Into the Fire (19 page)

“Yeah.” Deck’s voice didn’t sound as if he were curled weeping, in a fetal position in the corner, so Dave opened the door a crack and peered in.

Deck was standing behind his desk, leaning over his computer monitor, reviewing the police report on Tim Ebersole’s murder. Dave recognized it—he’d gone through it in detail himself.

“I tracked the IP address of the computer Tess used to send me that March fourth e-mail, asking again if we’d seen Murphy,” Dave told his team leader now. “Hannah.
Hannah
used. Sorry. I don’t know why I keep doing that.”

Decker didn’t respond. Other than to straighten up, completely expressionless, and prompt him. “And?”

“Hannah sent it at 1423 hours, from the public library in Dalton, California,” Dave said. “I’ve checked public records, but there’s no property registered to anyone named Whitfield, not in Dalton or any of the other towns in the vicinity. But I remember Hannah saying she was staying at a cabin owned by an uncle—it could well be her mother’s brother. I’m trying to dig up her mother’s maiden name, but I think it would be quicker just to go up there, flash her picture around. Murphy’s, too. See if anyone’s seen either of them.”

Decker nodded. “Do it.” He turned back to his computer.

“I’m, uh, going to take Sophia,” Dave told him, and Deck looked up. “And Lindsey. Mark Jenkins and some of his friends—SEALs—volunteered to help with the search. We’re going to meet them up there, first thing in the morning.”

Another nod. “I’ll tell Tom. Let them know we appreciate it.”

“I will.” Dave stood there, just looking at Decker, who was obviously waiting for him to leave and close the door behind him. “I’m, uh, scheduled to talk to Dr. Heissman in a few minutes.”

Decker sighed.

“It occurred to me,” Dave muscled on, “that I’m probably going to reveal information that you probably don’t want me to tell her.”

“Dave,” Deck said. “I’m already having a really bad day.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” Dave told him. “But…I respect you more than anyone I’ve ever worked with. In all phases of my career. And yes, there have been times that I’ve avoided you, due to…personal differences. Okay, I’m just going to say it. Due to your callous treatment of Sophia. But that never had anything to do with your abilities and skills as a team leader. When we’re out there, you make hard decisions look easy—and I know they’re anything but. But.”

He took a deep breath. “Over the past few years, since Angelina was killed in particular, although I believe it started before that, I’ve watched you cut yourself off from everyone you care about. On Friday, when you blew up at Nash, all I could think was,
Decker’s only noticing this now?
Something’s up with Nash, something that has him running scared. He’s been trying, for awhile, to push Tess away, and the first time you call him on it, you do it with your fists?”

Dave shook his head. “I’m standing here, looking at you, and, sir, I see someone who’s in serious trouble. And I’ve been thinking and thinking about it, and I figure, well, I can’t lose you as a friend, because you and I were never more than colleagues. So I’m going to go in there, and I’m going to be honest with Dr. Heissman and I’m going to tell her things that I know you don’t want me to say, things that absolutely violate your privacy. Because maybe if she knows, she can help you.”

Decker was silent, just staring at a spot on the wall, several feet to the left of Dave’s knees. As the silence stretched on, his gaze finally flickered up and over. He met Dave’s eyes, but only briefly. “Are you done?”

Dave nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Then you should let me get back to work,” Deck said quietly.

“Yes, sir.” Dave wasn’t sure what he’d expected Decker’s response to his little speech to be, but it wasn’t this calm acceptance.

“Thank you for the warning,” Decker said as Dave let himself out the door.

L
AS
V
EGAS
, N
EVADA

Eden’s brother was crazy.

He was certifiably insane.

He’d grabbed Izzy and pulled him out of her bedroom and down the hall, through the living room and into the front yard. Where he hit Izzy in the face.

“Stop it!” Eden was right behind them. “Danny! Oh, my God!”

“Damn, Gillman, I thought this was what you wanted,” Izzy was in the dirt, scrabbling away from Danny, scrambling back up to his feet. He wasn’t fighting back—just trying to stay out of range of Danny’s fists and feet.

“What I
wanted,
” Danny said through clenched teeth as he went after Izzy again, “was for you not to get her pregnant in the first place!”

He feinted left and went right, but Izzy was faster and danced out of reach.

“What I
wanted,
” Danny said, “was for you not to disrespect me. I
wanted
you to have both the common sense and code of fucking honor to stay away from a seventeen-year-old!”

“For the record,” Izzy pointed out, still remaining purely on the defensive, “she was eighteen. And what happened that night had nothing to do with you. Trust me, Dan-O. No one was thinking of you.”

“That’s bullshit.” Dan swung again and missed. “Everything Eden ever does is payback. You’ll find that out—sooner or later. Probably sooner.”

“Stop,” Eden said again, moving toward them and nearly getting clobbered by her brother.

“Damn it, Dan, be careful, she’s right behind you,” Izzy said. “Eden, get
back
!”

Danny turned his rage on Eden. “Get away from me! I’m so goddamn tired of your shit!”

He didn’t hit her. Eden had been hit often enough before to know that her brother hadn’t hit her. But his swift turn to face her provided a body block and a very solid hipcheck. She went down, knocked onto her hands and knees in the dirt.

It was an accident, but Izzy didn’t realize that, and he launched himself at Danny. “You
son
of a
bitch
!”

“Zanella, don’t!”

It happened so fast—one second Danny was standing there, and the next he was curled in a ball, retching into the dust.

“You hit her
ever
again,” Izzy spat through clenched teeth, “I’ll fucking kill you!”

“Zanella!” Two of Danny’s other friends were there—one short, the other Hispanic. Eden hadn’t noticed them until they started making all kinds of noise, but Izzy ignored them. He was already done with Danny.

He pushed aside the dark-haired man who’d come to try to help Eden. “Are you all right?” There was real concern in Izzy’s eyes as he crouched beside her, helping her to sit.

“I’m okay.” Her knee was red and sore, but she hadn’t quite skinned it. And she was definitely better off than Danny. “He didn’t do that on purpose,” she defended her brother—who was, as he’d said, so goddamn tired of her shit. Tears welled in her eyes.

Izzy somehow knew exactly what she was thinking, because as he pushed her hair back from her face with a hand that was almost unbearably gentle, he said, “I’m not. Tired. I actually kinda like your shit. Let’s go find us an Elvis impersonator to get this thing done.”

Eden actually found herself laughing as she looked into his eyes. But then, she started to cry. “I can’t marry you,” she said. “It wouldn’t be fair.”

“What, the cooking thing?” He tried to make it into a joke. “Okay, you win, Pinkie doesn’t have to take a turn.”

“It wouldn’t be fair to
you,
” she said. “Please don’t think I don’t appreciate it, because I do. I just…You want to rescue me because…You’re a hero and that’s what heroes do. But tomorrow…” She didn’t want him waking up and regretting his impetuous decision.

Again, he knew exactly what she was thinking. “Okay,” he said. “So we’ll wait. We’ll be engaged for a coupla nights. Just long enough to sleep on it, you know?” He straightened up, helping her to her feet. “Hey Jenk, will you do me a huge-large and drive me and Eden into town? I’m going to rent a car—I think we need to put some space between me and Gilligan for a while.”

Jenk—the shorter man with the lighter hair—seemed down with that as he approached. “Lindsey just called. The Troubleshooters gang traced a friend of Murphy’s to Dalton, California. It’s near Camp Nelson, east of Fresno? She seems to think tracking this friend is our best lead to finding Murph. The plan is to head in that direction. We’re going to meet up at the local Day’s Inn—it’s about three hundred miles from here.” He glanced at Eden and even held out his hand. “Hi, I’m Mark Jenkins. Um, congratulations?”

“Thanks?” As Eden shook Mark’s hand, Izzy laughed, probably because she’d answered him with the exact same tentative inflection.

“Sorry.” Mark was chagrined. “I meant, congratulations. Definitely.” He turned back to Izzy. “Maybe you want to, uh, stay in Vegas for a few days?”

“No, actually,” Izzy said. “We’re going to wait a coupla days to get married—” he looked at Eden for confirmation “—Right?”

She just shook her head as Mark went to get the car keys from the gleamingly handsome dark-haired man—Lopez—who had helped Danny into the shade.

“Troubleshooters gang?” Eden brought her focus back to Izzy.

He smiled. “Not that kind of gang,” he said. “Trust me, I wouldn’t let you near anything that so much as smells of danger. I’ll explain what’s up, when we’re outa here.”

Trust me.
Funny thing was, she did trust him.

“I’ll get your bag,” Izzy said. “Why don’t you go ahead and wait in the car?”

But Mark was already back with the keys. “I think I should get her bag,” he volunteered.

Which was a good idea, since Greg was standing on the front stoop, tall and angular and disapproving. When he saw that Eden was looking at him, he called out, “If you leave now, missy, you’re never coming back. You’re on your own.”

He made it sound so dire—like a curse or an evil spell that she would bear forever, and she felt herself tense.

But then Izzy draped his arm around her shoulders. “If you leave now, missy,” he quietly imitated Greg with pitch-perfect accuracy, “you’ll never have to hear another jackass call you
missy
again.” He was solid and warm against her.

And Eden knew without a doubt that if she took him up on his offer, if she married this funny, generous man, Greg’s spell would be broken.

“Tell Mom I’m getting married in a few days,” she called so that Greg, even with his bad ear, could hear her. “Tell her and Ben that I love them, okay? And that I’ll call when I know when and where.”

Greg didn’t respond. He just stood there with his prune-face twisted in disapproval.

“Yes, I will,” Izzy said loudly. “That’s what you say, dickweed, when the woman you assaulted and imprisoned—the woman who apparently has chosen
not
to press charges against you—politely asks you to give a message to her mother and brother.
Yes. I. Will.
”

“I will,” Greg finally grudgingly responded.

And when Izzy helped her into the backseat of a very nice little car that still smelled new, when he and Mark climbed into the front, when they pulled away from the curb, Eden didn’t look back.

S
OUTH OF
S
ACRAMENTO
, C
ALIFORNIA

“I remember being in Juneau,” Murphy said, turning his head slightly so that Hannah could read his lips even as he watched the road. “I mean, I was also there a few weeks ago, but this was…Before my birthday. Must’ve been early April because I got a job cleaning up, you know, prep for tourist season. They wouldn’t have started the cruise-ship-shine much before that.” He sighed. “But I don’t remember exactly when—or how—I got there.”

“That shouldn’t be hard to find out.” Hannah made a note on her pad. There were only two ways in to the coastal capital of Alaska. Via plane or boat. “Do you know when you started working? How many weeks you were employed?”

“It was day labor,” Murphy said. “Off the books.”

“Who hired you?” she asked. Even if there was no paper trail, they could maybe jog someone’s less cloudy memory. “Frank Kinderman? Or—”

“I didn’t know him,” Murphy said. “My boss. And I seriously doubt he’d know me from Adam.”

Okay, so that wasn’t good. “Where’d you stay?” Hannah tried a new tack.

“Pat’s cabin. I broke in.”

Her uncle’s Juneau cabin was in the middle of nowhere, similar to his place in Dalton. With no neighbors close enough to notice smoke from the chimney.

“You must’ve hung out with—”

He cut her off. “I didn’t. Not that I know of. I remember sitting at the bar in DocWater’s, and Sparky and Don came in. They walked right past me. They didn’t recognize me, Han. I worked, I got paid, and I drank myself unconscious. And then, one day, I worked, got paid, and I went to the airport. One of the local air services has some kind of vagabond fare. Last-minute cheap seats. I hopped a flight to…Seattle, I think. And I’m sorry, I’m trying to remember, but…I have no clue how I got to Juneau. I’m also pulling a total blank on where I was before I arrived.” He glanced at her. “But I’m pretty sure I went north looking for you. I mean, what else is in Juneau?”

“So then you probably didn’t head up there until April,” she deduced. He knew she’d never willingly gone to Juneau before the spring.

“That’s assuming I knew what month it was,” Murphy said. “Which…I’m not sure we can assume.”

Hannah looked down at her notebook. “Maybe we should try working from the other end. We know where you were, early in the morning on January eighth.” In her bed, having sex with her. Yeah. They both knew that. “Where did you go after you left my cabin?” She looked over at him.

Impatience and frustration lined his face. “I don’t know, Hannah. I barely even remember that night. I should, considering it was the first time, in years, that…” He met her eyes only briefly, then was back to frowning at the road. “I don’t know.”

“You were somewhere,” she said. “Someone saw you. Someone knows.”

“Unless I was already hiding in a blind, inside the Freedom Network compound, waiting for Ebersole to…” He cut that thought off, too. “Look, I know you don’t understand how I could have lost track of so much time—”

“Actually,” Hannah said. “It doesn’t surprise me. You used to come to see me, remember? Well, except for that six months after we did the big nasty. But before that? You came to visit. And sometimes you made absolutely no sense. Non sequitur city. Of course, when you had a serious swerve on, it made it harder for me to read your lips.”