Back of Beyond

Cody said, “She managed to get acquainted with all the victims. I wonder if she played her Rachel Chavez card on them? Maybe she called Hank and said, ‘You met my husband in San Diego. He thought you were a wonderful man and he wanted me to give something to you for maintaining his confidence.’ Knowing Hank and the importance he placed in mentoring and trust, he’d buy it. Especially coming from a woman.”

“That’s what I figured, too,” Larry said. “She used their bond of confidentiality against them. Shulze and Garaghty, for example, never even told their wives who they were meeting. And she cleaned up her tracks by burning down the homes she killed them in and took things like AA coins-anything that would prevent us from connecting the dots.”

Cody paused. Gannon’s shadow now stretched all the way across the meadow into the bank of trees. He said, “You said you called the Feds. So they’re on their way?”

“Should be. I haven’t talked to them since this morning, when I got suspended. I didn’t tell them about you because I didn’t know where the hell you were. I kind of thought you might be in a drunk tank in Ennis, so they don’t know you’re there.”

“I’ll watch for helicopters,” Cody said. “I haven’t seen anyone but killers and dead bodies all day.”

“I’d be surprised if they show up tonight,” Larry said. “I can’t see them trying to find you guys or the pack trip in the dark.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m going to kill her, Larry.”

“Don’t tell me that.”

“She’s dead,” Cody said. “She just doesn’t know it yet. For what she did to Hank and the others, for putting Justin in this situation, she’s going to die.”

“Ah, man…”

He glanced up. “We’ve got Gannon for testimony. We don’t need her to make the case.”

“Cuff her,” Larry said. “Bring her in. Hell, I want to meet this dame and look into her eyes. I want to see for myself what’s there.”

Cody walked toward his horse. Mitchell was clearly getting impatient. Cody said, “Larry, one more thing. I called that cell number you gave me earlier today. Somebody picked up but wouldn’t say anything. What was that about?”

A long pause. “Shit, Cody, I don’t know. When did you call?”

“Around ten.”

“That’s when I was in Tubman’s office getting my skin peeled off for not telling him you’d left Helena.”

“Where was the phone?”

“In my briefcase. Next to my desk. Oh shit,” Larry said.

“Somebody answered your phone,” Cody said. “Somebody listened to me. Somehow they know I’m here.”

“I can’t imagine who…,” Larry said. Then: “Hold on a second. Somebody’s banging on my door. I’ll be right back.”

Cody said, “Somebody’s been tracking me, Larry. Someone tried to burn me alive on the way here.”

He realized Larry had stepped away.

Cody heard the receiver thunk on Larry’s kitchen table. He heard a greeting, a shout, and a gunshot. Then someone picked up the phone. Cody heard breathing. Like before.

“Larry?” Cody asked.

The connection ended.

39

Gracie asked Rachel, “How did you and my dad meet?” She couldn’t get him, or what Rachel had told them, out of her mind.

They were riding down the trail Jed had taken, following his hoofprints. Rachel, Gracie, Danielle, and Justin. They’d left the camp under Rachel’s direction, and they’d moved quickly and quietly. Rachel made a quick trip to her tent to retrieve a backpack that was now lashed to the skirt of her saddle and hung low like there was something heavy in it.

The last moments of the evening sun reached through the trees and lit the snowcapped peaks of the eastern mountains, fusing them with a good-bye wink of neon orange and pink. Gracie had barely had enough time to retrieve her hoodie before they left and she was glad she had. It seemed cooler than it had the night before and she was grateful for the warmth from Strawberry between her thighs.

“I said-”

“I heard you,” Rachel replied. There was a cool businesslike edge to her voice, and Gracie recoiled.

“Probably the wrong time to ask,” Gracie said. “I’m sorry.”

Rachel rode ahead, her face set into the mask Gracie had seen earlier. Gracie thought, She’s distracted. She’s leading three teenagers through the back of beyond and she’s unsure she can do it. She’s distracted.

“It seems awful to just leave him like that,” Gracie said, as much to herself as to Rachel.

“It’s what he wanted. Would you rather go back?” Rachel said with the same edge in her voice as before. “You can go back there if you want to. I told you what happened.”

“No,” Gracie said softly.

“I just had a human being die in my arms,” Rachel said, not looking over her shoulder at Gracie or trying to soften her tone. “And I saw the man who did it.”

Gracie felt sick.

“We’ve got to find help,” Rachel said. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

From behind, Justin said, “Excuse me, Miss Mina?”

Rachel jerked around in the saddle and looked past Gracie to Justin. “Yes?”