“But how would they know?”
“It depends on who knows what you said you saw. It depends on which of them are involved. And if you want the God’s honest truth, I got fired from the investigative job today. My boss told me to call it off.”
“But you’re not?”
“Of course not. My radar went off big-time. I’m wondering if someone at the Seattle center is involved, either my direct boss or one of his superiors.”
“God, Buck!” A shiver ran through her. “What are you going to do? How can you protect yourself?”
“I’m not so worried about me. I can take care of myself. What worries me is my boss knows about
you
. I told him I was stopping the investigation, that I was staying in town because I met a woman and I’m finishing my vacation.”
She didn’t know whether to be flattered. Then she decided he was probably still using her for cover, which hurt. “So, okay, I’m your cover for staying here. How does that help anything, especially if you
don’t
stop investigating?”
“It means I can keep my eyes on you twenty-four-seven. And at this point I don’t care if they’re shipping cocaine in those containers, what I’m not going to stand for is something happening to
you.
”
Another shiver passed through her. All this time she’d been dismissing the threat to herself as unlikely. Minor. Remote. But after tonight, after all of it, from Jim to the other driver, to Hasty and to Buck, she couldn’t play mental games anymore. Denial would serve her no longer.
Almost as if he sensed the change in her, Buck left his chair and came to sit beside her on the bed. He wrapped his arm tightly around her shoulders and drew her close to his side.
“I’m sorry. It seemed like a bright idea when it started. I’d pretend to date you and nobody would wonder why I was here. I never guessed they’d zero in on you this way.”
“Honestly,” she said, her voice trembling, “neither did I.”
“I
did
feel concern for you.” He spoke quietly. “You were certainly in my thoughts when I made the decision to come back here and stay. You’d seen something potentially dangerous, but I thought we could deflect it. I thought if you didn’t mention it, and nobody at the restaurant who heard what you saw was involved, it might go away. I wanted to be sure it went away. I couldn’t just leave you hanging out here on your own with nobody knowing you might be in danger.”
“I appreciate that,” she whispered.
“Really? Somehow it’s become worse. Either because someone at the restaurant is involved, or because they mentioned what you saw to someone who is involved. Or maybe because of one of my bosses. I don’t know. I just know the threat level seems to have gone through the roof. They’re focusing in on you.”
“How do you know they’re not using me to get at you? In terms of threat, you must be a bigger one than I am.”
“That depends on how much they know about me and whether they believe I’m following orders to drop it.”
She turned her face to him. Her heart had climbed into her throat. “But Buck, I don’t know anything. Not really. What could I know that would make me a threat to anyone?”
“That crates were transferred. That you might be able to identify the driver of the box truck, that you might be able to identify the truck itself. The problem is, no matter what you say, they don’t know how much you
know.
”
“How much does your boss know that I know?”
“That you saw the transfer. I haven’t told him anything else. I’d been busy working other angles until he pulled me off.”
He sighed and gave her a squeeze. “I’m getting rusty. I feel like I should have seen this coming, that they might focus on you this way.”
“But you were already worried about me!”
“I was.” He turned his head and his warm breath touched her forehead just before he dropped a kiss there. “I was worried, but not to the degree I am now. I knew there was a potential threat, but I figured the longer you remained silent about what you saw, the more likely the threat was to dry up. Something is keeping it alive.”
He paused. “Me, obviously. My brilliant plan for using you for cover backfired. Someone knew that wasn’t what was going on. Someone knew and told these guys too much.”
Her voice barely reached a whisper. Her mouth had turned dry with a crawling sensation of fear. “Your boss.”
“Or someone he talked to up the chain.”
“So what now?”
“I have to think. Last night I did some major trespassing.”
“Oh, God, Buck, someone could have shot you!”
“I’m still here,” he said with a shrug. “Point is, there might be a crate in the Liston barn. I can’t be sure because it’s under a tarp, but it’s the right size and shape. As for the Bertram place, all I saw was angry alpacas. Claire’s been complaining about them?”
“Not alpacas per se, but about the expense of buying them. Murdock has some idea of breeding a line with really fine wool.”
“So he’s not buying just any old alpacas.”
“Evidently not. He’s trying to build a championship herd. It’s costing a fortune, and according to Claire it might not pay a return for years yet. She’s erupted about it once or twice. Fifteen thousand for one animal.”
“That’s hefty.”
“Very.”
“So Murdock might need money at least as much as the Listons. Maybe more, depending on whether he went into debt to buy his alpacas.”
Haley’s fists had clenched, and she could feel her palms had grown damp. But even as some serious fear battered at her, she realized she was feeling a spark of anger, too. “Dang it, Buck, I don’t get this. Why do people do stuff like this for money? Why should Ray be dead over money?”
“If I really understood that, I’d probably be one of the bad guys.”
The answer left her without a comeback and with a lot of gloomy thoughts.
He sighed and rose, leaving her feeling bereft as he took his arm away. He walked over to the window, standing to one side as he looked across the highway.
“Look,” he said quietly. “We don’t have to understand why some people will kill over money. It’s been my experience that money, especially a lot of money, can make people do things awful things, desperate things.”
“Why?” Considering the people she’d known all her life who might be involved in this, she needed some kind of answers. Any kind.
“Because people who are motivated by money lose their consciences. Hell, Haley, studies have shown it doesn’t even take
much
money to affect our basic compassion and kindness.”
“That’s ugly.”
“I agree. But still true. So while you’re sitting here trying to figure out your neighbors, just remember, some of them may still not be such bad people. Doing something illegal doesn’t necessarily equate to being evil.”
That was a different way to look at it. It eased her heart a bit, although not her fear. Okay, so maybe she hadn’t really misjudged all the people she knew.
“The thing is,” Buck continued, “we don’t know
who
the evil party is. Who was responsible for the decision to kill Ray, who carried it out. So until then, we’re going to have to assume everyone is evil.”
“Great.” Her stomach sank. “And here I was feeling just a bit better. So who are we making assumptions about? Claire, Jim, the Listons, maybe Murdock Bertram, the unknown driver, your boss or one of
his
bosses.”
“At the least,” he agreed, soothing her not at all.
“There could be others?”
“Of course.”
She flopped back on the bed, staring up into the dark. “And you used to do this kind of investigating for a living?”
“Yeah.”
“My heart goes out to you. I’m going crazy trying to think this through.”
“It always feels that way until you know you’ve picked up the right thread.”
“Who’s your money on right now?”
“Jim,” he said. “And Claire.”
At that she popped up. “Jim I could believe, but Claire? Over some alpacas? Murdock has always been reasonably well-off.”
“But maybe not well-off enough for Claire. Maybe the alpacas have tightened the budget too much.”
“You have an ugly way of thinking,” she said bluntly.
“I know. Blame my training.”
It didn’t make her feel one whit better.
* * *
“Don’t you dare lay a finger on that girl’s head, or any other part of her for that matter,” a man’s voice said over the phone.
“She might know more than she’s letting on. A lot more.”
“She doesn’t know a damn thing. I talked to her tonight, and I’m telling you, she doesn’t know squat. If people would just stop asking her questions, she’d forget it.”
“What if she suspects something?”
“What good is a suspicion? Not a damn thing. And the damn questions are probably exactly what’s making her suspicious. I don’t know what you’re up to, I don’t want to know, but I’ve been turning a blind eye for months now, and if you want me to keep on being blind, you leave that girl alone.”
“And what about that guy she’s dating? He used to be an MP.”
“Screw it,” said the first man. “You got more to be scared of from the county cops if they find out something happened to Ray that wasn’t
accidental,
if you get my meaning.”
“You threatening me?”
“With what? I’m saying I don’t know what’s going on, I don’t want to know what’s going on, I never have. But if Ray died for some
reason,
the local sheriff ain’t gonna overlook it. You gettin’ it?”
Silence. Then, “I’m getting it.”
The line disconnected.
Jim Liston hung up the phone and turned to find his mother watching him from hollowed eyes. “You said there wouldn’t be any trouble, Jimmy.”
“There won’t be.”
“There already has been. My Ray is dead. Are you next?”
He crossed the kitchen and wrapped her in a tight hug. “No, Ma, no. I just have a little business to finish with, then it’ll be done.” He held her frail body close and stroked her gray hair gently. “It’s going to be okay,” he promised. “You’ll see.”
But deep inside he was beginning to wonder. He didn’t even want to think about how he’d gotten into this mess, or about what it had cost his brother. All because of a woman with a wandering eye. All because of one man who had gotten him over a barrel.
He closed his eyes, thinking. Okay, so the Devlin guy had been called off. That left the girl.
Despite what he’d just been told, he was worried about how much she might have seen.
And so was Bertram.
Chapter 11
T
he first gray light of dawn was breaking. Haley had fallen asleep, much to her own surprise, while Buck kept watch. She awoke to the sounds of him murmuring on the phone.
“I’m sending Haley home by herself. Keep an eye out? Thanks.”
Haley shoved herself upright, realizing that at some point Buck must have spread the comforter over her. “Sorry I fell asleep.”
“I’m glad you did. This only needs one set of eyes.”
He crossed to sit beside her and hugged her tight, giving her a kiss that tingled all the way to her toes. “I’m sending you home before enough people wake up to notice. Then I’m hanging out here until I can ditch the rental car. I should be over there in a few hours.”
“Are you sure you should leave yourself without wheels?”
“If my boss or whoever talked, I need to get rid of the car. Make it look like I’m following orders. Nobody will worry about me if my only transport is something as big as that truck cab.”
Half-awake though she was, she followed his reasoning. It
would
look best. “Who were you talking to?”
“Gage. I want him to keep an eye on you until you’re safely home. After last night, I’m not taking any chances.”
She smothered a yawn and leaned against his shoulder, taking advantage of the moment. “Okay. But I still don’t think Jim would hurt me.”
“Maybe not. But I don’t think Jim is the only one involved. He might just be one of the peons, following his own orders.”
He was right. God, she hated this whole situation! If she could change anything, it would be to get this whole mess out of her hair and find out if Buck was spending time with her because he wanted to, or because he felt he had to.
Being painfully honest about it, though, she knew the only reason they had come together outside the truck stop was because of this mess. Otherwise he might always have been that handsome driver she’d noticed but never got to know.
“Come on,” he said. “Before too many people start stirring around town, you’ve got to get home.”
She couldn’t argue with that. She hated to leave him, though, and wondered if she was always going to feel somehow cheated by him or by life. Because since he’d brought all this stuff into her days, she’d been feeling more alive than she had in a long time. And that sense of being alive came from being around him. He heightened her senses, made her feel like a woman. It was as if he wakened her from ages of numbing grief.
Concealed in the comforter, she made her way back to her car. Buck stepped out and kept an eye on her until she was driving away from the motel, with the comforter on the seat beside her.
Back at home, she pulled into her parking place and climbed out. The first sliver of sun had begun to peek over the horizon, and turned the world rosy. She hurriedly slipped inside, hoping it was still too early for any of her neighbors to be looking out the window...although she had a second thought about that. How would any of them know she hadn’t just worked all night?
Inside her apartment, she looked around, realized she didn’t feel sleepy anymore, and so went to make herself some coffee. Someday, she promised herself, she would have enough money to get herself an espresso machine. While she mostly drank regular coffee, over the past few years Hasty had started making lattes and other such drinks, which she loved. Heck, even Maude’s diner was moving into that world.
Change came even to Conard County, she thought with amusement.
She climbed straight into a hot shower, then, with a towel wrapped around her head and dressed in jeans and a blue polo shirt, she returned to get her coffee.
The sun had risen higher in the meantime, starting to take the chill off the morning, and casting it in a golden glow. Everything looked so crisp and clean outside that she decided to step out onto her small balcony and enjoy the burgeoning morning. She had a folding chair out there, and lowered herself into it, putting her feet up on the railing. Life could be good. Despite all the crazy things that had happened last night, despite Buck’s very evident concern for her—and Hasty’s as well—the morning remained perfect, too nice not to enjoy.
From the corner of her eye, she caught a flash of white. Dropping her feet immediately, she leaned forward over the railing, and caught sight of someone darting around the corner of the building.
At once she forgot her coffee and her heart slammed into overdrive. Why would someone dart around the corner that way? And white. A white shirt, barely glimpsed, made her think of one thing and one thing only: the driver who had been with Ray the night he was killed.
Her mouth turned as dry as the Sahara sands and she hurried back inside, locking the door behind her. Was she being watched? By the guy who might have actually caused Ray’s death?
She hadn’t seen enough to be certain, but she’d seen just enough to frighten her. She tried to talk herself down, reminding herself it could have been any one of her neighbors. Or just someone taking a shortcut to work. Or the handyman...except the handyman wore brown work clothes.
She sat at her little table, put her coffee down and looked at her shaking hands. Was it something? Was it nothing?
She almost reached for her phone to call Buck, then remembered he had to watch the lot and get rid of his rental. He couldn’t come flying over here because of something so stupid she couldn’t believe she had let it frighten her.
She hadn’t seen anything really. Not really. But the fear wouldn’t leave her alone. Closing her eyes, she summoned that image again and again, that flash, that dash around the corner.
It could have been anyone.
So why did it make her think of that other driver? Because of a lousy white T-shirt you could buy in a million places?
* * *
Buck hit the used-car lot on the dot of eight. The guy wasn’t too eager to take the rental back, since he’d been counting on the income.
“Look,” Buck said finally, “I rented it for a week. I’ll pay for the whole damn week.”
“Then why don’t you keep it to use?”
“Gas,” Buck said, inventing on the spot. “I’ve seen all I want to see of the countryside. I just don’t need it to go a few blocks. The things I want to do now are all here in town.”
The used-car dealer gave him a knowing smile. “Oh, that waitress.”
Buck had to quash an urge to punch the guy just for the knowing look on his face, but he knew part of his anger arose from the fact that he’d deliberately set Haley up for this.
If he got through this and put those creeps behind bars, he guessed he was going to have to make up a whole lot to Haley. Find a way to let her restore the reputation he’d obviously tattered.
Little had he guessed how a small town like this operated. From the look on that guy’s face, Haley had just entered the ranks of “easy women.” Well, he’d take care of that. Later. Somehow.
He almost sighed as he escaped. He had promised Haley to come to her place and he’d need to do that soon.
Because no matter what kind of son of a bitch it made him, she was still his cover. His only cover. Somehow he’d have to make it up to her, he swore to himself he would, but the simple fact was, cover or not, he was getting scared for her.
He didn’t care if they figured out he was ignoring his orders. He didn’t care if they came after him. But he damn well cared if they came after Haley, and for some reason they seemed to be zeroing in on her.
Why?
The question shouted at him from inside his brain. Why were they closing in on her? Because she’d hung out with him and they knew now that he’d been investigating? Maybe they’d known about him all along?
Had
he
been the one who had put her neck in a noose? The thought made his stomach turn over.
What the hell had he been thinking?
Was he self-deluded? Because he’d been more interested in Haley personally than he wanted to admit? Had he managed to fool himself, and her, right into trouble?
He tried to reach back to those decision-making moments in Denver when he’d made up his mind that someone needed to watch out for Haley. Using her as an excuse to hang around had certainly struck him as innocent enough then. He hadn’t imagined how it might complicate things.
He shoved his hands into his pockets as he walked toward the center of town and tried to make a million mental readjustments, like trying to figure out a puzzle that had looked all right until you got to the last couple of pieces and realized they didn’t fit at all.
The streets were getting a bit busier. Stores hadn’t opened yet, but people were on their way to do just that. A glance down a side street near the sheriff’s office told him that the City Diner was already full. He hesitated, then decided to go get some breakfast for him and Haley.
That was when he realized that in the few short days he’d been here, people had started to recognize him. Where before he’d gotten the barest of nods as he passed, now he was getting nods, smiles and greetings of “morning.”
Some low profile.
How much of that, he wondered, came from these folks knowing that he was seeing Haley? How much came from the fact that the cops had checked him out and let him go? He’d probably never know.
He just knew he felt entirely too obvious. The last blow came when he walked to the counter in the diner and Maude’s daughter, Mavis he thought her nametag said, greeted him by name. “Morning, Buck. What’ll it be?”
He thought of all the years he’d managed to pass anonymously in cammies and desert boots by the simple expedient of changing his unit patch so folks wouldn’t know he was from the Tenth Battalion. No patch could make him seem irrelevant here.
He ordered enough food for six hungry soldiers, and marched out into the morning sunshine feeling eyes on him like sniper sights. Which was certainly an exaggeration, but it wasn’t something he was used to from friendlies.
And most of these people, if not all, qualified as friendlies.
Okay, he thought as he hiked toward Haley’s place. The pieces weren’t fitting somehow, and yet he had the feeling they were all there. Mentally rearranging them wasn’t helping a whole lot yet.
Money. He knew there had to be a lot of money, and in his experience there were two ways to make large sums of money: guns and drugs, and he’d already dismissed guns because they’d leave huge voids in the crates.
Marijuana, too, was space intensive. No, something much smaller with a huge street value. Something like, say, oxycodone, which could sell for as much as two hundred dollars for a single pill, depending on dosage. At that price, you could make a whole lot of money with a very small space, the kind of space that wouldn’t leave noticeable gaps in a shipment.
And while you might need a truck to shift crates around, once the pills were removed they’d require relatively little space to transport. You could carry them under a seat in a car, or in a trunk, thousands and thousands of dollars of drugs, in a comparatively tiny space.
The only thing that didn’t add up was why they needed the trucks in the first place. With something so small, they could have used cars to begin with.
But trucks offered a huge advantage. They could transport large quantities without worrying about drug-sniffing dogs at a traffic stop. Trucks were pretty much left alone by the cops unless they did something egregious on the road, or skipped a weigh station.
For all he knew, huge amounts of drugs were coming in through the port or over borders, and this was just a protective measure to conceal the distribution lines.
That would make sense. A lot of sense. Another piece of the puzzle clicked into place. And what if the whole deal had started here for some reason and then reached out to Seattle and other points? That would explain a lot, too.
He ruminated on that for a while, trying to figure out how it would work. Someone here needed lots of money. Maybe the opportunity hadn’t dropped into their laps, but they’d created it. But how?
He tried to stop himself as he reached Haley’s street. Speculation was only good if it gave him some clues to follow. Right now he seemed to be running in circles again.
But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that the whole mess could have begun right here. Maybe this wasn’t the middle after all. Maybe this was a center point from which the web stretched out and encompassed something that was already going on.
Definitely possible, but he shoved it to the back burner for a while. He had some more immediate things to worry about, like Haley, like that driver she could identify. He hoped Gage had a way of making a sketch. Or access to Identi-Kit.
He loved to solve problems, but he had to admit there wasn’t nearly as much pleasure in it when he had an emotional investment in someone’s safety. Namely, Haley’s.
He knocked on her door and she opened it with surprising caution, peering around the chain lock the way she had the first time he’d come.
“Haley?” he asked with immediate concern. He didn’t like the tightness around her eyes.
She fumbled at the chain lock and let him in, closing the door behind him and locking it. She didn’t usually do that.
“What happened?” he demanded as he put the bags of breakfast on the table and turned to take her into his arms.
She came willingly, and he could almost feel her sag against him. “Nothing, really,” she said a bit unsteadily. “Or maybe something. God, Buck, I don’t know. I was sitting on my balcony having coffee when I saw something.”
“What did you see?”
“That’s just it! I can’t say for sure. I caught the flash of a white T-shirt as someone disappeared around the end of the building. I don’t know who it was. It could have been anyone, but it scared me.”
“A white T-shirt?” For a second it didn’t connect. Then mental images began to tumble around in his head and he got it. “Almost nobody around here runs around in white T-shirts.”
“Exactly. Except that driver. He’s been wearing one every time I’ve seen him. But most folks here...” She trailed off, then said firmly, “It could have been anyone.”
He tightened his hug, offering the only comfort he could, that of touch. “Try to eat something,” he suggested gently. “I need to think. And right now you don’t need to be afraid. You’re not alone.”