Dangerous Melody (15 page)

“Closing the gap,” Luca said. “Can you push faster?”

Stephanie tightened her grip on the wheel and stepped harder on the gas. Gravel pinged against the undercarriage as they traversed a hill that looked down onto another seemingly endless plateau of corrugated ground, cut through by cracks filled with dry
grass and creosote bushes. There was no sign of any human habitation as they took the last turn before entering the flatlands. Stephanie rounded the corner and slammed on the brakes, but not quickly enough to avoid the improvised spike stick, a narrow strip of wood bristling with nails. One front tire rolled over the stick with a loud pop that sounded like gunfire.

The car lurched slightly,
the rear wheels skidding to one side.

Tate was out immediately. “Front tire is blown. Do we have a spare?”

“One,” she said with a groan.

He looked around. A rock-strewn slope behind them, and in front, miles of sunbaked nothing. Behind, he heard the relentless approach of the oncoming truck. They had only a few minutes, not enough time to change the flat.

He felt the wild surge
of reckless energy from days gone by.

“Okay,” he said. “Here’s what we’re going to do.”

SIXTEEN

S
tephanie’s heart thundered in her chest as she crouched behind a rock, looking down on the road below them. Luca sat behind the wheel in their car. She didn’t like it. He was vulnerable, and though he was one of the toughest people she knew, he was injured. If the person in the truck was Ricardo, he could walk up and fire a gun into the driver’s side.

Her mouth went
dry, and she tightened her grip on the soccer-ball-size rock she’d eased to the edge of the slope, praying Tate’s desperate plan would work. Her eyes watered as she peered across the bleached landscape, trying to spot where he’d gone. In spite of his leg and the head injury, he had quickly disappeared into the rock maze after he’d helped her shimmy the rock into place and tuck herself out of sight.

The truck was close now. She could see the glint of sun on metal as it approached the final curve. She leaned forward slightly, hands pressing the rock. The truck pulled to a stop.

Her fingers were slick with sweat. She blinked against the dazzle of the sun. Was it a man behind the wheel? A woman? She could not tell. Leaning forward, she braced to shove the rock down the slope if the
driver turned out to be Ricardo. It would provide a momentary distraction only. She prayed a moment would be enough for Tate to gain control of the situation.

The door of the truck opened and a figure got out, hair covered by a baseball cap, untucked plaid shirt over worn jeans. Then she saw Tate edging out of hiding, just behind the driver.

Pulse pounding, she leaned forward. The sandy
soil underneath the rock gave way, and the weight of stone carried it to the road below. Both Tate and the stranger looked up at exactly the same moment.

Stephanie’s breath caught. “Look out!” she shouted.

Tate grabbed the arm of the driver and yanked. The rock sailed by, across the path and down into the ravine below.

Stephanie scrambled down from her hiding place as Luca shot
from the car.

“It’s Officer Sartori,” she called, too late.

Tate helped up Sartori from the ground. “Sorry,” he said. “We thought you were somebody else.”

Sartori glared at the three of them, brushing the dirt from her clothes. “You were expecting Ricardo Williams, maybe?”

Stephanie sighed. True to her word, Sartori had been researching the case in spite of the sheriff’s order.
“We weren’t sure.”

“Uh-huh.” Sartori looked over their rental car. “Somebody left a little booby trap for you? Could be miners. There are still a few old-timers around, looking for that big gold strike.”

Stephanie shrugged. “Are you following us?”

“Maybe. It’s my day off. Would have intercepted you sooner, but I caught the tail end of a sandstorm.” She eyed Tate’s bandaged head.
“You, too?”

“Yes.” Stephanie pushed the thought of the storm firmly away. “But we’re okay.”

“Why are you headed out here? Lunkville’s this way, but it’s nothing but a ghost town.”

Stephanie knew there was no use trying to hide information from Sartori any longer. She sucked in a deep, shuddering breath. “We got a lead that a man named Eugene is in possession of the violin and he’s
come this way.”

“Eugene? Guy with a wild beard?”

“Yeah.” Luca leaned on his good ankle. “Know him?”

“Not well. Moved here about five years ago, I think. Took up at the stone house, squatting really, since it belongs to some city guy who hasn’t lived here in twenty years. Eugene’s got mental problems, but he’s pretty harmless. We don’t hassle him because he doesn’t make trouble.
Just wants to be left alone.” She raised an eyebrow. “So he’s got Bittman’s violin?”

“We’re not sure.” Tate pointed to the flat tire. “Could be he left us this present. I’ve got to change it.”

Sartori shrugged. “I’ll give you a hand, but you’re going to have to follow me back to town, I’m afraid.”

Stephanie shook her head. “No, we can’t do that. We’ve got to check out Lunkville
and see if Eugene is there.”

“Nope,” Sartori said. “I don’t think so.”

Stephanie felt a prickle of annoyance, but she kept a level tone. “We’ve been through a lot already, and we’re not giving up now. We haven’t broken any laws, and you’re not technically supposed to be following us anyway.”

Sartori held up a hand. “Different issue. The reason I drove up here was to give you a message.
Rocky called me from the hotel and said he couldn’t get you on the phone, but he’d heard you talk about where you were headed.”

Tate cocked his head. “What message?”

“From the hospital,” Sartori said.

Stephanie felt as if the ground shifted under her feet. The word
hospital
unlocked the terror inside her that seemed to whiz around her head and heart, creating a buzz so loud she
could hardly hear herself ask the question. “What is the message?”

Luca stepped up behind her and put a firm hand on her shoulder. Tate looked at Stephanie with a mixture of worry and fear written on his own face. Frozen in a terrified tableau, they waited for the words to come.

Sartori’s face softened. “I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but your brother Victor has developed a
blood infection.”

“How bad?” Stephanie whispered.

Sartori shifted uncomfortably. “Seems as though he’s spiked a fever they haven’t been able to control.” She cleared her throat. “They suggested the next of kin should be present.”

Next of kin.
Her head spun, and her legs began to shake until Luca guided her to the car so she could lean on the back bumper. The rest of the conversation
seemed to come from a distance.

“There was a follow-up message from a Brooke Ramsey.” Sartori cleared her throat. “She said she contacted the pastor of your family church.”

Luca peppered her with a list of questions ranging from what time the call had come in to airport information. Sartori fielded the questions patiently. “I’ll help change that tire and give you all a moment.” She busied
herself working with Tate to hold the lug nuts when he loosened them.

Luca embraced Stephanie, but she felt no comfort from it. Victor was not going to make it. They could not save him. Just like they were unlikely to save her father. She felt sickened and numb.

“...the next flight,” Luca was saying.

“I’ll go with you to the airport,” Tate answered. “Then I’ll come back and continue
the search.”

Tate and Sartori labored together to replace the ruined front tire with the spare. They worked in silence, the only sound coming from the clank of the lug wrench and the murmur of Luca on Sartori’s satellite phone as he inquired about flight information.

She sat on a rock, the heat seeping into her, yet not warming the cold place deep inside.

He’s won. He’s killed Victor,
and he’ll kill Dad, too.

From the moment she’d walked away from Joshua Bittman, she’d feared something like this would happen. He was interested only in acquiring everything he desired, and the means to that end were unimportant. He would get his violin, without their help if it came to that. With Victor and her father gone, she knew he would not stop pursuing her, stalking her, watching
her. She flicked a glance at Luca and Tate. If anyone else got in his way, he would take care of them, as well.

She felt the bitter taste of defeat. Nothing she’d done since the moment she’d learned of Victor’s accident had made the slightest difference. After a while she felt Luca’s hand on her shoulder again. “There’s a flight out in three hours. We can just make it.”

She stood up,
looking over the vast sprawling vista below. No matter where she went, how deeply she buried herself, the past was still there. Bittman was still there, as sure as the sunset.

“Let’s go, Steph.”

She squeezed her eyes closed.
Lord, I got myself into a mess, and only You can help me get out of it.
Heal my brother and give me the strength I need.
Something rose inside her, not courage exactly,
but a feeling she’d forgotten in the recent crush of events—the feeling that she wasn’t alone, and God would walk with her through the desert like He’d always done. “No,” Stephanie heard herself say.

Both men stared at her.

She stood up. “Luca, you go back. Be there for Victor and Brooke. I’m staying here, and I’m going to get that violin. It’s the only chance left for Dad.”

Luca
grabbed her fingers and squeezed until she looked at him. “We’ll keep looking for Dad. Tuney and me. You need to come with us, for Victor.” He shot a glance at Tate. “We’ll help you as much as we can from back there. I can ask some buddies of mine to come and search for Maria.”

Tate didn’t answer.

“I’m going to help Victor my way, Luca. It’s my fault he’s in that hospital. It’s my fault
Dad’s with Bittman. I can’t help either of them in San Francisco. The only thing I can do is stay here.”

“No,” Luca said.

She looked him full in the face. “I’m staying.”

He opened his mouth, anger and resignation warring there. “You need to be with Victor, in case...” His voice broke, and at that moment her heart did also.

“I’ll be praying every moment,” she whispered to him,
clutching his hands.

Luca cleared his throat. “It’s not safe to leave you here alone.”

“I’m not alone. Tate will stay here with me.”

Tate remained silent, but gave a slight nod.

Luca looked at her again and gave her a fierce hug.

Fighting tears, she hugged him back, the pain in her heart almost too much to bear.

* * *

Tate could not think of a single thing to
say to help the situation. He watched Luca kiss his sister once more as she got into the car, head bowed, lips moving. It was probably the hardest decision she’d ever had to make, to stay behind when her brother was likely to die. If there was something he could do, anything to ease the anguish on her face, he would do it in a heartbeat. The only thing left was to find the violin, find his sister
and save her father’s life.

Luca drew him aside as Sartori got into her truck and started the engine. His eyes were shadowed with fatigue and pain. “So it’s on you now,” he said, eyes glittering. “I’m sorry to leave things like this. It’s dangerous and...”

“And you don’t trust me,” Tate said flatly.

Luca exhaled. “I guess I don’t have a choice.” He looked away for a moment. “You’ve
shown me someone different through this whole treasure hunt, though, a Tate I didn’t know before.”

Tate felt a sudden thickening in his throat. He was different; at least he desperately wanted to think so. He settled on a nod.

“But you’re not good for Stephanie. You tossed her aside and messed her up so badly that she went to work for this psycho.”

The truth cut into him. Nothing
had really changed at all because in Luca’s mind and Stephanie’s, he would always be locked in the past, bound so tightly to his sin that he could never be free.

“We’ll get the violin,” he said.

Luca gave Tate an appraising look. “I know you care about her enough to keep her safe, so I’m going to have to rely on you to do so, but that’s it.” Luca stared at him. “She’s better off without
you, and she knows it. I don’t want to be cruel, but I’ve got to watch out for her, like you would for Maria.”

He nodded. She was better off without him, probably always had been. “I’ll take care of her.”

Luca offered a hand. His grip was crushing. “I will hold you to that.” They locked eyes until Luca let go, hobbling to the truck without a backward glance. Tate got into the car. Stephanie
did not protest when he took the wheel. Sartori walked up and handed them a handheld radio and a folded paper through the driver’s side window.

“It’s a satellite radio. It will work even if your phone doesn’t. I think the paper is a bill or something from the hotel. Rocky was afraid you were going to skip out, I think. Probably figured you for criminals, due to my frequent visits.” She checked
her watch. “I’ll be back up here after I drop off your brother and take care of a few things.”

“To arrest us for something? Trespassing in Lunkville, maybe?” Tate asked.

Sartori grinned unexpectedly. “Maybe. Or maybe I’ll just tag along for the treasure hunt. You all are sort of growing on me.”

Stephanie gave her a wan smile. “It’s dangerous. People who hang around me—” she swallowed
hard “—have a tendency to get hurt.”

“Then I’ll bring Bear,” she said. “Bad guys have a tendency to get hurt around him, too.” Sartori returned to the truck and backed down the trail. Stephanie waved, fingers trembling, face pale, until they were out of sight.

Tate could not stand her stricken look. He took her hand, pressing some warmth back into the cold fingers. “We’ll find the violin.
I promise.”

She bit her lip and forced a deep breath. “What did Luca say to you back there?”

Tate shook his head. “Nothing I didn’t already know,” he answered, gunning the engine to life.

* * *

They followed the road down, scouting ahead for any more spike sticks, but there were none. Arriving at the bottom, they continued on for what seemed like an eternity. The late afternoon
was warm, the air that rushed in through the open windows sultry and pine scented. Stephanie spotted the turnoff toward Lunkville.

“There. It’s overgrown, but that’s got to be it.”

There was no way to tell on the rocky entrance to the trail if any other vehicles had passed there recently. He took it slow, easing over the uneven ground. The last thing they needed was another flat, especially
with no spares left. Under the sparse canopy of a Joshua tree were the ruins of a log cabin, roof slanted crookedly and windows long gone.

He pulled the car to a stop and got out, intending to check it out before Stephanie joined him. But true to form, she made it to his side before he did so. The interior was dark and smelled of rotted wood as they peered through the window gap.

“Empty?”
she breathed in his ear, tingling the skin along his neck.

“Looks that way.” They entered, picking their way carefully to avoid the places where floor planks had caved in, revealing dark recesses underneath. He inhaled, catching the tang of something unexpected.