Too Many Suspects

by E B Corbin

  The man handed her the slip with a wad of crumpled dollar bills. Roxy rang it up in no time and handed him his change. “Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you again.”

  They shuffled out as Roxy turned to the lone remaining man at the counter. “Can I refill your coffee?”

  “Uh, no thanks, I’m done.” The man glanced around the diner, empty except for the corner booth and the one next to it. He glanced at the check next to his plate, pulled out a ten dollar bill and threw it on top before he twirled the stool and stepped toward the door. He saluted Roxy. “Keep the change.”

  Roxanne admired her mother’s efficiency—no wasted motions—as well as her ease with the customers. They probably had no clue that Roxy had hustled them out in order to empty the diner and ascertain what was going on.

  She glanced toward the corner. Leonard and Sophie sat in the round booth with an attractive woman sandwiched between them. Her warm brown skin showed tinges of gray. They leaned against each other for support, as if a two-ton truck had just rolled over them. All three had red-rimmed eyes.

  Callahan sat at one end of the booth and Pete at the other, providing anchors for the heartsick three huddled in the center. Every now and then a whimper came from the woman in the middle as she rocked back and forth. Sophie sniffled, looking ten years older than the last time Roxanne had seen her at Chester’s farm.

  Roxy rushed to them. Conor joined Tiffany and Ron in the adjacent booth. Roxanne stood frozen in the middle of the aisle uncertain what to do.

  Pete slid out of the booth to allow Roxy to slip in next to Sophie. She took Sophie’s hand and studied her face. “What is it? What happened?”

  Tears filled Sophie’s eyes, but she blinked them back. “Our babies. They took our babies!”

  “Who took them?” Roxy glanced at Callahan for more detail.

  Callahan shrugged and ran his hands over his face. “We don’t know for certain, but it looks like Seamus and Pearse.”

  “What the hell? Why would they do that?”

  “Leonard got a note demanding five million dollars, the exact amount the IRA was looking for and Tamara noticed a navy van on the road this morning when she dropped the kids at the school bus stop. Too many coincidences.”

  The woman next to Sophie started sobbing. “I never thought…”

  While Leonard and Sophie tried to comfort her, Roxy’s face hardened. “Dammit!” She withdrew her hand from Sophie’s and pounded on the table. “Those bastards will pay for this and all the trouble they’ve caused. I’ll make sure of it.”

  “Now, Roxy…” Callahan started but she waved him off.

  Roxanne assumed Tamara was Leonard’s wife. She longed to tell them how sorry she was but felt too awkward to join in. The fact was she scarcely knew Sophie and, except for the times she put her foot in her mouth, had very little interaction with Leonard. She’d never met Tamara. Still, their grief permeated the air around the diner and she wished there was something she could do.

  Leonard’s words came out broken and halting. “Len Jr. is big for his age… and strong. I can’t see him willingly going with them… and Sasha… hell, she’s probably scared to death.”

  “If they hurt our babies…” Sophie’s words were cut off by a loud keening from Tamara.

  Leonard grabbed his wife’s hand and squeezed. “She blames herself because she was the last one to see them.”

  “I should have paid attention to that van!” she cried. “Why was it sitting by the side of the road near the school bus stop? I never gave it a second thought.”

  “It’s not your fault, Tamara,” Callahan said. “You had no way of knowing what was going to happen.”

  She looked down at her clenched hands, clearly not listening to Callahan’s assurance.

  “It’ll take an all-out effort to find those two assholes.” Pete stood and signaled to the others to gather round an empty table. “We need all of you on this for as long as it takes. Are you willing?”

  Nods went around the table. Tiffany spoke for all of them. “Whatever you need us to do.”

  Pete looked at Callahan. “We’ll split up into pairs and search this entire county. They can’t be too far away. Does that sound good to you?”

  “Do we have a time limit?” Conor asked.

  “They said twenty-four hours,” Callahan answered as he gave Leonard’s hand a pat and joined the others standing at the edge of the corner booth. “The demand was left on the counter around four o’clock as near as we can tell. No one saw who put it there or when, so we’re just guessing at the time. That leaves us twenty-one hours to find them.”

  “Why didn’t we jump on this right away?” Tiffany asked. “We’ve wasted time sitting around here.”

  “Leonard didn’t read the message right away. It came in a plain white envelope and he assumed it was a note from one of the diners. He gets them from time to time, either praising his culinary ability or complaining about it. He waited until he had a break in orders to open it,” Pete said. “Of course they said not to call the police so he contacted Callahan.”

  “I got here as soon as I could and warned Pete to leave the marked SUV at the station. I doubt they’re watching the diner, but no sense in taking the chance,” Callahan said.

  “This is fucked up,” Roxy said. “Leonard and his kids have nothing to do with the missing money. We need to put an end to this.”

  “We need to find the kids first,” Roxanne said.

  “Yes, of course.” Roxy vibrated with anger. “Those no-good lousy…”

  Callahan cut off her rant. “We’ll cover every inch of the county, starting in town and working our way out.” When Pete nodded his agreement, Callahan continued. “Tiff and Ron in one car can start heading south. Roxy and Conor go north. I’ll take Roxanne with me to the east and Pete and Bud will cover the west. I talked to Sam. They won’t get back from Pittsburgh for a couple of hours. She and her new assistant, Henry, will join us as soon as they can.”

  “Who’s Henry?” Tiffany said.

  “Don’t ask,” Callahan told her with a grimace.

  “He’s Vicki Samuels’ brother,” Roxanne supplied. “He’s a former Navy SEAL and sniper.”

  “Did you say sniper?” Roxy’s voice rose in disbelief.

  “He’s not the one who’s been after me,” Roxanne said. “Besides, Sam trusts his abilities enough to hire him as her bodyguard.”

  Roxy opened her mouth to take issue, but Pete spoke first. “Listen up, people. We can’t wait for Sam to get here. We’ve got to start right now. I know it’ll be difficult in the dark, but keep your eyes peeled. The most obvious locations will be abandoned cabins and empty buildings. There are at least six old factories in the area. We’ll start there.”

  As Roxy was familiar with the district, she gave directions to the factories and assigned teams to them.

  Leonard slid out of the booth and stepped into the circle of law enforcers. “I’m joining the search. Tamara and my mom will go back to the house and the diner can open up again.”

  Pete hesitated, glancing at Callahan. When the DSS agent gave a slight nod, the sheriff said, “Okay. You come with me for now. Tomorrow we might want to change the plan.”

  Snukie came barreling out of the kitchen with steaming mugs on a tray. She stopped dead when she saw them preparing to leave. “Oh, I just made some chamomile tea. Thought Mizz Tamara and Sophie could use some.”

  “Good idea,” Roxy took the tray from her. “Just close up early after Sophie and Tamara finish their tea.”

  “I’ll do that. Sorry, I gave Stacy the night off thinking Leonard and I could handle it before all this came up.” Snukie looked at Roxanne. “I should have cleared it with you.”

  Surprised by Snukie’s deference to her as the boss, Roxanne paused before answering. “You’re in charge around here. I trust your judgement.”
>
  “Everybody have their assignments?” Pete asked. After murmurs of assent and head nods, he said, “Okay, then. Let’s check out the factories and if anybody thinks of other possibilities in town, check them too. Keep alert as long as you can. If nothing turns up tonight, we’ll meet back here in the morning. How does eight o’clock sound?”

  They all agreed and reached for their coats. Roxy stopped at the counter where Snukie sat alone. “You’re doing a great job.”

  Snukie raised her head and smiled. “Thanks. Sometimes I don’t feel like it.”

  “These are unusual circumstances. None of it’s your fault and you’ve handled it well.”

  Roxanne felt Snukie watch them as they filed out through the swinging doors to the kitchen. She should say something to reassure the waitress but nothing came to mind. Doubts about her abilities as a proprietor emerged again. This time, though, she stopped them from taking over. She hesitated, then gave Snukie what she hoped was an encouraging thumbs-up and rushed to catch Callahan.

  Their assignment included two shuttered factories east of town. As they pulled out of the parking lot, Roxanne glanced over and asked, “Do you know where we’re going?”

  Callahan nodded. “Yeah. As a teenager I worked in the shoe factory.”

  “Really? I wouldn’t have thought you had to work.”

  “Didn’t have to but it was easier than arguing with Gramps. Chester always claimed no good ever came from idle hands. By the time my brother, Paul, was old enough to work, the factory had shut down and he just ran wild all summer.”

  They drove down Second Avenue in silence. The streetlights cast a dull glow onto the black-crusted snow piles pushed to the side of the road. Roxanne saw lights gleaming from Vicki’s second-floor apartment and wondered what the redhead thought about her brother working for Sam.

  She couldn’t ask Vicki at the moment, but she could ask Callahan, although she already knew what he would say. “So, Sam hired Henry as a bodyguard. What do you think about that?”

  Callahan kept his eyes on the road. “It’s her life, her decision. I hope she hasn’t made a mistake.”

  “I think Henry’s the perfect choice. His SEAL training will come in handy if her father’s lackeys come after her.”

  “Why would they do that?”

  She told him about Sam’s father putting a price on the head of whoever had moved his ill-gotten gains.

  He nodded when she finished. “I can understand how she’d feel better with someone to have her back. Just don’t see why it has to be Henry.”

  “Because he’s capable, has the training and knowledge and he needs a job.”

  “I thought all he wanted was his father’s money.”

  “They reached an understanding on that, too. Everyone is satisfied.”

  “After he held you and his sister at gunpoint?” Callahan didn’t bother to hide his skepticism.

  “He felt bad about that.”

  “And that’s enough for you to forget about it?”

  She straightened in her seat. “Maybe not forget it but at least to overlook it.”

  “Humph,” he snorted.

  “I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree about Henry,” she said, echoing his earlier words to her.

  Callahan didn’t answer as he slowed and put on his turn signal.

  When they crossed the bridge that led out of town, she noted the frozen water below. The memory felt like a long-forgotten nightmare. “Isn’t that the same river my car slid into?”

  “It’s a creek,” he stated.

  “So you say. Looks like a river to me.”

  He gave into the banter and smiled as they drove further into the night.

  - 23 -

  Despite an almost full moon, the snaking two-lane road gave Roxanne the jitters. She didn’t like the darkness, didn’t like the void created by the way trees encroached on the asphalt from both sides, and above all, didn’t care for the shifting shadows as clouds passed over the moon. Her muscles tightened with each passing mile. She hoped they reached the factories soon. Even though Oilville was small, its streetlights signified civilization and safety to a city girl.

  It made no sense. Streetlights didn’t guarantee protection from harm any more than the tall trees in the forest spelled “danger”. She was safe in a vehicle with Callahan. But Roxanne couldn’t shake the tension no matter how hard she tried to rationalize it away.

  Snowbanks glittered in the moonlight, giving the world outside an eerie glow. Some might say it was peaceful and beautiful. To her, it was frightening and ominous.

  Callahan picked up on her anxiety. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” She paused for a moment. “I’m worried about those two kids. They must be terrified.” She hoped he accepted her explanation because she didn’t want to have to tell him she was afraid of the dark.

  “I’m sure they are, but you didn’t start shallow breathing until we left town. Are you afraid the bogeyman’s waiting in the woods?”

  Because his remark cut so close to the truth, she huffed her irritation. “Of course not!”

  “I think you’re scared of the big bad wolf.” His lopsided grin spread across his face as he alternated between watching the road and observing her reaction.

  “That’s ridiculous.” In an effort to change the subject, she pointed to a clearing ahead. “Is that what we’re looking for?”

  “It’s one of them.” Callahan slowed the SUV, halting to get an unobstructed view down the side of the building. Chain-link fencing surrounded a tan cement structure. Roxanne could barely make out the weathered signage: “Thompson’s Shoes”.

  “Doesn’t look like anyone’s been around here for some time. No tracks in the snow and the gate’s closed.”

  “We need to check around back,” Callahan said. “If you were a kidnapper, would you walk in the front and leave noticeable tracks?”

  “No, I suppose not.” She had no desire to traipse through the foot-high snow surrounding the building. “You go check it out, I’ll wait here.”

  He laughed. “Nice try. I’m not leaving you alone.”

  “I’ll be fine. I promise I won’t go anywhere.”

  Callahan flicked a switch for the four-wheel drive to engage. “I don’t feel like hiking through cold, wet snow up to my knees, either. We’ll drive around.”

  “We’ll get stuck,” she protested.

  He pulled off the road, up close to the fence. “That’s what four-wheel drive is for. Keep your eyes peeled for any sign of broken links or a disturbance in the snow.”

  “Slow down then,” Roxanne said. “I can’t see shit if we’re barreling past.”

  “Can’t go too slow or we’ll get stuck.”

  She gave him a disgusted look. “Didn’t I just say that?”

  Callahan ignored her remark and maintained steady pressure on the gas pedal. “Keep your eyes on the snow. I’ll cover the fence.”

  “You need to watch where we’re going,” she said. “Damned if I want to end up plowing into a big rock or going into a gulley.”

  He eased ahead carefully, giving them time to check the area surrounding the factory. When they reached the end of one side, he began to inch around the corner.

  “Wait. Wait!” Roxanne cried.

  He slammed on the brakes, skating the car sideways. “Did you see something?”

  “What? No, I just don’t think we should drive through this back area. The land slopes away and we could end up wrapped around a tree. Or stuck back here where no one will find us until spring.”

  He straightened the SUV and started forward. “I guarantee that won’t happen. But if it does, we’ll just have to share body heat to stay warm until they come looking for us.”

  His words did nothing to reassure her although she liked the thought of snuggling. She glanced at
him out of the corner of her eye, forgetting to watch for tracks behind the fence.

  “Keep watching for signs.” His voice cracked and he cleared his throat before continuing. “I’m sorry things got so messed up that we haven’t had any time for us.”

  “So am I.” Roxanne undid her seatbelt and swiveled to peer out the window on his side. She rested her hand on his shoulder to keep her balance as they bumped through the snow.

  They made it to the other side without any mishaps, not even once did the tires on the SUV spin. Roxanne kept her eyes trained on the ground, until they reached the blacktop again. She finally relaxed. “Well, no one’s been here since the snow started. When was that? Six years ago?”

  “Not quite.” His voice held a smile.

  “Feels like forever.” She slid back into the passenger seat and buckled her seatbelt.

  As the car idled, he reached for her hand, brought it to his lips. “We have some catching up to do.”

  Warmth spread to her belly. She knew how she felt the first time she set eyes on him, knew how hard she’d been fighting the attraction. But what drew him to her? She had to ask. “Why me?”

  He studied her face before he answered. “Because you’re beautiful, intelligent and fearless. And I like your attitude.”

  “Oh?” Try as she might, she could think of no salty comeback. She slumped in her seat and mumbled, “I like you, too.”

  He put the car in gear and started down the road. “Well, I’m glad. I’d hate for this to be a one-sided affair.”

  “You have women falling all over you,” she said, as Tiffany’s flawless image came to mind. “You could have your pick.”

  “And I picked you.”

  Roxanne remembered what his sister Pam told her about his fiancée and the way he shut down after her death but she had no desire to bring it up. Why ruin a perfect moment?

  Callahan did it for her. “I was engaged once.”

  Before she had a chance to react, he went on, “She died. I couldn’t save her.”

  She thought of the attack in Benghazi and how devastated he must have been when the woman he loved perished in the fire.