pause as he mulled it over. “Have you kids been drinking?”

  “No. We haven’t been drinking. And before you do anything to us, people know we’re here.”

  “Yeah. I’m sure you told Cal that you planned to come over and break into my place.” The light flickered over to Jesse. “Who are you? Did you talk her into doing this?”

  “Don’t answer that,” Abbey instructed. “We’re not telling you anything until you tell us what you’ve been up to in there.” She motioned to the shed with a nod of her head.

  “You’re the one with all the explaining to do. Wait a minute. Tell me you haven’t been breaking into places around here?”

  “I haven’t broken in anywhere,” Abbey snapped, feeling the heat of outrage at his accusation.

  “The plastic ripped off the RV’s back window contradicts that statement.”

  She thought about the invoice with Mrs. Milbourne’s name on it tucked safely in her pocket. Happiness filled her. She finally had the evidence to free her father. She wanted to gloat and tell Pepper what she had found, but she resisted. He could overpower them and take it. No way was she going to risk that. She kept her mouth shut.

  He shined the light back on her face. “What were you doing in the RV?”

  She held up a hand to shield her eyes. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

  “Now’s not the time,” Jesse warned her.

  She glanced over at him. He stood staring at Scotty Pepper as if the guy was a psycho.

  “You’d be smart to listen to your friend,” Pepper told her. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you’re in a pile of trouble, and you’re only digging yourself deeper.”

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Robert Beaupré struck Holly on the side of the head with a gym bag, using enough force to knock her down. As she started to fall, she managed to hang on to Beaupré’s arm, twisting it to steady herself. He screamed and let the heavy bag sail off into the night.

  Dazed, she moved her feet shoulder-width apart and positioned her lower body into her shooting stance for stability. As she did this, she used her free hand to grasp the collar of his shirt and shove him back inside the house.

  Moaning, Beaupré stumbled into the kitchen. She pushed him over to the dining table, kicked out a chair and shoved him down on it. He cradled his arm to his chest.

  That’s when Holly noticed blood had started to seep through the bandage. Her stomach churned, and she gave silent thanks that she’d been wearing gloves. Touching people whom she suspected were involved in nefarious activities without her gloves on was just about at the top of her major-things-to-avoid-in-life list. Like most cops she knew, she invested in top-quality gloves to protect her from anything nasty, and she encountered plenty of nasty things on the job. Beaupré’s arm qualified. She knew that as soon as the night was over, her new gloves would end up in the trash. She just wished she could bill him for a new pair.

  Raines ran in, saw Beaupré nursing his injured arm and raised an eyebrow at Holly.

  Although her head pounded as if she’d just gone twelve rounds with Muhammad Ali, she grinned. “Watch him while I go find what he hit me with.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Just peachy,” she said as she walked back out the door.

  It didn’t take her long to find it. The black gym bag had been too heavy to travel far. She retrieved it and plunked it down on the table beside Beaupré. He was still nursing his arm and moaning. His face had an unhealthy pallor to it.

  Holly unzipped the leather bag. “Let’s see what goodies you packed for your trip, shall we?”

  Raines leaned against the counter and scowled down at Beaupré.

  Beaupré swallowed and looked away.

  Holly tilted the gym bag toward Raines, showing him wads of money and plastic bags filled with pink, teddy-bear tablets that looked like Valentine sugar candy.

  Raines whistled. “That amount of ecstasy and cash could set you up with a real estate business on a sun-drenched island in the Caribbean, Bob.”

  He shifted in his seat. “I’ve never seen it before. You guys are setting me up.”

  Holly tut-tutted. “How about that burn on your arm?”

  “I got it burning leaves.”

  Raines snarled, “Cut the bullshit.”

  Beaupré’s eyes darted from Holly to Raines. With lizard-like swiftness, his tongue licked and re-licked his cracked lips. “Let me explain…”

  Raines growled, “Shut up and listen. We know what you did to Gabby and why. Your extracurricular activities aren’t a secret. We know you use your clients’ homes to sell drugs.” Raines placed his hands on top of the table and leaned down to look at Beaupré. “You’re going down for that. What we’re interested in is the homicide.”

  “Homicide? Are you nuts? Nothing happened to Swinford. I made sure no one was home. The fire didn’t work anyway.”

  “I’m not talking about Gabby. I’m referring to Mimi Milbourne.”

  Beaupré’s vocal chords tightened with anxiety. He squeaked, “I had nothing to do with that.” His forehead glistened with greasy sweat, and wet stains spread out like oil slicks from the armpits of his French blue shirt. Even worse, the clump of chest hair peeking out the top of his shirt resembled a damp tarantula.

  Holly’s skin crawled. If any further physical contact was required, Raines could do the touching.

  Raines leaned even closer to Beaupré, getting right into his face. “You used Mimi Milbourne’s house for one of your drug buys, didn’t you? It went bad. She caught you in the act, so you killed her and burned down the house to destroy evidence.”

  Surprise, followed by fear, flashed across his face. “I swear I never used her place. I was with someone all Friday night.”

  “We need a name and address.”

  “He’ll kill me if he learns I ratted him out,” he whined.

  “Life is full of tough choices,” Raines said without a hint of sympathy. “I’ll make it easy. You can go down for arson and homicide.”

  Beaupré was quiet for a moment. “Okay. But all I have is a burner phone number. His name is Jin Chueng. He’s from Boston. He manages the shipments.”

  Holly just loved the euphemisms scumbags like Beaupré came up with for drug dealing. He disgusted her. “Time to take a ride, Bobby.” Holly turned to Raines and asked, “Do you want to do the honors?”

  “What and burst your good-time balloon? He’s all yours and Miranda’s.”

  Holly chuckled at that last comment and was in the process of reading Beaupré his rights when Raines’ phone rang. He answered and paled.

  Holly frowned. “What is it? What’s happened?”

  “It’s Abbey. Scotty has her.”

  “Take the Jeep.” She tossed him the keys. “I’ll call Angel.”

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Scotty stared at Abbey, his expression unreadable in the dark. He stood with his feet apart and his weight evenly distributed, but there was something unbalanced about him, something off-kilter, she observed. He’d marched them into the RV at gunpoint and had looked around. When he found nothing out of place, he’d forced them back outside.

  Finally, she heard the rumble of an engine and watched as headlights turned into the driveway. Spotting Holly’s Jeep, Abbey groaned. Luckily, only her uncle got out.

  “What the hell happened?” he demand
ed.

  Abbey ran to him. “It’s him,” she yelled, pulling the invoice from her pocket. “He killed Mrs. Milbourne. And here’s the proof.”

  It was tough to judge who was more shocked—her uncle or Scotty—but they both stared at her as if she’d turned into a pumpkin right before their eyes.

  “Abbey?” He sounded concerned and slipped an arm around her shoulders.

  She wriggled out from under it and held up the document in front of his face. “I found this. An invoice addressed to Mrs. Milbourne. He knew her, and he knew my mom. He killed both of them.”

  Scotty Pepper grunted as if she’d hit him in the stomach.

  She continued, “Think about it, Uncle Cal. Since he’s been back in town, there have been two murders.”

  “Scotty didn’t kill your mother, Abbey. They ruled him out with good reason.”

  “I know the reasons they came up with, but he would have had time to kill her if he ran back to the party instead of walking back as he claimed. Plus, no one actually saw him walk Mom home. He said he walked her home, but he could have lied. He could have driven. That would have given him even more time, and it would have given him a place to hide his bloody clothes.” Her voice grew louder as she rushed to lay out her evidence and prove him guilty. “And I’ve been reading about PTSD. He could have snapped that night. Gone over the edge.”

  “Abbey…”

  “No, Uncle Cal. Don’t say anything, just listen to me. He has a place in the woods back there that’s all set up for his next victim. He’s a psycho weirdo, and I know he killed Mom! This invoice proves it.”

  In the beam from the Jeep’s lights, she saw her uncle’s sad expression.

  “That’s enough, honey.” Although exhausted, he remained patient.

  She held up the invoice. “Just look at this.”

  He took it but didn’t read it. “We already know Scotty worked for Mrs. Milbourne. He’s been helping us with the investigation.”

  She felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. “What? What are you talking about? He has to be a suspect if he knew her. You’re just pretending he’s helping you until you get some evidence.”

  “I’m not going to discuss the investigation with you. We need to go home, and we need to get Jesse home, too. You guys are lucky you weren’t hurt.”

  “He did it, Uncle Cal.”

  He said nothing for a moment, and she waited impatiently for him to see the truth.

  “If he did, why would he call me when he found you here? Wouldn’t he have killed you both to cover it up?”

  “No. I told him people knew we were here. He’s not stupid. What about that hut in the woods? Go check it out. It’s weird. Creepy weird.” She turned to face Scotty. “And you’re creepy.”

  Clearly uncomfortable, Scotty stuck his hands in his pockets and hunched his shoulders.

  The men glanced at each other. Then Scotty turned and walked toward the shed.

  “Wait here,” Raines told the kids.

  ◆◆◆

  As Raines followed Scotty through the bushes, they didn’t speak. The shed was set back in the trees about fifteen feet from the driveway.

  Scotty pulled out a key ring and unlocked the padlock, which Raines noticed was new. Whatever was stored in the shed, it was important to him.

  Pushing open the door, they found a flashlight that was on. It had rolled against the wall and illuminated the interior. Inside, there was a sleeping bag, food and a gun. It was cramped with barely enough space for a man to lie down. Even standing outside looking in, it felt claustrophobic. Abbey was right. There was something unsettling about this shed in the woods.

  Raines peered into the tiny room that could pass for a stripped down prison cell. Scotty had changed since high school. Life had whittled and honed him into a lethal weapon. He’d always been wild and crazy, but there had been a boisterous vitality about him, something inherently good and playful that had been infectious to those who hung out with him. That zest was gone. Emotionally, he was unrecognizable. Had they been wrong about him? Raines wondered. Could he have killed Sherry and Mimi?

  Scotty gestured for Raines to enter the room. When Raines didn’t move, Scotty gave him a puzzled look before sizing up the situation. Raines didn’t want Scotty behind him. The urge to tell Raines to get lost was written all over his face, but he shrugged and entered.

  He bent down, picked up the flashlight and handed it to Raines, who had followed him into the hut. “Abbey dropped this.”

  Raines took it and surveyed the room. Two open bar holders were screwed into the wall either side of the door. A metal bar wider than the door had been propped up against the wall. Raines realized that it was a crude but effective barricade system. One designed to keep people out of the shed rather than keeping someone locked up. You had to be inside the shed to use it.

  He glanced over to Scotty, who rubbed at the scar on his neck. “Trouble sleeping some nights,” he muttered.

  “And the padlock on the outside?”

  “Have to keep the gun secure when I’m not here.”

  Raines nodded, understanding that this shed had everything to do with what happened to a person in war and nothing to do with the current events at home. Scotty had difficulty sleeping in his house and felt safer out here hidden in the woods, barricaded in a windowless room with only one entry point. He suspected this is where Scotty had been the night they knocked on his front door, and he’d materialized from the woods.

  Raines knew the suicide rate was high for vets. He didn’t want to invade Scotty’s privacy more than they had already, but he had to ask. “You okay, Pep?”

  “Just take the kid home.”

  “I’m sorry about this. Abbey’s been through a lot.”

  “I get it, Raines.”

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  Tuesday morning, Skeeter Parrish found Melody Raines sitting in the back of art class, staring out of the window. She hadn’t seemed to notice that the bell had rung and kids were filing out of the room. Sadness hovered about her with the gloominess of a low-hanging rain cloud, and her bony shoulders were hunched about her like bat wings. She also had a serious case of bed hair that stuck out all over the place.

  He hesitated. Should he tell Mel what was going on? Was she going to freak out? Rumors were floating around school that she was one step away from the nuthouse. He should leave her in peace, but no one else could help him.

  Once the room was empty, Skeeter hesitated a few seconds more before deciding. He shuffled over to her, making noise so he didn’t startle her. Even so, it took her a few moments to realize that he was there. When she did, she looked up at him with dark, troubled eyes set deep in a face that was so vampire white Skeeter wanted to order a blood transfusion ASAP. He checked out her drawing. It was a black crow eating a carcass of indeterminable origins. The bird had blood on its beak. Skeeter’s skin crawled.

  She frowned. “Skeet?”

  Even though they’d had little interaction in recent years, she used his childhood nickname. As kids, they’d played together, but that ended with the inevitable awkwardness of the teenage years. “Hey, Mel. Can I ask a favor?”

  She shrugged and started putting her colored pencils in a tin box.

  “I need you to tell your uncle something for me.”

  “Oh, yeah?”

  He heard the suspicion. He supposed there were a lot of people trying to get favors from Cal Raines. “Something happened last night, but before I tell you what it is, I need you to try and get a deal for us.”

  “A deal?” She sounded even more suspicious.

  “That’s right. Me, Jimmy Turner and Nicky Logan did something last night.”

  “Skeet! You know those guys are trouble.”

  “They’re not that bad.”

  “Yeah, right,” she muttered and folded her skinny arms across her flat chest.

  “Okay, Mel. Let’s not split hairs. This is serious.”

  “What did you do?”

&n
bsp; At the expression on her face, he almost changed his mind. He knew she was going to be majorly disappointed in him. He’d disappointed himself, but he had to tell her. “Jimmy knew about a vacation cabin where we could party.”

  “Tell me you didn’t break in.”

  His guilty expression must have given him away because she sighed and said, “Oh, Skeet.”

  All he could do was give her a rueful grin.

  She said nothing for a couple of seconds. “Where was it?”

  “A house in the Alpine Village.”

  “Oh, Skeet!” she said again, freakishly imitating his mother.

  “It was my first time, Mel. I swear. We shouldn’t have done it, but we did.”

  “What happened?”

  “There was someone in the basement when we got there.”

  “The owners?”

  “No. Someone else. Jimmy went down to investigate and got whacked over the head really hard. It knocked him out for a few minutes. Whoever hit him escaped through the slider.”

  Her eyes were round. “Is Jimmy in the hospital?”

  Skeeter shook his head. “He wouldn’t go. He was worried about getting into trouble. It wasn’t the first time they’d broken into a place, but I swear it was my first time. Me and Nicky helped him home. At first, Jimmy was real confused, but he was making sense by the time we got to his place. Man, was he lucky. He had a lump the size of an egg on top of his head and complained he had a massive headache, but that was it.

  “Anyways, tell your uncle the house is on Edelweiss. Jimmy said the people who own it are called the Allens. Here, I drew him a map on how to get to their place.” He handed her a folded piece of notepaper. “They need to search the house. There wasn’t any smell of gasoline or sign of a fire, but whoever was there was up to something. Tell your uncle the heat was on, and it was warm. He’d been there a while.”

  She stuttered. “You… you think this is somehow related to the woman who was murdered, don’t you?”

  He hadn’t thought she could grow any paler, but she had. He could tell by the look of fear in her eyes that she was probably thinking about her mother. “I’m not sure, but yeah, it could be.”