Dangerous Melody (12 page)

Tate did his best to keep up, but it was still three quarters of an hour before they made it back to the car to find an irate Luca. As much as he appeared to chafe at this delay confronting them, he agreed with Tate that a night search after Eugene was foolhardy. They returned to the hotel at sundown, dirty,
famished and exhausted.

They picked up some sandwiches from the deli and piled into Stephanie and Luca’s room to eat them, debriefing the day’s insanity.

“Good news is, we found Eugene, and we can be pretty sure he’s got the violin,” Luca said.

“Bad news is, we lost him again, and Maria and Ricardo are still at large.” Stephanie sighed.

A knock at the door startled them. Tate
looked through the peephole. “More bad news,” he whispered. “Officer Sartori has come back for another visit.”

THIRTEEN

S
tephanie felt her stomach lurch as Tate opened the door. Officer Sartori stood, hands on her hips, looking every inch the cop, even though she wore jeans and a T-shirt.

“Please come in,” Stephanie said. “Sit down.”

Sartori gave her a thorough once-over. “No need. This will be a short visit. Where have you three been?”

Luca gestured to his ankle, propped
on a chair under another bag of ice. “We went looking for the violin, and I had an accident.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Uh-huh. I’m not a patient person, as you’ve probably gathered. Now I’m impatient, and I’m also angry.”

Stephanie swallowed. “Why?”

“Because someone high up on the political food chain is pressuring the sheriff into taking me off this investigation.”

“What do you
mean?” Luca asked.

“The sheriff’s getting heat from the county supervisor to direct his resources elsewhere—in other words, he’s pulled me from the Devlin case.”

“And the supervisor is leaning on the sheriff because...?” Tate said.

“The official line is that we’re pulling back to focus on an identity theft ring, so we’re leaving the Devlin case up to the Lone Ridge law enforcement,
which basically consists of a really hard-working full-time officer and two volunteers who don’t have the time or resources for this investigation.”

Stephanie willed her feet not to pace. “What’s the unofficial line?”

“Are you asking me what I think?” Sartori said.

She nodded.

“I think I’m being pulled off because someone with power and money wants to cover up something. I
think that someone has a lot to do with you three and this violin or whatever it is. And you know what else I think?”

The three remained silent.

“I think I’m going to work this case on my own time until I figure out just what Treasure Seekers is really doing in Bitter Song.” She pulled a photo out of her pocket. “Do you know this person?”

Stephanie felt her entire body grow cold
as she gripped the photo, forcing out the words. “He’s a man I used to work for years ago. His name is Joshua Bittman.”

“That part I know. I did some digging, and I found out that twenty years ago he claimed his father lost a Guarneri violin. Interesting coincidence that you just happened to be looking for a Guarneri at the moment.”

“Interesting,” Luca agreed solemnly.

Sartori put
the picture away. “Is Bittman the guy you’re working for now?”

Stephanie’s heart pounded so hard, she thought it would break out of her chest. “We’re working on our own behalf.”

“Is that right? And when you find this violin, who are you going to give it to?”

Luca cleared his throat. “We’ll establish legal ownership and hand it over to the correct individual. For us it’s about the
find, not the money.”

“Well, isn’t that big of you? I think I’ll have to give Mr. Bittman a call and see if his story jibes with yours.”

“No,” Stephanie cried out before she could stop herself.

“No?” Sartori repeated, folding her arms across her chest. “And why wouldn’t you want me to call him?”

She looked directly into Sartori’s eyes. “Joshua Bittman is a dangerous man.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I’ve looked up the esteemed Gage family. Well connected, plenty of money, no legal scrapes pending, no illegal activities under the respectable exterior. So what’s this Bittman got on you?”

Stephanie pressed her lips together. Her legs felt as if they were boneless, barely able to support her weight. What could she say that would not result in her father’s death? Tate
joined her and put an arm around her shaking shoulders. “Officer, we’re not the bad guys here, I can promise you that.”

Her gaze traveled from Luca to Stephanie and finally rested on Tate. “Okay. I’ll leave it for now because I can see you’re not going to make it easy on me. That’s no problem. I don’t like things easy.” She opened the door. “But I promise you I’m going to dig up the truth,
and I’d better not find out that you’re on the wrong side of the law, or I’ll make it my mission in life to lock you up. Am I making myself clear?”

“As crystal,” Luca said.

“You can expect to be seeing me in your rearview mirror. I’ll be your personal shadow while you enjoy the finer things in Bitter Song.” She smiled. “Have a great day.”

Sartori left, and Stephanie’s legs would
not hold her up anymore. She sank down on the bed, sucking in a shaky breath. “If she calls Bittman, he’ll kill Dad.”

Luca hopped over and sat next to her. “He wants the violin. If we can convince him we’re close, he won’t hurt Dad.”

Stephanie knew that deep down, Luca was just as scared as she was. “Call Tuney. Maybe he’s found out something.” She focused on breathing, keeping herself
calm while Luca dialed, putting Tuney on speakerphone.

There was a clatter of noise on Tuney’s end.

“Where are you?” Luca asked.

“Clinic. Got a lead on your dad. Followed it to an apartment, only someone was waiting and I took a bullet to the shoulder.”

Stephanie gasped. “Oh, no. Tuney, are you okay? You could have been killed.”

“I’m fine. Your father was being kept there,
I think, but they moved him.”

She felt like screaming. “We’ve got a cop here who is onto the truth. She’s going to contact Bittman.”

Tuney grunted. “Then I’d better pick up the pace over here.”

“We can’t ask you to risk your life,” Stephanie said, choking back a sob.

“You’re not asking. Talk to you soon.” Then he was gone.

Stephanie closed her eyes, head spinning. “This
is all going wrong.”

Tate took her hand. “I think we need to call Bittman. Tell him we’re close. Buy ourselves some time to find Eugene.”

Stephanie gripped his fingers, trying to stem the panic flowing through her veins. “I don’t think I can talk to him without losing it.”

“I’ll talk,” Luca barked, picking up her phone.

“Luca...” Stephanie started as he punched in the numbers.

“I know what the stakes are, sis.” He listened for a few moments, frowning. “He’s not answering.” Luca spoke to the answering machine. “We’ve located the man with the violin. We’ll pick him up tomorrow, and you’ll have your prize. We’ll turn it over when you return our father.” He clicked off.

“So what do we do now?” Stephanie asked.

“We try to get some sleep,” Tate answered.

And count the minutes until morning,
Stephanie thought.

* * *

Tate stretched out in the camper of Gilly’s truck and fell into a restless sleep, interrupted by the pain in his leg. Stephanie had argued with him to let them pay for a room until she’d run out of breath. He awoke hours later, disoriented, to find it was still dark, his watch showing a few minutes after four in the morning.
Lying there, willing his body to come awake, he listened, trying to figure out what had awakened him.

A soft crunch made him bolt upright. The sound came from the rock pathway that skirted the small hotel. He pulled a corner of the curtain aside and peered out. A sliver of moon did little to illuminate the area. Holding his breath, he stared intently into the darkness.

A flicker of movement
from the bushes alongside the building caught his eye. Pulling a T-shirt on over his jeans, he didn’t bother with shoes. Slinking into the front seat, he tried to ease open the driver’s side door without making any noise. His plan fell apart when the creak of the metal hinge sounded loud in the predawn. Throwing caution aside, he leaped from the vehicle and barreled into the bushes.

There
was a muffled exclamation and a cry of surprise as he wrapped his arms around the figure, holding tight.

“Stop it, Tate.”

He was so surprised by the voice that he let go, and his sister climbed to her feet.

“You big dummy. You could have killed me.”

“Maria?” He didn’t know which emotion to act upon. He settled for a hug of profound relief. He squeezed her to his chest and rocked
her back and forth. “I’m so glad you’re here.” He pulled her to arm’s length and looked her over thoroughly. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m not hurt,” she whispered, brushing the leaves from her hair. “No thanks to you.” She looked around. “Let’s sit in the truck. More private.”

Mystified, he followed her to the truck. She sat in the passenger seat, darting nervous glances out
the window.

She took a deep breath. “I can’t believe this is all happening.”

He frowned. “Did you come here to find Bittman’s violin?”

She twisted her long hair between her fingers. “Yes, that’s how it started.”

His frustration boiled over. “Why would you do something like that? You know what kind of man Bittman is.”

“I didn’t,” she fired back, eyes gleaming. “I thought
he loved me. At first he was really nice, and I thought we were...” She broke off and wiped a tear from her face. “Never mind. I can’t undo any of that. Please don’t rub it in my face.”

She was right. It was not the time for blame. “Okay. I’m sorry. I was just crazy with worry about you.”

She pressed her fingers to her temples. “So why did you and the Gages come here anyway? Just to
find me?”

He took a deep breath. “Not just for that. Bittman kidnapped Wyatt Gage. If Stephanie doesn’t find the violin for him, he’ll kill Wyatt.”

Maria’s dark eyes rounded in shock. “He’s a monster.”

He squeezed her hand. “You aren’t to blame for that.”

She shook her head, eyes wet. “I didn’t listen. Stephanie tried to tell me, and you did, too, but I didn’t listen.”

He took a deep breath. Maybe they could salvage things before they got any worse. “Let’s focus on getting you out of this situation. Tell me why you decided to go after his violin in the first place.”

“That’s not important. The point is I did, and when I got here I found out I wasn’t the only one looking for it. This guy named Ricardo was spying on me when I was with Bittman, and I think he
followed me to Devlin’s shop.”

“Bittman’s pool guy.”

She nodded. “He met me as I was leaving the shop and convinced me we could find the violin faster if we worked together, and we could sell it and split the money. He said the Guarneri belonged to his great uncle or something, and Hans Bittman stole it from him. He’s been working undercover at Bittman’s to turn up any leads. I believed
him.” She shot Tate a look. “Was that another dumb mistake?”

“Finish the story. What did you and Ricardo do next?”

“We contacted Devlin. He said he could get a picture of the violin, but when I went back, he wasn’t there. Devlin had told me about the guy who came into the shop with it, so I started asking around. Somebody pointed me to Bitter Song, and I came here and found the man.
His name is Eugene.”

Tate tried to keep down his growing excitement. “So do you know where the violin is right now?”

“I think it’s with Eugene. I’ve been visiting him, gaining his trust.” She flushed. “So we could get him to tell us where it is.”

“But he hasn’t so far?”

“Not yet. Ricardo said Eugene was a thief, the vagrant who took the violin from the music store years before,
but...” Her forehead wrinkled. “The more I talked with Eugene, tried to gain his trust, I found out he’s really sweet. Confused and scared, but not the cutthroat guy Ricardo made him out to be. I’m supposed to meet him up at the ruins in two days.”

“What ruins?”

“A ghost town called Lunkville, north of Eugene’s stone house. When I get the violin, I’m to contact Ricardo to meet me there.”
She shook her head. “I thought it was a good plan, but now I’m not sure anymore. That’s why I came here, to talk it out with you. It doesn’t seem right to take it away from Eugene. He doesn’t care about the money, and I’m sure he didn’t know it was wrong when he stole it from Bittman.” Her voice hardened. “Bittman doesn’t deserve the violin anyway, if his father took it from Ricardo.”

Tate
took Maria’s hand. “Listen to me carefully, Maria. Ricardo is not who you think he is. His family never owned the violin. We think he set fire to Bittman’s shop all those years ago and killed Bittman’s brother, Peter. As soon as he gets his hands on that Guarneri, he’s going to kill Eugene and probably you.”

Her eyes widened in fear. “No. That can’t be true.”

He squeezed her fingers.
“I’m not lying to you. You know that.”

She sucked in a breath, and her eyes filled with tears as she yanked away her hand. “Oh, no. What have I done? How could I have made such a mess of everything?” A trail of tears flowed down her face.

His heart constricted at the misery in her eyes. “You made mistakes. We can fix it if you let me help.”

“No, Tate. This time it can’t be fixed.”
She was sobbing in earnest now. “What would Dad say if he could see me now?”

Tate’s breath caught. It was a thought he’d entertained a thousand times through his own struggles. What would his father say to see his son addicted to pills? His relationship with Stephanie ruined? Fuego Demolitions facing bankruptcy?

“He would say you made a mistake, and he would forgive you.” Tate felt a
swirl of comfort speaking the words aloud, and at that moment he knew he needed to believe it as much as his sister. “Listen, Maria. You got off track when Dad died. You started looking for love, and you thought Bittman could give that to you, but he isn’t capable of it. Lesson learned. It’s my fault, too. I should have been there for you, and I wasn’t. I’m sorry.”

She shook her head, wiping
her face with a tissue. “I can’t wish it away that easily.” She turned a tear-streaked face to him, vulnerable as a child’s. “Oh, Tate. I’m scared.”

“I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.”

“What about Eugene? Ricardo will find him and kill him.”

He raised his voice over her rising hysteria. “Not if we get there first.”

“We? I can’t involve you and Stephanie any more than you
already are.” She looked at her lap. “Or Luca, especially after I accused him. Tate, I lied about him. I wanted him to like me, and when he didn’t, I lashed out. He was never anything but kind to me.” Tears started again. “My life is a wreck. I’m so ashamed.”

“Honey, we all have things we’re ashamed of, but God forgives all of it, just like Dad said.” He was startled at his own words. He
recalled that it had been the first step on his road to recovery, asking God to forgive him and make him whole again. It felt good to put that into words for Maria, at long last.