Before Sunrise (23 page)

“I'm glad you came, Alice,” Phoebe said with a smile. “It was like old times.”

“I enjoyed it, too.”

“It was nice to meet you,” Tina told the woman. She picked up Joseph, who was being cranky. “We'll go, then. Thanks for dinner, Phoebe,” she muttered, but without looking at Phoebe.

“You're welcome,” Phoebe said, frowning as she looked after the younger woman. She didn't understand Tina's sudden coolness. Drake noticed it and gave Tina a cold look. That only made things worse. She stalked out the door with Joseph fidgeting in her arms. She didn't waste a word on Drake.

Cortez started out behind them. He glanced at Phoebe, and he, too, looked unusually distant.

“Drake, leave her at the motel when you come back into town,” he instructed quietly. “We've still got a killer on the loose.”

“I'll remember.” Drake hesitated. “If you find out anything from Bennett, how about giving me a heads up?” he asked.

“If I find out anything useful,” Cortez agreed.

He went out behind Tina and Joseph, fingering his car keys, without a word of goodbye for either of them. He didn't look back.

Phoebe felt sick at her stomach. It was just like last time. In the bedroom, he was every woman's dream of tenderness. But the minute his clothes went back on, he was all business again. She felt as if there was an incredible distance between them.

Drake was feeling something similar.

“Did we just miss something?” he asked as he heard the car and the van start up outside.

“I wonder,” Phoebe murmured as she started clearing the table.

 

C
ORTEZ WAS BROODING
. Only a few hours before, he and Phoebe had been closer than many couples. Their physical attraction only grew. Every time he touched her, it was like starting over again. She was in his blood, in his heart, in his brain. She was part of him. But he'd lost ground, suddenly, and he didn't know why. Phoebe had looked odd when she and Drake came back inside, and the way she'd stared at him had made him feel empty. Had she suddenly discovered feelings for Drake? Had Cortez pushed her into a physical relationship too soon, and now she was regretting it?

“I can't believe I was attracted to that guy,” Tina was muttering from the passenger seat. She turned to glance at Joseph in his car seat behind her. “If there's not something going on there, I'm a turnip.”

Cortez wasn't paying attention. His eyes were on the road. He didn't like the way Phoebe had looked at Drake. The other man was younger and he'd been around for a while, taking Phoebe to lunch and teaching her to shoot a gun. Just how close were they? And if Phoebe felt some
thing—anything—for Cortez, why was she spending so much time with Drake all of a sudden? Was she regretting her relationship with Cortez? Was she trying to back away and using Drake as a blind? She'd been a virgin. She had principles. He'd seduced her, thinking she was experienced. Did she blame him for that?

“You're very quiet,” Tina said.

He shifted in the driver's seat. “I was thinking about the murder victim,” he lied. “I still need more background information on Bennett.”

“Work, work, work,” she grumbled.

“You keep the doors locked,” Cortez replied without acknowledging her comment. He stopped the car just in front of their motel rooms. “Don't open them for anyone,” he added firmly. “Two people are dead. I don't want to put either of you at risk,” he said, watching her lift Joseph from the car seat.

“I'll be careful,” she replied. “You be careful, too,” she instructed. “You aren't bulletproof.”

“I'll see you later.”

He waited until they were inside the room before he put the car in gear and drove away.

 

T
HE HOSPITAL WAS CROWDED
. November was a cold month and viruses and flu were already going around the mountains.

Walks Far was in a room on the second floor. He'd briefly regained consciousness, but only to groan in pain. He wasn't able to answer questions. When Cortez walked in, he startled two people having a whispered, serious conversation. Jeb Bennett of Bennett Construction, and a blond woman with a mole on her cheek. Cortez recognized her immediately as Bennett's sister, Claudia, from the photograph he'd seen in Bennett's office.

Bennett got to his feet, looking oddly guilty. “Cortez, isn't it?” he blurted out, extending his hand. It was cold and clammy when Cortez shook it. “Uh, how are you progressing on the case?”

“We've got a new dead body,” Cortez replied. The blond woman, he noted, still sat in her chair, twisting her purse in her well-manicured hands.

“Another…one?” Bennett exclaimed.

“Yes. We found him in a cave with a number of artifacts which we believe are stolen property. I've got a member of my unit checking them out now,” Cortez said carefully.

“It's Thanksgiving,” Bennett laughed. “You'll never get anybody to work today.”

“I've already had a team checking and collecting forensic evidence at the primary crime scene,” Cortez said. “In fact, we had an anthropologist at the scene.”

“Where did you get one of those on a holiday?” Bennett wanted to know.

“She's curator at the local museum,” he was told.

The blond woman stifled a gasp.

“In fact,” Cortez added slowly, “I've just come from her house. She made Thanksgiving dinner for us.”

“You think the dead man might have stolen the artifacts?” Bennett asked.

“Anybody's guess, until the forensics are processed.”

“What sort of artifacts?” the blond woman asked with deliberate carelessness.

Cortez, who was a veteran of interrogation, noted that the woman was unusually nervous and that she wouldn't meet his eyes. “There was a Neanderthal skeleton, for one thing,” he said. “And an effigy figure very much like the one in Phoebe Keller's museum.” He hesitated. “You're Bennett's sister, aren't you?”

“That's right,” Bennett confirmed. “This is Claudia Bennett…my sister. And Walks Far's wife,” he added with visible reluctance. He noticed that Cortez didn't seem surprised by the information. The man was in law enforcement, after all. It wouldn't take much digging to turn up Walks Far's criminal past, and his marriage to Claudia. He was suddenly recalling with anguish that he'd told Cortez earlier that he didn't know much about
Walks Far. Yet the man was married to his sister. He hadn't mentioned that, either.

“Yes,” Claudia replied at once. “My husband was attacked. Have there been any arrests so far?” she added with belligerence.

“I don't work assault cases,” Cortez told her. “My assignment is a murder on an Indian reservation. I'm assigned to the FBI's new Indian Country Crime Unit. We assist in homicides and federal crimes on various reservations. We also teach local law enforcement how to use the latest investigative techniques.”

Claudia swallowed, hard. “So that's why the FBI was called in,” she said uneasily. “But they said the murder victim was on a dirt road just outside town!”

“The reservation sign was knocked over. We're speculating that the murderer dumped the anthropologist's body after dark and didn't realize where he was.”

“Oh. I see.” She gave Cortez a cautious scrutiny. “There was an effigy figure, you said?”

“Yes.” He pursed his lips. “Miss Keller had an odd visitor last week who mentioned the theft of similar relics at a museum in New York. She said she'd recognize not only the art dealer who sold her the effigy figure, but the woman who came to the museum later under a false identity.”

“Would she?” The woman's face paled. Her fingers clenched on her purse. “You mentioned an…art dealer?” she faltered.

“A bogus one,” Cortez added. “We checked him out. He even hired on at one of the local construction sites. Maybe he was trying to keep an eye on his stash until he could find buyers for it. Now we're looking for a black SUV which we speculate was used to move the first murder victim to another site.” He paused, eyeing both of them as they grew paler by the minute. His plan was working. By revealing what he knew about the case, they were shaking in their boots…just like he'd expected. Claudia was paler. “Now we have a second murder victim. Trace evidence links Walks Far to him.”

Bennett looked as anxious as his sister. “But Walks Far is unconscious,” he pointed out. “He was a victim himself. He couldn't have killed anyone!”

“I didn't say that he did,” Cortez replied.

“The second murder victim, was it a man or a woman?” Bennett's sister asked.

“A man.”

“Do you know who he is?” she persisted.

He shook his head. “He'll have to be identified through fingerprints and/or dental records,” he replied.
“His face is missing. He was shot in the back of the head.”

Bennett looked sick. His sister looked like she was going to faint.

Cortez's eyes narrowed. “If either of you know anything about this case, things will go better for you if you tell me now.”

They looked at each other. Bennett's sister composed herself and smiled vacantly. “What in the world would we know about murder?” she asked simply. She moved to her unconscious husband's bedside and took his big hand in hers. “I hope you can find the person who did this to my husband,” she added. “I'm so glad he's going to be all right!” She sniffed and wiped at her eyes. They were dry as bone, Cortez noticed.

“We'll certainly let you know if we can think of anything that will help the case,” Bennett said firmly. “Meanwhile, if you need anything, anything at all…”

Cortez played his hole card. He wouldn't have dared except he knew that Phoebe would be at the motel with Tina and perfectly safe from reprisals.

“I want to talk with Miss Keller again, at her house. She spoke to the first murder victim. She said she'd remembered something about the art dealer that could help us. She also saw a black SUV at the end of her
driveway, which we think is involved with the murders. She'll be a material witness.”

Bennett's sister's eyes narrowed, but she didn't say anything. She turned back to her husband and made a production of straightening the sheet over his broad chest.

“Anything I can do, let me know,” Bennett repeated, forcing a smile.

“I'll do that,” Cortez told him. “But under the circumstances, I'm sure you'll understand that I'm going to place a man here to keep watch over Walks Far. Until I find someone better, he's a prime suspect in this case,” he added curtly, watching their reactions closely. Bennett looked worried. Claudia actually relaxed. Now he knew he was on to something.

He went out to his car, feeling smug. He'd stake out Phoebe's cabin, and with any luck at all, the perpetrator—or perpetrators—might fall right into his lap. He was certain that the Bennetts knew more than they wanted to tell him. Claudia Bennett might very well know who the killer was. Or Bennett might. And there was that matter of the blond hair they'd found on the body…He was going to keep an eye on both of them.

 

P
HOEBE FINISHED
putting up the rest of dinner and then washed dishes, with Drake's help. She was trying to be
cheerful, but she had a bad feeling about Tina's attitude. The woman had become an enemy for no reason that Phoebe could discern. Unless, Tina was really very distantly related to Cortez and she'd realized that she wanted him instead of Drake. Perhaps she saw Phoebe as a rival and meant to cut her out.

It was a disturbing thought. Tina was young and pretty, but she was also Comanche. That would give her a definite edge with Cortez, especially if all he felt for Phoebe was physical.

“We'd better get moving,” Drake reminded her. “I have to drop you off and get into my uniform. I go on duty pretty soon.”

“I'll just get my jacket and purse, and I'm ready,” she said with forced cheerfulness.

She locked up and they rode back into town together in a pleasant silence.

He pulled up in front of Tina's motel room and cut off the engine, turning to Phoebe with one arm across the back of her seat.

“If you get a chance, try to find out why Tina's mad at me, could you?” Drake asked her quietly. “I'd like to know what I've done to upset her.”

She smiled at him. “I'll do what I can.”

He touched her hair gently. “You're a nice woman,
Phoebe Keller,” he said quietly. He bent and kissed her forehead. “If you weren't hung up on the FBI guy, I'd be in there swinging to get a chance with you.”

“You're a nice man,” she replied. “But it's been Cortez for three years. I suppose he's a habit I can't break.”

“Just my luck,” he said, chuckling. “Well, we'd better get out before we start more gossip. I see the curtains moving.” He indicated the room Tina was staying in.