“You two were on the road crew?” Mac asked.
“Yeah?” Kevin said, questioning how he knew.
“Go on,” Mac said.
So, after lunch they went out and did a bunch of nothing, until they got the come in command through their hand-helds just before dark.
“You hear all the shooting?” Mac asked.
They nodded, but it was well known that Ken was bringing up gun clubs from Seattle to experience shooting outside of a gun range. No one thought anything of it.
“And someone had come in and stole one of our vehicles!” Tim was indignant. Angie gave Mac a sideways look and grinned at him. He laughed.
“Keep going,” Mac said.
“And blew up the barbeque,” Kevin said sourly. “Cook went to light it and it blew up. He got hit by some shrapnel as did a couple of others on the kitchen crew. Why would anyone do that?”
“Why were you all carrying eight bricks of C-4?” Rand asked.
“What? We were carrying C-4? Why would we do that?” Tim asked startled.
Mac rolled his eyes. They would have to capture two of the clueless ones. “How many reserves are out here?” he asked.
Tim had to mentally count them. “Ten plus Sheriff Norton,” he said.
“So, five two-man teams?” Mac mused out loud.
Kevin nodded.
“Dinner was sandwiches?” Mac asked to prompt them along.
And then they went to bed. Tim and Kevin were sharing a tent. They heard talking later, but they weren’t part of it. Then this morning, they were sent out to get this body. “We were told we failed to protect him, and the killer had struck again. But we’d get the killer, dead or alive.” Tim said.
“And who went after Cleve?” Mac asked.
Tim frowned and shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said slowly. “Don’t know that we were even told there was another dead body out here.”
Odd, Mac thought. But maybe two dead bodies would strain credibility.
“And the other teams? What were their tasks?”
They didn’t know. They’d been sent out right away after breakfast to reclaim the body. They weren’t a part of the discussion.
“When are you planning to head out today?” Mac asked finally.
“When everyone got back and had some lunch,” Tim said. He glanced at his watch. “Two hours?”
Rand glanced at Mac. “So, you said earlier, he’s started believing all that crap,” he said to the reserve deputies. “What did you mean?”
“There’s a guy Malloy? He often comes up here with Wilderness Tours when they’ve got the gun club trips,” Tim said. “And he’s always talking about how they’ve got to toughen people up. Uses terms like ‘blooded’, things like that. Sheriff Norton listens to him. Malloy used to be a Seattle cop, and I think Norton wants to be like him. But really? Malloy is kind of racist and mean. I’ve been on a trip out here with him, and he’s scary.”
“So, the trip you were out here on was with Malloy? Did you stay behind for some late shooting with him and Norton?” Mac asked.
Tim shook his head. “Had to get back,” he said. “I caught a ride back with Ken and the some of the clients.”
“What about you, Kevin? You ever stay up for a late Sunday shoot?” Mac asked.
Kevin shook his head. “I don’t usually come up for the wilderness survival trips,” he said. “I grew up out here. I know how to survive better than they do. Ken knows what he’s doing. Been doing it for a long time. But Norton? Norton’s OK as a sheriff, but he’s a city boy. He’d be better off staying out of the mountains. So anyway, I only come out when there’s a mission — like this one. I thought we were after the guy who killed a man.”
He looked out the window again. “And we’re going to have snow within the hour.”
Rand eased up the speed a bit. “Did you see how the teams were divided up this morning?” Rand asked. “Where did Norton go?”
“Heard him say he was going to take a car down to Ken,” Tim volunteered. He frowned. “Why did Ken need a car?”
“Because some of your reserves came through our camp yesterday and slashed all the tires,” Rand said.
“You sure it was reserves?” Tim asked, obviously startled.
Rand nodded. “I saw them. Recognized a couple. Couldn’t give you names, but yeah, they are Norton’s men.”
“We going to get Cleve?” Angie asked.
“Might as well,” Rand replied. “Save us a trip back up here later.”
Mac just watched out the windows. What were the other men doing out there, he wondered. And what about Ken and the wounded?
Chapter 25
Picking up Cleve’s body wasn’t a problem. Mac stayed with the vehicle while Angie showed the other three where the body was. Rand made the two deputy reserves carry him out. They looked spooked.
“Angie showed them where Mark and his team were trapped,” Rand told him quietly. “Showed them the tree with a bullet hole in it that you climbed to fire back. Nice work, by the way. Unless they want to call her a liar, they have to believe it was someone from their group who fired on Mark’s team and killed Cleve. Hard for them to swallow.”
“What about you?” Mac asked, as they loaded the second body in the back. “You buy that Norton has gone crazy on his own?”
Rand considered that. Shrugged. “I don’t know. Something happened we don’t know about?”
Mac nodded slowly. That could be. It did feel like a clean-up effort.
The snow started to fall as they loaded the body. Big fluffy flakes. The kind that could pile up in a hurry. And a breeze picked up. Mac looked at Kevin. “What do you think?”
“If it were my call? We’d be half way down the mountain by now,” he said.
Mac nodded. Rand drove on into the sheriff’s camp. There was no one there.
Of course not, Mac thought. That would be too easy. He’d
