“Rules?” she asked as she shut off her laptop and put it to one side.
“Yeah, unfortunately Johnson isn’t giving us much of a budget so we need to be frugal which means sharing a room.”
“Buddy boy that is not happening.”
“Geesh, Armstrong, get your mind out of the gutter. I didn’t say the same bed. Unless of course you want to?” She put a hand on her hip and he quickly continued. “What I’m trying to say is Johnson is not going to foot the bill for two rooms, plus travel, and food. Hell, I had to fight him just to get enough for food. So what I’m saying is, you’ll have to be flexible. You are flexible, yes?” he said with a grin on his face as he brought out one of the pots. The man was full of innuendos.
“Whatever. But you’ll stay on your side of the room and if I even catch you trying to come on to me, I will cut that damn thing off.”
“Whoa, someone has got issues,” he said taking a seat. She wanted so badly to react but instead she bit down and counted to ten in her head. He served up the food and Kelly took her place across from him. She really didn’t want to invite him for dinner but if they were going to be riding together for the whole time she thought it best to put in an effort before they left.
“The real question is,” he took a large gulp of his wine, “do you think there is anything to it or is this just a woman in pain searching for a way to deal with her grief?”
“First, sure there is. You only have to go through her data to see how many murders had chess pieces left at crime scenes. It’s a killer’s signature.”
“Then why hasn’t the FBI picked up on this?”
“Maybe they have, maybe they haven’t. But she was on to something. I think she made it her mission to identify the man who committed these unsolved murders. By all accounts it appears she was working on a book about her investigation into it. I just think she just got too close to the truth and…” Kelly trailed off thinking of the dangers of picking up where Dana left off. Did she really want to stick her neck out there? “Anyway, we’ll soon know.”
“And you think Winchester is involved in some way?”
She shrugged and scooped another heap of food onto her plate. “Possibly.”
Zach wagged his finger at her. “I like the way you think, Armstrong. No article on this guy but maybe we can kill two birds with one stone.” He looked into the air daydreaming. “Who knows, I might even win a Pulitzer Prize for this article.”
“You?”
He coughed. “I meant, we.”
“Uh-huh,” she said, raising an eyebrow and dumping another spoonful of spaghetti on his plate. Zach took another swig of his drink. “So where’s this road trip taking us next?”
“Santa Fe.”
The following morning, several Santa Fe police officers arrived at the general hospital, one of whom was Officer Danbury. A staff member at the hospital had alerted them that one of their own was out of surgery and in recovery. When given the name, they were quick to dispatch officers. A nurse practitioner led them up to the second floor to room 289. The officers pushed open the door expecting to find the man lying in bed. Instead they found Danbury’s uniform in a pile on the chair, and Jack was gone.
Epilogue
6 days later
Shanice and Carla helped Tyson out of the cab. One of his legs was in a cast but he was up and the swelling in his face had come down considerably. “Let’s get you inside and I’ll put some breakfast on.”
Shanice walked ahead and opened the door.
“Can you believe they locked him up?” Tyson smiled while reading the local paper. He was using crutches and hobbling into the house. “They said it was a complete massacre. Multiple dead bodies and Pope denied it all. “Listen to this, Mom. The lawyer for a man accused of killing multiple people in Albuquerque Plaza said that her client wasn’t involved in the killings and plans to fight the charge in court. Trish Bowman said Jeremiah Pope, 38, is stunned by the allegations against him. “He’s OK, he’s just really shocked by these charges, and he’s upset,” Bowman said outside a Santa Fe courtroom where her client appeared briefly. “They’re serious charges against him.” Pope has had his case adjourned to next week when he will appear by video link due to threats on his life by family members of the victims. Santa Fe police said they were investigating the case after a witness informed them that Pope was behind the killings. The witness has now disappeared.” Tyson laughed. “Even if he manages to wiggle his way out of this, it sounds like he won’t be able to show his face around here.”
“Let’s hope they put him away for a long time,” his mother said closing the door behind him. “Thanks, Carla. Do you want to stay for breakfast?”
She shrugged. “If that’s OK with Tyson?”
Tyson looked at her and smiled. “Of course it is.”
“I’ll give you a hand,” Carla added.
They left Tyson in the living room in a recliner chair reading the paper. He hadn’t seen Jack but he’d heard about his performance that night through the grapevine. But with accusations being thrown around, so much bloodshed and what Pope had done to him after winning, he couldn’t help but wonder if Jack was now buried in a shallow grave somewhere in New Mexico.
“You want a cold drink, Ty?” Carla called out.
“You haven’t seen my cigarettes anywhere?”
“On the bookshelf,” his mother replied. Tyson pulled the lever on the chair and struggled to get to his feet.
Carla came to the doorway and went to help but he waved her off.
