No One Else to Kill (Jim West Series) (32 page)

I started to pack.
 
I was definitely going to leave today.

 
took
my suitcase out
to my car.
 
At some point after I had
returned to the lodge last night, it had rained, and puddles now filled any
depression they could find.
 
Fortunately,
my walk to the car avoided the low spots.

Once back inside I asked how late I could check out.
 
The old man behind the reception counter, an
employee I hadn’t seen before, told me late checkout would be one o’clock.

“So what do you think of all the excitement around here?”
I asked.

“This is my first day back.
 
I think I’ve managed to miss it all, thank
heavens.”

“Were you on vacation?”

“No.
 
I retired
nearly a year ago, but with all this excitement, as you call it, they needed me
back.”

“I know a lot of the employees were a little spooked,” I
said.

“I can’t say as I blame them.”

“No, me neither,” I said.
 
“Well, it’s nice that you were able to come in and help them out.”

“Can’t say the money won’t come in handy, too,” he
said.
 
He almost reminded me of a butler
in an English mystery or a dramatic production I might have seen on Masterpiece
Theater.
 
If he had the English accent, he
would be a perfect match.

“Have a good day,” I said and started back to my room.

“You too, sir.”

“Jim,” Detective Bruno called when I reached the first
step.

I turned and saw him, along with Geri walking out of the
dining room.

“Don’t tell me you had three breakfasts this morning.”

“No, but I could have.” He grinned and patted his stomach.

“Morning, Jim,” Geri said.

I walked over and met them in the middle of the room.

“And a good morning to you, too.”

“I want to thank you again for risking your life for me
last night.”

“You would have done the same for me,” I said.

“I mean it.
 
You and
Sean will forever be my heroes,” she said.

“Thanks.
 
I’m just
glad you’re okay.”

“I hope so, but I guess it isn’t over yet,” Geri
said.
 
“Detective Bruno says I’ll be in
danger until Vic is captured.”

“I’m only cautioning you.
 
There’s little chance that he would chance it, but you have to
understand there’s still a risk,” Detective Bruno explained.

“At this point there’s really nothing to be gained for him
to come after you,” I said.
 
“Last night
he believed you were the only one to have figured out he was the killer.
 
By now he has to know that everyone knows
about him.
 
Other than vengeance, I can’t
see any other motive, but Detective Bruno has to make sure you understand that
no matter how slight you may still be a target.”

“And I do understand that.
 
I wish I could say I know Vic well enough to say what he would or
wouldn’t do, but apparently, I never knew him very well.”
 
She looked at both of us for a second.
 
“He’s such a fool.
 
I guess I can no longer put anything past
him.”

“There you are, Mrs.
Schutte
.”

I looked up and saw Colt
Bettes
coming down the stairs. She looked at him a little bewildered.

“Geri, do you know Colt
Bettes
,
Sean’s cousin?”
 
Before she could answer,
I turned to Colt, “Colt, have you officially met Geri?”
 
Although it hadn’t appeared to bother her,
his calling Geri “Mrs.
Schutte
” at this point
bothered me.
 
It almost seemed like
calling her a dirty word.
 
If I was her,
I’d be going back to my maiden name as soon as possible.

“Nice to make your acquaintance,” he said to Geri. “By any
chance, do you have a few minutes to talk to me?”

Rather than answer him she looked at Bruno.
 
“Are we done for now?” she asked.

“Yes, but we’ll stay in touch. While you’re here, a deputy
will always be close by.”

“Thanks.”

“It will only be a few minutes. I’ll be happy to buy you a
coffee,” Colt persisted.

“Okay,” Geri answered and walked off with Colt to the
dining room.

I figured Colt wanted to ask her about everything she and
Sean did and talked about in the last twelve or so hours. I began to wonder who
was more obsessed with Sean’s past, Colt or
Sean?

Bruno saw Rick enter the lodge and hurried over to speak
to him.

I went back to my room to make sure I hadn’t forgotten
anything. I hadn’t.
 
I lay back down on
the bed and considered leaving right away.
 
I had planned to stay until early afternoon purely to allow enough time
to pass to make sure everyone was okay with my departure. From what I had
heard, everyone would be leaving today.

My mind moved through a variety of topics before finally
focusing on Vic
Schutte
. Where would I be if I was
him?
 
I’d already be out of the state and
heading north.
 
A person could hide in a
lot of places.
 
I had been to Alaska on a
few occasions and considered it a beautiful state and a place where someone
could easily disappear from the law. Yep, that’s where I’d be heading.

I must have dozed because the room phone rang and startled
me.

“Hello.”

“Jim? It’s me Sean.
 
I just wanted to call and thank you again for everything.”

“Thank me? I thought we worked pretty well as a team. I
couldn’t have done it without you.”
 
I
said it as a platitude, but realized right away that it was probably true.

“Yeah, we made a good team, but what I meant was
everything, not just last night.”

I still didn’t think I had done anything.

“Do you think Geri’s going to be okay?” I asked to change
the subject.

“Yes. She’s a fascinating woman.
 
Do you know much about her?”

“No, not really.”

“We talked for hours last night,” he said.

“I thought you both would just crash.”

“We did sleep,” and then because he thought I cared, “we
didn’t do anything else, you know.
 
We
just talked and then fell asleep.”

“Yeah, I was exhausted by the time we got back.”

“I wasn’t,” he said.

“You know, your cousin is debriefing Geri down in the
dining room right now.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. He means well.”

“And, are you really doing well?” I asked.

“Yes, like I said before to you, it’s almost like I feel a
lot younger. I can’t explain it, but I know I’ve turned a corner in my life.”

“That’s great.
 
When
are you leaving?”

“Later today, I think.
 
Geri and I have agreed to meet next month.”

“Really?”
I asked.

“Yes, in New York City.
 
She’s never been there before.”

“Sounds serious.”

“That’s why we want to wait a month.”

“That’s probably a good idea.”

“We hit it off so well.
 
It seems unreal.”

I knew he was talking about Geri and himself, and I felt
like saying it was all unreal last night.

“I know what you mean,” I said instead. “It’s best to let
everything settle down.”

“Do you think Vic will try something stupid?”

“He’s already done stupid things, so who really knows, but
my guess is his first goal will be to get as far away from here as possible.”

“I hope so.
 
I worry
about Geri.
 
What if he goes after her?”

“That’s why they still have a deputy watching her.
 
The odds are slim, but the Sheriff is not
taking anything for granted.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“And you know, now that everyone knows who the killer is,
the remaining four guys with her real estate company should help provide some
cover for her.”
 
I just thought of it while
I said it, but it did seem to make sense to me.

“Yeah, that’s probably true, too.”

“Sean, I’ve got a few things to take care of before I go,
so I just want you to know that I couldn’t have done it without you last
night.”

“You mean we couldn’t have done it without each other,
right?”

“Exactly.”

“Well you take it easy, Jim.”

“You too, Sean.”
 
We hung up.

Although I didn’t really have anything to do when I
indicated to Sean that I needed to get off the phone, something serious did pop
into my mind after I hung up.
 
I jumped
up and headed downstairs to look for Geri.

I didn’t have a problem finding her.
 
She sat next to Colt in the middle of the
dining room engrossed in conversation. She must not have found Colt as annoying
as I did, or else she had become too interested in hearing the background story
to let his condescending attitude bother her.

“Hey, Geri,” I said as I approached them.

“Yes, Jim,” she said looking up at me.

“Jim, could this wait for a second?” Colt asked.

“It will only take a second,” I said.
 
“Geri, I just wanted to caution you that if
you receive any text from my cell phone, remember I don’t have that phone
anymore.”

It took her a second to grasp what I was saying, but then
she nodded.
 
“It might be prudent to
ignore any texts from phones I don’t recognize.”

“That’s even better,” I said.
 
“Sorry to have interrupted you.” I turned and
left the room. They didn’t ask me to stay, and I wondered why my warning her
seemed so important a few minutes ago.
 
She wouldn’t have recognized my phone number anyway.
 
I made a mental note to ask Bruno about it
the next time I saw him. Vic hadn’t taken the purse out of the car with him, so
hopefully he left my cell phone on the back seat of the car, too.

The more I thought about it, the more ambivalent I became.
A cell phone came in handy if you needed it and if you had a signal. Other than
that, it would be nice if nobody could reach out and bother you when you didn’t
want to be bothered.

t noon, I decided to leave.
 
I wouldn’t be that far away if they needed
me. I searched the lodge for Bruno, but he had disappeared.
 
I asked a deputy whom I did find to pass
along a message to Bruno that I was hitting the road.
 
I also told him that my cell phone might be
in the back seat of the car that Vic had used to abduct his wife and me.
 
If they recovered it, I guess I’d like it
back.

Bev had already left, and I felt I had said my goodbyes to
everyone else.
 
I checked out and was disappointed
that the hotel hadn’t even discounted the room charges.
 
I made one pit stop in the dining room.

“Susan,” I said to her while she cleaned the plates off a
table.

“Lunch?” she asked me with a smile.

“No, can I just have a coffee in
a to
go cup?”