Tax Assassin (17 page)

“
I know what you mean,”
Seth smiled.

“
She was lovely, funny,
friendly, and smart,” the principal said. “He and his dad ran the
ranch. She and the girls were the outsiders. They rarely went on
those summer vacations. The girls stayed with their mom in
Albuquerque.”

Nodding, Seth held out his hand. The
principal shook it.

“
You’ve been very helpful,”
Seth said.

“
You really think he killed
some people?” the principal asked.

“
More than fifty or sixty,”
Seth said.

“
What?” the principal
asked.

“
Don’t listen to him,” Ava
said. “He’s been gloomy all day. Thanks for your help!”

“
Thank you,” Seth
nodded.

Ava took Seth’s arm, and they left the
principal’s office. Seth slipped his arm around her, and they
walked to the truck. He unlocked her door then pinned her against
it. She put her arms around his neck. For a moment, all the madness
slipped away. She kissed him. In her sweet kiss, he felt equal
doses of her confusion and her love for him. He stroked her
cheek.

“
I like the sound of you
calling me your husband,” Seth said. “Ava O’Malley.”

“
Me too,” Ava smiled and
got into the truck.

He went around and got in the driver’s
side.

“
Where to?” Ava
asked.

“
Piñon Canyon,” Seth said.
“See a man about some Army land.”

“
Anyone there?” Ava
asked.

“
Said he would be,” Seth
said. “Even got a pass for Clara.”

“
When do we have to be
there?”

“
Couple of hours, I guess,”
Seth said. “I figured you’d want to send the photo to your
lab.”

“
Let’s stop at the motel,”
Ava gave him a saucy smile. “Fax this in and catch up.”

“
Sounds good,” Seth started
the truck.

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TWENTY

Seth reached over to hold Ava’s hand as he
turned into Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site. She kissed his cheek. After
asking the front desk to fax the photo, they’d made quiet, soft
love. As if she was savoring the experience, storing it up for a
later memory, she had moved with great care. She’d held onto him
with all her might when she climaxed. He held her when her grief
caught up to her, and she sobbed.

He glanced at her. He’d always known that
these revelations about her father would change her and, in turn,
their life. Driving along the empty highway, his mind knew what his
heart refused to see; she was slowly saying good-bye.

“
Love you,” he said, after
giving their driver’s licenses to the guard at the gate. She kissed
his lips and smiled. “Are you sure you’re all right with all of
this?”

“
I’m glad to be here,” Ava
said. “Grateful. You don’t have to include me. You don’t even have
to be investigating all of this. But here you are, doing what you
do best, for me. Thanks.”

“
Go straight ahead, Mr.
O’Malley,” the guard said and gave back their driver’s licenses.
“You’ll need to transfer vehicles, and they will take you to the
property in question.”

The guard saluted him and he nodded.

“
What was that?” Ava asked
as he drove forward.

“
What?”

“
The salute?” Ava
asked.

“
I don’t know,” Seth smiled
at her. “Maybe he liked my good looks.”

Ava laughed but gave him a strong “Tell me”
look.

“
I used to work on a team
that looked for MIAs in Vietnam, Laos, and other places,” Seth
said. “I got into it to find Saul.”

He pulled into another parking lot.

“
Your older brother?” Ava
asked.

“
He was in a camp in Laos,”
Seth said.

“
Did you find
him?”

“
I was too late,” Seth
said. “But yes, I found him. Scattered his ashes on the homestead
and later with Mom – the two things he loved. My record identifies
me as a member of that team.”

“
You’re still on the team?”
Ava asked.

A fast-moving, sand-camouflaged Humvee came
over a hill and flew in their direction.

“
It’s the kind of thing you
don’t get out of,” Seth said. “If my country needs me, my love, I
will answer her call.”

“
I like that about you,”
Ava said.

She slid across the bench seat to sit next
to him. He put his arm around her. With her head on his shoulder,
they waited for the Humvee. The vehicle disgorged two Army
sergeants with machine guns. The Sergeants frisked them for weapons
and cameras. After negotiating, they agreed to leave their phones
in the truck, but Seth kept his handgun. Clara hopped in the back
of the Humvee and they followed.

With the snow-tipped Sangre de Cristo
mountain range in the background, the Humvee zoomed over the dry
prairie and grassy hills of the Maneuver site. On their right, a
large military action was unfolding with tanks, helicopters, and
men on foot. Out on the horizon, a few stick-figure soldiers seemed
to be working their way through a mock village.

The Humvee came to an abrupt stop at a
helicopter pad. They waited while a large military helicopter
descended. Seth moved to sit in the back with Clara so that the
U.S. Army deputy general counsel for Piñon Canyon, Richard
Sarkasian, could get in the Humvee. They took off again.

Seth couldn’t hear what Richard was saying
over the sound of the Humvee, but it looked like he introduced
himself to Ava. Richard glanced at Seth when he realized Ava was
the daughter of the recently deceased former Colorado attorney
general Aaron Alvin. The lawyer adjusted his demeanor to both
sympathetic and serious. The Humvee jerked to a stop again.

“
I thought you’d like to
see what we’re talking about,” Richard said.

Seth and Ava followed him out of the Humvee.
Seth let Clara off her leash, and she zoomed off after a prairie
dog. Richard walked a few feet and stopped on a ridge overlooking
the black asphalt of Highway 350.

“
That’s the land,” Richard
said. “The Bloom’s ranch is in two parcels – from here to the
Apishapa Game Management Area and another section on the other
side. Water rights too.”

“
Seems big,” Seth
said.

“
In total, it’s close to
ninety thousand acres of prime ranch land,” Richard said. “The
family homesteaded a few sections, four or five I think, and then
bought the rest. They got the bulk of it during the dustbowl,
bought out their neighbors for pennies, then picked up a section
here or there when it was available.”

“
Cattle land?” Seth
asked.

“
Primarily,” Richard said.
“We paid them every single penny the land was worth, and then
some.”

“
Sounds expensive,” Seth
said.

“
Oh yeah,” Richard
said.

“
Who’d you deal with?” Ava
asked.

“
Hillary Bloom, the
daughter, mostly,” Richard said. “She made an enormous drama about
how her father got sick from what we were doing out here. Look
around you.”

Richard gestured for them to look.

“
We haven’t done shit on
this edge of the property, probably ever,” Richard said. “Too
exposed.”

“
Seems odd to have an
eighteen-year-old do the negotiations,” Seth said.

“
She just ran the numbers
and the papers,” Richard said. “When it got down to the
nitty-gritty, I dealt with Hillery the third.”

Richard grimaced.

“
Didn’t like him?” Ava
asked.

“
The man is a python,”
Richard said. “Sick my ass. I don’t know what they’re up to, but
that man was as robust as I am.”

Seth glanced at Ava. He’d forgotten to ask
her about Bloom’s medical records. She winked to acknowledge his
oversight.

“
I’ll tell you,” Richard
said. “I wouldn’t want to be caught in a dark alley with either one
of them. They look normal, but there’s something just not right
there. The daughter’s better than the father, but she may have just
not grown into herself yet.”

“
There’s some evidence that
they have a genetic mutation,” Ava said.

“
I’d believe it,” Richard
said.

Seth pointed to a truck turning onto Highway
350 from the ranch.

“
I thought you bought it,”
Seth said.

“
They refused to let us
have it until August,” Richard said. “You know how hot it is here
in August? I can’t shake the feeling that they did it just to be
contrary. We’re so desperate for the land that we’ll do whatever
they ask.”

“
Looks like they’re still
living there,” Ava said.

Richard scowled and turned away from the
highway. They followed him down the rise.

“
Bloom tried to swing a
confidentiality agreement on the sale,” Richard said. “Ranchers
around here are still sore about the Army opening this site. Bloom
didn’t want his neighbors to know he sold out. But . .
.”

Richard shrugged.

“
Can’t have everything you
want?” Seth asked.

“
You can’t take tax dollars
and keep it confidential. Maybe in the ‘50s but not now,” Richard
shook his head. “They also wanted us to fund the deal now but
they’d stay on the property until August. That didn’t fly either.
And honestly? I don’t trust ‘em. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if
we get there in August and find they’ve done what they could to
make the land unusable for us. Wouldn’t surprise me a
bit.”

Richard walked back to the Humvee and opened
the door to the back seat. He turned to Seth and Ava.

“
Makes you wonder,” Richard
said.

“
What?” Ava
asked.

“
Why do they need all that
money now?” Richard asked. “Army Intelligence worked up a deep
background on them. Hillery the third is sick, but he has good
medical coverage through the state teacher’s union. The family
isn’t in debt. The wife makes great money at Sandia, even on leave.
Why sell?”

“
Why indeed?” Seth
asked.

Just then a breeze blew across the highway,
down the rise, and straight up Seth’s back. Turning around to look
at the ranch, he felt an overwhelming sense that something horrible
had happened there. He nudged Ava forward and she got into the
Humvee. The deputy general counsel followed. Seth took one last
look across the highway, felt an involuntary shiver, and got in the
Humvee. They dropped Richard at the helicopter site and raced back
to the truck.

“
What’s going on?” Ava
asked when he got into the driver’s side of the truck.

“
What do you
mean?”

“
You
seem . . . creeped out,” Ava said.

Seth started the truck and drove out of
Piñon Canyon. They were a few miles down Highway 350 when he
glanced at her.

“
I have this feeling that
something horrible happened there,” Seth said.

“
Where?”

“
Bloom Ranch.”

“
We know they probably
killed the tax agent,” Ava said.

“
More recently than that.
What if . . .” Unwilling to give into the gloom, Seth shook his
head. “What did his medical say?”

“
Autoimmune disorder, they
think,” Ava said. “Of course, it’s disability papers, so the
information in that file is going to say autoimmune disorder
brought on by exposure to toxins.”

“
The kind of toxins you
might run into while playing Civil War?” Seth asked.

“
Exactly,” Ava said. “I bet
we could get a warrant for his records at National
Jewish.”

“
Why bother?”

“
I think it’s worth ruling
out whether he’s really sick.”

“
Why?”

“
Because you have this
creepy feeling that something horrible happened there,” Ava said.
“And they’re using his illness to cover it up.”

“
Any idea what?”

“
None. You?”

“
The wife tried to leave
him with the daughters, and he killed them all?” Seth
shrugged.

“
Maybe after he stole the
bullets?” Ava asked.

“
That’s the only thing that
comes to my mind. You?”

“
Same. He must have buried
them on the land,” Ava said. “When did he start to get
sick?”

“
Principal said he was in
the hospital last summer,” Seth said. “Almost a year
ago.”

“
We should check that,” Ava
said.

“
Why?”

“
Let’s say he kills the
wife and gets sick in August,” Ava said. “That gives him a year for
the bodies to decompose.”

“
That’s why he’s waiting
until August,” Seth said. “Makes sense.”

“
Didn’t you find four
unsolved shootings last summer?” Ava asked.

“
Sure,” Seth said.
“Louisville, Tennessee. But Gramps could have done
those.”

“
Being in the hospital is
his alibi for murder,” Ava said. “So it could be either of
them.”

“
Why would he need a
cover?” Seth asked. “Doesn’t seem like he’s had one so
far.”