Tax Assassin (22 page)

“
So you’re thinking . .
.”

“
The eighth victim is
Yvonne Smith,” Seth said.

“
So you’re thinking . . .”
Ferg repeated.

“
The girl’s at the
airport,” Seth said.

“
On it,” Ferg hung up the
phone.

Standing in the middle of the field, Seth
tried to make sense of everything. Before coming to southern
Colorado, he’d thought the Blooms ran a tidy little murder-for-hire
business to pay their property taxes. Moving away from the
helicopters, he found a quiet patch of sand not far from the stock
pond. He broke off a dry mesquite branch and wrote a timeline in
the sand:

Bloom mother dies - splits up the ranch

Howie B is killed by Hill3

Meldy B marries Hill3 – unhappy

MB works at Sandia Ntnl Labs – commutes

MB asks for divorce

MB takes leave from job - vacations with
kids

H&H take large contract - 8 lives to buy
land from M

Those facts took him to last fall. What the
hell happened last fall to make Hill-three go, according to his
wife, “bonkers”?

“
You think they killed
their mom?”

Seth turned to find Deputy Jimmy Thatcher
standing just behind him.

“
Do you?” Seth
asked.

“
Could be,” Jimmy said.
“She was shot. Happened on their range. It was s’posed to’ve been
an accident. No one was charged.”

“
Any idea who did the
shooting?” Seth asked.

“
Uh . . .”
Jimmy looked down at the sand before nodding his head. “I’d have to
check. I bet the sheriff would know right off, but I think it was
her husband, Hill-three’s dad. But he’s the kind of guy who’d, you
know, take the blame.”

“
I guess I’m just wondering
what happened last fall,” Seth said.

“
What do you mean?” Jimmy
asked.

“
I had a chance to speak
with Mrs. Bloom before she left for Denver,” Seth said. “She said
that Hill-three went bonkers, crazy.”

“
I told you, he was always
like that,” Jimmy said. “You sure Hill-three is a
murderer?”

“
Pretty sure.
Why?”

“
He could never stand the
sight of blood,” Jimmy said. “It was a big deal at the school. They
never dissected anything that bled. My Bethany wants to be a
doctor, so she asked if they could dissect a mammal. I caught a
rabbit for the class to dissect. Hill-three took one look at the
poor bleeding bunny and fainted. He . . .”

Seth looked at the ground and then stared at
Jimmy.

“
You’re creeping me out,
O’Malley,” Jimmy said. “What did I say?”

“
You solved the whole
thing,” Seth said. “Thanks. Now, how do we get out of
here?”

“
You can take my jeep,”
Jimmy said. “But we’ve got plenty of work to do. You wouldn’t want
to maybe volunteer to help. Sheriff sent me over here to ask. We
could sure use the help.”

“
I bet if we stand here a
few more minutes, we’ll hear from the CBI,” Seth said.

“
They took over at the
house and . . .”

Four SUV’s pulled up with “Colorado Bureau
of Investigation” on the door.

“
Shit,” Jimmy said. “How’d
you know?”

“
I’ve done this a while,”
Seth said.

“
Come on,” Jimmy said.
“Let’s talk to the jerks and get out of here. If this’s been on the
tube, my wife’s gonna wanna know I’m all right.”

Seth used his boot to wipe out his list in
the dirt and went to find Ava. He followed the stream of CBI agents
down to the cabin and stood silent guard until she appeared. She
was deep in conversation with a CBI forensics colleague when she
saw him. She smiled at him and happily turned the scene over to the
CBI. Soon, they were sitting in the back of Jimmy’s tightly packed
SUV. She slipped her small hand between his knees, and he put his
arm around her.

“
Hey, none of that,” Jimmy
said when Seth leaned in to kiss Ava. Seth laughed and kissed her
anyway. “You guys want to come back to my house for a barbeque. The
rest of these guys are coming.”

“
Nah,” Seth said. “We need
to save our puppy from her crate.”

“
Save the puppy from her
crate,” Jimmy and the other deputies laughed. “That’s a new one.
I’ve never heard it called that.”

Ava blushed and the deputies laughed. The
conversation turned to the upcoming barbeque mixed with their
hatred of the CBI, and Ava rested against Seth.

“
You seem calmer,” Ava said
in his ear. “Did you figure it out?”

“
I think so,” Seth
said.

“
I love that about you,”
Ava said.

She leaned into him, and they rode the rest
of the way back to the house in quiet closeness.

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TWENTY-SEVEN

Seth felt a growing pain somewhere in the
back of his brain. Not prone to headaches, he was certain the loud
man standing in front of him was the source of his pain. Seth
glanced at his watch. The CBI agent in charge hadn’t stopped
talking for more than fifteen minutes. He kept saying he wanted to
make sure he and Seth were “simpatico” and “in alignment,” but he
hadn’t stopped talking long enough for Seth to speak.

“
So what do you think?” the
agent-in-charge asked.

Surprised the man’s sudden silence, Seth
managed a nod.

“
We’re on the right track,”
the agent-in-charge said. “I
knew
it.”

The agent-in-charge walked away.

“
Hey guys!” the
agent-in-charge yelled as he walked toward the metal barn. “Magic
O’Malley thinks we’re on the right track.”

Seth rubbed his head with his hand.

“
Nice of you,” Ava
laughed.

Seth scowled at her and continued rubbing
his head. The agent-in-charge called Ava to him. She winked at Seth
and ran off. Seth turned around to see if he could find some water.
He was halfway to the water station when his cell phone rang.

“
O’Malley.”

“
You sumunabitch,” a man’s
voice said. “You almost got me shot.”

Seth took the phone away from his ear to
look at it.

“
Sheriff Elliot,” Seth
said. “How are you?”

“
Alive, no thanks to you,”
Sheriff Jeb Elliot said. “What the hell are you doing giving a
woman a loaded gun?”

“
Sexist?”

“
This woman! This woman!”
The mock hostility in Jeb’s voice shifted to laugher. “Ah hell,
Seth. Viv almost shot me.”

“
I seem to remember
something about hand grenades and horseshoes.”

Jeb laughed.

“
What happened?” Seth
asked.

“
That sumunabitch murderer
was here, right here, in her hotel,” Jeb said. “Sitting in the
waiting area watching the TV. I came to pick up Viv and her
O’Malley-approved chastity escort, Janet, for dinner. I’m walkin’
in when Viv sees the sumunabitch, yells, and pulls out a handgun.
‘Course the gun goes off while she’s pulling it from her pocket.
Viv starts screaming and waving the gun. Chastity expert Janet gets
the gun away from her to shoot him, and he’s gone.”

“
What do you mean gone?”
Seth asked.

“
Gone,” Jeb said.
“Disappeared. Evaporated. I was so distracted by trying not to get
shot that I didn’t see him go. Guy at the desk said he took one
look at Viv, got up, and walked out the door.”

“
Did anyone see him
outside?” Seth asked.

“
You know, O’Malley,” Jeb
said. “They gave me this shiny, pointed star because it goes with
my hat.”

Seth chuckled.

“
Our guys canvassed the
area and no one saw nothing,” Jeb said.

“
Security tape?” Seth
asked.

“
Same thing,” Jeb said.
“He’s watching the TV. Looks up when Viv shouts ‘Hey!’ and he walks
out before Viv shoots at me.”

“
Any idea what he was
watching?” Seth asked.

“
Now how did I know you
were going to ask me that?” Jeb asked.

“
You’re the
sheriff?”

“
Oh yes, that’s right. I am
the sheriff. Let’s see, that sumunabitch was watching the release
of captives in southern Colorado,” Jeb said. “You can see it on the
security tape. He sees a helo shot of the lady running next to a
Las Animas sheriff. Hillery Bloom the third, aka the sumunabitch,
stands up and walks out. I assume that’s your work.”

“
I’m standing in the
southern Colorado Desert working to solve
your
cold cases,” Seth
said.

“
Mighty nice of you,” Jeb
said. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m taking Viv back to my ranch.
Janet’s coming too, in case you’re worried. I hired her as my
personal assistant. I’ve needed one for a while, and retirement
doesn’t suit her much.”

“
Uh,” Seth said.

“
I’m going to say this one
time, so you’d better listen up,” Jeb said. “My Patty and Vivian
were best friends in high school. When my Patty got real sick, she
told me that she and Viv had both liked me in high school; the
girls made a bet as to who I’d take out first. I always knew me a
snake in the grass, and that Alvin practically slithered to the
altar, but Viv . . . She’s not too smart about people.”

“
She trusts you,” Seth
said.

“
I’d say the same for you,
but we already determined that you’re a sumunabitch,” Jeb said.
“Anyway, Patty made me promise that, after she was gone, of course,
if I ever had the chance, I should try to make a life with Viv.
Your email came on the five-year anniversary of her death. I
thought it was my Patty nagging me from the great beyond. You
remember what she could be like.”

“
I do.”

“
So, I came myself to see
what was what.”

“
I’m sorry,” Seth
said.

“
Nope,” Jeb said. “You were
doing what you should. I just want you to know that if I can swing
it, I’m gonna be your father-in-law, sooner rather than
later.”

Jeb snorted a laugh and hung up. Seth
smirked and walked to the water station. It had been a long, hot
day. He was looking forward to a shower, a meal, and having Ava all
to himself. He nodded to the deputy standing at the water station.
Seth picked up a blue plastic cup and then looked at the big orange
thermal water jug.

“
Any idea where this water
came from?” Seth asked.

“
That well over there,” the
deputy said. “Worried?”

“
I thought they
contaminated the groundwater here,” Seth said.

“
They have a fancy filter
system here,” the deputy said. “It was a big deal to Mrs. B,
Hill-three and Howie’s mom. She thought it might help Hill-three
with his illness. Plus, Hill-three’s daddy had some trouble with
his water growing up. I don’t know what, but it was a big deal to
Mrs. B to get the system installed. I don’t think it’ll hold out
for long, but we were able to get clean water today. That douche
from the Army said they tested the well. It was a condition of the
sale. The CBI tested it when they came today. It’s
clean.”

“
You remember what was
wrong with Mr. Bloom’s water?” Seth asked.

“
Lead, I think,” the deputy
said.

“
How . . .?”

“
I was good friends with
Howie, sir,” the deputy said. “I used to hunt with him, fish and
camp – stuff boys do here in southern Colorado. He was a good guy.
I was real sorry when he died.”

“
Do you know Meldy,
too?”

“
Not much,” the deputy
said. “She was Howie’s girl. That’s about it. They moved away right
after high school, but we always got together when he was in
town.”

“
Thank you,” Seth said.
“One more question.”

“
Shoot.”

“
You wouldn’t happen to
know how long it takes to get from here to Rapid City would you?”
Seth asked.

“
No, but I can check on my
phone.” The deputy took a smartphone from his pocket and started
pressing the buttons. “Looks like nine hours by car. You think
you’d go by car?”

“
Probably. You?”

“
I would,” the deputy said.
“Planes are damned expensive and you’d have to rent a car wherever
you went. You going to South Dakota?”

“
Just curious,” Seth
smiled. “Thanks for your help.”

“
You bet,” the deputy said.
“Try the water. You’ll like it.”

Seth filled his cup with water, smelled it,
and took a drink. It tasted cold and clean. He took a long drink
and refilled his glass. His headache was starting to ease.

Little by little, McGinty’s old bone was
falling into place. He checked his watch. He calculated the time
since Meldy was rescued. At the very minimum, he had six hours
before he had to worry about Hill-three showing up for Ava. From
the barn area, she looked up at him. He gestured her over.

“
What’s up?” she
asked.

“
Let’s get out of here,”
Seth said.

“
You don’t have to ask me
twice,” Ava laughed. “You don’t want to check in before we
go?”