Stalking Ground (15 page)

Mattie shared the news with Stella. “No criminal history, but four potential driver’s licenses.”

Stella pursed her lips, absently tapping her notebook with her pen. “We’ll have to dig deeper back at the station.”

“We should put Brody on it,” Mattie said. “He’s our expert on the net.”

Stella shrugged. “We’ll see. I’m not so bad myself.”

Mattie could tell Stella wasn’t going to bring Brody into the investigation until she was sure he should be there. “We also have the letter. Maybe your lab will pull a print from it.”

“That would rock my world.”

Back at the station, Stella went to use the computer in the office that the sheriff assigned to her. Robo followed Mattie to the staff office, seeking his dog cushion that she kept near her desk. He plopped down and sighed, and she knelt beside him to check his wound. It looked clean and there was no seepage.

She stroked his head before moving to her chair. “You’re tired today, aren’t you? Getting attacked by a lion would set anyone back.”

He put his head between his paws and his brow puckered and twitched.

“You can go back to sleep. We’ll be here for a while.”

Mattie worked on reports until Sam Corns came in to relieve Rainbow. Leaving her dog asleep on his bed, Mattie led Rainbow to one of the cold and sterile interrogation rooms. She pulled out a metal-frame chair with plastic upholstery to sit in, gesturing for Rainbow to take a seat on the other side of the table.

Rainbow made a slight sound of dismay. “Am I a suspect?”

“No, of course not. I just don’t want us to get interrupted,” Mattie said. “Do you want a cup of tea or something?” She knew Rainbow didn’t drink coffee.

“No, nothing. I don’t know if I can help or not, but I’ve remembered some things this afternoon that might give you some leads.”

“Sounds great. Tell me what you’ve remembered.”

Rainbow paused, apparently collecting her thoughts. “Adrienne talked about a boyfriend in Willow Springs that she must have had a tough breakup with. I don’t think she ever said his last name, but if I remember right, she called him Jim.”

“That’s good, Rainbow.” Mattie wrote the name in her notepad.

“Adrienne never talked much about her past. She seemed to want to concentrate mostly on the here and now. She always said she wanted to live in the present moment and not dwell on the past or obsess about the future.”

“What did she say about this man named Jim?”

“I don’t think I can remember word for word.”

“It’s okay to say it like you remember it. Don’t worry.”

“Well . . . we were talking about old boyfriends, you know, girl talk.”

Mattie nodded, though she’d never participated in such a thing.

“Adrienne was mostly listening, and I was going on about a boyfriend I had when I was in massage school. I asked her to tell me about her last boyfriend, and she said, ‘Jim isn’t one I’d like to remember. Let’s just say it didn’t end well.’ Or something like that. At least that’s the gist of it.”

“Did she give any details about how it ended?”

“She said something about different expectations or goals or something. Adrienne didn’t really call it goals . . . maybe she said future plans.”

“Did she talk about him being violent or rough, anything like that?”

“No. That would have made an impression on me. It was more like they couldn’t agree about their future.”

“Okay. I just wondered why she said the relationship didn’t end well. Did you get any impressions about that?”

“I think they were pretty close, you know. Then they realized they wanted different things in their future. I think it was painful but not violent, if you know what I mean.”

“Yeah. Anything else you can tell me about Jim?”

Rainbow shook her head.

“Anything else that you’ve remembered?”

“Yes. She worked for a chiropractor that owned his own business when she was in Willow Springs. I think she called him Scott.”

“Great, Rainbow. We should be able to track that down. How many chiropractors named Scott can there be in Willow Springs?”

“Right. I can follow up on that if you want me to.”

“No, one of us should do it. Do you remember anything else about him? Were there any negative feelings when she left?”

Rainbow shook her head. “Not that I know of. She never mentioned anything like that. She just said she learned a lot while she was working there.”

“Do you know any other places that Adrienne worked? Places she lived?”

“No. She only mentioned Willow Springs.”

“Let’s switch focus for a minute,” Mattie said. “Did Adrienne ever talk about her family in Hightower?”

“I knew she grew up there. She said both of her parents were alcoholics, and she didn’t want to talk about her childhood.”

Mattie could relate to that. “Did she mention her brother?”

“Yes. Roger. She said they were close, but he left her there alone when he graduated. It made her sad.”

“Did she say where he moved to?”

“Willow Springs. She said she met with him there before she moved here.”

“That’s good. We should check in with him, too, and this could help us find him.”

Rainbow’s reddened eyes crinkled slightly at the corners as she smiled briefly before resuming her sad expression. “I’m glad. I didn’t think her family had anything to do with this. She seemed to have cut ties with all of them.”

“Even Roger?”

“Yes. She said she loved her brother, but she didn’t want to be around him anymore.”

“Why not?”

“We didn’t really discuss it.” Rainbow’s brow puckered with concentration. “But I think I remember her saying something about her brother going off the deep end or something like that.”

This lit Mattie’s radar. “Did she feel threatened by him?”

Rainbow released a sigh of frustration as she searched her memory. “I don’t remember having that impression. It was more like a bad experience. Something to be avoided.”

But still, it made Mattie wonder. She asked a few more questions but soon decided that she’d gleaned all that she could for now.

“Let’s call it a day. You’ve been a lot of help, and if you remember anything else, let me know. You need to go home for the night. I know you’re tired.”

“You look tired, too. I hope you can go home and get some sleep.”

“I need to talk to Stella but then I’ll clock out.”

They gave each other a quick hug before leaving the interrogation room. Mattie found Stella in her office getting ready
to leave. She brought her up to speed, telling her about the boyfriend named Jim, the chiropractor named Scott, and the rather ominous bit about Roger Howard.

Stella slipped on her coat. Looking thoughtful, she said, “This gives us more to consider. I have to observe that autopsy at eight in the morning. Can you follow up and try to locate the chiropractor? Maybe he’ll know something about Adrienne’s personal life and lead you to more information, maybe something about the ex-boyfriend or the brother.”

“Will do.”

“I have something else that will make your day,” Stella said. “The lab lifted a thumb print off the stamp on that letter. Not a real clear one, but it wasn’t too smudged.”

“That’s great news.”

“We’re running it through IAFIS now.”

The Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System could find a match if the subject was already in the system. If a print was distorted, it often came back with several similar prints that a technician would then compare with the original. So even though this system didn’t always get a hit, it promised the possibility of some movement in the case.

“You’re right. Day made,” Mattie said.

Stella smiled in a grim way. “It’s late and I’m going home now. I hope to be here tomorrow by eleven.”

“I’ll see you then. Maybe I’ll have some leads in Willow Springs by the time you get back.”

After saying good-bye, Mattie went to the staff office to get Robo. As he stood up and stretched, he yawned until his throat squeaked, making her yawn with him. Dead on her feet, she clocked out and headed home.

Mattie had settled into bed with a book, thinking she would distract herself from the events of the past few days and relax, when her cell phone rang. Caller ID told her it was an unfamiliar number, even an unfamiliar area code. She answered it.

“This is Deputy Cobb.”

“That sounds pretty damn official.” It was a man’s voice, also unfamiliar. “Last time we talked, it was just plain old Mattie Lu.”

Her heart stumbled and then kicked into overdrive. “Who is this?”

“Your big brother. Weren’t you expecting me to call?”

His voice was so deep, grown up. “Willie—hey. I’ve been hoping you’d call for weeks. You surprised me.”

“Sorry about that. Took a while to get up the nerve.” He cleared his throat. “I was glad to hear you were willing to talk.”

A lump in her own throat kept her from responding. She nodded, holding the phone clamped to her ear.

“How are you?” Her brother’s voice was rough and throaty, like a two-pack-a-day smoker.

“I’m good. How are you, Willie?”

“I’m okay. Better than I was a few months ago.”

“Were you sick?”

“We can talk about that later. I want to know about you. What’s your life like? Teresa says you’re a deputy in the sheriff’s department.”

“Yeah. Seven years. You live in Los Angeles?”

“Yeah, in Hollywood actually. I’m a mechanic in a garage near Sunset Boulevard.”

“Wow, sounds fancy.”

Willie gave a little laugh. “There’s lots of places in Hollywood that aren’t all that fancy. But it’s good enough for me.”

“Do you like your job?”

“It’s steady work and it occupies my days, sometimes my nights. I need it that way. So you stayed in Timber Creek? I can’t hardly believe that.”

It felt like a hand was tightening around Mattie’s throat, choking her. “Yeah, well . . .”

“How are you doing, Mattie Lu? You’re not married?”

“No.”

“Got someone special?”

“No. How about you?”

“I met a girl a few months ago. We’re pretty serious. She’s changing my life.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah.” That little laugh again. “She must see something in me. She’s helping me put things back together.”

That meant things must’ve fallen apart before. “Have you had a bad time of it?”

“You might say so. How’s everything with you?”

Mattie focused hard on not choking up. “Pretty good. I like my work. I’m doing K-9 now, that’s something new.”

“Do you have one of those big, badass dogs?”

Mattie looked at Robo lying patiently on his own bed watching her. His ears pricked and his mouth opened slightly
in a pant. She’d learned that his mouth seemed to be the barometer for his stress level. He must be picking up on
her
anxiety at the moment. “Robo’s a pussycat most of the time. Unless I tell him to be otherwise.”

Robo cocked his head at her when he heard his name.

“Otherwise, he’s a badass.”

“You got that right.” Mattie smiled, her lips close to the phone.

“Seems strange, my little sis ordering around bad guys, siccing a real police dog on ’em.”

“It’s mostly patrol and narcotics detection, some public-relations work. Here in Timber Creek, there’s very little action like you see on that
Cops
TV show.”

“I guess it’s really not so hard to imagine you as a cop after all.”

An awkward silence followed. Was he thinking about that night, about her phone call, the one she made that broke up their family? To divert the subject, she asked, “What’s your girlfriend’s name?”

“Tamara.”

“What does she do?”

“Well, here’s the deal. She works in the kitchen of a drug rehab center. That’s where we met.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah . . . Oh?” Willie seemed to be teasing her. “I was there by court order. My last chance to clean up my act.”

“I hope it’s working for you.”

“Seems to be. Every day’s a struggle. I’m working the twelve steps.”

Now it all became clear. His twelve-step program dictated contacting his sister. He had to make amends or at least try. She told herself it was silly to feel disappointed; no matter what made him call, she’d take it.

“Yeah, she has a kid, a four-year-old boy,” Willie said. “She says I’ve got to be a good role model for him, though God knows my own was a real fuck-up. So I just ask myself, what would my old man do? Then I do the opposite.”

“That would make for a pretty good start.”

“Do you ever see the old man?” Willie asked.

“No one told you?”

“What?”

“He died while he was in prison. One of the other inmates killed him.”

The line went silent. “I can’t say I’m sorry,” he said after a long pause.

She didn’t know how to respond.

“Hell, Mattie—what makes you stay in Timber Creek? It can’t have anything but bad memories.”

Mattie placed her hand on the base of her throat. Finally, she managed to speak. “I stayed here so you or Mom could find me—if you wanted to.”

There was a long silence while Willie seemed to be wrestling with his response. When he spoke, he sounded sort of choked up, too. “Have you heard from Mom?”

“No. Have you?”

“Naw. She wouldn’t have any idea where I am.”

“I tried to trace you both a few times—on our department computer—but I didn’t have any luck.”

“I wish I’d known you would talk to me. Maybe I’d have called sooner.”

“Why would you think I wouldn’t talk to you?”

“Well . . . I didn’t exactly protect you like a big brother should, did I?”

Mattie was dumbfounded. “Protect me? You took the shit, Willie. It was you and Mom who took most of the blows.”

“I should’ve stopped him from hurting you, Mattie Lu. I should’ve figured out a way to stop him.”

A cold thread was starting to knot in Mattie’s stomach. “He didn’t hurt me that bad.”

“How can you say that? I know how he’d visit you at night. I saw how shell-shocked you looked in the morning.”

Mattie’s stomach clenched, and she fought a wave of nausea. “I—” Her throat closed, and she couldn’t utter a sound.

“I’m sorry, Mattie Lu.” Willie sounded like he was struggling to speak, too. “I’m sorry that I had to bring that up, and I’m sorry I didn’t take better care of you.”

“You—” Mattie cleared her throat and forced the words out. “You have nothing to apologize to me for.”

Willie sniffed, and in the silence that followed, Mattie could tell he was crying. She pressed the phone hard against her ear, her other hand pressed to her stomach. Holding on, she rocked forward and back.

“Can I see you sometime?” Willie said. “I mean, would you come out to L.A. and see me? I don’t think I could ever come back to Timber Creek. But I’d like you to meet Tamara and her kid, Elliot.”

“Maybe.” Mattie swallowed hard. “I don’t get much time off, but I’ll look into it.”

“You can call me any time. On this number.”

“Yeah.” She needed to get off the phone. Now.

“Well, then . . . bye.”

“Good-bye, Willie.” She disconnected the call. A sob from somewhere deep inside jolted her, making her body jump. She clamped a hand over her mouth and bent forward. An icy fist had delivered a sucker-punch to her belly. Robo rose from his bed and padded over to nudge her arm with his wet nose.

Hoarse with pent-up tears, she said, “Let’s go for a run.”

She put on sweats, gloves, and running shoes. Stooped like an old woman, she walked to the hook where she’d left Robo’s leash. Over and over, she told herself,
Don’t think, just run. Don’t think, just run
.

*

Mattie sat on a rocky outcropping at the top of T-hill with Robo sitting next to her, panting like crazy and blowing a cloud of steam into the cold air. She’d run with him matching her step for step until she’d decided to quit for his sake. The sky had cleared and a nearly full moon lit the landscape. Below her, lights from houses and streetlights defined the boundaries of Timber Creek.

She and Robo had climbed the sloping backside of a sheer stone wall, and now she sat with her legs dangling over the edge. She picked up a rock that filled her palm and threw it as far as she could. It clattered as it hit the rocky terrain of the hill, and then rolled down, creating a small avalanche of clattering stones that rolled with it.

A chill breeze blew from the northwest, and Mattie shivered. As was typical, Robo bobbed his head and sniffed, examining whatever scent the wind carried. She took off her glove and buried her cold fingers in the soft fur at his throat.

“Thanks for coming with me,” she said softly. “I guess you didn’t have much of a choice, did you?”

Robo continued to sniff the air for a few seconds, and then lay still and alert, head up, paws out front. Mattie stroked one of his paws, picked it up and held it for a while in her hand, the connection warm and comforting. He touched her hand with his mouth—one quick, wet touch—and then he lifted his face to the wind again.

She didn’t know what visits Willie was talking about, but while she ran, vague memories had come in flashes. One so sharp, it cut her to the core. “If you tell, I’ll kill your mother.”

Shame washed over her in waves. She struggled to remember exactly what happened, but all she could imagine was a frightened little girl. Someone else?
No—me
.

Willie’s words, meant only to heal, had ignited an awful tumult inside her. What was she supposed to do with this pain? She bent forward and wrapped her arms across her middle, quaking like an aspen leaf.

Suck it up, Cobb
. Coach’s words from her days of cross-country training came back to her.
Ignore the pain. Keep running. Go farther and faster than you ever believed you could
. Each footfall drummed that into her head, year after year.

In her job, she worked with victims; she didn’t consider herself one. She wouldn’t allow herself to become one. Willie’s words didn’t have to change her life. She’d sealed off these memories before; she could do it again.

Mattie threw another rock out into the air, listening to it clatter down below in the shadows where it was too dark to see what kind of following it gathered. She could hear the stones clacking against each other.

“We’d better go home, Robo. It’s way too cold to sit up here.” She stroked his velvety muzzle while he played with her fingertips, the contact making him sneeze. “We’ll have to walk. I don’t think I could run one more step.”

Mattie picked her way down off the backside of the outcropping, letting Robo lead. She figured he could see the rocky path better than she could. On her way down, she thought about her father being killed in prison. And for the first time, it made her glad.