Drake, page 7
She and Richard had been close as kids and teens, only drifting apart when she’d gone on to college in Missoula.
Since their parents’ deaths, he’d stepped up to what he must have considered his familial responsibility of looking out for his sister.
Her heart swelled with the love she felt for her only living blood relative. If anything happened to him, she’d be alone.
Well, not quite alone. She had her sister posse and the support of her hometown. As long as she lived in Eagle Rock, someone would always be looking out for her well-being.
Awake but unfocused, she made a beeline for Al’s Diner, pulling into the parking lot full of trucks and SUVs. She found a spot, parked and entered through the swinging glass door.
“Morning, Cassie,” Daisy Chadwick called out from across the room. “Find a table. I’ll be with you in a minute.”
“I’m just here for coffee,” Cassie said. “No hurry. It’s my day off.”
“I’ll meet you at the bar. Give me a minute.” The perky blond waitress finished taking an order and hurried to deliver it to the kitchen.
Cassie slipped onto a stool at the bar next to Frank Matson. His daughter Abby leaned forward and waved. “Good morning, Cassie.”
Cassie smiled. “Good morning, Abby, Mr. Matson.”
Frank nodded. “Morning.”
Daisy appeared in front of her with a pot full of coffee and a ceramic mug. She plunked the mug in front of Cassie and filled it to the brim. “No cream or sugar, right?”
Cassie nodded and wrapped her hands around the steaming cup. “Just coffee.” She leaned over the brew and inhaled, content to wait for it to cool a bit before taking her first sip.
“Daddy,” Abby said, “Cassie and her new friend, Mr. Morgan, were the ones who helped me with Bryan last night when he got belligerent.”
Frank turned to Cassie. “Thank you for helping my daughter. That boy needs someone to put a bag over his head and beat him with a baseball bat.”
“I wouldn’t recommend that,” Cassie said. “You might get a whole lot of satisfaction out of doing it, but then you’d catch some jail time for assault.”
“That boy won’t listen,” Frank said, shaking his head. “My Abby broke up with him because he wanted to control her every move, who she talked to and even what she ate.”
“You might have to get a restraining order against him,” Cassie said.
Frank nodded. “Exactly. I’ll set up a meeting with my attorney for later today. Can’t have him cornering Abby in an alley again. He’s got a screw or two loose in that head of his. No telling what he’ll do. He’s too much like his father. I remember when my Linda dated him back when we were all in high school. Joe pulled the same stunt. We actually got into a fistfight. He stopped bothering her after I beat the snot out of him.”
“Nowadays, you’d be hauled off to jail for assault. I’ll keep an eye out for Abby, but I can’t be everywhere.” Cassie nodded toward Abby. “Have one of the staff members at the tavern walk you to your car when you leave at night.”
“I will,” she said. “Something has to get through his thick skull. I want nothing to do with him.”
Cassie sipped her coffee, letting the rich liquid burn down her throat, warming her belly and helping her to wake up and become fully focused on the task ahead of her.
With her first shot of caffeine, she asked, “How’s your wife, Mr. Matson? I haven’t seen much of her since I returned to Eagle Rock.”
“She’s not doing so well. You know she’s got Lupus, and the doc’s afraid she’s slipping into dementia. They want to run more tests, but she doesn’t want to leave her room.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Do you have someone sitting with her while you work?” Cassie asked.
“Not yet.” Frank stared into his coffee mug. “She can still get around on her own. It’s just that, sometimes, she doesn’t remember things just the way they are or were. It confuses her and scares her. The only place she feels safe is in our bedroom. I have a mini-refrigerator, a loveseat and a television set up for her. We’re muddling along for now.”
“She doesn’t even want to see me sometimes.” Abby frowned. “She forgets I’m her daughter.” She smiled softly. “I’ve been reading up on dementia and Alzheimer’s as part of my microbiology class. Some diseases are genetic. Which means I could get lupus, dementia and Alzheimer’s someday.” Her lips pressed together. “I can only hope I have more of my father’s genes in me than my mother’s. He’s as healthy as a horse, if a little overweight.” She poked her father’s belly. “We need to eat a healthier diet.”
He wrapped his arm around her and gave her a brief hug. “I have to get to work. That filling station isn’t going to build itself.” He kissed the top of Abby’s head, pushed to his feet and nodded toward Cassie. “Thanks again for looking out for my girl.”
Frank Matson dropped money on the counter and left the diner.
Abby scooted over one stool closer to Cassie, moving her plate of eggs and bacon with her. “I really am worried about mental illness in my family. Mama is losing more and more of her memories every day. Daddy doesn’t want to talk about it. I asked him if the doctor had researched my mother’s family history to see what diseases were prevalent. He said the doctors didn’t have time to go back that far.”
“There might not be much history to pull from,” Abby said. “Some diseases might not have been correctly diagnosed.”
“Mama and Daddy never talk much about their families. The only grandparent I knew was Mama’s father, but he died when I was little.” She smiled. “So, I decided to do a little research of my own.”
“How so?” Cassie asked.
“I bought one of those DNA tests and joined the ancestry group. I should be getting the results back in a day or two. I didn’t tell my father because he’s so busy and has never wanted to talk much about family.” She shrugged. “It would be nice if I found some long-lost relatives. I never had siblings, aunts, uncles or cousins. You’re so lucky to have a brother. When you have children, they’ll get to play with their cousins.” Abby sighed. “Anyway, I’ve been keeping it a secret, and I just had to share it with someone.”
Cassie cocked an eyebrow and glanced over her coffee mug at Abby. “I take it you want me to keep it a secret?”
Abby nodded. “Please. It might mean nothing; however, until I know more, I don’t want to bother my father.”
Cassie nodded. “My lips are sealed.”
Abby slipped off her seat. “I have to go log into my online class. Will you be at the tavern tonight with your fella?”
Cassie frowned. “He’s not my fella.”
“No?” Abby’s brow puckered. “You two are so cute together. I could practically see the chemistry between you.”
“And that’s the science you’re learning?” Cassie chuckled.
“Actually, studies indicate men and women are attracted to pheromones and testosterone they emit.” Abby blinked. “You two must have been emitting just the right amounts. Your chemistry was off the wall. The same study also talked about the first kiss.”
Cassie’s chuckle stuck in her throat, and heat rose up her neck into her cheeks. “What about the first kiss?”
“It was considered a dealbreaker. If the first kiss didn’t do it for one or the other, there would be no more. If it hit the right connection, there would be more.” Abby tilted her head. “I bet your first kiss was all lightning bolts and fireworks.”
Cassie didn’t say anything, her cheeks burning as she recalled the electricity shooting through her as they’d shared their first real kiss.
Abby’s grin spread across her face. “Yeah, I called it. You two had some serious chemistry. Make sure you sit at one of my tables tonight. I’ll make sure you have some privacy and champagne.” The young woman flitted out of the diner like a fairy sprinkling sunshine.
“She’s way too perky for me,” Cassie muttered.
“I know what you mean,” Daisy said. “But you can’t help but love her. Her mother was never as happy and outgoing and…well, you know her father. He can be a taciturn grump at his best. How did two such unhappy people produce Abby?” She shook her head, her gaze following the object of their discussion. She sighed. “Need a refill?”
Cassie put her hand over her mug. “Not in here. But I’d love one to go. It’s going to be a long day at the computer.”
Daisy pulled a paper cup from the cabinet behind her, filled it with coffee and fit a cap over the top. “That should hold you until lunchtime. Want me to put in an order for a club sandwich to be delivered to the sheriff’s office at noon?”
“That would be awesome.” For a moment, Cassie thought about picking up two sandwiches and surprising Drake at lunch. She nixed the idea as soon as she thought it and left the diner.
The last thing she wanted was to appear desperate. He’d slowed things down last night when she’d practically begged to speed it up.
Slow was good. She didn’t want to get into another toxic relationship that sucked the life out of her.
Drake was nothing like her last boyfriend, Miles. Drake was so much more. He’d been a Navy SEAL. That took discipline, courage and strength. He valued the men he’d fought with and considered them brothers. He’d stepped in when Abby was in trouble and could kiss like nobody’s business.
Cassie thought back to her first kiss with Miles. She couldn’t even recall that kiss or any other they’d shared. They must have been as unremarkable as the man himself.
The more she compared Drake to Miles, the more she looked forward to seeing Drake again that night. With the condom her brother had given her, she’d be ready for whatever might happen. Only, this time, he’d have to initiate. He had to be just as ready and willing as she was.
She drove to the sheriff’s office, parked and went inside.
“It’s your day off,” Sheriff Barron grumbled from inside his office. “You should be out riding horses, shopping with your gal pals, fishing or something. Not spending more time in this office.”
“And when do you take time off?” she shot back at him.
He didn’t answer.
“Right. Never.” She slipped into one of the empty desks in the office across from the sheriff’s. “Anything from the coroner?”
“Nothing,” the sheriff said. “However, Molly found old blueprints in the lodge office with notes made during previous remodeling efforts and building additions. The last remodel effort was fifteen years ago. The addition was twenty-one years ago when they added rooms to the west wing and expanded the kitchen.”
Cassie powered up the computer and waited for it to come online. “That’s a start. I’ll dig into the missing persons database going back between fourteen and twenty-five years ago to bracket those timeframes.”
Once she’d logged on, she brought up the Montana Missing Persons Database and went to work, sifting through hundreds of women with blond hair who’d gone missing during the ten-year span in which major modifications had been made within the lodge.
The number was too many. She narrowed the search to within a two-hundred-mile radius of Eagle Rock. That knocked the number down even more, but it was still too many to wade through one by one. A two-hundred-mile radius would lean into the neighboring state of Wyoming, which meant going into Wyoming’s missing persons database. If she did it right, she’d also tap into the national database NamUs for women who might have been in transit through Montana on their way to Washington, Oregon, Idaho or Minnesota.
Overwhelmed by the sheer number of people who’d gone missing during those years, Cassie focused on the Montana database. If she struck out there, she’d expand beyond the state. If only she had more to go on, like an age range, a birthmark or a tattoo. Dental records would be helpful when they narrowed it down to under twenty potential victims.
Though she was searching for the proverbial needle in the haystack, she couldn’t sit around and do nothing. She’d run out of leads on Penny’s case, but maybe, she could make headway on Jane Doe’s. She’d joined the sheriff’s department hoping to make a difference. In this case, they had a body. Surely, they’d be able to identify her and give her a proper burial and her family the closure they needed.
* * *
Cassie read through file after file, heartsick at the number of women who had never made it home from school, work or going for a freaking walk. Photo after photo of smiling blondes scrolled across her screen, ranging in age from ten to seventy-five, and she was no closer to naming the victim found in the Lucky Lady Lodge.
A sandwich arrived at noon, reminding Cassie she hadn’t eaten breakfast. She’d only left her chair twice—once to use the bathroom, another time to warm up her cold coffee in the station’s microwave. Sheriff Barron came in a couple of times to check on her but left to answer calls. The department was shorthanded. He did what he could to fill the gaps. One call was a domestic disturbance at the local laundromat. Another time he left to help a woman herd her escape-artist donkey back into his pen.
There was never a dull moment in Eagle Rock and the surrounding county. Cassie was grateful nothing major cropped up during the day. She’d have jumped in to help, on duty or not.
Nearing the end of the day, she was ready to admit defeat. She needed more information from the medical examiner before she could make any headway whatsoever.
The only bright spot to the day was that she would be seeing Drake again.
Chapter 7
Drake spent the day much like the day before, tearing down walls damaged by the explosion. By mid-day, the men had completed the initial demolition needed to expose structural supports on the mountainside of the lodge. They stopped to take a break for lunch. Molly had packed food and drinks for the crew. They sat outside on the porch, breathing fresh air and discussing their progress.
“The structural engineer should be here after lunch to inspect the support beams,” Molly said. “If he doesn’t have time to complete his inspection today, he will return in the morning.”
“Will we need to be out of the way while the structural engineer is conducting his inspection?” Drake asked.
“Only out of the rooms he’ll be inspecting,” Parker said. “As of now, we won’t be tearing down any more walls unless the engineer thinks he needs to see more. We want the dust to settle enough he can see what he’s doing, which means we’ll move on to less dust-producing tasks until the engineer has completed his work.”
Molly picked up the conversation. “Once we have his report, we can determine our next steps as far as walls and ceilings are concerned. In the meantime, we’ll move to flooring. If we can salvage the original wood floors, we will. Where we can’t, we’ll need to rip out the damaged boards and prep for new flooring. The electrician will begin refitting damaged electrical lines tomorrow and bring anything that’s substandard up to code.” She smiled at the men. “Any of you ready to jump ship and join Hank’s Brotherhood Protectors?”
“I, for one, want to see this project through to completion,” Drake said.
The other men nodded their agreement.
Molly laughed. “Good. I’ll need all of you to make our deadline of this fall. That’s only a few months away. Barring any major setbacks, we should make that date.”
They were collecting their discarded wrappers and drink bottles when two white trucks pulled up in the parking lot in front of the lodge.
One of the trucks bore a logo for Strong Engineering. A man with salt-and-pepper hair stepped down with a clipboard in his hand.
The second pickup sported the logo for Greenway Construction. The man who climbed down from that truck crossed to the first guy, shook hands and followed him up to the lodge.
Molly met the man with the clipboard at the top of the porch steps. “Doug, thank you for making time in your busy schedule.” She shook hands with the man and turned to the men gathered around. “This is my demolition team. Guys, this is Douglas Strong of Strong Engineering. He might have questions for you as he goes.” She turned to the man behind Doug and shook his hand. “Frank, I’m glad you could make it. We’re still comparing bids and haven’t awarded the contract, but we’d like to get your take on the work that will need to be done. Guys, this is Frank Matson, the owner of Greenway Construction.”
Frank shook her hand, and then Parker’s, and nodded to the men gathered around.
Molly and Parker led the men through the rooms where the special operations demolition team had cleared the debris away from the walls against the mountain.
Drake and the others worked on the floors in the kitchen, where they broke up cracked tile, loaded it into wheelbarrows and removed it from the building.
Thirty minutes into their work, Parker appeared in the kitchen.
“Drake.”
Drake wiped the dust from his hands onto his jeans and followed Parker through the dining room into the first room he’d worked. The one with the hidden room where he’d found the body.
Doug Strong held out his hand. “I understand you’re a Navy SEAL.”
Drake nodded and shook the man’s hand.
“I did six years in the Navy. A recruiter convinced me to join the Navy and see the world.” He laughed. “I spent all six years in the belly of a nuclear submarine and then used my GI bill to get my engineering degree. Now, I can’t get enough fresh air and sunshine.”
“I don’t know how you did it. I wouldn’t want to spend one year, much less six in a tin can.”
“And I wouldn’t want to walk into a hive of Taliban.” He grinned. “Yet here we are in the Crazy Mountains of Montana.” His smile faded. “Tell me about this wall.”
Drake explained how he’d torn away the plaster from the other sections, but when he got to a gap, he had broken through what had appeared to be a doorway into a stone-walled room carved out of the mountainside.
“The good news is that the stone is intact. No cracks or damage of any kind. The solid rock probably shielded this room from the explosion in the mine, sparing the beam any structural damage. This room and the ones above it should be good to go.” Doug shot a glance toward Molly. “Are you going to keep the stone room open or seal it?”
