Murder in the Devil's Cauldron (48 page)

"Even if Lake Superior is too cold," she said
as they threaded their way through the trees. "I'm so hot I won't
even notice if I jump in right now."

Charlie nodded agreement, too wiped out to
say anything.

As they neared the bottom of the hill, Starr
told Charlie to hold up.

"I'm going to make sure Fishy Fowler isn't
out there looking for us."

Charlie nodded and leaned the bike against a
fat birch tree. She wiped the sweat off her face with the
sweatshirt she had tucked into her backpack and sat down on a large
boulder to wait.

Starr carefully made her way down to where
the trees thinned out. If Fishy Fowler was out there, he would have
no difficulty spotting them here. She got as low to the ground as
she could and peered out from behind a pine tree. The road looked
clear, so she slithered down a little further, coming to rest
behind an outcropping of jagged granite.

She cautiously peered around the rock in both
directions. A couple of cars were coming and she ducked back, then
realized neither one was the right car and they were going too fast
to be Fowler.

She watched as they rounded the bend and was
just about to stand up and tell Charlie that the coast was clear
when a sparkle of light caught her eye. Starr looked intently and
realized a white Lexus was inching its way up the highway, its
right tires hugging the narrow shoulder.

She flattened herself against the ground,
hoping the boulder was large enough to obscure her when they drove
past. She heard the low thrum of the engine as the car slowly
passed and she lifted her head slightly as the sound faded and saw
the car slowly disappear as the road curved away from the Storm
Point Lodge.

It was only then that she realized she had
been holding her breath and now she let it out, relief making her
giddy.

"Check out those rocks," Fowler said.

He didn't slow and Viv craned her neck to
look. All she could see was a wall of trees next to the road.

"You didn't see anything?" The edge was back
in his voice.

"Where?"

"Back there by the rocks. Your side."

She undid the seatbelt and turned in her seat
to look again.

Had something moved right before the road
curved? She wasn't sure. And even if she had, she wasn't sure she
wanted to tell him. Viv had already decided that something wasn't
right. Not with this job and not with him. She thought about the
money and about what he had said earlier. She had no doubt he'd
throw her to the wolves if he got caught. Especially if he had an
inkling she might not have done everything to help him out.

"Maybe. I'm not sure," Viv said, hoping that
would be enough to get him to give up.

He tapped the steering wheel with his fingers
for another mile while Viv chewed the lipstick off her lower lip.
Then, to her dismay, he made a U turn and pulled into a
turnout.

"David?"

"Shut up. I'm thinking."

Starr returned to where Charlie was waiting.
"He just drove by. He was going real slow. But his car was going
south, so maybe he'll just keep going if he doesn't see us."

"So we can cross now?"

Starr was torn. All she really wanted to do
was get closer to the lake so she could cool off, talk to Charlie's
friend and get this over with. But the memory of last night's
attack kept intruding and she shook her head. "I think we should
wait."

Charlie scowled.

"I know," Starr said. "I want this over with,
too. I just think he might come back and if we're in the middle of
the road when he does …" She let the rest go unsaid, not wanting to
imagine where the thought might go. "Is there another way
across?"

"Not really. There's another path about half
a mile down the road, but we'd have to go all the way back up to
the trail to get there. And what if he's still trolling?"

Starr thought about it. "I could lead him
away so you could get across and then meet up with you at
Fae's."

Charlie shook her head. "No way. It was scary
enough waiting for you at the picnic table. We stick together."

"What if we wait until we hear his car go by
again. He can't turn around until he gets to the Lodge. We'd have
time to get across before he could come back."

"Yeah, that'd work." Charlie pulled the bike
back up. "Let's get this as close as we can."

After a couple of minutes, the girls had
pushed the bike almost to the edge of the trees. They stuck it
behind a big old pine tree that shielded it from the road and then
lay on the ground and listened for the car.

Fowler was waiting for some traffic. Not just
one or two cars. He wanted a whole line of them. Either a bunch
stuck behind a big ore truck or the lineup that happened when the
first car in line was poking along too interested in looking at the
scenery to notice that they had a mile-long line stuck behind them.
It happened often enough up here that he figured it wouldn't take
long. All he had to do was wait for the cars to pass and then pull
in behind a few minutes later. If those girls were waiting for a
pause in the traffic, they'd be crossing when he came by.

He smiled at the thought, not noticing his
smile had made Viv shudder.

Fae pulled into the Bide-A-Wee driveway and
parked by the office. The sheriff hadn't gotten there yet, but she
didn't have time to wait. She went into the office, hoping Harry
had noticed something.

He got up when he saw her come in. "No Bakken
brothers today, Fae," he grinned.

"How about a David Fowler?"

"Nope."

"Diana Marshall?"

"Doesn't ring a bell."

Maybe the sheriff was right about the kid,
Fae thought. It
was
kind of far-fetched. She was about to
thank him for his time when she had another thought. "Any blonde
women this last week?"

"Here in Minnesota, you mean?" He
grinned.

Fae returned his smile. "You know what I
mean, Harry. Single woman? Maybe a bit out of place?" She was
guessing that the last, but if it was one of Fowler's associates,
the woman would probably be as out of place up here as he was.

"Well, now, that does put me in mind of
someone," he said slowly, his gaze on a small cabin just
opposite.

"How long has she been here?"

"Just the week," he said. "Just told me she'd
be staying for another. Doesn't look like the type. Lot of nice
clothes, but nothing you'd go hiking in, ya know."

Fae nodded. "Her name?"

He checked his records. "Vivian Ellis."

The name wasn't familiar to Fae, but she knew
it was likely they didn't have the names of all of Fowler's
associates. She saw the sheriff's patrol car pull in finally.

"Which cabin?"

"Fourteen." He pointed to the cabin directly
across from his.

"Any strange comings and goings?"

"I haven't really been paying attention," he
said. "The Twins have been in a slug fest with the Sox and Molly
and me've been having a few words lately, so I've been in the back
more'n I've been out here."

"Sorry to hear that," Fae said. "Everything
all right now?"

"Oh, yeah. You know how it is sometimes. At
least the Twins came out in front this time." He scratched the top
of his head as the sheriff opened the door. "Hey, Mike. I was just
telling Fae here that I haven't been paying much attention, so
didn't really see anything."

Fae pulled out the picture of Diana Marshall
and showed it to Harry. "Did she look anything like this
woman?"

Harry studied the picture. "Kinda. I couldn't
swear to it being the same woman. It's real close. But I would've
said she was a relative. Ya know?"

The sheriff cocked his head to get a good
look at the picture.

Fae looked at the puzzled expression on his
face. "Mike?"

He looked at her, back at the picture, and
then back up and nodded. "I'd say the same thing. The gal I met at
the Lodge looked a lot like this one, but like Harry said, I'd
guess she was a relative. Pretty sure it wasn't this one."

Fae dropped her bombshell. "This is an
extremely recent picture of Diana Marshall."

"I hear something," Charlie whispered.

Starr nodded. "It sounds like a big truck."
She had put Charlie's sweatshirt over her head to hide her hair and
she peered around the side of the boulder, watching as the ore
truck grumbled by, followed by a long line of cars.

Then the road was quiet again.

"Ready?" Charlie said.

"Let's just wait," Starr said.

"Why?"

"I didn't see his car."

"Maybe he kept going. Maybe he's half way to
Duluth by now."

"Maybe. But what if he's really Tricky
Fowler?"

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Doesn't rhyme."

"That's the best word I could think of,"
Starr laughed.

"Nothing's happening. We could be across by
now."

"Let me see," Starr said and got to her
knees, looking for the car or the shine of light on the
windshield.

"Well?"

It looked clear, but something was nagging at
Starr. Maybe she was just being paranoid now. "Looks clear."

Charlie started to get up. Then stopped.
"Down."

They flattened themselves quickly. A few
seconds later a car drove slowly by.

Starr realized that what had been bothering
her had been the faint sound of the engine. She risked a look and
saw the distinctive park sticker with the loon on the back of the
car.

"That was them," she whispered. "They just
went around the bend. Let's go."

They wrestled the bike upright and skidded
down the hill. As they crossed the highway, Starr kept a sharp
look-out for Fowler's car, but the road stayed clear. A moment
later, they were swallowed up by the trees, but didn't stop until
they got all the way up to Fae's house.

Fowler pulled into the driveway right before
the one that went to the Lodge, then realized it went to the
employee housing area. This was a stroke of luck, he thought as he
turned around. He could use it tonight, especially if he had any
luck this afternoon.

"David, please," Viv said. "If they're
looking for us at the Lodge, they're going to see the car. If we
keep this up, we're going to be totally screwed. You said you had a
plan for tonight. Let's leave it until later. It'll be safer
then."

"Just a minute." His eye was caught by the
car that had driven in behind him. It circled Fowler's car and then
parked next to a line of other vehicles at the far edge of the
parking area.

"David."

"Shut. Up." Fowler watched as a couple got
out and walked towards the Lodge. He quickly turned the car into
one of the parking spaces.

"I'll be right back," he told Viv. Taking the
keys, he got out of the car and walked to the Lodge, forcing
himself to take his time. When he got through the trees to the
front of the Lodge, he saw that nearly every parking space was
taken.

"Saturday brunch," he muttered, finally
remembering the spiel of the desk clerk when he and Diana had first
arrived. Without hesitation, he got in the SUV, drove it out of the
lot and parked it in the employee parking area, but opposite the
cars that were there for the brunch. Now it would look as if the
SUV belonged to one of the employees. It would be practically
invisible, especially since no one knew about his connection to
it.

"
Now
can we go?" Viv's voice grated on
him as he got back in the car.

"Just one more pass," he said, his confidence
returning. "They have to be there."

"What if they're already across and we're
wasting our time? We're making ourselves into sitting ducks. What's
the matter with you? This isn't like you."

Her whining was getting on his nerves and he
felt like smacking her. He was so close to getting that film and
all she could do was bleat about getting caught. This was the last
time he was going to work with her. She might have been useful with
the sheriff, and if he hadn't needed her for the bank, he'd give
serious consideration to tossing her into the Cauldron to keep
Diana company.

A patrol car roared up the highway and Fowler
saw it turn in at the Lodge. Maybe it was time to move on to the
next plan, after all.

"You're right," he said as lightly as he
could. "Let's find a place to stay."

"What?"

He pulled back onto the highway and headed
south. There had to be a cheap place to stay that was out of the
way for just one more night.

"If I can't get the film tonight, it'll have
to be tomorrow morning. Which means we need a place to stay for
tonight."

"And if you don't get the film tomorrow,
either?"

"Oh, I will," he said grimly. "One way or
another, I will. I have just about had it with this place."

Starr and Charlie didn't slow down until they
reached Fae's house. As they came down the driveway, Starr half
expected to hear the killer's car come driving in towards them at
full speed.

When they reached the house, the first thing
Starr noticed was the empty garage. "Darn. What do we do now?"

"She probably just went to the store or
something," Charlie said. "I'm sure she'll be back soon. But if
she's not, we should figure out where we're going to hide if Fishy
Fowler decides to explore down this way to see if we're here."