Ever Present Danger (21 page)

And years later when she was desperate for drug money, the guys who paid her for sexual favors were crude and demanding, and she avoided looking at their faces. That phase of her life was a blur—a huge regret. Especially that she had no idea who Montana’s father was.

Maybe part of the reason she was drawn to Bill was because he wasn’t judgmental and had never pressured her about her past—or the dramatic change in her appearance. He seemed attracted to her in spite of it, yet had never made an improper advance or even a comment with sexual overtones. The thought that he might actually enjoy her company was flattering.

Ivy gathered up the dirty towels and put them in the laundry hamper, then put fresh ones on the racks and went downstairs, wondering what had Bill so confused that he had to see her to talk about it.

The phone rang and she picked it up. “Hello.”

“Ivy, it’s Kelsey Jones. I hope I’m not calling a bad time.”

“No, not at all.”

“I’m so sorry about what happened to your friends. I can’t imagine what you must be feeling. I wanted you to know that Brandon and I have been praying for you.”

“Thanks. That’s very sweet of you.”
Wasted, but sweet
.

“Listen, when you get through the memorial service and things settle down, I’d really like to have you over. I’ve got the recipe for a chocolate cream cheese Bundt cake that’ll knock your socks off. I thought we could take some time to get to know each other. I don’t know many gals my age around here.”

“Uh, well, sure. I have Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays off. And I don’t have to pick Montana up from school until three. But I’m not very good company right now.”

“Understandably. But sometime soon when you feel up to it, let’s get together, okay?”

“Okay. Thanks, Kelsey. I can’t remember the last time I went to anybody’s house just to visit.”

Ivy sat in the passenger seat of Bill Ziwicki’s van as he turned into Spruce Park and pulled into a parking space in front of the bandstand. There was only one other vehicle in the parking lot, and Ivy noticed a young woman strolling a baby on the sidewalk, a toddler in tow.

Bill got out and opened her door. “There you go. Watch your step.”

Ivy hopped out and looked across the park that encompassed two square blocks in the middle of town. “How about that picnic table on the other side of the bandstand? It’s in the sun and I doubt we’ll feel the wind.”

Bill nodded. “I’ll follow you.”

Ivy walked over to the table and sat on the bench, deciding it would do nicely.

“The sun feels great, doesn’t it?” Bill sat across from her, then set the sack from Subs and Suds on the table and handed Ivy a wrapped sandwich and a tall cup of root beer. “I’m glad you agreed to meet me. I’m goin’ out of my mind about this.” He reached in his pocket and handed Ivy an envelope like the one she found in her coat pocket on Monday. “Go ahead. Read it.”

Ivy took out an index card with pasted-on letters.

Ivy’s heart raced so fast she was sure her hand was shaking when she handed the card back to Bill. “Where’d you get this?”

“Under a brick on my front porch. Someone must’ve put it there last night. It’s totally insane, right?”

“If I knew something, why wouldn’t I have told the sheriff?”

Bill shrugged. “Exactly. What makes it even weirder is that somebody would tell
me
that you knew. Like I’m gonna turn you in.”

Ivy felt as though her head would explode. She wanted to confess everything to Bill and trust him not to say anything, but how could she?

“Sorry to ruin your day,” he said. “I don’t blame you for being mad.”

“I’m more scared than mad. What if you’re not the only one who got a card like this? What if someone goes to the sheriff with it? It’s going to look really suspicious that I’m being accused of withholding information about Joe Hadley’s death right after having discovered Pete, Reg, and Denny shot to death.”

Bill’s eyebrows furrowed. “Why? You didn’t shoot anybody. And they’re not even sure the deaths were connected.”

Shut up, Ivy. You’re digging yourself a deeper hole
.

“What’s wrong?” Bill said. “You can tell me.”

I wish
. “It’s just that I have a lot of history I don’t talk about. I
did some things when I was shooting up that I’m not proud of. If it wasn’t for some hotshot lawyer my dad paid to help me, and a very intense rehab program, I’d be in jail. The last thing I need is to get accused of something I can’t defend. My record won’t work in my favor.”

Bill ran his finger around the rim of his root beer. “The way I figure it, you wouldn’t have held back information about Joe’s death unless you had a darned good reason.”

“I never said I did that.”

Bill lifted his eyes. “You never said you didn’t.”

Ivy felt the color scald her cheeks and knew he had noticed. She stared at Bill’s questioning face, her heart hammering—past, present, and future seeming to converge into one defining moment.

Brandon Jones sat in Buzz Easton’s Chevy truck, enjoying the beauty of the mountains as they drove into the Durango city limits.

“Thanks for riding down here with me,” Buzz said. “I appreciate your willingness to help me get my operation ready for the season.”

“I’m glad to help,” Brandon said. “Can hardly wait to get on the white water. Gets my heart pumping just thinking about it.”

“Well, if you can stand the cold, we can take a trial run this afternoon.”

Brandon laughed. “I won’t even notice the temperature. When I’m shooting the rapids, I’m in another world.”

Buzz pulled off the main highway into a private drive leading to the Crystal Creek Condominiums. He pulled up behind a green Subaru Forester and turned off the motor. “I need to take care of something. I might be a few minutes. Help yourself to some of those doughnuts. CDs are in the case.”

“Do what you need to,” Brandon said. “I’ll just sit here and enjoy the sights and sounds.”

Buzz got out and walked up the steps to the front door and knocked. A dark-haired woman opened the door and let him in.

Brandon ejected the country western CD that had been playing
since they left Jacob’s Ear, deciding that he and Buzz had very different tastes in music. He reached in the sack and pulled out a chocolate frosted doughnut and ate it in three bites, then did the same with a glazed doughnut. He chased it with the last of his lukewarm coffee and looked up at a patch of white on the foothills, wondering if they’d seen the last of the snowfall for the season.

As the sun heated up the car, Brandon became increasingly drowsy. He closed his eyes and relished how much he loved living in Colorado and having access to the outdoor beauty and every sporting opportunity that it afforded him.

He thought back on his struggle of the previous year and how lost he had felt until he decided being in an office all day wasn’t for him. Working at a Christian camp was a totally different experience from being a vice president of a women’s apparel company. Less money. Less prestige. Fewer benefits. Yet it gave him the freedom to be more of what God made him to be and to bring people closer to Christ. And then marrying Kelsey, who shared his passion for both the Creator and His creation, was the ultimate reward.

Brandon gave in to the drowsiness, and then woke with a start. He glanced at his watch, and noted that Buzz had been gone forty minutes.

Brandon stifled a yawn and grabbed another doughnut out of the sack just as the front door opened. Buzz came down the steps, turned around and said something to the woman, then walked over to the truck, a smile stretching his cheeks.

“Thanks for waiting. That was
well
worth the stop. Always is.”

“So’d you get your business taken care of?”

Buzz snickered. “Oh, yeah.”

“What is this place?”

There was a long pause.

“My girlfriend’s condo. What’d you think it was?”

“You had me wait in the car while you had sex with your girlfriend?”

“Don’t act so shocked. We’re consenting adults.”

“For crying out loud, man. Does Maggie know?”

“Why does she need to know? I’ve been doing this for years, and it’s never hurt anyone.”

Brandon shook his head. “Are you nuts? How would you feel if she were cheating on you?”

“Shocked. She’s not all that interested in sex. Why do you care what I do?”

“Because I don’t appreciate being a party to your deception, that’s why.”

“Maybe if you’d climb out of that Christian box you’re hiding in, you’d discover that having sex with someone besides your wife is actually good for your marriage.”

Brandon exhaled loudly. “That’s baloney. Kelsey’s enough for me. And I happen to believe in keeping the vows I made to her.”

Buzz rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, you’re newlyweds. It’ll be interesting to see where you stand a year from now. Take it from a guy who’s been married eight years—a little forbidden fruit will make you a better lover.”

“More like a sleaze. No thanks.”

Buzz shot him a look. “How about keeping your self-righteous religious garbage to yourself and stop judging me? I’m not hurting anybody.”

“Look, man. I can’t tell you what to do. Just don’t expect me to be a party to your fooling around on Maggie.”

“You gonna tell her?”

“No, but don’t put me in this position again. I don’t want to know anything about it.”

Ivy looked at Bill, instantly regretting having said the words.

“
Pete
killed Joe Hadley?” Bill repeated. “How do you know?”

Ivy fixed her eyes on the magpie that had just landed on a lower branch of a nearby tree. “Because I was there. Reg and Denny were involved too.”

“I can’t believe this! What happened?”

Ivy felt as if her mouth were stuffed with cotton. Finally she said, “I…I sat in Pete’s car after school, waiting for him. I was
upset that I failed my calculus test, so I rolled up a killer joint and smoked it. Then Pete got in the car with Reg, Denny, and Joe Hadley. Pete said we were going to take a ride, that there was something the guys wanted Joe to see.

“Pete drove as far as Collier Ranch and then stopped the car. He and the guys got out and started arguing. Somehow Joe had spotted a bag of weed in Pete’s locker and threatened to tell the coach. So Pete went to Reg and Denny, and they agreed to help him convince Joe not to say anything.

“But Joe was furious when he realized why the guys drove him out there, and he said he wasn’t going to cover for Pete. He turned on his heel and started walking back to town. I guess the guys were scared that if Pete got caught, we all would, so they grabbed Joe to stop him, and the next thing I knew they were punching him…” Ivy started to cry, and then stifled her sobs. “They just kept hitting him and hitting him. Finally Pete put his hands around Joe’s throat and squeezed until he stopped fighting.”

Ivy wiped her cheeks. “Reg and Denny finally pulled Pete off him, but Joe wasn’t breathing. Things got even crazier after that. The guys dragged Joe’s body down by the river, and then we drove to Reg’s house and got shovels out of the garage. We went back, and they dug a hole under a big cottonwood tree and buried Joe.

“I’ve never forgiven myself…” Ivy stopped and choked back the emotion, “for not doing anything to stop them. The guys were beating Joe, and I just let it happen.”

“You really think one female could break up a fight between four basketball players?”

“But if I hadn’t been high, I might’ve screamed at them to stop. Maybe they would’ve realized they were out of control. Maybe Joe would still be alive. Maybe they all would.”

Bill heaved a sigh. “I feel awful. I’m the one who got you the drugs.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“Now that I know what happened, I’d say there’s no doubt the murders are connected. Don’t you think so?”

“That’s just it, Bill. How? There was no one else around when
it happened. I’m sure of it. The four of us made a pact never to breathe a word of it. The only one I ever told was Lu, but she didn’t tell anyone. The guys swore they never told a soul—not even their wives. So who else knows?”

“Maybe Pete got tanked and shot off his mouth. He’d been hittin’ the bottle pretty hard since he came back from Alaska.”

“I can’t believe this is happening to me! If I go to the sheriff, I have no way of proving what really happened. And what if he thinks I know something about the shooting, too?” Ivy’s eyes brimmed with tears. “I can’t go to jail, Bill. Not right now. My son just lost the only stabilizing force in his life, and it might scar him forever if he lost me, too.”

Bill seemed to be deep in thought, and then turned to her. “I say we go on as if we never got the notes. You had nothin’ to do with killin’ Joe. And you shouldn’t be forced to take the heat for it.”

“Then you won’t turn me in?”

Bill shook his head. “Never. Your secret’s safe with me.”

“But what if the person who shot the guys is leaving the notes? What if he’s planning to kill me, too?”

Bill took a gulp of root beer and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “I don’t think that’s on his agenda or he’d have already done it.”

“Then what does he want?”

“Well, judging from the messages he pasted on the index cards, he seems sure of two things: that
you
know how Joe died. And that once he made me aware of it, I’d pressure you into going to the sheriff.”

“But if he already got his revenge, why would he care?”

“I’m only guessin’, but if he admits what he knows about Joe’s death, he’ll automatically be a suspect in the shooting. And that’s what he doesn’t want.”

Ivy threw up her hands. “So what does he want from me?”