“The woman I mentioned before. She went missing. He went searching for her and that’s all I know right now.”
“He was accused of murdering a family.”
“He didn’t do it.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Jack might have killed a lot of people in his time, some who may not have deserved it, but one thing he never did was harm a woman or child. It goes against who he is at the core. Whoever killed that family, is still out there; it wasn’t him.”
“So you think someone set him up?”
Dalton nodded. “I just don’t know who but I was hoping to speak to him.” He stopped eating. “Jack isn’t a saint, Mark, but he’s a lot like you and me. He wants to help. Just as we have our reasons to give our time to help others, he’s the same.”
Boone took a deep breath. “The same? I dunno about that.”
Dalton leaned back. “If it’s a problem just say it. I don’t want to put you in a tough spot.”
“You already have. But… I know what it’s like to try to go to bat for someone. The first guy I went to see in the hospital asked if I would teach the Bible. I brought it to the powers that be and they refused. Back then there was no chapel and whoever was in charge was against any religious input. They felt it would only warp their minds.” He inhaled. “They said if I pursued it I could no longer visit that guy.”
“So you pursued?”
“Damn right I did.”
They both smiled and continued eating their lunch. Once they were done and had paid the bill, Dalton stood outside expecting Boone to thank him for visiting but send him on his way. Instead, he directed him to his SUV. “Get in.”
“Where we going?”
“The hospital. You didn’t come all this way for nothing, did you?” He smiled and Dalton followed.
Inside her room at the Evergreen Motel, Kelly finished up calling wreckers’ yards within a five-mile radius of Apalachin, New York. While minimal information had come out of the Lewis court case, one of the tidbits she’d picked up was that Winchester believed he’d been in an auto accident. In a town so small she didn’t think it would take long to confirm that. That was four months ago. She’d called every single wreckers’ yard in the area and none them had taken in a vehicle from an auto accident on the day of the Lewis murders. She’d even gone so far as to call towing companies but that gave her nothing.
It also didn’t help that multiple calls to John Dalton were getting her nowhere. The secretary kept saying the same thing — he was out. She had a good mind to get Zach to travel up to the mission to see if he was around but that would mean having a conversation and right now he was the last person she wanted to talk to.
Her frustration was getting the better of her when there was a knock at the door.
She figured it was the owner of the motel as she’d complained that one of the air conditioning units wasn’t working and there was a pool of water soaking the carpet below it.
It was far worse.
Opening the door she was greeted by the sight of Zach grinning. He was wearing a navy suit with a black tie, and sunglasses. He’d shaved his mustache and smoothed back his unruly hair into a man bun. “Hello partner,” he said, brushing past her and looking around. “Geez Louise, Kelly. I know you’re cheap, darlin’, but you could have shelled out for something better than this.”
“What are you doing here?” she asked closing the door.
“Vacation,” he said slumping down on the bed and bouncing up and down on it to check the springs.
“But…?”
He lifted a hand. “I couldn’t leave you here to figure this out all by yourself, now could I. After that email I got, I kind of figured you’d be wallowing in self-pity.” He leaned forward and pulled out two empty wine bottles from a garbage can. “And I was right.”
She snatched them out of his hands. “Look. You can’t stay here.”
“I wasn’t planning on it. I got a room next door.”
“What?”
“Well, the place isn’t busy.”
“But you said you didn’t like it.”
“The place, but the company…” He eyed her up and down. “Hard to resist.”
“No. No. No! I’m calling Roger,” she said scooping up her phone.
He kicked off his shoes and scrambled back on the bed and put his hands behind his head. “Go ahead, he approved my vacation time. Nothing he can do.”
“Of course there is. You’re infringing upon my ability to do my job.”
“What, like downing two bottles of pinot noir?”
She scowled at him and put her phone down.
“Ah, come on. You can’t deny our chemistry. Your brains, my brawn,” he said inching over to her with a wry expression.
“You have got to be joking,” she said, heading for the door and opening it. “You want to vacation, be my guest, but I am not putting up with you.”
“Why not? I can be useful.”
“Useful. You’re about as useful as…” She stopped herself and then it dawned on her. Perhaps she could kill two birds with one stone. She closed the door and he smiled.
“Ah. I see the look in your eye. I’m right, aren’t I?” he said beginning to unbutton his shirt.
“Yeah. Yeah you are.”
“I knew it. See, I knew you’d eventually come around to my way of thinking.”
“You can be useful.”
“Yep. You just wait until I show you what I can do with my—”
She pressed a hand against his chest. “But you’re gonna need to keep the shirt on.”
“What? Why?” he said, pausing and looking despondent.
“Because you, buddy boy, are heading on a road trip, four hours southwest of here to the town of Apalachin.”
“What?” His brow furrowed.
“You wanted to be useful. I’ve got a job for you.”
7
After giving Dalton a tour of
