Chasing Ghosts (19 page)

“
Need to find something?” Brad asked
with a nod toward the map. The last thing Dagger needed was for
someone to know his destination.

“
Just getting my bearings.”

“
I moved to Nebraska last year, you
know.”

No I didn’t and I don’t give
a flying fuck
. “Really? What brought you to
Nebraska?”

“
My girlfriend got a job here so I
tagged along.” Brad glanced over the map again as though looking
for arrows or circles.

“
How about placing my order?” Dagger
tried to be polite about it. A rude customer was one that was
easily remembered. He watched Brad disappear into the kitchen.
Dagger decided to wait to study the map when he was back in his
room. To prevent Brad from making small talk, Dagger pulled out his
cell phone and called Skizzy.

“
Where the hell are ya?” Skizzy
screamed into the phone.

“
I’m just one millimeter away from your
mouth so you don’t have to yell. How was your
houseguest?”

“
Mad as hell and threatened to squeeze
my neck til my eyes popped out.”

“
Did she ask you where I
went?”

“
What good would that do? You never
told me where you was headed.” After several beats of silence,
Skizzy asked, “Where are you, really?”

“
On a mission. That’s all you need to
know.”

“
Girlie said you needed her help. That
you always get yourself into trouble.”

Dagger smiled at that comment. He hated
leaving Sara in the dark but he had a feeling this was going to be
dangerous. “Well, I could be on a wild goose chase so no sense both
of us being away from Einstein.”

Brad walked over with a tray hefted over one
shoulder. He set the tray on the table and distributed the steak
platter, baked potato, sour cream, mixed vegetables, and a loaf of
bread.

“
Anything else?” Brad asked.

Dagger held up the half empty beer glass and
Brad took off.

“
Does this have anything to do with
BettaTec?” Skizzy asked, a bit of hesitancy in his
voice.

“
Why do you ask?”

“
Because of your urgency in leaving,
that scarlet red color of rage that was on your face, and your
insistence in distancing girlie from you, even to the point of
using one of my throw away cell phones rather than taking your
own.”

“
I certainly won’t know if BettaTec is
involved until I get there, will I?” Dagger spooned sour cream into
the baked potato as another waiter, not Brad, set a fresh beer in
front of him. He nodded his thanks and then asked, “What do you and
Simon have planned for the cardinal?”

“
We rented ourselves some fancy tuxedos
and we’re gonna be waiters at that farewell reception. That will
give us a chance to check the cardinal’s neck.”

“
Find any more video footage of the guy
at the airport?”

“
Yeah. Traced him to the international
terminal where the private jets take off. He hopped a sleek
streamliner but I haven’t a clue where it was headed. Them private
jobs don’t file a flight plan.”

“
How about a tail number?”

“
Couldn’t tell.”

“
I’ll call again the next chance I
have. Meantime, give Padre a heads-up on the cardinal.”

“
Wait. What do we do if the cardinal
has one of them scars on the back of his neck?”

“
I think you and Simon can come up with
something.” He hung up before Skizzy could sputter on about his
allergy to cops.

Two women entered the bar, one with designer
sunglasses and long, brown hair. For a second, Dagger almost
thought it was Sara. He could just imagine how pissed she was right
now. They had made a promise after Sara had returned from her
three-month getaway following the Friday the Thirteenth case.
Neither one would ever leave. But that was before BettaTec’s hit
man showed up on their doorstep.

“
Aw, jeez.” Skizzy punched the END
button on the cell phone. “He’s gonna kill me.”

Simon hefted his body onto a kitchen chair in
the back room of Skizzy’s pawn shop. “He don’t have to know you
told Sara where he went.”

“
That’s the point. I didn’t. She
figured it all out herself but I let her out before the three
hours.” Skizzy stared at the phone as though expecting Dagger to
call back. “Something strange about girlie. She’s awful
knowledgeable about a lot of things no nineteen-year-old should
know.”

“
Such as?”

“
Longitude and latitude. I’da never
looked at that.”

“
Youngsters today pay more attention to
detail.”

Skizzy shook his head, freeing more strands
of hair from his ponytail. “You shoulda seen her on that Mitch
case, out at the cemetery. She was like some gymnast twirling in
the air, putting herself between Dagger and Mitch, tossing two
knives at Mitch with such force they sunk up to the hilt in a tree.
Ain’t normal.”

“
Adrenaline. Makes people do
unbelievable things. We saw that in Nam.” Simon took a sip of
coffee and winced. “Damn, that’s awful.” He shoved the cup aside.
“Besides, I would think Dagger would be happy to have Sara’s help.
He can’t do it himself, although the stubborn ass thinks he
can.”

“
Oh, he ain’t gonna be pissed if girlie
shows up. He’s gonna be pissed when he finds out the Chevy Cobalt
he borrowed has a tracker on it.”

Simon swiped a hand across the stubble on his
face. “How much time should we give them?”

“
Twenty-four hours. Then we go after
them.”

The gray hawk swooped down and landed on a
light pole near an off ramp on Interstate 80. An intermittent
stream of headlights forked out in each direction. A blanket of
trees was to the north. A forest would be a perfect place to rest
for the night. An unoccupied cabin or ranger station would be
perfect. It required too much of Sara’s energy to stay in one form
for too long. Even a farmhouse with a barn would be nice, some
place where humans wouldn’t stumble onto her in all her naked
glory. With this age of electronics, she had to be more careful to
avoid anyone with a cell phone snapping a photo of the hawk
shifting.

Sara avoided communicating with Dagger for
fear she might slip and let him know her intentions. For now her
silence should tell him she was pissed … royally.

CHAPTER 24

Dagger took his time the next morning, had a
leisure breakfast since it might be the last full meal he had in a
while, and then did some shopping to stock up on water and supplies
before hitting the road. The sun’s heat blistered through his dark
clothes. After pulling off to the side of the road, he grabbed a
bottle of cold water from the cooler, then sat on the hood of the
car, the brim of the baseball cap shielding the sun’s glare.

Tumbleweeds whirled and danced across the
flat plain churning up dust and grit. It was a stretch of desolate
land. Dagger hadn’t seen a building in miles much less a road sign.
He pulled off the sunglasses, poured cold water onto a
handkerchief, and wiped the grit from his face and neck.

Nothing looked familiar to him. If his hunch
were correct then something should have looked familiar—a street
sign, the name of a town, a hotel, something other than the
coordinates. This could be a wild goose chase. But what better
place to operate from than an isolated piece of land in the middle
of a sparsely occupied chunk of state. Dagger checked his cell
phone. No service in this area which didn’t surprise him. He
climbed back into the Cobalt and checked the onboard map. Leave it
up to Skizzy to arm his vehicles with the latest technology.
According to the coordinates, Dagger was ten miles south of the
target area. The gym bag on the passenger seat was loaded with
enough of Skizzy’s toys to arm Dagger for a week. He just wasn’t
sure what he was going to find when he got there. More Demkos
waiting on a corner? Both BetteTec satellites aimed over the
coordinates? Was he walking into a trap? Did Dagger even bring
enough ammo much less food? Fruit, power bars, and water would only
last so long.

Dagger slipped his glasses back on and put
the Cobalt in gear. He had balked at the sedan Skizzy had loaned
him until he got behind the wheel. Skizzy had done quite a bit of
work on this particular vehicle. It had been painted silver which
helped camouflage the car against the gray sky. But the startling
modification was the $3,000 turbo kit.

Dagger slammed the car into gear and the car
shot back onto the highway.

“
Well, well.” Padre crossed the foyer
to where Sheila stood. “Shouldn’t you be chasing down a story
somewhere?”

“
I am. Cardinal Esrey is giving his
speech today and I’m here to attend the reception afterwards. My
photographer will take a few pictures for the front page and you,
my dear friend, will give me an exclusive on those three deaths you
have been so tightlipped about. They are all connected, right? The
salesman in the trunk of the car at the airport, the security guard
in the cardinal’s suite, and the jumper in the hotel parking
lot.”

Padre shoved his hands in his pockets and
smiled. “Ahhh, my dear Miss Monroe. You may be able to wrap some
people around your manicured finger but not me. You will have to go
to the police chief for any information since I’m not at liberty to
disclose anything. Matter of fact, I think the mayor’s office may
be handling the press release on that.”

“
Oh please. The mayor is one of the
people I have around my manicured finger and he tossed it back to
you. You must have identified the jumper by now.”

“
All I can tell you is that there
wasn’t much left to identify. The heat was too intense to leave
even teeth for DNA. Until we can compare missing person reports to
videotape from the hotel lobby, we have zip.”

Thomas crossed the foyer to the study on the
right carrying a tray with a carafe. “Now there,” Padre said with a
nod to the cardinal’s assistant, “is one guy I’m sure you can work
your charm on.”

Sheila rolled her eyes. “You have got to be
kidding. The man is an android. He finds it a complete dereliction
of duty just to tell me what toothpaste the cardinal uses.”

Robert Tyler descended the curved staircase
with Lily, giving her last minute instructions. Padre noticed
Sheila’s eyes dissecting Tyler’s movements. He leaned close to
Sheila and said, “You know you could do a lot better than that cop
you are dating. Tyler’s got respect, money.”

Sheila tsked. “I have enough money. Besides,
he’s like a second father to me.”

“
Women like you prefer the bad boys but
some day you will have to grow up.”

“
Save your pious speeches for someone
who asks for them, Padre.”

But Padre could see the wheels spinning
behind Sheila’s green eyes.

Tyler stretched out a hand to Padre.
“Sergeant Martinez, what brings you around today?” He gave Sheila a
peck on the cheek. “Looking beautiful as always, Sheila.”

Padre could swear he saw Sheila blush.

Tyler motioned for them to follow him to the
veranda. “Can I get you anything? Coffee? Iced tea?”

“
Nothing, thank you.”

“
Iced tea would be nice, Robert,”
Sheila said. She stood at the railing and looked down on the
gardens. Padre could see her imagining what it would be like to be
head of this household, not that her family’s estate was a slum.
But Padre doubted she could give up her bad boys and Tyler wouldn’t
settle for a wife with a roving eye.

“
I can get a couple uniformed officers
to check I.D.s outside and a couple more to stand guard if you’d
like,” Padre offered.

“
Two officers outside is all we’ll
need. Dagger is sending two men to work undercover
inside.”

“
Dagger won’t be here?” Sheila’s voice
didn’t mask her disappointment. “Did he say why?”

“
Something about paying respects to the
family of a friend who died in that plane which fell into Pyramid
Lake in Nevada.”

“
Friend? What friend?” Sheila
demanded.

Lily brought a tray with three glasses of
iced tea. Padre checked his watch and decided he had time for iced
tea. He wondered what two friends Dagger planned to send over in
his absence. More importantly, he wondered what coincidence it was
that Doc Akins’ plane fell from the sky. Homeland Security was all
over the case but Padre didn’t believe in coincidences.

“
I’m not sure,” Robert replied. “I
don’t make it a habit of prying into other peoples’ lives. I leave
that up to you reporters.” Robert motioned for them to have a seat.
“I really don’t anticipate problems today, Sergeant, and Cardinal
Esrey feels I’m imposing on the police department for no good
reason, but, to be safe, I think it best to have some show of
caution.”

“
I agree.”

“
Dagger’s two associates will pose as
waiters,” Robert added.

“
Associates?” Sheila asked. “What
associates?”

Padre looked quizzically at Sheila. “For
having once been engaged to the guy, you certainly sound surprised
that he has friends and associates.”

Sheila’s face flushed. “Dagger always was
very private. I know he refers to Sara as an associate,” she added
with a bit of cynicism. “Does she plan to be here, too?”

“
Only two men from what I understand.”
Padre was curious, too, if Dagger really was paying his respects.
If not, exactly what was he doing?