Terry Odell - Mapleton 02 - Deadly Bones (33 page)

“I can’t believe you’re going all straight and narrow on me now,” Megan said.

“I don’t know. I have a
feeling
something’s wrong.”

“Well, duh. We’re sneaking around in the dark in the middle of the night in an area we’re not supposed to be in. That’s wrong to begin with. Of course you’re going to have one of your
feelings
now. What if I tell you I have a
feeling
that everything’s going to be all right?”

Angie glowered. “Then I hope your feelings are stronger than mine. Let’s get this over with.”

Megan took a second to orient herself, pointed the beam of light ahead of her, and started walking, more by instinct than vision. Angie’s footfalls behind Megan reassured her that Angie hadn’t given up on their quest. She slowed. “Closer. Grab my waistband.”

Shoving branches out of her way, Megan forged ahead, ducking and dodging their way through the woods. When Rose’s house appeared as a shadowy structure, as spooky as a haunted house, she stretched out an arm, holding Angie back. Using her flashlight, she illuminated the route to the back porch. “Ready?”

Angie blew out a deep breath. “Ready.” She tugged on Megan’s jeans. “You
did
bring the keys, right?”

“Keys? I thought you had them.”

The punch to her butt told Megan she hadn’t fooled Angie. Megan twirled the key ring around her finger. “Got ‘em. Ready? On three?”

Megan whispered the count and took off at as rapid a pace as she felt comfortable with in the darkened conditions. It seemed to take forever, but finally, she reached the back porch and climbed the steps, grateful that Justin had repaired them on his last visit. The creaks would have alerted someone in the next county to their presence.

She slotted the key by feel, then eased the door open. She tugged Angie inside and left the door slightly ajar behind them. “Wait here. I’ll make sure the curtains are closed.”

Aiming the covered beam toward the floor, Megan tiptoed quickly to the living room and drew the drapes. She flipped an end table lamp to low and whispered for Angie. “I’m going upstairs to pack Justin’s things and get Rose’s glasses. You’re the lookout.”

“And if someone does show up, what am I supposed to do? Invite them in for coffee? No way. I’m coming up there with you. We’ll be done faster.”

Megan had a brief internal cringe at someone else going through Sam’s things, but it did make sense to bring him a change of clothes and some other familiar items. After all, she was already here. “All right. You gather everything in Justin’s room and put it in his case. I’ll grab some of Sam’s stuff.”

Once again, Megan made sure the curtains were closed before turning on a light. There would be a little leakage, but not enough to alert anyone driving by. She hoped. In Rose and Sam’s bedroom, she went first to Rose’s side of the bed and found her reading glasses inside a quilted caddy tucked between the mattress and the dust ruffle. There was a paperback in there as well, so she plucked it. She found a small carryon in the closet and, feeling even more uncomfortable than she had when she’d gone through Rose’s lingerie, found some clean underwear, undershirts, and a pair of pajamas for Sam. She added a pair of trousers and two shirts, hurriedly folded them and packed them into the case. She scuttled down the hall to Justin’s room. “You done?”

“Got it.” Angie zipped the bag. “Didn’t picture him as a boxers kind of guy, though. His tush seems to demand briefs. Bikini. Tight ones.”

“Sheesh, Angie. Stop that. Let’s go.”

“As long as we’re here, what say we go check the bone site?”

Megan set the case down and fisted her hands at her hips. “Say what? No. No, no, no. No way. That’s what I say.”

“Come on. Aren’t you curious? It’s practically on our way back to the car.”

“And if there are cops anywhere, that’s where they’ll be. Forget it. We’re going back exactly the way we planned.” Megan picked up the case and shut off the light.

“Hey, I can’t see,” Angie said.

Megan clicked on the flashlight. “Now you can. We’re going.”

Downstairs, she sent Angie to wait by the back door with both suitcases while she dealt with the lamp in the living room. As she reached for the switch, headlights from an approaching car bled through the gaps in the curtains. She waited, holding her breath. When the lights continued past, disappearing into the darkness, she exhaled and turned off the light. Without bothering to use the flashlight, she tiptoed through the living room, across the kitchen toward the porch. Where the door was wide open.

And where Angie wasn’t.

Chapter 38

Gordon didn’t know how long it had taken before he realized the rock concert in his dream was his cell phone. He fumbled for the nightstand, where he normally left his phone, but it wasn’t in its usual spot. He rubbed his eyes, slitted his lids open and saw only the glowing red numerals of his clock displaying one-forty-seven. He’d been asleep less than two hours. Groaning, he clicked on the lamp, squinting against the brightness. Where was the damn phone?

By now, it had stopped ringing. He finally found the thing on the floor underneath the bed. He remembered texting Colfax before the world went black.

His eyes barely able to focus, he managed to find the voicemail icon, bouncing impatiently while the call went through. He punched in his code, wishing he could fast-forward through the automatic recording before he heard the message itself.

“Chief Hepler, this is Deputy Kennedy with the Sheriff’s Department. I’ve picked up a Megan Wyatt running away from the evacuation zone. I’m bringing her to the Mapleton station.”

“Is she all right?” Gordon asked, before the recording told him that was the end of the message. Right. Voicemail. Not live. He shook his sleep-fogged head and punched in the number for Dispatch, where Tessa answered.

“Tessa. Gordon Hepler. Have they brought Megan Wyatt in yet? I got a message from a Deputy Kennedy.”

“They’re about seven minutes out,” Tessa said.

“I’m on my way. Let me know as soon as she arrives. I want to talk to her.” Gordon threw on some clean clothes and ran for his SUV. Once he was rolling, he plugged his cell into the charger, put it on speaker, and called Tessa back. “What do you have on the call?”

After a moment, she came back on the line. “Officer responding was a deputy, so he reported to County. Hang on.”

After a much longer interval, Tessa came back again. “Routine report, Chief. Deputy saw someone at the bone site. No ID. Per his instructions, he called it in, and is transporting.”

“No other details?”

“Sorry, Chief. I’ll patch you through when she gets here.”

What had Megan been doing? And, as Gordon’s brain cleared another level of cognizance, where was Angie? Hadn’t Megan been spending the night with her? He had trouble believing Megan would have gone off on her own—not if Angie knew anything about it. And somehow, Megan sneaking off without Angie’s knowledge didn’t play.

He goosed the accelerator and flipped on his light bar.

Minutes ticked by, and no call. If Kennedy and Megan had been seven minutes out, why hadn’t he heard? He turned up the volume on his radio, figuring something Tessa deemed more important must have hit the fan.

When he heard a BOLO being put out for Angie’s car, along with her description, he added the siren and floored it.

He laid rubber as he took the curve into the parking lot. He covered the distance from his SUV to his office door at a dead run, then stormed through his office to the duty officer’s desk.

“Update on Angie Mead?”

“Nothing new. BOLOs are out, so everyone’s on the lookout.”

“Megan Wyatt?”

“Interrogation.”

A distraught and disheveled Megan sat at the small table in the interrogation room, a deputy whom Gordon assumed was Kennedy leaning over her, his hands resting on the scarred Formica tabletop, invading her space. He swiveled as Gordon entered the room.

“Deputy Kennedy?” Gordon displayed his badge. “Gordon Hepler, Chief of Police.”

“Yes, Sir.” Kennedy snapped to attention. He was young, blond, and muscled, projecting the by-the-book attitude so common in new cops. Naturally, Colfax wouldn’t have pulled seasoned officers for something as routine as patrol and perimeter duty. He couldn’t blame him—hell, Gordon had been filling in with his civilian corps. “I’ll take over.”

With a brusque nod, Kennedy marched out of the room. Megan knocked her chair over as she rushed up and wrapped her arms around Gordon. “Thank God you’re here. Angie’s missing. I told her to wait by the door while I turned off the lights and then she was gone. You have to find her.”

Gordon clasped Megan’s hands. “They’re already looking. I need you to tell me everything you know.”

“That deputy’s already asked me a million questions.” She glared in the direction of the door. “Most of which were based on the assumption that
I
was a criminal. Do I look like a criminal?”

Gordon almost smiled. Megan was dressed all in black, and a black watch cap rested on the table. Kennedy’d found her sneaking around an evacuation zone, not far from a taped-off crime scene. “Of course not.”

He righted the chair and guided her into it. “Tell me what you know.”

“It’s my fault. I wanted to see Justin on his last night. All I was doing was getting Justin’s things, and Rose’s glasses, and some clean clothes for Sam. We parked up on Cottonwood and went through the woods to the back door of Rose’s house.”

“Whose car?”

“Angie’s. Anyway, we got everything, and I told Angie to wait, and when I came back, she wasn’t there. We’d left the door open, but just a hair. So it would be quieter and faster if we had to make a run for it. When I got there, the suitcases were by the door, but it was wide open. First, I thought Angie had gone to check out the bone site. She’d wanted to, but I said no way. But she can be stubborn.”

“
Yes
, she can. What did you do next?”

“I wondered if she’d gone to the car, but that didn’t make sense—not without at least one of the suitcases. So I went looking for her. I went to the bone holes, but she wasn’t there. I thought cops would be guarding it, and if they were, I was going to ask them to help me.”

“Everyone was evacuated, remember?”

“Right. Well, I was afraid that maybe Angie had tripped. It was dark and she’s not as familiar with the area, and I had the flashlight. She could have fallen into one of the holes, but they were taped off and she wasn’t in any of them.”

“Any idea how long you were looking before Deputy Kennedy found you?”

She shook her head. “Seemed like forever. But probably not more than half an hour.”

“Go on.”

“The next thing I knew, that deputy told me to freeze.” She choked out a half-laugh, half-sob. “Boy, did I ever. I couldn’t have moved if you’d paid me. Anyway, I tried to tell him who I was, but I didn’t have any ID, or my cell, or anything. It was all at Angie’s. He handcuffed me, Gordon. As if I might hurt him.”

“Standard policy,” Gordon said. “For his own safety.” Still, the idea of Megan being cuffed twisted his insides.

“He took me to his vehicle and locked me inside. He said he was going to check around. I don’t know how long he was gone. It seemed like another forever. Then we drove around, to where Angie had parked. But her car wasn’t there. I kept telling him to call you, but he said we had to follow procedure, and that disturbing the Chief of Police in the middle of the night wasn’t part of it, so we drove to the station. And then he asked me more questions, and then you got here.” She took a breath, as if she hadn’t had one during her entire recitation. “We have to find Angie.”

“Did she say anything about being somewhere? Or leaving you behind? Why she would drive away and leave you?”

“I can’t believe she’d do that.” Her complexion matched the puke-green paint on the walls. “Someone took her.”

Gordon had already jumped to that conclusion, but hearing it aloud brought it home. Someone had Angie. He figured his color wasn’t any better than Megan’s. He gripped her hands. “We’re going to find her.”

“What do we do next?”

“We?” He ran through the options. Sending her to Angie’s place was too risky. Back to Rose’s? The fire was no longer a threat, but someone had already found Angie there. Another risk he wouldn’t take. In fact, sending her anywhere on her own was too risky. “You’re staying here. I’ll take care of finding Angie.”

Megan’s wide, frantic eyes took in the room. “Here? I can’t stay here.”

“Not in this room.” He extended his hand and helped her from the chair. If her legs felt like his, she could use the support. Together, they walked to the break room. “In here. If you need anything, go to the front desk and ask for the duty officer. But don’t leave the station.” He gripped her shoulders and forced her gaze to his. “Promise me that.”

She shuddered a sigh. “Promise. But you have to promise you’ll tell me what’s going on.”

He thought for a moment. “Come with me.” He escorted her to Dispatch, introduced her to Tessa, and found a vacant chair. “You can follow anything from here, as long as you don’t interfere.”

“Of course not.” Megan sat, her elbows on her knees, head in her hands.

Gordon moved closer to Tessa’s desk. “Where do we stand?”

“Nothing new, Chief. All eyes are looking for the vehicle, both our force and any deputies still assigned up here. Likewise, Angie’s description has been broadcast.”

“Wait. What do you mean, ‘still assigned?’ “

“The Incident Commander declared the fire contained enough not to need extra personnel on the perimeter. The firefighters are handling it. He’s going to shift from fire fighting to investigation at oh-six-hundred.”

“When was this?” Gordon asked.

“About an hour ago,” Tessa said.

“Are you keeping surveillance on the bone site?”

“Only extra patrol duty. County’s helping out with that. At least three passes per hour.”

“What can we do about upping it to four?” Gordon would have gone himself, but he needed to be looking for Angie. “And make sure we’ve got people knocking on doors. The area’s supposed to be evacuated, but someone else might have slipped inside, or never left. And, there might be some lookie-loos who know something.”