Magic City Murder Page 15

  It was a long drive back to Billings to turn in the rental car, but it seemed to go quickly. I was looking forward to seeing Eve again. I didn’t give her many details about where I was going when I told her I had to go away for a while. I simply said I had to finish this thing and I guess the look in my eyes said everything that needed to be said. She had nodded, kissed me on the lips, and that was it.

  I needed to get back to my normal cases, the insurance companies had been ringing my phone off the hook. I would be somewhat busy for a while. It seemed like a few contacts I had made were spreading my name around to because now I was also getting calls from banks and other businesses wanting me to interview their employees about possible thefts. It would be a busy summer. I hoped it didn’t cut into my fishing.

  Chapter 15

  It was about a week before we saw a story on the news about the badly mauled remains of a hiker being found near Glacier National Park. I was drinking coffee and watching the news while Eve made breakfast at the cabin. The victim had been identified as Becky Rand. Officials said it looked like she had encountered a mother bear and its cubs and attempted to use pepper spray before being mauled. Some remains were said to be partially buried and others brought back to the bears’ den. I wondered how much of Becky was actually left.

  Eve muttered, “Shouldn’t fuck with mama bear,” as she took some eggs out of a pan and put them on our plates.

  I sipped my coffee and agreed. “Nope, never fuck with mama bear.”

  After breakfast my phone rang, it was Polazzo. I was guessing she had seen the news.

  “Tell me you didn’t have anything to do with that hiker,” she said.

  “Don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said. “I was researching how to be a better fisherman all month. You can check my browser history.”

  Polazzo didn’t laugh. “I’m serious,” she said.

  I lowered my voice and walked into the bedroom. “You know, someone told me early on in my career to never ask questions you don’t want to hear the answer to,” I said.

  “I swear, Lockhart, if you had anything to do--,” I hung up the phone before she could finish.

  In the evening, Eve and I hiked down the trail by the lake for a few miles. We came to a quiet spot where the stream rushed by. The sun was setting and casting rays of rose-colored light across the sky. Eve stopped and looked around. “This is it,” she said.

  We both knelt by the stream and I took an urn out of my pack that held the ashes of Eve’s sister, Stephanie. Eve had a change of heart about claiming her remains after we had met and grown closer. I helped her through the paperwork to close out Stephanie’s affairs and then helped her deal with the arson and estate stuff. She came out with a little cash ahead of herself, but nothing that was going to be life changing. After visiting me a few times at the cabin, Eve had decided to have Stephanie cremated and to spread her ashes somewhere in the mountains.

  Eve took the urn and opened it. She sighed and tears began to well up in her eyes. I held the urn with her and we both slowly poured the ashes into the water and watched as they drifted downstream towards the sunset.

  “I don’t know what to say,” she said plainly. “She had her faults, but she was a good person deep down, I think. I hope wherever she is, she’s at peace.”

  Eve sniffed and continued to watch the ashes disappear. I put an arm around her, and we just sat for a while in silence, watching the water.

  Chapter 16

  A couple of weeks after I finally closed the York file, I had quit kidding myself about being retired and moved my stuff into a small office in downtown Billings. It had an apartment space above that I could rent out or just live in. I used it as a place to call home and the cabin would become a retreat rather than the norm.

  Eve had finished college with a degree in business administration and did not have any prospects lined up. I offered to hire her on as my office manager part-time which was about all I could probably afford until business got a little busier. She gladly accepted and worked a couple of shifts at her restaurant now and then for extra cash. She kept her apartment for a little independence. I don’t think either one of us were ready to move in with the other.

  Noel arrived in June. We introduced Eve as my office manager rather than saying, “Daddy’s special friend,” or something equally as ridiculous. They were just finishing up the lettering on my office door downstairs when Noel showed up.

  “The Lockhart Group?” he asked.

  I slapped his arm. “Catchy name, right?”

  “Kind of dumb, I mean you’re a group of one.”

  “Oh, be quiet and get inside,” I said, pushing him through the door.

  I showed him around the small office area which had a front desk for reception which was where Eve was. She gave him a big hug and he looked a little googly eyed. I whispered in his ear she was too old for him and showed him the remaining rooms. Off the reception area was a hall that had a door which went into a small interview room I was getting wired to record. Down the hall was a small break room area, a room that was going to be my office, and then another room with a desk and not much else.

  “What’s going to be in here?” asked Noel.

  I looked over the room and put an arm around him. “Well, I thought maybe this could be your space,” I said.

  Noel furrowed his brow. “Mine?” he asked.

  “Yeah, you’re good at technical stuff. I thought maybe you could help me order up some computers and do all the cyber stuff whenever you’re up here. What you think? You mind helping out?”

  Noel grinned. “You’re going to pay me?”

  “Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” I said. He looked a little disappointed which made me chuckle. “Of course, I’ll pay you.”

  I told him to start thinking about what he needed if we were to bring someone’s phone or laptop or other devices in and also what we would need for our own technical equipment, like pinhole cameras, recording devices, and other things like that.

  “I’m going to be like Q,” said Noel.

  I smiled. “That makes me James Bond.”

  Noel shook his head. “No. No.”

  We spent the afternoon painting and putting together office furniture. Noel had his laptop out and was diligently looking at equipment online, occasionally making notes on a pad next to him. It took me over an hour to put together the desk for the reception area. I never understood why big furniture had to come in such small boxes.

  Eve had walked over to a Chinese place a couple of blocks away to get some take-out. When she returned, we retreated to my apartment upstairs for dinner.

  Watching Eve and Noel joke warmed my heart for some odd reason. I guess I was just relieved they got along well rather than one being resentful of the other. Noel showed no signs of resentment that Eve and I were close, and Eve showed no signs of anything negative. Maybe I was the small bit of normalcy she needed in her life.

  I turned on the evening news while we ate. I’m an old timer who still enjoys watching local people on television tell me what’s going on. As I ate my orange chicken, I nearly choked when I looked up at the television and saw what appeared to be a blurry picture of Becky Rand. Turning up the volume, I listened intently.

  The anchor’s voice was heard over the photo. She was mid-sentence when she had caught my attention. “The image captured by a Fish and Wildlife game camera adds a new twist to the body previously discovered in the area. The image captured appears to show Rebecca Rand near the location where her body was believed to have been found and has raised questions over the time of death. DNA testing has been ordered for the remains found which have also been linked to the disappearance of a student attending Flathead Valley Community College.”

  My chewing slowed and I could feel the indigestion starting in my stomach. Eve looked at me with concern in her eyes but did not utter a word. Becky Rand was somehow alive. I knew it in my gut because when I saw the blurry photo, it was like seeing a ghost. T
he question now was what she would do. I had no idea what kind of unfortunate turn of events must have led another young woman to have died in her place, but it gave me insight into Rand. She wanted everyone to think she was dead, at least for the time being. Maybe she would come after me for revenge, maybe she was happy with being a ghost.

  I kind of disconnected for the rest of the evening. Eve went home and Noel went to his room and watched TV. I racked my brain for several hours over the situation with Becky Rand and what would come next. The television was on and it was late. I had been watching old episodes of The Rockford Files as my eyes grew heavy. I drifted off to sleep wishing I could be more like James Garner.