Page 47 of Skin Game
Gabe grabbed hold of the door as the wind tried to sweep it closed again. “Just my luck, I’ll get taken out by my own door.”
Eagan started to open the cruiser door, which in turn had him squashing the memory of the last time he’d ridden in a sheriff’s vehicle, with former Sheriff Eli Rizzi doing the honors.
Eli Rizzi, who’d gone to high school with Gabe’s mother.
“Deputy Eagan,” Gabe called out.
She paused, halfway in and out of the car, eyebrows raised.
“Any chance you might be able to ask Rizzi some questions for me? Since he was in high school with my mother and all.”
What Gabe could only classify as a Complicated Expression slid across her face.
“Might be a bit difficult,” she replied. “Rizzi was found dead in his cell this past weekend. I’m surprised you hadn’t heard the news already.”
With that, she finished climbing into the cruiser. Her lips were pressed into a thin line as she banged the car door shut and reversed out of the driveway, presumably to head back toward the Sheriff’s Office.
For his part, Gabe stood on the tiny concrete pad that passed as his patio, with the rain and wind swirling around him, his mouth partially open.
The only thing you’re going to catch is flies, Chance.
He slammed his lips closed and went back inside.
NINETEEN
CASEY – THURSDAY (UP THE VALLEY)
“I think I’m going to take a run up The Valley today, now that the storm has passed,” Casey told Greta.
Eyeing him, his work partner set her coffee mug down on the desk.
“You want company?”
“No. I’ll have Bowie with me. He doesn’t pry into my personal life the way you do.”
Greta snorted. “Any specific reason for the trip? Are you missing the potholes? I don’t think the grader has been scheduled up the top of the road yet.”
“Gabe told me he thought he saw Calvin Perkins’s truck the other day, but he wasn’t sure. What if Calvin, for reasons only known to him, hid out all winter and is alive? I think it’s likely he’d head back to familiar haunts.”
“Be careful, then. If heisalive, Calvin’s dangerous.”
“I’ve always thought Dwayne was the more unpredictable one. With him dead, maybe it will be easier to reason with his brother now that some time has passed. And besides, the driver could have been someone else. Gabe didn’t get a good look. It’s also possible that Calvin’s dead and some opportunist stole his truck.But I thought I’d take a long drive, see how winter treated the folks up that way.”
“Just be careful, please.”
Casey nodded, then pulled on his coat and knit Park Service winter beanie and grabbed Bowie’s leash. Recognizing they were going somewhere, maybe a ride in the truck to happy-fun-doggy time, Bowie jumped up and headed for the office’s door.
“I’m always careful. Come on, Bowie, let’s go for a ride.”
Casey decided he’d head up The Valley as far as he could go to low-key check for Calvin and then turn around, stopping at one or two of the friendlier homesteads on his way back. The folks up Crystal Creek were generally loners and stayed to themselves, but that didn’t mean they didn’t pay attention to traffic up and down the road.
“Christ,” Casey muttered, steering around a spot where the road was close to being washed out.
Slowing to a complete stop, he grabbed his pen and waterproof notebook out of the glove compartment, then made a note of the exact location. As luck would have it, there was a handy mile marker. Sooner rather than later, the county would have to repair or at least shore up the road. There were more homesteads beyond this point, and they needed to be able to access their property.
Before those were Snowcap Estates and Gordon MacDonald’s property, the last place Calvin was seen alive. Putting the truck in gear again, Casey pressed on the gas. The tires spun but caught quickly, thank god. The last thing he needed was to get stuck and be forced to call Greta for help.
“Yeah, no. I’d never hear the end of it. Isn’t that right, Bowie?”