Cold Case at Cobra Creek (8 page)

“Maybe he and Carol Sue were lying low until he made the big score.” And his fancy suits and car were a show to make the ranchers believe he was big, important. That he could save them financially.

It was dark inside.

“No one is here,” Sage said.

Dugan tried the door, but it was locked. He removed a small tool from his pocket and picked the lock. The door screeched open, revealing a deserted living area with stained carpet and faded gray walls.

“Stay behind me,” Dugan said as he inched inside. He glanced left at the kitchen, then spotted a narrow hallway and paused to listen for sounds that someone was inside. Something skittered across the floor, and Sage clutched his arm. “It sounds like rats.”

Dugan nodded, senses alert as he crept closer. There were two bedrooms, both empty. He stepped inside the first one, crossed the room and checked the closet. Nothing.

He and Sage moved to the next one, but when he opened the door, a bird flew across the room, banged into the window and then flew back.

“It’s trapped,” Sage said.

Dugan closed the distance to the window and opened it, giving the bird a way to escape.

“It looks like whoever lived here has been gone awhile.”

Judging from the bird droppings and the musty odor, he agreed. “After I search the apartment, I want to speak to the landlord and find out if they left a forwarding address.”

“I saw an office when we first drove in.”

Dugan checked the closets, but they were empty. Then he led the way back to the living area. He stepped into the kitchen and searched the drawers and cabinets. “Nothing. And no sign of where she went.”

They walked outside and Dugan locked the door. Then they drove to the rental office. Dugan carried a photo of Lewis inside, and a receptionist with big hair and turquoise glasses greeted them. “You folks looking for an apartment?”

If he was, he sure as hell wouldn’t spend money at this dump. “No, just some information. Is the landlord here?”

She shook her head. “It’s his day off.”

Dugan checked her name tag—Rayanne—and faked a smile. “Then maybe you can help us, Rayanne.”

She batted blue-shadowed eyes at him. “I’ll sure try.”

“How long have you worked here?”

She laughed, a flirty sound. “Feels like half my life.”

He laid the picture of Ron Lewis on the desk. “Do you recognize this man? He lived in 10G.”

She adjusted her glasses and studied the picture. “Well, that looks sort of like Mike Martin. Except he had sandy brown hair and a mustache.”

Dugan glanced at Sage, then laid the phony license with Martin’s picture on it. “This was him?”

“Yeah, that was Mike.” She looked up at him with questioning eyes. “He was a real charmer, although that girlfriend of his was a piece of work.”

“How so?” Dugan asked.

“She always ragged on him about this place. Didn’t think it was good enough for her.”

“Did you know them very well?”

“Naw, he was kind of a flirt. Kept telling me he was gonna make it big one day and then he’d show Carol Sue he was important. That she was wrong about him.” She fiddled with her glasses again. “But they’ve been gone from here a long time. What’s this about?”

“Did you know Mike was arrested?” Dugan asked.

Rayanne averted her gaze, a guilty look. “Why are you asking about that?”

“Because he tried to con the people in my town, and he conned me,” Sage said. “He also ran off with my little boy and then he was murdered. I’m looking for my son now.”

Rayanne’s expression went flat. “Well, damn.”

“What?” Dugan asked.

“I did hear he was arrested, but I didn’t know what it was all about.”

“Carol Sue bailed him out of jail after his arrest,” Dugan said.

“Yeah,” Rayanne muttered. “But the next day, both of them packed up and ran. Skipped out on the rent and left the place in a mess. Mr. Hinley had to hire someone to haul out all their junk.”

“What did he do with it?” Dugan asked.

“Took it to that landfill,” Rayanne said. “Wasn’t anything worth keeping or selling.”

Another dead end. “Did Mike ever mention anything about a family? His parents or a sibling?”

Rayanne shook her head.

“How about a friend he might have gone to when he needed a place to stay or hide out?”

Rayanne looked sheepish. “Well...”

“Give us a name,” Dugan said.

“He had another woman on the side. Carol Sue didn’t know about her, but she lived in 2D. Beverly Vance. She’s a hairstylist down at Big Beautiful Hair.”

“Does she still live in the complex?” Sage asked.

Rayanne nodded. “But I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell her that I sent you.”

“Why not? Don’t you two get along?”

Rayanne frowned. “Tarnation, that woman was as jealous as they come. She hated Carol Sue and told me to stay out of her way. Declared she was going to have Mike to herself, one way or the other.”

Dugan grimaced. So, he could add Beverly Vance to the growing suspect list.

In fact, any one of the women Lewis had conned and scorned could have killed him.

* * *

S
AGE SILENTLY PRAYED
that Beverly Vance knew something about her son as they walked up to the woman’s apartment and knocked. “If Beverly killed Ron...Mike...maybe she took Benji,” Sage said.

“That’s possible. But Rayanne didn’t mention anything about a child living with her.”

Sage’s mind raced. “Maybe she dropped him at a church or hospital, somewhere where he’d be safe.”

“That’s possible,” Dugan said. “Although when the story aired about Benji being taken by Lewis, if he had been dropped off, someone would have probably notified the authorities.”

“Maybe,” Sage said. “But maybe not. Especially if they took Benji to another state. And Gandt didn’t issue an Amber alert.”

Dugan’s dark look made Sage’s stomach knot.

“Oh, God...what if whoever took him carried him to Mexico?” Then she might never know what happened to him or get him back.

“We can’t jump to conclusions,” Dugan said. “Let’s follow the pieces of the puzzle and see where they lead us.”

Sage just hoped they didn’t lead to Mexico. Finding Benji in the United States would be difficult enough, but crossing into another country where the legal system was less than satisfactory would complicate matters more.

Dugan knocked again, but no answer, so they walked back to his SUV and drove to the hair salon where Beverly worked.

Big Beautiful Hair was housed in a trailer on the edge of the small town, across from a convenience store called Gas & Go and a liquor store called Last Stop. Several cars were parked out front, a sign painted in neon pink-and-green advertising the big hair Texas women were famous for.

Sage hurried up the steps to the trailer, anxious to speak to Beverly. When she entered, the whir of hair dryers and blow-dryers filled the air, the scent of perm solution and hair dye nearly overwhelming.

There were three workstations, with patrons in various stages of coloring, cutting, highlighting and dying scattered through the long, narrow room. A half dozen bracelets jangled on the arm of the buxom brunette who approached her.

“Can I help you, miss?” She started to examine Sage’s unruly hair, but Sage took a step back.

“I need to see Beverly.”

The woman shrugged, then turned and called for Beverly. The platinum blonde at the second station glanced over, her sparkling eye shadow glittering beneath the lights. “Yeah?”

Sage crossed the distance to her, while Dugan hung back. On the ride over, they’d decided Beverly might open up to her before she would to someone investigating the man Beverly apparently loved. “Can we talk for a minute, Beverly?” Sage said in a low voice.

“You don’t want a cut and color today?”

“No, I need to ask you some questions about Mike Martin.”

Beverly dropped the curling iron she was using and hurried over to Sage. “Mike, good Lord... Now, there’s a blast from the past.”

“When was the last time you saw him?” Sage asked.

Beverly chewed her bottom lip for a moment before she answered, “About four and a half years ago.”

“How was he?” Sage asked.

Beverly tapped one of her three-inch high heels. “Agitated.”

“Did he tell you that he’d been arrested?”

Beverly coaxed Sage to the back by the hair dryers. “Yes, but that was a mistake. He said he was going to get it all worked out and then he’d come back for me.”

Sage forced a calm to her voice when she wanted to scream at the woman that she’d been a fool to believe anything Mike Martin had said.

Just as
she’d
been a fool to believe Ron Lewis.

“So you knew he was leaving town?”

Beverly nodded. “He said he was due to make a small fortune and then the two of us would get married and buy a house. Maybe even a ranch of our own.”

Disgust filled Sage. Ron certainly could be convincing. “Did he say where he was going to make this fortune?”

Beverly leaned in close. “Said he was into a real estate deal with this developer and he was buying up property left and right. He’d already picked out some land for us.” She batted her eyes. “I always dreamed about having a big place in the country. Waking up to the sun.”

Clearly Beverly had been snowed by Ron’s charm. “Then what happened?”

An odd look glimmered in Beverly’s eyes. “Then he just disappeared. I tried calling the phone number I had for him but got a recording, saying it was disconnected. I haven’t heard from him since.”

“What did you think happened to him?” Sage asked.

Tears moistened Beverly’s big blue eyes. “I don’t know, but I’ve been scared to death that something bad happened. That his old girlfriend Carol Sue found out our plans and did something crazy.”

“What do you mean, crazy?”

Beverly’s voice choked. “I mean, like kill him. She was always jealous of me.”

“Did Carol Sue own a gun?”

Beverly nodded. “A .38. She was good at shooting, too. Mike said her daddy took her to the shooting range every week when she was a kid. That she won the skeet-shooting contest at the county fair three years in a row.”

Sage dug her nails into the palms of her hands. They had to find Carol Sue. If she’d shot Lewis, maybe she knew where Benji was.

* * *

D
UGAN SAW THE FRUSTRATION
on Sage’s face as they left Big Beautiful Hair and drove toward Cobra Creek. Beverly had been completely in love with Mike Martin, aka Ron Lewis.

Dammit, he needed the man’s real name. Learning the truth about his upbringing might explain what had shaped him into a con artist. A man who not only swindled people out of their money, but charmed women into believing and trusting him when he told them nothing but lies.

Sage lapsed into silence until they neared the outskirts of Cobra Creek.

“I almost feel sorry for Beverly,” Sage said. “She really thought he was coming back to her.”

Dugan winced. “He fooled her like he did everyone else.”

“Like he did me.” Sage’s tone reeked of self-disgust. “The minute I realized he took Benji with him, without asking me, I was done with the man. He knew how protective I was of my son. Even if he had simply gone shopping, like I thought at first, I would have been furious.” Her voice gained momentum. “You just don’t do that to a mother.”

Dugan agreed.

“If Beverly was right about Carol Sue, and she shot Ron, what did she do with Benji?”

“I’m going to call Jaxon and ask him to search hospital and church records nationwide for any child who might have been abandoned or dropped off around that time.”

“That should have been done two years ago.”

“I agree,” Dugan said, his opinion of the sheriff growing lower by the minute. Gandt should have explored every avenue to find Benji.

“But if Carol Sue dropped him off, surely Benji would have told someone his name.”

A dozen different scenarios ran through Dugan’s mind. Not if he was injured, confused, or traumatized. Or if she’d threatened him.

But he tempered his response so as not to panic Sage. “If Carol Sue did leave him, she might have given false information, signed him in using a different name.”

“You’re right,” Sage said. “The woman could have claimed he was her child, given a fake name and said she was coming back for him.”

Dugan nodded. “I’ll call Jaxon now.”

His phone buzzed just as he reached for it, but suddenly a car raced up behind them and a gunshot blasted the air, shattering the back window.

Sage screamed, and he swerved and pushed her head down, then checked his rearview mirror as the car sped up and slammed into their side.

Chapter Eight

Sage screamed as a bullet pinged off the back of the SUV. Dugan swerved sideways and sped up, but the car behind them roared up on their tail.

“Stay down!” Dugan shouted.

Sage ducked, clutching the seat edge as Dugan veered to the right on a side road. The SUV bounced over ruts in the asphalt, swaying as he accelerated. Suddenly he spun the car around in the opposite direction, tires squealing as he raced back onto the main road.

“What’s happening?” Sage cried.

“I’m chasing the bastard now.”

Sage lifted her head and spotted a black sedan peeling off and getting farther and farther way. “Who is it?”

“I didn’t see his face.” He pressed the gas to the floor and tried to catch the car, but they rounded a curve and the driver began to weave.

Dugan closed the distance, pulled his gun and shot at the sedan’s tires. The car screeched to the right, skidded and spun, then flipped over and rolled. Metal scrunched and glass shattered as it skated into a boulder.

A second later, the car burst into flames.

Dugan yanked the wheel to the left to avoid crashing into it, then swung the SUV to the side of the road and threw it into Park.

Then he jumped out and ran toward the burning vehicle. Déjà vu struck Sage, images of flames shooting from Ron’s car two years ago pummeling her.

That night she’d been terrified Benji had been inside the car.

Today...the driver had shot at them. Tried to kill them.