“It was almost comical when you think about it, the way Devin Chambers played him. Beautiful, really. Poetic justice. She actually offered to split the money with me. I had to give her credit for ingenuity, but I couldn’t go through life worrying about her coming back or doing or saying something stupid.”
“And the Pierce County crab pot case, was that yours?”
“No, but I did admire that guy’s creativity. It’s even better than leaving a body in the desert for the animals to feed on. In that instance, you still got bones. Drop a crab pot in the water and there’s nothing left of the person, unless some kid hits a one-in-a-million snag and pulls up the pot.” He shook his head. “What are the odds, huh?”
“Yeah,” Tracy said. “What are the odds? But it doesn’t matter now, Fields. Look around you. Where are you going to go?”
His smile broadened. “Are you kidding? Anywhere in the world. I got everything in that bag I brought with me. Fake passports. Disguises. This gun—who knows where it came from? I used to pick these things up half a dozen at a time. It’s untraceable. So by the time anyone finds what’s left of the three of you out there, if they find you, I’ll be long gone. Hell, they might even think my body is out there somewhere too, dragged off by the wildlife. I take Orr’s car, or maybe the Jeep, and I drive out of here. I told you, Crosswhite, the desert used to be my home. Now it can be yours.”
CHAPTER 35
Fields directed Tracy back inside the house, where they both got a surprise. Penny Orr and Andrea Strickland no longer sat on the couch, and the shotgun no longer leaned against the river-rock fireplace.
“Shit,” Fields said, keeping the gun on Tracy as he moved to the back of the cabin and glanced into the room. Tracy felt a breeze from the bedroom and couldn’t help but smile.
Fields swore and removed the handcuffs from his belt. “Hug the post, Crosswhite.” He motioned to one of the two floor posts bracing the ceiling.
Tracy didn’t immediately move. “You know you’re not going to get away with this, Fields.” She wanted to give Andrea Strickland and Penny Orr as much time as possible to get away. Orr had said Strickland liked to read and to hike, that she had hiked these mountains growing up. Hopefully, Strickland knew the area well, knew its hiding places. Tracy doubted Fields would kill her and risk leaving blood in the cabin so she decided to push the situation.
“I’ve already called my office, Fields. My guys have people on the way. They know you were the guy who hired the skip tracer. Viola, seriously?” She laughed. “What the hell were you thinking?”
Fields stepped forward, the muzzle of the gun just a foot from her forehead. “I was thinking no one was going to find the body. Now, hug the damn post or I’ll drag your body into the mountains, shoot you, and let the animals eat your intestines. I don’t really give a shit.”
Tracy stepped forward and put her arms around the post. Fields snapped on the handcuffs, started off, then stopped. “I never did like you,” he said, and swung the butt of the gun, striking her at the temple.
I sensed something wrong as soon as Detective Crosswhite left the room to drive back into town. The other detective, Fields, stepped outside and watched her leave. He returned smoking a cigarette.
“Can you smoke outside?” I asked, thinking of my unborn baby, as well as the large amount of paper in the cabin.
He smiled and flicked ashes onto the floor. “Yeah, a fire out here would be a problem, wouldn’t it?”
“I meant the smoke.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. So, Andrea, where’s the money?”
With that one question, I knew Stan Fields had killed Devin Chambers. I’d set her up, just as I’d set up Graham, but it had never been my intent for either of them to die. I only wanted her to be punished for what she and Graham had done, what they’d tried to do to me. But ultimately, I knew what I had done had led to her being killed. I felt like I had killed her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said. “Don’t you have it?”
Another smile. “You’re good. I’ll give you that. I don’t blame you for setting your husband up, by the way. Having met him, I think he got off easy. You had me fooled. I was dead certain he’d killed you. The question was, Why? These things are never complicated though. It’s usually a girlfriend out there, or money—insurance. Sometimes all three. So I did some digging and I found out there’s also a big pile of cash unaccounted for. If I can prove he killed you, he’s going to jail, and there isn’t anybody else out there who knows about the money or cares.” He flicked his ashes on the floor again. “Except . . . the girlfriend turns out to be worse than the husband. She’d played him for the money, then went missing the same time you and the money disappeared. So I pull a search warrant for her apartment and for her workstation, grab her computers, and I find a nice trail of evidence that she and hubby were doing the nasty and she had your alias, Lynn Hoff. Tell me, was that part of your plan to set her up?”