Undercover Hunter (22 page)

“And so we come back to our obsession.”

He laughed. “Inevitably. Told you I was a workaholic. But after this is over, I’m buying you the best dinner ever and we’re going to find out if we’ve got more than a case to keep us together. Fair enough?”

It was fair enough, she thought. She straightened so Cade could pull out his cell and call Gage. He explained that the boys might have called the crisis center, listened a moment, then said, “Great.” When he disconnected, he looked at her.

“He’s already on it. You apparently pushed him into hyperdrive yesterday. He pulled the call logs, claiming they needed to provide data for funding, and he put Sarah Ironheart on it. She’s working her way back. As for whether Calvin ever spoke to classes, no.”

“So it had to be the hotline.” Assuming it was him, of course. But now she believed it more than ever. “Think what a tool that crisis line could be for him.”

“I am, and it’s making me sick.” He rubbed a hand over his face.

It made her feel the same, to think of youngsters in some kind of trouble, reaching out to a stranger on the phone only to fall into a sticky spiderweb.

If it turned out to be Calvin Sweet, she wanted his blood.

* * *

Calvin Sweet didn’t think anything when he saw that Cherokee deputy come out of the house where DeeJay was staying. The whole damn town seemed to be trying to put on its best face for these writers, so why wouldn’t that include the sheriff’s department?

He almost giggled as he trudged through the snow toward the house and Micah Parish drove away. The cops were probably busy showing how caring and alert they were, what a safe place this was...and hoping like hell the writers didn’t focus on the fear and the missing kids.

He liked walking around town these days, feeling all the fear, watching the way people tried to keep their children close, knowing he had caused it all.

So, yeah, the writers had to have heard about it. And the sheriff was probably busy making it look like cops were on top of everything around her.

But they weren’t. They’d never been. They sure as hell hadn’t saved
him
and he had always wondered why. They must have known what was going on, even though he denied it. He’d been questioned about it, but nobody ever took it any further.

That made them lazy. Maybe it even made them evil. They’d turned a blind eye even when they got suspicious. His mother had certainly thought they were evil and had wanted nothing to do with any of them.

This whole place lived in some kind of fantasy world, where the only bad things they wanted to know was who was cheating on whom. Well, he’d taught them before and he was teaching them again.

Blind. They were all blind. And now they were afraid.

So, yeah, the sheriff was probably trying to minimize the whole thing so these writers wouldn’t trash the town. Giving them personal attention from the police to convince them that nobody had superior law enforcement.

Calvin knew better.

But he was teaching all of them a lesson and, more importantly, he was carrying out the mission left to him by his mother. Purifying those boys.

And now it was time to purify a woman. The surety of it had become his current driving force. He was past questioning the wisdom of anything he was doing. He only knew he
must
do this.

It was time to lure his prey.

Sometimes the confusion of his own thoughts troubled him. He was saving these boys, and these women, so why did he see them as prey? But once the hunting urge took over, the confusion and questions vanished. He was on a mission. That one conviction never deserted him, not even in moments of confusion.

He walked up to the front door of the house and knocked.

* * *

Cade opened the door and faced a slender, dark-haired man, possibly in his early thirties, who had a face so smooth and perfectly shaped that it appeared almost angelic.

But he also felt a jolt of recognition, one that made his stomach twist into knots. He didn’t need to hear the guy identify himself to recognize the resemblance, however slight, to the photos he’d seen of the boys and women who had disappeared. This guy fit the victim profile in every way except age. Now he knew for sure why DeeJay kept saying her nose was twitching.

He had long experience of appearing impassive, so he was sure the jolt didn’t give him away. He summoned a look of mild inquiry. “Yes?”

“I’m Calvin Sweet. From the crisis center. I met DeeJay the other day.”

“Oh, yeah. She mentioned you. Cade Denton.” He offered his hand, and Sweet shook it. Cade was surprised that anyone with such an unmarred face could have hands that felt as if they did rough work.

Calvin smiled. “Nice to meet you. I invited DeeJay out to my place to take some photos. Great view of the mountains. I’ve got some time tomorrow and wondered if you both would like to do that.”

Cade smiled back. “Are you that proud of your view?”

“You bet.”

“Well, come on in. Do you like coffee? The two of us were just getting ready to go out, but we haven’t turned it off yet.”

Already his mind was racing like mad. All that stuff spread on the kitchen table. He had to keep this guy from following him out there. He waved toward the living room to direct Calvin that way and wondered how to handle this.

“I won’t keep you long,” Calvin said as he walked into the living room. “I’ve got to go to work in a few hours anyway, but I just wanted to set up something with DeeJay, if you guys are interested.”

Cade knew a moment of relief when Calvin took the armchair. Now what about the dang coffee? He decided not to ask again. Best to make sure there was no opportunity for him to go to the kitchen.

“DeeJay?” he called.

“Be there in a second.” It sounded like she was in the kitchen.

“I would like that coffee,” Calvin said.

God, thought Cade, how could a monster have such a sweet smile? But maybe he wasn’t the monster. He had to keep that in mind.

Not that he believed it was likely any longer.

He crossed the narrow entry to the kitchen and halted in the doorway, waiting to see if Calvin followed. The sight that met his eyes, however, almost made him smile. DeeJay was in the process of gathering up the last of their papers. A kitchen cabinet was open, and he could see the bulk of them already stashed up there.

“You’re quick,” he said, keeping his voice to a murmur so Calvin couldn’t hear.

“You betcha.” She scooped up the last items and stuffed them into the cabinet.

“He wants coffee.”

“I’ll get it. You just keep him entertained.”

Back in the living room, Cade sat across from Calvin. “DeeJay’s bringing the coffee.”

“Thank you.” Calvin was still smiling, although to Cade his dark eyes held something not nearly as angelic as his face or smile. He dismissed it as imagination. He cast about for something to say.

“DeeJay was pretty impressed with your crisis center. It must be difficult work.”

“I like helping people,” Calvin replied. Cade felt another jolt as he recognized the absolute sincerity with which Calvin spoke those words. “I can’t imagine, though, why the sheriff thought travel writers would want to know about it.”

A prickle crept along Cade’s neck. Was that fishing or an innocent question? And what the hell did he himself know about writing a travel piece? He sought for something that sounded sensible in answer. “People are going to spend a lot of money to come here,” he said slowly. “They like to know about important services.”

Calvin’s smile widened. “What, are they afraid they’ll be in the middle of nowhere?”

Cade managed a chuckle. “This part of Wyoming probably looks like that to a lot of them.”

“Then why would they come?”

Dang, thought Cade. He hadn’t prepped for this exam. “Because it’s new and different. But they still want to know they’ll have a hospital, police, that kind of thing.”

“So they want to be in the middle of nowhere and still have all the conveniences?”

This time Cade’s laugh was genuine. “Apparently so.”

Calvin flashed a grin, then looked over as DeeJay joined them. She carried a tray—where the heck had she found that, Cade wondered—with three mugs, the coffeepot, a small pitcher of milk and some sugar. She set it on the end table.

“Nice to see you again, Calvin,” she said brightly, offering her hand.

He shook it—hanging on a little too long for Cade’s comfort—then spoke. “I was just wondering if we could set something up for you to come take pictures from my ranch. You should see those mountains in the dawn light. Takes your breath away.”

“Help yourself to coffee,” DeeJay said, and came to sit beside Cade on the couch. “We were talking about that, weren’t we, Cade?”

“We were,” he agreed. Although not in the way Calvin probably thought. “Early-morning light?”

“That’s best,” Calvin said. “The air is so clear, the detail so sharp that you can see every little thing. At this time of year, with the sun so far south, there are enough shadows to give you a feeling for the ruggedness. Anyway, I know DeeJay said you’d have a professional come out here, but I thought you guys could give him some ideas.”

Cade’s neck prickled again. He glanced at DeeJay and saw her face was perfectly smooth and pleasant. Oh, man, now he understood why she’d been almost positive that Calvin was their man. He was pushing this jaunt as if he’d get wealthy from it. Or as if his future depended on it.

So he decided to be blunt. “What’s in it for you?” he asked. Then, as Calvin’s face started to darken, he spoke swiftly. “That isn’t meant to be critical. It’s just that most of the helpful people we meet have a horse in the race, if you follow me. Like the resort folks, for example. You’re being very generous.”

Calvin’s face relaxed again. “I just want to be helpful. If that resort will be good for the people around here, then I’ll do what I can to make it a success. There’s a lot of beauty outside of town. That’s all.”

His own little Chamber of Commerce, Cade thought. Not bloody likely. In fact, come to think of it, the area merchants hadn’t put on the dog for the travel writers. This town was still undecided about this resort and whether it would be good for them. And they were certainly more worried about the missing boys.

Cade looked at DeeJay. “What do you think, honey?”

“It won’t hurt to go and snap a few shots,” she said as if she were thinking about it. “I mean, we’re trying to make this sound like a place people should want to come for a variety of reasons. Like hiking and camping as well as the resort. And those mountains
are
beautiful.”

Calvin smiled happily. “Good. You can at least give your photographer some ideas.”

“He’ll probably want to come back in the summer, too,” DeeJay said. “For a different look. Is that okay?”

Calvin’s hesitation was so infinitesimal that Cade nearly missed it.

“Of course,” Calvin said finally. “So...tomorrow morning? Sunrise?”

“Just a little before,” DeeJay said.

“That’s great. Cade said you were about to go out, so I should be on my way. A few errands to run before work.”

He stood, politely shook their hands, thanked them for the coffee, then left. They watched from the window as he disappeared down the street.

“Why didn’t he just park out front?” DeeJay wondered.

“No obvious connection with us for the neighbors to remember if we disappear.”

Her head pivoted sharply toward him. “You think it’s him.”

“I made up my mind when I saw him. He looks like one of his own victims. And now we’d better go and let Gage know.”

“Calvin might see us.”

“Better that he sees us popping in there and a few other places than that he sees another deputy stop here.”

Her brows lifted. “You think he saw Micah?”

“I don’t see how he could have missed him.”

* * *

Gage asked them to wait a couple of hours as he was involved in another case. Cade didn’t tell him much on the phone, which left DeeJay wondering if things could have moved faster.

“You should have told him,” she said irritably.

“What exactly? At this point, we’ve got no case against Calvin Sweet. Gage is tied up with something and, anyway, I don’t want to give him extra time to come up with a million objections.”

Still she fumed. And finally she realized what bothered her. “You should have talked to me before you called Gage.” Her truculence was unmistakable and deserved exactly the response it got.

“Did I step on those toes of yours?”

Her temper flared. “Yes, you did. We’re partners, right? I should have some say on how things are handled.”

“You’ve had plenty of say.” Now
he
was looking irritated. “What is it with you, DeeJay? Do I have to walk on eggshells every single minute with you? Like you haven’t done some stuff on your own?”

“Eggshells?”

“Eggshells,” he repeated. “I’ve been walking on them since we met.”

“So this nice guy isn’t the real you?” She threw up a hand. “Fine. Have it all your way. I’m used to that.”

“You could fool me.”

They glared at each other, but DeeJay realized something else was working beneath her anger. Standing there almost toe to toe with Cade, she knew she was about to break something. The way she had with other guys she had dated. Smashing every potentially good thing because...because she couldn’t trust a guy. Just simply couldn’t. Sudden, unexpected self-understanding hit her in the gut. In a flash, she saw herself, and what she saw didn’t make her proud or happy.

“Oh, hell,” she said, but the words emerged quietly as she turned. “I’m doing it again.”

“Doing what?”

She didn’t want to tell him, didn’t want to admit the truth, even as she finally admitted it to herself.

“DeeJay?” His tone had changed to something softer. “A squabble isn’t the end of the world.”

“For me it is.” And, boy, was she good at starting them.

All of a sudden she felt him take her shoulders from behind, a gentle grip. Instinct made her want to shrug off his touch, but a stronger feeling made her afraid to lose it.

“Tell me,” he said quietly. “Please.”