Forever Man (3 page)

The memory brought a fleeting smile to Izzy’s lips. At one time, their lives had been good. They had been happy.

What had gone so wrong?

And why had they allowed it to happen?

Izzy ran harder, picking up the pace as she neared Asher Boulevard, the main road through town. Her heart beat a steady, predictable
thub-dub
in her chest. Sweat caused her shirt to stick to her skin.

She angled left on Asher, cutting through Sclater’s Gas and Go. It was early October, but the station’s Labor Day pennants were still on display and snapping smartly in the breeze.

A block down Asher, Izzy had just decided to skip making dinner and take everyone out to eat at the Lula when she saw blue and red lights flashing in the distance. Soon they resolved into a Kinsey police cruiser heading her way. She slowed down. When the unit pulled up in front of her, she stopped, removed the earbuds and flipped them over her shoulder.

Sgt. Bob Talbert got out of the car. He was the Saturday morning shift supervisor. “Good, I found you. We’ve got a problem.”

Izzy smiled. “So I gathered. What is it this time? Someone found Chet Boardman passed out under another bush?”

Talbert looked shaken. “A call came in. Two people were hiking the trail up at Black Pine Lake. You know, the one off the campgrounds.” He paused. “They found a body.”

Izzy smile faded. “A body? A
dead
body?”

Talbert nodded. “Guess it’s pretty bad. Looks like an animal attack.”

“Is Carlton up there?” Carlton Manick was the patrolman on duty this morning. That is, if he’d managed to show up for his shift. Officer Manick was a work in progress.

“Yeah,” Bob said. “He’s there.”

“Okay, call Sten Billick. Have him head over and take charge of the scene. Then pull in Al Hamilton to cover Carlton’s patrol. I want you up there helping Carlton. He’s going to need it.”

“Izzy.” Bob’s tone stopped her—it was flat, bleak. “There was a car there.” He wiped a hand across his mouth. “It was Jimmy Cain’s Mustang. Carlton found a purse in it. There was a driver’s license.” He paused. “It was Natalie’s.”

Her stomach fluttered, and she suddenly felt cold. “But…that’s not right. She’s at a friend’s house. She spent the night there.”

With a slight shrug, Bob said, “It was definitely her license.”

“But I don’t….” Then it hit her. “Oh God, the body, is it—?”

Bob quickly raised his hands. “No, it’s not her. The DB’s male.”

Izzy’s mind churned. The Homecoming dance. Nat went there last night with Jimmy Cain. But she was supposed to go to Katie Bethel’s house afterward. She shouldn’t have been anywhere
near
the campgrounds. Yet, Jimmy’s car was there. And now Izzy had a dead body. Was it Jimmy? Or someone else? And if the body was Jimmy, then where’s…?

“Chief?” Bob was staring at her. “Should I call Stanley? Have him come pick you up.”

Izzy shook her head. “No. Take me to the station. I’ll grab a cruiser and head up to the campgrounds. But first I’ll call Stanley. Then the Bethels.”

“And if Natalie’s not there?”

Chief of Police Elizabeth Morris hurried over to the cruiser.

“Then nobody rests until we find her.”

The road leading to Black Pine Lake Campground was a relatively straight, hard-packed dirt lane barely wide enough for two-way traffic.

Izzy Morris eased off the accelerator and braked into the last of the road’s few curves; the tall trees crowding either side of the road fell away to reveal a small parking area with a large lake in the background. Two Kinsey PD units were there, both with their bar lights flashing. One had parked near the south end, where the campground’s trail began. The other unit idled near the entrance to the lot, partially blocking the road. Not surprisingly, she saw Stanley’s Audi. After she’d called him about Natalie, he’d said he would meet her here.

Parked next to the Audi was Detective Billick’s pickup. Four other vehicles occupied various spots in the lot. Three were SUVs with trailer hitches and probably belonged to campers.

The fourth was Jimmy Cain’s Mustang.

It sat at the far end of the lot, near the path that led down to the beach and Black Pine Lake. At night, with its unfettered view of the water and the sprinkling of cabin lights that decorated the shoreline, the parking lot was a popular gathering place for teenagers. That’s why she had a unit run through here nightly to break up any parties.

Which made her wonder what had happened last night. Why wasn’t Jimmy’s car spotted then? The situation investigated
then
?

Izzy rolled to a stop next to the unit blocking the exit. Patrolman Carlton Manick heaved his bulk out from behind the steering wheel. His uniform was wrinkled, the flesh under his eyes puffy, giving him a wounded, sullen look. One hand held a large take-out coffee container.

“Chief,” he said, nodding slightly. “Hope you don’t mind I let your husband in. Said he was with you last night.” He smirked. “Figured that’s as tight an alibi as anyone’s gonna get.”

Izzy ignored his innuendo. “Has anyone found my daughter?”

“Nope. Just the DB. James Elijah Cain. Age seventeen. Chewed up real good, too. Probably a bear.”

Izzy frowned. “How’d we get the positive ID?”

Carlton opened his mouth to speak, but then hesitated, his expression growing uncertain. After a few moments, he said, “Well, I…uh…turned the body over. So I could get to his wallet.”

“You did wait for Sten, right?”

“Um…no.”

“Damn it, Carlton. What were you thinking?”

“Come on, Chief. It’s not like we’re dealing with a homicide. Wait’ll you see that kid. Seriously, only an animal could’ve done that to him.”

Izzy clamped down on her frustration. Now wasn’t the time. Later, when things settled down, she’d deal with his incompetence. She waved a hand as if she were shooing away an annoying fly. “Just stay here and don’t let anyone in or out until I say so.”

“Sure,” Carlton replied, sounding relieved. When he took another pull at his coffee, his hand was trembling.

She nodded at the coffee. “And what’d I tell you about coming in to work hung over?”

His smirk returned. “It’s lack of sleep. Al Hamilton needed last night off. Stacy had her ten-year reunion, so I took his shift.” She must have looked confused, because he quickly added, “You approved the overtime.”

Yes, she did, though she’d only just now remembered. And her look wasn’t confusion about the overtime. It was the realization that—

“You were the one on patrol last night.”

It was Carlton’s turn to frown. “You sure you’re all right, Chief?”

“What time did you swing through here last night? Through
this
parking lot?”

There was a flicker of hesitation as Carlton put the pieces together. “Oh, I dunno. Nine-twenty. Maybe nine-thirty, tops.”

“And you never saw that bright yellow Mustang? The one over there, with the driver’s door open? The one sticking out like a sore thumb?”

He shrugged, his eyes drifting over to Jimmy’s car. “Must’ve arrived after my drive through.”

“And when was that again?”

“Nine-thirty.”

“Little early for a drive through, given there was a school dance last night. You sure about that time?”

“Positive,” he said, then added with a note of asperity, “Something you want to say to me, Chief?”

Izzy nodded. “Only the obvious: my daughter was last seen with the guy driving the Mustang you
claim
you didn’t see when you
claim
you swung through here last night—the same guy I’m told is lying dead up in those woods. And now my daughter is missing.” She gestured to the trail. “I don’t know if she’s back in the forest somewhere. I don’t know if she managed to escape what happened to Jimmy. I don’t know where she is—but I do intend to find her. So when you tell me you were up here around nine-thirty and that car wasn’t parked there, I’ll have to take your word for it. Conduct my investigation accordingly.” She leaned her head out the window. “And if I find out you’re lying—that you’re putting my daughter’s life in danger—I will make sure you never work in law enforcement again.

“Now, you still want to stick to your story?”

Carlton Manick stood motionless, his coffee seemingly forgotten. He was glaring at her, his jaw clenched, the muscles beneath his thin skin bunching like fists.

Long moments passed, the silence thickening the air between them.

Izzy said, “Something you want to say to
me
, Officer Manick?”

Carlton pulled in a deep breath, his nostrils flaring. He held the air for a moment. Izzy thought he was going to start shouting, and in her current mood, she would have welcomed it.

Then his muscles relaxed. He seemed to deflate as his breath seeped out from between lips that had spread into a solicitous grin.

“Sorry, Chief. I understand your daughter’s missing, and that’s got you on edge. I really do. But yes, I was up here last night. At nine-thirty. And no, the Mustang wasn’t here.”

He took a casual sip from his coffee cup.

Izzy cocked an eyebrow at her patrolman. She kept silent and simply stared at him.

Carlton Manick held her gaze for several seconds. Then his eyes drifted downward. A slight frown eroded the edges of his grin. Swirling the coffee in his cup, he tried to nonchalantly bring it up to his lips for another sip, but his hand was trembling again.

When he looked up, Izzy made sure her eyes were locked onto his.

His smile was gone—he looked completely subdued. Like the small child he was inside, Carlton couldn’t stand the silent reproach of an authority figure.

“Radio Sten,” she said tersely. “Ask him to meet me at the Mustang. I want him to walk me through what he has so far.”

Carlton hesitated, only a moment, and then nodded.

“Sure, Chief,” he said. “And…good luck finding your daughter.”

“You and I are not done with this,” she told him. “Not even close.”

Izzy had just completed her first circuit around the Mustang when Sten Billick emerged from the trail.

Even this early on a Saturday morning, he wore dark slacks, a sport coat, and an unassuming blue tie. His face was all sharp planes and angles, giving him a gritty, tenacious look. White hair fell casually across his brow. Beneath eyes like flakes of granite, he had a sharp nose, ideal for cutting through bullshit and getting right to the point.

He saw her, gave a curt nod, and made his way across the dirt parking lot. They met at the open driver’s door of the Mustang.

“Chief,” Sten said. He gestured to a group of people huddled together near the drive down into the campgrounds. “These campers didn’t see anything. You mind if I release them?”

Izzy nodded her approval, then pointed at her husband’s Audi. “Where’s Stanley?”

“Up at the crime scene. He was looking around for signs of your daughter. We’re keeping him away from the evidence.”

“Any sign of Natalie?”

He didn’t answer. Simply stared at her.

She felt a stab of fear. “What is it? What’d you find?”

“First of all,” he cautioned, “it may have nothing to do with Natalie. But there are two sets of footprints around the body. One—”

“What do you mean, ‘the body’? Don’t we have a positive ID?” Maybe the body wasn’t Jimmy’s—maybe this was a horrible, nightmarish misunderstanding.

Sten glanced back up the trail. “Most likely it’s Jimmy. His car’s here. The body seems the right size and age. And thanks to Carlton’s blunder, I have his ID.”

“But you’re not certain?”

“That’s the point. It’s impossible to tell.” He grimaced. “He’s—well, you’ll see. The damage is significant.”

“All right,” she said, her spirits sinking. “What about the footprints?”

“There are two different sets. One’s larger and looks like the vic’s. The other’s smaller, probably female. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re Natalie’s.” He paused for a moment. “Let’s work under the assumption that the body is Jimmy Cain. Even though he and Nat went to the dance together, maybe she didn’t come up here with him. Sometimes dates go wrong—”

Izzy raised a hand to stop him. “I already talked to Katie Bethel. She confirmed that Jimmy and Natalie were coming up here after the dance. They were supposed to meet back at Katie’s house but never showed.” She blinked back tears. “That was the last time she saw my daughter. Driving off with Jimmy.”

Sten took a moment to process this information. “But the other prints, they weren’t a woman’s dress shoe.”

Izzy wiped at her eyes. “She took a change of clothes. Jeans, a white shirt, and her Skechers.”

Sten looked lost for a moment, his hand absently scrubbing the top of his head, his eyes tracking the few fishing boats trawling for pike along the surface of Black Pine Lake. Finally, his shoulders slumped.

“This is some fucked up shit, Izzy.”

She and Sten were approaching the bend in the trail where Jimmy’s body had been found.

This deep into the woods, the trees practically surrounded them; only a narrow swath of blue sky could be seen above the boughs. And while the trail was wide enough for them to walk two abreast, they occasionally had to duck under low-hanging branches or step over deadfalls. In the daylight, hiking this trail would be challenging; at night, even with the full moon, it would be damned treacherous.

By Izzy’s estimate, they had covered about half a mile.

Up ahead, Bob Talbert walked along the tree line, searching the ground. Jimmy’s body lay several yards before the bend, a dark plastic tarp covering him.

There was no sign of Stanley.

Stopping at Jimmy’s body, Izzy said, “Bob, where’s my husband?”

Bob Talbert stopped and gestured to where the path continued beyond the bend. “Took off that way. When he realized I wasn’t going to let him get close and contaminate the crime scene, he headed out to see if he can find some sign of your daughter. He was shouting her name, but I haven’t heard him for a while now.” He got that uncomfortable look again. “I’m not sure he should be up here, Chief.”