Текст книги "Last Resort"

Автор книги: Jeff Shelby

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Текущая страница: 11 (всего у книги 14 страниц)

TWENTY SIX

I walked back up to the cabin, wondering about the final exchange between Kat and Delilah. Maybe Delilah had just been rattled by the fight and the conversation but she seemed flustered by Kat's request. I wondered why but it wasn't my place to insert myself in their conversation. I'd excused myself soon after and they'd both stared at me, almost as if they were surprised I was still there.

I took a shortcut back up the hill, finding a narrow dirt trail that snaked between two of the campsites. I got to the cabin and I heard footsteps on the deck. Jake must have just gotten back from his run. I thought about calling out to him but a chipmunk scampering across the grass caught my attention and I stood for a few seconds, watching it dart in between the hostas. I started walking again, rounding the corner so the deck was in site. I opened my mouth to say something to Jake, but then shut it and froze.

Chuck and Jaw were at the camper, just stepping through the glass door and back onto the deck.

Which meant they'd just been inside.

“Hey,” I blurted out before I could stop myself.

They both turned in my direction. They were wearing the same exact outfits as from before, thought Chuck had on a different greasy hat. Jaw was behind him, closing the door, with something in his hands.

“Uh,” Chuck said, his eyes widening.

“Shut up,” Jaw hissed.

“What are you doing?” I said, my heart rate escalating. I was pretty sure my voice was shaking, too. “Why were you inside?”

Jaw shifted his hands so whatever he was holding was on the other side of his body and I couldn't see it.

“Nothin',” Chuck said. “Just...”

“Shut up,” Jaw hissed again. “And keep goin'.”

Chuck looked unsure of himself, but then got himself moving toward the other end of the deck.

“What did you take?” I demanded.

“Nothin',” Chuck said.

“Not you,” I said, then pointed at Jaw. My fingers were trembling. “You. What do you have in your hands?”

Jaw reached up a hand and messed with his sunglasses, like he was adjusting them. “I don't have anything in my hands.”

“Yes, you do. Did you steal something from us?”

“Run!” Chuck yelled and took off.

Jaw hesitated for a moment, then took off after him.

They both jumped down the stairs, their feet smashing into the gravel, their shoes kicking rocks everywhere as they started to run.

I stood there for a moment, frozen. They'd been inside our cabin. They'd taken something. I wasn't sure what it was, but they'd stolen something. And it was the second time they'd messed with us.

I was a little scared, but I was mad, too. A lot mad.

I scrambled around the corner of the cabin and jumped into the golf cart. I unhooked the charger from the port, turned the key in the small slot and hit the button to reverse. The cart jerked backward and when the tires hit the pavement, I pushed the button again and flattened the accelerator to floor. The cart lurched forward, the electric engine whining as it powered the cart as fast as possible. I turned the wheel left and took off in the direction they'd run.

The posted signs listed 5 MPH as the speed limit, but I was exceeding that, pushing the cart to it's full speed of...maybe 7 MPH. I saw my two burglars up ahead and, while I wasn't losing them, I wasn't exactly catching up to them, either. I ran a couple of the small stop signs where the narrow streets intersected and was the recipient of several dirty looks from people walking on the paths. I ignored them and stepped harder on the pedal, leaning forward as if that would somehow help the cart go faster.

I rounded the corner at the end of the street and Chuck and Jaw were still up ahead of me, still running and looking back over their shoulders. I seemed to be losing ground. They were heading down the road toward the clubhouse and what I assumed was the exit to the campground. If they got off the grounds, I'd never get them.

I pressed harder on the pedal.

Which might've pushed me to 8 MPH.

They scrambled over the corner of the last lot and headed down the hill toward the entrance. I stayed on the pavement and turned the corner behind them. They were picking up speed as they went downhill but my cart was locked in at the same speed, as if some invisible force was preventing me from going any faster even though we were going downhill.

I was going to lose them.

I saw another cart approaching from the bottom of the hill, having just come in through the entry gates.

I leaned out of my cart and screamed, “Help! Stop them!”

Chuck and Jaw both looked back over their shoulders.

The cart slowed to a halt, but no one got out.

“Stop them!” I screamed again. “They broke into my camper!”

Chuck and Jaw were closing on the cart in front of them, but still looking over their shoulder at me.

Then Wayne Hackerman got out of the cart and clotheslined them both with his big fat arm.

TWENTY SEVEN

Both Chuck and Jaw were still laying on the ground when the police arrived. Hackerman had clobbered them pretty good and they didn't seem too eager to get up. He'd already called the police by the time I got to the bottom of the hill and they were there just a few minutes later. They stood them up, cuffed both of them and walked them toward the police car. I gave the arresting officer a quick rundown of what I'd witnessed and Hackerman explained that he'd seen me yelling after them and how he'd stopped them.

The officer handed me a small black box. “Is this what they took?”

I looked at it. “I guess. I don't even know what it is.”

“It's a router,” Hackerman said. “For your Internet.”

“Why would they steal my router?”

Hackerman shrugged.

“Probably to resell,” the police officer said, taking it back from me. “I'll need to take this in for the report, but we'll get it back to you soon.”

“It's not really mine,” I said, completely confused. “It's...Delilah's, I guess. It was in the camper we are staying in.”

The officer shrugged. “Whoever it belongs to, we'll get it back to you as soon as possible.”

“Is there a report or something I need to fill out?” I asked.

The officer raised his eyebrows. “A what?”

“I don't know. I just thought, since you were taking that,” I said, motioning to the router. “I just thought I might have to fill something out.”

“I know where to return it,” he said briskly.

He walked toward his car, checked the doors, got in the driver's side, made a quick U-turn and drove off.

I turned to Hackerman. “Thank you. For stopping them.”

He nodded. “Sure. I saw you yelling up there and I know those two are never up to any good.”

“They're around a lot?”

“Enough to be a nuisance,” he said. He reached for his sunglasses and took them off. He inspected them, then lifted the corner of his shirt and polished the lenses. “Couple of summers now. I know Delilah hasn't wanted them around and Harvey used to chase them off.”

That was exactly what Delilah told me after our first encounter with them.

“I'm not sure they'd really done anything wrong before,” Hackerman continued. “So maybe now she can really keep them out of here.”

“It's going to be someone else's problem,” Delilah said.

We both turned. She was coming down the hill, her cell phone clutched in her hand. Her face looked freshly washed, devoid of the tears and streaked makeup I'd seen not too long ago. Her stern expression told me she knew what had gone on with Chuck and Jaw.

Hackerman repositioned his sunglasses, shielding his eyes. “What are you talking about?”

She held up her phone. “I got the call about those two clowns getting arrested. And then I got two calls from campers worried about safety here.” She looked at the phone, then back to Hackerman. “I am done.”

“Done with what?” I asked.

She cleared her throat. “Windy Vista. I'm going to sell it.”

“What?” Hackerman's voice squeaked with surprise.. “You can't sell this place.”

“Watch me,” Delilah said. “We're circling the drain, Wayne. Sky high debt with no money coming in. All we've had are problems this summer and they've just driven down the interest in coming here. No one wants to take a chance on parking their campers here. The only thing we're known as now is that campground with the dead guy.” She shook her head. “Now we've got two idiots scaring the crap out of everyone. I'm just done. I don't have the money or the energy to keep going.”

“So you're just going to sell it then?” I asked. “Just like that?” She'd been so adamant earlier that she wasn't interested in selling, She'd yelled at Davis Ellington and she'd told me in no uncertain terms that she wanted to keep it.

She sighed. “It's not just like that, Daisy. It's been building. I think when Harvey was alive, he was just holding it at bay. But now that he's gone? There's nothing to hold it off.” She shook her head again and I couldn't tell if she was frustrated or sad or angry. “So that's it.” She gestured at the office. “If you'll excuse me, I've got to make some phone calls about seeing if we can get a security patrol or something so everyone will feel a little safer. Hopefully they won't mind working for free.”

She stepped past us and disappeared into the office, the wooden door slamming behind her.

Hackerman let out a low whistle. “Well. Damn.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I feel terrible for her.” I paused, thinking of Ellington and his offer to buy the place. “Do you think a buyer might keep it the way it is? As a campground?”

“I doubt it,” he said. “This is a pretty big piece of land.”

“What do you mean?”

He rubbed at his chin for a moment. “Lot of development up here. Most of the prime pieces of land have been grabbed up.” He took a long look around. “This would make a pretty nice spread for somebody to throw some overpriced houses up on. I don't think too many people would be interested in taking on an old, high maintenance campground.”

He was right, of course. The land would be far more valuable to someone looking to buy it and then either develop it or resell it. That would be the best way to get their money out of it. I was sure that even though Ellington was local, he was looking at it from a monetary perspective and what he could make off the land. But it made me sad to think that someone might start throwing up McMansions at Windy Vista. It just seemed like...a campground.

“Listen,” Hackerman said.

I looked at him.

“You need to know something,” he told me.

“What's that?”

His cheeks flushed. “I didn't do anything to Harvey. No matter what you think. I considered him a...a friend. Just because we didn't always get along didn't mean we weren't friends.”

I still had my doubts, but I wasn't looking for an argument. “Okay.”

He squinted hard at me. “You don't believe me, do you?”

“Does it matter?”

“Does to me.” He folded his arms across his chest. “I'm not a liar.”

“If you say that's the truth, then I believe you,” I said, unsure of what he wanted from me.

A muscle in his jaw twitched. “You said you heard about that argument I had with Harvey?”

I nodded.

“Okay, well, you're right,” he said slowly. “We did have an argument.”

I wasn't surprised by that. Given the way he'd reacted after the ping pong game, I was pretty sure there had been some sort of argument and that Copper hadn't been making it up.

“But it wasn't what you think,” he said.

“I don't think anything.”

“Of course you do,” he said, shaking his head. “You think we had some sort of fight and then I got mad and did something dumb to Harvey. Look, we don't have to like one another, but I'm no liar and I didn't do a damn thing to Harvey.”

“You keep saying that.”

“I offered him money,” he said. “For the stupid medallion.”

I had to think for a moment, but it still didn't make sense. “The medallion?”

He sighed. “I offered him five hundred bucks if he'd tell me where he hid the medallion. I offered him two hundred bucks first, then five hundred. He wouldn't tell me. I got mad.”

“Why did you want him to tell you?” I asked.

He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Because I didn't want to lose. There are more people up here this year and he was making noise about Delilah making it super hard to find. I got nervous. I wanted to keep my streak alive. So...so I tried to pay him off. I told him I wouldn't tell a soul and no one would think anything of it because I've won so many times before. But he refused.” He chewed on his lip, then took a deep breath. “I got mad. He got mad. We yelled at one another. He walked away. Far as I know, he didn't tell anyone.”

I nodded, listening.

“Then I felt stupid about it,” he said “I tried to apologize but he avoided me. Then he was...well, you found him. But I didn't do a damn thing to him. I wouldn't ever do that. That ain't me.”

I couldn't believe that anyone would be willing to make a bribe to win a scavenger hunt. That was just absurd. But there was something about the way Hackerman said it that made me believe him. He may have been a cheat, but he wasn't a killer.

“Okay,” I said. “I believe you.”

“Well, you should,” he huffed. He slid back into his golf cart. “It's what I told the sheriff and it's the truth.”

He stepped on the gas and his wheels spun, then caught and he sped away, up the hill.

I watched him go. I did believe him. I thought it was crazy that he cared so much about winning the medallion that he was willing to bribe Harvey, but I'd seen a lot of crazy over the previous few days.

Wayne Hackerman just fit in with everyone else at Windy Vista.

TWENTY EIGHT

As I drove the golf cart back to the cabin, I couldn't shake Delilah's words. All of this stuff had happened at Windy Vista and I was having a hard time believing it was a complete coincidence. For a place that supposedly hadn't had much trouble in the past, it was now overflowing with it.

Jake was passed out on the bed in the camper, still in his running clothes. He must have come back while I'd been chasing Chuck and Jaw through the campground and I wondered briefly if he'd seen me, tearing down the road at breakneck speed. I sat down on the bed, my hand outstretched, intending to wake him up and tell him everything he'd missed.

But then I paused, my hand arrested an inch above his shoulder. Maybe I didn't want to tell him everything right away. Maybe I could use the time he was sleeping to do a little more of something he didn't particular like me doing: investigate. I stood up slowly, wincing when the bedsprings squeaked. I tiptoed away from him and closed the door to the room. I fished a pen out of my purse and scrawled a note on a paper napkin.

Running to town. Be back soon.

I purposely didn't tell him what I was going to be doing in town because I was pretty sure he would've told me I was nuts. Which was fine, because I probably was a little nuts. And I was okay with that.

I found the keys to the rental and, after a cursory look at the new tire, climbed in and pointed it toward town. I pulled out of the campground and, after a few minutes, passed the golf course and the lake. I glanced at my phone every few seconds, waiting to see when reception would kick back in. Within a minute of hitting the lake, two bars appeared on my screen and I typed in my destination. The talking voice on my phone directed me past The Landing and beyond the small area that housed Davis Ellington's realty agency, down a two-lane highway that eventually led to a county government building. It was housed in an old fire station, complete with oversized garage doors. Two white pillars had been erected out front, probably in an effort to give it a more stately appearance, but they looked off-center and slightly out of place.

I pulled the rental into the mostly empty lot and parked beside a dusty old station wagon. I made my way toward the front of the building, surveying my surroundings. There was an empty lot to the right that housed the remnants of a building and a parking lot pitted with weeds. To the left was a small deli. It looked well-kept but a Closed sign hung in the window.

I opened the door to the building and stepped inside. A woman with grayish-blond hair and wearing a brown sheriff's uniform looked up from her desk. She offered me a frosty smile.

“Afternoon,” she said, adjusting the thin, gold rimmed glasses perched on her nose. “Help you?”

“I'm not really sure,” I said, looking around the small, wood-paneled office. “Is this the town jail?”

She pushed the glasses up her nose. “Among other things, yes.”

“So if someone was arrested, this is where they'd be brought?”

“Hence, the word jail...”

I tried not to frown at her tone. “Right. Of course. If I wanted to speak to someone who is...in jail...would I be able to do that?”

The woman studied me for a long moment. “Are you an attorney?”

“No.”

“A law enforcement officer?”

“No.”

“Related to anyone we might have incarcerated here?”

“Uh...no.”

She picked up a pen from her desktop and tapped it against the desk calendar beneath her elbows. “Ma'am, why don't you tell me why you're here and I'll see if I can help?”

I took a deep breath. “My name is Daisy Savage and I'm a guest over at Windy Vista and...”

“Oh, you're the one who found Harvey,” she said, both eyebrows lifting up in unison.

“Um, yes,” I said, feeling the heat rise in my cheeks. It wasn't something I wanted to be known for. “Actually, my husband was there, too.”

“But you were the one who found his body, correct?” she asked. “I read the report.”

“Yes,” I answered. “Unfortunately, I was.”

“I liked Harvey,” she said. Her eyes studied me, as if she somehow thought it as my fault that he'd died. “Known him and Kat for a long time.”

“I've only heard good things.”

“I'm sure,” she said. She tapped the pen again. “I'm sorry. I interrupted. You're staying at Windy Vista.”

“Yes,” I said, relieved to move on to a different subject than Harvey. “And there's been some other trouble up there.”

“I've heard.”

“I'm sure. And this afternoon, two men were caught breaking into the camper my husband and I are staying in.”

“Yes.”

Her short answers were disconcerting to me. I didn't know if there was a reason for them or if that was just the way she talked.

“They were apparently stealing a router,” I said. “That you use for the Internet.”

“I'm familiar with routers and what they do.”

“Right.” More heat flooded my cheeks. “Anyway, I'm assuming they were brought here after they were picked up.”

“Correct.”

“And I was hoping I might be able to...speak to them.”

She studied me again, the pen bouncing on the desktop. “May I ask why, ma'am?”

It was a fair question. I just wasn't sure I had a good enough answer for her.

“Because...I just want to know why they did it,” I said, truthfully. “A lot of strange stuff has happened up there and this was the second time they'd been at our camper and I just want to know what exactly they were doing.”

“They were stealing your router, from what I understand,” she said.

“Yes, I'm aware, but...”

“And they are well known to us around here, ma'am,” she said with a sigh. “This isn't unusual for them to be here.”

“I understand, but if I could just speak with them...”

She shook her head. “I couldn't allow that even if they were still here,” she explained.

I started to argue, then stopped. “If they were still here?”

“Yes, ma'am.”

“They're gone?”

“Yes, ma'am.”

“How is that possible? They were just brought in not too long ago.”

“They bonded out immediately,” she said.

“Really?”

She nodded. “I was surprised, too. Usually they're here for a night before someone comes and picks them up. I think they get fed better here than they do at home.”

“Who came to pick them up?” I asked.

“No one,” she said. She must have noticed the look of confusion on my face because she added, “They actually had the money to bond themselves out.”

That was odd. It wasn't like they'd stolen the router and then turned around and sold it. Neither of them seemed like the type to keep cash on hand.

“First time for everything, I guess,” she said. “Probably not their own money, but nothing we could do to prove it.” She shrugged. “Who knows?”

I thanked her for her time and walked back outside.

I was sure that someone had to know.

TWENTY NINE

I got back to Windy Vista to find Jake and Wayne Hackerman in conversation.

I drove back from town and used the temporary pass card to lift the gate at the entrance of the campground. I obeyed the speed limit and crawled up the hill past the clubhouse and toward our cabin. I did a double take when I drove by Hackerman's massive black RV and saw him talking with Jake. No punches were being thrown, so I drove past, parked the car at the cabin and then walked back toward Hackerman's lot.

“I have no idea,” Hackerman was saying. “But I'm tired of this crap.”

“What crap?” I asked, coming up behind them, my feet crunching on the gravel in his drive.

Jake turned, surprised. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

Hackerman just frowned at me.

“How was your trip into town?” Jake asked.

“Fine.” I wasn't ready to share the details of my visit at the county jail. I looked at Hackerman. “What crap?”

He waved a hand in the air. “All the crap that's been going on around here. And it started when you two showed up.”

Jake rolled his eyes. “I was going for a walk after I woke and found your note. I was walking by and he asked if my wife found any more thieves. I didn't know what he was talking about, so I stopped to ask.” He forced a smile. “Here we are.”

“Look, I'm sorry,” Hackerman said. He lifted the cap sitting on his head, repositioning it. “I'm just a little on edge. I know you two aren't really responsible for all this, but I don't wanna lose this place, okay?”

“I understand,” I said. “I don't blame you.”

“And when I hear Delilah talking about selling and what-not, then I get a little worried about not having a place to go,” he said, frowning again. “Me and Rhonda and the kids have been coming here for years and I don't wanna go nowhere else, okay? This is our second home and I wanna keep it that way. No place else offers what we have here.” He sighed. “So with all of this crap going on, I'm just tired of it.”

“Maybe you can buy it then,” Jake offered.

Hackerman looked at him like he'd gone insane. “You know what this land will fetch if she sells it? A lot. Way more than I got in my bank account.” He shook his head. “There ain't no way. Rhonda and I, we do alright, but not that kind of alright.”

On cue, the door to the RV opened and Rhonda sauntered out in cut off denim shorts and a yellow bikini top, both of which were too small for her. Initially, her mouth was tightened into an irritated little knot. But then she saw Jake and the knot morphed into a blinding smile.

“Guests!” she said, stepping down from the steps of the RV. “How lovely!”

Hackerman and I rolled our eyes in unison.

“He told me what happened,” Jake said to me, ignoring her. “About those two kooks taking the router and chasing them down. You're alright?”

“I'm fine,” I said. “And Wayne was the one that caught them. Otherwise, they would've gotten away.”

Hackerman shrugged off my giving him credit.

“Yes,” Rhonda said, batting her fake eyelashes at Jake. “Wayne told me about helping out your wife.” She paused and a corner of her mouth turned upward. “Maybe you'll be able to return the favor.”

“Jesus Christ, Rhonda,” Hackerman said. “Put a cork in it.”

I tried to ignore her for a moment. “You said everything started when we got here. So there haven't been any other problems this summer?”

Hackerman thought for a moment. “Well, I can't say that. Ned Bailey had the windshield on his golf cart smashed a couple weeks back. Big old crack that ran right down the middle of it and he had to have it replaced. And Bruce Hanstad told me he had a busted window in his camper. Came back one night from dinner at The Landing and saw it. Nothing taken, though, that he found.” Hackerman rolled his thick shoulders. “So I guess there's been some stuff before you all arrived.”

“What about before this summer?” I asked. “Like last year?”

Hackerman thought for a moment, then shook his head. “Not that I recall, no. Everyone kinda watches out for one another and there ain't been no trouble. Those boneheads I clotheslined have always been around, but its been more like them hanging out because they had nothing to do instead of them stealing stuff.”

“People skinnydip,” Rhonda said, eyeing Jake. “Occasionally.”

Hackerman made a face. “Yeah, but that ain't the same as breaking into people's places and doing harm to their property. That's a whole different game.”

So it was happening all of a sudden. I didn't think Jake and I were responsible for it, but it sure sounded as if it was all something more than a coincidence. I could think of two possibilities. One, maybe someone wanted others to think that Windy Vista was an unsafe place. They wanted to drive people away, so that it would either have to close or be sold. It was hard to think that anyone would want it to close, though, especially given the fact that most of the people I'd run into seemed to love the resort.

The other possibility was that someone was just mad at Delilah and were trying make her life miserable and force her out of business. The twins had openly said they didn't like her. I couldn't imagine that Chuck and Jaw were too fond of her, either.

But would either of those things be enough of a reason for someone to actually kill Harvey?

Hackerman glanced at his watch, then at his wife. “We gotta be getting down to bingo at the lodge at the resort.”

Rhonda Hackerman made a face as if that was the last thing she wanted to do. Then she glanced at Jake. “You should come. And play.”

“I'm not much for bingo,” Jake said, smiling at her. “But good luck.”

She murmured something I couldn't understand and looked him up and down like she wanted to cover him in chocolate and eat him.

I slipped my hand into his and stared at Rhonda. “Enjoy bingo. We'll find something to keep us busy.” I winked at her. “If you know what I mean.”

Rhonda's face darkened as Hackerman pulled her away.