Burnt River (19 page)

“Your computer is next to the front window. Did you see any vehicles pass by your house in that time?”

He rubbed his chin. “Aside from all the recent action, the last vehicle I remember drove by at around nine forty-five, heading back toward town.”

“Are you sure about the time?”

“I was just setting my alarm so I’d wake up in time to catch my platoon online. They’ve just returned to Bagram Air Base so it’s the first time I’ve been able to talk to them. John was like a brother. As you can imagine, they’re pretty low.”

Aiden placed his empty cup in the sink. “There’s nothing else in that direction aside from the river, so the car must have come from the Anderson house.”

Macy walked to the sliding glass doors overlooking the backyard. Other than a dim light showing in the garage windows, the view was flat and gray. There was a backhoe in the corner of the lot, along with several pallets of cinder blocks. There was a deep pit in the center of the yard. She couldn’t be sure, but it looked like Tyler was putting in a swimming pool. Beyond a chain-link fence the woods stretched out for miles. She couldn’t see a single light.

Tyler stood next to her. “I’m building a nuclear fallout shelter. I tried to do the same in Georgia, but the water table is too high. Ended up putting in a pond instead.”

“You live in northern Montana. Is a shelter really necessary?”

“I believe it is.”

“Have you ever been involved in any of the militia groups around here?”

“Years ago when I was in high school. Why?”

“Preparing for the end of the world seems to be a preoccupation in many of the groups.”

He shrugged. “With all due respect, I’ve done six tours of duty in some the worst hellholes on the planet. If digging a hole in my backyard makes me feel more secure, that’s what I’m going to do.”

“You’re right,” she said, turning away from the window. “I apologize. You should do whatever makes you feel safe.”

“I don’t need your permission.”

A female’s voice called out from the darkened hallway leading to the back of the house.

“Tyler? What’s going on? Come back to bed.”

Macy looked at Tyler. “You’ve got company?”

He crossed his thick arms. “Sarah Reed. She’s been here since eight yesterday evening. I take it you want to speak to her?”

“I’ll let you do the honors.”

Tyler yelled over the top of Macy’s head. “Sarah, what time did you come over last night?”

“Eight.”

“Did you see or hear anything suspicious since you’ve been here?”

“No. Who’s asking?”

“Nothing to worry about. Go back to bed.” A door slammed and Tyler shrugged. “She’s not at her best first thing in the morning.”

Aiden put down his coffee cup. “We should get going. It looks like you have your hands full here.”

Macy looked Tyler full in the face for the first time. “I hope you were able to give the guys in your platoon some comfort.”

“I did what I could. God’s hands now.”

16

Aiden stepped into the office and closed the door behind him. It was coming up to nine in the morning and neither he nor Macy had slept at all. He disappeared behind the closet door and came out wearing a clean shirt. He buttoned it up while standing in front of her. He wouldn’t look her in the eye.

“I have to head over to Waldo Canyon. One of the fire crews we’ve had helping us with the search for Lindsay Moore found a body.”

Macy kept her own eyes on her laptop. “Is this the same place you found the burnt-out SUV a couple days ago?”

“Not exactly, but pretty close.”

She checked the time. “I’ve got a call coming in from a few guys in John Dalton’s platoon. When I’m finished I’ll head over.”

“I take it you’re assuming it’s Lindsay.”

“Is anyone else missing who drives an SUV?”

“You never know. It could be a hiker or maybe someone from a fire crew.”

“We both know that’s not going to be the case.”

“I’ll call you later and let you know the best place to meet.”

*   *   *

Liquefied air shimmered above Route 93 and in the distance the black river of road melted into the horizon. To the west, ridgelines burned under the midday sun and wisps of gray smoke bled into the sky. The fire had come right up onto the hard shoulder, leaving finger-shaped scorch marks along the edge of the pavement. Barren trees and blackened undergrowth went on for miles. Macy spotted a mailbox, a driveway, and the remains of a swing set. A home that once stood a quarter mile off the road was burned down to the foundations. Through the charred tree trunks, Macy could make out the dark hearth of a chimney stack.

She picked up the phone and called her mother for the second time in an hour.

“Mom, I’m sorry about having to cut you off earlier. Thanks again for coming up to see me yesterday.”

“It was no trouble.”

“Anyway, it was a nice surprise. I really appreciated it. And thank you for listening.”

“Macy, I’ve been up half the night thinking about it. This thing with Ray isn’t good for you. You have to end it.”

Macy popped a couple of aspirin in her mouth and swallowed them down with the last of her Diet Coke.

“He showed up at my motel last night unannounced.”

“Please say that you told him to go to hell.”

“I tried.”

“You need to try harder.”

“I know.”

“Will you be able to come home this weekend?”

“It doesn’t look like it. We’ve found another body.”

“I thought you said Wilmington Creek was a safe place.”

“They’re having a bad week.”

“You’re being careful?”

“Always. How’s Luke?”

Even though she couldn’t see her mother, Macy pictured Ellen moving about the nursery they’d set up in the little room that adjoined Macy’s. More than likely, Luke was being carried around. He was a child whose feet rarely touched the ground.

“He’s perfect.”

“You’re not getting overtired?”

“Heavens, no. Anyway, the girls are coming over this weekend. I’ll have plenty of help.”

“Poker night?”

“Isn’t that why God invented Saturday evenings?”

“Watch out for Abby. She cleaned me out last week.”

“That’s because Abby cheats.”

Macy leaned forward and squinted. In the distance a crucifix hovered above the blackened landscape. It wasn’t until she was closer that she understood what she was seeing. The lower half of a utility pole had burned away, leaving the top half dangling from the electrical cables lacing the insulators mounted on the cross arms.

Macy pulled into the picnic area and parked in front of a burnt-out block that had once been a visitors’ center. “Mom, something’s come up. I’ll call you back later.”

Outside it was one hundred degrees and dead quiet save for the ticking of the motor. The traffic that normally crowded Route 93 had been redirected and the usual high-pitched chorus of cicadas was silent. Unable to take her eyes off the crucifix, she almost stumbled making her way down to what was left of a picnic area. The last time she’d visited the visitors’ center, flies had swarmed with every footfall and the smell of decaying bodies had filled the air. After suffocating in the back of an eighteen-wheeler, the bodies of four Eastern European girls had been dumped behind the toilet block. She would never forget the smell. It was her first big case and Ray had been the lead investigator. He had taken Macy under his wing, and her life was never the same again.

Her thin cotton shirt offered no protection from the sun. It felt like she’d light up like touch paper if she stood outside a minute longer. By the time she got back to her car she was dizzy. She sat behind the steering wheel, nursing another Diet Coke she fished out of her ice chest. She rolled the sweating can back and forth across her forehead while the air conditioner hummed on high.

The turnoff for Waldo Canyon was only a few miles farther on. Aiden’s patrol car sat off to the side. He tipped his hat back and signaled Macy to follow him. Macy was relieved she was on her own. Sharing a ride would have forced them to talk, and Macy wasn’t in the mood. She stared off into the scarred landscape and tried to focus. Ray had called to say he was bringing the medical examiner’s report from John Dalton’s shooting up to Wilmington Creek so they could discuss the findings in person. He wouldn’t tell her over the phone what was going on.
It’s gotten very complicated. I think you have to hear this in person.

Progress was slow. They had to pull over onto the soft shoulder several times to let trucks carrying fire crews trundle past. She watched their weary heads bob up and down with the movement of the open-backed truck. Their faces were too covered with soot to make out their features. When she was in college, Macy had spent a couple summers working on fire crews. Some of the men who worked alongside her had scared her more than the fires they were fighting. She always made sure she was never alone with them. She’d been studying criminal psychology. Back then everyone she met was a potential case study.

The view opened up as they rounded a wide bend. On the higher slopes, blackened tree stumps pierced the landscape like railroad spikes. They turned off the paved road and rattled along a gravel track for a mile before pulling up next to a burnt-out SUV.

Macy didn’t waste time with small talk. “Is this Lindsay’s SUV?”

“We got a vehicle identification number off it. It’s a match. She was last spotted at the diner in Walleye on Tuesday at lunchtime. According to her server, she ate alone.”

“Was the wildfire active in this area Tuesday afternoon?”

He wiped his forehead with his sleeve and replaced his hat. “It was moving fast. She really had no business coming up here.”

“She could have been meeting someone.”

“Possible, but I’m not sure how we would find that out.”

All that was left of the SUV was a rib cage of singed metal and shattered glass. Dark puddles of rubber lay beneath the wheel rims. Inside the cab, fragments of charred seat covers stuck to the metal frames. The foam padding had liquefied and pooled on the floor.

“Any sign of a cell phone or laptop?”

“They searched the area and came up with nothing. Had she been in touch recently?”

“Apparently, not since last week.”

“You’d have thought your boss would have kept a closer eye on her.”

“I have to admit it’s not his usual style.”

“I don’t work for him, so I wouldn’t know.”

“Aiden, you may not realize it yet, but one way or another, we all work for Ray.” She inspected the area around the truck. While some of the trees were burned from root to tip, others were untouched. She even spotted wildflowers growing within a few feet of the SUV’s back bumper, and just fifty yards farther on, the trees opened up to a green meadow full of waist-high lupines and yellow arrowleaf. What she was seeing didn’t make any sense. “When did the Waldo Canyon fire start?”

“A pilot called it in last Wednesday. The origin was about five miles west, near Prospect Lake.”

“Do you see how the area around the truck isn’t burned as consistently as the wooded area farther up the slope?”

Aiden turned and spit. “Farther up there’s nothing left but blackened stumps.”

Macy tried to focus, but the heat was knocking her senseless. “The way the fire traveled through the area around the SUV is confused. Some trees are untouched and others are burnt to the ground. There are wildflowers growing within a few feet of the back bumper, and yet at the other side of the vehicle everything is gone. If the wildfire traveled through here you’d expect to see damage that was far more uniform. Everything would be burned to a crisp. What I’m seeing here is patterning you’d normally associate with the origin of a fire before it’s so hot it’s whipping up its own momentum.”

“Like I said, the fire didn’t pass through here until Tuesday.”

“I think the SUV and surrounding area were torched using an accelerant.” She pointed to some undergrowth. “That burn pattern is almost perfectly straight. It’s as if someone walked along pouring out an accelerant before lighting it.”

“I suppose they could have siphoned off gas from the tank.”

“I want forensics to have another look.” She paused. “Are they still up in the ravine?”

“Yep, they’re none too happy. They’re cooking in their protective gear. Lindsay’s body was airlifted out about an hour ago. It should already be at the medical examiner’s office.”

Macy flipped through her notebook. “She interviewed you. What did you think? Is it possible she could have stumbled onto something that put her in danger?”

“I got the impression she was going out of her way to be controversial, which makes sense now that I know why she was really here. She certainly wasn’t afraid to mix it up with the locals. We met over drinks, but all she ordered was water. She struck me as someone who took life a little too seriously.”

Macy poked her head through the shattered truck window. It was impossible to tell whether or not Lindsay had been taken by force. “Was she seeing anybody up here?”

“Not that I know of. Why?”

Macy brushed her hair off her face. A thin film of grit stuck to her skin. “No particular reason. She’s always been a bit of an enigma. She never socialized with anyone from the office. I have to admit that it made me curious.”

“Well, she got under people’s skin, that’s for sure. There wasn’t anything nice about her approach.”

“Nice or not. Nobody deserves to die like that.” Macy looked up the slope and frowned. “I suppose we can’t go any farther by car.”

Aiden grabbed his rucksack. “No, it’s all on foot from here. We’ll have to be careful. There’s still a lot left to burn.” He glanced at the pack she was carrying. “You got water?”

“I got water.”

Aiden took out a map and spread it across the hood of his vehicle. Someone had penciled in the burn areas of the Waldo Canyon fire. “We’re here,” he said before tracing a finger along the long line of a stream backtracking from where it spilled into the Flathead River. He stopped his finger on the spot they’d found Lindsay.

“Why would she have run toward a fire when most people want to go the opposite direction?”