Elly's Ghost (17 page)

“Who?”

Nick reached up
and grabbed the man’s hair and pulled his head back. “Michael Belgrade, your
roommate.”

“I don’t know
who you’re talking about,” Darwitz said as tears flowed down his face.

“You stole a car
with him when you were teenagers, and you’ve lived together for the past three
years. He was the pilot of Elly’s plane. That Michael Belgrade.”

“I don’t know.”

Nick positioned
the cutter around Darwitz’s thumb.

“Ahhh!” Keith
moaned. “He’s in Montana. He’s leading the group trying to find her.”

“How many people
in the group? How many?”

“I don’t know.
I’m just the video guy.”

“
Just
the
fuel guy.
Just
the video guy. I’ll take them all clean off.” Nick
repositioned the cutter around Darwitz’s thumb.

“Ahhh! Eight.
Maybe more. I don’t know.”

“Where’s the
video?”

“What?”

“The video of
the kidnapping—where is it?”

“They still have
it! They haven’t sent it to me yet.”

“Tell me their
names. I want to know all of them!”

“I swear. Michael
is the only one I know.”

“Bullshit.”

“I swear.”

Nick gave the
cutter another squeeze.

“I swear I don’t
know any of them!”

“Who is Belgrade working for?” Nick asked. It was another question Beckholm had given him.

“I don’t know, I
swear. It’s some guy who recruited Michael for the job. Michael brought me in.
I swear I don’t know.” Tears streamed down Darwitz’s face. “I swear I don’t
know. Michael wanted it that way.”

Nick threw the
cutter toward the register and then looped the loose end of the rope around
Darwitz’s neck and pulled back.

Darwitz’s head
hit the table leg as Nick held the rope.

“You tell Belgrade,” Nick said, with his mouth next to Darwitz’s ear, “that I’m coming for him. You
tell him he’s a dead man, just like anyone else who has messed with my sister. When
I find her, she’d better be okay, or I’m coming back for you.”

Nick released the
rope and walked out. Beckholm had the car running, and they sped off. Beckholm
was already on the phone as Nick fastened his seatbelt.

“Agent Treft,
this is Agent Beckholm. I have reason to believe Elly Wittenbel is still
alive.”

THURSDAY

Jay awoke
feeling at peace for the first time in as long as he could remember. His mind
retreated to a long ago family vacation on a San Diego beach. He remembered the
hot sand under his feet as he and his cousin played catch with a Frisbee.

He slowly opened
his eyes and realized it was Elly cuddled next to him that reminded him of the
warmth of that beach.

He lay on his side
facing her with her head resting against his chest. The top of the sleeping bag
had been pulled down along with the oversized T-shirt she was wearing, exposing
three bumps of Elly’s spine just below her neck. The pink streaks in her
brunette hair reminded him of the pink ribbons his niece Kelly loved to wear.

Jay knew that once
they left the woods it was very likely he’d never be this close to Elly again. The
thought occurred to him that if he redirected where they were going, he could
lengthen the time he had with her. He immediately dismissed it as stupid and selfish.
There may still be kidnappers in the area, and both Elly and Jay had family waiting
for them.

Jay wanted to be
with Elly, but did he want everything that came with her? Elly talked about her
loss of privacy, and Jay wondered how, if he managed to become part of her
life, he would deal with it. Elly’s life playing in a band was a life spent on
the road, and Jay had that other problem. His commitment to the Marine Corps
wouldn’t be over for several years. Jay wanted to believe that being with Elly
was possible, but maybe Elly had thought of all the complications already, and
that’s why she walked away after their kiss.

Elly stirred and
nestled herself closer to Jay. He used his free hand to pull the sleeping bag
up to the back of her head. He didn’t want to wake her, so he remained still.
He closed his eyes again, not wanting to lose the feeling of having her close,
and fell back to sleep.

* * *

Belgrade held his shotgun ready as he crouched behind a large tree. The small tent was just
forty feet away. There would be no escape.

The four men,
all guns for hire, had shown up yesterday, shortly after the boss called
telling Belgrade he’d sent help. Belgrade wondered in what sick part of the
world his boss had found them. He was certain each one had done time. They used
first names only. Belgrade didn’t want to know any more.

The man known only
as Hammer saw Belgrade’s hand signal and moved in.

A man named Logan stood behind another tree holding his automatic rifle just feet from Belgrade. Two others, Cy and Bull, stood with weapons ready behind a nearby tree.

Hammer’s large
knife easily sliced the tent, like piercing another man’s flesh.

“What the hell?”
a male voice said from inside the tent. The young woman in the tent screamed.

“Don’t move!” Logan shouted. He saw the bare back of a young female lying on top of a young man.

Hammer scooped
up the young woman. She flailed, her naked breasts bouncing against his arm.

Belgrade immediately knew something was wrong. The girl was a short brunette, but otherwise
she looked nothing like Elly, and the young man was not putting up any kind of
a fight. A quick search for weapons turned up nothing.

“It’s not her,” Belgrade said.

“Say what? What
do you mean it’s not her?” Logan shouted.

“It’s not her,” Belgrade said. He cursed as he realized these two were teenagers.

Cy, who had dark
hair and a barbed-wire tattoo that wrapped around his neck, snorted and spit
out his chewing tobacco before saying, “Now what the hell do we do?”

Bull, who sported
a nose ring appropriate to his name and who hadn’t said a word since telling
everyone that name, pulled out his 9mm handgun and fired two shots into the
young man and then two into the girl.

Bull put his
weapon back in its holster and shrugged his shoulders.

* * *

Beckholm pulled
into the small airport and parked next to the squad car. The sheriff walked out
of the small airport office.

“Sheriff
Neuhaus, I’m Agent Beckholm.” He flipped open his badge. “This is Nick.”

“Nice to meet
you.” Neuhaus shook their hands.

“How are things
going with the search?” Beckholm asked.

“We’ve got a helicopter
in the air and two teams on the ground. Nothing has come up yet. I just came
from the floatplane owner’s house. Her name is Sarah Miller. It was her dad’s
plane, but he passed away several years ago. She doesn’t have a pilot’s license,
but she said she kept the plane because her younger brother is a pilot. The
brother is deployed in Afghanistan right now. Someone must have stolen the
plane.”

Agent Beckholm
scribbled notes. “You said you had something you want to show me?”

“I do.” Neuhaus
led them toward the runway. He reached into the folder he was carrying and
pulled out a color photo of a shell casing with a chalk outline around it. “We
found this on the tarmac over here.” Neuhaus pointed up ahead.

Beckholm took
the photograph and studied it.

“Another was right
here.” Neuhaus pointed at a faded chalk circle on the dark asphalt and then
another. “There were several more. We emailed pictures of the casings to the
ballistics expert who was out looking at the floatplane. He said they’re likely
a match. The bullet pattern on the engine cowling suggests a small caliber
automatic weapon. We sent him the casings along with a bullet we pulled out of
the engine for him to confirm. I requested he rush it through, so we’ll know
soon enough if it’s a match. We know the rounds that went through the floats
were a larger caliber.”

“So at least two
weapons are involved,” Beckholm said.

“That’s right. And
right over here,” the sheriff said, walking them to a larger chalk outline, “we
found this. Do you see the discoloration in the asphalt?”

Beckholm saw
what resembled a spot of oil the size of a dinner plate.

“We think it’s
dried blood. We got a sample. The lab is working on it.”

Nick turned away
from the blood.

* * *

Elly awoke feeling
completely relaxed, thinking about being in the swing on her cabin porch, wrapped
in a blanket and sipping on a hot cocoa. The demands of touring and her life as
she had known it were far from her mind.

She slowly
opened her eyes. Jay’s arms around her had become the comforting blanket she’d
been dreaming about. She couldn’t see his face and didn’t want to wake him, so
she didn’t move.

The events of
the past few days played in her mind. She pictured the floatplane as she’d
first seen it on the tarmac, just before the shooting started. She remembered
the pain as the hooded man pulled on her handcuffs, blood splattering on her
arms and shirt, and then running to the floatplane. The memory of Kevin lying
on the pavement stuck in her mind. Elly knew she was alive because of Kevin and
Jay.

Elly turned her
head, and her eyes met Jay’s. He was lying next to her using his hooded
sweatshirt as a pillow. Elly’s arm was draped across his stomach. She rolled
over and slid on top of his chest and locked eyes with him, their faces inches
apart.

“They didn’t
know you were there,” Elly said.

Jay stared back
at her.

“At the airport,
I mean,” she said. “They didn’t know you were there. You didn’t have to do
anything. They wouldn’t have noticed you.”

Jay kept his
eyes on hers. “My father once told me the biggest mistake someone can make is
seeing something you know isn’t right and doing nothing about it. He said
letting your fear overcome you so you don’t act is the definition of a coward.
I watched two people being taken off that plane who I knew would be dead if I
did nothing. I couldn’t let that happen.”

Elly stared down
at his eyes, completely fascinated with what he’d just said. She thought about
how Jay had been a stranger when he’d saved her, how he wrapped her feet and
led her through the woods, and how that first night he stayed awake watching
over her as she slept. She remembered how he’d pulled her under the tree so
those men wouldn’t find them. He put everything else aside to make sure she was
safe and did so without asking anything in return.

Elly thought of
her father, and a word he’d taught her at a young age came to mind:
integrity.
When dealing with the topics of boyfriends, he’d told her to look for a man
with integrity. Jay was a living example of the word. Elly knew right then he was
the man she wanted. She desperately wanted him to feel the same way about her.

“Thank you,” she
said softly. Elly had never stared into someone’s eyes for so long.

“Elly, yesterday
when we were in the lake, why did you walk away?”

Elly noted how
his voice was purely inquisitive, but it was clear she’d hurt him, which was
the last thing she wanted to do. His question was one she’d been asking herself
ever since then. “I was afraid.”

“Afraid?” Jay
asked softly.

“Afraid you won’t
want to be around me when we get out of here, and that you won’t want to be with
someone who has cameras following her around all the time. You’ve shown me
nothing but respect since we’ve met, and I didn’t want to lose that. I was
afraid you wouldn’t want to be in my life.” Elly smiled down at him.

Slowly she leaned
down and kissed him. The gap between them closed, and Jay wrapped his arms
around her as their lips remained locked.

Elly convinced
Jay to let her carry the backpack for a change. His rifle barrel was sticking
out the top of it.

They’d been
walking for about two hours and the sun was out in full force. The trees were
thinning, which meant the highway was close. If anyone was still looking for
them, this was the place they would be waiting.

“Are you doing
all right with that thing?” Jay asked.

“It’s not that
heavy.”

“Let’s take a
break, anyway.” Jay sat down with his back to an oak tree, holding the shotgun
across his lap. “We’re getting close.”

Elly removed the
backpack. “What do we do when we get there?” She sat next to him and their
shoulders touched.

“We catch a
ride, hopefully with someone friendly. We still need to be careful. Someone
might be waiting for us.”

Elly ran her
hands through her hair and then wiped her oily fingers on her shirt. “I want a
shower so bad.” She swatted a mosquito that landed on her arm.

“I’d settle for swimming
again,” Jay said. “How are your feet doing?”

“I think they’re
okay, but I haven’t checked to see if gangrene has set in yet.”

Jay pointed at
his knife. “Let me know, and I’ll amputate them for you.”

“You’re so
helpful.” Elly kissed him on the cheek.

They smiled at
each other.

* * *

Nick stared out
the window of the helicopter. As a “city boy,” he was amazed at the endless sea
of trees in every direction. The idea that his sister was lost in this
wilderness sunk his spirits to a new low since he first had reason to hope she
was still alive.

As the
helicopter descended into a clearing, Nick saw tents in the distance surrounded
by yellow crime-scene ribbon. A landowner had found the two tents and the four
dead men and reported them to police.

When the helicopter
touched down, Nick followed Beckholm and Sheriff Neuhaus toward the scene. The
trio was met by a sheriff’s deputy.