Page 54 of Colton in the Wild
“That,” she said softly, “was almost worth the wasted time.”
An emotion he’d only ever felt when looking at one of those special, secret places he was going to take her to welled up inside him. The only word he could think of for it was beyond corny, but it was the only word that fit.
Joy.
“I guess we really needed our cage rattled to get out of our old rut.”
“Well, that’s one of the better mixed metaphors I’ve heard lately,” Hetty said, and he knew she was using that old, familiar, tutoring tone of voice on purpose.
Spence laughed and the elation he was feeling practically echoed in the sound of it. He wanted to seize this moment and hang on to it forever.
Just as he wanted to do with Hetty.
Images of the life they could build, here in this place they both loved, unrolled in his head like some video stream. She could move out of her tiny apartment, maybe into his place. Or if she didn’t want that, they’d find a new place for both of them. Some place private, where they could pursue this electric connection they had.
He wasn’t foolish enough to think there wouldn’t have to be some give and take, some adjustments on each side, but they’d do it. They’d do it because it was meant to be, they’d just been fighting it for years. They would—
A loud cough from rather close by made them both jump. They jerked around to see Officer Reynolds standing there.
“Sorry to bother you,” he said, “but I saw your SUV up here, Spence, and had some news you need to hear.”
Spence went very still. He heard Hetty suck in a breath. They both started to get up, but Reynolds crouched down until he was at eye level with them. His normally neutral, sometimes-thoughtful expression had been taken over by a furrowed forehead and concerned eyes. Bobby Reynolds took his job very seriously, and Spence again had the thought that he hadn’t appreciated the small-town cop nearly enough.
“We heard from the PD in Portland, finally. They’re really strapped right now, so it took them a while, but…they found your client’s ex.”
The man hesitated and Spence braced himself, already guessing what was coming next from his somber demeanor.
“Get it said,” he told him, reaching out to grip Hetty’s hand in his, squeezing it gently.
Reynolds nodded. “All right. They kept on her, and she finally admitted it. She hired somebody to follow her ex and his new wife up here and kill them both.”
Chapter 29
Spence heard Hetty’s smothered gasp at Reynolds’s words, but he wasn’t surprised at all. He’d been expecting this ever since he’d heard about the ex-wife. Still, his voice was tight when he spoke again.
“Hired…who?”
He knew the answer to that, too, before Reynolds spoke. “We don’t know. All we have is the name Strauss, and it’s probably an alias.” The cop grimaced. “Barton told me that was the cover name of one of the most prolific hitman ever known, who committed from a hundred to five hundred hits for Murder, Inc., back in the thirties.”
“History student or delusions of grandeur?” Spence asked, his tone sour.
“Who knows,” Reynolds answered. “I’d lean toward delusions, given his inefficiency.”
“For which I’ll be eternally thankful,” Hetty said fervently, the first thing she had said since this had started.
As will I.Again the image of her down and bleeding tried to take over Spence’s mind, but he made himself focus on the subject at hand. “The Creedmoor round isn’t going to help much if you don’t find the weapon, right?”
Barton nodded. “It’s efficient and cheap, so it’s all over.”
“Low recoil,” Spence said, remembering his thoughts about the shooter being maybe a city guy. “Maybe the he’s not used to rifles. Or more used to up-close-and-personal weapons.”
“Could well be,” Reynolds agreed. “They’re working on it down in Portland, and we’re doing what we can from here. The ex said she found him online, through a connection she wouldn’t give up. We don’t know how she found out RTA was who they’d booked the trip with, but apparently she did.”
“So he knew right where to look,” Hetty said.
Reynolds nodded. “Yes. And he told her he’d been to Alaska once before.”
Spence couldn’t help snorting. “Like that makes him an expert.”
