Burnt River (18 page)

“It’s hard to say. It may be related.”

“Tell me.”

“We’ve got someone working undercover in Wilmington Creek.”

“What the fuck, Ray? If you’ve got someone on the ground here then I need to know about it. What do you think would happen if we bumped into each other in town? Do I even know them?”

“You’re familiar with Lindsay Moore.”

“Great. That’s just wonderful.”

“I get it. She’s not your favorite person.”

“As far as I can tell, she’s nobody’s favorite person.”

“That’s out of line.”

“Don’t you dare lecture me about what constitutes being out of line. What is she doing here, anyway?”

“For the past six months, she’s been posing as a doctoral student doing research on the dramatic rise in militia groups since the last presidential election.”

“Lindsay Moore is Patricia Dune?”

“How do you know the name she’s been using?”

“I know the name because it’s come up in the investigation. We’ve been looking for her. We want to know if she’s heard anything that might be related to the case. Jeremy Dalton has received a couple of threats. People think she’s been stirring things up with the militia groups with all her questions.”

“She’s trying to get information on Ethan Green.”

“I thought he was long gone.”

“We did too, but remember that highway patrol officer in Missoula who got shot last summer? An informant identified Green as the shooter. The FBI are also saying they’ve got good intelligence that he’s re-forming his militia.”

“Ray, sometimes you have a very short memory. You assigned me to the special task force set up to investigate that shooting. My name is on the report. We found no evidence that any of the militia groups were involved.”

“Well, there have been some developments.”

“Can you trust this informant of yours?”

“We’ve used him before. He’s never let us down. When I sent Lindsay up here I was hoping she’d be able to flush Green out.”

“Do you think he may have something to do with John Dalton’s murder?”

“I heard there’s some bad blood between Green and Jeremy Dalton. Whether it became violent remains to be seen.”

“What does Lindsay have to say about it? She’s on the ground here. As I recall, she usually has an opinion.”

“That’s just it. Two days ago she dropped out of sight.”

“When did you last speak to her?”

“I guess it’s been a week since we last spoke, although I did get a message from her a few days ago. She said she had some new information, but didn’t go into details.”

“You’re worried?”

“I am. It’s not like her to be out of touch.” He handed Macy a set of keys and an address. “Tomorrow I want you to go by her place and have a look around.”

“Why me?”

“You’re here already.”

“I’m in the middle of something else.”

“Look, this is probably nothing, but please just do this for me. I need to know whether I should be worried.”

Macy closed her hand over the keys. The week Lindsay transferred to the Helena office, Macy had come across her and Ray speaking in low voices outside the elevator. Their heads were bent in conversation and they were laughing at some private joke. There was an awkward silence as the three of them rode the elevator down to the lobby. In those few minutes, Macy’s mind had gone into overdrive. Ray and Macy had just started seeing each other again and she was paranoid. She’d glanced up at Lindsay’s reflection in the mirror. At nearly five foot ten and wearing heels, she was as tall as Ray. It didn’t help that she had ice blond hair and perfect posture. Macy had felt like a child standing next to them.

Ray brushed the hair out of Macy’s eyes. “I don’t deserve you.”

“True.”

“I am sorry I have to leave.”

“It kind of goes with the territory. You’re a married man.”

“Separated.”

“When you’ve moved out I’ll start believing that.”

“There’s going to be some serious fallout.”

“You need to move out and spend a year pretending to be on your own. It’s the only way this is going to work.”

“Could you really handle that?”

“I don’t feel we have a choice.”

*   *   *

Through a gap in the curtains, Macy watched Ray drive away. She shifted her gaze to the swimming pool, but the man on the diving board was gone. In the bathroom she stared into her image in the mirror. Other than the state of her hair there was little to indicate she’d been with Ray all evening. She stepped into the shower. The sense of vertigo she felt when he left her to go back to his wife and children always took her breath away. She was still light-headed when she shut the door to the motel room and went to find her car.

Outside the air was cold, and overhead a haze of wood smoke blocked out the stars. Her state-issue SUV sat alone in the back parking lot. She stood in darkness adjusting her eyes. This could wait until morning. She pictured her empty motel room and knew she wouldn’t sleep. She’d lie awake trying to fix things in her head and end up with nothing to show for it in the morning. She checked she had Lindsay Moore’s house keys before striking out across the dark pavement. Beyond the car’s front bumper there was a high chain-link fence and a thin line of trees. Through the branches she could see a two-story home. She clicked the remote and headlights flashed as her car doors unlocked. Her eyes swept across the parking lot, searching the shadows. Something was moving toward her, but she couldn’t see where it was coming from. Leaves rustled and branches snapped. There was a low growl and a large dog launched itself from the other side of the chain-link fence. Its mouth gaped wide, revealing sharp white teeth that snapped at the empty air between them. Macy jumped into her car and locked the doors. In the upper rooms of the house, lights came on as she backed away. A man threw open a window and shouted down at the dog.

The streets were deserted. She drove three blocks, took a right on Tucker Road, and kept going in a straight line for several miles. There were no streetlights this far out of town. The headlights picked up an occasional driveway and mailbox but little else. She couldn’t miss Lindsay’s home. It was on fire. Nearby trees swayed dangerously close to the flames. Jessie picked up the radio and talked to dispatch before putting in a call to Aiden. He didn’t sound happy to hear from her.

“Do you have any idea what time it is?”

“You need to come meet me. We have a problem.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m at 517 Tucker.”

“What are you doing all the way out there?”

“At the moment I’m watching Patricia Dune’s house burn down.”

“I’m on my way.”

Macy stared out into the night. The headlights just caught where the road came to a dead end at the Flathead River. There wasn’t any passing traffic and the closest neighbor was a quarter mile back in the direction of town. The house could have burned to the ground without anyone noticing. She swung open the car door and stepped outside. The heat was intense. The fire had almost consumed the front porch. Glass shattered as windows exploded. She walked the property’s perimeter, looking for a way in. There was only one section that wasn’t engulfed in flames. She pried off the window screens and used a rock to break the window. She had to scream to be heard.

“Lindsay, are you in there? Lindsay!”

Smoke was drifting in through the bedroom’s open door. She took out her flashlight and swung the beam around the room. The dresser drawers were open and clothing was piled up on the bed. She brushed away the broken glass and leaned in farther.

“Lindsay!”

The hallway was in flames. There was a strong smell of gasoline. It looked like someone had doused the clothes on the bed. Macy wanted to be sure. She stretched out as far as she could, but they were out of reach. She lifted a leg up and fell into the room. It was too dark to see what she’d tripped over. She hit her shoulder hard against the bedframe and lay gasping for breath. In a matter of seconds the room had filled with smoke. She grabbed some of the clothing off the bed and left the way she came.

Her hands stank of gasoline. She slipped the shirt into an evidence bag and tried to call Ray, but her fingers were shaking too much to work the keypad on her cell phone. She leaned her forehead against the steering wheel and screamed instead. Part of the house’s roof collapsed, sending millions of sparks into the sky. Toward Wilmington Creek, she could see flashing lights. Sirens soon filled the night.

*   *   *

Macy sat on the tailgate of the paramedic’s rig with her shirt pulled halfway up her back. The paramedic focused in on the task at hand and ignored all attempts at small talk.

“When was your last tetanus shot?”

Macy almost shrugged, but then thought better of it. “I’m not sure. Do I need stitches?”

“No, it’s not deep enough, but you’ve got a three-inch cut. Do you have any idea what you fell on?”

“A bedframe.”

“You’ll be sore for a couple of days, but should be fine. You may want to take some ibuprofen.”

Aiden made his way toward her. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Yes, it’s nothing.” She glanced over at the house. Despite the amount of water being dumped on it, it was still burning out of control. “This was arson.”

“How do you know?”

Macy handed him the evidence bag. “I found this on the bed in the back bedroom. An accelerant was used. I’m pretty sure it’s gasoline.”

“You were inside?”

“I managed to open a bedroom window. No one answered when I called, but the smell was unmistakable.”

“What were you doing out here in the first place?”

“I was looking for Lindsay Moore. She works for the state as a special investigator.”

“But this is Patricia Dune’s house.”

“Lindsay Moore is her real name.”

“Is this some kind of joke?”

“I wish that were the case. Lindsay has been up here posing as a Ph.D. student. She was looking for Ethan Green.”

“How come you’re only telling me about this now?”

“Until a couple of hours ago I had no idea she was up here. Ray Davidson called me. He’s worried because she didn’t check in when she was supposed to. He sent me over to investigate.”

“So he called you in the middle of the night?”

“Like I said, he was worried.”

“When did she disappear?”

“As near as he can tell, sometime on Tuesday.”

“That’s three days. We need to put an APB out on her right away.”

She held up a hand. “Didn’t I hear you say you found a burnt-up SUV two days ago?”

“Yes, it was up near the site of the Waldo Canyon fire.”

“Lindsay drives an SUV.”

“Damn, I’ll call it in now. We’ll get some search teams out there right away.” He paused. “Did Ray say why they were suddenly interested in finding Green?”

“An informant has pegged him for the shooting of that highway patrol officer last summer, and the FBI believe he’s re-forming his militia.” She slid off the tailgate and very gingerly rotated her shoulder. “What about the neighbors? There’s not much traffic out here. Maybe someone saw something.”

“Tyler Locke owns the next house along.”

“Should I read anything into that?”

He frowned. “Keep an open mind. Remember.”

“I’m surprised he keeps a house here, given he’s gone all the time. Doesn’t he live in Georgia when he’s not deployed?”

“He inherited the place from his grandmother. As far as I know he plans on coming back to live here once he’s discharged from the army.”

“Have Tyler or Dylan ever had any involvement with any militia groups?”

“We checked. Neither of them have any known affiliation, but these guys don’t exactly publicize their members’ names.”

“Is it too early to wake Tyler up?”

“All this noise. I’m sure he’s up already.”

*   *   *

Aiden knocked on the door and stepped well back while he waited for Tyler to answer. The lights were on in the kitchen and they could hear the television through the window screens.

“Who is it?”

“Tyler, it’s Aiden. I have Detective Macy Greeley with me. We need to have a quick word.”

Tyler appeared in a T-shirt and jeans. An unlit cigarette dangled from his lips. “I just saw you guys on the news.” He held open the door to let them in. “Can I offer you a cup of coffee? Sounds like it’s been a long night.”

“That would be very much appreciated. We’re talking to all the neighbors.”

Tyler cleared some space on the cluttered kitchen counter and poured coffee into two cups. “That shouldn’t take too long. Hardly anybody lives out this way anymore.”

Macy cast her eyes over the mess in the living room before surveying the book titles on the shelf next to the television. For the most part they were well-thumbed classics. Given the layer of dust, Macy guessed they’d not recently been touched. The porn DVDs told another story. Half of the boxes were open with discs spilling out.

Tyler handed her a cup of coffee. “I’m not much of a reader. The books belonged to my grandmother.”

“I take it the video collection is yours though?”

“It’s a hobby.”

“Were you acquainted with Patricia Dune?”

“Should I be?”

Aiden stirred milk into his coffee with a spoon he found in the dish drainer.

“She was renting the Anderson property. Tall blond woman in her midthirties. She drove a dark blue SUV.”

“I’ve seen her coming and going, but we never talked.” He picked up the coffeepot and swirled the remaining contents before pouring out another cup. “Was she in the house?”

“It’s too early to tell.”

Macy took a sip of coffee. “Are you here on your own?”

“May I ask why you want to know?”

Aiden shook his head. “We want to know if you were around to hear or see anything. If anyone is with you we’d want to talk to them as well.”

“I was up video conferencing with my platoon half the night so I’ve been awake for hours. I can’t say that I noticed anything suspicious.”

Macy didn’t skip a beat. “When you say half the night, what does that mean exactly?”

Tyler went over to his desk that was set up in the living room and started punching some keys. “It means I was online from one thirty until nearly four.”