Leave No Stone Unturned (A Lexie Starr Mystery, Book 1) (23 page)

"You need to tell me everything you know. We'll work together and see what we can
come up with by putting our heads together. Here comes Officer Van Patten. I want
to hear the whole story from both of you. Oh, I suppose he's not really an officer.
He—"

"He is—"

"—and the younger guy with him? They're running. They probably heard you scream."

"Yes, I'm sure they did. Stone's a reserve officer in South Carolina. Stone and I
are just friends. The younger man is his nephew, Andy," I said. I looked up as Stone
and Andy reached our location. Stone was panting for breath. Andy was hardly winded.
They both inquired if I was okay and wanted to know what was happening. I explained
briefly after introducing Ron to Andy. Detective Glick acknowledged Stone and shook
hands with Andy. "Lexie has explained the true situation to me. I need the whole story
so we can get cracking and locate her daughter."

Ron pulled a notebook and pen from his pocket and jotted down notes while he asked
us questions about Clayton and Wendy. Then he pulled out a radio and called for an
APB on Wendy. I described my daughter as best I could and showed Ron several photos
from my wallet. He chose the most recent one to take with him so he could have fliers
printed and distributed. I began to have a higher opinion of my former nemesis and
was glad that Ron and I were now on the same side.

When Stone helped me to my feet I remembered the shiny object still enclosed in my
fist. I opened up my hand to reveal a hatpin in the shape of a four-leafed clover.
Across the top was inscribed "Shamrock Club—Seattle, Washington," and along the bottom
it read, "Come on in and get lucky."

"Seattle?" Ron asked.

"Rod Crowfoot!" Stone, Andy, and I all answered in unison.

Like charms on a bracelet, the hatpins were meant to show where Rod had been. Rod
had been at the murder scene—before he'd been at the location where he'd "discovered"
Eliza's body. Who was Rod Crowfoot, and how was he connected to Clay or Eliza Pitt?
Why would he want to kill Clay's wife? Most importantly, where was he now?

* * *

We climbed into the Jeep and followed Ron Glick back to the DeKalb sheriff's office,
where we brought Sheriff Crabb up to date on the latest development. Sheriff Crabb
was more intelligent and competent than he sometimes appeared to be. When he acted
star-struck by my status as a successful author, I found it difficult to believe he'd
been placed in such an authoritative position.

Sheriff Crabb surprised me now by suggesting that if Rod had one of the club's hatpins,
it might be one of his favorite hangouts, or at least may have been a place he frequented
at one time. If that were the case, he surmised, then someone at the club might remember
him. We agreed, and Stone reached for his cell phone on the belt clip.

At Ted Crabb's insistence, Stone pocketed his cell phone and used the sheriff's desk
phone instead. First he dialed 1-4-1-1 for national directory assistance and was given
the phone number for the Shamrock Club in Seattle. He asked the operator to connect
him. Ron reached over and pushed the speakerphone button on the telephone so we could
all listen in on the conversation.

"Shamrock Club," a young man's voice said over the speakerphone.

"Good afternoon. Is the owner available?" Stone asked.

"Dunno. I'll go see if Ray's here. Hang on a minute."

We stood around and waited for several minutes. We had begun to think the young man
had forgotten Stone was waiting on the phone when an older man's deep voice erupted
from the speakerphone and resonated around the cramped room.

"This is Ray. May I help you?"

"Ray, this is Stone Van Patten. I'm trying to locate an old friend of mine named Rod
Crowfoot. I'm fairly certain Rod used to patronize your club. Do you recall the man
I'm talking about?"

"Sure I do. He worked for me as a male stripper for several years. I haven't seen
him in quite awhile though, Mr. Van Patten, so I doubt I can be of much help to you."

"When was the last time you saw Rod?"

"If you're a friend of his, you probably remember when that foster father of his died,
don't you? You know, the guy that Rod called Uncle Bill?"

"Uh-huh," Stone answered noncommittally. "Go on."

"Well, Rod moved back to New York to be near the property Bill left him—that little
place in the mountains with the log cabin on it. Bill always went out there in the
fall to hunt deer. Anyway, I haven't seen Rod since he moved back there, and that
was three years ago, I'd say. Another one of my strippers just moved back East a couple
of months ago to try and rekindle a relationship with Rod. I think he told me Rod
lived in Boston now. The two of them had been an item for a long time, but split up
when Rod caught Wade cheating on him with another guy. Apparently Wade was successful,
because he hasn't come back to Seattle yet."

The five of us stood in a circle with our mouths hanging open in astonishment. A big
piece of the puzzle had just fallen into place. The Shamrock Club was another gay
bar. And Rod Crowfoot had changed his identity to become Jake Jacoby.

Chapter 24

I gave Detective Glick Jake's address in Boston, where Stone and I had made our exterminating
visit. Ron raised his eyebrows in astonishment. I knew he was surprised I knew Jake's
address, but he made no comment as he called his office. He spoke to his superior
for a few minutes and then was transferred over to the sheriff's office in Boston.
He spoke to a Detective Sharp. Sharp arranged to have a SWAT team surround Jacoby's
residence in the event Jake was holding Wendy there.

We sat around in the DeKalb sheriff's office for the next half hour, nervously waiting
for a return call from the Boston detective. We all drank several cups of really bad
coffee and tried to decide on a plan of action. I'd attempted to contact Clay again
on his cell phone, but I got his voice mail instead.

"Clay, this is Lexie," I said to his voice mail recorder. "Call me as soon as you
can at Stone's cell phone number."

I recited the number into the phone and took a deep breath. I wanted to give Clay
an advance warning. Hopefully he'd begin thinking about anything he could tell us
that might be beneficial in locating Wendy. He'd find out soon enough we knew all
about the murder case involving his first wife. It was time for him to come clean
with us and tell us all he knew about the situation. "We think now that it's Jake
Jacoby who has abducted Wendy," I said. "Jake Jacoby is actually Rod Crowfoot, the
hiker who discovered Eliza's body. I'll fill you in on everything that's happened
when you return my call. Please call me ASAP."

I'd noticed Sheriff Crabb had been shooting me questioning glances for a while. It
suddenly occurred to me that, although he knew that my daughter was married to Clayton
Pitt and she'd disappeared, he hadn't quite figured out how "Lexie Starr, writer"
figured into the whole equation. I crossed the room to speak to him. He was sitting
behind his desk, so I crouched down beside him.

"Forgive me, Ted?"

"Ma'am?"

"I guess you've figured out by now I'm not really writing a novel about the Eliza
Pitt case. I'm sorry I had to deceive you, Ted."

"S'okay," the sheriff replied with a shrug. "I understand. So what are you really
writing about, Ms. Starr?"

"No, I meant I'm not a writer at all, Ted. I'm just a concerned mother, doing whatever
it takes to protect, and now find, my daughter."

"Oh—yeah—sure. Of course. No apology necessary, Ms. Starr."

"Thank you, Sheriff. I really do appreciate all you've done to help me."

"Ah, shucks, ma'am. I'm just doing my job." He looked away with a disappointed expression
on his face. Then he slowly turned back my way. "Does this mean that Sly Stallone,
and the whole movie deal, is off too?"

* * *

"Damn! The house is empty," Detective Glick said. He replaced the handset in the cradle
after thanking Detective Sharp for his assistance. "We need to find out where he's
hiding. I'd bet the farm Crowfoot's got Wendy with him at the log cabin, and he's
holding her as a hostage, something to use as negotiating material. At least, I hope
that's what he's doing. I sure wish we could make contact with Clay so we could find
out where the cabin's located."

Stone rose from the chair he'd been sitting on and said, "Let's pay another visit
to the Fantasy Club. If he's not there, at least Baines McFarland should be. McFarland
may know where Jake is or, at least, how long it's been since he's reported for work."

"How will we get there?" Ron asked. Boston was a long way from Schenectady, and there
just wasn't time for us to drive there.

Stone thought for a moment and then turned to his nephew. "Andy, would you mind flying
us all to Boston in your plane?"

"I'd be happy to, Uncle Stone. I'll call ahead and have the plane fueled up and ready
to go. I have a friend, Joe, who's an aviation engineer. He lives close to the airport.
I'm sure Joe will run up there and take care of it for me."

Sheriff Crabb had to remain at his post, but the remaining four of us piled into Click's
squad car and headed for the town of Glenville, where the Schenectady County Airport
was located.

Ron flicked on his flashing lights and siren after we'd taken the exit on to Route
50. "Every hour that goes by could be critical, I'm afraid. The quicker we find Jake
and Wendy, the better. I don't want to waste a minute if we can help it," he said.

His words sent a chill up my spine. I couldn't help thinking about the consequences
of finding Wendy too late. At least it kept me from thinking about the carnage sure
to result when Ron's police car wiped out going one hundred miles an hour down the
highway. I closed my eyes so I wouldn't see the fence posts flashing by outside my
window, like spokes in a spinning bicycle wheel. And I had thought riding with Stone
in his Corvette was terrifying. Now that ride seemed sedate in comparison. Thankfully,
it was a short trip to the airport and we arrived there safely.

Minutes later we were boarding Andy's plane, a five-passenger Cessna. As we strapped
ourselves in, Andy began taxiing down the runway. We were promptly given permission
by the air traffic controller to take off. The plane lifted off the runway smoothly
and gained altitude rapidly.

Above the roar of the engines, I could hear Andy say he planned to land at a small
executive airport in Boston. He'd already arranged to have a rental car waiting for
us. I was impressed by his foresightedness. Like his uncle, he was efficient and organized
and preferred not to leave anything to chance. I found myself wishing Wendy had met
and married a man like Andy, instead of Clay. Andy had a lean, but athletic, physique,
a clean-cut hairstyle, and startling blue eyes—the kind that'd entice someone to take
a second glance. Long, dark eyelashes that would surely make any woman envious set
off his blue eyes. However, Andy's best feature, like Stone's, was his smile. He had
a broad smile highlighted by straight, white teeth. Andy's only apparent imperfection
was a scar running diagonally through his left eyebrow. Stone had told me the scar
was the result of a playground accident when Andy was seven. Somehow the scar only
seemed to add character to his tanned, strong-featured face.

Andy seemed to sense I was studying him as he handled the controls. He turned around
in the pilot's seat and smiled at me. He tried to comfort me like he had several times
before. "We'll find her, Lexie. Don't worry. Sit back and relax while you have the
chance."

* * *

"Get off my property!" Baines McFarland said, pointing his finger in Stone's face.
"Smith and Wesson, my ass. Do you think I'm some kind of idiot? I may just have you
arrested for impersonating an officer. I happen to know you and 'Officer Smith' are
not really police officers, any more than you're exterminators."

"I am a police officer, McFarland, albeit just a reserve officer in Myrtle Beach,"
Stone said. "But my real name is Van Patten, Stone Van Patten. My first visit with
you was tied in with an undercover operation. We couldn't risk having Jacoby find
out we were investigating him. It appears Jake has now abducted my partner's daughter.
It's critical we locate him immediately."