You Can't Escape (28 page)

So, Todd didn’t let on to his thoughts when it came to his spirituality, though today, even with the beauty of the mountains all around him, his mind had certainly run down a more carnal path. Jordanna Winters had stirred some too-long-dormant sexual interest in him. He’d been reviewing their conversations at the coffee shop and Braxton’s counter grill over and over again, every word and every nuance. He understood that she hadn’t been thinking about him that way at all, but that was okay. The hike today had cleared his mind, and he’d pretty much decided he was going to ask her on a date. He didn’t have her cell number, but he knew she was at the house where she’d grown up, so he thought he might amble on by.

His mind was awash in these pleasant plans, his ears full of the rush of the falls, which tumbled and splashed down to the town below while he stood at the viewpoint parking lot above it, next to his truck. Because of the falls, he didn’t hear the car until it was almost in sight, and only then did he turn, waiting for it to come around the hairpin bend where the parking lot sat. Instead, its engine wound down and became indistinguishable over the roar of the water, as if it had been shut off.

Wondering what had happened, Todd walked back around the curve, the late-afternoon sunlight warm on his back. Maybe he’d bring Jordanna to the top of the falls. She’d probably seen the view before many times, but it was still a breathtaking sight. Or, maybe he’d literally ask her to take a hike with him. She was bent on a story, but sometimes taking time off was a great way to gain perspective, charge up the old batteries.

Around the bend from Fool’s Falls, Summit Ridge Drive rode a narrow ridge, the spine of a smaller mountain with deep cliffs on either side. It was a bitch to travel this route in the winter, but on a sunny day in May it was scenic, if a bit of a challenge for an inexperienced driver.

The car was a late-model sedan and it was stopped across both lanes, facing toward the edge of the cliff that looked over the ranch and farmland south of Rock Springs. Todd thought it might be aimed over the Sazlow Ranch. Immediately he jogged forward, concerned. “Put the brake on!” he yelled. “You don’t want to go forward. You gotta get turned around!”

The driver’s door opened slowly and the driver tumbled out onto the ground on the opposite side of the car from Todd.

“Hey, you okay?” he called, worried. He hurried around the rear of the vehicle, not trusting the front, and was surprised when the injured driver suddenly popped up.

“What?” Todd muttered. It was a man, and he suddenly came at him fast. “Whoa, whoa.” He was wearing boots, jeans, and a cowboy hat dipped over his face. “What happen—” he got out just before the man’s arm came up and smashed a large, jagged rock against Todd’s temple. Todd’s vision blurred and he went to his knees, crumpling like sand.

Then his backpack was yanked off his back and he was being dragged by his arms, picked up and set in the driver’s seat. His head lolled backward. He tried to talk, but his brain couldn’t send messages to his tongue. His mouth sagged open.

“Tell the Lord His work is being done,” the man said, holding up the huge rock in a gloved hand, the same one he’d smacked against Todd’s head, now covered with blood.

Todd wasn’t sure, but thought he might have been crying when he said it. Todd thought,
I know you .
. . as the man tossed his backpack into the passenger seat and bent forward into the footwell. Todd heard the engine rev and dimly realized the man had placed the stone on the accelerator. Just as Todd’s dulled brain registered he was in real trouble, the stranger reached across his body and shifted the car from park to drive. With a hard jerk the car leapt forward, spun gravel and then charged over the lip of the cliff, plunging downward.

Auggie said into his cell phone, “What did you say?”

Diane sighed dramatically. “I said Jordanna Winters grew up in Rock Springs. Her mother and older sister are deceased. I couldn’t find an address for the younger sister, but her father, Dr. Dayton Winters, still resides in town, which is where he has a medical practice. You got it this time?”

“Yeah. Thanks,” Auggie said distractedly as he clicked off. He was staring across the kitchen at Liv, who was bent down, examining the interior of the refrigerator.

“We’re going to have to go out,” Liv said, her voice muffled as she directed her voice to the sad-looking carrots she’d pulled from the crisper.

“That was Diane. I asked her to dig into some information for me.”

“On the Saldano case?” Liv glanced around at him.

She didn’t sound like she particularly cared if he answered or not. She was just making conversation. But he answered her anyway. “The woman who left the hospital with Jay Danziger is from Rock Springs.”

Now she turned fully and looked at him in surprise. “Really.”

“Did you know the Winters family?” he asked.

Liv shook her head. “I think I remember a Dr. Winters, but we didn’t go to him. Those were tough years for me.”

“I know. Just wanted to ask.”

It was as a result of Liv’s past that Auggie had first met her. She’d lived in Rock Springs as a young child, but that very childhood held terrible memories for her.

“You think that’s where they are?” she asked him now.

“Maybe.” He looked at the time. “The feds have taken over, but I set up a meeting with Maxwell and Victor Saldano. Told ’em I had some information for them, which is a bit of a lie.”

“Are you going to tell them about Jordanna Winters?”

“Gotta tell Bethwick and Donley first, and I’m not ready to do that, either. The feds,” he explained to her questioning look. “Then maybe I’ll go out to Rock Springs, nose around. The doctor still has his practice there.”

“Hmmm. Okay.” She turned back to the crisper and made a sound of disgust. “Never buy something ‘in a bag’ that you’re not going to eat right away.”

Auggie walked over to her and put his arms around her. She immediately straightened and turned toward him in surprise. On the counter beside her were papers concerning the real estate exam she was getting ready to take.

“What?” she asked, peering up at him, faintly smiling.

“I was thinking, maybe you want to go with me to Rock Springs?” His cell suddenly started singing its default tone, and he looked over to where he’d left it on the counter.

“Take it,” she said.

He reluctantly let her slip out of his embrace as he scooped up the phone, recognizing the number with an inward groan. “Rafferty,” he answered.

“Detective, I’m not waiting any longer,” Carmen Danziger’s cold tones reached his ear. “I’ve hired a private investigator to find my husband.”

Ex-husband
, he thought, but let it go. After their telephone tag this morning, Carmen had finally connected with him. The entire conversation had been Carmen firing questions at him that he either couldn’t, or wasn’t prepared to, answer. His lack of cooperation had infuriated her and she’d hung up in a rage. Now, he said, “Do what you gotta do.”

“You people can’t even do the job we pay you for,” she huffed.

“I’m meeting with your father later,” he started, but she cut the connection before he could finish.

“That was . . . ?” Liv asked, this time with more curiosity.

“Carmen Saldano Danziger.” He headed back toward the room he used as an office, and the drawer where he kept his gun when he was home. Then he gave her a quick kiss and headed out.

Chapter Seventeen

Auggie’s initial talk with Maxwell and Victor Saldano had netted very little information and generated a lot of fear and speculation. This time, when he was led into Victor Saldano’s home, he was taking a different tack.

“I don’t know why you’re here,” the patriarch of the family said peevishly. “We’re dealing with those G-men. That’s enough.”

Maxwell Saldano was on his feet, moving around the room behind the wheelchair where his father sat. The first thing he’d asked Auggie was if he knew where Jay Danziger was. “Dance just let himself out of the hospital, and now no one can find him,” he said, sounding more bewildered than angry.

“And who’s this girl who spirited him away?” Victor demanded. “Carmen told us she pretended to be her.”

Auggie said, “The last time we spoke, you believed the perpetrator who left the bomb was a business competitor.”

“Sabotage,” Max agreed. He’d stopped behind his father’s chair, his hands on the handles as if he were getting ready to push the old man away. “Yes, that’s what I thought. But who is this girl? Carmen’s upset. He didn’t tell her anything about where he was going.”

“As I recall, you missed the meeting with Mr. Danziger because of a health crisis with your father,” Auggie asked him.

Victor answered before Max could. “Heart ‘event,’ that’s what they call it.” He harrumphed.

“My father’s nurse called me. Dad didn’t want an ambulance, and I dropped everything and came back. The ambulance was here by then.” He gave his father an exasperated look. “You should have just let them take you.”

“No need,” he barked.

“Yeah. I know,” Max said.

Something in Max’s tone suggested this scenario had happened enough times to inure him to his father’s condition. “Could I talk to you a moment?” Auggie asked the younger Saldano.

“What don’t you want me to hear?” Victor snapped, his face reddening.

“I’ll talk to you alone next,” Auggie assured him. Max hesitated only a second before leading Auggie out of the study that was now his father’s bedroom into the circular entry hall.

“You think your father’s exaggerating his condition,” Auggie said, watching his face.

“He thinks it’s real.”

“You don’t sound convinced.”

“My father wants to come into the office every day. Lots of times he does. And if he feels left out, like we’re not listening to him . . .” He compressed his lips a moment, then said, “He’s had a few attacks during those times.”

“Is he faking it, to get you to drop everything and attend to him?”

“I think he . . . misinterprets the seriousness of every event.”

“You think he faked it when the bomb went off,” Auggie persisted.

“That’s not what I’m saying.” Max shook his head. “There was definite stress on his heart. Raydeen was right there and Dad was struggling. But he wouldn’t get in the ambulance, and by the time I got there, the EMTs said he was stable, so . . .” He sighed. “Carmen was already gone, so I stayed with him until he’d calmed down.”

“Your father now thinks the bomb was a warning from competitors who believed your company was eating into their profits.”

“Maybe he’s right. He’s a complicated guy. Always planning something.”

“Did he know that Danziger and your sister were divorced?” Auggie asked lightly.

Max blinked, started to smile, then asked, “Where’d you get that?”

“Public record.”

“Oh, come on.”

“You didn’t know?”

“No,” he ground out.

“Doesn’t sound like your father knows, either. Sounds like your sister’s deliberately kept that information from both of you.”

Max, his eyes sober, his expression full of disbelief, said, “I don’t believe you,” but he did.

Auggie returned to Victor’s room, but the older Saldano had been transferred to a hospital bed and Raydeen tried to keep Auggie from asking questions. Victor, however, had other ideas and waved Auggie to his bedside. “You’re spending too much time with us, you and those federal agents, when you should be after the real bombers.”

“The investigation is a top priority—”

“Don’t give me that double-talk. You want to put it on us somehow. Well, I’m done talking to any of you. Better hope you have job security, son, because I’m calling your boss and ordering him to take you off this case. You should have been looking for Jay Danziger and that woman. It’s too late now.”

“Did you know your daughter and Jay Danziger are divorced?”

“Lies.” He waved a hand and sank back as if exhausted. Raydeen bustled over and this time she showed Auggie out, summarily shutting the door behind him. Auggie looked around the entry hall for Max, but the room was empty. From what he could see of the stairway and other rooms, the younger Saldano was nowhere in sight.

Max might not have known Danziger and Carmen were divorced, but it sure felt like Victor had.

It took Jordanna less time than she’d expected to find the kid who’d discovered the branded body. The farmhouses were separated by miles, and the first one around the bend on the east side of Summit Ridge had a huge fence with a N
O
T
RESPASSING
sign that seemed to mean business. The second house turned out to be the one she was looking for, and she bumped down a half-mile-long drive to another Victorian with a wide wraparound porch that extended on the three sides she could see of the home. What was left of the gingerbread had been painted to match the house, a putty color.

It was the two ATVs parked alongside the south side of the porch, both of them looking as if they hadn’t been used in a long while, that convinced her she was at the right place even before she heard the loud barking, as a huge, bounding black Lab mix came rushing out to greet her. Jordanna stayed in the car, eyeing the dog, who was then followed by a boy of about twelve who yelled madly, “Dixie, cool it! Dixie! Damn it. Dixie!”

The dog kept barking her fool head off. Only when the kid had the dog by the collar did Jordanna risk opening her door.

“Shut up, Dixie,” he ordered again, slapping his hands together. The dog finally obeyed and sat down on its haunches, panting happily.

“Are you Zach Benchley?” she asked.

He threw Jordanna a suspicious look. “Yeah.”

“I’m Jordanna Winters. My father’s Dr. Dayton Winters.” She had no compunction about using her father’s name when it suited her. “I’m a journalist and I’m following up on the male body found near here a few years ago.”

“I found him,” the boy said quickly, as if expecting someone else to steal his thunder. “I was riding along down the road thataway.” He waggled his index finger to the north. “I mean, I wasn’t really on the road. I wasn’t old enough, y’know.” He glanced over his shoulder as if expecting someone to come up behind him. His father, perhaps. “But I can show you right where he was.”