Her Grave Secrets (Rogue River #3)(25)

“Let’s get you inside.” She put an arm around her mother’s waist and glanced around to make eye contact with one of her siblings, but no one was looking her way. She walked Patsy up the deck’s stairs and through the group of bustling women in her kitchen. Together they climbed the stairs to the second level and moved down the hall to Patsy’s bedroom. Her mother’s silence was unnerving Stevie. Patsy lay down on the bed, and Stevie sat beside her. “Better?”

Her mother met her gaze, a surprising touch of uncertainty showing in Patsy’s usually calm eyes. “A bit. Maybe there was just too much going on. I was running ragged this morning trying to get everything organized.”

“You make it look effortless.”

Patsy laughed but her eyes stayed shadowed. “Definitely not effortless. I’ve felt like something has been hanging over me all day. Like the pressure in the air is too high.” She shook her head. “I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Maybe you’re coming down with something.”

“Maybe. But when I couldn’t see Zane I felt it increase. And it increased again when I looked at you and asked if you felt okay. Usually . . .”

Stevie waited. “Usually what?” she finally asked.

Her mother looked away. “I feel like that before something goes wrong.” Her voice was nearly inaudible.

Stevie crossed to the window and studied the crowd out back. No red flags. She slid her cell phone out of her pocket and called Zane. No answer. It went to voice mail and she hung up. He won’t answer while he’s driving.

“He’ll call me back when he gets there and sees I called,” she told Patsy. “I’m sure everything is fine.”

Her mother’s answering smile didn’t reach her eyes. Stevie could feel her own anxiety start to climb.

It’s because Mom is upset.

She looked at the time, trying to remember how long ago he’d left. He should have been there already.

He’s probably talking building with Walt and too distracted to check his phone. And the service out there is poor. The call might not have reached his phone.

Her phone buzzed in her hand and relief flooded through her but immediately dissipated when she saw Seth’s name on her screen. Disappointed, she answered.

“Stevie? Is Zane with you? I’ve been trying to get ahold of him,” said Seth.

“No, he’s at his cabin. Service is sketchy out there. What’s up?”

“We pulled a print off that plastic wrapper from the C-22 we found at JD Hearne’s scene.”

Adrenaline spiked through her veins. “And?”

“It belongs to Walt Burrowes. And he’s the registered owner of several handguns.”

Stevie went still. “Seth. Walt is out with Zane at his cabin. Right now. I’ve been trying to call him too.”

Patsy abruptly sat up, her gaze locked with Stevie’s.

“I’m forty-five minutes away,” Seth said. “I’ll notify dispatch to get the closest county units over there.” He ended the call.

Stevie dialed Sheila to notify Solitude’s two on-duty officers to get to Zane’s cabin. The phone rang in her ear as her heart’s pounding echoed in her head. “I need to go,” she said to Patsy and strode out of the room.

“Stevie! Wait!”

She whirled around, her phone still at her ear.

“Don’t go out there. It’s too dangerous and this won’t end well.” Patsy’s eyes were wide, her voice low as she pleaded with her daughter.

Stevie locked gazes with her mother, torn between a desperate need to get to Zane and her mother’s warning.

“I have to go,” she whispered.

She tuned out her mother’s pleas and raced for her car.





CHAPTER TWELVE





Zane’s head hurt.

He blinked and felt the packed dirt pressed against his cheek. Squinting, he discovered he was staring at the back wall of his cabin. Where’s Walt?

He closed his eyes against the pain in the back of his head, remembering he’d gotten out of the car and walked around to the back of the cabin to get Walt’s opinion on how to add on another thousand square feet. He’d squatted down to sketch in the dirt.

Then what?

The throbbing in his head increased.

Walt hit me with something.

He licked at his lips, his commands to move his limbs not being transmitted through his nerves.

“I didn’t have a gun with me. I was going to a party.”

Zane’s lids flew open at Walt’s faint voice.

“Are you sure? Do another cop? They’re digging deeper since they found Roy.”

He’s on a phone call. Getting orders to kill me. Shock rushed through him. Did Walt commit the murders?

Zane managed to move his arm, then froze as he wondered if he was in Walt’s view.

Play unconscious.

“I can’t do it here. Stevie knows we were coming here. I’ll have to take him somewhere else.”

Fuck. Zane wiggled his toes, feeling control over his limbs slowly return. Hell if I’ll let him take me anywhere. Walt sounded like he was inside the cabin or around one of the sides. Zane spotted his four-foot-long metal level propped up against the corner of the cabin. There’s what caused my headache.