Chapter 7 Bear Trap #2
Since the Corvette was heading toward town, he continued jogging until the sparkling lake waters came into view.
The sooner he returned to civilization, the better his chances of survival were.
A single attempt on his life might be a coincidence.
Two within the space of a few minutes was not. Somebody wanted him dead.
He was sweaty, filthy, and scraped up by the time he limped into the hotel lobby.
April and Kaya were waiting for him.
To his relief, the Paul Bunyan-sized Bo was with them.
Kaya flew up to him, ignoring his filthy state, and threw her arms around him. “April told me about the bear trap.” There was a sobbing catch in her voice.
He met April’s gaze over the top of Kaya’s head. “My hike into town was more exciting than I would’ve preferred.”
She hurried over to him, a sight for his sore eyes in a pale pink pantsuit. “What happened?” She anxiously searched his face.
He appreciated her concern. He also liked the way her blue-gray eyes were darting over the scrapes and cuts along his jawline. He didn’t need coddling. It was just nice knowing she cared.
Her lips trembled with emotion, drawing his gaze to her mouth.
“I called Gil to let him know about the bear trap. He’s sending someone over to bag it and tag it for testing.
All the usual stuff. They’ll dust it for fingerprints and swab it for soil samples and what-have-you.
With any luck, they’ll be able to pinpoint—” Whatever she read in his expression made her break off in mid-sentence.
“I’m rambling, I know. I get carried away sometimes with forensic stuff. ”
Kaya lifted her head from his shoulder to brag, “She’s just being modest. It’s her endless nose-to-the-grind-stone work that got us this far.”
“No complaints from me.” Bear would happily listen to April all day long. He liked the way his words made her cheekbones grow as pink as her pantsuit.
“Well, I do have a complaint,” his impertinent niece announced. She stepped away from him, pinching her nose between her thumb and finger. “Somebody needs a shower.”
He was well aware of that. Flapping his arms at her to maximize his stench and make her giggle, he made his way to the check-in desk to reserve a room.
His stench might not have been as bad as Kaya claimed, since April followed him to the check-in desk. She started talking again as soon as he had his room key in hand. “I’m still waiting to hear what else happened to you.”
“I’ll get to that part in a second, but first things first.” He held his hand out to Kaya. “I need to see your cell phone, please.”
“Oka-a-ay.” She pulled it out of her back pocket and slapped it into his open palm as they rounded the corner to the hallway leading to the elevators.
While she watched in bafflement, he removed it from its cover and took out the SIM card and battery. Then he set it on the tile floor and smashed it under his heel.
She gasped in horror. “Uncle Uri!”
He caught April’s gaze. “We need to bag it and take it to the police. Her phone’s been bugged. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
She drew a specimen bag from her cross-body purse. “Tools of the trade,” she murmured. “Don’t ask.” Then she borrowed his room key to sweep the pieces of the phone into the specimen bag. She straightened, looking concerned. “What happened to you out there, Bear?”
“An attempted hit-and-run.” He felt her gasp all the way to his soul.
“Clearly, they missed.” Not only had he reacted quickly, but the driver had also hesitated.
The more Bear replayed the incident in his mind, the more sure he was of their hesitation.
The decision to run him off the road had been impulsive, not premeditated.
Whoever had been behind the wheel was an absolute kook.
That was his take on the situation, anyway.
April and Kaya stuck to him like prickly prongs as he pushed the UP button for an elevator. While they waited for one to reach the main level, he removed a wad of money from his backpack and stuffed the bills in Kaya’s hand. “For your new phone. My treat. I’m sorry about the old one.”
Her expression waffled between appreciation and uncertainty. “Uncle Uri, you don’t have to—”
“I insist.” His only regret was that he hadn’t done it sooner.
“I broke it. I’m fixing it. Buy a nice one with all the buttons and gadgets you want.
” He’d given her more than enough money to cover it.
“Not sure if this will fit the new one, but here.” He handed back her old case, which she promptly tossed into a nearby wastebasket.
To April, he handed the SIM card and phone battery. “After the police take a look at them, make sure Kaya gets the SIM card back.” He didn’t want her to lose her address book and photographs.
“Will do,” she promised. “While you get cleaned up, I’ll also update the police and Lonestar Security about the latest attempt on your life.
” Her voice trembled. “What’s happening to you makes little sense.
Then again, none of our recent findings seem to add up.
” She shook her head in discouragement. “Maybe I’ve been looking at the case wrong.
Maybe it’s time to take a step back and rethink things. ”
“Our theory about college girls was shot to pieces the moment Tiffany Masterson turned up not missing,” he reminded.
He was glad to cross that one off the list. With two nieces in college, it had been his least favorite theory all along.
“Every theory we disprove gets us closer to the truth.” Like her, he was ready to regroup and look at things with a fresh set of eyes.
“True. Kaya and I have been putting together an evidence board in our suite,” she volunteered.
“You’re welcome to meet us in there to have a look at it if you want.
Bo, that includes you.” She frowned in concern at Bear as they crowded into the elevator.
“Will an hour be enough time for you to get settled in?”
Bo’s hulking figure took up a lot of space in the elevator, but Bear liked the way he was practically breathing down Kaya’s neck. Until they figured out who was targeting the Dakotas, he didn’t want her out of her bodyguard’s sight.
“Works for me.” Bear didn’t require an hour to shower, but he could use the extra time to make some calls on the hotel phone.
He stepped off the elevator when they reached the third floor, where he would be staying, lifting a hand in goodbye to April, Kaya, and Bo.
“We’re in the penthouse suite, whenever you’re ready to pay the queens a visit,” Kaya informed him loftily. She pretended to look down her nose at him, an impossible task for someone of her petite stature.
He reached out to flick a finger at the tip of her nose.
She tried to dodge, but wasn’t fast enough. “Ew!” She spun toward April. “Did he get any of his smelly camo paint on me?”
April leaned closer, smiling affectionately. There was something distinctly maternal about the way she laughingly shook her head at Kaya.
Kaya’s noisy sigh of relief was exaggerated for her uncle’s benefit.
April caught his eye, and he did something he didn’t normally do — something he hadn’t done in years. He winked at her.
The last thing he saw before the elevator door rolled closed was her blushing response.
April glanced nervously around the elevator after Bear’s departure, not sure where to look. Her insides were all tangled with emotion. It was so confusing. She’d never felt this way before and didn’t know what to do about it.
“Whew!” Kaya waved her hands in front of her face. “It must be hotter in here than I realized. You’re as red as a lobster, Dr. Chandrakanta.” She was roasting April again.
“Yeah, it’s pretty toasty.” April hurriedly changed the subject. “I hope you don’t plan to use it as an excuse to slack off. We have an hour to get some more work done.”
As they stepped off the elevator, Bo gave April a look that told her he knew exactly what had brought the color to her face. “I’ll be back in an hour.” Unlike Kaya, he didn’t feel the need to rub it in. He dropped them off at their door, then made himself scarce.
Kaya made another leading comment about the way her uncle had been looking at April, but April didn’t respond.
She was already dialing Dr. Benjie Haywood’s dental office. To her immense surprise, Ben’s father answered the phone himself.
“I’m sorry to bother you, sir, but this is an emergency.” She deliberately injected a harried note into her voice.
“Then hang up and call the ER, ma’am.” He sounded a tad short of patience. “We don’t provide emergency care at our office.”
What a crank! “It’s not that k-kind of emergency, sir,” she stuttered, trying to sound suitably chastised and nervous. “I’m trying to get in touch with either Martha or Tiffany Masterson.”
There was a brief pause before he answered. “They don’t work here.” He sounded dismissive.
“I know, but they work for you, don’t they?” she pressed.
He cleared his throat. “Who is this?”
“A friend of Martha’s, and I need to get in touch with either her or her daughter ASAP.”
“Well, that’s going to be difficult,” he snapped. “Like I said, neither of them works here, and Tiffany lives out of town.”
April made a sound of dismay. “I thought I heard that Tiffany was visiting her mom.”
“You must have heard wrong. Martha and her daughter don’t talk.” It was more information than April had expected to get out of him. “She never visits here.”
Wrong-o, mister! He was either lying or frightfully misinformed, but she was leaning toward the latter.
His irritation and impatience struck her as genuine.
“I’m sorry to hear it,” she cooed in a voice dripping with sympathy.
“I was so hoping when I heard Tiffany was in town, it meant she’d patched things up with her mother.
I guess I was wrong. So sorry to bother you!
” She ended the call and repeated what she’d learned to Kaya.