Head Start (Cedar Tree #7) (2 page)

“Have you been on your computer yet? I had problems this morning logging on,” she asks.

“Haven’t had a chance. Why?”

“Well, if Neil is here anyway to fix whatever’s wrong with mine, he might as well have a look at yours; make sure all the upgrades are up to date and stuff.”

I shrug my shoulders. “Be my guest, here is my next patient,” I say with a chin nod toward the reception area. “I’ll be busy for the next hour anyway.” With that I motion to Mrs. Winkler, who I’ve been treating for a frozen shoulder. “Come on in. The needles are waiting for you.” With a small smile for Naomi and Neil, she follows me into my treatment room.

“How have you been?” I ask her once I’ve closed the door behind us. “Are you noticing any improvement?” I have treated her with acupuncture twice a week for the past three weeks and I’m hoping to see some loosening in the joint. She was so seized up by the time she came to see me, there was no movement whatsoever in that arm.

“I’m still having trouble with the kitchen cupboards and getting dressed in the morning isn’t much fun, but I do believe I have a bit more movement,” she says as she sheds her blouse and lays on the bed in just her undershirt.

“That’s great. Let’s have a look.”

For the next twenty minutes, I manipulate her shoulder joint. Finding her mobility is indeed a bit improved, I start preparing the needles. With the TENS machine hooked up to the needles and doing its work, I slip out of the room to quickly grab some coffee. Just as I pass by my office, Neil sticks his head out the door, causing me to almost drop my mug. “Holy shit.”

“Sorry,” he mumbles a bit sheepishly. “I just wanted to have a quick word if you have a minute.”

“I do if you follow me to the kitchen. I need more caffeine.”

I can barely hear him behind me. For a large man, he is surprisingly light on his feet. I pull my one indulgence, hazelnut-flavored creamer, from the fridge and wave it in his face. “You want one?” The look of disgust on his face is comical, and I can’t stop the snicker. “Guessing that’s a no?”

“I’ll have my coffee plain, thanks,” he says, opening a cupboard for a mug.

I’m still smiling as I pour our coffees and almost burst out laughing again when I see him watch me pour enough creamer in my mug to turn my coffee a delicious beige. “So what’s up?” I ask, closing my eyes automatically as the taste of hazelnut with a hint of coffee hits my taste buds.

“Two things actually,” he clarifies. “First, do you need any help moving? I have my old truck which can haul a shitload of stuff.”

I look at his youthful face with his far-too-serious eyes that seem ancient. Sure, most of the time, they shine with a teasing glint, but there’s a darkness hiding behind them too. “Sure,” I accept, because really—when a young guy built like a tank offers to help you move, especially after your family ditched you for an aquatic meat market, you don’t pass it up.

“Great. Just let me know when and where, and I’ll make sure my schedule’s clear.” His smile is genuine, and I’m struck once again by how tempting it can be to get lost to his charms. Even though I know he’d get bored with me soon enough in favor of something "fresher.”

“Sounds good,” I say quietly.

“Oh, and secondly, I was cleaning your drive when I noticed your cache file is pretty full,” he says, receiving a blank look from me, since I have no clue what he’s talking about. I can work a computer, but I don’t understand it. “Are you getting a lot of pop ups when you’re online? Those little screens with shit you don’t wanna see that suddenly cover your monitor?” he clarifies, thankfully, and I now understand exactly what he’s talking about. I shiver thinking about the vile, sadistic porn sites that have started popping up on my screen. 

“Actually, I do. Disgusting. How did they get there?” I half expect Neil to make fun of me, but he instead looks concerned.

“One of the sites you’ve visited has left something behind on your computer. An imprint that generates these links popping up. I want to have a look to see where it comes from.”

“Go right ahead. I’ve gotta get back to Mrs. Winkler.” I wave my hand in his general direction, not even half understanding what he just told me.

It isn’t until much later, when I’m lost in thought with my hands working the tension from my patient’s shoulder, that I realize Neil is going through my history with a fine-tooth comb.

Holy schnikes.

N
eil

Oh, I’m pissed.

No sooner had my hopes flared when Kendra agreed to let me help her move, that they deflated instantly upon finding the links to the MatureDatingOnly website in her Internet history. She’d been busy. Fuck me. Here I am thinking I might finally be making some headway with her, convincing her that the age difference between us means fuck-all, when reality hits me in the face. I know I’m crossing a line when I check her e-mails for evidence of some douche nozzle trying to hook up with her, but I figure the end justifies the means. Nothing. Not a damn thing. Which probably means she didn’t sign up with her clinic e-mail, because as beautiful, and fucking funny as she is, there’s no way she wouldn’t have had any interest. Christ.

I just finished clearing all the crap from her history, as well as cleaning up her drive, when my phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out and see Gus’s number, and swear softly at the sight of my boss’s name on the screen. I was about to go talk to Kendra about accessing questionable websites. Frustrated, I slide my thumb across the screen.

“Yeah?”

“Neil, you almost done? Meeting in my office in twenty.”

“On my way.”

Slipping the phone back in my jeans, I quickly finish installing the upgraded firewall and log off. With one look back at the still closed door of her treatment room, I pull her office door shut and head for the front desk, where Naomi is just showing her patient out.

“You done?”

“Didn’t take much,” I tell her. “Yours is up and running, was just a glitch with the automatic updates, and Kendra’s is cleaned up. She’s still in with Mrs. Winkler so I’ll catch up with her later.”

“Thanks, Neil.” She smiles at me and it hits me again how fucking lucky my colleagues at GFI are. Every last one of them has found their match and are building a future. Fuck, how I want that. I’ll admit, I’ve had fun sowing my wild oats, but I’m long since done with that. Left that part of my life behind when I came here from Grand Junction, but every good woman who has crossed my path has been snatched up from under my nose before I had a chance to make a move. And the one I’ve wanted most since meeting her is determined to keep me at a distance. Fuck, I almost lost a good friend to this stupid hang up of hers.

I shake my head to clear the frustration and bend down to kiss Naomi’s cheek. “No problem, Doc. I’ve gotta run, though, duty calls.” With a two-fingered wave, I step out of the clinic and into the warm spring sunshine. Damn, it’s going to be good being able to get out again. The Cedar Tree winters can be brutal and make the terrain traitorous but with this warmer weather, I can’t wait for a chance to try out my new ATV on the trails.

I’m at Gus and Emma’s place, also the GFI main office, five minutes later. It takes that long to get from one end of town to the other. I used to think I’d need a larger place to keep me busy, but since my first trip to Cedar Tree, it has never been boring. For a small town like this, they sure see a lot of action, which is why Gus—after our fist case here—moved the office from Grand Junction to here. Of course the fact that that first case netted him his wife, Emma, helped make that decision. During the first years, I stayed mostly in Grand Junction to run the office there with Dana, our office manager and resident mother. But she has since retired and Gus decided to close down that office. I started out in the guesthouse behind their house, but have recently moved into the apartment above the local diner, Arlene’s. She and her husband Seb have become good friends, as have all the other members of the GFI team. Two more members have been added since the office opened. Joe Morris, Naomi’s husband and the former sheriff of Montezuma County, and Mal Whitetail, Caleb’s brother. Of course Caleb and his wife, Katie, have both been operatives longer than I have.

By the looks of the cars assembled in the driveway, everyone has been called in. When I walk in the door, the unmistakable smell of something baking greets me. Emma, Gus’s wife, is our resident baker and will use any damn excuse to shove a pie or some pastries in the oven, even an emergency GFI meet.

She leans against the counter, wiping her hands on her apron and wearing a big ass smile. “Hey handsome.”

“Hey.” I smile back. “I swear, if Gus didn’t force us to hit the gym at least twice a week to stay in shape, you’d have all of us sporting guts with your need to feed.”

Emma flaps her hand. “Whatever, it’s just a few cinnamon rolls. Looks like you guys might be in there for a while and I didn’t have time to make soup for lunch. Gus just got the call forty-five minutes ago. You better get in there.”

I wrap an arm around her neck and pull her close, planting a kiss on her fiery mop of auburn curls. “You’re the best, Ems.”

“Coffee in the boardroom,” she yells after me when I turn into the hallway attaching the kitchen to the addition in the back which holds the GFI offices.

“Neil, good. Sit. FBI is gonna be here in fifteen and I want to get you guys up to speed.” Gus sits at the head of the massive boardroom table with my partners seated along the sides. I slip into a vacant chair beside Katie, giving her a wink as I sit down.

“Damian Gomez, as you know, is now leading the field office for La Plata County. He called in asking for our help. He’s short on staff, been working almost single-handedly on the disappearance of a number of women from this general area.”

“How general?” Joe pipes up. He’s the one with all the law-enforcement connections and I can hear the wheels turning. Gus turns to him.

“For now, limited to La Plata County, but with feelers out further. Once he brings in copies of what he has, we can talk about what it is we’re looking for in terms of matching cases up with other jurisdictions. I can confirm that there are five women missing. All are between twenty-five and forty years of age. Four were single, one married. As of this morning, three bodies have been found. Two had been there for a while. One was fresh, which makes number six. A hiker who was out early this morning stumbled on the bodies when he tripped and slid off the trail and down a twelve-foot ridge. He found them at the bottom, between a pile of sizable boulders. According to Damian, they looked to have been dumped there. The latest victim appears to have been there only a few days at most. Police is looking at getting her identified. All appear to be women.” Gus stands up, turns to the window and runs his hand through his hair. “We’ve had our share of trouble in this region, but if Damian is correct, this could be the first serial killer of this caliber since fucking Ted Bundy and Gary Ridgeway made Colorado unsafe.”

“Have mercy,” Mal breathes from the other side of the table.

“No shit. We’ll need it,” his brother Caleb adds.

The door opens and Emma pushes her walker in, a tray of sandwiches and the freshly baked cinnamon buns balancing on top. Behind her, FBI Special Agent Damian Gomez walks in, toting a case of bottled water and a stack of files.

“She got you working?” Gus smirks, looking at his wife appreciatively. He and Damian go back a ways, and not all of it very good, but in recent months, since Damian’s taken over the Durango office, things between them have been more amicable.

Damian’s grudging smile and raised eyebrow is his only response. Mal takes the tray from Emma and sets it on the table, while Damian adds the case of water.

“Thanks, Damian.” Emma smiles up at him, leaning in to give him a kiss on the cheek, something that obviously surprises him and stirs up Gus, whose low guttural growl can be heard clearly. “Oh geeze, Gus.” She turns on her husband, one hand on her walker for balance, the other resting on her hip. “Put your balls away, will ya? We all know they are exceptionally large. Now eat!” With that, she shuffles out of the room.

Gus shakes his head, unable to keep the smirk off his face. “Well. Now that that’s been established, grab something to eat and let’s get this show on the road. I’ll just be one minute,” Gus says, as he stalks out the door behind Emma. Most of us have a knowing grin on our faces, except for Damian, who looks a bit confused.

“Just go with it,” Katie tells him with a wink as she offers him a bottle of water. By the time Damian is done giving everyone a file folder, Gus comes walking back in, a satisfied look on his face.

“All right,” Damian starts. “Six missing women, three bodies recovered this morning. The latest one, Cora Jennings, was a nurse at Mercy General in Durango. The report on her was only filed this morning by her supervisor at Mercy. She apparently had a date two days ago, didn’t show up the next day and when her supervisor couldn’t get a hold of her, she went to check her apartment. The woman’s car was gone and no one answered the door. Durango PD is over there now waiting for the landlord to show up with the key so they can get in. We suspect the third body found on Smelter Mountain was that of Cora. It hadn’t been out there long. All bodies were partially dressed. Looks like their clothes were neatly cut open along the front. They look to have been violated and the cause of death appears to be strangulation. The coroner will make a report, hopefully by the end of today, on the latest victim. He’ll also be able to confirm her identity, but we’re pretty sure it’s Cora.” He sits back and gives us time to scan over the pages in the file.