The Night Is Watching (21 page)

“I’ll talk to Sloan,” Logan said. “See if he’ll issue an invitation.”

“Jay Berman crossed state lines to get murdered here,” Jane pointed out.

“We’ll see.” He must have been sitting at the computer. “We can catch an 8:00 a.m. direct flight that’ll get us out there at about eleven tomorrow. Do you think the facial reconstruction started all this?” he asked.

“No.” She thought for a minute. “I think it started before the skull showed up on the wig rack. Something major has to be going on. Two men don’t die out in the desert—one shot, one with his throat slit—because of some minor disagreement. Men who shouldn’t even have known each other. And now we have three people hospitalized—Jennie in a coma from head trauma, and Hough’s son and wife with carbon monoxide poisoning.”

“And a skull and two corpses removed from their graves,” Logan said. “Sloan and I were friends. I’m sure he’ll be fine with us going out there.”

“He’s in with the wife and son of the murder victim now,” Jane told him.

“Have him give me a call,” Logan said.

“You should call
him,
” Jane began, but Logan didn’t reply. She heard a dial tone and realized he’d already hung up.

* * *

Jimmy Hough was conscious but drowsy. He looked at Sloan through glazed eyes when Sloan came and sat by his bed.

“My dad is dead,” he muttered.

“Yes, I’m sorry,” Sloan said.

Jimmy’s jaw tightened. “He was such a jerk. He was a bully. He beat me up with a spoon when I was a kid. He stopped doing that, though. Once he figured I could be a football star. Then he started telling me that...that I should seize the world. I’d have everything, money, women, anything I wanted. The bigger a jerk I became, the better he liked me.” He paused and tears welled up in his eyes. “I know he was a jerk, but he was my
dad.
”

“Yes, he was your dad and you should mourn him, Jimmy,” Sloan said quietly. He waited a minute and then leaned forward. “Jimmy, who attacked you and your mom?”

Jimmy shook his head. “I don’t know. We were getting ready to leave. I was going to help Heidi out at the stables. And my mom...she loves all the Silverfest activities. Dad’s never gone with her and she gets to...she gets to kind of be herself. She watches all the stuff the actors do, she shops at all the vendors’ booths...she has a beer at the saloon. She doesn’t drink—that’s her big thing. A beer at the saloon during Silverfest.” Tears welled in his eyes again.

Sloan put a hand on Jimmy’s and squeezed it. “Can you tell me what happened today? If I can find the people who attacked you, I can find the people who killed your dad.”

Jimmy shut his eyes. “I didn’t see anything. I didn’t see anything at all. Mom had just called me from downstairs, telling me she was ready. I was opening the door to leave and when I did a sheet came down over my head. I fought. I fought like crazy. But whoever it was...” He stopped for a minute. “There were two of them. There had to be. Because when they dragged me downstairs to the garage, my mom was already there. I kept trying to struggle but they knocked me on the head with something, and the next thing I knew, I opened my eyes and I smelled the exhaust fumes and the car was running. It was horrible.... I couldn’t make myself move. I knew we were dying and I couldn’t move. I wasn’t tied up, but...I don’t know. Somehow I managed to reach over and turn the car off...and then I passed out again.”

“Jimmy, did the person speak?” Sloan asked.

“He grunted a few times,” Jimmy said. There was a touch of pride in his voice when he added, “I got him in the ribs. He seemed to be about my size...but he was strong. Really strong. I’m in good shape, Sheriff. But this guy had it all over me.” He paused again. “The other one, though...”

“What is it, Jimmy?”

“The other one was a woman, I think.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Because my mother’s a fighter, too. And I think she hurt the woman, because I heard her say something to the guy when they were leaving. Sounded like, ‘Bitch hurt me. I’m not in on crap like this anymore.’”

Sloan stood and set his card on the table next to Jimmy.

“If you remember anything else, call me, Jimmy.”

Jimmy nodded. “My mom’s going to make it, isn’t she?” he asked.

“Yeah, I think so. You saved her life. You saved both your lives when you managed to switch off the ignition.”

At the door, Sloan found himself called back one more time.

“Sheriff?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re not a bad guy. My dad thought you were a puffed-up dick who’d spent too much time in Houston to be an Arizona lawman. But I never believed him. You were right to say I had to be locked up. And I’m lucky that you didn’t kill my record. I learned from that.”

“You’re going to be fine, Jimmy. You’re going to be just fine,” Sloan assured him.

He left Jimmy and the nurse directed him down the hall to Zoe Hough’s room. She hadn’t come around yet, the nurse said, but she was breathing easily and all her vital signs were good.

Sloan stepped in, anyway. Zoe Hough was a pretty, blonde woman. Her hair was always impeccable, her nails always manicured; she worked out every day in her home gym and often visited the spa in the old town. Caleb Hough would have expected his wife to be perfectly put together at all times.

As he stood there, her eyes opened. She blinked, and he knew it was taking her a minute to realize where she was.

“Sloan?” she said. His name, her single word, was a raspy whisper.

“Let me get you some water,” he said, pouring her a cup from the plastic dispenser. “Take it easy. You’ve been out of it. They’re feeding you fluids through that IV, but your mouth must be dry.” He helped her take a sip of the water. She lay back, gasping, eyes fluttering closed. Then they opened again. Her eyes were blue, usually a pretty color; tonight, they had a dullness about them.

“Jimmy?” she asked anxiously, trying to rise.

“Jimmy’s recovering. He’s right down the hall,” Sloan told her. “He’s a good kid, Zoe. He got the car turned off. Saved your lives.”

“What about Caleb?” she asked.

He took a deep breath, wondering how much she could handle at the moment. Despite what Jimmy had said about her being a fighter, she’d always seemed to be such a fragile woman.

“Caleb was killed in the old mine shaft off the trail today,” Sloan said.

She didn’t act shocked. Nor did tears spring to her eyes. She stared at the ceiling, and then her gaze slid to meet his. “You’re going to think I’m horrible, Sloan. I just feel...numb. I was so in love when I married him. He was big, he was confident.... He seemed to rule the world. Then my life slowly became endless days of fear. Fear that he wouldn’t like dinner, fear the house wouldn’t be clean enough, fear he wouldn’t like the clothes I’d bought for Jimmy. Later on, I just wanted Jimmy to grow up so I could leave, you know? And then I was praying I’d have the nerve to get out of there.”

“So what happened, Zoe? What was he involved in?”

She flashed him a rueful smile. “Do you think he would ever have told me what was going on with his business or anything else?” she asked. “I was there to cook, clean, have babies and keep my mouth shut. I didn’t do so well on the babies—we only had the one. But Jimmy was such a great kid...and then I saw what Caleb was doing to him.”

“Jimmy will grow up to be a good man, Zoe.”

“Now that his father is dead.” She suddenly appeared to be furious. “Whatever he got himself into this time, he nearly killed Jimmy and me, too. What kind of father does that?”

“I’m sure Caleb didn’t know you’d be at risk. He loved his son, Zoe, even if he misdirected that love sometimes. Caleb’s killer probably thinks you knew something about what was going on.”

“Sloan, they could try for us again.”

“I’m going to have an officer watch over you two while you’re here,” he said.

“And then what?” Zoe asked.

“Then I’ll have an officer watch over you when you’re out,” he said. “I promise, Zoe. I’ll see to you and Jimmy.”

He bade her good-night. He was the only one in the hospital by then. Newsome still had people at the Hough house, and he had people in town.

He called the county detective and told him he needed an officer at the hospital.

“You really think whoever’s doing this would risk trying to kill the Hough family in the hospital?” Newsome asked.

“I think we’d be irresponsible if we don’t keep guard over them.”

“Yeah,” Newsome said wearily. “We’re getting stretched pretty thin here, but this kind of thing requires the county to be in on it. I’ve got men on overtime as it is, but you’re right. I’ll get someone over there.”

“Do we have any news yet?” Sloan asked him. “From forensics?”

“About the basement at the theater? They’ll be going through what they lifted from that place for weeks. We haven’t gotten a damned thing from the mine shaft, and I had those men try everything. It’s blocked by solid rock about fifteen feet from where you found Caleb Hough’s body. They sifted for anything they could find, but the place was clean. What he was doing in there when he was murdered is a total mystery to me.”

“What about the old corpse in the desert?”

“The medical examiner’s office cleaned down to the bone. No identity yet. Ms. Everett could give us a likeness of the man, although I imagine he was dug up as a scare tactic. I wish we had more, Sloan, but we just don’t.”

“Maybe finding out who the dead man is will be important,” Sloan said. “Anyway, I’ll wait until you can get someone down here.”

He went to tell Zoe that an officer was on the way, but she was sleeping again.

He returned to the waiting room.

He figured Jane might have fallen asleep on one of the chairs. She hadn’t. She was sitting very straight, looking beautiful and composed as always. He smiled when he saw her. “Ready?”

“Yes. By the way, I checked in with Logan. He asked for you to call him.” She was looking at him strangely—almost as if she expected him to tear into her for some reason.

“He’s still awake?”

She nodded.

He called as they left the hospital.

“Jane’s kept me up on events in your town. Seems it hasn’t been easy for her to get the work done.”

“She’s done it already, for all intents and purposes. We know who the skull belonged to.” Sloan went silent for a minute. Logan, he thought, was going to ask for Jane to come back. He winced inwardly. She was only on loan. He’d been a fool to get used to her being there, on both a personal and professional level.

“But, yeah, it’s kind of rough here right now,” he said.

“I wondered if you could use some help. I have some of the team working at a historic hotel in the capital now, but I can bring Kelsey, and the two of us can come out. Are you willing to let us give you a hand?” Logan asked.

Sloan looked at Jane and then he understood. She’d been afraid that she’d stepped over the line by bringing in more federal help.

He smiled slowly, shaking his head.

“I’d be delighted, Logan. I was just talking to the lead detective at the county force. We’re stretched thin, so if you can get here by tomorrow, that would be great.”

Logan said he’d make it by eleven.

Still grinning—almost stupidly, but he was dead exhausted—he told Jane, “I don’t know who said what and I don’t care. We can use the help. Come on, let’s get some sleep.”

He was surprised that at his house he suddenly felt awkward. Their day had included the hospital for Jane and another dead body, and two attempts at murder. And they were no closer to solving the mystery.

Cougar appeared as soon as they entered the house, demanding attention. As he’d already discovered, Jane was an animal lover. She crouched down to play with the cat.

Johnny had left food, a pot of goulash, in the refrigerator. They sat down to eat, but neither was very hungry. When they’d finished, he said, “You can sleep in my grandfather’s room. There’s actually a bell on the bedside table in case you need anything.”

“Why?”

“Pardon?”

“Why would I sleep away from you?” she asked. She offered him a rueful grin. “I thought the sleeping-together part went really well.”

He stood and came over to her, kneeling down and taking her hands. “I thought it went more than well,” he said. “It’s just—”

“If you need to be alone, that’s okay. I understand. But don’t do it for me. The doctor said to take it easy. He didn’t say that I had to stop any kind of physical activity. Although, frankly, I wouldn’t mind a long hot shower first.”

He rose. “You know where it is. Although you did have a concussion. You could fall in the shower or...I can wait to have mine until you’re finished.”

“Or we can just shower together,” she suggested.

In a matter of minutes, she’d undressed. Her thigh holster and gun were placed in the bedside table in his room; he brought his into the bathroom. After today, he wanted it within arm’s reach—no matter what. Jane didn’t question the gun on the towel rack. She stepped into the shower, turned on the water and they both took a minute to luxuriate in the hot steam before finding the soap.

The day seemed to evaporate with the steam and with her touch. Her fingers moved dexterously over his body while he returned the sensual ministrations. Soap bubbles slid down her breasts and they were slick to the touch. It was incredibly erotic.

And yet, he realized, she only had to smile to arouse him.

Her fingers ran down his back and curled around his growing sex, and he knew it was time to leave the water.

“We need to get out,” he said thickly.

“I’m not going to fall,” she told him.

“I am!”

Jane turned off the water. They got out of the shower and picked up towels, drying each other, pausing for deep, wet kisses that increased his desire to the breaking point. They started to leave the bathroom; he went back for his gun.

He laid it on the bedside table, then pulled her to him and they fell on the bed together. Their bodies were silky clean, caressed by the cool sheets. She straddled him, damp hair trailing over his shoulders and chest as she stroked him and delivered more wet kisses to his naked flesh. He took her in his arms, fascinated again by the scent and feel of her, his lips straying along her arms, her thighs, her sex. She rose against him and he felt her warmth envelop him. Her eyes were on his as she moved slowly and then with a sensual rhythm that sent his libido soaring. They switched positions so that he stared into her eyes as he moved over her. Far too soon, he felt the urgency of his climax overtake him. Then he felt her shudder in his arms and they lay together, trembling, seeking breath and still entwined.