Kitabı oku: «Cold Case Cover-Up»

ONE

Someone was watching her.

The hairs on her neck prickled a warning. Dana Lang glanced around the coffee shop but saw no one looking her way or appearing fixated on her. Still, her instincts were never wrong. As a television investigative journalist, she was used to people recognizing her, but this felt different. This felt like daggers in her back.

She tried to shake off the feeling and tell herself she was being silly. No one in this sleepy little town of West Bend, Missouri, knew her. She glanced at the television mounted to the wall while she waited for her coffee to be ready. The news channels were still reporting about the embassy attack six weeks earlier and the heroic eight-man team of CIA-contracted security operatives who’d rescued eighteen Americans trapped inside. Five people had died in all, including two of the operatives involved in the rescue.

She accepted her drink as her own interview with one of the contractors replayed in her mind. She’d stumbled upon a gold mine when Michael “Rizzo” Ricardo had contacted her wanting to tell his story about the night of the attack and how the US government had ordered the operatives to stand down. They’d defied orders instead and become national heroes in the process. He’d felt betrayed by his government’s response to the attack and wanted to let the world know it. Until his interview, only the names of the two operatives who had died—Tommy Woods and Mike Piven—had been released.

Dana ignored the reminder that she needed to be back in Chicago—or anywhere but West Bend—digging in to Rizzo’s life and trying to uncover the identities of his teammates to corroborate his story. So far, Rizzo was the only one to come forward to tell the tale of being abandoned by their country during the attack.

But she resisted the urge to pack up and leave. Every reporter in the nation was vying for that story, and while uncovering the names of the other operatives would be a monumental boost to her career, the case she was focusing on now would impact her life so much more. Five days ago, the night before her interview with Rizzo, she’d discovered a box in her late mother’s belongings that had shattered her world and sent her on this quest to West Bend to uncover the truth about her lineage.

The box she’d found had contained adoption papers. Dana had never even known she’d been adopted. But the surprises hadn’t ended there. She’d also discovered a newspaper article about the murders of Rene Renfield and her infant daughter, Alicia, along with a photograph that looked suspiciously like one of Dana’s own baby photos. There was also a letter from the preacher who’d arranged her adoption that explained to her parents how she’d been left at the church, which had been considered a safe haven, by someone he trusted who’d insisted the child was in danger and needed to be believed dead. And there was a short note from the person who’d abandoned her. She didn’t know if her parents had ever discovered anything solid in their questioning, if they’d taken the preacher’s word and decided not to rock the boat, or if her father’s death in a car wreck when Dana was eleven had ended their search for answers. Regardless, now that she knew, she was determined to finish their investigation and uncover the truth. Was she Alicia Renfield? And, if she was, who murdered her birth mother and left her for dead?

Dana exited the coffee shop and headed back to her hotel. As she walked, she noticed the stares and curious glances of the townspeople. She’d heard small towns were notorious for their gossip grapevines, but she’d only arrived yesterday. Did these people know she was here to investigate a thirty-year-old murder, or had they recognized her from her job as a TV cold case reporter on Newswatch? For all she knew, they could be staring because she was an unfamiliar face in a town where everybody knew everybody else.

But these stares didn’t feel sinister, not like the one she’d felt in the coffee shop. Her friends had tried to warn her that she wouldn’t be accepted into a small town as a stranger poking her nose into the town’s business, but it was her business, too. This terrible crime had left West Bend in a state of shock, but it may have also forever changed her path. She’d try to confirm her suspicions, and if they were true, find out who killed her mother and why.

As she walked, she checked off her itinerary in her head. She’d already been to the local library and made friends with Lila, the librarian, who’d told her all their newspaper archives from thirty years earlier were still on microfiche. Their digital records only went back twenty years. Tomorrow, she would make a day of checking out the old newspaper articles on the murder. This evening, she was heading to the sheriff’s office to have a closer look at the police files for the case. The records clerk, a lovely woman named Beverly Shorter, had been pleasant enough on the phone and offered to help her in any way possible, but when Dana had mentioned the Renfield murders, she’d insisted the records were not available for public access since it was still an open case. Dana was confident she could change Beverly’s mind. She’d built a successful career by breaking news stories and you didn’t do that by accepting no for an answer.

She stopped suddenly and turned, that prickling sensation rushing through her again. She glanced at the people on the street but saw nothing suspicious—no one was focusing excessively on her. But how would she even recognize something out of the ordinary here? She didn’t know these people. And who would have a reason to follow her?

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out and checked the caller ID. It was her producer, Mason Sheffield. She sent the call to voice mail. She didn’t want to talk to him right now. He’d agreed to give her this time off even though he wanted her on the embassy-bombing story and following up on Rizzo’s colleagues. But as big as that story was, this one would impact her life forever. She’d interviewed countless families of victims of crime and listened to them talking about their loved ones and their longing to see justice done. She realized she wanted that, too. Besides, the Ricardo case was stalled until more members of the secret CIA security detail came forward or were outed as operatives. She knew there were other reporters following leads to their whereabouts, but she couldn’t think about that now. This case, proving her identity and finding out who murdered her birth mother and who left her abandoned and alone as an infant, was her main focus now. She’d been alone for too long. It was time to discover who she was once and for all.

She walked into the hotel and nodded at the desk clerk who’d checked her in the previous evening. He was a humorous man and had recognized her from her show. Had he tipped off everyone in town that she was staying at his hotel? Could that explain her eerie feeling of being followed?

She got into the elevator and willed it to close before anyone jumped in with her. No one did and she breathed a sigh of relief when the doors slid shut. She rode it to the third floor then got off. Her room was at the end of the hall, but she stopped after only a few steps. The hairs on her neck stood on end again as she saw the door to her room was open. The elevator closed behind her and dinged, startling her. She took a deep breath to calm her racing heart. She could call hotel security or the police, but how silly would she feel if it was only housekeeping refreshing the towels? No, she was allowing her imagination to run wild and that sense of being watched to control her. Still, as she moved down the hallway, bracing to confront whoever was there, she wished she had something to defend herself with. Her iced coffee wasn’t going to stop anyone. Why hadn’t she ordered it hot? She inched toward the open doorway and heard noise coming from inside.

Someone was definitely in her room!

She pushed open the door and spotted a figure clad in black digging through her suitcase.

“Who are you?” she called.

The intruder turned her way, his face covered by a mask. Before she could move, he ran toward her, shouldered past her and knocked her backward into the wall. She screamed as she fell, her coffee spraying into the air. She pulled herself up in time to see the intruder burst through the door to the stairwell, then he was gone.

She quickly crawled to her feet, scooped up her cell phone and dialed 911. When the operator came on asking for her emergency, Dana replied, “Someone broke into my hotel room.”

“What’s the address, ma’am?”

She walked into her room, ready to give the address of the hotel, when something else grabbed her attention. On the wall, she’d pinned up her notes about the case, the newspaper article she’d found in her mother’s belongings, the letter from the preacher and the note left with her when she was abandoned as a baby. Plastered on the wall beneath that in big, black, spray-painted letters were the words Go Home.

“Ma’am, are you still there? I need to know where you are.”

She rattled off the name of the hotel then, before hanging up, whispered, “Please hurry.”

* * *

I’m not ready for this.

Quinn Dawson parked his cruiser in front of the hotel and got out. He was tired, emotionally and physically. He’d often moonlighted as a reserve deputy for his father whenever he wasn’t on assignment overseas providing covert security for the CIA as part of the Security Operations Abroad, or SOA as they referred to the company, and his father thought doing so now would be good for him, but Quinn wasn’t so sure. He was still reeling from the attack on the embassy and the grief of losing his best friend in the fight that ensued. He wasn’t sure he was up for battling crime in his own hometown.

He entered the hotel lobby and was greeted by Milo Sherman, the night clerk, who handed him a room key and pointed to a woman sitting in a chair at one side of the small lobby. He sized her up as he headed her way. Even if she hadn’t been staying in the hotel, he’d have known she wasn’t a local because of the high-end heels she wore. And if he’d seen those long legs before, he would have remembered.

She sat with her head down and her long blond hair hanging over her face, but the sight of her when she glanced up at him nearly sent him falling backward and hightailing it out of the hotel. He checked that response and maintained his cool, recognizing her long thin face, soft brown eyes and the subtle curve of her lips.

Dana Lang.

He’d never met her before, but he knew her. She was the reporter who’d interviewed one of his teammates, Rizzo, and plastered his name and face all over the world. When a frenzied mob bent on destruction and murder had attacked an embassy compound in Libya six weeks ago, Quinn, Rizzo and the rest of their group had orchestrated a counterattack and rescued eighteen Americans. Unfortunately, five people had died in the incident, including two operatives, one of them Quinn’s best friend, Tommy Woods. The encounter itself had stirred up a storm of controversy, reignited by Rizzo Ricardo’s proclamation that he’d been there and participated in the rescue, and that his government had left them all to die. The press, led by Dana Lang, had jumped on his story and catapulted him to stardom in a matter of days. They’d also pressured him to name his other teammates. So far, Rizzo had held out, but Quinn suspected it was only a matter of time before his own name became associated with the incident as well. And being outed as a former Delta operator and current SOA member would not only put his life in danger, but could also end his career. Now, this reporter was here in his hometown. Had Rizzo given up his name already? He took in a sharp breath and braced himself for the barrage of questions he was certain was about to blast him.

However, when she stood and pulled back her hair, he saw the redness in her eyes and the way her hands shook as she held one out to him. Was it possible this wasn’t a ploy to draw him here after all?

“Thank you for coming, Deputy. My name is—”

“Dana Lang. I know who you are.”

She gave him a gracious smile he was certain she used for fans of her show. He’d never said he was a fan.

He nodded, deciding it was better not to draw attention to himself in case she hadn’t yet realized who he was. She couldn’t have known tonight was the night he’d finally conceded to his father’s urgings and decided to work. “Can you tell me what happened?”

She nodded and took a deep breath, and as she began talking, he could see her hands quiver. She was shaken up. That couldn’t be faked. “I was returning to my room when I noticed the door open. When I entered, someone was in there going through my belongings. I said something and he turned to look at me, then pushed past me and ran down the hall into the stairwell. He knocked me down as he fled.” She motioned to her stained blouse. “That’s how I spilled iced coffee all over me.”

“Did you recognize him?”

“No, and I didn’t get a good look at him. He was tall and thin, but his face was hidden by a ski mask. And when he ran toward me, I was too startled to really get a good look.”

“What was missing from your room?”

“Nothing.”

“He didn’t take anything?” That surprised him. Most break-ins were burglaries. Had she interrupted him before he could find anything of value?

“Not that I can tell. My belongings were scattered, but I don’t think anything was missing. I had my cell phone and wallet with me and I didn’t bring anything valuable, so there wasn’t much for him to take. But he did leave something. A threatening message spray-painted on the wall.”

He jotted down notes, then asked her to follow him upstairs. Now that she had the benefit of time and someone else with her, perhaps she would notice something else that could help pinpoint who’d done this deed.

She walked with him to the elevator, her arms curled over her chest and her head low, and stepped inside with hesitation.

“No one’s going to hurt you,” he assured her. “I’m here with you.” He touched her elbow, trying to reassure her, but instantly regretted it as a spark raced up his hand. He had no business noticing how dainty and soft her arm was or breathing in the sweet scent of her shampoo. This woman could ruin his life with one story. He had to remain on his guard around her at all times.

He cleared his throat as he tried to regain his composure and act professionally. “How long have you been in town?”

“I arrived last night,” she told him.

Welcome to West Bend, he thought, hating that this would forever be the image she’d take from his hometown.

The elevator doors slid open and she hesitated a moment before getting out, then let him take the lead as they walked down the hall.

He unlocked her door with the key Milo had given him and pushed it open. Clothes were scattered from a suitcase onto the bed. Drawers were open. Someone had been searching for something, and by the look of the room, he’d been here a while. If he hadn’t stolen anything, it was either because he hadn’t found anything of value, or else that wasn’t the reason he’d come.

He turned and saw a display on the wall of photos and notes, along with the threatening graffiti Dana had mentioned. It looked like she was making an evidence board. He glanced at the date on an Associated Press article about a murder in his hometown and realized it was referencing the Renfield murders, a thirty-year-old cold case.

“Is this all for an upcoming show?” he asked her.

“Sort of. It’s a case that’s recently caught my interest. What do you know about the murders?”

He let his gaze fall back to the wall of what seemed to him random information. Was it possible this was the reason she was in town and it had nothing to do with him? Please, God, please. “Just what I’ve heard throughout the years. Rumors, gossip, folklore, that’s all.”

“Do you think he killed her? Paul Renfield? The article says he killed his wife and child. Do you think he did it?”

He shrugged. “That’s what they say.”

“Did they ever find him? I have the AP article that got picked up, but the local newspaper’s files aren’t online so I don’t really know what happened after the initial report. I had planned on spending this evening digging into the files at the sheriff’s office, but after this, I think I’ll stay in tonight instead.”

He remembered hearing about this case when he was a kid. His grandfather had been the sheriff at the time of the murders and Quinn knew the murder of that mother and little girl had haunted him until his dying day. It was a case he’d never been able to solve. “It was a long time ago.”

He wasn’t really in to having this conversation with her. All he wanted was to take her statement and get out before her radar zeroed in on him. It was too coincidental that she was in his town when Rizzo’s story was splashed all over the news. “It was before my time. I didn’t know any of these people so I can’t really say.”

But as he scanned the wall again, his gaze landed on one of the handwritten notes and he realized he recognized that writing. He pulled it from the wall and read the short missive.

Please take care of this child. She just became an orphan.

“What is it?” she asked him, suddenly alert and beside him, her face anxious with curiosity.

“It looks like my grandfather’s handwriting. He was the sheriff back when the murders happened, so it’s not odd to see his handwriting. I guess it caught me off guard.” He pinned the paper back to the wall.

She stepped closer to him and glanced at the sheet of paper he’d held. “You recognize this handwriting as your grandfather’s? Are you certain? And your grandfather was the sheriff at the time of murders? Sheriff Bill Mackey?”

“That’s right. Why?”

“This note, the one with his handwriting, was left with a child at a church sixty miles from here just days after the murders took place. It was the only clue pointing to who left her, since the preacher didn’t tell the adoptive parents.”

He frowned. What was she talking about? “I’ve never heard that.”

“Few people have.” She locked eyes with him. They were now on fire with excitement. “I don’t think Alicia Renfield died that night at all. I think she was found alive and your grandfather not only knew it, he hid her away and faked her death.”

She was crazy. Or was she so hungry for a story that she would resort to making up nonsense? He shook his head and backed away from her, anger biting at him. His grandfather had been a hero in this town and to him. His death two years ago had rocked Quinn. Her accusations were unthinkable. He grimaced and locked eyes with her, his body now on alert. “Watch what you say about my grandfather. He was a good man. He would never be involved in what you’re accusing him of.”

“You said yourself the handwriting matched.”

He grimaced, then tried to backtrack. “Maybe I was wrong. It could belong to anyone.” He shouldered past her and started to walk out, but he stopped. She was back in town to investigate this murder and it seemed as if she intended to drag his grandfather’s good name through the mud to get her story. “He was a good sheriff, and he was a good man.”

“I’m trying to find out the truth about what happened that night.”

“And you don’t care who you hurt in the process, do you?”

Her eyes widened in surprise at his accusation. “I’m only trying to uncover the truth. My goal isn’t to harm anyone.”

“It doesn’t matter that he’s not here to defend himself anymore?”

She sighed. “Look, I’m not trying to say Sheriff Mackey committed the murders. I only want to find out what he covered up and why. I have a letter from the preacher of the church that says whoever left the child with him believed she was in danger. He died six years ago, so I can’t question him. Besides, your grandfather may be dead, but someone obviously doesn’t want me looking into this.” She pointed at the graffiti on the wall to confirm her words.

She was right. Someone had broken into her room. And this wasn’t a random burglary, either. Whoever it was hadn’t stolen anything, which meant they had either been interrupted before finding what they were looking for, or they just wanted to see what she was investigating and what evidence she had. And they’d come paint-in-hand to warn her off.

She jutted out her chin stubbornly, but he could see the fear reflected in her brown eyes. “I’ll admit I was a little rattled by this, but I won’t be scared off so easily.”

He shouldn’t be allowing her to get under his skin, but he found himself admiring the way she tried to show him a strong front when she was so obviously frightened of what had happened here tonight. It made him want to find who did this, but he knew that was unlikely. “I’ll make a report, but it’s doubtful we’ll catch them. It won’t do much good to run prints since this is a hotel room and we wouldn’t be able to exclude anyone.”

“I understand.” She pulled at the collar of her shirt, a nervous gesture that belied the calm she was trying to show him. “Thank you for coming, Deputy...”

“Dawson,” he said. “Quinn Dawson.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Any relation to Sheriff Dawson?”

He nodded. She’d done her homework. “My father.”

“I see. Law enforcement in this town must be a family matter.”

“My brother, Rich, is also on the force full-time. I’m only a reserve deputy. I fill in whenever I’m in town.”

“Oh, what do you do the rest of the time?”

He grimaced. Why had he said that? He strived to be as vague as possible with his response. The last thing he wanted was to direct her radar his way if she really wasn’t on to him. “Private security.” He put away his notebook and handed her a card with the sheriff department’s information. “If you have any further issues or need any more information, call this number.”

“Thank you. I’ve already spoken to Beverly in your records department. I’m hoping to get a look at the case file, but she assures me it’s an open case and the records aren’t available to the public. Any tips on getting her to change her mind?”

“Beverly won’t release anything without my father’s approval.”

“How cooperative do you think your father will be about releasing that information?”

He knew. Zero cooperation. “I hope you have a plan B,” he told her before walking out.

* * *

The next morning, Dana was met with opposition at the sheriff’s office just as Quinn had predicted.

“The Renfield murders are still technically an open case and we don’t comment to the press on open cases.” Sheriff John Dawson was sharp and clear in his tone. He apparently didn’t care for Dana sticking her nose into his town’s business and he wasn’t going to help her do it.

She wondered if Quinn had told his father that she’d come to town to drag his grandfather’s—Sheriff Dawson’s father-in-law’s—name through the mud. That wasn’t her intention. She wished Quinn believed that, but then why did she care what he thought? The truth was she was touched by the way he’d stood up for his grandfather. He had a family here and he was looking out for them. She liked that. Her own family had disintegrated when her father was killed. Her mother had lost herself in her grief and work and had eventually sent Dana away to boarding school. They had never regained their connection before her mother’s death last month, but Dana still remembered the times when they’d been a family. When she’d broken up with her boyfriend, Jason, several months ago, she was left wondering if she would ever have family of her own again. She’d been looking forward to marriage and one day soon having children. Jason had shattered those dreams when he’d run off with his physical therapist, and her mother’s death had left her completely alone in the world.