Читать книгу Framed For Christmas - Jaycee Bullard - Страница 14

“This place is awesome,” Josh exclaimed. “All the furniture is supersized.”

“Mr. Marshall has good taste,” Mary Kate agreed as she ran her fingers along the cushion of one of the leather sofas in the center of the room. “And look how the gold design of the rug matches the rest of the decor.”

“But there’s no TV,” Gabe pointed out.

“And no Christmas tree, either.” Annalise complained. “You’d think with all the pines around here it wouldn’t be that hard to chop one down.”

“Speaking of trees, did anyone notice the massive pile of wood by the barn?” Josh asked. “It must have taken hours to split all those logs.”

“I don’t think it was a problem.” Joe flexed his biceps in a show of solidarity with their host. “Did you see his arms? He must work out constantly to have muscles that size.”

“Let’s take a break from the personal analysis of our host and review the plan.” Dani blushed self-consciously as she glanced nervously at the door. She had also noticed Gideon’s strong arms, but it would be embarrassing if he walked in and overheard any part of their conversation, especially the comments concerning his physique.

“When do you think we’ll get to the reservation?” Lucy asked. “I can’t wait to see all the kids we met last summer.”

“Soon, I hope.” She tried again to get reception on her cell and frowned at the blank screen. “By tomorrow, for sure.”

Definitely by tomorrow, if she had anything to say about it. She had been quick to reassure Lucy, but the fact of the matter was that all of their parents would be worried sick when they found out the group hadn’t arrived as expected. And, with the phones down, there was no way to let them know that everyone was safe.

“Hey, Miss Jones,” Josh called out. “You want a bowl of chips?” He was standing by the kitchen counter, acting like the mayor of Dagger Lake as he dispensed snacks and drinks to the rest of the kids.

“No, thanks,” she said. Given the knot in her stomach, it was unlikely she’d have any appetite for dinner. An image flashed through her brain of the expressionless faces of the men at the gas station. Who were they, and why were they following her? She wanted to believe that any sinister thoughts she might conjure were the work of an overactive imagination. But part of her—the part that could never forget what had happened to her sister, Ali—knew that no one was ever safe.

The door banged open and Gideon walked into the cabin, a string of cleaned perch in his hand. “Here’s today’s main course,” he said. “Caught fresh this morning from the best ice fishing hole on the lake.”

“I hate fish,” Ellie moaned.

“You’ll like these,” he assured her. “And if you don’t, you can close your eyes and pretend you’re eating chicken.”

Despite the lighthearted banter, there was a marked change in Gideon’s demeanor, and Dani wondered what had happened since he left to finish his chores. His mouth was set in an anxious frown, and his eyes were wary. He placed the fish on the counter and turned to face the group.

“Before I start to make dinner, I need to grab a few things from the barn. Maybe your leader can give me a hand. You kids can set the table while we’re gone. Paper plates are in the cupboard above the sink, and folding chairs are stacked in the closet by the door.”

The edge to his tone made Dani suspect there was more on the agenda than retrieving supplies. As she slipped on her coat and followed him outside, she found herself wondering what could possibly have happened to explain the shift in his attitude.

She trailed Gideon and Lou along the tramped-down path to the barn, a ramshackle building with a painted red door. Gideon pulled out a set of keys to unlatch the rusty padlock, then opened the door and flicked on a light switch, bathing the space in a shadowy glow. She detected the scent of fresh hay and a slight whiff of something that smelled like oil. In the center of the room was an aluminum boat with a shiny new motor set next to it on a tarp. Along the back wall, an old push lawn mower, some power tools and a few broken chairs shared space with a beat-up snowmobile with a black leather seat held together by duct tape.

Gideon sat on a bale of straw and, with a curt nod, indicated that she should do the same. Lou shot her a look of supreme disillusionment as he curled into a ball beside his master’s booted feet.

“I thought we could have a little talk without the kids around.” Gideon’s face was a mask of shadows in the dim light.

She nodded. She couldn’t imagine what he needed to talk to her about, unless he was rethinking his decision to allow the group to stay in the cabin. Maybe he was about to suggest that they set up camp in the barn, which would be fine, though slightly chilly for those whose sleeping bags lacked extra insulation.

But any type of shelter was better than the alternative. She smiled encouragingly, which caused him to glare back at her. He seemed to be expecting a different sort of response, and when he finally spoke, his words could not have been more surprising.

“I just found twenty kilos of cocaine in the back of your van.”

She blinked. Twice. And then asked him to repeat the statement.

“I found ten bags of cocaine in the trunk of your vehicle.” Gideon enunciated each word with careful precision. “Actually, Lou did. I’d estimate its street value to be close to a million dollars.”

She gasped. “Your dog found cocaine in our van?” This had to be a joke. “Is he some sort of super-secret-agent canine trained to sniff out drugs?”

The muscle flexing along Gideon’s jaw and the firm set of his mouth showed that this was no laughing matter, even before his words confirmed it.

“He is. And he’s got the medals to prove it. It took him less than five minutes to locate the stash of drugs hidden with the Bibles. Ironic, don’t you think?”

She scrambled to make sense of this information. After all, she was a scientist who worked with DNA, trained to observe even the smallest detail, but she had neglected to examine any of the boxes before stowing them in the cargo area of the van. She supposed that, if what Gideon said about the drugs was true, it was rather ironic, but at the moment, that was the least of her concerns. “Who put them there?”

“I was hoping you could tell me.” His cool, dark eyes lingered on her face as if searching for answers. “I’m at a loss here, trying to figure out what to think about this. You seem like a nice enough lady. And the kids in your group appear to be straightforward and friendly, as well. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that transporting drugs over state lines is a felony. I noticed that your van has Iowa plates, which makes me wonder about your reasons for visiting the reservation. It’s hard to imagine why anyone would choose to travel this distance in a raging snowstorm with a bunch of kids who are supposed to be in school.”

She bristled at his tone, her dismay giving way to resentment at his innuendo. Who did Gideon Marshall think he was? Yes, he was allowing them to use his home and offering shelter from the storm. And yes, he did look like he could star in his own superhero movie with his broad shoulders and strong arms straining the sleeves of his red flannel shirt. But that didn’t give him the right to make those kinds of wild accusations.

“You may find this hard to believe, Mr. Marshall, but I’m just as surprised as you are by all of this. Maybe you should start by explaining what led you to discover these so-called drugs in the first place.”

Instead of the look of chagrin she had expected, his lips formed a satisfied smile. “Lou was acting skittish when we came upon you in the ditch, so I decided I needed to check out the situation for myself.”

“So you broke into our vehicle and rummaged through our stuff?”

“Exactly.” He cocked his head to one side, seeming pleased to admit he had violated their privacy. “And it turned out that Lou was correct, which isn’t surprising, since his nose is never wrong. Believe me, Miss Jones, this is not a small amount of contraband we’re dealing with. So it would behoove you to answer my question. Why bring a van full of kids from Iowa to North Dakota in the middle of a snowstorm?”

She stared at Gideon Marshall with barely contained irritation. Okay, maybe he knew what he was talking about when he claimed to have found drugs in the van, but they didn’t belong to her or anyone in the mission group. She took a deep breath and willed herself to be civil to this man who—she needed to remind herself—had rescued them from an uncertain fate in the North Dakota wilderness.

“We came to Dagger Lake because the new community center on the reservation is opening this weekend. The kids were here this past summer on a mission trip to help out after the flood. As a thank-you, the chief and the council of elders invited them to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday night.” She paused to cast a withering glance in his direction. “Apparently, their parents thought the experience was worthwhile enough for them to miss school.”

Gideon’s lips turned down in a scowl. “Do you have any reason to suspect that anyone in the group might be dealing drugs?”

This was getting more absurd by the moment. “Absolutely not. I can personally vouch for each and every one of these kids.” Her voice quavered with anger as she met and held his gaze. “I’ve known all of them for years, and I can’t imagine any of them being involved in something like this. They are all honor students who spend their free time volunteering and doing service projects with our church.” An idea occurred to her. “Is it possible that the stuff you found is talcum powder?”

Gideon gave a bitter laugh. “Let me assure you, Miss Jones, that I can tell the difference between talcum powder and cocaine.”

“Fine,” she huffed. “Let’s say for the sake of argument that there really are drugs in the back of the van—”

“Were.” He interrupted. “They aren’t there anymore. I’ve secured them in a safe place until I can turn them over to the sheriff.” He shot her another hard stare. “I get the feeling you doubt my credentials. Maybe you see me as some sort of crazy backwoodsman who doesn’t know the difference between oregano and pot.”

She felt the blood drain from her face. “You found pot in the van, as well?”

“I was just using that as an example to make my point,” he said, his voice thick with frustration. “Listen. I should have said this right at the outset. I used to work for the DEA, which means that I’ve had plenty of experience dealing with illegal drugs. This isn’t just a hunch. It is fact. I used a testing kit to confirm that the powder is definitely cocaine. So you can see that I’m not making an idle accusation. I know what I’m talking about, and when I tell you someone in your group is guilty of smuggling drugs, you can be assured I don’t make the accusation lightly. Which brings us back to the question—who hid the stash in your van?”

“I have no idea.” Her head was spinning as she tried to wrap her brain around what Gideon had just said. Had he just called her a criminal? Maybe not directly, but certainly by inference. And what was a DEA agent doing living in the middle of nowhere? Scratch that. A retired DEA agent. Dani looked again at the man sitting across from her. She wanted to tell herself he was a fraud or, to use his own words, a crazy backwoodsman, but something in her gut told her that, despite his disreputable appearance and intimidating size, Gideon Marshall was telling the truth.

“Let’s try it another way. Start with a list of people who had access to your vehicle, and we’ll work forward from there.”

This would be the moment to tell Gideon about the two men in the tan SUV. And yet, she hesitated. Who knew how he’d react to the news that she had failed to report the incident at the gas station? He already thought that she was irresponsible for driving through the blizzard. Why add fuel to the fire?

“My name would be the only one on that list. I packed the trunk myself last night after the kids dropped their gear off at church. Once everything was loaded, I pulled the van into the garage where it stayed until this morning.”

“Where did the boxes with the Bibles come from?” Gideon leaned forward, his chin in his hands and his elbows on his knees.

Was it her imagination, or was this “little talk” turning into a full-scale interrogation? If she and Gideon were actors in a TV crime drama, this would be the moment when she’d refuse to answer any more questions until she talked to her lawyer.

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “They were stacked by the pile of gear, and the boxes were marked BIBLES FOR THE RESERVATION.”

“No signature?”

She shook her head.

“Didn’t that make you suspicious?”

She bit her lip. At the very least, it should have made her curious, but she had been in such a hurry to finish packing that she hadn’t given it a second thought. “This was my first time chaperoning, so I just assumed that bringing along Bibles was part of the routine. We are a church group, after all.”

Gideon shifted forward. “I noticed the name of your congregation stenciled on the side door of the van. Who’s in charge of maintenance for the vehicle?”

“The custodian at the church. But there’s no way he’s involved in this. He’s been around for as long as I can remember. And he’s at least seventy-five, with a bad back, so clearly, he doesn’t fit the profile.”

“Doesn’t fit the profile?” Gideon repeated her words with more than a trace of cynicism. “When you’ve worked with the DEA for as many years as I did, you learn that just about everyone fits the profile.”

Gideon turned up the heat under the frying pan as he prepared to sear the fillets. A shortage of supplies had forced him to keep the menu simple—fresh fish, a green salad, a dozen or so cut-up oranges and a crisped loaf of day-old bread. He was glad he’d made it to the grocery store yesterday before the storm. He just hoped there would be enough food to satisfy a group of hungry teens.

As he added a couple of pats of butter to the pan, he took a moment to consider the likelihood that Dani Jones was not the innocent chaperone she seemed to be and was instead the ringleader of a major drug-smuggling operation.

The jury was still out on that one. In his experience, beautiful women tended to attract trouble, and Dani Jones was definitely beautiful. On their walk back from the barn, he’d noticed how the snowflakes stuck to her long dark lashes and how her cheeks glowed from the cold. He did admire her spunk and loyalty when she rallied to the defense of the kids. A woman like that had courage. And she had seemed genuinely surprised that the Bibles had been used as decoys to hide cocaine. But sincerity could be used to mask duplicity, and very few people were who they pretended to be.

He’d learned that lesson the hard way, first as a child growing up on the reservation, and later at the DEA, when Jonas—his partner, a man he had trusted with his life—set him up to take the fall for the death of an innocent witness. Gideon still found it hard to wrap his head around the facts of the betrayal. A seemingly airtight case against a ruthless drug lord that hinged on the testimony of a brave young woman. It should have been a slam dunk. But, instead, he had let his guard down and allowed Jonas to take the lead on the investigation, unaware of his partner’s sinister agenda. Could the same type of subterfuge be true of Dani? What sort of deceit was she hiding behind that guileless face?

Complicating matters was the unlikely coincidence of the tan SUV with the dented bumper idling near the spot where the church van had skidded off the road. Did that prove that Dani was telling the truth, at least in her suspicions about being knocked off the road? Without more conclusive data, it was impossible to say.

As the group took their seats around the table, he set two heaping platters of fish in the center and then slid into an open chair between two of the kids. But before he could give the call to dig in, the petite blond-haired girl on his left—Lucy, if he remembered correctly from Dani’s introductions—reached over and took his hand. He glanced at her to see what she wanted, but her eyes were shut. So were Dani’s as she began to pray.

“Lord Jesus, thank You for the warmth of this cabin and for the companionship of good friends. Thank You for keeping us safe and for helping us find shelter from the storm. And thank You for the food You have provided to nourish our bodies and for our host, who rescued us from the ditch and cooked this meal before us on the table. We are grateful for his hospitality and kindness.”

Beside him, Gideon’s neighbor gave his fingers a quick squeeze before releasing his hand.

He let out a long breath. It was hard enough having his personal space invaded by a small army of excitable teens. But now he was being forced to hold hands and say grace. Talk about being pushed out of his comfort zone.

For over two years, he had been preparing and eating meals at the cabin, and this was the first time he had even thought about thanking God for his food. After what had happened to his family, he wasn’t exactly on friendly terms with the Man Upstairs, so it wasn’t all that surprising.

Still, the kids and their chaperone seemed to take comfort in spending time in fellowship and prayer. Maybe he could take advantage of their relaxed mood to do a little digging into the circumstances of their visit to Dagger Lake.

“Miss Jones tells me that your youth group is based out of Mason City. Go, Hawkeyes, right?”

“We’re from Blooming Prairie, actually,” Josh corrected. “And most of us prefer the Cardinals.”

Gideon raised an amused brow. “Good to know. And were all of you part of the original group who visited the reservation this past summer?”

“Yup.” Josh seemed comfortable assuming the role of spokesman. “Only, Mr. Anderson was our chaperone the first time we came.”

“Mr. Anderson, huh? What’s he like?”

At the far end of the table, Joe grinned. “He’s okay. He’s the choir director at our church, and he’s really big into Gregorian chants. We actually prefer Miss Jones.”

Gideon nodded. It wasn’t hard to see why. Before sitting down to dinner, Dani had pulled her hair back in a braid, and her clear gray eyes seemed to sparkle every time she turned to face the kids. With her calm demeanor and sympathetic smile, she clearly was one of those people who related well to teenagers. He would definitely have been one of the boys crushing on her when he was their age. Unfortunately, that was then and this was now. At the moment, she was his number one suspect in a drug-smuggling case. “What kinds of things did you do at the reservation?”

“A little bit of everything,” Josh answered again. The kid acted like he was thirteen going on thirty. “Babysitting. Playing basketball with the younger kids. A few of us lent a hand helping restore one of the murals that was damaged in the flood.”

Gideon settled back in his chair and listened to the kids talk about the jobs they had done on their first visit to Dagger Lake. Many of the homes on the reservation had been ravaged by the high waters of the early-spring floods, and it was difficult not to admire the group’s willingness to travel such a distance to help out. The kids were direct in answering his questions, but their leader was acting skittish. In the last five minutes, Dani Jones had spilled a glass of water, knocked over a saltshaker and twice dropped her napkin onto the floor. He was starting to think there was something about him that made her nervous.

He must have been staring again, because she gave him an inscrutable look when she met his eye.

“This is a lovely cabin, Gideon.” Gid-ee-yun. She drew out the syllables of his first name, making it sound foreign and exotic. “How long did you say you’ve been living here?”

“Two years,” he replied. He was amused to see she was doing a little interrogating of her own. “But I’ve owned the land for quite some time. I used to keep a trailer on the property for fishing in the winter.”

“Cool,” Joe exclaimed. “I still can’t believe you can catch perch through a hole in the ice.”

“It’s pretty easy, actually. I use a hand auger to cut a seven-inch circle, and then all I need to do is drop in my line and see what I can pull up. The ice is already pretty thick this year. Some of the guys in town haul out their shacks in early December, but I usually wait until January.”

He noticed that Dani was frowning as she peered across the room. Apparently, she didn’t find his description of ice fishing all that scintillating.

“Is everything all right?” he asked.

Dani nodded. Something was bothering her, but if she didn’t want to tell him, he wasn’t going to pry it out of her. And before the group got too comfortable, he needed to review the plan for the evening and next day.

“Why don’t we take a moment to discuss the sleeping arrangements for tonight? Gentlemen, how about we let the ladies have the bedroom, and we’ll set up on the living room floor?” When no one protested, he continued. “Tomorrow morning, I’ll do my best to get you to the reservation. Unless you’d prefer to stay here indefinitely to hang out with Lou and me.” He forced a wry grin to show that he was joking. “I’d like to get an early start, so all of you need to be prepared for a 7:00 a.m. departure.”

A couple of the kids groaned.

“Are we going to walk across the lake?” Lucy asked.

He shook his head. For the second time that evening, he kicked himself for not ordering the parts to fix his truck. “The drifts are too deep for that. I’m going to take you by snowmobile, but I can only fit one at a time.”

“Fun!” Gabe exclaimed.

“That might be an overstatement, but it shouldn’t be too bad. I have extra gear to help you stay warm. Like I said before, it’s a pretty straight shot from my dock to the sheriff’s office on the other side. When we get there, you can call your parents and let them know you’re okay. Sheriff Stanek may want to ask you a few questions, but after that, he’ll arrange to get you to the reservation in time for the ceremony.”

“Questions about what?” Josh homed in on the million-dollar detail.

Gideon stood and walked over to the stove to pour himself a cup of hot water from the kettle, taking his time to stir in a tablespoon of coffee granules before rejoining the group. The kids were young, but that didn’t mean that they shouldn’t know the truth. Besides, they were going to find out soon enough. “Earlier this evening, I discovered a significant quantity of cocaine in the back of your van. I discussed the situation with Miss Jones, and she was quick to assure me that no one in your group is involved with either taking or smuggling drugs. So, unless someone wants to make a confession, I’m going to operate on that assumption, but only temporarily. If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask you a few questions about your preparations for the trip. Are you all okay with that?”

Seven heads nodded in unison. Their solemn faces reflected the seriousness of his request.

“Good. Let’s start at the beginning, then. Miss Jones has already explained most of the details of your mission trip. But as you think about the days leading up to your departure, I’d like you to try to remember if you noticed anything out of the ordinary that caught your attention. Maybe it was something as simple as spotting someone carrying a box through the parking lot when you arrived with your gear. Or maybe it was a person you didn’t know very well who was asking too many questions about your plans. Basically, I’m interested in anything and everything you might have seen or heard that relates to your visit to the reservation.”

There was a long silence. Josh and Gabe shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

“Gentlemen?” Gideon asked. “Do you have something to add to the discussion?”

Josh suddenly looked a lot less confident as he turned to meet Gideon’s eyes. “I... We...don’t really know if this is the kind of thing you’re looking for, but after Gabe and I left our stuff at the church, we thought we saw a car that looked like my mom’s at the far end of the lot. The driver was slumped down, talking on his phone. When he saw us approaching, he reached across to the passenger seat, picked up a gun and held it in front of the window.” Josh gave a nervous laugh. “We took off running and didn’t look back. At least I didn’t,” he added with a shrug.

Dani gasped. “A gun? Boys! Did you tell Josh’s mom?”

Josh looked at Gabe, who shrugged sheepishly.

“We thought that if we said something, our parents might not let us go on the trip,” Gabe explained. “And when we talked about it later, we decided it was probably a toy and the guy was just trying to scare us so we’d leave him alone.”

“Did you happen to notice the plates on the vehicle?” Gideon wanted to know.

“No,” Josh admitted. “But it was a white Jeep.”

A white Jeep, not a tan SUV. Interesting. “And you didn’t recognize the driver?”

Josh’s laugh was high-pitched. “No. He was wearing a hoodie, so I didn’t get a good look at his face.”

“How about the rest of you?” Gideon asked. “Did anyone else see or hear anything unusual?” His eyes made a loop of the circle, finally coming to rest on Dani. There was something nervous and wary in her eyes. It was a look he had seen often during his years at the DEA, although it was usually the victims, not the perpetrators, who wore that expression of panicked confusion. It was as if there was something she wanted to share but didn’t know quite how to bring it up. “Dani? Is everything okay?”

Dani’s fingers trembled as she raised them to her lips. “I just saw a shadow of something moving outside.”

Gideon pushed back his chair and walked over to the large picture window. “It’s probably a deer looking for food. I’m surprised Lou’s so quiet. He usually sounds the alarm when anyone gets close to the house.”

On cue, the dog perked his ears and began to bark.

“Like I said, there’s a good chance that it’s just a hungry animal, but it can’t hurt to check things out.” He slipped on his coat, grabbed a flashlight from the shelf and pointed at Lou. The shepherd jumped up. Clearly, he didn’t need to be asked twice.

For a moment, no one spoke. Then Joe stood and folded his arms across his chest.

“I’ll bet it’s a bobcat,” he said. “Don’t worry, Miss Jones. Lou will scare it away.”

“Or maybe it’s a moose,” Gabe suggested. “Or a mountain lion?”

“Or a gray wolf or a coyote?” Josh almost spilled his glass of juice in his excitement. “Maybe we men should help Mr. Marshall look for tracks.”

Gideon shook his head. “Thanks for the offer, boys, but it might be best if you stay back and help with the chores.” Given the fact that the drugs were now hidden in his barn, he couldn’t discount the likelihood of a far deadlier threat.