Cameron's Quest (15 page)

“We now know that it wasn’t just a dream. She’s
seeing things…premonitions. I’m afraid this might just drive her over the edge.”
She chewed on her bottom lip, a nervous habit that she thought she’d overcome.

Cam
turned and enfolded her in a warm embrace. “We
won’t let that happen. Come on, let’s go sit with the girls. Michael should be
here before much longer.”

“Okay.”

His arm remained around her waist as they
traversed the short hallway. Lynne and Abby were now seated on either side of
Rena on the sofa, so they moved to sit in the armchairs.

“You take the recliner. It’s closer to the fire,”
Lacey suggested. “You need to get warm.”

Rena’s tears had dried, but she huddled between
her sisters, shivering uncontrollably. Lacey grabbed an afghan and draped it
around her, feeling as if she should say something, anything to break the
strained silence. “Michael will be here soon, and everything will be all right.
You’ll see.”

“He’s going to think I’m off my nut,” said Rena,
the first words she’d uttered since they came inside.

“Nonsense. The police work with psychics all the
time.”

“Is that what I am now, Mama? Psychic?”

“It sure seems that way.”

“But why here? This never happened to me at
home.” Her voice held a plaintive note, as if she truly wanted to understand.

“I don’t know, honey. We’ll have to do some
research. See if we can find out how these things work. Okay?”

Rena nodded. “Yes, all right.”

At the sound of an engine, everyone seemed to hold
their breath.

“Here’s Michael now. You ready for the
inquisition, Rena?” asked
Cam
.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she said, reaching
for her sisters’ hands.

She held onto them with a white-knuckled grip as
if to a lifeline. Things were changing. Lacey could only hope they’d get
through this relatively unscathed.

Michael stomped the snow off his feet and
stepped inside.

“Sorry to have to call you out here in such a
storm. And on your day off, too.”

“All part of the job,
Cam
.
I wouldn’t leave it to anyone else. Not that they’re incapable, but I’ve had
more experience with this sort of thing.”

“That’s why I called you. It’s kind of a sticky
situation.”

“I’ll get to that in a minute after I get my
crime guys working on the scene. Where did you find the body?”

“We were clearing snow off the back steps, and
there he was, frozen stiff, with a knife sticking out of his chest.”

“And you say it’s Walt Carson? I thought he’d
been banned from the ranch.”

“He is…was. I have no idea what brought him here.”

“All right. I need to take your statements, but
let me bring my team up-to-date so they can get to work on collecting evidence.
The coroner should be arriving soon.”

“Go ahead, Michael. We’ll be in the living room
waiting for you.”

Cam
closed the door behind him and went to watch
out the kitchen window. When he saw Michael leave to go back around front, he
joined the women. “Michael’s coming in to take our statements.”

Lacey nodded but the girls remained mute as
Michael let himself in.

“
Cam
, did you
want to go first?” he asked.

“Well, sure, but I thought you’d take them all
at the same time.”

“Protocol dictates that I take your statements
one at a time behind closed doors. Can we use your den?”

“Daddy, maybe it’s best if I go first,” said
Rena as she let go of her sisters and pushed up off of the sofa. “I’d like to
get this over with.”

“Okay with you, Michael?”

He nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving the
distress apparent on Rena’s lovely face. “That’s fine with me. And just to let
you know, I’ll be making notes as we talk, but I’ll also be recording each of
your statements as this
is
a homicide
investigation.”

“You won’t have any problems with us. We’ll tell
you what we know.” Lacey rose to give Rena a comforting hug and then let her
go. “Go easy with her, Michael. She’s taking this especially hard.”

The puzzled look on his face spoke volumes, but
he didn’t ask any questions. “Just doing my job. Come along, Rena.”

One by one, Michael called them aside.
Cam
went last. The forensics unit was now in the house.
Cam
had no idea what they were looking for, but he didn’t
protest. When the interviews were finished, Michael took their fingerprints.

“A precautionary measure. If any prints show up,
we can narrow the search down by having yours on file.”

“No problem.”

Cam
was at the kitchen sink washing the black ink
off his fingers when he saw one of the technicians bag his knife block, knives
and all. “What are you doing with those?”

“Sir?” The officer glanced over at him.

“My knives. Why are you bagging them?”

“They match the one used in the stabbing of the
victim and there’s one missing.”

Cam
shook his head. “It’s probably in the
dishwasher.” He dried his hands and opened the door to look inside. Empty. He
searched the drawers thinking one of the girls might have put it away by
mistake. No luck. Damn!

“Does anyone have a key to your house?” Michael
asked.

“That’s the strangest thing. After we found the
body, we came in through the patio door. It was unlocked.”

“Maybe one of the women unlocked it.”

“Nope.”

“So who else has a key?”

“Luke has one. He checks on the place when I’m
not here.”

Michael jotted a note in his notepad. “Do you
know where he keeps it?”

“On a hook in the kitchen. Why?”

“There’s no sign of forced entry, and it appears
that one of your knives was used to commit the crime. I’ll have to speak with
Luke and see if anyone has had access to it lately.”

“And if not?”
Cam
had a bad feeling about all this…real bad.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“That’s not an answer,”
Cam
said, frowning his concern.

Michael shrugged his shoulders. “That’s the best
I can do until I’ve gathered all the facts.”

“Am I a suspect?”

“Honestly? It doesn’t look good. Happened on
your land with your knife. And this was after he accosted Rena at the bar.”

“Damn!”

“Just let me do my job,
Cam
.
Hopefully, the evidence will lead us to the killer.”

Cam
nodded and left the kitchen, his mind in
turmoil. What would Lacey and the girls do if he was arrested? Even the thought
of it was mind-numbing. His family was here, together, to experience life on
the ranch. Why did something like this have to happen?

“
Cam
? What’s
wrong?”

Lacey’s Irish brogue broke through his thoughts.

“Where are the girls?”

“Upstairs trying to convince Rena to rest for a
while.”

A sudden chill invading his body, he crossed the
room to sit by the fire. “Michael says I could be the main suspect. My
property, my knife, opportunity, and motive.”

“What? That’s ridiculous.”

“It’s beginning to appear as though someone set
me up, Lacey. But who? I don’t have any enemies. None that I’m aware of anyway.”

“But
Cam
,
Michael knows you. He can’t honestly suspect you.”

“He has to go where the evidence leads, honey.
He’s not a man to play favorites because I’m family, and I wouldn’t expect him
to.”

“But you’re innocent!”

“Yes, but I just wanted to prepare you for the
worst. You have your return tickets if you decide you want to go home.”

“No way. I’m not leaving you. We probably wouldn’t
be allowed to leave anyway under the circumstances.”

Cam
heaved a heavy sigh and rested his head against
the back of the chair, closing his eyes. “No, I suppose not. Nothing like a
murder to put a halt to family plans.”

“We’re not under house arrest. Once the police
are finished here, we can still continue with our plans.”

He opened his eyes to glance out the window
drifted high with snow. The storm showed no sign of abating. “There’s plenty of
snow for skiing and such. Maybe once the storm stops, we could take the girls
out on the snowmobiles.”

“They’d love that.”

They sat in silence broken only by the crackling
of the fire.
Cam
got up to put more wood on it
then sat back down, immersed in thought.

Suddenly, Michael was in the doorway.

“We’re finished for now. The coroner removed the
body, and the Crime Scene Unit is packing up to go to the lab.”

“Will he do an autopsy?”
Cam
asked.

Michael nodded. “For sure. Once I have the time
of death, I’ll track Walt’s last movements and hope to find some answers. Is
there anything I can do for you?”

“Just find the killer, Michael. Find out who did
this. Walt might not have been one of my favorite people, but he didn’t deserve
to die like that.”

“I know,
Cam
. I’ll
be in touch. And I hate to say it, but don’t leave town…any of you.”

Cam
noted the concern on Michael’s face, concern
for him and his family. “We’ll be here.”

****

The afternoon had gotten away on them. No one had
thought about lunch and it was now dinnertime. Lacey went into the kitchen and
sighed in dismay at all the black fingerprinting dust covering every surface.
She couldn’t even open a drawer or door without getting some on her, so she
filled the sink with soap and water and went to work. A half hour later,
everything sparkled and she felt much better for expending the energy. She wasn’t
used to sitting around and doing nothing. But that had been the order of the
day.

Her heart hurt at the thought that
Cam
could be considered a suspect.
Please God, make it not be so.
Just sending up that one silent
prayer calmed her enough to start dinner. Something fast and easy tonight.
Macaroni and ground beef goulash with peas, tomatoes, and tomato paste would do
nicely. She put the water on to boil and set the frozen meat in the microwave
to defrost. Dinner was well underway when the girls came into the kitchen.

“Hi, Mama. Need a hand?” asked Abby.

“You could set the table, dear.”

“Okay.”

Lynne spoke from directly behind her. “I’ll make
coffee. I know I could sure do with a cup.”

“Good idea.” Lacey darted a glance at Rena to
see her staring out the patio door. She stirred the macaroni into the boiling
water and knew she had to get her youngest daughter moving. “Rena, would you
chop up some onion and green pepper for me and add it to the frying pan to cook
with the meat?”

“Sure, Mama.”

None of her girls was used to being idle in a
kitchen, and performing a task appeared to do the trick for Rena. Lacey relaxed
and tended to the pasta only to be brought up short at Rena’s sudden yelp of
pain.

Lacey turned to see blood spurting from a cut on
her thumb. She grabbed Rena’s hand and held it under the cold water, applying pressure
above the knuckle until the flow of blood slowed. Rena didn’t cry, didn’t
flinch at all. She just kept staring at the blood. Was she going into shock?

“Lynne, grab the first aid kit. I think
Cam
said he kept it in the bathroom.”

“Be right back,” Lynne said as she rushed from
the room.

“He wasn’t killed here, Mama.” Rena spoke in a
voice so low that Lacey barely heard her.

“He wasn’t?”

“No, there wasn’t any blood.” She turned her
head, a dazed look in her eyes as she searched her mother’s face. “Am I going
crazy, Mama?”

“Not at all. Your visions might just help
Michael find out what happened, but right now, we need to bandage that thumb.
Thankfully, the cut isn’t too deep.”

“What happened, Rena? It’s not like you to be
klutzy,” said Lynne as she returned with the kit.

“I saw Daddy’s filleting knife in someone’s hand,
and I forgot what I was doing.”

“Oh, wow! I’d forget too. Did you see anything
else?”

Rena shook her head. “Just that there wasn’t any
blood when the knife…when the knife…”

“It’s okay, baby. Don’t get yourself all worked
up.” Lacey squeezed a generous amount of antibiotic cream on the cut then
applied gauze and tape.