Deep Into The Night (Hartz Island Series) (22 page)

“I’m following the white van, and here it comes now. I’ll see you later on then.”

Cassie stepped out of the way, and Ray slowly moved into traffic, slightly behind the van.

The area emptied out quickly, and Jack pulled up next to her. She hopped in and before she buckled up, he was on the road.

“That was Margery Anne’s husband who picked her up.”

“I know,” said Jack. “Ray texted me.”

“Interesting. So, did you text Ray about the cupcakes?”

“No. That will be your job when we all meet up tonight.”

“Oh.”

“We’re still working out all the details.”

“So that’s what Ray meant when he said I’ll see you later on.”

Jack turned on the side road and followed it to Blue Heron Lane. He stopped and pointed. She sighed and ducked down until he entered their property.

“You’re being excessive.”

“Cautious,” he replied.

Just inside their gate, Jack stopped again and got out. This time, he opened the hatch and pulled out a battery-operated screwdriver. Curious at what he was up to, she hopped out and watched him unscrew all the little bolts from their family sign. He put the sign and his screwdriver back in the truck, rummaged around in a box, and pulled out old leather gloves. With the gloves on, he then scooped up handfuls of dirt and rubbed where the sign had been attached to the old post. He did this several times. When he was finished, Jack tossed the gloves in the back of the truck and slammed the hatch down.

“I’m not even going to ask why.” She threw up her hands and climbed back in the truck.

“Good.”

Jack started down the wooded lane and stopped. “Do you see anything I should be concerned about?”

Was he serious?
Cassie peered out the window and stared down their dirt driveway. “It all looks normal.”

“It’s not. Someone has driven down this drive recently. The tire marks are fresh.”

Taking a closer look, yes she did see marks.

He smiled and put the truck in gear. “I know who it is, but I want you to think about this. These are the sorts of things you need to be aware of.”

His steel blue eyes narrowed looking at her. Cassie had a distinct feeling there was more to Jack’s message than what was being said.

Chapter Thirty-Five

"W
ell, are you going to tell me?” Cassie asked.

Jack parked just outside the kitchen entrance. “Go look for clues while I start unloading.”

She knew if she didn’t indulge him, he wouldn’t let up. “So what do I get if I figure it out?” she teased.

He tilted his head, and a slow smile formed. The desire in his eyes caused her heart to race and heat to rush through her.

“I’ll start looking.” Her eyes locked into his.

“Hurry. We don’t have a lot of time.”

Cassie pushed open her door and practically fell out, moving fast. She decided to start where the drive opened to the wide open space. Jack had driven straight up to the kitchen door. Studying the ground, Cassie spotted the V where the Tahoe’s tire marks veered slightly left and straight ahead, and the visitor’s smaller tire tracks went right. Whoever it was had parked on the side of the house, out of sight of any neighbors. Cassie had a hunch who it might be by the way Jack smiled, but she wanted to be sure.

It wasn’t obvious where the person walked after they parked, but Cassie figured the beach was the most likely spot. She crossed in front of their deck, walking toward the beach, but stopped when she saw the ladder on the ground. This wouldn’t have fit in a smaller car; therefore, it must have come from the shed. Cassie picked it up and carried it back to the shed. On close examination, shoe prints and markings where the ladder had been dragged were evident. Cassie stared at the markings and started smiling, which turned into laughter.

Jack knelt in front of the wood burning stove and watched the fire take hold. The mudroom door closed, and the kitchen door opened. In less than a minute, he would know if Cassie had figured it out. He stood up and watched her come around the corner.
Oh, yeah
, he thought,
she knew
. His face split into a wide grin as he watched her approach. The gentle sway of her hips sent his body into overdrive. Cassie stopped in front of him and grinned mischievously. She reached for his jean’s waistband and unbuttoned his Levi’s.

“You’re pretty sure of yourself,” he said, sucking in his breath.

“Montana.”

“You got that right.” He picked her up and threw her over his shoulders, heading for the bedroom.

Laughing uncontrollably, she managed to ask, “Do we have time?”

“Hell yes.”

Afterwards, he lay on top, pulling the down sleeping bags around them for warmth. Propped up by his elbows, Jack asked, “Am I too heavy for you?” Tenderly, he kissed her.

Cassie smiled. “No.”

Jack kissed her again, but this time slower.

“I had no idea,” she murmured, outlining his lips with her fingertip.

“About what?”

Cassie sighed, so Jack asked her again.

“I’m thirty-six years old, and I had no idea how good,” she paused and smiled tentatively. “How good sex can be. I can’t get enough of you.”

“That makes two of us.” His mouth lingered on hers. “Cass.” He kissed her again and then pulled away to look into her eyes. “I’m glad you left Hollywood.” A hunger gnawed at him that he couldn’t satisfy. She’d made him hard all over again.

An obnoxious repeating ring filled the bedroom. Jack raised his mouth from hers and smiled. “Our alarm just went off. I’m afraid our play time is over.” He rolled off her, grabbed his phone, and turned it off.

“You set an alarm?”

“I had to.” Jack grinned. “We’d be here all night.”

He unmuted his phone, and the text messages dinged one after another. He waited until Cassie ran into the bathroom before he read them. Ray and Kip had messaged him about tonight’s meeting: rendezvous at six thirty. Jeannie volunteered to cook dinner for everyone up at Eagle’s Nest Lodge.

The shower stopped, and they switched places. Like Cassie, Jack made it quick. He joined her in the front room where it was now toasty warm. After discussing the game plan for the night, Jack handed her a yellow tablet.

“Write down everything you know about Margery Anne. No matter how minute the detail is, it might trigger the next detail.”

When she finished, he read over her details. It was a good list. He smiled at the mention of the missing cupcake box.

Jack zipped up a black jacket and pulled on a black stocking cap. “I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?” Cassie asked.

“I’m going to check Armstrong’s house from the beach. When I get back, we’ll head over to Eagle’s Nest.”

He sprinted into the shadows and down to the beach. He ducked behind the huge driftwood log, which gave him optimum viewing of the front of the house. Besides the little red blinking security lights, a light shined through the curtain. Someone was there. That’s all he wanted to know. Like before, the beach was clear of debris, allowing for easy landing of anything, even a float plane if it were so bold. After a few minutes, Jack headed back. Cassie stood at the sliding glass door with the lights off, watching and waiting. When he hit the deck, she slid the door open for him and closed it immediately behind him, letting out a big sigh. She pulled the drapes shut, turned on the light over the table, and stared, her eyes wide.

“Someone is over at Armstrong’s. Curtains are drawn, but a light is shining through. Let’s make sure all the drapes are firmly closed and pull the shade down over the kitchen window. I doubt if anyone would look in, but they won’t be able to see much and that includes the fire.” Jack threw a couple more pieces of wood on the fire. “We might not be back until really, really late.”

It had been March when Jack had been to Eagle’s Nest Lodge to help Kip with a surveillance operation. Even though the lodge was tucked away almost directly across from the Ryan’s on the other side of the island, he could not drive a direct route to it. It was kind of a local secret and hidden away on the island.

Cassie used Jack’s iPad to map the route. “According to this, you are almost on top of the drive.” She peered out the window.

Tall evergreens and firs lined the road way. Jack stopped at the next drive and looked at the tablet. Making a right turn, he started down the heavily wooded drive until ended at the old lodge surrounded by the woods.

“I had no idea this existed. It’s really secluded.”

“That’s why we’re here tonight.”

“Who owns it?”

“Brooke Erickson manages it for her elderly aunt and uncle.” He went on to explain that they’d left for Arizona for the winter. Brooke had taken her little boy Jonah down to Seattle to visit her parents for a few days and offered up the lodge. Other than special events, the lodge was closed for the season.

Kip’s SUV was backed up to the kitchen door with its hatch open. Jack parked between Ray’s Jeep and Montana’s Saab. Before he could say anything, she’d hopped out. He’d expected hesitancy on her part.

“What, you don’t want me to be a Russian anymore?”

“Hardly. Besides,” she said with a smile. “I like you just the way you are.”

He smiled too. Something had shifted with her and he was glad. Jack held out his hand, and she grasped it loosely, walking into the kitchen with him. Jeannie and Montana were pulling out dinnerware and greeted them. The women fussed over Cassie’s new hairdo and wanted to know what she’d been up to.

Jack caught Jeannie’s attention, and she pointed to the doorway and said, “Kip and Ray are moving things around. Hopefully it’s warmed up out there.” She handed Jack two bottles of red wine and an opener. “It’s date night at my house. From what I can tell, we all have a date.”

He returned her smile.

“These need to breathe.”

A big fire roared in the stone fire place at the end of the large room. Kip and Ray had moved tables in a horseshoe setup in front of it. Taped to one side of the fireplace was a large detailed map of all the San Juan Islands, including Vancouver Island. Next to it was a map of just Hartz Island. The other side had the entire region from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Tacoma, Washington, and everything in between. A white board on an easel stood off to the side.

Jack helped Kip move another table for the food. He said to Kip, “I heard it was date night.”

Kip laughed. “Hey, I’m not arguing with her.”

Ray joined the two men and watched the three women come through the door. Cassie and Montana carried wine glasses, and Jeannie held a platter of appetizers. Jack wasn’t surprised at Cassie’s reaction. It had been the same as his the first time he’d been to Eagle’s Nest Lodge. Her mouth dropped open with a silent wow. Montana pointed to the wall of windows, and she and Jeannie joined her, looking out onto a channel inlet.

Ray said quickly, “Which one of us is going to be in charge of the women?”

Kip replied, “I’m safe. You two have the problem.”

Jack didn’t hesitate. “You’re the boss on this one, Ray. Technically, it’s your jurisdiction.” He grinned.

“I was afraid you would say that,” he said.

Jack poured wine for everyone and joined Cassie at the maps. “Is anything jumping out at you?”

“No, other than I had no idea there were so many inlets and coves on Hartz. Actually, on all the islands. I knew Canada was close, but I didn’t realize how close.” Cassie pointed to Vancouver Island. “What’s keeping a big cruiser from hauling a bunch of people over?”

“Hopefully, our radar systems, but you get a low-riding water craft like a kayak or a raft and radar won’t detect it.”

“Interesting.”

Jeannie proclaimed Happy Hour finished, and dinner was ready. Light banter filled the air. Once everyone got their fill and finished eating, Kip cleared the tables.

It was time for brain storming. Ray stood at the front, Jack at the white board and maps, and Kip sat at the table with the women. They started with details from last March when Kip and his team landed on the island for his surveillance op to the present. The biggest gap of time was summer. Jeannie, Montana, and Ray didn’t remember seeing Armstrong in the summer. Jack was in Seattle, and Kip was at a rehab hospital. Jeannie reminded them Margery Anne’s daughter was also home from college during that time, and maybe she put the daughter ahead of lust.

Jack flagged the maps where Armstrong had been sighted, then MAMW and Armstrong, tattoo sightings, and he included white vans. When he finished, the flags made a direct line coming out of the ports of Vancouver Island, straight across Hartz and San Juan to Seattle on South Jackson Street with a flag pinpointing the massage parlor where Jack and Cassie witnessed the same tattoo.

Jack took his seat next to Cassie. Ray motioned for Montana to join him. The two of them detailed what they had witnessed the night before. Then it was Cassie’s turn. Finishing up, she said, “Two points of contention bother me. When I stood in the bakery, I would have recognized Margery Anne immediately because of her extremely expensive designer purse. Not until she turned around to leave the bakery did I realize it was her. No purse, but a lot of cupcakes. So a couple of hours later, she walks off the ferry at Hartz, and she now has her purse but no cupcakes. So where are those cupcakes?”

“So she either left them behind on San Juan Island, or she knew someone on that ferry,” Montana surmised. “Where did the white van go that you followed, Ray?”

“The very private religious retreat compound that has those high stucco walls with security cameras at the front gate. No one really knows much about that place, either. They stick to themselves. Jeannie, have they ever come into the café?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“So there’s another tie-in to religion,” mused Kip. “And the Black woman is at the tip. Any chance her husband is involved?”

Silence ensued.

“I take that as no one had contemplated his involvement. What would happen if you leaned hard on Margery Anne?”

“I don’t think so,” Montana replied, shaking her head. “That relationship is…well…bad. Addicted on her part. Who knows what on his? It has the feeling of more than just two people having an affair, though. Also, she has a really bad temper. Doesn’t she, Ray?”

“I agree with Montana. MAMW would not have an ounce of morals on this one and would side with Armstrong.”

Jack pulled the large map of Hartz Island off the wall and taped it to the white board on the easel, pulling it closer to the table. “Where’s that compound, Ray?”

Ray pointed to the map.

Cassie said, “That used to be the nudist colony.”

They all turned and looked at her.

“And you know this how?” Jack asked.

Cassie laughed. “Because my friends and I used to sneak up there all the time. It’s not that far from our place if you take the trail through the woods. I’ll show you.” She came around and stood to the side of the map. “Here’s our house.” Cassie pushed in a pin. “This is where we would ride our bikes.” She traced the road down from Blue Heron Lane. “And somewhere around here, we would hike the trail up the hillside.”

“Did your mother know you did that?” asked Jack, shocked.

Cassie gave him a look and sat down.

“Oh, my.” Jeannie gasped, shaking her head. “And it’s not that far from the little county park on the water.” Her voice faded away.

She stared at the map. Jack handed her a pin, and Kip nudged her forward. Jeannie pushed the pin in a spot on the water just south of the compound. Her lips were pressed together studying the map.