Page 44 of In Cold Blood (High Peaks Murder, Mystery and Crime Thrillers #1)

A fter dropping the kids off, Noah phoned Callie to update her on what Jack had told him. He was in the middle of leaving a voice message when his phone died.

“Oh, c’mon.” He attached it to the cable in his car. With all that had occurred the night before, and by the time he rolled into bed amid thoughts of an early morning search, he’d forgotten to plug it into the wall.

He’d considered driving the twenty minutes back to High Peaks but as he hadn’t heard from Callie while he was out that morning, he assumed she was either booking Cyrus or wading through his apartment in search of evidence.

Noah was close to Bloomingdale.

He figured if Cyrus hadn’t been caught and he’d gone north, he could get eyes on him. Once he arrived he would call Callie again. At least that way, Cyrus couldn’t slide out from under their noses.

“Just you and me, pal,” Noah said to Axel as he drove north. He glanced at him in the mirror. “You liked Ethan, didn’t you?”

Axel whined a little.

“Yeah, I miss him too.”

Ethan was much like Luke, outgoing, all smiles, and personable. At least that’s how he remembered him.

What Alicia and Lena had said about Luke just didn’t add up unless, of course, Luke had gotten hooked on drugs.

It wasn’t unheard of for officers in drug units to be tempted by the allure of cash and narcotics.

A little off the top just to take the edge off.

Beer usually did the trick but who was to say his brother hadn’t dipped into powder?

Noah didn’t want to think that was the case. Luke had always struck him as a straight shooter who went by the book, much like his father. A churchgoer who excelled in keeping his life clean and free from secrets.

“Secrets are what get people in trouble,” he remembered him saying on the phone.

Noah pushed the past from his mind and focused on recalling the directions Jack had given him.

Saranac to Bloomingdale was less than ten minutes.

It was a tiny hamlet in Adirondack County.

With less than 1,200 people, it paled in comparison to its big sister cities.

Route 3 skirted around the western edge of McKenzie Mountain Wilderness.

There were few homes along the way. It was nothing more than a road that stretched into the horizon, cutting through woodland and marshland.

Noah’s thoughts drifted back to his final days in High Peaks.

He’d gone camping with Ray and Luke. It was meant to be a last hurrah before he headed off to boot camp and became another one of Uncle Sam’s molds cut from the same military cloth as those before him.

But he knew the trip was more than that.

Their father had arranged it in a last-ditch effort to see if his brothers couldn’t talk sense into him.

“You sure this is what you want?” Luke had asked.

“It is. ”

“Despite what dad says, I was sure hoping you would stick around. You know, we’d be part of the same Sheriff’s Office.”

“How much did he pay you?”

“Who?”

“Dad.”

“A hundred bucks.”

“And you took it?”

“Beer’s not cheap,” he said before laughing hard. Ray clinked his can against Luke’s.

“You two. I’m going to miss yah.”

“You’ll come back. On leave. Right?”

“Sure. Yeah.”

Noah hadn’t told them what his father had said about leaving and never coming back.

He didn’t want to taint their view of him.

Ray looked up to him like he could do no wrong.

Luke wasn’t as adhering to his rules. He would often disagree but because he never chose a different path, their father rarely argued with him.

Madeline, well she was a firecracker. She spoke her mind much like their mother.

Gravel crunched below the tires, alerting him to the end of the smooth blacktop.

The Bronco bumped as it wound around another bend and Noah took in the sight of a yellow A-frame set back in among the trees.

Instead of pulling into the driveway, Noah veered over to the side of the gravel road and hopped out.

He made his way around the back and got out the ballistic vest Callie had given him earlier that morning.

He checked the magazine in his sidearm and then collected Axel.

The dog began sniffing the ground. Zigzagging with every scent he latched onto, and there must have been hundreds among the thousands of trees that spread out like a green blanket as far as the eye could see.

They worked their way through the thick underbrush until Noah spotted a small Chevy pickup parked out front. It was old. Worn by the weather. The black paint had faded. He kept a tight hold on Axel; the dog was eager, pulling, and ready to be let loose.

Arriving on the grounds outside the A-frame, he soaked it all in. The property was stunning. It sat on acres of wildlife habitat bordering state land. No wonder Cyrus used the cabin. It made for a great escape.

Noah skirted around the cabin, eyeing it closely, his service weapon already in hand.

He wasn’t taking any chances. Outside the cabin were four Adirondack chairs around a fire pit.

There were two ways into the abode: entering the lower level or climbing up a flight of steps that would take him around to another part of the cabin.

His heart sped up.

He only had one purpose.

Get visual contact. Confirm it was him, then once his phone had a little juice, make the call and wait for backup.

It would have been easy to charge in their all balls and glory but he’d seen situations turn south real quick.

At least with five or ten officers on hand they could watch the windows and have his six.

It wouldn’t take long to get confirmation.

Noah sidled up to the house and sliced the pie, so to speak, to see if anyone was inside the lower level.

From the window, he spotted something.

It was unclear what or who it was. He squinted.

Noah was about to turn away when he noticed a hand dangling over the edge of the couch. A bottle of wine and two cans of beer were on a coffee table nearby. Noah worked his way around to get a better angle.

As he came around to the doorway, which gave him a clear shot of the inside living room, his jaw went slack.

It was Cyrus .

He was slumped over, a gun in his right hand, a wound to his temple.

A spray of blood was on the leather sofa.

It was an absolute circus.

Adirondack County Sheriff’s Office descended upon the property. Deputies blocked off access to the A-frame and neighboring homes while others secured the scene.

Noah leaned against a cruiser outside, taking it all in.

The flow of officers in and out was steady.

Camera flashes illuminated the inside. The A-frame was crowded as a forensic team took photos, sketched the crime scene, dusted for prints, and collected body fluid, gunshot residue, human tissue, and anything else that could be analyzed by the lab.

The young deputy before him couldn’t have been older than twenty-one. He fidgeted with his pen as he continued to take his statement. He dropped his pad every few seconds. Noah couldn’t shake the feeling that he was out of his depth and not as prepared as he should have been.

“This your first crime scene?” Noah said, noting how out of sorts he looked.

Axel lay beside him, intrigued at the flow of people. He was panting.

“Yeah,” he said, looking back over his shoulder, nervous tension showing in his posture. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead. “Anyway, um. So…?”

Noah continued. “Like I told you. My ex’s brother told me he used this place for hunting.”

“Jack Grayson?”

“That’s what I said.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Noah caught sight of Callie pulling up. She got out with the same wide-eyed look the others had when they arrived on scene.

“And you didn’t touch anything?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re certain?”

“Again, I arrived, and I observed the deceased through the window. I then placed a call.”

He’d had the good sense to make sure he hadn’t stepped inside. The last thing he wanted was to be blamed or prosecuted for breaking in.

Callie overheard the last part. “Parker, I’ll take over from here.”

The kid looked relieved. Callie swept a hand over her face to push aside a strand of hair. She brought her hand down and rested it on her duty belt. The two of them stared at each other as if they were thinking the same thing.

“I got your message. At least part of it,” she said.

“Phone died.”

“Yeah. So, what are your thoughts?”

He blew out his cheeks. “Obviously looks like suicide, the wound is close contact, and the spray is what you would expect. But… I don’t know. From what information we have on him, he didn’t seem like the take your life type of individual.”

She nodded. “Forensics will run UV and check for gunpowder residue on his hands. I’m sure they’ll let us know if there are any inconsistencies.

People do a lot of things under duress. He shot at us.

He probably knew that the entire county and local PD would be searching for him.

Whatever chance he had of escaping went out the window.

Not even the Graysons could dig him out.

By the number of empty alcohol bottles and cans, it would be easy to assume he got drunk and decided to off himself. ”

“But why? ”

“I just told you.”

“I heard you but is that all?”

“He was facing hard time, Noah. Shooting at us, running from the law, a hit and run, along with narcotics found. I don’t think he needed his day in court to hear his fate. A second ding on his record. No judge in this county would let him walk. Some people just can’t face the music.”

“Perhaps.”

“You been inside the cabin yet?”

“No. In light of what happened, I would suggest you don’t go in there either. If you get my drift.” He looked over to the house. “Seems they’ve got a handle on it.”

Deputy Hendrix came out wearing blue latex gloves and carrying multiple hunting rifles and a couple of AR-15s.

“Hendrix!” Callie called out. “What have we got so far?”

“Multiple firearms. A shitload of narcotics, paraphernalia, and cash. Computers also. Seems our fella wasn’t just using this place as a hunting cabin.

We’ll check for ballistics and cross-check them with Luke.

We should hear back in twenty-four to forty-eight hours from NIBIN whether we have a match.

Though based on what we’ve found so far, it looks promising,” he said with confidence.

He strolled over to a police van and placed the guns in the back along with other brown boxes they had hauled out.

“Could it be that straightforward?” Noah muttered under his breath.

Callie caught it. “I mean, we know he held a grudge against Luke. Not every case is drawn out and complex, Noah. If he is the one responsible, well… at least your family would have closure. Which reminds me. You said in your message before it cut off that you got this tip from Jack Grayson, yes?”

“That’s right,” he said, distracted with other thoughts.

“With all they’re bringing out, I wouldn’t be surprised if his prints are all over this. If they pin down a timeline of when this happened, he’ll have to account for his whereabouts. Where did you see him today?”

He glanced at her. “Coming out of a motel in Saranac with a ‘friend.’” He made quote signs in the air. She understood what that meant.

“Hmm. Isn’t he married?”

“Yep.”

“I wonder how his wife will take to him hooking up with another woman?”

“Not well, but probably better than hearing it was a man.”

Her mouth widened. She stifled a chuckle. “Are you serious?”

“I wish I wasn’t. Seems that’s where he was on the night Luke was murdered. At least that’s his alibi. I’m sure we’ll be able to confirm that with the motel, their surveillance videos, and calling this number,” he said, taking out his phone and bringing up the one he’d gotten from Jack.

Callie leaned forward to see the name, Bob.

“The secrets people hide,” she said.