Chapter 19
19
T hey left for Leavenworth after breakfast, making their way west at a leisurely pace—more to give them time to think than because they were relaxed about the situation. On the contrary, while neither thought they’d run into trouble, the gaping holes in their intel were starting to wear on them—mostly Lina. It bothered him, too, but he didn’t feel it the same way Lina did. He hadn’t known Alistair Kato, nor had the puzzle the doctor created been meant for him to solve.
Viper glanced over at Lina, now behind the wheel. Thinking it might be better for her to have something to focus on rather than sitting in the passenger seat for the next two and a half hours, he’d suggested she drive. She’d readily agreed.
“Mind if I check in with the club?” he asked. He’d texted updates, but they’d appreciate a call.
Lost in her thoughts, she took a moment to flicker a look at him before shaking her head. With his phone connected to Bluetooth, he hit Mantis’s contact.
“What’d you find at Long Shadow?” Mantis asked by way of answering. “I’m putting you on speaker. Most of us are having breakfast except Dulcie and Juan.” And Hawkeye, who was deployed for a few more weeks.
“I’m in the car with Lina on our way to Leavenworth,” he said, then waited as it seemed the entire town—although really only eleven of his brothers and Charley—said hello to her. Lina smiled at the riotous greeting laced with a fair bit of ribbing for texting him after three months of silence. He chuckled when she took it in stride, lobbing her own sass back.
His texts only said so much, so when the initial chaos quieted, they spent thirty minutes filling everyone in on Dr. Kato’s murder, the contents of the box, and their adventure so far. Not surprisingly, they asked a lot of questions. What did surprise him, though, was that Lina answered. All of them.
Her life had required secrets, and those habits were hard to break. And she’d only just acknowledged that her upbringing had shaped her in ways—not all good—that she never considered.
At least, not until recently.
He didn’t fight a tiny smile at that thought. He knew a thing or two about compartmentalization—he’d honed that ability growing up so he could separate who he was as a person from the reality he’d been born into. He’d fine-tuned it in the military when not compartmentalizing could get a man killed.
Like Lina, he’d learned to make decisions and live with the consequences. If a situation changed, he adapted, made a different decision, and moved on. But unlike her, he’d had a team at his back. They didn’t go all kumbaya, but he’d had the comfort of knowing that whatever they lived through—good or bad—he wasn’t alone. Field agents for the CIA were lone wolves. Lina hadn’t had that luxury.
“I heard you called Leo,” Mantis said once the club knew everything he and Lina did.
“Jackson did,” Lina answered, flashing him a questioning look.
“Leo told Joey who told Charley who told Mantis,” he explained. She stifled a laugh and shook her head.
“I assume there’s no update yet or you would have said so,” Mantis said. “What’s your plan now, and when are you headed our way?”
“No idea what our plan is other than to stop at Leavenworth on the way back to my friend’s cabin.” Her eyes drifted to the tin tucked by his feet. “We only found Clint’s name on the bottom of the toy car by chance—we were looking at the items, not the details. We’ll reexamine the toys tonight. Maybe we missed something.”
“And we’ll end up in Mystery Lake at some point, given it’s so close to Murphys,” Viper added.
“You mind if we look into a few things here?” Mantis asked.
Lina frowned. “Like what?”
“Leo will find everything we need to know about your dad and Annibel Rutgers. But her death was unusual, and I think it’s worth talking to Kara and Asher about.”
Lina shot him another questioning look. “Kara is one of Joey’s sisters-in-law, and Asher is her oldest brother.”
“The one married to the movie star?” she asked. Viper nodded.
“They’re both doctors. Exceptional doctors,” he said. “And discreet.”
Her attention tracked a slow-moving RV in the opposite lane as she answered. “If you could, that would be great. Given that I have no idea what he was researching or if he was killed because of it, reaching out to any of my dad’s colleagues doesn’t seem wise.”
“I agree,” Mantis said. “Once Leo has an update, we’ll loop Kara in. On another note, you need us to pick up your bike in Redding?” he asked.
Lina shook her head. “No, but thank you for the offer. I texted the shop yesterday, and I’ll pay to have them store it for a while.”
“Let us know if you change your mind,” Mantis replied. “Keep us posted and stay safe,” he added before hanging up.
“Mind if I get the box out and reexamine the toys?” he asked. Lina shook her head again, and he reached for the tin, opening it on his lap.
An hour later and none the wiser, they arrived in Leavenworth, the kitschy faux-Bavarian town tucked away in the Cascade Mountains. With the summer holidays officially over, only a handful of straggling tourists meandered the streets, and Lina easily found parking on the eastern edge of the main street. As she pulled to a stop, he replaced everything in the cigar box and tucked it back into her bag.
“I’m guessing you didn’t find anything?” Lina asked, turning the engine off.
“A scratch on the magnifying glass,” he answered. “It’s a straight line, so I doubt it’s anything more than a scratch. Where do you want to start?” He nodded to the town stretching west from where they sat.
Lina’s gaze lingered on the streets. Colorful buildings with balconies, intricate woodwork, and peaked roofs lined them. Flower baskets, dripping with purple, white, and red blooms, hung from many. Viper couldn’t help but smile at the whimsical town both so out of place, and not, tucked away in the rugged mountains.
“We ate there for lunch,” she said, pointing to a café on the corner in front of them. “I remember visiting a cute Christmas shop a couple of doors down.”
“And it looks like the restaurant where the receipt is from is three doors beyond that. Based on the map,” he said, holding out his phone for her to see.
“Then that’s where we start,” she said. “Shall we?” She nodded to the town.
“Yes, we shall,” he said, opening his door and sliding from the seat. Meeting her in the front of the car, he slipped his sunglasses on. “Head to the restaurant first, and if we come up empty, make a new plan?” he suggested.
She nodded, and they crossed the road, making their way down Front Street. Although memorable, the tourist part of town only covered a few blocks, and it didn’t take them long to reach the charming café with large picture windows, an overhanging balcony, and four flower baskets.
Viper followed Lina inside, where she hesitated before approaching the host stand.
“Two for lunch? We’re still serving breakfast as well,” the host, a young man with thick dark hair, acne scars, and a large Adam’s apple, asked.
“Actually, this is a bit of an odd request,” Lina said. “Is there any chance something, maybe an envelope, was left here for a Lina Kato? Sometime in the last six months is most likely.”
The young man frowned. “We have a lost and found. I don’t think we keep things that long, but you’re welcome to look.”
Lina smiled. “That would be great. Thank you.”
He led them to the far end of the diner-style counter. They crowded between two stools as he pulled a cardboard box from a shelf and set it in front of them. Methodically, Lina pulled everything out. Setting all the clothing in one pile and everything else in another, she gestured for him to go through the non-clothing items while she began searching the clothes.
The small pile in front of him grew smaller as he examined, then replaced, each item: a key chain with a single key on it, a packet of crayons, a stuffed teddy bear that had seen better days, two kids’ sippy cups, one bottle, and a baby blanket.
When he finished, he waited for Lina. It wasn’t much longer before she replaced the last item—a knit beanie—in the box. Turning to him, she shook her head. Nothing.
“Any chance we can ask the manager if it was left with her?” Lina asked.
“Him, and sure,” the kid replied in a tone that left no question as to what he thought about them—two weird adults asking weird questions. He gestured to someone behind them, an eager look on his face as he handed them off.
A wiry man with thinning brown hair and bright green eyes approached. “I’m Joe Warren, the manager; can I help you?” he asked. “I’ve got this, Jason,” he added to the host. The young man nodded and hastened back to the front stand with a single look back.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Warren. My name is Lina Kato, and this is a weird question, but by any chance, did a Dr. Kato leave an envelope here for me? Sometime within the last six months.”
Joe looked thoughtful, then shook his head. “I’m sorry, no. It’s not ringing a bell, and we wouldn’t normally hold on to something for someone.”
“The name doesn’t sound familiar?” Viper asked. To his credit, the man didn’t answer right away. Viper had been watching for any signs of dishonesty, as he was sure Lina had, too, but so far, he hadn’t seen any.
“It doesn’t,” Joe said. “I know my locals, of course, but a lot of visitors come in every day, and I don’t know, or remember, their names. And, as I said, if someone asked us to hold on to something, well, in this day and age, we wouldn’t do it. I’m sorry.”
Viper waited for Lina to respond. Her lips thinned in disappointment, but she turned a grateful eye on Joe. “Thank you. Of course, that makes sense. We appreciate you and your staff taking the time to help.”
“I wish we could have helped more,” Joe said. “And good luck finding it,” he added as they turned to leave.
With one more thank you to Joe and another to Jason, they stepped back out into the sunshine.
“Well, that was a bust,” Lina said, shoving her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket.
“Let’s go get a beer and pretzels,” he said, nodding to a brewery across the street.
“It’s eleven in the morning,” Lina pointed out.
“You ever known anything that beer and pretzels couldn’t make better?”
Her lips twitched. “Beer and pretzels it is.”