Chapter 13
THIRTEEN
GABE
“Hello,” a gravelly voice answered in a whisper. A nervous question mark lurked around at the end of the single word.
Gabe didn’t think the voice was the same as the one claiming to be Roy Wilson yesterday morning.
And, unless Roy was calling from the great beyond, it couldn’t be the pastor himself this time.
Elton made faces and swirling motions with his hands and pointed to his ears.
Gabe pressed the speaker icon so both he and Knute could listen in.
“This is Gabe Karne. I got a call from this number yesterday. I’d love to know why Roy Wilson was using—your phone, I assume?”
“Shit. I can’t talk to you,” the voice hissed. “Why are you calling me? You could get me killed!”
Now the voice sounded familiar to Gabe; the last time he’d heard it, the deputy had been putting him under arrest. “Redial is a modern miracle, isn’t it? I am talking to Emmett Spurring, correct?”
A groan weighted with despair floated across the line.
Knute and Elton nodded in agreement, confirming Gabe’s guess.
“Look, Karne.” Spurring was speaking so quietly now that they could barely hear him. “I need help. I have to tell you something, but I’m not talking over the phone. Don’t know who’s listening in.”
“I just so happen to have the whole day free.”
“Tomorrow. The big bunker at Fort Hood.” There was a pause. Gabe waited. Spurring grumbled—quietly. “Fine, today. I’ll text you the time.”
The line went dead.
“Well, well, well, isn’t that interesting,” Gabe said, pocketing his phone again.
“Seems like it was Roy Wilson who called, just using Spurring’s cell phone,” Knute said. “Can’t say I’m shocked that he’s involved. Likely way over his head, too. Never has been the strongest oar.”
“But why did Wilson call me?” Gabe wrinkled his nose. “Guess I’ll find out when I meet Spurring.”
“When we meet him,” Elton corrected.
Gabe threw his head back and stared up at the clear blue sky. He thought about saying no, but he figured that wouldn’t stop Elton. And it was Elton’s truck they were using.
“Fine, but only you. Knute, you stay here. You’re our backup if we need it, and one of us needs to stay out of trouble.”
He earned himself a scowl from the ex-homicide officer and a nod from Elton.
Ten minutes later, Gabe was cruising slowly down a narrow street lined with chestnut trees and homes built in the early twentieth century and about to pass Randy Witherspoon’s address for the second time that day.
For reasons he didn’t quite understand, Gabe felt slightly sorry for Randy.
Which made him think of other unsavory relatives of his.
He was beginning to understand why Heidi had made out like he had no living family aside from her.
“Are you ready to talk about Althea yet?” Gabe asked his passenger.
Elton grunted and pointedly did not give the house a second of attention.
He’d been remarkably taciturn in regard to Althea’s longtime criminal activity and what Gabe thought had been a budding relationship between the two of them.
Even as she was being arrested, Althea had claimed her feelings for Elton were real, then apparently couldn’t comprehend why he refused to visit her in prison.
Which not only showed just how deluded Althea was but also that she hadn’t bothered to get to know Elton at all. Elton Cox did not suffer fools or cruelty.
Besides, now that Gabe had been around Knute a bit more, he had some new ideas about Elton.
Elton stared out the windshield. “Nope. Nothing to say.”
“Well, if you ever want to talk, you know where to find me.” Gabe chuckled at his stupid joke.
Elton changed the subject. “Lunch at the Geoduck? My treat?”
“Sounds great, but I’m paying.”
As Gabe drove, he and Elton bickered about who would spring for lunch and what Emmett Spurring might have to say until the sign for the Geoduck Inn appeared in the distance and the truck traveling in front of them signaled and turned left into the parking lot.
Gabe followed suit but parked at the opposite end of the long building that housed the diner.
A youngish young woman with long dark hair woven into a braid hanging almost to her waist climbed out of the truck. She was looking down and tying something around her hips. An apron, Gabe realized. When it was secure, she pulled open a door near the kitchen and disappeared inside.
“Huh,” said Elton, also watching. “I think that’s Nicole. She’s been away at school or something, haven’t seen her in a while. Nice girl, one of my favorite servers here. I always enjoy talking to her. Maybe she’ll have our table.”
The nice “girl” looked to be around thirty, but Gabe wasn’t arguing with Elton about it. “We won’t have a table if you don’t bust a move.”
Elton popped the passenger door open and started his slow descent to the ground. “Knute’s daughter may be an incredible baker, but those scones were just a drop in the old bucket.”
Weaving through the pool tables not currently in use, they made their way to a table by the picture windows.
Gabe stopped a second to take in the view of the marshland and canal; he was never going to get tired of it all.
His stomach didn’t care much about the view though, so he grabbed one of the menus stacked in a rack on the table and was debating between a bowl of clam chowder and a grilled cheese, maybe both, when their server approached.
“Have you two decided?” she asked.
Looking up, he saw that it was the young woman they’d seen outside.
“Oh, hey, Elton. I haven’t seen you in ages.” Her voice was warm, and she clearly knew and liked Elton Cox. Honestly, though, who didn’t?
She smiled, but, if the dark circles under her eyes were anything to go by, Gabe had the impression she was tired.
“Likewise. Nicole, this is my friend, Gabriel.”
“Hi, Gabriel. Nice to meet you.”
Glancing around, she lowered the pad and pen, sensing perhaps that it would be a minute before they were ready to order. There were only a few other customers seated at tables, and they all had plates of food in front of them.
“Please, Gabe is fine. I’m no angel.”
Obligingly, Nicole laughed at Gabe’s joke. Elton rolled his eyes, also the reaction he was aiming for.
“Where’ve you been hiding yourself, Nicole?” Elton asked. “Haven’t seen you for a coon’s age.”
“Oh, not hiding, not really,” she said too quickly. “Just not on the peninsula. But I’m back now. So, what can I get for you?” she added cheerfully, raising her pen and pad again and thus thwarting any more questions Elton might have.
A flush rose across her high cheekbones, and Nicole darted what he would call a nervous glance behind her. But there was no one at the horseshoe-shaped serving area, just the afternoon bartender wiping down the counter.
“I’m going for a cup of clam chowder and the grilled cheese,” Gabe announced, breaking the strange interlude.
“And I’ll have a green salad with the lemon dressing and a cup of that tomato soup,” Elton said, sounding slightly superior to Gabe’s ears.
After jotting their order down and asking about drinks—coffee, of course—Nicole shoved the pad of guest checks into one of her apron pockets and skittered back toward the kitchen. They watched her clip their order to the ticket carousel, a simple action that took her two tries.
“Such a healthy lunch. Are you trying to make me look bad?” Gabe said absently, still half watching Nicole.
Elton shook his head. “Nah, but there’s a chili cookoff and tasting at the Old Codgers Clubhouse on Saturday. I’m saving my cholesterol intake for that.”
Gabe turned his attention away from the swinging kitchen doors and back to Elton. “What time does it start? And can Casey and I tag along?”
“If you want, but the baseball game will be playing,” Elton said, his fuzzy eyebrows raised in mock disbelief.
Gabe slumped back in his seat. “Ugh, aren’t there like two hundred games? Can’t you guys miss one?”
“We pay for those games. We’re getting every game we can out of that subscription.”
“Fine. Do I have to bring chili? Or can I just be a consumer?”
“You don’t have to bring chili, but you do have to donate cash money to the general charity fund. I bring a jumbo muffin tin so I can taste six different kinds.”
“Oh, that is a good idea!”
Nicole returned with their coffees and set them down with a clatter. Hot liquid sloshed out of one of the cups and onto its saucer. “Crud, I’m sorry. Clumsy today, I guess. Um, lunch is on the way.”
The door that led into the bar area opened, and bright early afternoon sunshine streamed into the normally dim space. A guy in leathers held the door while ten more, also in leathers, ducked inside. Not unusual; because of its location, the Geoduck was popular with riding clubs of all types.
A minute later the door opened a second time, and two more men entered, pausing at the threshold, backlit by the sunlight. Maybe they were waiting for their eyes to adjust, but Gabe thought they were up to more than that.
The bartender greeted the bikers and started pulling pints of light beer without being asked. “Can I get some help over here?” he called out over his shoulder.
Gabe watched the two men blocking the entrance start toward the taps. They weren’t with the first group, and they pinged his radar. It was the way they walked, the way they were trying to see everything without appearing to do so. Almost as if they were looking for someone.
Halfway between the bar and the seating area, Nicole seemed almost frozen in place as she too watched the new customers. But at the bartender’s plea, she started and hurried over to the taps.
“Is it just my imagination, or is your friend Nicole acting nervous? I’ve never met her before in my life, but I know a nervous person when they’re standing right in front of me.”