Tax Assassin (4 page)

Seth nodded.

“
Highland’s
right?”

Seth nodded.

“
What’s with the heavy
accent?” Dale asked. “I mean, her family’s been here like a hundred
years. She sounds like she’s an illegal.”

“
She grew up speaking
Spanish,” Seth said. “She didn’t speak ‘gringo’ until she started
working here. You can imagine how her Spanish went over with my
father.”

“
He was a real
dick?”

“
I don’t think he realized
that her family lived here long before our family fled the
potato-famine,” Seth laughed. “Wouldn’t have occurred to
him.”

“
Maresol?” Dale shook his
head. “She’s been . . . um . . .”

“
Bitchy?” Seth smiled.
“She’s worried about me.”

“
Oh,” Dale said. “I thought
it was me.”

“
She gets that way when
she’s worried about you too,” Seth said.

Dale chuckled.

“
Did you get breakfast?”
Seth asked. “Or, I guess, dinner?”

“
Nah,” Dale said. “I was
going to help you get set up then go to bed.”

“
Why don’t I make us
something to eat while you clean up?” Seth asked. “We can eat, move
in, and you can get to bed.”

Dale nodded, and Seth left the room. He made
quick work of pancakes, eggs, and some bacon for Dale. He was
holding the bacon over the pan when Dale joined him. They ate in
easy silence. Seth made another pot of coffee, and they started
moving furniture.

Maresol had retrieved his long work desk
from his office at the Denver Police office. Originally a mahogany
barn door, he and Mitch had it made into a desk big enough for both
of them. Ten years after Mitch’s death, Seth still placed a chair
across from him for his friend. This hundred-year-old house didn’t
have overhead lighting so Maresol had purchased a variety of desk
and floor lamps. When they were done, the room was well lit and
very Seth.

“
Austere,” Maresol said
from the doorway. “Nice.”

Dale scooted out from under the desk.

“
Try it now,” he
said.

Seth clicked a few keys on the computer, and
the Internet connection came up.

“
Where is the rug?” Maresol
asked.

“
Rug?” Seth squinted at
her.

He loved the look and feel of the hardwood;
she loved the lower maintenance provided by floor rugs. She scowled
at him. He pointed to a rolled up wool rug leaning against the
wall. She made a point of rolling it out by herself. The rug
created an almost perfect contrast between the rich maroon of his
desk and the pale honey color of the pine floors. His little office
now had a big desk, two chairs, lots of light, and a rug – Seth was
ready to get to work.

“
Dale will pick up a white
board for you today,” Maresol said. “We’ll put it over
there.”

When Seth didn’t respond, Dale and Maresol
left him to his work. He was just wondering where he’d left his
phone, when he saw his cell phone sitting in the middle of the
doorway. He picked up the phone and began making calls.

FOUR

When he’d talked to as many detectives as he
could, and left messages for the rest, he turned to email. He sent
a vague email asking every police department in every medium-sized
town across the United States if they had four unrelated gun deaths
clustered over a summer. He counted on the fact that his name and
reputation would encourage people to take him seriously. If that
didn’t work, he’d have to talk to the FBI.

Scowling at the idea of calling the FBI, he
settled down to read the Xeroxed police files McGinty had left with
him. He always found that a slow, careful read through any murder
file told him everything he needed to know about the murder and the
cops working the case. The scribbled notes and frayed pages of
McGinty’s files told the tale of a detail-oriented cop and a much
worried over case.

Seth got up mid-afternoon for a cup of
coffee. He found a note from Maresol saying that there was no food
in the house. She had gone to the supermarket. He left a pot of
coffee brewing and went for a swim.

The ritual of swimming laps was relatively
new to him. He loved running, but his joints were in no condition
to handle running right now. Maresol had fixed and filled the pool,
and practically pushed him in. He wasn’t a very good swimmer
compared to Ava’s smooth strokes. But he enjoyed the silent,
rhythmic press of one stroke after another.

Today, he focused on
letting the details of the case – the
who
’s, the
why
’s, and the
where
’s – float away so that a
pattern might appear. Unable to find one, he finished his laps and
took his medically-prescribed fifteen minutes in the infrared
sauna. A quick shower, and he was back in the kitchen drinking a
cup of coffee when Maresol came in.

“
It’s decaf,” he said to
her disapproving look.

“
You’re drinking my decaf?”
Maresol swore at him in Spanish.

He set his cup down and hugged her.

“
Everything is really all
right,” he said.

“
I worry about you,” she
said.

“
I know,” he said. “I’m
going to be all right. I have this case and . . .”

The doorbell rang. They heard Dale jog down
the stairs to answer the door.

“
Visitors,” Seth said. “You
know how I love visitors.”

She chuckled at him.

“
You going to be okay this
weekend?” Maresol asked.

“
I am,” he said. “I’ll
work, swim, and play my piano. If I get bored, I’ll go play at
Charlie Brown’s or hang out with Sandy’s kids. Don’t worry about
me.”

She nodded. Hearing voices in the entryway,
she patted his shoulder and went to see what was going on. He
finished his coffee. He looked up to see two graying men wearing
wrinkled sports coats, donut-induced paunches, and bad hair cuts
standing in the doorway. Their worn cowboy boots, shiny belt
buckles, and broad mustaches planted them firmly in the Western US.
The identical service revolvers sticking out of their side holsters
made them cops.

“
Coffee?” Seth asked the
police detectives.

“
Sure,” the older man said.
“You O’Malley?”

Nodding, Seth poured two cups and set out a
carton of cream. Maresol gave Seth a Tupperware of chocolate chip
cookies. He nodded toward the door. The men followed him out of the
kitchen and started up the stairs.

“
Jeez, I heard you were
loaded, but this place is gorgeous,” the taller man
said.

“
It was my father’s,” Seth
said.

“
Your poppa had money?” the
other detective asked.

“
Just enough to sign a
mortgage on the place,” Seth gestured to the restroom. “You look
like you’ve had a long drive. I’m two doors down.”

The taller detective scooted into the
bathroom.

“
There’s another one down
the hall.”

Seth pointed to the restroom next to Dale’s
bedroom. The other detective went down the hall. In his new office,
Seth found that Dale had mounted a large white board on the wall
while he was swimming. He’d even left non-smell, dry erase pens. He
could almost hear Maresol instruct Dale not to the get the old man
high. He smiled, and the taller detective ambled into the room.

“
Wyatt Bodie.” The taller
detective held out his hand for Seth to shake. “My partner’s Gage
Markleman. We’re
from . . .”

“
Salt Lake?”

“
Casper.”

Detective Bodie smiled without making his
mustache move. Seth was about to ask about it when Detective
Markleman came in. He shook Seth’s hand.

“
Sorry, I just moved in
here today,” Seth said. “I didn’t think of . . .”

Dale stood in the doorway with an additional
chair. Smiling, Seth took the chair from him and went back in the
room.

“
This is good coffee,”
Detective Markleman said. “Any chance of getting
dinner?”

“
Who is your captain?” Seth
asked.

“
Shepperson,” Detective
Bodie smiled.

“
Told you about
Maresol?”

The detectives laughed.

“
Shep has a deep fondness
for Maresol,” Seth laughed.

“
He told us,” Detective
Markleman said. Imitating his captain, he said, “Drive fast and
you’ll get the best dinner you’ve had in your entire life by the
most amazing woman.”

Seth laughed. As if on cue, Maresol appeared
in the doorway.

“
Are you staying for
dinner?” she asked.

“
They work for Shep,” Seth
said.

“
Oh good Lord,” she left
without another word.

Seth laughed.

“
What can I do for you?”
Seth asked.

“
We saw your email this
morning,” Detective Bodie said. “You probably heard we had some
trouble last summer.”

Seth shook his head.

“
That’s right,” Detective
Markleman said. “You were involved in that Saint Jude thing. Didn’t
you get the First Responders?”

Seth nodded.

“
Sounded bad,” Detective
Markleman said. “I heard you could see and hear, but not move. That
right?”

Seth nodded.

“
And anything they did to
save you would have killed you?”

“
That’s about it,” Seth
said.

The detectives shook their heads.

“
So, I missed some trouble
in Casper?” Seth asked.

“
We had a weird situation,”
Detective Markleman said.

“
One of the state
representatives was shot, killed, in Casper,” Detective Bodie said.
“Looked like a hunting accident.”

“
Hunting on a private
reserve,” Detective Markleman added.

“
Shot while he was out,”
Detective Bodie said.

“
It happens,” Seth said.
“Did he die?”

“
Clean shot,” Detective
Bodie said. “Straight through the heart.”

“
The weird thing was . . .”
Detective Markleman and Detective Bodie shared a look.

“
What was that?” Seth
asked.

“
We took a lot of shit for
this last summer,” Detective Bodie said. “We wouldn’t be here if
the captain hadn’t ordered us to come. Now here we are and . .
.”

“
We debated how much to
tell you the whole way down, because I’ll tell you, Criminal
Investigations thinks we’re nuts.”

“
Okay,” Seth said. “What
was the weird thing? Start from the beginning. Feel free to repeat
yourself.”

Detective Markleman nodded to his partner
for him to set up the case.

“
The representative was
shot while he was out hunting elk on a private reserve,” Detective
Bodie said. “That’s not a big deal. I’d say it’s not a common
outcome from those trips, but hell, the vice-president shot his
friend on a hunting trip.”

“
It happens,” Seth
said.

“
Right,” Detective Bodie
said. “Almost an exact match to their ammo – same weapon, same
reload. Forensics even says it’s similar enough lead. Tire weights,
most likely.”

“
But?”

“
He was shot with a hollow
point,” Detective Bodie said. “They didn’t load hollow points.
Wyoming CI says the hollow point musta got mixed in by
accident.”

“
It happens,” Seth
repeated.

“
Even the owner of the
ranch said it’s possible.”

“
Anything’s possible,” Seth
said. “Doesn’t mean it happened.”

“
Exactly,” Detective Bodie
said.

“
Find any
brass?”

“
No,” Detective Bodie said.
“They weren’t experienced hunters.”

“
They shot multiple times,”
Seth said.

“
Every mark,” Detective
Markleman nodded.

“
If the shooter was from
the hunting party, we should have the brass,” Detective Bodie said.
“We found bupkis. Perfect shot, no brass. We figure it’s got to be
military, CIA, DHS, or something. Official word is
no
.”

“
There are a lot of vets in
Wyoming,” Detective Markleman said. “Those kids get home from the
Middle East and want to hide some place they don’t have to deal
with too many people. Wyoming is perfect for them.”

“
Catch anyone?”

“
The captain liked a guy
for it but . . .” Detective Bodie said.

“
Shepperson’s a good cop,”
Seth said. “If he
thought . . .”

“
Even he said he was
grasping at straws,” Detective Markleman said.

Seth nodded.

“
It wouldn’t be as weird
except that three other people were killed in the county last
summer,” Detective Bodie said.

“
Same M.O. ?” Seth
asked.

“
No,” Detective Markleman
said. “Different weapons, different situations; almost every single
detail about these crimes is different.”

“
Were they shot with the
same precision?” Seth asked.

“
No,” Detective Bodie said.
“The shooter in the representative’s killing was clearly skilled.
But the rest? Most looked like accidents.”