“Then turn your head to the left, Boone, because your suspect is about to walk right by you.”
A hundred yards away, Deputy Mercer scurried down the sidewalk toward the front of the courthouse building.
I tapped out a group text: FRONT COURTHOUSE. NOW!
“Eyes on me,” I told Abner.
We jogged behind the tree, then walked to the sidewalk. Turned the corner of the building in time to see Mercer pull a heavy oak door open.
“Hold on,” I blocked the way until the door began to close. “Let’s go.”
We dashed up the steps, slipped inside, and then ducked into an alcove.
“Wait here for Cedar and Luigi.” I whispered to Doc. “What do you think he’s up to?”
“Looking for a place to take a leak?”
“Seriously.”
“At my age, taking a leak is serious business.”
Cedar was the first to reach the front of the courthouse. When the text came, she ran around the opposite side of the building. She was halfway up the front steps before she saw me waving. Luigi came around the building a few seconds later.
“He’s in the courthouse,” I said. “Once we’re inside, stick close to the walls and walk as quietly as you can. The acoustics are terrible, so sound really travels.”
“Boone,” Cedar said, a hand on her hip. “It’s not like we’ve never been in the courthouse before.”
“Oh. Yeah. Sure. Sorry.”
And then we were in.
The first thing I noticed the darkness. It was bright outside, but the overhead lights had been turned low. The next thing I noticed was Mercer’s voice.
He was talking to someone.
13
Mercer’s voice drifted down the stairway to the second floor. “Another one? You said the last one was it.”
My first step on the polished floors made a squeak. I removed my shoes and moved on down the wall, sock footed. When I had a clear view of the second floor, I motioned for the others to move up to the stairwell.
We kept to the shadows.
Waiting.
Listening.
“The main goal here is to create an utopian society populated by whites,” said a second man. “His problem is that he needs the money to do it, so he buys up the property along a freeway route and sets his son lose on the historical towns that his father tried to create. He wants to finish his father’s work. So if he has to burn out a few buildings and run off some Mexican squatters, even better. This group of blue haired biddies has thrown a monkey wrench into our plans.”
We moved further down the hallway.
The sound of the voices diminished to a hum. We had no choice but to follow them up the stairs. I motioned to the group that they should stay, but Cedar shook her head, no.
It was more like a Hell no!
I pointed at the wi-fi apparatus I was still wearing. I pressed a button on the chest plate, removed the listening fork from its slot, and pointed it upstairs.
The second man’s voice came through loud and clear.
“When a monkey wrench is in the way, the only recourse is to remove the wrench. Starting with the leader.”
Mom! I thought. They were talking about removing my mother.
“What’s the plan this time?” Mercer said.
“The office of the Registrar of Deeds has some surveys and plait maps of the Tin City property. It would be good if they were conveniently lost.”
“Is that all?” Mercer said.
“No, there’s a second thing. The Allegheny County Historical Society has a little building chock full of important historical documents. The building still uses its original LP heating system.”
“I’ve only got one fuse left.”
“If all goes well, it will be all you need.”
“You said the last job would be the last one, and I could get out of this rat hole town.”
“I miscalculated.”
“I’m sick of playing Barney Fife for you!”
“Alas, until your gambling debts are paid off, it’s a role you’ll be stuck with.”
“Some uncle you are!”
“Great uncle. Now go about your business. I’m due on stage in a few minutes. There’s a Miss Allegheny to crown.” He sighed. “It’s a hard job, but someone has to do it.”
His footsteps grew louder.
I waved for everyone to hide, and they slid into the shadows on the either side of the risers as the first footfalls sounded on the risers. I noticed the shoes first. Highly polished black leather Oxfords, merino wool slacks and matching jacket. Light bounced off the fabric, which was clearly tailored.
Only one man in town could afford that suit. My suspicion was confirmed with the back of man’s head appeared, a coffered mop of hair trimmed right at the top of the collar.
But the hair was too silver.
His body was too thin and too short.
It wasn’t Trey Landis.
It was his father.
“Goddamn.”
The words escaped my lips before I could stop them.
Ahead, G.D. Landis stopped in his tracks. His head turned side to side as he listened.
“Idiot sheriff,” he murmured as he checked his watch. “The introduction wasn’t supposed to be for another two minutes. You’ve ruined my entrance.”
He stalked down the hallway and to the front door. He pulled a wheelchair out of a darkened alcove, sat down, then drove it to the door. Light flooded the building, and G.D. Landis rolled his electric wheelchair toward the handicapped ramp. If his head turned at that moment, he would have seen the peculiar sight of three college students and an elderly man in with long hair and a straggly beard all hunkered behind a potted plant.
“Mercer’s the arsonist!” I whispered after the door had closed and we were in shadow again. “He’s been working for Landis! The old man has been faking it all along!”
“I knew it!” Cedar said softly.
Luigi shrugged. “I did not.”
“Me, neither,” Abner added. “What’re they up to?”
“They’re going to destroy evidence of the cemetery,” I whispered. "And burn the Historical Society, too.”
“How are we going to stop them?” Cedar asked.
“Y’all three, take Landis. He’s announcing Miss Allegheny in a couple minutes. Keep an eye on him. I’ll try to record Mercer in the act of starting a fire.” I patted my pockets. “Where’s my cellphone?”
“I got a camera,” Cedar said.
“Let me borrow it?”
“I’m coming with you,” she said.
“It’s dangerous.”
“It’s my camera.”
Upstairs, there was a crash and the sound of cursing. Clearly, Mercer was a better arsonist than burglar.
“We’ll follow Landis.” Abner snagged Luigi by the sleeve. “You two take Mercer. Be careful! No telling what a cocky bastard like that is capable of.”
A few seconds later, the door opened, and they were outside. When the light faded again, Cedar and I dashed up the stairs.
We followed the sounds to the office of the Registrar. I had passed by it several times in the past. It was an old fashioned kind of door: Patterned glass with the names of the occupants hand-lettered in gold and black.
Before, the door had always been closed.
Now it stood ajar.
I bent down to one knee, pressed against the wall. With Cedar literally breathing down my neck, I peeked inside.
The front office was dim.
A receptionist counter separated it from three offices behind it. The middle door stood open, and light shone from the high open window. Mercer stood in front of the window, his body a hunched silhouette, as he flipped through the open drawer of a filing cabinet.
I crept in and stayed low.
Cedar followed me on hands and knees.
“Camera,” I whispered.
Cedar pulled it from a pocket then set the flash function to off. She set it in my palm and gave me the thumbs up.
Slowly, I worked my way down the counter.
The light behind Mercer made it hard to get a good shot. The deputy’s face was hidden in shadow.
I needed a better angle.