Tangled Lies (25 page)

Chapter 17

Sasha hurried into the screened porch and saw Blaze in a rocker, petting Bella.

“There you are. Will you keep an eye on Mama and Bella while I take a quick ride?”

Before Blaze could question her, Sasha heard shuffling down the hallway, and a minute later Pop appeared, Mama leaning heavily on his arm.

“Is everything OK? Where are you going?” Sasha asked. Mama’s pale face sent alarm skittering down her spine.

Pop held the screen door open. “The doctor wants to see her. Do some blood work, check on the dosage for her meds.” Sasha went to Mama’s other side and helped her down the steps and into the car. “We won’t be long,” he continued.

Sasha leaned in, kissed Mama’s cheek, and buckled her seat belt. “Love you.”

Once they were gone, she climbed back up to the porch.

“Where are you going?” Blaze demanded. “And don’t give me some lame half answer.”

Sasha leaned against the doorjamb and studied Blaze’s determined expression.

“I’m going to go check out a hunch. Want to come along?”

“What kind of hunch?”

“I’ll tell you on the way.” She crouched down and scratched Bella behind the ears. “I need you to stay here, girl. Keep an eye on the place for me.”

Bella whined in protest but collapsed on the floor, head on her paws, a pitiful expression on her face.

“You little stinker,” Sasha said, giving her an extra pat on the head. “But you’re still staying here.”

Once they left the marina, Blaze didn’t waste any time. “So where are we going?”

“Do you know who Captain Alby is?”

Blaze scrunched her face, thinking. “No idea.”

“He used to be a boat captain, and he and Pop were friends way back when. After his wife died, his mind went and he lived in the local assisted-living place.”

“Wait. I heard Pop talking about him. He just died, like, the other day.”

Sasha nodded as she turned off the paved road and onto a dirt path.

“Right. In his sleep. Jesse and I had gone to see him the day before. He didn’t make much sense, unfortunately, but he kept shouting about finding the fridge.”

Blaze scanned the trees all around, the way the path kept narrowing the deeper into the woods they went. “What does that have to do with wherever we are?”

Sasha stopped at a fork in the path, studied the area in each direction, and finally turned toward the left. The tracks that way looked more recent. “Old Ned—you know, the appliance guy—used to dump the things he couldn’t fix out here somewhere.”

“Was Captain Alby friends with Pop when Tony disappeared?”

When Sasha nodded, Blaze said slowly, “So you’re thinking maybe Captain Alby knew something about Tony and it has to do with old appliances?”

“Maybe. Or maybe not. It’s a total long shot. I figured it couldn’t hurt to look.”

A branch swept over the Jeep’s open top, and Blaze ducked just in time.

“When’s the last time you were out here?”

Sasha grinned. “High school. We’d go four-wheeling and mudding out here.”

Blaze merely snorted as Sasha hit one pothole after another, the Jeep bouncing over the rough terrain. Suddenly they burst into a clearing, and Sasha grinned in triumph.

“Found it.”

Piles of rusted appliances littered the small area, victims of time and weather. Sasha and Blaze climbed out and walked closer to investigate.

“Watch for snakes,” Sasha warned, and Blaze rubbed her arms, eyes darting all around. “You can wait in the Jeep if you want.”

Blaze stepped closer until she practically stood on Sasha’s heels. “I’ll just stay with you.”

Sasha eyed the piles, shading her eyes with her hand. “Captain Alby kept talking about a fridge, so let’s focus on those. There aren’t that many.”

Blaze rolled her eyes, but kept pace as they climbed over and under the rusting hulks to peer inside every fridge. Most were missing their doors; others had them propped open. But several were closed. Sasha took a deep breath before she grabbed the handle of the first one. Would she find evidence of her brother? Maybe even his body?

Her heart pounded and her hands shook as she slowly pried the door open. Her breath whooshed out when the inside revealed nothing more than a nasty mildew growth. Behind her, Blaze let out her own relieved sigh.

By the time they’d worked their way to the last fridge on the back side of the last pile, they were both sweaty and swatting at mosquitos.

“Last one.” Sasha climbed on top of an old stove to reach the latch. She yanked, but it wouldn’t budge. One try. Two. Finally the seal let go, and Sasha tugged it open and used her shoulder to keep it from slamming shut while she looked inside.

She froze. What was that? Her hand shook as she reached down into the bottom and pulled out a large freezer bag. As she gazed at the contents, the words from the newspaper article ran through her mind. Blue shorts, blue-and-yellow tank top, tennis shoes.
Sweet Jesus, these were the clothes Tony was wearing the day he disappeared.

From below, Blaze said, “What did you find?”

Before Sasha could answer, a loud
crack
sounded, right before something slammed into a rusting dishwasher not twenty feet away. It took Sasha a moment to catalog the sound. The second it registered, she shouted, “Duck!” and leaped down, taking Blaze with her.

The sound of metal hitting metal exploded all around them.

“What’s happening?” Blaze whispered, shaking.

Sasha tried to keep her voice steady. “Someone’s shooting at us. Stay down.”

They waited several minutes, then Sasha slowly eased up and peeked around the pile. Another shot rang out, too close for comfort.

She had to get them out of here. She looked back over her shoulder, picturing her Jeep and where the shooter had to be standing, based on where the shots hit.

“This way,” she whispered, and took Blaze’s hand as they melted back into the cover of the trees behind them. Sasha put a finger to her lips, and together they inched their way around to where they’d parked the Jeep. Heart pounding, Sasha peered around the side of a pine tree, scanning the area, looking for the shooter. She held herself perfectly still, watching, waiting. Finally she saw a flash of yellow heading back around behind the appliance pile. This was the best chance they were going to get.

She whispered in Blaze’s ear. “We’re going to make a run for the Jeep. Hop in and get down on the floorboard, OK?”

The moment Blaze nodded, Sasha gripped her hand again and they took off running. They opened their doors, and the Jeep roared to life almost before Blaze got all the way in. She was still pulling the door shut as Sasha raced back the way they’d come.

Several shots rang out, but they came from too far away to hit their mark. Sasha kept one eye on the rearview mirror as they raced back to the main road, clouds of dust in their wake.

“We’re easy to follow,” Blaze commented, coughing against the dust.

“I know. But I’m heading for town, thinking nobody is dumb enough to start shooting there.”

Sasha didn’t slow until the shops of downtown Safe Harbor came into view. Then she looked over at Blaze. She’d stopped panting but still gripped her seat belt like a lifeline.

“You OK, kid?”

Blaze smiled, but it wobbled a bit at the edges. “Guess your hunch was right on.”

Sasha grinned, glad Blaze could smile. “I guess it was.”

“What did you find?” She nodded toward the floorboard, where Sasha had stashed the bag under the front seat.

“I’m pretty sure they’re Tony’s clothes.”

Blaze slumped back against the seat. “Was there any, like, blood or anything on them?”

“Not that I saw. It looks like someone took them off him. Let’s get home, then we can take a closer look.” She sped up again as they left town and turned toward the marina. “You did good today, kid. Nerves of steel.”

Blaze wrapped her arms around her middle. “I almost peed my pants, I was so scared. Somebody really shot at us.”

“They really did. Maybe, let’s not mention this to Pop and Mama.”

Blaze snorted. “Duh. I’m not stupid.”

“I’ve never once thought you were. You are incredibly smart.”

As they drove the rest of the way, Sasha tried to gather her jumbled thoughts. Could Tony still be alive?

Jesse breathed a sigh of relief when Sasha pulled her Jeep into the gravel lot next to her folks’ house. She had poked the hornet’s nest but good. Every instinct screamed that danger was closing in. Around Sasha.

He didn’t know how Tony’s disappearance, the upcoming race, and a minisub fit together, but he knew they did. Somehow. Which put Sasha right in the line of fire.

He walked over, surprised to see Blaze riding shotgun. Everything still creaked and groaned when he moved, but he felt better than he had this morning. Which wasn’t saying much.

They had almost reached the porch when he caught up with them. “Hey, ladies, what’s up?”

Sasha turned, and her expression had him up on the porch beside her in two painful strides. “What happened?”

“Somebody shot at us,” Blaze blurted.

The words hit like a fist.

“Tell me what happened,” he barked. “All of it. From the beginning.”

Sasha patted the air in a “calm down” gesture as she dropped into a wicker chair, clutching something in her lap. There was a fine trembling in her hands. “We’re fine. We had quite a scare, though.”

Blaze took Mama’s rocker, and he sat beside Sasha where he could keep an eye on both of them.

“I kept thinking about what Captain Alby said about finding the fridge—and his sudden demise—and decided to check out Ned’s old appliance graveyard.”

“The one out in the woods all the kids used to hang out by when we were in high school?”

“Right. It was just a crazy hunch. But then someone started shooting.”

“Do you know what kind of weapon the shooter had? Shotgun, rifle or pistol?”

“My guess is rifle, based on the sound. I didn’t really stop to analyze.”

He’d get back to that. “Did you find anything?”

She slowly pulled out the sealed plastic bag, brittle after all this time. “Based on the newspaper articles I saw, these are the clothes Tony was wearing the day he disappeared.”

He froze, stunned. She carefully handed him the bag, and he studied the clothes through the plastic. No sign of blood. He blew out a relieved breath.

“Speaking of analyze.” He nodded to the clothes. “What now?”

She reached in her pocket and pulled out her cell phone.

“I’m going to call Nick. Hand them over to him. See what he can find out.”

As she spoke to him on the phone, the Martinellis pulled up to the house. “Meet us at the end of the drive, would you, Nick? I don’t want anyone, including my folks, to know about this yet.”

Twenty minutes later, the three of them climbed out of the Jeep to meet Nick when he pulled up. “What’s with all the cloak-and-dagger stuff, Sasha?”

She handed him the bag, hands almost steady. “I think I found Tony’s clothes this morning.”

Nick’s eyes widened, and he said almost the same thing Jesse had. “Start at the beginning and don’t leave anything out.”

Sasha told him the whole story, just as she had Jesse. He didn’t interrupt, but his face gave nothing away, either.

Nick finally looked up from his little notebook. “We have all your fingerprints on file, so we can easily eliminate your prints.”

Sasha glanced at Blaze, who sighed. “Yeah, mine are in the system, too. Shoplifting. Long time ago.”

Blaze turned to Sasha and held out her hand. “Let me have your phone.” When Sasha raised a brow and handed it over, Blaze took pictures of the bag of clothes from all angles. “Just in case,” she mumbled as she handed them back.

“Given everything that’s been happening lately, is there some way you can check on all this . . . quietly?” Sasha met Nick’s eyes, and Jesse watched the two study each other for a long moment.

Nick seemed to come to some decision. “I’ll get them to a friend of mine at the law enforcement lab in Jacksonville. Have her check out the clothes on the down low. See if she can find prints, DNA, anything that will help. I’ll also head out to the woods and try to get hold of those spent cartridges, see if I can get a lead on the shooter. I’ll be in touch. In the meantime, you guys be careful.” He paused. “I wouldn’t mention this to anyone just yet.”

Nick headed back to town, and they went back to the marina. The minute Sasha stopped the Jeep, Blaze headed inside.

Jesse leaned against the vehicle.

“She’s OK?” he asked.

“Shaken up, but she’s tough.”

“Kind of like someone else I know.” He studied her eyes, but whatever feelings she had were carefully hidden. Her emotional distance suddenly made him furious.

His control snapped and he yanked her into his arms. “I could have lost you today. Don’t ever scare me like that again.” His mouth met hers in a frantic kiss, every worry pouring out of him. She met his emotional storm with her own, and the kiss went on and on, pulling them both under. He couldn’t lose her. He wouldn’t.

When he finally eased back, her eyes looked a little dazed.

“Have dinner with me.” He took her hand and started leading her toward his truck.