Chapter 7
SEVEN
GABE
Gabe was working on his argument that Elton needed to stick his nose out of The Wilson Business when his phone vibrated, Ranger Man popping up on the screen.
Elton’s attention was on his own phone and presumably looking for a response from Knute.
Which, if Gabe didn’t tread lightly, he’d never learn.
Gabe’s phone vibrated again, bringing an issue he’d been ignoring to the forefront.
What was he planning to tell Casey about the discovery of Wilson’s body?
The truth, obviously, but there was also the rest of it, like the fact that Wilson was Mickie’s bio father.
Maybe he already knew? It was a conundrum—a drum anyway.
The vibrating was becoming more insistent. He debated letting it go to voicemail.
“Answer the damn thing.” Elton crossed his arms again, his phone still in his hand, his lips flattened into a you-have-to-talk-to-him-at-some-point kind of way.
“Fine.” He picked up his device.
“Heya, Case, what’s up?” he said, attempting an airy approach. Gabe thought he sounded slightly wheezy to his own ears.
“It’s been a wild day. You’re on speaker, don’t worry.”
Right, because Casey was not a rule breaker.
Fuck, it was good to hear his voice though, even if there was an edge to it.
Probably due to his day, not Gabriel’s. Waiting to tell him about Wilson would be best. No point in worrying him.
Let sleeping rangers lie and all that. He shot Elton a warning glare and shook his head.
“Ended up making a trip up The Valley,” Casey continued.
Casey had been up early that morning, an hour or so before Gabe was willing to poke a toe out from underneath the covers.
Something to do with meetings and schedules and newbies.
Gabe had pulled a pillow over his head. Why leave a comfortable bed if he didn’t have to?
So why had he thought meeting with a complete stranger, on a Monday, no less, was a good idea?
You should ask yourself that more often, Chance.
“I didn’t know you were heading up there today.” Did he sound stilted?
Gabe inhaled a few deep breaths, rolled his shoulders, and looked out the window. Several small gray and black birds were perched on the top of Elton’s statue.
“Wasn’t part of my plan for the day. But Etienne called and I grabbed the chance to escape the spring paperwork, much to Greta’s disgust. A trespasser has been at Snowcap, and he and Paul thought I might be able to do something.
You know those two. They aren’t calling ‘real law enforcement’ unless they have to.
” The air quotes were loud in Casey’s tone.
Gabe had met the couple a few times. They were cagey but charismatic, which was like catnip for him. He didn’t know them well, but he wanted to. Boy, did he want to. Casey had made him promise not to “do anything stupid” when it came to the Allard-Clarks, which naturally made him even more curious.
“Did you know the person?” Gabe found himself half-smiling. He totally understood why Paul and Etienne hadn’t called in any other LEOs. Which begged yet another question: Why did Casey Lundin, rule-follower extraordinaire, attract non-rule-following types?
“David Warner, Suzie Warner’s father. It’s complicated.”
Gabe wondered what else had happened that Casey was worried about.
Casey continued. “I think he’s creating some sort of memorial to his daughter.
But the forensics team isn’t done up there, so he can’t do what he’s been doing, which is digging holes and building rock cairns.
When Ethan left, he said they’d be back.
Apparently the number of remains suggests more to be found. ”
Casey’s long sigh had Gabe frowning.
The Snowcap Estates development had been halted long before any remains were found.
Originally, Gabe had thought Rizzi’s unnamed accomplices had known Suzie Warner was buried up there.
But more recent events made him think it more likely that Rizzi had been doing his dirty work alone or with Deter Nolan.
It was also possible that John Stevens had known something, that he’d been doing more than helping to put the innocent and inconvenient behind bars.
Too many dead bodies, Chance. The trail they left is littered with the lies used to cover their actions.
“And I’d bet a dollar the forensics guys didn’t leave someone behind to stand guard.” The cost would have been too high, Gabe figured; instead, they’d undoubtedly hoped a partially paved twenty-mile road filled with oversized potholes and some crime scene tape would keep trespassers away.
“Yeah, no. They did not.”
“This business,” Gabe started, then paused.
He didn’t know what to call a string of murders, fraud, and fuck knew what else associated with a housing development that had never materialized and the as-yet-unrevealed conspirators behind it.
“Rizzi being exposed and all that’s happened since the fall, the ripple effect is strong. More like a riptide.”
Casey grunted. They’d talked about this several times since last winter, but they’d arrived at the same dead end each time. Gabe heard a click-click sound; Casey must have been turning onto the highway.
Would now be a good time to mention he’d unintentionally found a body? Sooner rather than later would be better, Gabe knew this. And yet. Was there etiquette to broaching the subject? Probably, yes. Was Gabe going to fuck it up? Also, yes.
Casey finally said, “TCSO is stretched thin and now thinner. Gabriel.” Casey’s tone changed, tinged maybe with concern. It had Gabriel sitting up, listening closer. “The other thing that happened today is that Peter Vale’s vehicle turned up, abandoned in a ravine not far from Snowcap.”
“Oh, wow.” Would investigators finally learn who killed Peter?
A stab of remorse mingled with guilt shot through him at the mention of his ex, a man Gabe hadn’t thought about in months. Their relationship had been over by the time Peter was murdered, but he’d never wanted him dead.
“What were you doing hiking in ravines anyway?”
The mystery of what had happened to his ex-boyfriend’s car was solved. No one had confessed to Peter’s murder, but his car being found where it was provided a link to the fuckery that was Snowcap Estates. Which Gabe had always suspected.
“I wanted to see where Calvin Perkins’s body had been found, and basically, one thing led to another. There was a suitcase in the back with Peter’s wallet and some clothes in it. The sheriff and her people are on their way up there now.”
“Wow,” Gabe repeated.
To his left, Elton was raising and lowering his bushy eyebrows in an alarming fashion.
“One sec.” He covered the mic. “What?”
“What’s going on?” Elton demanded.
“They found Peter’s car,” Gabe told him.
Elton made another face and pointed at the phone in Gabe’s hand.
“Casey? Can I put you on speaker? I’m at Elton’s.”
“Sure.”
Gabe pressed Speaker and turned up the volume. “So, you were saying?” Frowning, Elton sat forward and Gabe scooted over as far as he could, holding his phone out so Elton could hear. “You were telling me about finding Peter’s car.”
“Not much else to tell. It was partially hidden in a ditch, toward the end of an unmaintained and unmapped access road north of Snowcap. If we hadn’t hiked down that way, we never would’ve seen it. Eagan’s gonna have to order in a truck and crew to retrieve it.”
“What made you go down there?” Elton asked.
“I’ve been wondering what Calvin was doing up at Snowcap even after Dwayne had been killed. I know we’re talking about Calvin Perkins, but what if he’d discovered or seen something? It’s possible he witnessed Dwayne’s murder, isn’t it?”
“We’ll never know now,” Elton pointed out.
“Maybe Vale’s car will help. I bet he was killed up there too.
I doubt Calvin conveniently met his murderer by that cedar.
It’s isolated and not easy to get to, so there had to have been more than one person involved if he was killed somewhere else.
I’m wondering if his truck is further down that ravine too,” Casey said.
Gabe almost said “Wow” a third time but stopped himself. Instead, he said, “Well, crap.”
“Dwayne and Calvin didn’t deserve this. Yes, they were shitheads in real life, and Kelly Perkins is probably the only person on Heartstone that misses them. But that doesn’t mean someone should get away with murder,” Casey said. “And Peter didn’t deserve what happened to him either.”
Elton and Gabe both nodded even though Casey couldn’t see them. Casey’s sense of justice, of law and order, wouldn’t allow him to ignore the three deaths.
“Are you feeling nostalgic, Casey?” Gabe teased lightly. “Worried there’ll be no over-harvesting citations to hand out this summer?”
“I’m sure I’ll have plenty of chances. The Perkinses are dead, but other jerks will fill the void.”
Elton snorted. “Job security.”
Casey chuckled and then said, “I’m going to ask around a bit. There has to be someone who knows what Calvin was up to. I can’t imagine he didn’t tell at least one of his acquaintances something.”
“As long as you don’t get into trouble. That’s my job,” Gabe said with a laugh.
Some sketchy emotion must have slipped through. Casey was quiet for a second and then—
“What are you up to, Gabe?”
Gabe looked across at Elton, who shrugged back at him. Not helpful.
“What?”
A fool may be born every minute, Chance, but Casey is not one of them.
“Something’s up. I can tell from your tone of voice.” The sound of Casey exhaling a deep, frustrated breath ruffled the connection. “Just. Stay away from the Perkins case, okay? Please.”
Gabe appreciated that Casey had stopped himself from using the word stupid, even if it felt like the right word, especially today. He caught Elton lifting his eyebrows again; those things had a life of their own.
“I have no intention of getting involved in Perkins’s case.”
His focus was going to be on Royal Wilson. Elton shook his head again.
“Gabriel.” Casey said his name with a sigh.
Gabe’s heart skipped a beat; he loved that sound.
“I’ll be back at the park office soon,” Casey continued. “I need to check in with Greta and probably do some kind of penance for escaping today. I brought her back a baguette, so there’s that. See you when I get home in an hour or so.”
“Sounds good.”
Gabe clicked off and set the phone down in his lap. Looking over at Elton, he saw amusement and a dash of concern in Elton’s eyes.
Everything will be fine.
“Any response from Knute yet?”
Elton glared.