What She Saw Read online

  Or unless they had eyes and ears in the terminal.

  He pulled in to park next to Haley’s car and sat drumming his fingers on the wheel. At some point, he thought, an operation became so big it would fail through its own weight—too many people knew, and thus too many people could make a mistake.

  So assume he was shipping contraband. He wouldn’t want to use the same shipper every time because that would become too obvious when the shipments were switched. Would he really want to be paying someone at the terminal to keep an eye on these random shipments? No. It would have meant trusting yet another person and leaving another money trail.

  It was possible, of course, but given what Bill had told him, Buck figured the likeliest way this was playing out was the simplest: offer someone at the shipper’s warehouse a bit of money to stick something small in a crate. No questions, no explanations, just shove it in along with the packing material on a certain date and send us the shipping info.

  Then came the question of how you could ensure the shipment would go out on the right truck for the exchange.

  The lightbulb went on then. Those trucks didn’t depart at random. He needed to get back and take a look at the list of trucks and drivers Bill had emailed him. Somewhere in there would have to be a clue. He must have just missed it on his first time through, when he’d been so busy looking at dates.

  All of a sudden he was impatient to get back to the motel. But he’d promised Haley he’d see her before her play.

  Well, he’d already parked at her place, and if he wanted to keep up the appearance of being interested in her, nothing would look stupider than leaving before he’d even gone inside.

  Sighing at his own impatience, because patience was essential and impatience could be deadly, he climbed out and headed inside.

  * * *

  Haley had just finished blow-drying her hair but had not put it up yet when Buck arrived. He took one look at her and smiled.

  “You should wear your hair down more often. It suits you.”

  “It also gets in the way,” she said lightly, flipping it back over her shoulders.

  She felt awkward, though, as she invited him in. Was she wrong to trust Buck just because Gage Dalton said he checked out?

  Because, really, how much could Gage actually know about Buck, other than whether he had a police record? Certainly nothing about the kind of man he was. Not even whether Buck was involved in these cargo switches he was supposedly investigating.

  Where had that thought come from?

  Troubled, she turned away as Buck entered and closed the door behind him. She wasn’t a suspicious person by nature and now she was suspicious of everyone.

  “Did I come at a bad time?” Buck asked quietly.

  She rounded on him, disturbed by the changes in herself, but having no one else to share them with.

  “How do I know I can trust you?” she demanded. “I saw one little thing in a parking lot. Barely. Yet the next thing I know you’re telling me to keep quiet. That I might be in danger. And like some naive kid, I’m taking it all at your word. You haven’t given me one scintilla of proof that I could be in danger! What if you’re the one who is up to no good?”

  He stood by the door, expressionless, hands at his sides. When at last he decided she was finished, he spoke. “You’re right. I’m asking a whole lot of you. And I haven’t told you enough.”

  “What more is there?”

  “Ray was murdered.”

  She gasped. “You can’t know that.”

  “But I do. I talked to the sheriff yesterday. Ray was killed by a severe blow to his head when that truck went off the road. But the only way he could have driven that truck off the road the way he did was if he was unconscious. How did that happen? The sheriff is waiting for the toxicology, but he suspects Ray was drugged. Ask him. In the meantime, I can only offer my experience for it. Ray would not have driven off the road in that way if he’d been awake. If he’d taken evasive action of some kind, there’d have been skid marks from the brakes. He’d probably have jerked the wheel and jackknifed. He did neither.”

  She stood there feeling oddly numb and sorely troubled, as if the burst of anger and suspicion had fled, leaving near emptiness in its wake.

  “As for you,” he continued, “when I started, my primary focus was on using you as an excuse for me to be here. That’s changed, because it’s inescapable that you are the one person who was a witness.”

  “What did I witness? Some boxes being moved between trucks? That’s nothing, especially when I can’t really be sure.”

  “And it would have remained nothing except for Ray. You are the only person who can testify that Ray was alert just a few minutes before. If drugs of some kind turn up in the toxicology, you’re going to be the one person who can say they were introduced after he left the restaurant. You and you alone.”

  “I’m not proof!”

  “Your word that he was fine when he talked to you is enough. It raises the question of what could have happened to him so fast. And it leaves only one likely answer. Without you to say he was fine, lots of explanations could occur and the whole time frame changes.”

  The words fell into her heart like stones, because they made sense. Just as it had made sense to her when he had said that people wouldn’t be going to all the trouble to switch cargo unless big money was involved. And big money, even she knew, probably meant something criminal. Probably drugs.

  “But why should I trust you and not people I’ve known for years? Like Claire and the Listons.”

  “They might not be involved in anything at all. I just need to check them out, because the Listons came into some money, because their son drove up here in a car only millionaires own. That’s enough reason to check. And it’s likely enough I won’t find anything.”

  “But Claire? You’re suspicious of her, too.”

  He shrugged. “Not exactly. I just find it odd that she questioned that driver. Why would she do that?”

  “To put my mind at rest.”

  “Did she think you were worrying about that cargo being switched? Did you give her any reason to think you believed it to be a big deal?”

  Her heart sank even more. “No,” she said finally. “I mentioned it to Micah and Sarah, and then you. Nobody else.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe she was just curious after you mentioned it. But part of investigating is removing possibilities from the table. It’s what I do.”

  “Which brings me back to you,” she pointed out. “What do I know about you, really? Not much.”

  “No, you don’t,” he agreed. “The best thing I can offer is to talk to your sheriff. He checked me out, and he even talked to my boss.”

  After a moment, another question burst out of her. “Who do you trust?”

  “Right now I can’t trust anyone even remotely associated with this mess. Not even the guy who sent me out to investigate.”

  “Lovely world you live in.”

  And yet it amazed her just how much she didn’t want him to leave, this stranger who had turned her world on end, changing it from a friendly place to one that held shadowy threats.

  She dropped into her desk chair and wrapped her arms tightly around herself. Her stomach churned on the edge of nausea as she tried once again to battle her way through a familiar world that had turned into dangerous quicksand.

  “Claire called little while ago,” she said finally, hearing an odd dullness in her voice. “She seems awfully worried about me.”

  “So I’m a potential threat?”

  “In her mind.” She hesitated. “She also seems certain you must have an ulterior motive for staying here, and it’s not me. Or at least she kept asking.”

  From the corner of her eye, she saw him stiffen. Then he said, almost lightly, “That’s not very flattering to you.”

  That penetrated her muddled state enough to draw a small laugh from her. “Maybe not. But maybe her concern is genuine. If you were any other trucker, she’d be righ
t. But you’re not just any other trucker.”

  “According to me, at any rate.”

  “There is that. There’s also the fact that Gage called me to tell me I didn’t need to worry about you. So either you’re the best con artist this side of D.C. or he thinks you’re exactly what you say you are.”

  “You trust Gage?”

  “Of course I do. You don’t know him, but I’ve known him most of my life. He’s kept this county clean. Everyone has great respect for him.”

  He came closer, finally sitting on the armchair she should have offered and hadn’t.

  She continued, sensing he was listening intently. “What’s bothering me is that now I don’t entirely trust Claire. In fact, I don’t really trust anybody. I’ve never felt this way before.”

  “I’m sorry.” The apology sounded genuine.

  “You’ve made me realize that in some ways I’ve been living in a cocoon where most people don’t do really bad things. I can agree that Ray might have been murdered, and that the cargo transfer was anything but routine. I’m having trouble believing I’m in danger, though.”

  “Maybe you’re not. I can’t swear to that one way or the other, but I also can’t afford to act as if you aren’t. One man is already dead.”

  She nodded. “I get it, Buck. I do. But what’s bugging me is that I’m asking questions I wouldn’t have asked a week ago. That’s what I hate.”

  “I wish I could say I understand that, but the truth is I’ve been so damn suspicious for so many years I wear it like my own skin.”

  “That’s sad.”

  “It wasn’t in the world I used to live in. It even saved my life more than once.”

  She stared at him. “Then how do you know you can trust me?”

  “Because you mentioned the cargo exchange to the police. You wouldn’t have done that if you’d spiked Ray’s coffee.”

  She gasped then. “Oh, God!”

  “What?”

  “I just thought. I wasn’t the one who poured the coffee for Ray and the other guy. Claire was getting some for a couple of customers, and she just filled their cups at the same time and put them on the counter.”

  Buck grew very still. “It’s opportunity, but it’s not proof. The other driver could have had something to do with that.”

  She couldn’t disagree. “They went over to the condiment bar. But why would she have questioned that driver if she was involved?”

  Buck’s expression turned grim. “Maybe she didn’t. How would you know?” Then he said something that truly chilled her. “I think they’re worried about both you and me.”

  Chapter 7

  Well, didn’t that blow everything all to hell, Buck thought after he left Haley at the college for her play and returned to the La-Z-Rest, from where he could watch the comings and goings in the parking lot. The best thing he could do for Haley would be to disappear.

  But how could he keep watch on the lot and Haley if he pretended to leave? If the tox screen showed poisoning, she would become an important witness. They must realize that.

  He sat drumming his fingers, scanning the info Bill had sent him for any connection among the drivers who’d had mixed-up shipments. This was a great nest from which to observe, but if everyone knew he was there, and the bad guys suspected his purpose, it would do him no damn good.

  But his major worry was Haley. If Claire was involved, that signified real trouble. Especially if Buck’s presence had aroused suspicion among the gang.

  When he thought about the Listons, though, he knew it had to involve more than the brother, if Jim was involved at all.

  Step back, he told himself. While he was perfectly capable of living on the sly in the countryside around here, it would make his job more difficult. What was more, it would prevent him from keeping a decent eye on Haley, and his sense of foreboding about that had increased a hundredfold since she told him about Claire’s call today. It bothered him even more to have learned that Claire had had the opportunity to drug Ray’s coffee.

  Claire, with her husband’s well-to-do sheep ranch, with its recently acquired and very expensive alpacas.

  Then there was Jim Liston, showing up at his parents’ run-down farm in a car so expensive it could probably pay to spruce the place up for them. How would that make them feel? Or were they part of it?

  Of course, narrowing in on this small handful was a danger. There were thousands of people in this county, and any one of them could be involved.

  But he couldn’t help but notice that two nails were sticking up higher than the rest: the Listons and Claire.

  He decided he needed to do two things: the first was make it look like he had absolutely nothing on his mind but Haley. That wouldn’t be hard, if she was willing to play along. The woman was enthralling and sexy enough to get his motor humming with a mere glance.

  Then he had to make a night recon of those two homesteads to see what he could find. Because until he eliminated the Listons and Claire, they were going to sit right at the top of his radar, rightly or wrongly. He had to find out.

  As soon as he checked out those two places, he decided he should get rid of the rental car. If people thought he’d be traveling in his truck cab, they’d think he’d be too damn obvious to be up to anything. And they’d be right, of course.

  Scanning the email in front of him and the list he’d been making, he tried to see some kind of pattern. He almost had the feeling that some information was missing, but that was probably just a blind spot on his part.

  He hated to think he might have disrupted the pattern, that his mere presence might have endangered Haley when he wanted to protect her.

  Thinking of Haley dragged his gaze back to the parking lot, and all the patience he’d learned during his years as an MP deserted him. He found himself willing a switch to take place, willing that box truck to show up and do something suspicious.

  That was when the phone rang, making life even more complicated. It was Bill.

  “The honchos want you to come back.”

  “What for? They were all hot enough to send me out here.”

  “You’re asking me to explain them? From what one of them said, you’ve probably gotten all the information you’re going to get, and given that none of our shippers has yet complained about a later arrival, we don’t really have to worry yet. Plus, I talked to the sheriff out there and he said Liston’s death was purely accidental. Whatever’s going on, they don’t think it’s big enough for you to plant yourself out there. They’re paying you to drive.”

  “I’m staying,” Buck said flatly.

  “You can’t. They want you off it.”

  “Consider me off it.”

  “Then why won’t you come back?”

  “There’s a woman.”

  “Tell me you’re not lying.”

  “There’s a woman,” Buck repeated. “I want another week of my vacation, or you can fire me.”

  Bill fell silent for a minute. “A woman.”

  “Seriously.”

  Then Bill gave a laugh. “Women will do that. But I can tell them that absolutely and positively you’re not working this anymore? Because part of what was bugging them was paying you for driving when you’re not.”

  “Cheap bastards,” Buck said. “No, I was getting ready to back out. I haven’t learned a damn thing. It’s like hunting a needle in haystack and I don’t have a metal detector. Something bigger is going to have to happen to figure this one out. In the meantime, there’s a lady and you just freed me up to spend all my time with her.”

  “Fine by me,” Bill said. “Just make sure I don’t hear otherwise.”

  “You won’t.” He’d make damn sure of that.

  When he hung up, he revised his estimation of whether someone in the Seattle terminal was involved. The question now was who.

  * * *

  Haley stayed for the cast-and-crew party, but only for a little while. She was tired, and somehow the bonhomie of the people she had worked with
over the past two months just rasped on her. Serious things were going on, things that might involve people she knew. Things that involved a murder.

  Tonight, for the very first time, she noticed how dark the parking lot was. Oh, there were pole lights, but they left dark spaces between them and the parking lot, full of cars, provided plenty of easy hiding places.

  She stopped, never having noticed that before, and felt her stomach flutter. God, she couldn’t allow this to continue. She could not, would not, live in fear of things that had been familiar and safe forever.

  Setting her chin, she began to stride in the direction of her car. She was halfway there when she caught sight of a shadowy figure standing near it. She froze and considered running back inside.

  “Haley?”

  Buck’s voice. Relief washed through her. He started walking toward her, moving in and out of the dim puddles of light.

  “Sorry, I guess I frightened you.”

  She couldn’t deny it, but she didn’t want to admit it, either. “I didn’t expect you to be here.”

  “I know, you said you’d be late because of the party.”

  “Then why did you come?”

  “I was thinking about trying to gate-crash to give you these.” He held out a bundle and she almost gasped as she saw a dozen yellow roses wrapped in florist’s green paper. “Oh, Buck!”

  “It seemed like the right thing to do for an actress.”

  She held them close and drew in a fragrant breath of their beautiful scent. “They’re wonderful! Thank you so much.” No one had ever given her roses before, and her throat tightened a bit at the gesture. She reminded herself that he’d just done it because she had finished a play, and for no other reason.

  “Well, since you’re out early,” he said, “how about I take you for a late dinner?”

  “At the truck stop?” As if there was any other place.

  “Better than a bar at this time of night,” he pointed out reasonably.

  There was no way she could argue with that, but suddenly the roses didn’t seem quite so beautiful. Of course he wanted to go to the truck stop. To keep watch. Her heart sank, and she scolded herself. She knew why he was here. Why did she seem to keep hoping it was something more?