‘The police will arrest him. They’ll put him in prison. After everything that he’s done, he doesn’t deserve such an easy way out.’
She closed her eyes for a long heartbeat before looking at me once more.
‘The Logans raped me. They beat me. They tortured my best friend. I want them all dead…’
‘Then we’re on the same wavelength.’
‘But not at the expense of your life, Joe,’ she finished.
‘I don’t intend dying.’
‘That’s not what you told Jay last night.’
I frowned. That wasn’t what I’d meant. I offered her a short laugh. ‘She picked me up wrong.’
‘Promise.’
‘Who would want to die?’
‘I did. Back at that ranch. But now that it’s all behind me… I’m happy to be alive.’
She stood on tiptoe and kissed me on my cheek. Her lips were warmer than the night.
‘Come on,’ I said. ‘Let’s go and fetch the others. We need to get ready if we’re heading off for Cape Cod in the morning.’
A vehicle pulled up at the front of the station, an unmarked Lincoln but definitely a cop car. There were two figures in the front, and I wasn’t really surprised when the two detectives who’d taken me to Phoenix climbed out. Their attention was fixed on me, and I nodded at Nicole to go back inside.
Chambers was the sprightlier of the two, and approached me three steps ahead of Witherspoon.
‘You still here, Hunter?’ His pointy ears were almost twitching with anger. ‘I hoped we’d seen the last of you.’
‘You’ll be happy to hear I’m leaving, then?’
‘Not soon enough.’
Witherspoon came puffing up alongside us. ‘How long have you been here, Hunter?’
‘In Holbrook? Since I made my way back from our little day trip.’
‘No. Here.’ He indicated the police station.
‘Couple of hours.’
‘Hope you have witnesses,’ Chambers snapped.
‘Will a roomful of cops do?’
Witherspoon clucked his tongue, but it was for his partner’s sake. ‘Let it go, willya,’ he said. ‘I told you Hunter had nothing to do with this.’ He swung to gaze back at Chambers. He lifted his head, nodded his subordinate inside. Chambers swore under his breath but strode inside the police station, stiff-backed.
‘What’s up with Mr Spock this time?’
Witherspoon got the joke, but his features soon flattened out and he was all seriousness again. ‘There’s been a shooting. Three dead. He thought that you’d been up to your old tricks.’
I felt a lump in my chest expand. ‘Who are the victims?’
Witherspoon waved me down. ‘No one for you to be concerned about; all indications are that it was a drug-related shooting. The vics are known to us. Small-time coke dealers.’
‘And your buddy thought I was responsible?’
Witherspoon squinted. ‘After you left Phoenix he did a little more digging into your background. Seems you’ve been in the frame for similar shootings in the past. The latest being an incident in Callaway, Florida, a week ago.’
‘I didn’t shoot anyone in Callaway.’
‘You discharged your weapon.’
‘My finger slipped.’
‘You dislocated some kid’s knee.’
‘He fell off his skateboard.’
Witherspoon shook his head.
‘Don’t worry, Hunter. I knew the shootings here weren’t your style.’
‘I bet Chambers was pissed when you pulled up and saw me standing here, though?’
‘I told you. He doesn’t like people taking the law into their own hands.’
‘Then he’s got nothing to worry about. Ask your buddies inside: I’ve been sitting here the past two hours admiring their stellar work.’ I thought about what Witherspoon was intimating. ‘The three that were killed: it was a revenge shooting?’
‘No, looks like a plain old robbery to me. Whoever it was took their dope and their weapons. Probably rival drug dealers.’
‘Does that happen a lot in Holbrook?’
‘Nah,’ Witherspoon said. ‘We don’t normally have any problems.’
I thought about the last time a cop told me something similar. Officer Lewin had been lying through his teeth, but I believed that Witherspoon was a straight-up kind of guy.
‘No witnesses?’ I asked.
‘None that are coming forward.’
‘So you’ve no suspects?’
‘Not yet. But I have uniforms canvassing the neighbourhood, checking CCTV and the rest. I’m sure they’ll turn up something soon.’
‘What about Samuel Logan?’
‘From what I hear he prefers to use his fists.’
‘He did, that was for sure.’ My body still bore testament to the truth of that statement. But what about now that he was injured and growing desperate? A strange feeling rode the length of my spine. ‘What are the uniform resources like in a town this small?’
‘Why? You planning on robbing a bank while they’re all tied up on inquiries?’
‘No. But someone else might get ideas.’
40
I took the rented Chrysler back to our hotel ahead of the families, with instructions to Jameson Walker to give me an hour before they returned. He ushered them away in search of a restaurant where they could continue their celebrations. That suited me because if my suspicions were founded then I didn’t want the women near that hotel.
Holbrook isn’t exactly a large town, and I was back within minutes, but didn’t drive directly into the hotel’s car park. I left the Chrysler on the main strip outside, then went forward on foot. The trees that had been planted to form a break between the hotel and highway offered cover for me until I reached the entrance drive. I thought they’d also be a good location for someone to hide if they were watching who was coming or going. Taking a quick glance around, I checked that no one was observing me. Happy, I drew my SIG then stepped over the small wire fence and into the trees. It was little more than a copse, and the landscapers had done a sterling job in keeping the undergrowth at bay. Sprinklers hidden in the grass fed the lawns while a more elaborate irrigation system kept the trees from succumbing to the desert heat. The trunks of the trees weren’t thick enough to conceal a man, but in the darkness they looked to have all bunched together so it wasn’t easy defining where one ended and the next began. If Samuel was out here, I could stumble over him before I was aware.
Placing my back to a gnarly tree-bole, I stood quietly and allowed my other senses to seek danger. There was too much noise from the nearby highway for my liking, and all that I could smell was the mixed aromas of wet grass, exhaust fumes and frying chicken from a nearby fast food outlet. I have the same inherent instinct as everyone else — the one that warns of hidden danger — but tonight it seemed that it was on hiatus. I’d no sense of Samuel Logan or anyone else hiding in the woods.
I went on, wending my way between the trunks until I reached a point where the lights from the hotel began to brighten my way. I paused there, hunkering down so that I could study the swathe of concrete and brick that formed the car park and retaining walls of flower beds adjacent to the hotel itself. There were a few vehicles parked on the lot, but no sign of their drivers. A valet stood outside the main entrance, waiting for the moment his services might be required. He was a Hopi guy I’d nodded to a couple of times in passing. Bored, his hands clasped behind him, he rocked on his heels while he waited for guests to arrive. He looked unperturbed, so I guessed there’d been nothing unusual that had recently caught his eye. He’d probably spent many hours standing in that very spot and anything different would immediately draw his attention.
It didn’t mean that Samuel wasn’t around, only that he was well hidden.
Could he even be inside the building?