Shattered Secrets (Cold Creek #1)(72)
In the flicker of the flames, off to the side, she glimpsed something she had not noticed in the dark.
“Look at those!” she cried, turning and pointing.
To her surprise, Gabe drew his gun. “I don’t see anything. Only old white man-made beehives. I think George Green once sold honey.”
“But to a child—me—upstairs, they must have looked like tombstones! And I remember those back stairs I was hiding on tonight, I’m sure I do! This must have been the place. You can hear the waterfall from here, and there’s a train track a couple of miles over, though I didn’t hear one tonight.”
“It’s enough to give me more reasons to question Marva. Whether it was Dane or her husband behind it, she would know—”
“But what if it was Marva herself? Maybe she wanted children around. But then where would Sandy be held right now?” She shuddered and glanced at the burning house again. “I pray she wasn’t upstairs.... Surely not in that tanning salon. The girls are still missing and so is a piece of the puzzle.”
“Like I said, I’ll start with Marva. And if Ann’s been tipping off her brother, who then phones the meth cookers, maybe she’s also been telling Jonas where I’ve been looking for his dogfight spots for years so he can stay one step ahead of me. What an idiot I’ve been with her. I may have to charge her as an accessory to these crimes—if I can nail Jonas. I hate to fire her, just when I need someone on the desk during the day. Want a temporary job?” he asked, giving her a little squeeze. “Peggy Barfield, the night dispatcher, could teach you the system.”
“Are you serious?” she asked, turning to look at him in the dancing firelight. “It would keep me out of trouble, you mean. Sure, I could help for a little while if it comes to that, but—this old farmhouse, the layout of it, now these wooden-frame stacked beehives that look like tombstones... I think I’ve finally remembered the place where I was held.”
“Walking into that house to get you tonight, I had a flashback to defusing bombs. Don’t need more of those memories.”
“But, as awful as they are, I need mine,” she said in a whisper when they’d been almost shouting to be heard over the roar of the fire.
They both jolted when the farmhouse roof caved in with a crash just as a train screeched its warning in the dark distance. All the clues Tess could remember fit this place, coming together just as it disintegrated in its fiery death.
24
“Sorry to get you out so early on a Sunday morning,” Gabe told his young deputy as they exited their separate vehicles. Dr. Nelson had taken care of him and stitched up Tess, though Gabe was still walking on a gimpy ankle. “But there’s three Simons brothers when I don’t even trust one of them anymore. I think we’ll find Jonas alone at his place, but you never know.”
“No problem about my missing church. Carolyn just said the memorial service tonight will count,” Jace said as they started walking through the trees and up the hill toward the house.
“Not a memorial service. A prayer service and candlelight vigil,” Gabe reminded him. “Memorial would mean Sandy’s gone, and I hope to God she isn’t.”
“Yeah, I knew that. Gotta admit I’m nervous, going in on a big, shifty guy who’s good with pit bulls and chain saws. You ever see that Chainsaw Massacre flick?”
“Save it. I’m hoping this will be a knock-and-talk at first, but I’ve learned to expect the unexpected, especially since I hope to arrest him. Just let me do the talking but cover me from a stand of trees where you can see us, like we planned. Even if he asks me in, I’ll have him step out into the open. I’ll give you time to get set.”
Gabe left Jace and limped toward Jonas’s large log cabin home. Ann had let slip that the new home’s interior was beautifully finished and cost a lot. Then she’d tried to backtrack on the expense comment. Gabe figured that was because Jonas’s job at the mill didn’t provide a big paycheck even if he did get a discount on wood. He might not be only running illegal dogfights but also getting drug money from tipping off the meth lab gang through Ann. Gabe couldn’t think of anyone else named Jonas around here, but there could be—though not with links to key information from the sheriff’s department.
He had to get something out of Jonas before he accused Ann of anything. She was a lot smarter than her brothers, so, as tough as they were, Gabe was betting she wouldn’t crack as easily.
The minute he stepped into the yard, about ten pit bulls behind a wire fence went wild, barking, snarling.
Jonas stuck his head out the front door, looking like death warmed over.
“Hey, Sheriff,” he said, laughing and scratching his belly through a loose flannel shirt. “You come to ask me for Ann’s hand? I’d agree to a shotgun wedding. Should I go get mine?”
Gabe moved closer but not too close. At least the man seemed to be in a good mood, but he knew it wouldn’t last too long.
“Step out so we can have a talk please,” Gabe called to him. “I’m here to ask why you didn’t come in Friday morning to retrieve your dog. The one John Hillman mounted for you before it was stolen from the taxidermy shop. Ann did give you a quick call from the office as soon as she knew about it, didn’t she?”
Gabe watched the big man closely as he stepped out of the house but saw no hint Jonas got what he was implying. Although the man really annoyed him, Gabe kept his game face on, as impassive as possible. He glanced around at the open door, the front windows, the side of the house he could see, in case Jonas wasn’t alone.