Beautiful Dead 02 - Arizona (21 page)

'He has a family,' I pointed out. 'What happens to them if he doesn't get his job back?'

Mike Hamil lifted a dirty rag from a nearby oil drum and wiped his hands. He wore a long, dark moustache which made him look old and didn't match his greyer hair and eyebrows. His jeans were loose and

stained, his plaid shirt straining across a sagging bel y. 'Listen,' he told me, 'this isn't your business, but Kyle's family is the reason I kept him in work so long. My wife is best buddies with Sable's mom - the two of 144

them put pressure on me to keep him in employment, yakk-yakk-yakk -

you know how women do. Plus, when he's sober he knows his way around a car engine.'

'So does anyone know where he is right now?' Time was ticking by Kyle's no-show was another serious setback.

'Sleeping his way through the mother of al hangovers, I reckon.' Mike lifted his cap and rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand. 'The story goes his drinking got out of hand again last night - my wife heard Sable final y packed her bag and left.'

I put on a pretty good act. 'My God, that's awful. His whole life is fal ing apart!'

'A guy who drinks and plays around like that - it's going to happen.' Mike went through into a tiny office and sat down on a revolving chair.

He picked up the phone ready to dial.

'When you say, "plays around", you mean other women - plural?' This time I was truly shocked - no acting necessary.

'At least half a dozen,' he told me, his eyes starting to narrow as he wondered how come I was so interested in his ex-employee. 'Listen, honey, if you're Kyle's current squeeze, you should know that you're the latest in a long line. Over the years, Keppler has played pretty much the entire El erton field.'

'I'm not his latest ... whatever!' Let's get that straight! I took a deep breath then pushed for more information. 'So he played around even after he got together with Sable?'

Mike made a sucking noise through his teeth. 'A wife and baby

doesn't change a guy like Kyle, but you try tel ing Sable that. Karen my wife - did warn her he was cheating on her - a year, eighteen months back.'

His stubby finger tapped numbers on the phone keypad. I only had time to squeeze in one last question.

'Would that be when Kyle was in a relationship with Arizona Taylor?'

Mike's finger didn't complete the dial. He looked at me from under suspicious brows. 'The kid who drowned herself?'

I nodded.

'Yeah, around that time,' he said slowly. 'She was my friend.'

Mike made a sucking noise through his teeth. 'Wel , I felt bad for her

- she was way too young. You or someone else who cared about her should have told her Kyle was bad news.'

'I didn't know she was involved until it was too late.'

He flicked back eighteen months, remembering Arizona. 'Poor kid, she could have done a whole lot better than Kyle Keppler. I remember the times she would hang out here, trying to act tough. She wasn't - not real y.'

'Did she come to the workshop the day she drowned in the lake?'

Mike's dial ing finger got ready again. 'She came a lot of days, and

yeah, she did cal that morning. She lost control a little when she found

out Kyle wasn't here he was nursing his usual sore head, I guess.'

'He missed work?' I needed to be doubly sure.

'Yeah. Lucky I wasn't busy that day. Later, we al heard the news about the girl - Arizona.'

'Thanks,' I said, letting air out of my lungs in a long sigh.

This isn't stuff you wanted to hear - right?' Mike Hamil was a

decent guy and he picked up on my obvious disappointment. But he did get it total y wrong when he dumped me and Arizona in the same cheated-on category. 'Kyle's a good-looking guy and he can get whichever girl he wants, but you need to break off whatever it is you have going with him.'

'I don't-'

Honestly, honey, he's not worth it. You can't trust the guy even to give you the time of day.'

The fact was, we'd got to 10.00 a.m. on our final day and we were no nearer to tracking Kyle down. I turned in the direction I thought Phoenix might be and told him we were getting nowhere.

He spoke from way in front. 'We learned a lot from Mike Hamil ,' he pointed out. 'For starters, we know now that Arizona and Kyle didn't arrange to meet at Hartmann.'

'So we're worse than nowhere,' I groaned. 'We only had the one theory and now that's blown apart.'

A guy passing by caught me apparently talking to myself as I got in

my car. He gave me an odd look then pul ed out his cel phone. 146

Hearing Phoenix sink into the leather passenger seat, I quickly drove off. 'I wish I didn't know that Kyle is a serial cheat.'

'Yeah, it sucks.'

We both thought about what the news would do to Arizona. 'Do we need to tel her?' I asked.

That's a hard one to cal . I don't think we do, unless it's part of the

final picture.'

'Which we're no nearer to finding out.' Frustration was gnawing at me

as I drove aimlessly towards the centre of town. ' Keppler could be anywhere. How do we corner him if we don't know where he is?'

I stopped at a red light for pedestrians to use the crossing. Among them was a young woman pushing a strol er. It took me a couple of seconds to recognize her as Sable Keppler with her baby!

Pul over,' Phoenix said, after going through the same delayed reaction.

I turned into a gas station and we watched Sable meet up with a woman who looked like an older version of herself the same dark hair and definite jawline. Smal and slight, they were both dressed in tight jeans and loose jackets which drew attention to their thin-as-sticks legs, with striped scarves wound around their necks. They bunched together on the sidewalk, deep in conversation.

'I want to hear what they're saying.' Deciding to risk leaving the car, I crossed the road, as if I wanted to browse in a store window. A creak of leather and the faint sound of footsteps told me that Phoenix had come too.

The store sold fishing rods, which was as fascinating as you can get. I tried to look interested in the reels, floats and flies.

'I bought diapers.' The woman who I guessed was Sable's mother held up a plastic carrier bag. 'What else do we need?'

'I left Mischa's feeding cup and bowl back at the house - her

favourites.' Sable made a list. ' Plus I need baby wipes and comforters.'

'OK, so we cal at the pharmacy on the way home. We can pick everything up there. Did Kyle try to cal ?'

'Five or six times. I let it ring out.' 147

'You'l have to talk to him sooner or later.' Sable's mother took the

strol er and started to push it towards a parking lot. The baby strained at the straps, turning to see whether Sable was fol owing.

'Not today,' Sable insisted, taking her phone from her pocket and turning it off.

I waited for them to move on a few paces then I started to fol ow. It

felt very bad to be witnessing the wreckage of Kyle's family until now his wife and baby hadn't seemed real. But here Sable was, her face pinched by the cold wind, her mouth set in a downwards curve. And the kid had a name - Mischa. She was a pretty baby with dark curls.

'Listen, Sable - I cal ed your brother,' Sable's mom admitted as they reached her car.

You shouldn't have done that.' Sable was angry. She lifted Mischa out of the strol er and strapped her into the car seat, folding the strol er with too much force before she threw it into the trunk.

'I was worried about him.' The older woman held open the driver's door, trying to justify her action. if he was out-of-his-head drunk, like you said, he could have crashed his bike, ridden off the road anything.'

'You think I care?' Sable leaned in to check the straps on Mischa's seat. 'Jon and Kyle - they're the same.'

'But Sable - you're Jon's sister and he loves you. He wanted to talk

things through with you. I said for him to come to town.'

'You told him where to find us?' Sable walked away from the car then stormed back again. 'Listen to me, Mom, I don't want to talk to Jon not now, and not ever. He may be my brother, but he's a loser, OK!'

'Baby, listen-'

'No, you listen. You want to see your son? Fine - you stay here and

talk to him. But you give me the car key and let me drive.' Sable snatched the key and got in the car.

Her mother tried to lean in through the window. 'Where wil I find you?'

Sable took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. ' Mischa's tired. I'm

going to take her back to your place and put her to bed. Where else do I 148

go?'

And what else could Phoenix and I do now except fol ow Sable? We ran

to my car and hit the road in time to see her swing off from the main street down a road leading to the highway. Here, on Daler Street, the houses were set back from the road and spaced apart, a little bigger and neater than the ones on White Eagle Road. Some were painted in pastel shades of yel ow and blue, with white porches and flowers growing in the yard. Sable turned into the drive of a grey gabled house that needed work.

I pul ed on to the sidewalk, watching Sable take the baby out of the car, hearing dogs bark from inside the house. This is a total mess,' I sighed.

Next to me Phoenix materialized in a halo of light. He looked tense and unsure. 'It's complicated,' he agreed. 'These people - Sable and Mischa they don't deserve to have their lives torn apart.'

'By us.' I looked ahead and saw what would happen to this family if we proved Kyle had kil ed Arizona. Then I turned it around. 'Hey, they're doing a good job of tearing their own lives apart.'

'And we need justice for Arizona.' Phoenix too was able to refocus. 'So we go ahead?'

I nodded. ' We find out who drove Arizona out to Hartmann and why.'

The way it worked was - Jon Jackson found his mother in town soon

after Sable had driven off with Mischa and it didn't take long for him to learn where his sister was. Five minutes after she arrived at their mom's house, Jon showed up on his sleek black Softtail.

Phoenix and I were stil in my car, talking tactics.

We saw Jon ride right up to the front door and heard him yel Sable's name. When he didn't get an answer, he stormed into the house.

Seconds later, he, Sable and two German shepherds burst on to the front porch.

My car wasn't parked close enough for me to hear what the brother

and sister were saying, so I relied on Phoenix.

'She says she doesn't want to talk to him,' he reported. 'She's tel ing him to get the hel out.'

I watched Sable eyebal her tal , scary brother. He was dark, like her, 14 9

with heavy eyebrows and a scowling mouth. She only came up to his chest, which she poked with her fingers every word she spoke.

'She's tel ing him she and Kyle are al washed up. He's saying for her to give the guy another chance. There's a lot of cussing on both sides.'

'Shal I drive nearer to the house?'

'A little. Now Jon's tel ing her he's on her side more than she'l ever know.'

'What does that mean?' I could see this was an intense relationship between brother and sister, and now, as I crept closer I could listen in for myself.

'Kyle did some stuff we know that,' Jon insisted. 'But he learned his lesson.'

Sable gave a hol ow laugh. 'So last night - you cal that learning a lesson?'

'We rode out to Foxton with a bunch of guys,' Jon tried to explain.

'Do you believe in ghosts, Sable? No, me neither until I saw what went on up on that ridge. You heard the rumours about the kids who died coming back to haunt the place? They're al true.'

'That's the liquor talking!' she scoffed, and she shoved him down

from the porch. 'Wel , you and Kyle - both of you - can mess with your

own heads and fantasize about ghosts al you like. You leave now, Jon, and you tel Kyle not to come cal ing.'

Too late - there'd already been communication between Jon and Kyle, who roared on to Daler Street on his Dyna just as Sable said her

'liquor talking' line.

That left me skewered where I was on my cream leather car seat and Phoenix hastily performing his vanishing act again.

Of course Kyle Keppler saw me and wrenched open my door. He didn't yel - he just threw me a look of total hate and told me calmly to get out of my car, which I found scarier than the expected physical violence.

The dogs ran snarling to the fence. By the front door, Sable began to pound her fists against her brother's chest.

I stood on the rough grass and gravel verge, quaking in my shoes.

'What's the deal?' Kyle asked, taking my wrist and walking me down

the road. 150

Behind us, I could hear Phoenix's footsteps brushing through the dry

grass.

Our feet crunched on the stones. 'Are you planning to tel my wife about me and the dead girl? Because, if you open your mouth and say the name, you're dead yourself.'

'Why would I tel ?' I used al my strength to try and break his grip -

the skin on my wrist burned with the effort. 'Arizona's gone. Nothing's going to change that.'

'So quit poking your nose where it's not wanted.' Final y he let me break loose. 'You're about to turn around and get back in your car. I'm about to tel Sable I'm sorry and get on with my life.'

The arrogance of the guy angered me. 'It'l take a whole lot more than sorry,' I told him. 'Besides, you lost your job. Mike Hamil said to let you know.'

A couple of nerves flicked in Keppler's jaw. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back. In another second I reckon he would have lashed out at me with that massive fist.

But along came Jon Jackson, toting a shotgun. He aimed it straight at

me.

I stared down that long barrel and calmly thought, So this is what it's like. My last moments, stretching out in slow motion, yel ow grass rustling by the roadside, a plane leaving a white trail in the cornflowerblue sky.

When Phoenix, Hunter and Arizona suddenly materialized, I thought, So ... not now, not like this.