Chill Factor (24 page)

Wes took Begley's silence as a signal to continue. "Dutch
called on
me last night to help him find Cal Hawkins. The guy he just hauled out
of here? He has the town's only sanding truck." He recounted the
aborted attempt to drive up the mountain road. "Finally even Dutch had
to concede it was impossible. He's damned and determined to try again
this morning. That's where he's off to now."

Wise said, "I don't hold out much hope for success this
morning
either."-

"Try telling him that."

"I'd like to get to that cabin myself," Begley said, pulling
on his
overcoat. "Last thing we need is Burton charging up there half-cocked."

"Do you really think Ben Tierney is Blue?"

"Where'd you hear that?" The look Begley fixed on William, who
had
ill-advisedly asked the question, would have halted a charging rhino.
It stopped the storekeeper from stating the obvious, that he would have
to be deaf not to have overheard their conversation with Dutch.

Nervously he wet his lips, saying instead, "It just makes a
weird
kind of sense."

"Oh? How's that, Mr. Ritt?"

"Well, everyone else in town is well known. Mr. Tierney is a
stranger. We know very little about him."

"What
do
you know about him?" Special
Agent Wise asked.

"Only what I've observed whenever he comes into the store."

"How often is that?"

"When he's in town, he comes in frequently. He
always…" William cast
a wary glance around at his listeners. "It's probably not important."

"What, Mr. Ritt?" Impatiently Begley slapped his gloves
against the
palm of his other hand. "Let us decide if what you've observed is
important or not."

"Well, it's just that, whenever he's in the store, he attracts
attention."

"Attention?" Begley shot Wise another look. "From whom?"

"Women," William replied simply. "He attracts them like a
magnet."
Looking over at Wes, he added, "I've overheard you and Dutch and your
friends talking about him. Someone called him a peacock."

"Guilty," Wes said, raising his right hand. "I think the guy
knows
that women swoon over that rugged outdoorsy type." All eyes turned
toward Marilee, who felt herself go rosy with embarrassment. "I've only
seen Mr. Tierney on a few occasions, but I've read some of his
articles. They're quite good, actually, if you're interested in that
kind of thing."

Apparently Begley wasn't. He turned back to William. "Does he
ever
engage women in conversation?"

"All the time."

"What do they talk about?"

"I don't make a practice of eavesdropping on my customers."

All evidence to the contrary
, Marilee
thought. He'd just
admitted that he listened in on Wes and Dutch's conversation.

Begley looked skeptical of William's claim, too, but he let it
pass
without comment. "What does Tierney buy when he comes in? If you can
tell me without it violating professional privilege," he added, tongue
in cheek.

William actually smiled at him. "Not at all, since he's never
had a
prescription filled. He buys lip balm, sunscreen, toothpaste,
disposable razors. Nothing out of the ordinary, if that's what you're
asking."

"It is."

"Nothing out of the ordinary. The only curious thing is that
he
usually makes only one purchase at a time. One day it's Band-Aids, the
next it's a tin of Advil, the next a paperback book."

"Like he's creating reasons to come in here?" Begley probed.

"Now that I think on it, yes. And it seems that he's always in
the
store when I'm swamped with customers. Mid to late afternoon. A lot of
people stop here before going home."

"Millicent Gunn?"

"Sure. A lot of the high school kids come to the soda fountain
after
school. As long as they behave themselves, I let them—"

"Have Ben Tierney and Millicent Gunn ever been in the store at
the
same time?"

William was about to answer when the importance of the
question
registered with him and his lips snapped shut. He looked at each of
them in turn, then seemed to wilt as he slowly nodded his head. "Week
before last. Only a couple of days before she disappeared."

"Did they talk?" Wise asked.

William gave another nod.

Begley turned to Wes. "Where do we find this sanding truck?"

"If you want to follow me, I'll take you."

Begley didn't wait for Wes to lead the way. Turning, he strode
swiftly toward the door, pulling on his gloves as he went.

"Is he always that abrupt?" William asked Wise, who was wading
through his layers of clothing to get to his wallet.

"No. He was up all night, so his reactions this morning are a
1k-tle
slower than usual. What do we owe you?"

William motioned for him to keep his money. "On the house."

"Thank you."

"My pleasure."

Wise nodded at William, tipped an imaginary hat to Marilee,
then
left to join Begley.

Wes was about to follow when she called him back and passed
him the
pair of leather gloves he'd left lying on the counter. "You'll need
these."

He took them from her and playfully tapped the end of her nose
with
them. "Thanks. See y'all later."

As she watched Wes leave
,
Marilee
caught William's
knowing smirk reflected in the mirror. She ignored it, saying, "I guess
no one wanted breakfast after all."

"I'm going to fry a couple of eggs." He turned on the griddle.
"Would you like some?"

"No thanks. You shouldn't have mentioned Blue."

"What?"

"The code name. I'm sure you noticed Begley's reaction. No one
outside the authorities is supposed to know about the blue ribbon. You
told me. Wes had told you. Who told Wes?"

William dropped a pat of butter onto the griddle, and it began
to
sizzle as it melted. "He got it straight from the horse's mouth."

"Dutch?"

"Of course Dutch."

"He's the chief of police," she exclaimed. "He should know
better
than to tell Wes about evidence that's supposed to be a secret."

"They're best friends. Bosom buddies." He cracked two eggs
onto the
griddle. "They don't keep secrets from each other. Besides, what's the
harm?"

"It could jeopardize his investigation."

"I fail to see how."

"If you and I know, how many other people know?"

He reached for the saltshaker and shook it over his eggs.
"What
difference does it make now that they've identified Blue?"

"None, I suppose."

"However," he said, flipping the eggs, "there's a good lesson
to be
learned, Marilee."

"What's that?"

"Nobody in this town can keep a secret." He smiled at her, but
she
had an uneasy sense that it wasn't as benign a smile as he pretended.

CHAPTER  17

LILLY NUDGED HER TOE AGAINST THE CURL OF BLUE VELVET ribbon on
the
floor. She'd found it in a zippered compartment of Tierney's backpack
while she was looking for evidence of another woman in his life. When
she lifted her gaze to him, words were unnecessary.

"I found it," he said.

"Found it?"

"Yesterday."

"Where?"

He raised his chin in the direction of Cleary Peak's crest.

"Just lying on the ground in the forest? A length of blue
ribbon?"

"It was caught in some brush," he said. "Fluttering in the
wind.
That's how it caught my attention."

Her distrust must have been apparent.

"Look, I know why you freaked out when you saw it," he said.
"I know
what it implies."

"
How
do you know?"

"Everyone knows about the ribbon, Lilly."

She shook her head. "Only the police and the culprit."

"No," Tierney said evenly, "everyone. Dutch's police force
isn't an
airtight organization. Somebody let it leak that a blue velvet ribbon
had been left at the presumed spot of each abduction."

That was what Dutch had told her, but in confidence. "They
intentionally withheld that information."

"Not very well. I've overheard it being discussed in the
drugstore,"
he said. "Once while I was picking up my dry cleaning, the owner told
the lady customer in front of me to beware of Blue, and she knew what
he was talking about. Everyone knows."

He nodded down at the strand of ribbon. "I don't know if
that's the
kind of ribbon Blue is leaving behind, but it's a damned odd thing to
come across in the wilderness. So I removed it from the brush, tucked
it into my backpack, and was taking it back to town with me to turn
over to the authorities."

"You didn't mention this last night."

"It wasn't relevant."

"Those missing women have been the talk of Cleary for more
than two
years. If I had found something that was possibly an important piece of
evidence, I think I would have mentioned it."

"It slipped my mind."

"I asked if there was anything useful in your backpack. You
said no.
Why didn't you mention the ribbon then? Why didn't you say, 'No I don't
have anything useful, but take a look at what I found fluttering from a
bush today'?"

"And if I had? Think about it, Lilly. If I had shown you the
ribbon
last night, would that have precluded me from being Blue?"

She didn't have an answer for that. She didn't have answers
for a
lot of things. She wanted desperately to believe that he was exactly
what he appeared to be: a charming, talented, intelligent, fun,
sensitive man. None of those qualities, however, disqualified him from
committing crimes against women. Indeed, those personality traits would
work to his advantage.

He still hadn't explained the handcuffs. Outside of S
& M sex
and law enforcement, what purpose did they serve? It made her ill to
speculate. "Millicent Gunn was reported missing a week ago."

"I've been following the story."

"Is she still alive, Tierney?"

"I don't know. How would I?"

"If you took her—"

"I didn't."

"I believe you did. I believe that's why you had a length of
blue
ribbon and a pair of handcuffs in your backpack."

"Incidentally, why were you searching through my backpack?"

Ignoring that, she said, "Up on the crest yesterday afternoon,
you
were doing something you wanted done before the storm. Disposing of the
body, perhaps? Digging Millicent's grave?"

Again, the skin seemed to stretch tightly across his features.
"After sleeping a couple feet away from me last night, you actually
believe that only hours before I was digging a grave?"

Not wanting to think about her misjudgment and vulnerability
last
night, she tightened her grip on the pistol. "Pick up the handcuffs."

He hesitated, then bent down and picked them up.

"Put the bracelet around your right wrist first."

"You're making a dreadful mistake."

"If I am, you'll spend an uncomfortable afternoon, and it'll
piss
you off. If I'm right, and you are Blue, I'll be saving my life. Given
the choice, I'd rather piss you off." She raised the pistol a fraction.
"Lock the bracelet around your right wrist. Now."

Ponderous seconds ticked by. Finally, he did as she asked. "In
case
the cabin catches on fire, or you start to suffocate from an asthma
attack, do you have the key handy?"

"In my pocket. But I won't be releasing you until help
arrives."

"Which could take days. Can you survive that long without your
medication?"

"That's for me to worry about."

"I worry about it, too, goddammit." His voice had turned
harsh,
husky. "I care what happens to you, Lilly. I thought my kiss would have
conveyed that."

Her heart tripped over a few beats, but she ignored the
flutter.
"Get on the box springs and put your right arm through the ironwork of
the headboard." Supported by a frame of sturdy wood, the decorative
wrought iron had spaces wide enough for him to reach through.

"When I kissed you—"

"I'm not going to talk about that."

"Why not?"

"Get on the box spring, Tierney."

"You were as shaken by that kiss as I was."

"I'm warning you, if you don't—"

"Because it satisfied our curiosity and then some. I'd
fantasized
kissing you, but it—"

"Get on the box spring."

"It was a million times better than my fantasies of it."

"This is your last warning."

"I am not handcuffing myself to that headboard!" he shouted
angrily.

"And I'm not asking again."

"You lay there last night for a long time before going to
sleep,
didn't you? I knew you were awake. You knew I was. We were thinking
about the same thing. About that kiss and wishing—"

"
Shut up
or I'm going to shoot you?"

"—that we hadn't stopped there."

She pulled the trigger. The bullet smacked into the wall,
coming
close enough for him to have felt the movement of air against his
cheek. He looked more shocked than afraid.

"I'm good," she told him. "The next shot counts."

"You wouldn't kill me."

"If I take out your kneecap, you'll wish I had. Get on the
bed," she
said, enunciating each word.

Regarding her with renewed respect, he backed up until his
calves
made contact with the box spring. He sat down and scooted backward on
his butt. She knew his grimaces of pain must be genuine, but she didn't
let them weaken her resolve. When he reached the headboard, he hooked
his right hand through the iron fretwork.

"Now lock the other ring around your left wrist."

"Lilly, I beg you not to make me do this."

She said nothing, just stared at him down the short barrel of
the
pistol until he relented and fastened the bracelet around his left
wrist. "Pull down on them hard, so I can see that they're locked."

He gave several hard tugs, rattling metal against metal. He
was
secured.