“’Cause I was there. When her mom died. And best to say maybe I wasn’t the most caring person to have around at that time of my life, going through some weak moments of my own …”
“I hear you,” Hauck said. “I was sorry to hear what happened.”
“Years ago now. But anyway, Dani’s stirring up some wild accusations. Threatening to take what she found to the press, or to the police chief in Aspen. That’s just not helpful now. It’s not the way we do things here. I thought it would be better if we just took her out of the picture for a day or two, while the investigators were here. If you know what I mean?”
“You put her in jail?”
The chief shrugged. “We were fully vacant. The rooms were there.”
“They still around?”
“Who?” the chief asked.
“The investigating teams.”
Dunn shook his head. “Nope.”
“I think I get the picture. Ted only said she was in some kind of trouble. Can I see her?”
“See her? You can take her if you want, be my guest. We’re all hoping you will. Hell, for such a pretty thing, she eats more than I can afford anyway … You can see, we’re only a small department.”
Hauck stood up.
The chief stood up, too. “Try and talk some sense into her, would you? No one gains by her stirring things up like she was. Maybe let her show you the state for a few days. Until this all quiets down. I don’t know how long you have, but it’s beautiful country out here. Sorry to drag you off your boat, Mr. Hauck. For such a mundane reason. Can’t say I’d be a happy camper if it were me.”
“Show me the way. I’ll see what I can do.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Hauck went inside the small cell block, down to the last of four manually locked cells. The only one that was occupied.
Danielle was on her back on the cot, in jeans and a T-shirt, one leg resting over a knee. She didn’t even look up at him. He could see right away that she wasn’t at all what he remembered. The wiry, athletic tomboy had grown up into a pretty, filled-out, young gal.
“Whoever you are, I want to see Wade. You can’t keep me locked up in here forever. I’ll call a lawyer. I’ve got a job and you’re keeping me from doing it. I have a dog that needs attention. And I’m sick of eating just Subway and Burger King. And I want a shower. And—”
“Calm down, and you might just get what you want,” Hauck said, stepping up to the cell.
She rolled her head, her soft blue eyes narrowing in on him. Then she jumped off the cot and stared at him, totally disbelieving. “Uncle Ty …?”
“I’m not really a big fan of Subway and Burger King myself,” he said. “Must be somewhere out here we can find some good Mexican food.”
Her eyes doubled in size. “Uncle Ty! What the hell are you doing here …?”
“Not surprisingly, your father sent me.”
“Dad …?”
It had been years, ten maybe, and Hauck took in the sight. Dani was now a pretty young woman. She was wearing a gray T-shirt that read, What happens on the river, stays on the river, and tight-fitting jeans. Untied blue Converse sneakers. She had her mother’s wholesome looks—a rosy complexion, a few freckles dotting her cheeks, her hair between light brown and blond, and lots of it, thick, curls over her face, tied back in a bushy ponytail, and her mother’s eyes, glacier blue.
“He said you’d gotten yourself into some kind of trouble out here.” He grinned. “None that I can see, though.”
She shrugged. “None I couldn’t handle.”
“Of course not. You seem right at home in here. He said you needed someone to bail your ass out of here, so c’mon, pack up. Amazingly, Chief Dunn has agreed to entrust you to my care. As long as you’re a good girl.”
“Who decides what that means?” Dani turned up her nose.
“For the moment, me. Basically, if you don’t hit anyone on the way out or leave something vile in the toilet, you’re okay to leave. Oh yeah, and that you talk to me about whatever it is that’s got you all riled up and landed you in here, before you go on about it anymore.”
“Wade got to you, didn’t he?”
It had taken barely a minute, but Hauck thought he already had a sense of what it was the chief was talking about. The part of her that was more an enemy than a friend. “He didn’t get to me,” he said. “He talked to me. And if I was still a policeman trying to do my job with all that was going on here I might have done the same thing, too. Just to protect you.”
“Throw your own stepdaughter in a cell? Keep her locked up for two days.”
“If she wouldn’t keep her nose out of an official investigation? Or threatened to go to the press? Maybe.”
“Official investigation …” Dani chuffed and rolled her eyes. “Wade wouldn’t know an ‘official investigation’ from a tractor pull. He’s dropped the ball on this from day one. So that’s the deal, then? I have to shut my mouth and let them bury what’s possibly a murder of a friend under the rug, just so I can get out of here.” She crumpled her sweat shirt up and tossed it back on the cot. “I’ll stay.”
“The deal, Dani,” Hauck said, putting a key in the lock, “is that I haven’t seen you in about ten years and I’m here. And that your father was worried about you. Which I would damn well be as well if it was my Jessie. And all I had to promise, as you say, was that you would keep your mouth shut and not do anything stupid until you talked it over with me. Now does that sound like something you can do, or shall I tell them to order you up another Foot-Long Double Philly Cheesesteak …? Onions and peppers …”
“No …” She shrugged, her voice finally softening. “Don’t! I can’t take it anymore.” She finally broke down and grinned. “I think I gained five pounds in two days.”
“Then grab your stuff. And look at the bright side of this. I see a couple of things …”
“What?”
“One, that you get to spend a couple of days with me. Which is something I would like very much.”
“Me, too. And …?”
“Two—it’s not everyone who can say they were thrown in jail by their own stepfather.”
CHAPTER TWENTY