Dark Water Disappearance, page 8
“You don’t really think Pete has anything to do with Jill’s disappearance or that girl’s death, do you?”
Terrence looked thoughtful. “I don’t know. But he had access to Lakewood, which puts him on the suspect list as far as I’m concerned.”
She wasn’t comfortable invading Pete’s privacy, but if he’d been using her grandfather’s home for criminal activity or—God forbid—to commit murder, she’d make sure he paid for it.
“Okay. I’ll try.”
Terrence shot a smile across the car. “Great. And while you do that, I’ll try to find out if he’s seen anything suspicious at Lakewood House or anywhere else in Carling Lake lately.”
She felt her forehead crease with frown lines. “Like I said, Pete might not take too well to being ambushed with questions.”
Terrence frowned but kept his focus on the road as he turned out of the parking lot. “Don’t worry. I’ve dealt with my fair share of curmudgeons.”
She made the call. Pete hadn’t sounded happy to be getting visitors but said he’d have the boat ready for them when they got there.
The Bonny family had owned several hundred acres of land high up in the Carling Lake Mountains for longer than most current residents could remember. Despite being longtime residents, the Bonny family, or what was left of them, were peripheral members of the community at best. She didn’t recall them having ever participated in Carling Lake social events, and they were unlike other residents who made a point of shopping as much as possible in town. She knew from her grandfather’s updates that Pete preferred to drive thirty miles west and patronize the big-box stores. The more generous-minded folks in town noted that taking care of Lakewood House and a few of the other seasonal cabins in the area was Pete’s only source of income and that maybe he could only afford to buy in bulk. Those with a more begrudging attitude toward the man took umbrage at his failure to shop at local businesses.
Pete Bonny probably wouldn’t have been her choice to watch after Lakewood House, but Grandpa Bernie had always felt strongly about supporting everyone in the Carling Lake community, so Nikki wasn’t surprised when he’d told her he’d enlisted Pete’s help with the family home.
They turned off the highway and onto a narrow back road that wound its way into the densely wooded area. A few miles later, Terrence took a right turn onto an unpaved road, the Highlander’s tires kicking up a cloud of dirt that followed them to their destination.
Terrence pulled his car to a stop between Pete’s pickup and a large maple tree with No Trespassing and Keep Out signs nailed to its trunk. The trees cast shadows over the dilapidated state of the small prefabricated home that had enough junk strewed around the surrounding yard that the property could have been mistaken for a scrapyard. Amongst the detritus, still on its trailer, was Grandpa Bernie’s boat.
Nikki hopped out of the car, wariness flowing through her.
Pete stepped out of the house onto the small front porch as Terrence rounded his car and stopped beside her.
“You okay?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yes. Fine.” She didn’t know what it was about Pete, but he’d always made her uncomfortable. She’d only been to Pete’s property once when she was younger, and she’d been with her grandfather then, who’d always made her feel safe no matter what the situation.
Nikki glanced at Terrence. Grandpa Bernie hadn’t been the only person who’d made her feel safe when she was younger.
“Got the boat all ready for ya.” Pete’s voice broke into her thoughts.
“Great. Thanks so much, Pete. Um...sorry to impose upon you, but could I possibly use your restroom?”
The wrinkles on Pete’s face deepened with his frown. “Yeah, I guess so,” he answered after a moment.
The interior of the home was grim, sparse and impersonal. A small eat-in kitchen opened onto a living area where a worn and faded gray sofa faced a television set. Pete had formed a makeshift end table out of two milk crates and a piece of cardboard. A dirty bread plate and an empty beer bottle sat on top.
Nikki’s eyes roamed the space, looking for any sign of Jill—a scrap of clothing, her phone, anything that might indicate she’d been in the house—but found nothing.
Off to one side was a short hallway. She walked past the kitchen and to the first door. A bathroom with no sign that anyone but Pete had used it in a while.
She headed for the second door in the hall but hesitated. Taking note of what was out in plain view after being allowed inside the house was one thing, but going into his room would most definitely cross a line into snooping. She wasn’t as convinced as Terrence that Pete knew anything about Jill’s disappearance, the poor girl they’d found or why anyone would want her to leave Lakewood House. But if she was wrong and there was a clue to Jill’s whereabouts in this house?
It was enough to have her pushing the door to the room open. The decor was just as sparse in this room as it was in the main living area of the home. A bed and a dresser were the only pieces of furniture. She searched under the bed and in each of the drawers, careful not to disturb anything, and again found nothing.
Terrence might not be happy to hear it, but as far as she could tell, nothing in this house indicated that Jill had ever been inside.
She rejoined Terrence and Pete outside. Terrence had moved his car, backing it up to the trailer so it could be hitched.
“Nothing at all unusual?” Terrence’s voice carried across the yard as Nikki approached the men. Terrence crouched on one side of the boat, attaching the safety chains and brake line.
Pete stood on the other side, glaring. “I already told you, I ain’t seen nothing funny. I just do the job I was hired to do.”
“And I really do appreciate everything you’ve done,” Nikki said, coming to a stop beside Terrence. He looked up at her expectantly.
She gave a little shake of her head to indicate that she hadn’t found anything useful inside the house. Terrence donned a frown to match the one on Pete’s face.
Pete turned his glare on her. “I guess you won’t be needing me anymore since you’re moving into the place?”
She hadn’t thought about it before now, but he was right. She didn’t need him to keep an eye on the house, but she suspected he needed the stipend he’d been getting for caretaking at Lakewood House.
“Well, I don’t need a caretaker per se, but Lakewood House is old, and it hasn’t been occupied for a while. I’m sure there’s a bunch of stuff that I’ll need to take care of. Why don’t you give me a little bit of time to settle in, and then I’ll call you?”
Pete didn’t exactly look happy about the offer, but he gave a gruff nod of acceptance.
Terrence straightened. “We’re all done here.”
“You ain’t done till you check the brake lights work and walk around the entire rig, son. I’ve seen more’n one person lose their boat on the highway ’cause they failed to do a simple walk around.”
Terrence’s shoulders stiffened at the admonishment. “You’re right. It’s been a while since I trailered a boat.”
Pete jerked his head at Nikki. “Hop in the cab and tap the brakes, will ya?”
She did as requested while Terrence and Pete walked around the boat, their paths crossing at the back of the rig and each ending on the opposite side from where they’d begun.
She hopped out of the car and joined Pete now at the rear driver’s side of the Highlander. “Looks good?”
Pete patted the bow of the boat, his face softening. “Looks good.”
“You know if you ever want to take her out, just let me know,” Nikki said.
Pete gave her a small smile. “I just might.”
Terrence joined them. “Look, I know you said you hadn’t seen anything odd at Lakewood House, but what about this.” He held out his phone. The photo of the business card with the fleur-de-lis was on-screen.
Pete leaned toward the phone, his eyes squinted. For a moment, Nikki thought she saw recognition in his eyes, but a second later, they were back to a flat emptiness. “What is it?”
“It’s a business card I found in the kitchen at Lakewood House,” Nikki offered. “Have you ever seen it before?”
“Can’t say that I have. Kinda funny for a business card. What kinda business is it for?”
“We don’t know.” Terrence swiped the screen, and the photo of Jill’s note came up. “But I found this piece of paper at my sister’s apartment—Jill. You might remember her.”
Pete shrugged, which Nikki interpreted as a no.
“She’s a reporter, and she’s gone missing,” Terrence said. “I think she came here to Carling Lake, maybe following a story that has something to do with this fleur-de-lis symbol.”
“Fleur-de-what?” Confusion clouded Pete’s expression, but Nikki couldn’t tell if it was genuine or faked.
“Fleur-de-lis. That’s what it’s called,” Terrence said, frustration tingeing his words. “Look again. Are you sure you’ve never seen a card like this or the symbol before?”
Pete didn’t glance down at the phone’s screen this time. “I told ya. I ain’t ever seen nothing like this floor-de-liz before.” He took several steps toward the house. “You got your boat hitched up. It’s time for y’all to get on now. I got things to do.”
Pete stalked back to the house. The front door closed with a slam.
She and Terrence got into the Highlander.
“He recognized the fleur-de-lis,” Terrence said.
“I thought so, but it’s hard to tell for sure given Pete’s sour attitude.”
He put his car in Drive and began easing it forward slowly. The Highlander could handle the rough dirt path without a problem, but the boat and trailer might not. “I think he recognized it,” he confirmed without taking his eyes off the road in front of him. “Whether he knows what it means, if anything, is another question.”
She studied his face, finding determination and something else she couldn’t quite name there. “You didn’t push him on it though?”
“No, I didn’t.”
His voice had fallen to just above a whisper. The expression she hadn’t been able to name before came to her then. He looked haunted.
“Why not?”
He remained silent for so long she assumed he wasn’t going to answer.
“There was a missing eight-year-old boy a couple of years ago. I was the lead on the case. We got lucky, got a description of the kidnapper early and found a guy who matched it living in the boy’s neighborhood. He had a record of domestic abuse against his wife and child. An arrest for assault against a prior girlfriend that had gone nowhere when she refused to testify. Another for lewd behavior. My gut told me he was our guy. I questioned him for hours, but this guy knew the system. I didn’t have enough to hold him, so we let him go. We assigned a man to watch him, but wires got crossed somewhere. By the time we figured it out, he was running. He didn’t get far. Patrol pulled him over before he got out of state. The boy was in the trunk, but it was too late.”
A heaviness fell over the interior of the car, weighing on Nikki’s chest. She reached across the space between them and put a hand on his arm. “I am so sorry.”
“Maybe if I hadn’t pushed. What did you say earlier? I lacked diplomacy? Maybe if I had been more diplomatic, taken a softer approach—”
“This guy sounds like he was a psychopath. Nothing you did or didn’t do could have stopped him from doing what he did. He’s the one responsible—the only one responsible—for that child’s death.” She squeezed his arm.
Terrence gave his head a shake as if he were freeing himself from the horror of his memories. “Yeah, well, I’m not taking any chances with Jill’s life. We need more information. If Pete recognized the fleur-de-lis, someone else in Carling Lake would too. We just have to find them.”
Chapter Ten
Terrence had no idea why he’d told Nikki about Brian Malroy’s kidnapping case. It had been nearly three years now, and he still thought about the eight-year-old every single day. His captain had forced him to see the department psychologist when it had become obvious that his way of dealing with the loss of the little boy was to fall into a bottle of rum every night. His shrink said it was normal to feel guilty but that he needed to forgive himself if he wanted to be of use to all the other people who needed his help. That had been enough to get him to lay off the booze, but forgiving himself? He hadn’t yet figured out how to do that.
He shot a glance across the car at Nikki. They’d been riding in silence for the past several minutes. He wondered if his confession had brought back memories of all the times they’d commiserated with each other as teenagers. Worrying over failed tests, tough teachers and college admissions woes seemed outright ludicrous in the face of the adult problems they both faced now.
And yet, despite the odds, here they were some fifteen years later, still leaning on each other for support. Not to mention the moment they’d shared after leaving The West Gallery. He had no idea where that had come from. No, that wasn’t true. He’d felt it the moment he’d laid eyes on Nikki at Lakewood House. The attraction between them was still there and as strong as ever. Maybe stronger. But that didn’t mean they had to give in to it. None of the things that had pushed them apart fourteen years ago had changed. They’d only called a temporary truce in order to help Jill. Nothing could change the fact that Bernie King had stolen his aunt and uncle’s home right out from under them—and that he’d never forgive the man for having done so.
But should the granddaughter be held responsible for the sins of her grandfather? The thought pressed down on him.
He pushed it away as he turned onto the Lakewood House property. He had bigger fish to fry right now, like figuring out the next step in the search for Jill.
Nikki jumped out of the car and guided him as he turned it around carefully in the driveway and backed the boat up slowly toward the lake. Just as he was beginning to worry that he was getting too close to the water, she called out for him to stop.
He put the car in Park, set the emergency brake and got out.
She’d already released the straps and was reaching for the boat crank.
“I can do that,” he said.
“It’s not a problem. I’ve done it thousands of times when Grandpa and I used to take the boat out on the water.”
“You sure? That was a long time ago.”
She shot him a look. “You do a lot of boating in Trenton?”
He didn’t try to stop the smile that spread across his face. “Touché.”
Her return smile made his heart stutter.
The boat slid into the water, making a small wave.
“If you want to help,” Nikki said while keeping hold of the line at the front of the bow, “you can release the hook for me.”
He did and wound it back up while she tethered the boat. “I guess DC hasn’t knocked all of Carling Lake out of you.”
“Ha ha.” She hip-checked him and, for a moment, it felt like they were fifteen again.
The smile on his face fell away as something over Nikki’s shoulder caught his attention.
Smoke. Coming from a window in Lakewood House.
His sudden change in demeanor registered with Nikki. “What?” She turned and followed his line of sight. “Oh no!”
She took off in a sprint toward the house.
“Nikki, wait!”
She didn’t slow down. “We’ve got to try to stop it,” she called over her shoulder.
He cursed under his breath and picked up his pace, running after her.
Carling Lake’s fire department was all volunteer. It would take time to get everyone mobilized. Time Lakewood House might not have. Whatever their differences, they both loved Lakewood House. He was no more willing to let the home burn down than she was.
He caught up to Nikki just as she was about to push through the back door. “Wait a minute.” He grabbed her wrist, pulling her to a stop.
If looks could kill, he’d be on his way six feet under.
“You have to test the handle and make sure it’s not hot. And we need to stand off to the side when we open the door. The oxygen from the outside could fuel the fire if we’re not careful.”
“Okay, let’s do it then.”
His phone was still in the Highlander. “Do you have your phone?”
“No, it’s in my purse in the car.”
“You should get it and call 911.” And it would get her out of the line of fire, literally.
He knew the answer before she spoke though. “No way. I know where the fire extinguisher is. You need my help.”
He thought about pointing out that she could just tell him where to find it but arguing with her now only wasted time.
He placed his hand on the doorknob. It was cool. That was a good sign. The smoke seemed to be coming from a window on the side of the house near the front. The space Bernie King had used as an office if memory served. If the fire was contained to that room, it was probably okay to enter.
He gestured for Nikki to stand back from the door, then opened it.
A haze of smoke filled the home. He pulled his jacket collar to cover as much of his face as he could and stepped into the home.
Nikki did the same, veering off toward the kitchen. “Grandpa kept a fire extinguisher under the sink.”
Terrence turned toward the front of the house. He was right that the origin of the fire appeared to be in the small office. The smoke was thicker there, although thankfully, he didn’t see any flames. He walked toward the room carefully.
The door to the office was open. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust, but when they did, he could see that the fire seemed to have been started in a wastepaper basket and was now climbing the nearby curtains.
