Reining in Murder (13 page)

Annie also wondered briefly how she could keep Lavender from hearing about the recent deaths of Hilda Colbert and Wayne Johnston. But on that account, she needn't have worried. Trudging back up to the farmhouse after her stable chores, she could hear the blast of her ancient television before she reached the back door.

She found Lavender sitting entranced in front of the set in the living room, listening to the local news blare out the latest details in Hilda's murder case. Annie winced, strode over to the set, and turned it off.

“Sister! Why ever didn't you tell me? Finding a corpse all by yourself! And coming face-to-face with her murderer, too. No wonder your house is filled with bad karma! I'll get to work on it right away!”

Annie took a deep breath.

“Don't concern yourself, Lavender. This isn't something I really care to discuss with you, anyway.”

Lavender gave her the same downcast expression she'd used the night before. She must have spent years practicing in front of a mirror, Annie mused.

“Look, it's not as if I don't want to,” Annie lied. “It's just that it's an ongoing investigation. I'm not allowed to talk to anyone about it except the police. And frankly, I'd rather not do that, either.”

“But I could use my psychic powers to help you!”

“I'll be sure to pass that on to Sheriff Stetson,” Annie said drily. “But I need to get your promise, Lavender, that you won't talk to the media. They've already camped out on my doorstep once, and they may try to again. You don't know anything about the case so you have nothing to say. Is that clear?”

Annie felt as if she were speaking to a five-year-old, but she was damned if she was going to risk seeing Lavender on the five o'clock news prattling about her latest psychic insight about the case.

Lavender vigorously nodded up and down, her eyes wide and innocent. Annie didn't trust her for a second.

“Good. Now, I'll be in and out the rest of the day, so if you need anything, you can take my old Chevy pickup to town.”

“Thank you.”

Something about Lavender's demeanor gave her pause.

“You do have a license, don't you?”

“Well, I don't have a Washington license yet, of course.”

Annie studied Lavender, who was busy picking up the laundry she'd been folding in front of the television set.

“How about any old driver's license?”

“Well, I did, back in Florida, but then it got taken away.”

“It got taken away? By whom?”

Lavender scrambled to her feet with her clothing.

“It was all a big mistake. I smashed my car, then forgot to show up in court. I guess the judge decided to take away my license. That's what the letter said, anyway.”

“You
forgot
to show up in court?” Annie's words were mocking in the extreme. “Did your psychic powers fail you?”

Lavender faced Annie, her face blotched with anger.

“You and Daddy! That's just what
he
said! But you just don't understand! Ever since that woman came into Daddy's life, it's been impossible to live with them! She's tried to turn Daddy against me. I was a nervous wreck, just trying to second-guess how to act around them. I was lucky I wasn't killed in the accident. Not that anyone would care, of course,” she ended bitterly.

This conversation is going nowhere,
Annie thought to herself, with a sinking feeling that any subsequent attempts to communicate with Lavender would not go any better.

“Okay, drop it. But you can't drive, and I can't take you anywhere today. We've got a fairly decent bus system in the county, and there's a bus stop just a short walk from the house. I'll pick up a bus schedule for you, and you should be able to get to wherever you want to go.”

“Fine.” Lavender's feelings clearly were still hurt. Annie didn't care.

“And you might check up on your court case back in Florida. I'd hate for Sheriff Stetson to have to arrest you on a failure to appear.”

Lavender's horrified look was worth the price of her admission into Annie's home.

* * *

Annie was uncharacteristically at odds with herself the rest of the afternoon. She thought about working with Geronimo, then decided to give him a day off. It was for her sake, really. She simply didn't have the emotional energy to deal with his exuberant strength. Instead, she puttered around the tack room, setting up the horses' evening feed an hour early. She was anxious to see and talk to Marcus and impatiently waited for the winter sun to sink behind the mountains, the horses' cue to come to the fence line.

The only bright spot in Annie's day was her call to the Suwana Humane Society to arrange to pick up the Belgian Tervurens the next day. Hannah was due for her next lesson, and Annie knew the sight of the pups would give her little friend no end of delight. The woman who answered the phone was warm and deferential. Marcus must have given the shelter a significant donation, Annie thought. If the shelter director realized they'd just received money from a man accused of murdering his wife, that hideous realization wasn't reflected in her vocal delivery. The pups were ready to leave the shelter anytime, the woman gently suggested, but Annie wasn't about to leave them with her half-brained half sister, even for the hour she'd be spending with Marcus that evening.

As she fed the horses, Annie continued to wonder whether she'd made a huge mistake in trusting Marcus. In her gut, she felt certain that she was right about his innocence—but to listen to Dan and Tony talk, the evidence was overwhelming, and all that was needed was for Marcus to plead guilty and be done with it. Yet . . . something nagged at the back of Annie's brain, and wouldn't let go. She tried to tell herself it wasn't her hormones.

The one issue Annie didn't struggle over was her decision to give Marcus the registration papers for the bay. She'd already decided that she would simply tell him the truth. Okay, maybe not all of it, but most of it. He knew she'd discovered the puppies. So she could honestly tell him that she'd rescued one piece of paper out of a puppy's mouth. He also knew she'd discovered Hilda's body. She'd simply tell him she'd snatched up the paper in her hand without thinking while she was calling 9-1-1, stuffed it in her back pocket, and forgotten all about them until she did the laundry and then literally put the two together. Marcus didn't have to know that she'd just wanted to savor the papers before giving them to the police and then, too much time passed to make it plausible. He probably would encourage her to go to the police with what she knew, but then, he was leaving that night on a plane back to San Jose. Whatever she decided to do after he left was her own business.

She was simply relieved to get the registration papers out of her hands. They already were stored in the glove compartment of her truck. Just getting them out of the house had relieved it of bad karma. Whatever Lavender allegedly did was lagniappe.

Mental anxiety did wonders for Annie's work ethic. The horses were fed, watered, and tucked in their stalls in record time. By 6:10
P.M.
, she was on the road.

Two eagles circled high above her truck as she made the left turn into town. Annie had never set much store by omens, but today, the sight of the birds made Annie inwardly cringe. If she wasn't careful, she'd soon be buying into Lavender's spiel and planting a ceramic Buddha in the front yard.

The lineup of battered old pickup trucks in front of Laurie's Café brought Annie's thoughts back to her familiar reality. Laurie's Café had been a fixture in Suwana County for the past sixty years and the décor, inside and out, hadn't changed much during that time. It was a place where local farmers congregated to eat, swap stories, and start or end their day with meals that definitely were not on the Surgeon General's recommended list. The food wasn't fancy, but it was good, and there was plenty of it.

Annie left Wolf in the front seat, promising him all her leftovers when she returned. She cast her eye around the parking lot for an unfamiliar car and realized that she had no idea what Marcus would be driving. Annie stepped inside the café and breathed in a mixture of warm apple pie, meat loaf, and the irresistible smell of deep-frying fat. No Marcus. Well, he would arrive soon; she was sure of it. She intuited that this was a man to whom punctuality was a given, and she was five minutes early. She helped herself to a corner booth that she knew afforded some privacy, ordered coffee, and surveyed the customer base this evening. It was the usual assortment of country folk, most of whom she knew by sight. It was still too early for the real tourist season.

And Marcus would stick out in this crowd like a sore thumb. She wondered if it was wise for him to have chosen a place where they both might be known. Even now, she saw a few of the locals giving her the once-over. Annie had never been one to make anything of herself outside her own small world, but now she assumed her face had appeared on TV, and her name had made it into the local newspaper. She wished she'd been smart enough to buy a newspaper just to check. Copies of the local rag and
Little Nickel
were stacked right outside the entrance, but Annie didn't want to walk across the dining room again.

Inside her parka, her cell phone gave off its old-fashioned ring tone, and Annie gave an involuntary jump in her seat. She searched for her cell frantically before finding it in the most obvious place, her outside front pocket. By that time, the phone had stopped making noise and more than one eye was on her in the crowded dining area.

Annie put a five-dollar bill on the tabletop and, with as much dignity as she could muster, walked outside, and got back into her truck. Wolf's initial happiness at seeing her faded when he realized she was not carrying his dinner.

Annie was in no mood for sympathy. Pushing Wolf over to his side of the front seat, she locked the door and pressed for voice mail. She knew who it would be before the voice started speaking.

“Hi, Annie. It's Marcus. I'll be there soon. I promise. One last business meeting just took longer than I expected. Why I ever agreed to it is beyond me, but there you have it.” There was that soft chuckle that made Annie's heart melt. “Go ahead and order one of your local famous oyster burgers for me. I'm less than a half hour away.” There was a click on the other end of the line.

Annie sighed and settled back in the car. She had no intention of going back into Laurie's Café with or without Marcus. She'd simply wait for him outside, and the two of them could find a quiet place to talk, perhaps back at her place.
Oh hell.
Not with Lavender there. Well, they could go out past the reservoir to talk. It was a favorite spot for teenagers to go and neck, at least in Annie's day. God knows what they did there now. She giggled. The thought of kissing Marcus in her truck had certain desirable aspects to it. She drew Wolf nearer to her and hunkered down to wait.

* * *

Four hours later, Annie was abruptly awakened by the sound of a large truck peeling out. She glanced up, unsure of her surroundings, then remembered where she was.
Where is Marcus? Did I miss his call?
Annie grabbed her cell and stared at it. Nothing. She sat up and hurriedly found the last number called and punched it in. It rang four times, then clicked over to voice mail.

“Hello, you've reached Marcus Colbert. Please leave your message at the tone.”

Annie clicked off without doing so. Her heart began to hammer. There was no good reason for Marcus not to be here by now. And no good reason for him not to tell her if there was. Something was wrong.

She absentmindedly petted Wolf and reached to turn on the ignition. Then she realized what else was wrong, and what had been nagging at her subconscious for the past two days.
If Marcus had left that horrible, awful message for Hilda, why had he given Hilda's voice mail password to Dan so readily? Why would you give the police information that would turn you into an obvious suspect?
It didn't make sense. But neither did Marcus's no-show. Grimly, she took her cell phone once again and punched in Dan's cell number. She might be waking him at a very bad time, but he needed to know that his prime suspect was now a missing person.

M
ONDAY
, F
EBRUARY
29
^TH
—T
UESDAY
, M
ARCH
1
^ST

Annie crouched near the kitchen woodstove, her chest nearly touching her bent knees. Her hands idly fingered a bit of cedar kindling, as if she were gravely contemplating its worth as potential fuel for her fire. Annie's hair, uncharacteristically hanging down, swept the floor with long, tangled trellises.

The door to the woodstove stood wide open, but no roar issued from within. The house was cold, and Annie's heart was the coldest thing in it.

Drawing a ragged breath, she reached without looking for a piece of the local paper, stacked neatly behind her. She crushed the sports section and tossed it into the woodstove. It was a dejected throw. She sighed deeply.

Annie later realized she'd been asleep in her truck a solid four hours the night before. She'd awakened Dan from his own sound sleep. Not surprisingly, her pleadings to start the search for Marcus
right now
were rudely dismissed.

“Hell, Annie! If I started searching for everyone who ever broke a date, I'd be backlogged from here to eternity,” he'd grumbled.

Annie had squelched her sudden anger.

“He called me when he was on his way,” she insisted. “He said he had one short meeting and would meet me at Laurie's Café. If something else had come up, he would have called.”

Dan had balked, cursed, then resigned himself to following police protocol.

“He probably had a meeting with the guy who sold him a new passport. In fact, he's probably on his way to Ecuador as we speak,” he told Annie, who'd bitten her lip so many times during the conversation that it now dripped blood.

But Dan had agreed to send someone out to the B&B where Marcus had been staying and to Hilda's ranch to see if there was any sign of him. And he promised Annie he would put out an APB if, and only if, Judy Evans agreed it was necessary.

“Better cash that check of his now,” was his parting shot. “Although I wouldn't be surprised if his accounts are already drained.” Annie had feverishly punched “disconnect” several times and snapped the lid of her cell phone shut, sorry that mobiles were not constructed to properly convey an angry hang-up with a resounding bang. What she didn't realize until later was that she'd also erased Marcus's voice message to her.

That was eight hours ago, and since then, Dan had called twice. The first time was to tell Annie that Marcus had checked out of his B&B at 10:00
A.M.
the day before and had not been sighted anywhere on the Olympic Peninsula. The second time was to let her know he'd talked to Marcus's attorney, who denied hearing from his client, and then had informed the prosecutor of Marcus's disappearance. Judy Evans was even less than sympathetic than Dan; she'd told him to lose no time tracking down the missing suspect and assured him that she'd issue a warrant for Marcus's arrest if he hadn't surfaced by the end of the week, his first check-in deadline.

It seemed that no one within the judicial system believed that Marcus was in danger. They all thought the worst of him, which made it even harder for Annie to bear. Now she feared that if Marcus were found, some overly eager deputy would shoot to kill. Dan still had a few good ol' boys in his posse.

An hour ago, Esther had called on Dan's behalf to let her know that all points of entry in and out of Washington were now being searched by every available law enforcement agency. Esther sounded mildly sympathetic, which Annie appreciated.

Despite the all-out search for Marcus Colbert, Annie had never felt so hopeless and bereft of spirit in her life. The more the hours slipped away, the more desperate Annie's thoughts became. She wished for the thousandth time that she'd saved Marcus's last message to her, so she could prove to Dan that his disappearance was not of his own doing.

Annie also wished she'd saved the message so she could hear Marcus's voice once more. Somewhere, deep down in her gut, she had the miserable feeling that she'd never hear Marcus speak to her again. She hoped he
had
taken a flight to Ecuador. At least then she could be sure that he was safe. At this moment, she was terribly afraid of what she didn't know.

She straightened up, putting her hand on the small of her back, now sore from prolonged bending over, and nearly jumped when she saw Lavender placidly looking at her from the kitchen door, wearing one of Annie's flannel nightgowns.

Naturally, Lavender hadn't brought any warm clothes with her.

“Jesus, you nearly scared me to death,” Annie said crossly, wiping her face with the back of her arm and knowing she couldn't hide her distressed state.

“What's wrong, Sister?” Lavender spoke quietly, without her usual exhilaration.

Annie glared at her. “None of your business.”

“You got home late last night.”

“It's my life. I can do what I want.”

Lavender walked over and awkwardly tried to hug Annie, who ducked and wrapped her arms protectively around her midriff.

“A friend is missing, okay? I'm just upset about that. I didn't mean to snap at you.”

“I know,” came the calm answer.

“Come here, and learn how to make a fire.” Annie's tone was brusque, but she didn't care. Lavender had to learn how to live in this house, too, even if it was only for twenty-eight more days and counting.

* * *

The morning brought no more news on Marcus's whereabouts, but it did bring a little joy to Annie's life, in the form of two fat, soft, and sweet-smelling Belgian Tervuren pups. Earlier, she'd arranged to take Hannah and her siblings to the Humane Society to pick them up, but when Hannah's mother, Judith, had come to the door and seen Annie, she'd immediately offered to take the kids herself. Annie was immensely relieved. She was in perpetual awe of Judith's seeming unflappability when surrounded by her brood of children, who usually were simultaneously talking and climbing over themselves when Annie appeared on the scene.

She cheered up enough to make oatmeal for herself and Lavender, then take the truck into town to buy puppy chow and teeth chews. To her astonishment, Lavender offered to clean out the pantry, the pups' sleeping quarters for the time being. There was no way Wolf would allow the pups anywhere near his domain at night, which was at the foot of Annie's bed, or anywhere else in the room he deigned to sleep.

She probably just wants to make sure the dogs don't bed down with her,
Annie thought to herself, then felt ashamed at her suspicions toward her half sister's first true act of kindness while in her home.

Annie's mood was somewhat marred at the bank, where she presented Marcus's check and was regretfully told that there would be a ten-day hold on the check until it cleared from its point of origin in California. Yet the mere act of depositing the check made her feel that she was doing something in the effort to find Marcus. If the check cleared, she thought, then presumably Marcus was alive. Or maybe not.

The arrival of the puppies brought much-needed laughter into Annie's home. The entire Clare clan was enchanted with the little pups, and Annie took deep satisfaction at watching the children happily play with them. She joined in the excited discussion of what to name them, and good-naturedly withdrew her suggestion of “Mutt” and “Jeff” when a loud chorus of “Noooos” followed her contribution. Only when it was clear that downtime was necessary for both pups and kids if the world was going to continue to revolve on its axis did she remember that Marcus was still missing. She helped usher the children out the door, promised they could come back tomorrow, promised that she would not name them without their knowledge—before turning her thoughts inward again. Lavender escaped to her room for a nap.

Annie went outside to the stables to think. As always, mucking stalls was a catalyst in the process.

She finished the stables in near record time and was heading over to Trooper's quarters when the phone rang. Annie dropped the mucking fork and ran back to the tack room. She noticed that her hands were shaking as she picked up the phone.

“Annie? We have some news. Sea-Tac police found Marcus's car in the long-term parking lot this afternoon. Car's locked; no one's inside. Doesn't look like anything else is inside, either, although the windows are tinted so damn dark that it's hard to tell.

“Annie?” Dan sounded concerned.

She realized she hadn't said anything back. She wanted to hear everything he had to say, first.

“Sorry, Dan. That sounds like good news.”

“I hope so. So far, we haven't found any evidence that Marcus boarded a plane, domestic or international. But we won't know for sure for a day or two. He could have boarded under another name. We've asked Homeland Security to look through all the videos, starting from 1400 hours yesterday, and that's going to take some time.”

“What are you going to do with the car?”

“We're having it hauled as we speak to the Seattle PD impound lot to look it over. We'll secure it as evidence, then head back later tonight. I'd like to stop by when I hit God's green earth again, Annie. As of now, you were the last person to talk to Marcus. I need to get your statement.”

“Fine. I'll be here.” Annie would have done almost anything to keep in the loop of the investigation. If giving her statement gave her more information, she was happy to do it. “But you'll probably have to meet Lavender.”

“Your pink-haired sister? Can't wait.”

“Half sister,” Annie corrected him, but Dan had already hung up the phone.

* * *

Annie got one more phone call that afternoon, and it was not a pleasant one.

“Is Anne Marie Carson home?” It was a male voice, one she didn't recognize.

“Speaking.”

“Ms. Carson, I understand that you have a real valuable piece of horseflesh on your property.” The vernacular placed the speaker as a born-and-bred local. Annie's heart thudded, but she was silent. The voice went on.

“So, the way I heard it, the horse's owner is dead and the man who killed her is a fugitive from justice. Am I getting it right,
Ms
. Carson?”

“Who is this?”

“Oh, just a friend of a friend.”

“What, too scared to tell me your name?” Annie's body was on high alert, but unlike her equines, who would have been ready to flee, Annie was poised to stand and fight.

“Not important. But my friend wants you to know something. He said to tell you maybe you can handle the horse you got now, but Marcus Colbert is one stallion you don't want to mess with.”

“Who are you?”

“As I said, it's not important. Just pay attention to what my friend says. He'd hate for you to get into trouble.”

Annie banged down the phone, her heart pounding.

* * *

The puppies were fast asleep in their new bed, and the house was filled with the all-encompassing warmth of a good woodstove fire when Dan arrived later that evening. Annie had told Lavender that the sheriff would be making a house call, and apparently her previous warning that she could be arrested for not appearing in a Florida court had been taken seriously. Lavender had fled to her bedroom immediately after dinner and shut the door. Musky incense began to waft through the house, intermingling not unpleasantly with the cedar fire.

Dan sniffed the air suspiciously as he removed his gloves, tipped his sheriff's hat, then tossed it onto one of Annie's chairs.

“You aren't going all woo-woo on me, are you, Annie?” His tone was dubious.

“Hell, no. The aroma is gratis of my new boarder. You know perfectly well I prefer the smell of horse manure and fresh hay.”

“Well, that's a relief.” Dan peered through the open kitchen door. “Where is she, anyway?”

“Hiding in her room. I told her you were mean and ugly.”

“Aw, Annie. You always were the flatterer.”

Reverting to her usual banter with Dan raised Annie's spirits. If she could joke, she could get up tomorrow. She could cope with life again.

“You got any of that single malt on the shelf?”

Annie arched one eyebrow but dutifully pulled down the Glenlivet and poured hefty slugs into two shot glasses. She was more than happy to empty the bottle if it got Dan to talk about what he'd learned.

The sheriff eased his body into one of Annie's small kitchen chairs and flung one meaty arm over the back. He took the proffered glass from Annie and drained it in a single gulp. Annie stared at him, momentarily stunned. Then she refilled his glass and demurely sat down next to him and waited for Dan to speak.

He cleared his throat gruffly, looked at his nails critically, then sighed.

“Well, Annie, I hate to say this, but it looks like you were right.”

Annie stopped herself just in time from making a predictable sarcastic reply.

“In what way?”

“There's no sign that Marcus ever boarded a plane, under his name or any other. We'll know definitely later tonight. My money still would be on his being a fugitive from justice except for the car.”

“What about the car?” Annie's throat tightened.

Dan sighed and shifted his weight from one leg to another.

“It's clean.
Too
clean. Everything's been wiped down. Can't find a single usable print on the entire vehicle.”

Annie privately thought that if Marcus were to abscond, he might very well have thought of doing that precise thing, but she said nothing to Dan. She sipped her scotch thoughtfully and waited for the next tidbit of information.