Cameron's Quest (18 page)

“I know, but what if the truth isn’t out there
to find, Zakia? It seems someone has gone to a lot of trouble to make
Cam
take the fall for this.”

“Rena, are you all right?” asked Zakia. “You’ve
been awfully quiet.”

“I’m fine, but would you mind if I went home? I’ve
a bit of a headache.”

“You can lie down upstairs if you need to,”
offered Zakia.

“No, I’m sorry. I need to go home.”

“Come on, sis. I’ll walk with you.” Lynne stood
and took their cups to the sink.

“We can all go,” said Lacey, concerned for her
daughter.

“No, stay and enjoy your visit, Mama. I’m sorry
to put a damper on it.”

“Well, if you’re sure you’ll be all right.”

“I’ll be fine.”

They dressed in their winter gear and were ready
to leave when there was a knock on the door. Rena jumped backwards, clearly
shaken, as Lynne opened the door.

“Hello there. Is Luke home?”

“Yes, he is. Come on in, Blake,” Zakia called
from her seat at the table. “Is Sam with you?”

“Not today. Do you girls need a drive somewhere?”
he asked as Lynne and Rena stood beside him.

“We’re on our way to Papa’s—
Cam
’s
place,” Lynne said. “It’s not far.”

“No, but it’s cold and windy out there. I’ll
give you a lift. Tell Luke I’ll be right back.”

“All right. Bye, girls. Feel better soon, Rena.”

The door had no sooner closed behind them than
Cam
, Luke, and the boys came into the kitchen. Cammy and
Casey spied the cookie jar and made a beeline for the table.

Luke glanced around the kitchen. “I thought I
heard Blake.”

“You did. He said to tell you he’d be right
back.”

“Why would he drive all the way out here just to
leave again?” Luke asked, a puzzled look on his face.

“Rena had one of her headaches,” said Lacey with
a meaningful glance at
Cam
. “Lynne was going
to walk her home, but he offered to drive them. He seems like a nice man.”

“One of the best,” Luke said as he grabbed a
cookie out of the jar. “Help yourself, Uncle Cam.”

“Maybe we should go home,”
Cam
said, darting a questioning look Lacey’s way.

“Can we take a rain check on that dinner?” Lacey
asked.

“Certainly. Anytime,” Zakia said. “Does she get
headaches often?”

Lacey shook her head. “Only since we came here.
We’d better go. I’m not sure they even have their key.”

“Blake would make sure they got inside, if that’s
all that’s worrying you,” Luke said.

She shrugged her shoulders. “I guess I’m just
too used to caring for them when they’re ill.”

Zakia nodded. “I can relate. Go, take care of
her, and quit worrying. She’ll be fine.”

“Yes, I’m sure she will, but thanks for
understanding.”

They got their jackets on and headed for
Cam
’s truck. Blake pulled up to the house as they left
for home.

“I wonder if she had another vision, Mama?”

“That’s what we’re about to find out, Abby.”

Lacey rushed into the house to find Lynne and
Rena sitting and talking over a cup of tea. “Hi. We decided to come home. We
weren’t sure if you had your key.”

“You didn’t need to rush back on my account,
Mama. I’m okay,” said Rena.

“Yes, but I couldn’t help wondering what
prompted your headache this time.”

“Did you have another vision, honey?”
Cam
asked.

“No, more of a feeling.”

“What kind of feeling?” asked Lacey.

“This is going to sound so strange, but I felt
as if we were surrounded by evil. Like we were sitting ducks waiting for a gun
to go off. I didn’t want
Cam
’s family to think
I was nuts, so I faked a headache. Then when that man knocked on the door, for
a moment I thought, well…er…I thought it was evil reaching out to me. Or coming
after me. After we got here, I was wondering if I should call and warn you,
just in case it really was something. I’m so unsure of these visions and new
feelings, I don’t know what to do.”

“Well, Blake Northrup is Luke’s closest friend,
and he’s not evil at all,” said
Cam
in
reassurance. “As a matter of fact, he was head honcho in
Fort
Macleod
’s
RCMP detachment until he went out on medical leave.”

“What happened to him?” asked Rena.

“Shot in the line of duty. He’s okay now, but he
had us worried for a while.”

“Daddy, is it possible that someone was outside
watching us?”

“I don’t know, Rena, but I can call Luke and
have him check it out.”

“He’ll think I’m crazy.” She pouted, twisting
her face into an ugly grimace.

“Not after the goings on out here this past
year. They had a lot of trouble while I was away in
Ireland
, but they survived it. We
Mannings are made of tough stock. I’ll call him.”

Cam
stood and crossed to the wall phone to make the
call, and Lacey rose to start dinner.

“He’s going to have a couple of his wranglers
check it out and call us back,”
Cam
said as he
turned to help Lacey with the cooking. The meal was well underway when the
phone rang.

“Hello,” said
Cam
as he picked up the receiver. “Yes…well, I’ll be damned…yes, I think you’d
better. Rena’s feelings are not to be denied. She’s usually right on
target…Okay. Let me know what he finds.”

“Footprints in the fresh snow. I can tell you
they were made by black cowboy boots.” Rena spoke as
Cam
turned toward her.

He nodded. “Yes, they found footprints at the
back window to the kitchen. They also found cigarette butts, so whoever it was,
he was out there for a while.
Cal
cleared the walkways early this morning, but some snow had drifted back. Luke’s
calling Michael. He’ll probably stop in to talk to you, so let’s eat and be
ready when he arrives.”

Cam
reached for a stack of plates and set them on
the counter, and everyone served themselves.

“Shall we take our coffees to the living room
and watch TV while we wait?” asked
Cam
.

“Good idea,” Lacey said. She’d seen Rena’s gaze
fixated on the patio doors more than once during their meal. She rounded the
table and closed the vertical blinds before going to the living room and doing
the same.

“Do you think he’s out there, Mama?” Abby asked.

“Not really. It just gives me the creeps
thinking that someone may be watching us.”

“Tell me about it,” Rena said with a note of
disgust in her voice. “Try living with these visions. It’s uncanny, to say the
least.”

“Yes, I imagine it would be. At least
Cam
was in the house with us, and he doesn’t smoke, so
Michael can’t possibly suspect him anymore.” Lacey smiled at
Cam
but was concerned when she saw his bleak expression. “What is it,
Cam
? What are you thinking?”

“I’m wondering if it could be one of our
wranglers. I hate to think so, but they’d have the opportunity.” He shook his
head as if to clear his thoughts. “These men are like family. They stood by the
Mannings during all the trouble last year, so why would one of them be wanting
to frame me? It just doesn’t make sense.”

“It makes even worse sense for you to be a
suspect.” Lacey heard a vehicle pull up to the house. “That’s probably Michael
now. I’ll let him in.”

“I got it, Mama,” said Rena on her way to the
door.

Lacey heard muffled conversation followed by
laughter. The two were still smiling when they entered the room.

“This girl is going to solve the murder without
me,” said Michael as he sat down.

“What did you find?” asked
Cam
.

“Forensics is making casts of the boot prints,
and we bagged cigarette butts and an empty coffee cup. We’ll have lots of
DNA
to match up when we do get this guy, thanks to
Rena’s intuition.”

He smiled at her and Rena blushed prettily.

“Did you see anything else, Rena?”

“Just blue jeans over the tops of the boots.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Nothing spectacular there. Everyone around here
wears blue jeans.”

“And cowboy boots.
Cam
,
just to rule you out on this one, do you own a pair of black cowboy boots?”

“Yes.”

“If you don’t mind, I’ll have the crime scene
unit take a cast. Can you wear them out in the yard when they get here? That’ll
save us from taking them.”

“Sure, no problem. And I like my coffee, but
haven’t smoked in years.”

Michael grinned. “Yeah, I know.”

Lights flashed across the front window,
signaling the arrival of another vehicle.

“That’s our cue. Ready,
Cam
?”

“As soon as I get my boots.” He went out into
the front hall and Lacey heard him rummaging through the closet. She saw him
head toward the kitchen, empty-handed, and was about to go help him search when
he came back. “They’re not here, Michael. My boots have disappeared.”

“Good Lord,” said Lacey at Michael’s frowning
countenance. “What else can go wrong?”

“Don’t even go there,” he said as he got up to
meet with his team.

****

Cam
saw how distraught she was over this latest incident
and walked over to wrap her in his arms. “It’s okay, love. Michael will keep
searching for the truth. We know it’s not my
DNA
he’s going to find on that cup and those butts. No one can fake that.”

“True, but why is this happening now? It seemed
to start as soon as we arrived, what with Rena’s visions and all. And now we
have a stalker? Someone watching to see how his macabre tricks are affecting
us?”

“We won’t let him stop us from having a great
time together. Tomorrow we go cross-country skiing. We’ll stay close to the
house, but it should prove to be a fun experience. You girls ready for that?”
he asked as his gaze encompassed each of his daughters in turn.

“Yes!” said all three at once.

Cam
chuckled, glad to hear the enthusiasm in their
reply. “You might not be so excited the first time you have to dig your butt
out of the snow and get back on your feet.”

“But, Daddy, isn’t that why you’ll be there? To
help us up?” asked Abby, the picture of innocence as she posed the question.

Lacey giggled. “She sure has your number.”

“Yes, and I’ll be glad to help every time you
fall flat on your keisters.”

“Keisters?” asked Lynne.

“Butts.”

A light knock preceded Michael’s entrance.

“
Cam
, the crime
scene unit has requested permission to go over your truck. I told them it wasn’t
necessary, but the team leader insists.”

“My truck? What for?”

“I’m sorry,
Cam
,
but the footprints they found at Luke’s ended where your truck had been parked.”

“That’s just plain crazy. I never went outside
while we were at Luke’s.”
Cam
heaved a heavy
sigh, fished his keys out of his jeans pocket, and passed them over. “Go ahead,
Michael. You have my permission.”

Michael opened his mouth as if to say something
else. Then he closed it and nodded before turning to walk out the door.

This time it was Lacey who stepped forward,
wrapping her arms around him from behind. “
Cam
,
what are we going to do?”

As much as he loved to hear that “we” coming
from Lacey, he just couldn’t summon a response. He didn’t know what to say. If
those footprints led to his truck, then the bastard had put
something
in there? But what? His boots?

He glanced over at Rena to see her close to
tears as she nodded. Could she read his mind now? She nodded again. Well, damn!
What was going on with his little girl? She shrugged her shoulders and looked
down at her hands clasped tightly in her lap. “It’s okay, Rena. Tell us what
you saw.”

She looked up at him and straightened her
shoulders as if she was a warrior ready to do battle. “Daddy, your boots are in
the truck, shoved behind the back seat, and an open pack of cigarettes. They
even found a butt stubbed out in the ashtray.”

“Who in tarnation is this guy? And why is he out
to get me?”