Tax Assassin (20 page)

“
Forensics. In Pueblo,” Ava
said.

“
Ah, man, those boys is a
pain in the rear,” Jerry the deputy said.

“
Even if they are, Magic
O’Malley says we need them here,” Deputy Robinson said.

The other deputies turned to look at
Seth.

“
When you’re done, I could
use some help finding Mrs. Bloom and her kids,” Seth
said.

The deputies jumped into action.

“
You sure you can find
them?” Ava asked.

“
I hope so,” Seth
said.

A car door slammed and Delores the motel
manager rushed to the garden.

“
Is that her? Is that
Meldy?” Delores’s voice cracked with hysteria.

Before Seth could stop her, Delores dropped
down to the garden. Her hand stretched out in horror toward the
tissue. Seth pulled her up and held her to him.

“
Ma’am,” Ava said. “We
don’t know who it is at this time.”

“
They think it’s a man,
Del,” Deputy Robinson said.

When she was steady, Seth released Delores.
She went back to the bed, bowed her head in prayer, and then turned
back to Seth.

“
What can I do?” Delores
asked.

“
We’re getting together a
party to find Mrs. Bloom and the kids,” Seth said.

“
They aren’t here
somewhere?” Delores looked around the homestead.

“
No,” Seth said. “Would you
mind going with Ava to look at the house?”

“
Sure,” Delores said.
“What’s going on here?”

“
We’re hoping you might be
able to help with that,” Seth said.

“
Where do you think Meldy
is?” Delores asked.

“
Somewhere over there,”
Seth pointed to the northwest of where they were
standing.

“
On the state wilderness
land?” Deputy Robinson’s eyebrows shot up with surprise. “There’s
eight thousand acres there. That’s a needle in a
haystack.”

“
On the Wilderness land?”
Delores turned to look at Seth.

“
If that’s over there,”
Seth said.

“
I’ve been somewhere . . .”
Delores’s voice faded. “It’s been years . . .”

“
Del dated Hill-three in
high school,” the deputy said.

Surprised, Seth and Ava turned to
Delores.

“
I was young and stupid,”
Delores said.

“
She married up,” Deputy
Robinson smiled.

“
Have you met my husband?”
Delores laughed and gestured to the deputy.

Ava and Seth smiled at them. Deputy Robinson
laughed and leaned on his rake, and then remembered that he was
standing over a body. He scowled.

“
You’ve been somewhere?”
Seth asked.

“
They have a kind of
hunting blind near the Wilderness Area,” Delores nodded. “Howie
built it when we were in high school. He used to take Texans
hunting. He made good money doing it.”

“
Do you think you can find
it?” Seth asked.

“
Maybe, but . . .” Delores
shook her head.

“
But?” Ava moved closer to
Delores.

“
My dad used to stock it
with beer and stuff. Howie was too young to buy beer, but those
good old boys love their Coors.” Delores glanced at her husband. He
shrugged. “At least I think . . .”

“
Call him, Del,” Deputy
Robinson said. “I bet he’d be here in a heartbeat. He loves Meldy
as much as we do.”

Delores took out her cell phone and placed
the call. While she waited for the call to connect, she noticed the
activity in the barn.

“
What’s going on in there?”
she asked.

“
Fracking,” Seth
said.

“
Fracking out of the Raton
Basin. If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I’d never . . .”
Delores shook her head. Her father must have answered, because she
turned away to talk on the phone.

“
Listen,” Seth said to
Deputy Robinson. “Have you seen Hillery the third
lately?”

TWENTY-FOUR

“
I rarely see the man,”
Deputy Robinson said. “And never on purpose. You seen him lately,
Jerry?”

“
Nah,” Jerry said. “Not
since high school.”

“
How ‘bout you Tommy?”
Deputy Robinson caught the young man’s arm as he walked by carrying
yellow caution tape.

“
What’s the question?” the
young deputy sheriff asked.

“
Have you seen Hill-three
lately?” Seth asked.

Tommy shook his head. Delores turned around.
Her eyes glanced at Ava and then lingered on Seth, before she
clicked off the phone.

“
My dad’s about fifteen
minutes from here.”

“
Great,” Seth
said.

“
They were fracking?”
Delores asked.

“
It would make the land
unusable for the Army for a while,” Seth said.

“
At least five years,” Ava
said. “Maybe more.”

“
Figures,” Delores said.
“Where are all the people?”

“
Good question,” Deputy
Robinson said. “There was no one here when we got here.”

“
It is strange,” Seth
said.

“
You said something about
looking at the house?” Delores said. “I don’t know if I can help. I
haven’t been here in years.”

“
But you did spend time
here?” Seth asked.

“
Sure, before Hill-three’s
mom died, but that was twenty years or so ago,” Delores said. “She
used to invite me to stay for dinner if I was here.”

“
Let’s take a look and
see,” Ava said. “You’d be surprised what someone who knows a house
can notice.”

Delores nodded and followed Ava to the
house.

“
What now?” Deputy Robinson
asked.

“
We wait,” Seth
said.

Seth took in all of the activity around him.
The deputies were securing the fracking unit in the barn. Other
deputies nudged him out of the way so that they could tape off the
garden.

A few minutes later, a battered truck pulled
up to the house. Seth walked over to meet Delores’s father. He had
stark white hair and the deeply lined skin of someone who’d spend
most of his life working under the high desert sun. At least
eighty, the man had the spry look and spring in his step of someone
ready to get the job done. Seth glanced at the house and saw Ava
waving to him from the upstairs balcony.

“
O’Malley,” Seth held his
hand out, and the man shook it.

“
Drew Gilpin,” Delores’s
father said.

“
Just Drew? Not Drew the
second or third?” Seth smiled.

“
Nah,” Drew said. “Our
family’s on the working side of the equation in this valley. More
names, less money.”

“
Good to meet you,” Seth
said.

“
Nice to meet you, sir.
I’ve read all about you and your investigations up in Denver. I
didn’t expect you to be such a young man.”

Seth smiled.

“
Do you really write music,
too?” Drew asked. “Or is that just a part of the
legend?”

“
It’s a gift and a curse,”
Seth said.

“
I bet,” Drew said. “Like
that little gal up there.”

Seth laughed out loud and Drew smirked.

“
Del called and asked me to
come over,” Drew said. “I worked for one Hillery or another for
most of my life. What can I help with?”

“
I have an idea that Meldy
Bloom and her kids are somewhere in that direction,” Seth pointed
to the northwest of where they stood. “Deputy Robinson suggested it
was in the Wilderness Area.”

“
The Apishapa?” Drew
nodded. “Makes some sense. You think he’s holding them?”

“
Maybe they’re hiding from
him and the oldest daughter,” Seth said.

“
Hillary?” Drew asked.
“She’s a sweetie. Why would Meldy hide out from her?”

Seth shrugged.

“
I know she had a tough
time at school, but underneath it all she’s a real doll,” Drew
said. “Why, the last couple of years, she’s spent her afternoons
with my wife. Alice had MS and needed help taking care of the
house. We pay her a little bit – not much. Hillary is a real
help.”

“
Any idea where Hillary is
now?” Seth kept his tone neutral.

“
She said she had to go
with her grandpa some
place . . .” Drew shook his head. “Nope, I don’t
remember where. She has to drive because Hill-three has that kidney
thing and can’t drive. Her grandpa falls asleep at the
wheel.”

“
The high school principal
doesn’t seem to like her much,” Seth said.

“
Sure. He’s not from around
here,” Drew nodded. “He wouldn’t cotton to a strong, bullheaded
woman who doesn’t necessarily abide by the rules. We raise ‘em like
that around here. Have you met my daughter?”

Drew laughed. Mid-laugh, he turned his head
sideways and scowled at Seth.

“
Why you askin’ about
Hillary?” Drew asked. “Is she in some kind of trouble?”

“
I’m not sure,” Seth said.
“I’d like to find Mrs. Bloom and her kids. Maybe they’ll have some
idea what’s going on.”

“
Where did you say you
thought they were?” Drew asked.

“
Delores suggested they
might be at a hunting blind?” Seth asked. “She said you used to
stock it for Howard Bloom and his hunting guests.”

“
Oh sure,” Drew
nodded.

“
Could you find it again?”
Seth asked.

“
How you going?” Drew
asked.

“
Horseback, I think,” Seth
said.

“
Better to take a jeep.
It’s not far, but it’s not close either.”

“
But you can find
it,”

“
Easy,” Drew said. “You
just go out old Houghton Road veer left at Dead man’s Gulch, and
turn left at Stringer. Go straight on past the Stringer windmill.
Don’t stop there, because you want the second one – Stringer two –
near the stock pond. Probably green this time of year, but what
would they expect when they get rid of all their experienced help.
That boy Hill-three wouldn’t know the right side of a Heifer if . .
.”

“
Where is the blind?” Seth
cut off what was sure to be a well-practiced rant.

“
Oh, right,” Drew gave a
guilty smile. “It’s about a half mile from there. You could do that
on horseback or foot.”

Confused, Seth blinked at the man.

“
That made more sense in my
head,” Drew laughed. “Let me get my map book.”

Drew went to his truck and
took out his
Colorado Atlas
topographic maps. He flipped through the pages
until he came to the map page that included the Apishapa State
Wilderness Area.

“
This up here is all State
Trust land,” Drew said. “I talked Howie into building the cabin
just outside the Wilderness and Trust land.”

“
Cabin?”

“
Blind; cabin,” Drew
shrugged. “It’s a tiny place. I mean, he was a kid and look at me.
I’m no expert carpenter. We built it in a month or so. He used the
roof as a hunting blind. Hunters like to stay overnight – either
camping out rustic or sleeping in the room – depending on the
weather.”

Seth leaned over the map.

“
It’s right here,” Drew
said. “Right outside Merrit Spring. You can get there by jeep.
Easy. Horse’ll just take longer. You’re in a hurry?”

“
I’m in a hurry,” Seth
said. “How . . .”

He glanced up at the horizon and turned back
to the map.

“
It looks a mess, but the
roads’re dry this time of year,” Drew said. “You head out this way
. . .”

Drew pointed toward the north.

“
You’ll run right into the
old Houghton Road,” Drew pointed to the road on the map. “It runs
right into the Dead man’s Gulch right by the old Houghton
homestead. Did you check there?”

“
Not yet,” Seth
said.

“
I’m surprised Jimmy didn’t
go there first,” Drew said.

“
He’s a little busy,” Seth
pointed to the barn where Deputy Sheriff Jimmy Thatcher was yelling
over the noise at another deputy. Drew glanced where Seth pointed,
and nodded.

“
I doubt anyone’s been
there in . . . forty years, probably longer,” Drew
said.

“
We’ll check it if we don’t
find them at the blind,” Seth said.

“
Anyway, I’d be happy to
lead you out there,” Drew said. “I bet Jimmy’d deputize me an’
all.”

Seth nodded.

“
What are you drivin’?”
Drew asked.

“
I was thinking about
taking that,” Seth pointed into the sky. Drew looked up to see a
military helicopter beginning to lower to the ground.

“
You think they give a shit
about anything?” Drew asked.

“
No,” Seth said. “But that
won’t stop me from asking for a ride.”

Drew laughed. Out of the corner of his eye,
Seth saw Ava and Delores leaving the Bloom residence. Seth raised
an eyebrow to Drew and walked into the wash of the helicopter.