The Search (30 page)

"No, it's not okay." But she started for the boulders anyway. "Stay, Monty."

"Walk on the rocks so you won't disturb the--"

"I know." She was standing beside Chavez's body, staring over it at Lieutenant Carmichael. "You wanted me?"

"We can't move the body, but his head is turned to one side." He motioned for her to kneel down beside him. "Look at him."

She didn't want to look at him. She did anyway. His eyes and mouth were open. Death must have come suddenly and--

She stiffened in shock. "It's not Chavez."

"You're sure?"

"Of course I'm sure." She stared dazedly into the heavy features of the dead man. "It's not Chavez."

"Thank you." He motioned to Logan, who lifted her to her feet. "You can take her back to the rest stop now. But don't leave until after we've questioned her."

She stood there staring down at the dead man.

"Come on, Sarah." Logan gently nudged her up the hill toward Monty.

"It's not Chavez. I thought I'd sent him straight into the hands of that murderer. But it's not Chavez."

Logan was silent. Too silent.

"What is it?"

"It was Chavez, Sarah."

"No."

"Those policemen knew him, worked with him every day. It was Chavez." His hand tightened on her elbow. "And he's been dead for a long time. Rigor mortis has started to set in."

She stared at him in bewilderment. "I spent the entire afternoon with Chavez. He was with--" She drew a deep breath as realization hit her. "Rudzak?"

"What did he look like?"

"Tall, forty-something. Fine features, gray eyes, white hair." She looked at him. "Rudzak?"

He nodded.

"But I . . . liked him."

"Everyone likes Rudzak. It's one of the things he does best. I'm sure Chavez liked him too. The lieutenant thinks Chavez was forced to call Helen Peabody this morning to request you to come here and then was murdered. He wasn't seen at the command post after ten this morning."

She shook her head. "But he waved at one of the troopers on the other bank and the officer waved back."

"How close were you?"

He was right. The officer had been too far away to realize the man he was waving at wasn't Chavez. My God, the boldness of the man. "Smith. I told him about Henry Smith when he said he thought we were being followed, but he couldn't have killed him. We were together on the lake."

"Did he use his telephone?"

She thought back and then nodded. "At least once. When we went ashore to give Monty one of his breaks. I thought he was reporting in to the command center. You believe he called someone to kill Smith?"

"I don't doubt it."

She shivered. "I was alone with him all afternoon. If he'd wanted to kill me, he could have done it anytime. Why didn't he do it? And why lead me to Chavez?"

"I don't know. Cat and mouse? Maybe he didn't intend to kill you. Maybe he just wanted to show me he could do it."

"This is all about you, isn't it?"

"You mean it's all my fault. Hell yes, do you think I'd deny it? I don't blame you for being angry."

"I am angry." She had been frightened and stunned, but now those emotions were being supplanted by pure rage. "That son of a bitch. He used me. And manipulated me."

"Rudzak has always prided himself on being able to push all the right buttons."

"And was killing that poor officer one of the buttons he pushed?"

Logan nodded.

"He's got to be crazy."

"I'm not sure he's insane. I think he was born with something missing. He has no concept of right or wrong as we know it. What benefits Rudzak is right, what gets in his way is wrong."

"A sociopath."

"You can't pigeonhole Rudzak that easily." They had reached the rest stop, and his hand tightened on her arm when he saw the forensic team going over Smith's car. "Why don't we go inside? You don't want to see this."

He was right. She didn't need to see another dead body, and neither did Monty. She headed for the building. "How long do we have to stay here?"

"The lieutenant wants to talk to you and take a statement, but I'll see if he can send someone to the cabin to do the formal statement. You're not classified as a suspect."

She hadn't thought she would be. "And what am I classified as?"

"Witness." He shrugged. "Or maybe . . . victim."

She remembered the terror and helplessness she had felt as she ran through the woods. She had felt like a victim then, and the memory filled her with anger. "The hell I am."

They weren't permitted to leave the rest stop for another four hours; by then Sarah was almost as drained as Monty.

"I'll drive," Logan said as he got into her jeep. "You rest."

"I can do it. You have your own car to--"

"It's Galen's rental car. He'll arrange to have it picked up." He started the jeep. "Stop arguing and climb in. You know I'm in better shape emotionally right now. You wouldn't want to crack up on that ugly road and hurt Monty."

She hesitated and then got into the passenger seat.

"The one irresistible argument," he murmured. "Lean back and close your eyes."

She didn't feel like closing her eyes. She was numb with exhaustion, but her mind wouldn't stop working. Her gaze focused on the winding road ahead as the jeep slowly crept up the incline. "How'd you get Galen's rental car?"

"I phoned him to come and wolf-sit and then took his car."

"Galen's at the ranch?" So many things had happened that she'd forgotten about Maggie. "You shouldn't have left Maggie. I told you to take care--"

"Shut up," he said roughly. "There was no way I wasn't going to come after you. And you know Galen will be able to care for Maggie."

Yes, Galen would be capable of doing anything he wanted to do. "I suppose she'll be okay."

"Better than you. She has a keen sense of self-preservation."

"She walked into a trap too, like me with Rudzak. He knew I had to try to find those kids."

"And if you got another call from Helen Peabody, you'd go traipsing off again."

"Yes."

Logan muttered a curse beneath his breath. "Stupid."

"I wasn't stupid," she said, stung. "I got a call to do my job, and it seemed a legitimate search. How was I to know Rudzak would take advantage of those kids' disappearance to set a trap? He would have had to plan everything ahead with Chavez, the call from Hel-- Oh, God." She closed her eyes. "The kids. Maybe he didn't just take advantage of circumstances. Could he have killed them, Logan?"

"Yes."

She opened her eyes and turned to look at him. "He'd kill three innocent kids just to set me up?"

"I think it's likely. He's very precise about his planning. He wouldn't want the kids to show up and spoil everything after he'd gone to so much trouble."

"I feel sick." The image of a yellow buoy floating on the water came back to her. "The lake . . ."

"Lieutenant Carmichael told me he was sending a scuba team out to the buoy. I asked him to call me if he found out anything."

"Kids . . . And you say he's not insane."

"He doesn't enjoy killing, he just does it when it benefits him." He smiled grimly. "Though I may be the exception to the rule. He'd definitely enjoy killing me."

"I hope they don't find the kids," she whispered. "Dear Jesus, I hope he didn't kill them to draw me here."

He covered her hand clenched on her lap. "So do I, Sarah."

Logan's phone rang when they were only a few miles from the ranch. "Yes, Lieutenant."

She tensed, watching his expression, but she couldn't tell what Carmichael was saying to him.

He hung up. "There's no trace of Rudzak. They think he's gotten away."

"What about the teenagers?"

"They found them under the buoy." He looked straight ahead. "They haven't gotten them out of the car yet, but the scuba divers say all three were bound with rope."

She felt as if she'd been stabbed.

"Say something."

She shook her head. What could she say? She just wanted to curl up and make the world go away.

"None of this is your fault, dammit."

"I know."

"Then stop looking like--"

"I can't help how I look." Her hands clenched into fists. "Were they alive when they went into the water? No, they couldn't know that yet, could they?"

"No."

"No one could be that terrible. To tie them up and then--"

"Don't let your imagination run wild. It might not have been that way."

"But it could have been." She leaned her head against the window. "I don't want to talk anymore, Logan."

"Then don't talk, but don't think either, dammit."

"I'll try," she whispered.

He muttered a curse and jammed his foot on the accelerator. A few minutes later he drew up before the cabin. She jumped out of the jeep and started for the front door.

"Wait a minute." Logan came around the car. "You dropped something."

She shook her head.

"I saw you kick something out of the car. It must have been on the floorboards." He knelt in the dirt.

"What is it?" she asked dully.

"Nothing. Go inside."

He had something in his hand. "What is it, dammit?"

"A comb." He held out his hand and revealed the delicate ivory and jade comb. "A present from Rudzak."

She shuddered. "Do you suppose it belonged to one of the kids?"

"No, it belonged to Chen Li."

"Why would he--" She stared at him. "You expected it?"

"I didn't expect it, but I'm not surprised. Go on to bed, we'll talk about it later."

"You bet we will." But she couldn't cope with anything more just then. Her nerves were shredded. She turned and went inside the house.

"Hi." Galen came out of the back porch. "It's about time you came home. I was beginning to feel like a-- You look like hell."

"I'm tired. I'm going to bed." Monty. She had to take care of Monty. But Monty was already heading for the back porch and Maggie. "Good night, Galen." She closed the door of the bedroom behind her.

She threw off her clothes, crawled into bed, and drew up the covers. The sheets smelled of Logan and their intimacy, she realized dimly. Sex and life and a joy those kids would never experience.

"Move over." Logan slipped naked in bed beside her and pulled her into his arms.