Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
“What are we missing?” Ryan exhaled a deep breath as he watched the new day dawning.
He and Charlie were now at Ryan’s house with law officers from the neighboring county stationed around the property and out on the road.
As much as he wanted to believe they were safe, he didn’t. The person coming after Charlie had proven himself cunning. He’d outsmarted them time and again.
Ryan kept a whiteboard at the house. When he couldn’t sleep sometimes, he’d go over whatever investigation he was working on and try to work through the pieces.
Now, he wrote names at the top of the board of those who were possible suspects. Junior. Eddie Hawthorne. Silas Montgomery. Former sheriff, Victor Kellogg. Jason or Grant Owens. The serial killer. Unknown suspect.
Charlie stared at the names, tapping her nails against her lip. “I think we can rule out Silas, don’t you?”
Ryan agreed. “Yes. He loved Pete. He wouldn’t hurt him.” Ryan crossed through Silas’s name. “That still leaves seven possibilities.”
Charlie flipped through the journal she and Ryan had found in the barn. “This doesn’t implicate or clear any of them.”
Ryan returned to his chair and grabbed his coffee.
“No, but from what Boone has discovered about Grant and Jason Owens, I think we can rule out them being personally responsible. They could have hired someone, but I doubt it. According to Jason, he and Abby didn’t talk all that much.
He had no reason to try to harm her, and he and Grant are as clean as choirboys.
He sat his cup down. “I don’t think they’re involved. ”
Charlie agreed.
Ryan started to rise and mark their names off the list, but she stopped him. “I’ve got it. I need to move around.”
Ryan finished off the last of his coffee while he watched her mark through the Owens’ names.
“I’m not sure how I feel about Eddie and Junior yet,” she told him. “Eddie admitted to covering up the money taken from the county fund. He wouldn’t say Junior took it but I think we can both agree he did. So, if he took the money and Abby somehow found out. . .” She pulled a face.
“How would Abby know unless Junior told her? Still, the initials Abby wrote in her diary match Junior, so I don’t think we can take either off the list yet.”
Charlie sighed. “You’re right.”
“There’s the serial killer who claimed he killed Abby.” Ryan believed he’d made the story up to gain more notoriety for himself and said as much.
“You’re right. All his other victims were recovered. He didn’t kill Abby and he certainly isn’t responsible for Pete’s death.” She put an X through the name before turning to him. “What about the previous sheriff? You worked for him, right?”
Ryan’s jaw tightened. The previous sheriff hadn’t been competent, in Ryan’s opinion. Ryan had certainly been surprised when Victor Kellogg was selected to fill the post instead of Boone who was far more qualified.
It still filled him with shame that he’d allowed Kellogg's incompetence to influence his part in the investigation into Charlie’s parents’ deaths.
“Wait, your parents died in a fire. The killer tried to take us out by setting a fire. That can’t be a coincidence.
” Ryan didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of it before.
“You’re right. How was the fire set at our place?
” Her gaze bored into him. He’d never told her about the footprint outside the house, and he couldn’t now.
Back then, he and Charlie had gotten close and was there at her side while she grieved for her parents.
He’d fallen in love with her then. When they’d dated as teens, he believed what they had was love but both knew their plans would get in the way of having a future together.
He hated letting her go when she’d gone away to college.
He’d finished his police training and come back to Pine Haven to begin work as an officer, the job he’d dreamed about since he was a kid.
But he hadn’t expected one of the first cases he’d work was the arson deaths of two people he cared about.
“The fire investigator said there was an accelerant. He believed it to be gasoline.” The same as at the cabin.
“So, it’s possible this is the same person.” Charlie went for more coffee and held up the pot.
He shook his head. He’d had enough as it was.
“I want to go back to Pete’s place,” Charlie announced, surprising him.
He sat up straight. “No way. Boone confirmed someone had been back at the cabin while no one was watching the place.”
She didn’t back down. “We can take backup with us. I can’t help but think we missed something.”
“Which the suspect probably found.”
“Maybe. But something’s been nagging at me.
That last call with Pete—he kept bringing up my old bedroom, over and over.
What if that was on purpose? He said he had to replace some floorboards under the bed because they had gotten warped.
I thought it was strange considering why would there be a leak there? ”
“You think he was trying to tell you something? I’ll have Boone check it out.” Ryan grabbed his phone, but she stopped him.
“I want to go myself, Ryan.”
He looked into her eyes and understood. Pete was gone and she’d been too busy trying to stay alive to mourn him.
The former sheriff didn’t want a funeral. Just to have his ashes spread over the land he loved. After the autopsy was run and all the tests taken, Pete had been cremated, his ashes were waiting for Charlie to pick up. That would have to wait.
“Alright. I’ll clear it with Boone. We can take a couple of deputies with us.”
She smiled. “Thank you.”
That smile made him want to do whatever she asked. Charlie went to the kitchen for something to eat.
Once Boone picked up he asked the sheriff about Will.
“Got a concussion but he’s going to be okay. How are things there?”
Ryan told him about Charlie’s request. “She needs this,” he said quietly. “I’ll take a couple of the officers here with us.”
Boone begrudgingly gave in. “Okay. But I can’t stress enough how dangerous this is. Be careful, Ryan. Every moment you’re out in the open with Charlie her life is in danger.”
The words settled around him like an itchy wool blanket. “I will. Anything new there?”
Boone told him the fire marshal confirmed that gasoline was used as an accelerant. “I’m hoping now that we’ve switched your phone there won’t be any way for the suspect to track you. Still. . .”
Ryan understood what Boone didn’t say again. This was deadly serious.
“I read you loud and clear.” Ryan ended the call as Charlie came back to the table.
“What’d he say?”
“He’s allowing it but he’s worried. I’ll speak to the two officers out front and have them come with us.”
Charlie reclaimed her chair and continued studying the whiteboard without answering.
Ryan stepped out into the crisp morning.
Nothing about it felt like Christmas despite the weather.
This morning if there wasn’t an additional foot of snow on the ground you would never have known a storm had blown through.
The crisp clean air and severe blue skies were what he would always associate with Colorado.
The first officer spotted him and came over. “Everything okay?”
Ryan told him yes. “We’re going to head up the mountain to Charlie’s Uncle Pete’s place. I need you and your partner to come along.”
Officer Warren didn’t hesitate. “You got it. We can be ready when you are.”
Ryan nodded. “Give us five minutes. Charlie and I will ride with you two.”
Warren confirmed and Ryan went back inside to where Charlie had slipped into her coat.
He grabbed his handgun and went outside to where the two officers stood near their cruiser. Ryan hoped that if the perp was watching the place, seeing the patrol car coming would scare him off. Still, to be safe, he’d have the officers pull around the back of the cabin.
Ryan opened the back door for Charlie. Once she slipped inside he crossed to the other side and got in next to her. With everyone in place, Warren eased the cruiser down Ryan’s long drive.
“I let the rest of the officers on guard know where we’re heading. They’re ready to back us up if needed.”
Ryan appreciated the officer’s forethought.
The snowplows hadn’t been up this far yet making it difficult for the SUV to traverse the thick snowdrifts on the road even in four-wheel drive.
Charlie reached for his hand, drawing his attention. She looked beyond exhausted. The things she’d gone through had taken their toll.
He squeezed her hand and smiled. Assuring her everything was going to be okay just wouldn’t come.
Ryan kept watching behind them. To their sides. Expecting the enemy to open fire.
Warren slowed enough to turn onto Pete’s drive.
Coming home. Those words floated through his mind. Every time he made this turn it was as if he were coming home. Pete had adopted him on the force and off. After Charlie left, Ryan spent a lot of time here. Pete helped him understand why she left. It didn’t make it any easier, but he understood.
The house came into view. The freshly fallen, pristine snow untouched.
Warren parked behind the back of the house as Ryan requested. “Why don’t we take a quick look around the outside perimeter and inside the house to make sure it’s safe?”
He looked to Ryan for consent.
“That’d be great.”
Both officers exited the SUV. Warren started around the side of the house while the second officer, Adams, headed inside the house.
“I sure hope Pete was trying to send me a message without saying it out loud.” Charlie leaned her head against the headrest as they waited.
Ryan wondered why Pete wouldn’t have told her about anything hidden. Unless Pete believed his calls might be monitored like Ryan’s.
Adams came from the house toward them. Soon, Warren met up with him.
Warren opened Ryan’s door. “There’s no sign anyone’s been here since the storm.”
Ryan released a breath. “That’s good to hear.” He got out while Adam’s opened Charlie’s door.
“Can you and your partner watch the front and back? Let me know if there’s any sign of trouble.”
Warren confirmed and went to discuss logistics with his partner.
“Ready?” Ryan asked.
Charlie nodded and opened the back door. Together they stepped across the threshold and into the kitchen.
Ryan remembered having meals with Pete at the massive log table Pete had built years ago. Their conversations would inevitably turn to Charlie. Though Ryan didn’t ask, Pete kept him updated on Charlie’s travels as a wildlife photographer.
“There’s a brick missing in the fireplace.”
Charlie’s voice interrupted those memories. Ryan spotted what she did.
“It wasn’t like that before.”
She was right. He remembered Boone mentioning the brick had been pulled free. Boone believed Pete kept something there. He sure hoped it wasn’t the one piece of information they needed to solve the case.
Outraged, I tossed the journal into the blazing fire. It contained nothing but Pete’s ramblings about woodworking.
The old guy had deliberately planted the journal there to throw me off. So where was the real one that held the truth?
I’d painstakingly reviewed all the others I’d found in his file cabinet.
They were filled with speculation. Pete had many theories early on about what happened to Abby.
He’d gone from believing she had been abducted by a cult that had once operated in our fair county to a drifter had taken her life.
None of his speculations had come close, and yet I know he found something.
I’d been watching him for years. I’d gotten close to him without him even realizing the viper he hunted was seated right next to him.
I’d almost taken care of the problem up at the old miner’s cabin, but they’d gotten away.
Even though I went through Pete’s house carefully, I couldn’t take the chance I’d missed something important.
Something that taking out Charlie wouldn’t fix.
I’d have to take a trip back there soon.
Right now, I needed to find out where they were hiding. Best to keep the enemy close.
He’d destroyed his phone and Charlie’s. There would be no tracking her that way.
I tossed the last of the journals into the fire. I’d give them a day to think they’d won. Then I’d find them and whatever evidence Pete had dug up and I’d end this thing once and for all.