Andrew Peterson - Forced to Kill

“Jeremy, can you talk to the people staying in the adjacent condos?” he asked. “Maybe somebody saw them. We might get a description.”

“I’ll definitely ask.”

“Can you come back tonight and check the lighting between the buildings? They might’ve unscrewed some bulbs. You might get prints.”

“No problem.”

“We have to leave.”

“Right. Wait.” Jeremy put his hands up to stop them. “You know who did this.”

Nathan looked at Harv, then back to Jeremy. “Yeah, we do.”

“It would make my job a whole lot easier.”

“We can’t.”

“I have to tell my boss something . This crime scene didn’t just land in my lap. He’ll want to know how I found it.”

“You’ll have to decide how much of our involvement you share with him. The less you reveal about us, the better.”

“You’re stand-up guys. I’ll think of something without compromising you. Can you be contacted after you leave?”

“No.”

“I figured you’d say that.” Jeremy handed him the keys to the sedan. “I can’t leave this crime scene unattended. Did either of you touch anything?”

“Just my fingertips on the front doorknob. Do you need anything out of your vehicle?”

“No, I can keep people away without using crime scene tape. Go on, get outta here before I change my mind. I’ll need your FBI connection, whoever it is, to explain to my supervisory special agent why I gave you my vehicle. You do have an FBI contact, right? Preferably kinda high up? SAC or better?”

“SAC,” he confirmed. “We’ll leave the keys on top of the front right tire. Stay safe, Jeremy.” They shook hands and left the condo.

Harvey drove the FBI sedan out of the condo complex and turned right at Highway 276. “I felt bad withholding info from Jeremy.”

“Me too, but it’s the right thing to do. We should tell Holly she needs to call her counterpart in Salt Lake to cover Duns.”

“We’ll also need her to arrange things with Salt Lake’s ME. We can’t just show up unannounced and ask to see Kramer’s body.”

He pulled his phone and appreciated how easily a special agent in charge of a major FBI field office had made it to contact her.

She answered immediately. “Was it the crime scene?”

“Yes, I have you on speaker. Harv’s with me.”

She hesitated for a second. “Was it bad?”

He closed his eyes, thinking of the Dalton family. “Yes.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, but we need your help with a couple of things.”

“Sure, no problem.”

He briefed her on everything they had so far, including his theory that Montez knew Kramer, and that the murder may have been personally motivated.

Holly seemed encouraged and said she’d get Henning to start following up on leads. Namely, the purchase of the tools and chain-link fencing and anything else that Jeremy might turn up with the neighbors. Because Montez hadn’t expected Kramer’s body to be found, his men probably hadn’t been too concerned about where they purchased their wares.

“We need you to protect Duns from any negative fallout. He didn’t want to leave the crime scene, so he gave us his vehicle. He also doesn’t have an explanation of how he found the crime scene.”

“I’ll take care of that. He’ll be fine.”

“Thanks. We didn’t share any details, but he knows we know who murdered Kramer. I promised to tell him more when I could.”

“You’ve got enough to do. I’ll take care of that too.”

“Holly, it’s not my intent to dump all of this on you.”

“I consider this a team effort. I’m just doing my share.”

He sensed some unease in her. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“Nathan, hold on a minute.”

Nathan waited on hold for a few minutes before she returned.

“Holly, what’s going on?”

“I’m closing my door, hang on.… Lansing just called. He knows you’re involved and he’s not real happy about it.”

He looked at Harv.

“I didn’t tell him,” she added.

“We know that.”

“He’s concerned about your further involvement.”

“With all due respect, we don’t report to Lansing.”

“Technically, neither do I. My boss is in Los Angeles. In fact, Lansing said it was my call. He made it clear this operation is outside the normal chain of command and that I’m to report directly to him on all matters related to Montez. He also made it clear that letting you and Harv proceed involves risk for all of us, and that my political capital is all used up.”

“So you’re on the hook if we screw this up.”

“I made a deal. It’s the price of your admission.”

“The hell it is. You’re not taking the fall for anything. Period. If Lansing wants to get in the mud with me, he’ll regret it.”

“Nathan, please.…”

He heard the stress in her voice. The last thing he wanted to do was contribute to it. “I’m sorry, Holly, I didn’t mean that. I’d never do anything to damage your relationship with him.”

“It’s okay. We’re all on edge. I just can’t stop thinking about that monster having Nichole Dalton and her daughters. It’s really tearing me up.”

“Yeah, me and Harv too.”

“Grangeland’s already in Salt Lake. I’ll have her meet you there.”

“Grangeland’s in Salt Lake?”

“Early this morning Lansing asked me to send one of my agents out there to do an assessment of Kramer’s body. Grangeland was the perfect choice. She has a master’s degree in forensic science. Plus, I had a feeling you’d end up there. She’ll get you into the ME’s facility.”

“Thanks, Holly.”

“We’re just pulling into Bullfrog’s airstrip,” Harv said. “We’ll be airborne in ten minutes. Can we call you after we land?”

“Please do. I’ll give you Grangeland’s cell number. You ready?”

Harv wrote it down.

“Have a safe flight. And don’t worry about Lansing and me. We have an… unspoken understanding.”

“He owes you a lot.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to put it quite that way.”

“Thanks again. For everything.”

“Have a safe flight, and give my regards to Grangeland.”

Nathan hadn’t felt real talkative on the flight. Hearing Mary Grangeland’s voice had brightened his mood a little, but something continued to bug him. Something deep in his subconscious, more than just the sight of Kramer’s torture and murder, and more than the missing woman and her girls. The more he thought about it, the more elusive it became, like a lost thought during a conversation. It felt important, which made it even worse. Maybe he would do the hypnosis thing.

All in all, he’d thought he done a pretty good job concealing the hatred he felt toward Montez. He knew Harv sensed it. There was little-if anything-he could hide from his friend. Deep down, he needed Harv’s stability more than Harv needed his maverick nature. One thing was certain, they were ten times stronger as a team.

He broke the silence. “How long to Salt Lake?”

“About thirty minutes. We’re coming up on Provo. You’ve been kinda quiet since we left the marina.”

He didn’t respond, didn’t have to.

“We don’t have to look at it.”

“Somehow that seems… I don’t know…”

“Cowardly?”

“I wasn’t going to use that word, but yeah.”

“Truth be told, I’m a little uneasy too.”

“We’ll get through this. It’s just a body.”

They looked at each other. No, it wasn’t just a body . Far from it. More like a malevolent version of Alice’s looking glass. A portal to a dark chapter in both their lives. A chapter neither of them wanted to revisit. Maybe the Company shrink had it right after all. Maybe hatred is the strongest of all human emotions. Nathan had survived his torture by tapping into what seemed like an endless supply of it.