The Eagle and the Fox (A Snowy Range Mystery, #1) (30 page)

The barn floodlight flickered through the trees as the truck bounced over the ruts. He slipped it into second gear to save his kidneys. Polly’s daughter had done a great job on the tune-up. Her next task was to see to the suspension. He already had an appointment.

The town needed a good mechanic. The valley was filled with competent do-it-yourselfers, but sometimes it just made a heap of sense to let someone else handle the maintenance and small repairs. If the girl was as willing as she seemed, Marcus decided he’d talk to a few people to see what they could do to help her out.

Paul had grumbled about what the world was coming to. Girls fixing trucks. He might have sounded disgruntled, but Marcus guessed he’d be the first to offer up a hand seeing how he had a couple daughters studying engineering at the University.

Times were changing. Centurion was changing. He wished that didn’t also include the kind of trouble that had seeped into his home town over the last few years. Ranching was a tough way of life. It took its toll on a man and his family. Attrition had always been high—sons leaving to make their own way, daughters making families of their own. Now they were bleeding their brightest and their best, losing them to bloodsuckers like Dee and the other dealers.

Marcus parked next to Josh’s truck and reached for the paper bag on the seat, deciding to leave his backpack and small suitcase for later. Josh was sitting on the front porch, his heels up on the railing.

“You made good time.” With a grunt, he lowered his legs and gingerly set his boots on the floorboards. “Damn. I shouldn’t do that. Miss it though, rocking on the back legs.” He sniffed the air. “Is that dinner?”

Marcus grinned. “Yep. Polly made a couple plates for us. Just meatloaf and mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans. Nothing fancy.”

“God damn, Marcus. I think I love you.” Josh ducked his head, and even in the dim porch light Marcus saw he was blushing.

Heart pounding double time, Marcus was ready to jump Josh’s bones, but now wasn’t the time. With so much on their plates, they needed to focus on one thing: getting Petilune back. He tried defusing the admission by teasing, “Don’t love
me
, it was all Polly. I’m just the delivery boy.” Josh gave him a sideways glance.

Marcus followed Josh to the kitchen and settled into the comfortable routine of putting out silverware and plates. Josh pulled beers from the fridge and a couple mugs he kept in the freezer. They sat side-by-side and ate quickly, knees touching, shoulders bumping. When they finished, Marcus cleared the table and set the rinsed dishes in the sink.

Josh wiped the table down with a cloth, then spread topographic survey maps across the surface. Marcus joined him as Josh set pennies to mark various locations. A pattern emerged, though Marcus wasn’t sure of the significance.

Josh filled him in about meeting Will on the lee side of Sheep Mountain. It was a relief to know the boy wasn’t directly involved in all the shenanigans taking place but, like Josh, he was disappointed the boy hadn’t spoken up sooner.

“We found the van at the Summer homestead. Keys were still in it. I called it in to Calhoun. I expect they’ll send somebody to check it over, then drive it to town. It’ll be in impound for a couple days while they dust it for prints. Cal said to call first before you go pick it up.”

Marcus asked, “What are the odds it’ll still be there tomorrow?”

“Good question. I took the keys and hid them. Calhoun knows where to look when he eventually gets there.” He grinned. “Of course, that doesn’t mean Kit can’t break in and hotwire it.”

“You’re sure it’s him?”

“Positive. He tried to cover the Harley’s tracks right around the van, but I did a few loops farther out. Saw what I needed to.”

“Where do you think he’s heading?” Marcus had never been very good with tracking skills. It was a good thing Josh had had plenty of experience, both growing up in the area and when he’d been an MP.

Rubbing at the raised flesh on his chin, Josh tapped a finger on top of the pennies he’d positioned on the topo map. “These are campgrounds on the north side of the scenic byway. They’re all at a pretty good elevation—nine, ten thousand feet—so it’s not likely they’d be accessible, even with this year’s light snowpack.”

“Wouldn’t the main highway gates be closed also?”

“Yeah, it is up by Sugarloaf, but the access to the ski lodge is open. Along with the North Fork campground.” He tapped the area in question. “All along we been wondering where the hell he’s been staying. I figured he’d holed up in one of the abandoned cabins, but everybody around here knows about them. The kids use them on weekends.”

Marcus chuckled. “Guilty as charged. You?”

“I’ll take the fifth on that one.”

Elbowing Josh in the side, Marcus muttered, “I’ll bet you did. A couple of them.”

Josh shot Marcus an evil grin, then returned to contemplating the map. “We don’t have many choices. Kit coming here was no hit and run. He set himself up for a long term stay. There aren’t many places to accommodate tourists during the winter. Most stay in Laramie, but Kit being Native American kind of sticks out like a sore thumb. Not that the assholes in town would know the difference, but that kid doesn’t look Shoshone or Arapaho. He’d be remembered.”

“Well, if not Laramie, then where? I agree, he’d have had a tough time squatting, even if he moved around a lot. Not that he wouldn’t, but that gets old after a while. Especially during the winter.”

“He needed to hide in plain sight.” Josh moved one of the pennies.

Marcus gasped, “Well, fuck me.” He looked at Josh with admiration. “Why didn’t we think of that sooner?”

Shrugging, Josh replied, “That’s on me. I completely disregarded the complaints about mischief at the Bar Three Guest Ranch as just normal vandalism. Cut fence, cattle scattering ain’t exactly newsworthy. What it was, was a cover-up.” He folded the map into a tighter quarter and spun it for Marcus to see. “Toller Ditch Road runs due north, then ends at a trailhead. From there you have an almost endless choice of ATV, horseback and trail bike loops. Most turn toward the Snowys but a few will take you right to I-80.”

“And a quick escape.”

“Right. He could pick up 287 near Walcott and go north to the rez, or he could head either east or west on the interstate. The only direction he wouldn’t have great access for would be into Colorado. That section’s patrolled heavily. You can get around it, but the roads are scenic at best.”

Puzzled, Marcus asked, “So what was that vandalism about?”

Shaking his head, Josh admitted, “Basically I’m just grasping at straws, but if that’s where Kit’s holed up, then it’s also where he and parties yet to be identified might have had a difference of opinion.”

“Like Petilune’s brothers?”

Josh nodded agreement and added, “Or the four assholes.” He grimaced in pain. “Let’s go on the porch and sit. I was in the saddle way longer than normal.” He bent down and extracted a bottle of whiskey from a lower cabinet. “It’s the pills or this.”

Marcus wanted to pull the big man into an embrace, but instead he said, “I’ll get the glasses. Meet you out there.”

Marcus joined Josh, held out the glasses while he poured two fingers in each, then pulled another rocker next to his lover’s and eased himself down. Since all this had started, he’d allowed himself to believe Kit Golden Eagle was just an accidental tourist, a troubled kid... sure. One most likely running from a bad situation. Drunk mother, abusive father, poverty. He’d found Petilune. Things changed, he’d change. Become a better man. For the girl.

God damn, he wanted to believe that so hard he hurt for the wanting. But Josh was telling him a different story, one he still didn’t quite understand. Likely because he didn’t want to.

Throat tight, Marcus rasped, “Kit’s involved in the drug trade, isn’t he?”

Josh was quiet for a long time, sitting still as a stone, legs extended, right foot over the left, chin tucked. If Marcus didn’t know better, he’d say the big man had fallen asleep. He hadn’t.

“I’ve parsed this eight ways from Sunday. Everything starts to go downhill the minute Kit shows up out of the blue.”

Marcus listened as Josh replayed all he’d learned or knit together, adding in Will’s contribution that filled the gaps in the timeline, and ending with what the Laramie PD had discovered. Denial hung out there, both of them grasping at it, not wanting Petilune to be part of it. But she already was. So much so, it was likely she’d inadvertently put herself in everyone’s crosshairs by trying to do a good thing.

Josh asked, “Why did you hire Petilune?”

“Kid needed a job.”

“So do a lot of kids. Most of them bigger, stronger, and brighter than her. No disrespect, but it’s true.”

Tossing back the whiskey, Marcus savored the burn as he held his glass out for a refill. Josh was staring at him, waiting for his answer. Marcus barked, “I hired her so no one else would.”

After considering that for a long moment, Josh hissed, “Jesus Christ, Marcus, are you shitting me?”

“No. And that’s why I’ve been so fucking desperate to get her away from that woman.” He swallowed back the bile threatening to erupt from his throat. Tense with anger and shame, Marcus shared what he’d heard at the school parking lot, when he’d been face down in the gravel, listening to Dee and his buddies taunt and torture the Goggles brothers. “Joey’s been spreading rumors I took Janice up on her offer, that it’s the only reason why I hired a kid who’s not quite right in the head.”

Taking Marcus’ hand in his own, Josh said, “Nobody who knows you believes that for a minute. And if they do, then I’ll personally make sure they see the error of their ways.”

“It only takes one person, you know that, Josh. If I try helping her and social services gets wind of it, I could end up in jail, for God’s sakes.” Bitterly, he stared into the darkness beyond the porch. “It’s like God and the universe don’t want me to help her.”

Josh stood and held out his hand. As Marcus took it, he said, “I don’t know about any of those heavy hitters, but what I do know is you have people right here in town who are on your side, and they’re thinking the same way as you and me.”

“Why should they? Just because you know someone all your life doesn’t mean you
know
them.”

Since there was no good answer for that, Marcus let it drop. Whining about how people might see him wasn’t going to bring Petilune back. He followed Josh to his truck and helped him bring his bags into the house. Desperate for a distraction, Marcus asked, “What do you have in mind for this stuff?” When he looked in Josh’s eyes, he was pretty sure he wasn’t going to like the answer.

“There’s only one way this ends. Petilune’s got to cough up the location of that stash of drugs, and I’m guessing if she’s gonna do that, then Kit’s the one she trusts. Whatever that child’s reasoning, it’s pretty clear to me she thought things would magically get better—for her mother, and maybe for her brothers. Probably even for Kit. We have no idea what’s been going down between him and the four drug dealers. It’s possible Petilune overheard stuff that scared the shit out of her, maybe got to thinking Kit was in danger.” He sighed. “I really don’t want to visit inside that girl’s head. What might come out scares me half to death.”

“So, does that mean we’re going after the drugs? You have an idea where Pet hid them?”

“Not the drugs. Kit.”

“You lost me.”

“Right now it’s too dangerous for Kit to be dragging Petilune around. He’s got to know the cops have an APB out for him. He cares too much about the girl to risk her getting hurt. I think he’s stashed her in a safe place. I’m banking on him coming back for the van tonight. Thing is, he won’t have enough light to make it easy to break in and get the damn thing started.”

“Why the van?”

Josh laughed. “Those saddlebags on that Hog don’t carry shit. If he’s going to move product, the best way is a once and done with your vehicle.”

“What’s he going to do with it once he’s found the stash?”

“Don’t know. Don’t care. Our job is to intercept the drugs before they end up back in the pipeline. To do that, we have to follow Kit.”

“But Petilune...”

“She’s fine.”

Marcus prayed that was the case, because, God help them, Josh was making a calculated wager that the girl was safe for the time being. That was a choice he never thought either of them would be forced to make, but apparently the cop in Josh’s head said it was the right call. Marcus’ heart screamed differently.

Stalking to the gun cabinet, Josh keyed it open and removed two hard shell cases. “You familiar with handguns, Marcus?”

“Haven’t fired one lately, but yeah.”

“See how these feel. That 9 mil has better stopping power than the .40 S&W.” He pulled out a Mossberg 20 gauge shotgun and added it to the pile. Grimly he muttered, “Brought down a lot of elk with that baby.”

Ruefully Marcus reminded Josh, “My shotgun’s still in the van. What else you got in there?”

“Couple Remington’s. My dad’s old Browning 12-gauge. Whatever’s your pleasure.”

Marcus huffed, “My
pleasure
is to take you to bed and fuck you blind, but I guess that’s not happening until after the war, am I right?” Josh nodded and turned away.

Sometimes it sucked being right.

****

J
osh worked swiftly while Marcus changed his clothes, adding a first aid kit and bottles of water to the growing mound on the kitchen table. He’d debated between relying on the trucks, or adding ATVs in case Kit decided to take the chase off-road, and worse case, going in by horseback. But given Marcus hadn’t ridden in years—other than their little trail ride—it seemed better to go with cargo capacity and hope for the best.

Although he didn’t want to split up, having both trucks available seemed prudent. If the tires got shot out of one, the other might still be usable.

And he could still have a functioning limb and be doing the job he loved. A familiar tingle raced along his nerve endings.

Not now, please, not now...

“You okay, cowboy?”

Josh shook himself and mumbled, “Yeah, fine. I’m fine.” Pointing to the table, he said, “We’re taking both trucks, just in case. Split all this stuff between the two. I’ll change and meet you outside.”