Tax Assassin (21 page)

TWENTY-FIVE

He waited for a moment, and U.S. Army Deputy
General Counsel Richard Sarkasian hopped out of the chopper. He
glared at Seth and turned to look in the barn.

“
Covered it in the metal
barn,” Richard said.

Seth nodded.

“
We couldn’t see it from
the air or satellite,” Richard said.

“
Just looked like a steel
barn,” Seth said.

“
Where is the bastard?”
Richard asked.

“
I think that’s the
question of the hour,” Seth said. “No one seems to know. Last I
heard, he was taking a driving trip.”

Shaking his head, the lawyer glared at
Seth.

“
Listen, you’re going to be
here a while,” Seth said. “Right?”

Richard nodded.

“
Mind if I borrow your
ride?” Seth asked.

“
Are you going to stick it
to Hillery Bloom the third?” Richard asked.

“
Something like that,” Seth
said.

“
Then by all means,”
Richard said.

“
Okay if I take a few
deputies with me?” Seth asked.

“
Leave me someone to tell
me what’s going on,” Richard said.

Seth looked up to see Deputy Jimmy Thatcher
walking toward them.

“
There’s your guy,” Seth
said.

“
You know how to ride in
one of those?” Richard asked.

Seth stared at the lawyer. The lawyer
nodded.

“
You’re really going to
make me say it,” Seth said.

“
Someone’s got to say
Mitch’s lines,” Richard smiled. “He’s not here.”

“
I was easing my way in and
out of helicopters and women while you were still hoping to lose
your virginity, college boy.”

Richard laughed. Seth smiled.

“
One more thing,” Seth
said. “Know anyone in the press?”

“
Why?” Richard
asked.

“
Hoping to flush your
friend Hill-three out of wherever he’s hiding,” Seth
said.

“
I’ll call. After . . .”
Richard pointed to Jimmy.

Seth nodded and got into the helicopter to
speak with the crew. When he came out, Ava had organized the
deputies. Deputy Robinson and the deputies he’d identified as Tommy
and Jerry stepped past Seth into the helicopter. Ava, and Delores
and her father got in next. Seth helped them strap in. Drew gave
directions to the cockpit and came back to the passenger
compartment. When Seth sat down, he put his headset on, and the
helicopter took off.

Seth clicked the switch on his headset to
the channel within the passenger compartment. He was fairly
confident the sheriff’s headsets were turned off.

“
What did you find in the
house?” Seth asked.

Hearing his voice, Ava turned to look at
him. She moved her mouth, but he couldn’t hear her. He pointed to
the switch and she turned on her headset to speak with him.

“
Hi beautiful,” he
smiled.

She reached over to hold his hand.

“
What did you find in the
house?” Seth asked.

“
Not a lot more than we
already knew,” Ava said. “Delores agreed that it didn’t look like
they lived there. She said her mother told her Hill-three had an
apartment in Hoehne that he used when he was teaching. Delores
thought the girls lived with him in town during the school year.
But . . . it’s definitely weird. She said the house
looked like a shrine to his mother.”

“
A shrine to a better
time?” Seth asked.

“
Probably,” Ava said. “I
wondered if it was a tax thing. I’d have to check, but I think you
pay less property tax on a primary residence than a commercial
property.”

“
Good point,” Seth said.
“If they weren’t living out here, this would be primarily a
commercial operation.”

“
Right,” Ava said. “The
weirdest thing to Delores was the horses. The ranch has always bred
amazing horses. I asked her about them being Arabian.”

“
Like the tax agent’s
horses?” Seth asked.

“
Exactly,” Ava said. “She
said that people always said they looked like it, but . .
.”

Ava shrugged.

“
What, about the horses,
was weird?” Seth asked.

“
Meldy is a horse woman,”
Ava said. “She competes in long-distance races, like your librarian
friend’s daughter. Horses have always been a big part of the Bloom
business. In fact, the horses are one of the reasons Meldy stayed
married to Hill-three. She wanted to keep the horse business
going.”

“
And?” Seth
asked.

“
Where are the horses?” Ava
asked. “The barn is filled with fracking equipment. The corral is
empty. Delores said the horses were always up here near the
house.”

“
Boy, I don’t know,” Seth
said. “I talked to Delores’s dad about riding out to find the
women. I was hoping to ride a mythical Piñon Canyon horse. It
didn’t occur to me that the horses weren’t here.”

“
Did you see any
horses?”

“
I . . . No,”
Seth shook his head. “You’re right. Where are the
horses?”

Ava nodded.

“
Did you get anything on
our ‘why-now’ puzzle?” Seth asked.

“
Nothing other than the
bodies in the garden beds,” Ava shrugged.

Seth nodded.

“
I know that look,” Ava
said. “What?”

“
I’m thinking we should get
the Denver coroner to do the autopsy on Hillery Bloom
Jr.”

“
Hill-three’s father?
Why?”

“
Just a hunch,” Seth
said.

Ava nodded.

“
Mr. O’Malley?” the
helicopter pilot broke into their conversation. “We’re close to
your destination. We can easily land near the stock pond
 . . . uh . . . Stringer windmill
two.”

“
Stringer windmill two?”
Seth asked. “Perfect.”

“
Would you like us to wait
for you?” the pilot asked.

“
We may have injured
people,” Seth said.

“
You have state patrol
choppers coming from Pueblo,” the pilot said. “Press, too. We’ll
stay ‘til they arrive.”

“
Thank you,” Seth
said.

The helicopter began to descend onto a
nearly flat field of the upper Bloom ranch near the iridescent
green stock pond. The helicopter blades whipped up a whirlwind of
dust and sand on the dry field. When the helicopter was firmly on
the ground, Seth slid open the door and hopped out. The deputy
sheriffs, and Ava, Delores, and Drew followed.

“
This way,” Drew
said.

Delores’s father began walking at a fast
clip down a dirt road. Seth and Ava started after him with the
deputies following close behind. The road ended near the edge of a
wash. They continued down the narrow wash until they reached a wide
gully. They could see the wooden corner of the hunting blind. Seth
whistled and Drew turned around. Seth waved him back.

“
That’s the cabin?” Seth
asked.

“
That’s it,” Drew
said.

“
We’ll go on ahead,” Deputy
Robinson said. Out of breath, Delores arrived in the gully. “Del,
you stay here in case there’s something awful. You wanna go with
us, O’Malley? You’re not wearing body armor.”

“
You go ahead,” Seth said.
“Whistle once if we should join you, twice if we should bring
Delores.”

TWENTY-SIX

Deputy Robinson nodded to Seth. He and the
younger men checked their handguns. With a nod, the younger men
started down the gully toward the spring. They were soon lost in
the greener brush near Merrit spring. Deputy Robinson kissed his
wife and followed the deputies down the gully.

They waited in tense silence. Seth tried to
interpret every sound. The sudden boom was probably the deputies
kicking in the door. There was a pop and then another – which could
have been gunfire – but no screams, moans, or other sounds of human
agony. After what seemed like an age, they saw the young deputy
Tommy leaning over the top of the blind. He whistled once and then
again.

Seth and Ava took off running. They found
Deputy Robinson coming back to get his wife. The deputy waited for
Delores then trotted beside them.

“
They were in there,”
Deputy Robinson said. “Tied up tight. The girls
 . . . It’s dreadful. I wanted to get Del,
because. . .”

The deputy leaned to Seth.

“
The little girls look like
they’ve been assaulted. Meldy’s been beaten pretty bad. When she
saw me, she begged for Del. Do you mind?” Deputy Robinson glanced
at Ava. “I know it’s not police procedure but . . .”

“
Good idea,” Seth
said.

“
We’ll take a look when you
have them out of there,” Ava said.

“
It’s pretty bad, Del,”
Deputy Robinson said. “You sure you want to . . .”

Delores’s mouth formed a thin line as she
started down the path. Deputy Robinson followed close behind. Drew
started to go, but Seth grabbed his arm.

“
There’s nothing we can
do,” Seth said. “Let’s give them some time. They’re going to need
their strength to get home and deal with what’s next. What’s next
is always harder than what happened.”

Drew grimaced and looked away from him.

“
Why don’t we see if we can
get some emergency blankets from the helicopter?” Ava asked. “I bet
they have water too. We can be right here when the deputies bring
them out.”

Drew nodded to Ava. Seth followed them out
of the gully. They reached the road just in time to see the
military helicopter take off. A Las Animas County sheriff’s
helicopter and a state patrol helicopter were landing nearby. Seth
pointed Ava to the state patrol helicopter and went to explain the
situation to the Las Animas county sheriff.

Drew grabbed a first aid kit and left to
show the officers where to go. Seth and Ava stepped to the side to
avoid getting in the way of the police officers as they went to and
from the Merrit Spring cabin.

Hearing another helicopter, Seth looked
overhead. News helicopters for Pueblo and Denver flew overhead.
Just as they made their second pass with their camera men hanging
out the door, Deputy Robinson and Delores, with Meldy between them,
came onto the field. Seth and Ava ran to greet them. Meldy looked
up into the cameras and then ran to the Las Animas county sheriff’s
helicopter.

State patrolmen carried her daughters on
stretchers onto the field. Seth and Ava helped to hide the
children’s faces from the cameras. They made their way across the
field and into the Sheriff’s helicopter. With the children safe,
Ava nodded to Seth and ran to the cabin. Seth stepped into the
helicopter.

“
I’ll give you two minutes
while I strap them in,” the medic said.

Seth nodded. He introduced himself to Meldy
Bloom.

“
What happened?” Seth
asked.

“
Hill went nuts,” Meldy
said. “Everything was fine, really fine. Out of nowhere, he went
bonkers. He killed Phillip and his brother and . . .”

“
Any idea why?” Seth
asked.

“
No idea,” Meldy said. “We
were going to live in Albuquerque. He just . . . He
started fracking and ranting and beating on me, saying I destroyed
everything and . . .”

Meldy started to cry.

“
We can talk later,” Seth
said.

“
No,” Meldy said. “You have
to find my daughter, Hillary. He’s making her do awful things. He
said he would kill us if she didn’t do exactly what he told her to
do. And . . . you have to find my husband. He told
these girls he would kill me and . . .”

“
Ok, that’s enough,” the
medic said.

Seth nodded. He was about to leave, when
Meldy grabbed his arm.

“
Find my husband, Detective
O’Malley. Find my daughter,” Meldy said. “You found all those other
people and killers. Find them. She’s just a girl and he
. . .”

“
Go.” The medic used his
body to push Seth away from Meldy.

The helicopter engine began to rev and Seth
jumped out. The sheriff’s helicopter rose over the field. Meldy,
her daughters, and Delores were on their way to the Level I Trauma
Center hospital in Denver.

“
You coulda gone with
them,” Deputy Robinson said.

“
We’re on a different
journey,” Seth said. “I’m glad they’re safe.”

“
What’d she say?” Deputy
Robinson asked.

“
Find her daughter,” Seth
shrugged.

Deputy Robinson gave a worried look after
the helicopter and left to return to the cabin. Seth took out his
cell phone and called Captain Ferguson.

“
Hey Ferg,” Seth
said.

“
What?” Ferg’s voice
betrayed the irritation of long nights and frustrated
days.

“
Where’s the attitude
coming from?” Seth laughed.

“
Just that feeling that I’m
not going to like what you want me to do,” Ferg said.

“
You know about Meldy Bloom
and the kids?” Seth asked.

“
They’re on their way
here,” Ferg said. “That’s what I know.”

“
Mrs. Bloom is worried
about her daughter,” Seth said. “Said her husband told her he would
kill her mother and sisters if she didn’t do what he
wanted.”