Loe raamatut: «A Message for Abby»

CHAPTER ONE

HER DEAD DADDY’S PICKUP sitting beside the road, smoldering from an arson fire.

That was Abby Patton’s first thought on seeing the truck—that it was Daddy’s—and now she couldn’t get rid of the willies.

The pickup wasn’t really his, of course; it couldn’t be. Ed Patton had been dead for three years, his Chevy sold only months after he went in the ground. This one was just the same color, the same vintage.

Coincidence, is all.

Abby prowled around the pickup. For sure these plates weren’t the ones that had been on Daddy’s truck—but then, she’d bet ten to one this pair had been stolen from another vehicle anyway. Shiny, tabs new, they didn’t go with the red dust coating the dented, fading green paint of the pickup.

Firefighters had smashed the passenger side window and pumped foam on the seat, just to be sure a blaze didn’t leap to life later. Wearing their gear and sweating in the hundred-degree heat, they had made a few choice remarks about the dumb ass who’d gone to all the trouble to rip the stuffing out of the seat, soak it with gasoline and set it on fire, only to roll up the windows and lock the doors.

“Doesn’t every schoolkid know fire needs oxygen?” one of them had asked, shaking his head. A minute later they’d tooted a fare-thee-well and were gone.

Now, left beside the road with nobody but jackrabbits and the wind to keep her company, Abby said aloud, “And why bother?” Why not junk the truck if it wouldn’t run, sell it on a lot if it would?

Because setting fires was fun? Because the pickup was stolen and some teenage perp thought he could get rid of fingerprints this way? Or because the arsonist needed to destroy the vehicle for some other reason? There sure wasn’t anything in the rusting bed of the pickup.

Before taking a closer look, Abby got on the radio to run the plates. While she waited, she leaned against her car door and looked around.

Barton Road was paved, even had a yellow stripe down the middle, but at the bottom of the gravel banks to each side, gray desert scrub stretched away, bordered by ancient barbed wire attached to rotting fence posts. Cattle must have grazed out here once upon a time, or why bother fencing, but this now looked like the pronghorn country it had once been.

She guessed she was five miles outside the Elk Springs city limits, east of town where the land got bleak and flat mighty quick. Just a few miles west, ranches started studding the landscape, including her brother-in-law’s, the Triple B. But here no houses were visible, and only three vehicles had gone by in the past twenty minutes. Plus, the arsonist could have seen anyone coming far enough away to disappear in a cloud of dust before the passerby arrived.

Some teenage boys out here target shooting had used a cell phone to report the fire. Interesting they’d seen flames. Either the fire setter had just left, or they’d lit this baby themselves.

A voice crackled from the receiver. “Marshal Patton, the plates belong to a blue 1997 Chevrolet Lumina, registered to—”

“Whoa,” Abby interrupted. She repeated the plate number. “You’re sure about the vehicle?”

“Yes, ma’am. The registered owner is Shirley Barnard, address 22301 Butte Road, Elk Springs.”

Shock silenced Abby long enough for the dispatcher to say, “Do you need a repeat?”

“No! I...” She shook her head. “No. Thank you.”

The prickle of some kind of primitive fear crept up her spine.

A fire set in a pickup that could have been Daddy’s decorated with stolen plates belonging to her sister Renee’s mother-in-law. And one of Daddy’s daughters was an arson investigator.

Coincidence, Abby tried to tell herself again, but disquiet stirred the hair at her nape. She suddenly felt as if somebody was watching her.

She gazed around one more time, but the sagebrush wasn’t dense enough to hide a man and the road stretched bare and shimmery in the noonday sun.

Abby shivered despite the heat. Pulling on latex gloves, she walked back to the pickup. Reaching through the broken window, she gingerly lifted the latch and shouldered open the door.

The interior was filthy and dripping with gasoline and retardant. The upholstery appeared to have been slit with a knife and then ripped open; most of the fabric was on the floor. Blackened from the fire, stuffing cascaded after the seat covering, exposing springs.

The smell was bad. Really bad. Instinctively Abby began breathing through her mouth. Gasoline, charred plastic and fabric and some sharp overtone that made her think of burning urine. What was that stench?

Oh, no.

She lifted the guts of the upholstery and turned it. Burned bits crumbled. She didn’t notice, was too absorbed in the dark stain on the woven material. When she let it go, the latex fingers of her gloves were pink.

Blood, and plenty of it. Could have been dried before the gasoline and then the foam used to put out the fire had liquefied it again.

Abby stepped back, scanning the road and the dry landscape again, reassured by the emptiness and by the weight of the revolver at her hip.

She proceeded methodically then, examining every inch of the cab. Glove compartment was empty but for dirt, an old paperclip, a 1985 penny. More of the same—and nothing else—under the seats; the floors looked as if they hadn’t been vacuumed since the year the penny had been minted. No stickers on the door or windshield showing when oil changes or tune-ups had been done. She bagged and tagged what little she found, in case it became evidence in a homicide, but she was betting whoever had set the fire hadn’t touched any of this. He’d been damned sure nothing incriminating was left, however.

She looked beneath the hood, even scooted on her back under the chassis just to check for the unexpected.

Then she returned to her car and called the Butte County Sheriffs Department, Investigations Unit. Too bad Meg was on maternity leave, Abby thought as she waited to be connected. Married two years now, Meg and Scott had decided to give Will and little Emily a brother or sister. Not that Will would care—he’d be off to college soon.

Abby’s call was eventually relayed to Detective Ben Shea. Abby knew her sister had worked with Shea and thought highly of him.

“Patton?” he said in a deep, easy voice. “This Abby?”

“Yes.” She watched in the rearview mirror as a dust cloud materialized into a camper coming down the road toward her. “Meg’s told you I’m with the arson investigation squad, right?” If two investigators could be called a ‘squad’—Butte County wasn’t New York City yet, thank God. They were kept busy enough, but in these parts most arson fires could be nailed on teenagers or business owners.

“Sure. What’s up?”

The camper passed, several people—kids among them—craning their necks to see why an official vehicle sat beside the road. She relaxed again. “I’m on Barton Road, approximately five miles east of the city limits. I have a pickup truck with stolen plates. The seat was ripped up, soaked with gasoline and set on fire. The perp forgot to roll down the windows, so the fire didn’t go far. Appears the seat is soaked with blood. I thought you folks might be interested.”

“Yes, indeedy,” he said. “Do you mind sitting tight? If you want, I’ll call for a tow, but I’d like to see the vehicle before we take it into the yard. Just in case,” he echoed her earlier thought, “this amounts to anything.”

“No problem,” she assured him. “I’ll wander around here a little, see if maybe he got careless and tossed a cigarette butt or something.”

While she waited she wondered why she hadn’t told him the pickup was a ringer for her father’s, or that the plates belonged to Renee’s mother-in-law. That part she’d have to tell him, of course, but would he think she was shying at shadows if she admitted to wondering that there might be some message for her in this whole business?

Maybe. She’d see what she thought after meeting him. Despite the fact that he worked off and on with Meg, somehow Abby never had come face-to-face with Shea. She supposed it was natural that he and Meg hadn’t socialized. From what her sister had said, he was closer to Abby’s age than Meg’s. And unmarried without children. Outside of work, they probably didn’t have much in common.

She walked a hundred yards up the road, then back on the other side, doing the same thing going west. The dry gravel and dirt didn’t hold tracks well. She’d parked on the opposite side of the road from the pickup, but the fire truck had pulled in ahead of it and could have obliterated other tracks.

Abby slid down the bank and climbed over the fence, snagging her trouser leg on the barbed wire and swearing. She wanted to go back up to the road and sit in her air-conditioned car. She could feel wet patches under her arms, trickles of sweat making their way down her spine to her panties. She could hardly wait to plunge into the YMCA pool after work and swim her laps.

Scouring the ground for footprints or anything that didn’t belong, she searched in steadily widening semicircles from the pickup. Nothing but reddish dirt, rabbit holes, largish round droppings—maybe deer?—and gray-green sagebrush.

One other car passed, slowing briefly. She was too far away to see faces. The next vehicle, a Bronco with the sheriff’s department emblem on the door, pulled to a stop on the shoulder behind her car. Abby trudged back, stepped carefully over the barbed wire and scrambled up the bank, feet slipping in the loose gravel until she had to put her hands down. Sweat fogged her vision as she topped the bank, shoved sticky hair off her forehead, and straightened to face Detective Ben Shea.

She blinked and stared in horror. She was going to kill Meg. Why hadn’t she thought of some excuse to introduce him to her younger, single sister? At the very least, how could she have failed to mention, if only in passing, that Detective Shea was a spectacular man? Mr. January. No, Mr. Calendar Cover himself. Six-two or three, straight dark hair, cool gray eyes and a strong, impassive face.

And she was both sweaty and filthy. Her hair must be lank, her mascara dripping down her cheeks; she could taste grit.

Oh, yeah. Meg was going to pay.

If he’d smirked, Abby would have killed him, too.

His gaze flicked over her in a lightning-quick assessment, but his mouth formed no smile. “Marshal Patton?”

“That’s right.” Her voice sounded gritty. She cleared her throat. “Detective Shea?”

“Ben.” He held out a hand, which she took; his enveloped hers.

Abby would have given anything to be...well, herself. Made up, hair smooth, smile saucy. To be together. She liked his big warm hand, his strong clasp. She wanted to see interest spark in those cool eyes.

“Abby,” she said with a wry smile.

He dropped her hand with unflattering speed. “Let’s take a look,” he said, and he wasn’t talking about her. Unfortunately.

She trailed behind as he strolled to the pickup, pulled on a latex glove and fingered the upholstery fabric as she’d done.

“Run the plates?” he asked without looking over his shoulder.

“Yes. Do you know my sister, Renee?”

That earned her a startled glance. “Yeah.”

“These plates should be on her mother-in-law’s car. I know Shirley is over in Portland visiting her daughter and grandson. Which means her car is most likely garaged at the Triple B.”

Shea swore softly and moved away from the pickup. “Funny coincidence. I mean, you being the one finding out.”

“There are only two arson investigators in Elk Springs.” Facts were facts. Today, she didn’t like this one. It fed that uneasy feeling this pickup had been waiting for her. “Even if you didn’t know our schedules, chances would be fifty-fifty I’d be the one to check out this fire. Actually, John is always off on Mondays.”

Ben Shea’s gray eyes narrowed for a moment. “You don’t think it is coincidence.”

“No.” Okay, there it was, right out in the open. “The thing is, this pickup is the exact model and color of my father’s. We sold it after he died three years ago.”

The detective muttered an obscenity. “Vehicle ID number?”

“Haven’t checked yet.”

He turned and stared at the pickup. “Goddamn.”

“You’re supposed to tell me I’m being paranoid. That coincidences happen.”

“Coincidences happen,” Shea said automatically. He didn’t have to add that he didn’t mean it. “Better make sure, first of all, that Renee’s mother-in-law made it to Portland.”

“Oh, my God,” Abby said, already backing away. Fear had leaped into her throat, nearly gagging her. She liked Shirley Barnard. “I didn’t think of that. I should have. All that blood...”

At her car, she grabbed her cell phone rather than her radio.

“Triple B.” A male voice picked up.

“Daniel Barnard,” Abby said peremptorily.

“He’s riding, I think. No.” She heard laughter in the background. “You’re in luck. Who’s calling?”

She told him; a moment later she was talking to her brother-in-law with the blue eyes to-die-for.

Poor choice of words, Abby thought with a lurch.

“Daniel, we just found a pickup with stolen plates. They belong on Shirley’s Lumina.”

“What the hell?”

“It gets worse,” she warned. “The seat of the pickup is drenched in blood.” Into the silence, she asked quietly, “Daniel, have you talked to your mother? You’re sure she got to Portland okay?”

He swore, which he seldom did. Then, “Yeah. Yeah, she called last night. But I’ll phone right now. And go check her car. Where are you?”

She gave him her cell phone number so he didn’t have to hunt for it. “You’ll get right back to me?”

“Count on it.” He sounded grim.

She flipped her telephone closed and, still sitting in her car with the door open, looked up to find Ben Shea leaning against the left fender of her car, arms crossed. Even through her haze of anxiety, Abby had a fleeting twinge of awareness. His strong body filled out his uniform very nicely.

“Daniel talked to his mother last night,” she said.

Glance razor-sharp, Shea remarked, “Blood’s fresh.”

“But she was in Portland. Do you really think somebody went over there and kidnapped her, murdered her and abandoned the pickup here?”

He frowned at her. “No. But it seems as if you were meant to think that.”

“You really don’t believe I’m imagining things,” Abby said hollowly.

“Nah.” His mouth twisted. “This looks real personal to me.”

“Aimed at me? Or Shirley?”

“There’s a question.” With a sigh he straightened. “You take your own pictures?”

“Usually. But if this might be a murder scene...”

“I’ll call for the techs,” he agreed.

While he was doing that, her phone rang.

“Shirley’s fine,” Daniel said without preamble. “The garage was still locked, but damned if the license plates on her car aren’t missing.”

“I’ll send someone out to fingerprint, just in case this guy got sloppy.”

“What the hell is going on?” Daniel asked, tone baffled.

“I don’t know.” She couldn’t lie and tell him it had nothing to do with his family, because it did. Somebody had gone to a lot of trouble to steal those plates from Shirley Barnard’s garaged Chevy. The Triple B, where she lived in the original farmhouse, was isolated. A cutting horse operation, the ranch employed a dozen or more stable hands and trainers. You didn’t just drive up, hop out, break into the garage, unscrew the plates, then depart without somebody noticing.

“Keep me informed,” he said.

“Will do.” She pushed End and looked up at the detective. “Evidence crew on the way?”

“Yup.” He was frowning at her.

Abby sneaked a glance at herself in her rearview mirror and almost groaned at the dirty gamine face reflected there. No wonder he was frowning.

“Hot out here,” he said, seemingly at random.

Or was he acknowledging that he understood why she looked like hell?

Maybe. But why didn’t he? she wondered resentfully. The sheen on his brow added to his masculine appeal. Even the smell of sweaty man was pleasing to a woman’s nostrils. Life wasn’t fair.

“So,” he asked in an idle, musing way, “have you ticked anybody off recently?”

“Not in the past couple of days,” Abby snapped.

He lifted a dark brow. “Try the past ten years.”

“I was a firefighter until last fall. I don’t make people mad as often as you do.”

He stayed leaning against the fender, relaxed, his stillness annoying her as much as his questions. She felt wound tight. If it weren’t so hot, she’d have been out of the car pacing. As it was...

“You want to get in, so I can turn on the air-conditioning?” she asked.

He looked surprised, which also irked her. Man, impervious to climactic conditions, was reminded of the frailty of mere Woman.

Detective Shea shrugged, as if to humor her. “Why not?”

“I hate heat,” she muttered when he got in.

“Move to the coast,” he suggested.

Cannon Beach with its rearing sea stack, rocky beach and cool afternoon fog sounded blissful to her right now.

“Winters there are dreary.” She turned on the ignition and cranked up the air-conditioning. “I like to ski. Besides, my family is here.”

“Speaking of which...”

“Yeah, yeah.” Abby gazed out the windshield at the straight empty road. Not a car had passed since he arrived. “I just can’t imagine Shirley having made anybody mad. Have you met her?”

“Yeah, she works part-time at the library. Nice lady.”

“You read?” she asked in mock astonishment before thinking better of it.

“Learned in first grade.”

Unaccustomed to feeling graceless, Abby said, “I was kidding.”

“Uh-huh.”

Chagrined, she decided it was best get back to the subject at hand. “Unless Shirley made somebody mad when she phoned about their overdues, it’s hard to imagine how she can be the target of this.”

“I agree. Although appearances can be deceptive.”

“I know her.”

The narrow-eyed glance he flicked Abby’s way was impatient. “What, the Patton clan is without sin?”

Abby wrapped her fingers around the steering wheel, feeling the need to steady herself. “No,” she said slowly. “My father was...not universally liked.”

“So Meg says.”

“But he’s dead,” she argued, making the point to herself more than him.

“Yup.”

Abby let out a huff of air. “This is pointless.”

“You’re right,” he said agreeably. “All we can do is our jobs, and then wait and see.”

“Right.”

Detective Shea cleared his throat. “Abby? I’m freezing.”

“Really?” She turned to look at him in surprise. As far as she was concerned, the temperature had just gotten pleasant.

He’d tucked his hands in his armpits. “You had your metabolism checked lately?”

“Maybe your blood’s too thin,” she suggested. “You ever thought of moving to Arizona?”

“I don’t mind seasons.” He reached for the door handle. “My body just doesn’t much like changes that are too abrupt. An icy oasis of winter in the middle of a July day is a shock to the system.”

“No, it’s a blessed relief.”

“Uh-huh.” He seemed to like saying that, in a tone that indicated anything but agreement. Relief infused his voice when he added, “Ah. Here comes the cavalry.”

Abby suddenly had an itch to leave. Just drive away. She’d done her part. If murder had been committed, the arson had been no more than a failed effort to cover it up. She liked solving puzzles, but this one wasn’t her kind. As Ben Shea had said, it was personal. It seemed to be tapping at the door to her subconscious, saying, Want to think about long ago? Remember nights of terror and tears?

Well, no thanks, she didn’t. The past wasn’t something she thought about much. She left worrying to her sisters. She didn’t like to get too emotional about anything.

And no creep with a grudge was going to shake her foundations.

“Do you need me to stick around?” Abby asked, giving in to her restlessness.

Looking briefly surprised, then thoughtful, Shea stopped with the passenger side door open. Hot air shoved in. “Nah. I can stay. You have another job?”

“Fifteen.” She lifted her contractor-style clipboard. “That’s assuming nobody torches any other cars or buildings today.”

“Thunderstorm’s building up over the mountains.” He nodded toward Juanita Butte and the Sisters. “Nature’s going to do some torching of her own this evening.”

She glanced uneasily over her shoulder toward town and the mountains beyond. Dark clouds climbed above them. She was just as glad she wouldn’t be called out tonight when a spear of lightning set the dry woods aflame.

“I’ll be in touch.” She handed him her card.

He nodded, taking it and producing one of his own. Then he climbed out and hesitated with his hand on the car door. She felt his gaze, turned to meet it. For just a second something as intense as those white bolts of lightning crackled between them.

The next instant he’d shuttered the sheer force of that look and Abby wondered if she’d imagined it.

“You do that,” he agreed, and slammed the door.

Shaken, she watched him saunter away, strides long and easy, his broad shoulders formidable, his butt—Abby exclaimed aloud. For Pete’s sake, they were working together, not getting involved!

You can admire, a little voice in her head whispered.

“No,” Abby told herself, “I can’t.”

Dating was fun. Right up there with a perfect ski run, and no more serious.

Ben Shea didn’t smile, he didn’t flirt, and he took her seriously. All of which made him a dangerous man.

Abby didn’t “do” dangerous men. After years as a firefighters, she knew what it meant to get burned. Besides, she’d made that particular mistake once, and she was a quick learner.

Anyway, thanks to the shining example of manhood set by Daddy dear, revered police chief, Abby had no desire to bring home a man for good. Sometimes her two brothers-in-law gave her pause, but not for long. You never did know what went on behind closed doors, did you?

Still, she could let herself be comforted by Detective Shea’s competence and by the fact that he had listened to her. She knew cops, and plenty of them would have sneered at her fear.

But it was real, sitting in the pit of her stomach like potato salad gone bad. Because, damn, that did look like Daddy’s pickup truck, and she hadn’t seen one that color since they’d sold his. Somebody had spilled a hell of a lot of blood in it and then set it on fire.

Sort of like sending her an obscene note.

She just wished she could read this one.

Abby put her car in gear and pulled out onto the road, hoping the big dark cop would recede in her thoughts as surely as he did in the rearview mirror.