Presently he and several other badges were clustered around a potbellied, middle-aged guy wearing a blue Walmart employee vest. When Ski spotted Dodge pulling into the parking lot, he left the group and jogged toward them.
Dodge said, 'He wants to jump our daughter.'
Caroline said, 'If I'm reading the vibes right, the feeling is mutual.'
The moment Ski reached them, he asked, 'Where's Berry?'
'She went to the hospital to see Ben,' Caroline told him. 'I couldn't reach her on her cell.'
'Try again. Get her over here.' As an afterthought he added a 'please,' although Caroline seemed not to have noticed his brusqueness. Responding to his sense of urgency, she immediately had accessed her cell phone and was speed-dialing Berry.
Dodge got out of the car and lit a cigarette.
Ski bore down on him, growling angrily, 'What the hell, Dodge?'
Dodge clicked his lighter closed and blew smoke toward the sky. The deputy's anger needed no explanation. 'I had a hunch, I acted on it.'
'You tampered with evidence.'
'Sue me. And, by the way, I didn't
'Where is it now?'
'Safely stored. So what do you want to do? Slug out our difference of opinion on protocol and chain of evidence in front of God and everybody? Or talk about the significance of those pictures?'
Ski removed his sunglasses and wiped his sweating forehead on his sleeve. He glanced into the car at Caroline, who was still talking on her cell phone. Coming back around to Dodge and keeping his voice low, he said, 'Best I can tell, they were taken with a telephoto lens.'
'But close enough to be scary.'
Ski gave a solemn nod of agreement. 'Close enough. They're a whole friggin' photographic study of Berry's life here. He got shots of the lake house from every angle. He's got her coming and going all over town.'
'Wearing different clothes,' Dodge said. 'Which means he followed her on numerous occasions.'
'He got up close and personal, too.'
The deputy's square jaw hardened, and Dodge knew he was thinking about the series of shots taken of Berry through her bedroom window, and when she was sunbathing on the pier, blissfully unaware that a man who'd vowed to kill her was watching, perversely violating her in a way that made Dodge's blood boil.
'Careless of him to leave them in the motel room.'
'He didn't,' Ski said. 'I found them in a trash barrel on the side of the road behind the motel, near where he'd hidden the car.'
'So even after killing the kid, he had the presence of mind to take them with him and try to unload them.'
'He didn't want to be caught with something that would implicate him.'
'Careful bastard.'
'Berry told me he works puzzles. He's methodical. He won't stop.'
'Which means we gotta stop him,' Dodge said, tossing away his cigarette butt.
'He's on foot. At least he was.'
'Fill me in.'
'We found an abandoned maroon Toyota. Just by eyeballing the tire tracks, I'm almost certain it's the same car that was at the lake house and behind the motel. Starks left it on foot, shoeless.'
'You used the dogs to track him.' Dodge motioned to the trio of German shepherds, which were leashed but still moving in frenzied circles, their noses to the asphalt.
Ski said, 'Army buddy of mine has this canine search and rescue outfit out of Tyler. He called up one of his best trainers and his dogs, got them down here in a hurry. We had Starks's shoes. The dogs picked up his scent, followed it along the railroad tracks till they crossed Highway 287 at a point a half mile from here.'
Caroline got out of the car and joined them. 'I caught Berry just as she was leaving the hospital. She'll be here within minutes.'
'Then what?' Dodge asked, turning back to Ski. 'After Starks got here.'
'Then nothing. The trail goes cold.'
'Shit.'
'Tell me,' Ski muttered. 'All the dogs converged on the area just over there by the Dumpsters. Either he stole a vehicle, which I doubt since none has been reported, or he hijacked one, or somebody picked him up.'
'You've ruled out that he was sucked up by space aliens?'
Ski snuffled. 'At least then I'd know where to start looking. As it is, the trail ends here.' He motioned toward the Walmart employee who seemed inflated by all the attention he was receiving. 'Store manager. He's got Starks on several security camera videos. At least I'm fairly certain it's Starks. That's why I want Berry to take a look.'
'Here she comes,' Caroline said.
The parking lot was swarming with law enforcement personnel and onlookers, including a van full of elderly people from an assisted living facility, but Berry spotted the trio she sought the instant she turned off the highway.
She pulled her car to a stop near them and got out.
Ski said, 'Thanks for getting here so fast.'
She responded with matching formality. 'Mother said Oren has been here.'
He gave her a bullet-point rundown of the events that had taken place since the discovery of the abandoned car. 'I thought you might look at the videos, confirm it's Starks.'
'Of course.'
'I'll get the manager and meet you inside the main entrance.' He left them and, in his long-legged stride, walked over to the group of peace officers huddled around the man in a blue vest.
As she, Dodge, and Caroline made their way toward the store entrance, Caroline asked after Ben.
'He's glad he has drugs for the pain.'
Berry had no more to say on the subject and was relieved when they didn't press her for details. The AC inside the store was a welcome relief from the heat of the parking lot. Ski and an older deputy, whom she remembered simply as Stevens, came in accompanied by the store manager, who said importantly, 'This way,' and busily jangled a cluster of keys attached to his belt.
Before they fell into step behind him, Dodge motioned toward the store's snack bar, where a young man was slouched in a booth. Across from him was a woman wearing a Merritt County sheriff's deputy uniform. The young man's posture and expression conveyed boredom and bad attitude. The deputy looked angry and dour as she tapped a pen against her blank notepad.
'Who's that with the deputy?' Dodge asked.
'The cashier who rang up Starks's purchase. We haven't been able to shake much out of him.'
'Mind if I give it a shot?'
Ski shrugged. 'Be my guest.'
Stevens looked at Ski with surprise but didn't question his decision to give Dodge a turn with the witness.
Dodge strolled over to the booth. Ignoring the young man, he said something to
