Rain (David Wolf Book 11) Read online

  He pointed the screen at her and leaned forward. “You okay? Let me see your eyes.”

  She let him look, focusing on the screen-saver hovering in front of her.

  Ella Coulter, the eight-year-old girl waiting for him in Colorado, smiled brightly on the screen, head tilted, eyes squinting. Lauren stood barefoot in the background, her hands shoved in her pockets, eyeing the camera with a content smile that seemed to thinly conceal a veil of sadness. Maybe there was an impending sense of loss in that stare, as if she were watching a moment between Wolf and her daughter that might somehow go away if she allowed herself to enjoy it too much.

  “Luke.”

  She blinked. “What?”

  “Did you hear me?”

  “No.”

  “I said the gunfight stopped when you passed out. But I had to know why you smashed that Staten guy in the head with a rock before I went waltzing back there with you over my shoulder. I don’t even know if Earnshaw and Nackley are alive, but if they are and Staten’s the bad guy, what’s he doing out here with them?”

  She sat back onto wet sweatpants and pulled the coat around her. The fabric felt different in her fingers and she realized it was the one Earnshaw had given Wolf.

  “Luke.”

  “Yes.”

  “You have to tell me what you remembered back on the beach.”

  Like a rising tide, the memories flooded in steady and strong. “I saw Staten’s eye. It was puffy. Did you see that?”

  “No.”

  “Well, it was.” She flexed her hand, feeling the deep injury in her knuckles. “I punched Staten that night.”

  “Which night?”

  “The night I was following Swain.”

  Wolf said nothing.

  Ella’s smiling face flashed in her mind again, and pushing it out took some moments.

  “Staten,” she said finally. “When I saw his face in the beam, it all came back. I was in a car’s trunk. I remember it opening and seeing Staten’s face, and me sitting up and punching him.”

  A siren cut through the wind outside, then dissipated into nothing.

  “How long has it been since the shooting?”

  “Two hours. There’s a shitload of cops out there. And they’re wandering around in the trees looking for us.”

  “Should we go out? You could get a blanket.”

  “I’m fine. We’re not moving until you tell me about Staten.”

  She nodded slowly. “I started remembering right before we got to the beach, and when I saw Staten’s face it hit me. I remembered the trunk. Bouncing around big-time. The tires crackling. We were definitely on a dirt road with huge potholes, going slow.”

  “How did you get inside the trunk?”

  She inhaled as another door opened in her mind. “I followed Swain. No, that’s not true. I followed Swain and Staten. Both of them.”

  “Go on.”

  She smiled as the memories strung together effortlessly. “I wanted to talk to that witness again so I came here and searched the beach. I couldn’t find him, and he wasn’t hanging around outside the headquarters building either. So I turned my attention to Swain. I noticed the way Staten and Swain buddied up. They’d always been friends but they seemed even closer after Hooper’s death. Could have been Swain was consoling him for having a dead partner and all, but … it was suspicious.”

  “Like how?” Wolf asked.

  “Like I’d walk into the room and there’d be a heated conversation between Staten and Swain. They’d stop dead and look uncomfortable until I left.”

  “How about Earnshaw and Nackley? Were Staten and Swain talking to them more than usual, too?”

  “Not particularly. But we never see Earnshaw and Nackley much, anyway. If you go a few weeks without seeing Earnshaw it means you’re doing things right. Nackley works a different division.”

  “Why are Nackley and Earnshaw together so much now?”

  “Nackley heads the gang division. This case has two men dead on a beach—our agent and a gang member next to him. Nackley’s involved.”

  “Okay.” Wolf sniffed. “Then what?”

  “I started following Swain. I mean, I worked with him every day. But, then, instead of going home and washing off the stench of his cologne, I decided to tail him out to the bars. And sure enough, I found he was spending even more time with Staten.

  “The first night, I followed them to a local bar, place called the Saw Mill. I didn’t go in. It’s usually filled with a bunch of drunk guys from HQ and local cops—not the best place for a woman with self-respect. Anyway, when Swain and Staten came out the first night, they walked back to the HQ lot and drove off in their respective cars. I followed Swain. He went home. I watched his house for a few minutes, then gave up and went home myself. The second night, they left work together in Swain’s car. I tried to tail them but lost them in the traffic. The third day, I learned my lesson and put a GPS transponder on Swain’s car.”

  She reached for her phone to show Wolf the app and patted an empty pocket. “Where the hell is my phone, anyway?”

  “I don’t know. It wasn’t on you when you crashed outside Rocky Points.”

  She tilted her head. “I had it that night. We need to trace it. It might give us a clue.”

  “We’ll do that when we figure out where we’re going. Please, continue.”

  “Right. So the third night, I watched them pile in Swain’s car again and drive away. This time I took my time, following the line on the GPS.” She stared into the bouncing tree branches. “I followed them down and parked in a lot in south Seattle. The line on my GPS map did circles. It seemed like Swain was just doing the rounds through some bad neighborhoods, like they were out on patrol or something.

  “And then I saw the dot stop at a house in Rainier Valley. And it stayed there for ten minutes, so I decided I’d check it out. I watched them from my car but it was impossible to tell what they were looking at because the rain was coming down so hard. And then I realized they weren’t even in the car because they walked right past me. I remember Staten taking off a black ski mask, or a hat—a winter hat—and stuffing it in his pocket. I was damn lucky they didn’t recognize my sedan. They were obviously preoccupied with something. Moving fast.

  “Then they got back in their car and drove off. I followed them again, and this time they went to an industrial park.”

  “The same one where those gang members were executed?”

  “No. Different. I’ve never been to this place. The map showed a dead-end spot, like I’d drive up on them if I followed, so I parked and got out. I had to walk a few blocks in the fog. It was a creepy place with a lot of concrete, right on the water. I saw their car parked on a corner. And Swain was walking. He had a ski mask on.”

  “How do you know it was Swain?” Wolf asked.

  “You saw Staten on the beach just now. He’s built like a rhinoceros. It was Swain. He had his gun out as he ducked into an alley, and I followed him.”

  She flinched at the memory of shuffling footsteps. “Somebody attacked me.” She reached back and felt a sore spot on the back of her head. “One of them must have hit me with something.”

  Panic pulsed through her as she recalled waking up in the confined space.

  “I peed my pants. That’s what woke me up. I’d needed to go so bad when I was following Swain but I didn’t have time.” She blushed, grateful she was invisible to Wolf. “Jesus. I don’t know why I’m telling you that.”

  Wolf’s hand came out of the dark and rested on her forearm. “What happened next?”

  His touch was like electricity. Had she been writhing against him before she’d woken up? Had she moaned?

  She pulled her arm away.

  “I … was in a trunk. My arms were zip-tied behind my back. And, I don’t know, have you ever had training on how to get out of restraints?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Of course you have. I pulled my arms over my feet, brought them to my front, and cinched up the ties
with my teeth—you know, gotta get them tighter to break ’em easier. But it was too cramped. I couldn’t bring my arms up and swing them down with enough force.”

  She stopped, hearing the quake in her voice.

  Wolf’s hand rested on her arm again, and this time she welcomed his warm touch.

  Her voice grew thick. “I freaked out. I was hyperventilating. I started screaming. I remember thinking about the Van Gogh killings, the way those poor girls were dragged around in the backs of cars, waiting to die by the hands of a madman.”

  Wolf squeezed her arm.

  “I remember thinking, there’s no way these guys will hurt me. They’re my fellow agents. My brethren. But you don’t get zip-tied and stuffed into a trunk unless something really bad is going to happen. I panicked hard … the darkness … the way the car slowed and bounced over huge bumps. They were driving me into the middle of nowhere, and they were going to kill me. I was certain of it. And then …”

  Another siren wailed outside the tree.

  “And then what?” Wolf’s low voice soothed her like a shot of morphine.

  “And then the car stopped. And I remember rehearsing what I was going to do, and then either escape or die.”

  “And you escaped,” Wolf said.

  “I remember the light. It had been so dark when I was following them, and now it was bright. Not sunny, just daytime. I sat up, slammed my hands down, pulled my elbows past my sides, and the ties snapped … I remember the surprise on Staten’s face, and …” She put her head in her hands. “Oh, shit.”

  “What?”

  “They had cement blocks and rope in the trunk with me. They were going to tie me to those bricks and toss me in the water.”

  “But you got away. You punched Staten, and you got away.”

  “Yes. I got to my feet and lunged. I punched Staten in the face and landed hard on the ground. And I saw Swain aiming a gun at me. He yelled for me to freeze. But I got up and ran, straight off the edge of the road.”

  She straightened, feeling the blow to her back as if it had just happened.

  “I tried to stop because there was nowhere to run. But one of them shot me in the back and I toppled.” She shut her eyes. “And I slammed into ice-cold water. And then …” She shook her head and a wave of pain broke in her skull.

  “And then what?”

  It was a blank, like she’d been reading and the words had disappeared, though she knew the memories were in there somewhere. It was the strangest sensation, and to ponder it made her want to vomit.

  She turned to the gap under the tree limbs. “I have to get out of here.”

  “Wait a second.”

  “There’re cops out there. If Earnshaw and Nackley are unhurt, and they’re somehow involved, uniforms who can help will surround us.”

  “If we go out there, they’ll confiscate my weapon for evidence. Then they’ll take us into custody. Earnshaw’s the ranking man out there. He’ll pull the strings and take us where he wants us.”

  “If he’s not dead on the beach.” She rubbed her temples but it brought little relief.

  “Luke.” His hand touched her knee. “After what you just told me, I’m not willing to step out of here, walk down to the beach, and get into Earnshaw’s car again. I don’t trust him and Nackley.”

  “Staten’s down there,” she said. “We need to report him.”

  “To whom?”

  “I don’t think Earnshaw and Nackley are involved,” she said.

  “Let’s make sure first. If they’re not involved then why was Staten there last night? He wants you dead.”

  “So they’re guilty by association,” she said.

  “As far as I’m concerned.”

  “Staten was Hooper’s partner. It makes sense that Earnshaw would involve him in looking for that witness.”

  Wolf said nothing.

  “All right fine. What’s the plan?”

  “We go somewhere safe and come up with one.”

  They sat in silence for a beat. A gust of wind brought the sound of a barking dog.

  “You have a place we can go?” he asked.

  “How are we going to get there?”

  “I have an app on my phone.”

  She laughed. “David Wolf has an app?”

  “Jack downloaded it for me a couple of days ago. Lectured me for an hour about joining the twenty-first century. I don’t know how to use it. Here.”

  She grabbed it, feeling sick again at the sight of Ella and Lauren smiling at her. “You log on and call a car to pick you up wherever you are. The problem, of course, is that we’re currently in a tree, surrounded by cops.”

  “Then we’d better get to a road.”

  “And when we get there?”

  “Do you know a safe place to go?” Wolf asked. “Preferably with a clothes dryer and a hot shower.”

  A place came to mind but she dismissed it.

  “Luke.”

  “Yeah, I’m thinking.”

  “Well?”

  She sighed inwardly. “Yeah, I have a place.”

  Chapter 26

  “Can you do something to shut that thing up?”

  Wolf put a finger to his lips and shushed the dog. “Sit.”

  The dog sat and stared at them.

  “How much longer?” Wolf asked.

  Luke eyed the cell-phone screen. “It says he’s supposed to arrive now.”

  They’d made their way out of Discovery Park’s wild lands, now they squatted next to a house on a street adjacent to the forested section of the park. Jurassic-sized plants filled the property, offering plenty of cover. Unfortunately, the friendly corgi living on the other side of the wire fence had nothing better to do on a Friday night.

  It barked and they jumped.

  “Shhh. Quiet.” Wolf put his finger to his lips again.

  The dog swished his tail in the grass and growled.

  “Shut up, little dog,” Luke said.

  “Biff!” The rear lights of the property flicked on like Yankee Stadium.

  Then a pair of headlights came around the bend in the road and pointed their way.

  “Biffy!” A woman with a white nightgown appeared in the yard and slapped her legs. “Come on.”

  Biff looked at his owner, then back to them, and barked again.

  “Come! Now!”

  A Toyota Prius edged up to the curb in front of the house and stopped.

  Wolf and Luke wore dark coats, and the bush was thick with leaves, but they held their breath at the sound of the woman’s approaching footsteps.

  “What is it, Biffy?” She stood in silence for a beat. “Come on. I’ll get you a Snausage.”

  Biff jogged past his owner and disappeared around the back of the house.

  The Prius’s door opened and an overweight man wearing a fedora, glasses, and a sculpted beard got out. He put his arms on the top of the car and eyed the house.

  The woman leaned, hearing the thump of the car door, but she turned around and left the way she’d come.

  The driver rounded his car and walked toward the walkway.

  “Go,” Wolf whispered, but Luke had already pushed her way out of the bush.

  He followed close on her heels.

  “Hey there,” she said, striding across the lawn and casting a long shadow from the light blazing off the fence. “Are you Chancellor?”

  “Chandler.”

  She looked at the phone in her hand. “Ha, says Chancellor on here.”

  “I know. It’s screwed up with my nickname.” Chandler smiled and pointed behind them. “Did you just come out of that bush?”

  The rear lights of the property shut off, sending them into the relative darkness of a single street lamp a half-block away.

  “No. Should we get in the back?”

  Chandler watched them walk to the car. “You’re David?”

  “He’s David.”

  Wolf waved. “Hi.”

  Chandler eyed them for another second, then pushed a bu
tton and the door locks clicked. “One of you can ride in front if you want.”

  The driver hopped in and Luke sat down in the rear.

  Just as Wolf pushed in next to her, the front porch light flicked on. He shut the door and leaned forward with an easy smile. “Ready to go?”

  Chandler eyed him and backed away, studying his face. “You have leaves in your hair.”

  “Ah.” Wolf pulled the foliage off his head and nodded. “Ready?”

  “Yeah.”

  The car revved gently and coasted forward.

  Wolf glanced toward the house in time to see the white-gowned woman standing on her walkway.

  “Pike Street Market?” Chandler asked.

  “You got it,” Luke said.

  Chapter 27

  “This is it.”

  Wolf took a face full of drizzle as he looked up at the modern building.

  “He might not be here,” Luke said. “It’s ten thirty on a Friday night. He could be out.”

  Wolf counted ten stories.

  “I guess he might have some floozy up there,” she said. “He’s more adventurous during the day though. He’s probably here.”

  The swelling had gone down around her eyes and she looked spry in the light from the lobby windows.

  His legs ached from the hike with Luke on his back and he yearned to lie down. He needed to eat too. He wondered what Lauren was doing right now. His cell phone had died on the way here and he still hadn’t spoken to her since the morning. The clipped conversation seemed like a lifetime ago.

  And what was Ella thinking? That he’d abandoned her? It had been a year since the eight-year-old and her mother had proposed to him. And now he’d left her holding a basket of rose petals and nowhere to throw them.

  Throngs of people on their Friday-night adventures passed by. Back where they’d been dropped off by the driver, a neon-red Public Market Center sign glowed like hot iron against a coal-colored sky. The sound of honking horns, laughter, and conversation bounced off the buildings.

  Wolf’s mouth watered with the scent of cooking seafood lingering in the rain-soaked air.

  “Hey,” Luke said.

  He looked down and double-took the tears welling in her eyes.