Dark Justice (25 page)

Ben had tried to avoid this, tried to get at the file in a way that wouldn’t throw any suspicion on Peggy. “Well, it’s awfully suspicious that the man has taken such an interest in my investigator, isn’t it? But bottom line, I don’t know if it does or it doesn’t. Either way, I want the file.”

“If it doesn’t relate, I have no obligation to produce it to you.”

“My investigator has been assaulted—”

“And I’m sure Sheriff Allen is hard at work on the case. You, on the other hand, are a private citizen. You don’t have any business butting into the investigation and you don’t have any claim to the files.”

“And if it does relate to the murder?”

“
If
isn’t good enough.”

Ben drew in his breath. “I have reason to believe Gardiner was using Magic Valley’s hot new designer drug—Venom, right? If so, he probably had contact with Vincenzo.”

“And you think that creates a motive for murder?”

“It’s a better motive than you have for the man you’re holding behind bars. I can see a major drug dealer committing murder before some myopic conservationist. And I think the jury might also.”

“You’re really stretching, Kincaid. I suppose you’re just desperate.”

“Maybe Gardiner and Vincenzo had a falling-out. Maybe Gardiner threatened to turn him in.”

“You’re speculating.”

“Of course I’m speculating. And do you know why I have to speculate? Because you won’t give me the file!”

She waved her hand dismissively. “You’re assuming you’ll find something wonderful in a file you’ve never seen.”

“What is it with you?” Ben suddenly realized he was shouting. “Do you think this is all just a game? Do you think these cases are just convenient stepping-stones for career advancement? We’re talking about people’s lives!”

“This is all irrelevant anyway. I don’t have any files.”

“You’re lying.”

“How do you know?”

Ben bit his tongue. “Sheriff Allen said—”

“Sheriff Allen saw an alert come over the wire. So did I. So what? It’s hardly the same as having a file.”

Ben leaned across her desk. “I think you’re lying, Granny. And when I prove it, you’re going to be out of a job.”

“Where do you get off, Kincaid?” Granny was shouting now, too. “You come off so goddamn high and mighty—when the truth is, you’re just trying to get a murderer off the hook.”

“Zak didn’t—”

“Are you sure?”

Ben hesitated.

“Let’s imagine for a moment that you’re wrong, although I’m sure that’s hard for you to imagine. Let’s suppose for once that I’m right, and your client really did murder Dwayne Gardiner. That kind of changes everything, doesn’t it? Because if that’s true, then this murder is all
your
fault, you pompous twit.”

“
My
fault?”

“You’re the clown who got Zakin off the hook the first time he was up for murder. If you hadn’t been so clever, he’d be serving time right now. And Dwayne Gardiner would still be alive. Got that, Kincaid? That’s the bottom line. Gardiner would still be alive—if it weren’t for you.”

Ben fell silent.

Granny settled back into her chair. “I don’t know how you sleep at night.” She glanced up, contempt smeared all over her face. “You can go now. And close the door behind you.”

T
ESS SAT IN THE BACKSEAT
of the Jeep, behind Rick and Maureen, as they discussed their plans. As far as she could determine, she was entirely within their confidence.

“Green Rage hasn’t been at full strength since we lost Zak,” Rick said, “and we’ve been in even worse shape since we lost Al.”

“Agreed,” Maureen said. “Each of us needs to focus on a particular goal and start driving toward it.”

“Right.” Tess knew Rick’s jaw still hurt when he talked, but he wasn’t letting it show. “Tess, have you heard anything more from your … source?”

Tess swallowed. This was the part she hated most—maintaining the lie that had gotten her into their good graces in the first place. But she had no choice. She knew if they ceased believing she had the inside track to the Cabal, they would lose interest in her quickly.

“Of course, I don’t see John as often as I once did. Since I’ve been spending time with you.”

“Maybe we need to curb that,” Rick said. “The most important thing is that you maintain your contact with the Cabal. That information could be life or death for us.”

Tess nodded. “I know. I’ll make an extra effort to touch base with him. Don’t worry, he’ll come around.” She laughed. “He can’t resist me.”

Maureen smiled. “Lucky for us.”

They fell silent. Rick continued driving down the dark lonely country road.

“I’m glad Al is doing better,” Tess said, breaking the silence. “I was really worried.”

“We all were,” Maureen said. “Till he came to. Sometimes when people have been unconscious for a long time, even when they come around …” She didn’t finish the sentence. “But he seemed just like always. Same of Al. Docs say he’ll be out of the hospital in another day or two.”

“Damn those bastards!” Rick said suddenly, pounding the steering wheel. “I can’t believe we’re letting them get away with this. We should press charges.”

“If we do, they do,” Maureen reminded him. “The loggers will get fined, maybe probation for assault. Al will go to prison. It isn’t a good trade. The best thing we can do is forget this happened and move on. Don’t you agree, Tess?”

Tess didn’t respond. She was lost in thought. Something they’d said—it didn’t connect at first, but it was whittling away at the back of her brain. Slowly but surely the pieces were coming together … and something didn’t add up.

“Tess?” Maureen repeated. “Did you hear—”

She never had a chance to finish the sentence. All at once Rick jerked the Jeep to the right, making a violent shift to the other side of the road.

“
Rick
!” Tess cried. “What are you doing?”

He didn’t answer, but it wasn’t necessary. By that time she’d seen the truck. A big red pickup, one with a backseat in the cab and an extra long flatbed. It was jacked up on oversize wheels. And it was trying to run them off the road.

“Who are they?” Maureen asked, rapidly buckling her seat belt.

“Can’t you guess?” Rick said. He pressed down on the accelerator and tried to shoot past them, but he couldn’t get free. The pickup matched their speed. Worse, it hung tightly in the left-hand lane, forcing them onto the shoulder and not letting them out. On the other side of the shoulder was a deep ravine; if Rick drove down into that, they’d never get out.

He tried varying his speed, but the result never differed. He slowed down, the pickup slowed down. He sped up, the pickup sped up. It didn’t matter. The pickup matched him at every point.

“Try braking,” Maureen commanded.

Rick complied. He pushed his speed up to about sixty and then, without warning, he slammed down on the brake pedal, bringing the jeep to an abrupt halt. The pickup shot ahead.

“Hallelujah,” Rick muttered. “Now if I can just—”

He pulled the wheel hard to the left for a U-turn. Before he had even had a chance to turn the car sideways, though, he was blinded by a white glare from behind.

“Damn,” Rick said, more in desperation than anger.

There was another pickup. Behind them.

Rick straightened out the Jeep and started barreling forward. At least he was off the shoulder now. But the first pickup had turned lengthwise across both lanes, blocking the road, lights out. Rick didn’t see it till he was almost on top of it; by then he was going sixty, and his options were seriously limited.

“
Look out
!” Tess screamed.

Rick swerved hard to the right. He almost made it around; the corner of the Jeep grazed the side of the pickup, sending them hurtling even further off to the right.

Rick pumped the brake, but at that point, there was little he could do. The Jeep careened into the ravine, hitting the bottom hard.

Tess braced herself against the impact. Fortunately, there was little room in the back of a Jeep. It made the ride rather uncomfortable, but probably saved her life. There was almost nowhere she could go.

“Is everyone all right?” Tess asked. Rick nodded, although she saw a thin trickle of blood across his forehead. Apparently his head had hit the steering wheel on impact.

“Maureen?”

“I’m … here.” Maureen seemed dazed, but not so dazed that she didn’t understand the nature of their situation. “Let’s get out of here,” she whispered.

The three of them tumbled out of the derailed Jeep …

… and into the grasp of the loggers waiting for them.

“What’s the problem, tree huggers?” the man in front asked. His face was masked but he was wearing a cowboy hat and seemed to be the leader. “Reckless driving is frowned on here in Magic Valley.”

He had at least six friends—that was as many as Tess could see. She knew there could be more in the background. They were all wearing masks, black cotton ski masks pulled down over their faces, with an opening for each eye. Two of the men grabbed each of them, pinning them in place.

“Let us go!” Rick shouted. “These women haven’t done anything to hurt you.

As if in reply, the leader stepped forward and swung the point of his cowboy boot up between Rick’s legs. Rick crumpled to his knees, crying in pain and gasping for air.

“I don’t think I like his ’tude,” the leader said. “He goes first.”

Two of them shoved Rick in the general direction they wanted to travel, while the other four dragged Maureen and Tess.

Tess’s brain was racing, trying to figure a way out of this predicament. She could tell them who she really was, but they wouldn’t believe her. She could scream for help, but she knew she was too far away from anyone to be heard. She could try to escape but—seven to three? The idea was laughable. Even if she could get away, they could likely run faster than she. Plus they had trucks. It was hopeless.

The masked men dragged the three of them to a nearby grove of trees. “These folks are so damn fond of trees,” the leader said. “Let’s just let them hug on ’em. Permanently.”

Two of the men shoved Rick up against the nearest tree. His arms wrapped around the trunk. Once he was in place, another man snapped a pair of handcuffs around his wrists.

“Very good,” the leader said. “You can hug that little tree till the cows come home.” He snapped his fingers. “Do the girls.”

The other four men dragged Tess and Maureen to other trees of approximately the same size. They forced them to extend their arms, then snapped handcuffs over their wrists.

“What you’re doing is wrong,” Maureen said, her lips pressed against the trunk of an oak tree. “And illegal. We have a constitutional right to protest—”

“I’m sure you do,” the leader said. “And we have a constitutional right to have a little fun on a Friday night. Don’t we, boys?”

There was a general murmur of assent, coupled with grunts and dark laughter.

“Don’t think you’ll get away with this,” Maureen said. “We haven’t committed any crime today. We will prosecute.”

The leader spat on the ground. “Will someone shut that bitch up?”

The man closest obliged. He raised his hand high and slapped her hard on the side of her face. Her head thudded against the tree trunk.

“Maureen!” Tess shouted. Her face was now pinned to another trunk; she could barely see her two companions. “Are you all right?”

“Shut up,” the man hanging behind her said. “Or you’ll get the same.”

Tess bit her tongue. My God, what had she gotten into? And how could she possibly get out alive?

She was relieved to hear Maureen’s voice, although it was much softer and less defiant than before. “What are you planning to do with us?”

“Well,” said the leader, “I thought we’d administer a bit of behavioral modification. You see, we don’t much cotton to outsiders coming into town and trying to tell us how to do things. Interferin’ with our way of life.”

He broke off, then turned toward his cohorts. When he spoke again, Tess’s heart sank to the pit of her stomach.

“All right,” he said, his voice booming with enthusiasm and malice, “who’s got the whip?”

Loving parked himself on a bench at the corner of McKinley and Main and waited.

Times like these, he almost wished he hadn’t quit smoking. At least he would have something to do other than just counting the seconds as they ticked by. Cigarettes were made for stakeouts. On the other hand, since he’d quit, he felt better, could run farther, and had a lot more energy. And, he reminded himself, his smoking habit was one of the things that drove his ex-wife into the arms of that speedboat salesman.

His eyes crinkled a bit around the edges. Upon reflection, maybe smoking wasn’t a horrible thing after all.

He picked this corner because it allowed him to stay in the shadows while giving him the widest possible view of what he had learned was the low-rent district of Magic Valley. If any drug deals were going down in the middle of the night, this was surely where they would happen. At least that’s what he was hoping.

Loving was desperate to catch up to Vincenzo again. He still couldn’t believe he’d let that creep get the drop on him last night. Let him get away and got clubbed over the head in the process. That was just too humiliating. When he’d had to admit to the Skipper that he’d failed … well, that was just about the lowest moment in his life. He owed a lot to the Skipper. He didn’t like to disappoint him.

They’d been together a while, hadn’t they? Ever since Ben represented his ex-wife in their divorce case. He still thought of Donna from time to time. Mostly when he had a migraine or his wallet was empty. He still hoped someday he might find someone special, someone he wanted to spend some serious time with. But the thought of getting married again—man! It just made his blood run cold.

Speaking of which, it was pretty cold out here, for a hot summer night. Maybe if he sat on the west end of the block …

He turned to glance over his shoulder.

Someone was standing directly behind him. Someone big.

A strong pair of ham-sized hands soared over his shoulders and clamped down on his chest. “Don’t move.”