Brett Battles - Every Precious Thing

“To start with, that wasn’t the name she was born with. She changed it a little over two years ago. Before, it was Diana Baudler.”

There was that time frame again. “Why did she change it?”

“Don’t know, but she’d been arrested a few times as a teenager. Maybe she decided it was time to start over.”

“She was in her late twenties then,” Logan pointed out. “Seems a little late to be changing your name because of a troubled childhood. Any record after she became Diana Stockley?”

“No.”

Logan took a moment to think. “Where’s she originally from?”

“Oklahoma. Her dad left when she was young. She and her siblings ended up getting sent to live with an aunt in Des Moines.”

“Anything else?”

“I’ve pieced together a partial employment history, but I’m still working on it.”

“What do you have so far?”

He could hear the clicks of a keyboard over the phone, then Callie said, “As Diana Stockley, she’s been in Braden just short of two years.”

“So right after she changed her name.”

“Pretty much. Before that, as Diana Baudler, she worked at a place called-”

“Let me guess. Harkin Services in El Portal, California,” Logan finished for her.

“Right,” she said, surprised. “How did you know?”

He told her about obtaining Diana’s rental application from Mark Hackbarth.

“But her name was different. Why would she put that down?” Callie asked.

“Because she had to put something down. My guess, with the way the economy is here, she probably didn’t think anyone would ever check.”

“You could make a living at this if you wanted,” she said, impressed.

“Yeah, if . What about before Harkin?”

“For about a year, she seemed to be making the rounds of bars in Reno and Carson City. Prior to that she worked in Flagstaff, Arizona, for almost four years at…” She paused. “Harkin Services.”

“Again?”

“Same employer, different location.”

Flagstaff was only a three-hour drive from Braden. If Diana had lived there for four years, she’d know the town pretty well. It might feel safe.

“Did you find her address in Flagstaff?”

“Hold on.” More keys clicking. “Yeah, I’ve got it, but that was a while ago.”

“I know, but give it to me anyway.”

She read it off to him. As she finished, Logan’s phone beeped with an incoming call.

“Just a second,” he told her, and switched to the other call.

“I think they’re getting ready to leave town.” It was Dev.

“Why do you think that?”

“A few minutes ago, the woman and her friend came back in a hurry. The two who were chasing you met them in the parking lot. They had a conversation and then they all went into different rooms. Less than a minute ago, each came back out carrying a suitcase. They’re putting them into their car now. What do you want me to do?”

“Follow them,” Logan said immediately. “Let’s see which way they go.” He switched back to Callie. “Sorry about that. Anything else?”

“That’s all I have for now,” she said. “If I find more, I’ll let you know.”

“Hold on,” he said. “I have two names you can check. Paskota and Frisk. Paskota’s a female and might be a doctor. Frisk is male, no known occupation.”

“First names?”

“The woman’s first name might start with an E, but that’s all I got. Don’t have anything on the man’s.”

“I’ll get on it.”

“Thanks, Callie.”

“Logan?”

“Yeah?”

“Stay safe.”

Ten minutes later he got a call from Dev. “They’re headed east on the interstate, just about to pass into Arizona.”

Northern Arizona was a collection of small towns separated by large areas of nothing. Small towns, and one that was a bit larger than the others.

Flagstaff.

Diana had left Braden, and now her friends were heading out, too, in the direction of a town Diana had once lived in. Were they meeting up with her there? Maybe even with Sara? The possibility seemed too great to ignore.

“Stay on them,” he told Dev. “I’ll catch up with you.”

Sara had been trying the number for hours, but every single time she’d been greeted with the same message: “The caller you are trying to reach is not currently within our coverage area.”

Where are you?Why aren’t you answering?

Her panic had been caused by a call she’d received from Diana four and a half hours ago.

“Sara…Sara, can you hear me?”

“Yeah. You’re breaking up a little, but I can hear you,” she’d replied.

“Can you hear me? Sara?”

“I’m right here. I hear you.”

“Oh, good. There you are.”

“What’s going on? Is something wrong?” They hadn’t been scheduled to talk again until the next day.

“I screwed up.”

Sara froze. “What…what are you talking about?”

“Have you seen anyone? Anyone at all?”

“No,” Sara said. “Not since Richard came by two weeks ago. Why?”

“Stay inside. Don’t go out.”

“Diana, what’s going on?”

“I’m taking care of it. That’s all you need to know. Just hold tight.”

Hold tight? “What happened?”

“I’ll call you later.”

“Diana! What happened?”

Dead air.

“Diana? Diana?”

Nothing.

“Dammit! Diana, can you hear me?”

It was no use. The line was dead.

Immediately she’d called Diana back. That was the first time she’d received the out-of-service-area message. She’d lost count how many more times she’d heard it since.

Movement through the window caught her eye. Panic almost choked her as she stared out at the trees that surrounded the cabin. If someone was that close already, what would she do? Run? Hide? Could she really hope she wouldn’t be caught?

There it was again, a few feet above the ground.

She let out her breath and closed her eyes in relief. A deer. It was only a deer.

She quickly walked over and pulled the curtain shut, temporarily denying the existence of anything beyond the cabin walls.

Even though they had stuck to the plan, something had obviously gone wrong. It should have worked. It had worked to this point.

Not knowing what else to do, she tried Diana again.

“The caller you are trying to reach is not-”

She hung up, waiting five seconds, then hit redial.

Not wanting to leave Harp and Barney without transportation, Logan arranged for a rental car through the manager at the Desert Inn, then headed east on I-40, fifty minutes behind Dev. As he passed through Kingman, Arizona, his father called.

“Hi, Dad.”

“Logan? Barney and I want to go back to the hospital. You’ll need to give us a ride.”

“Just take the Cherokee.”

Harp paused. “I thought you said we weren’t supposed to drive it.”

“It’s fine now, Dad. The others are gone.”

“Gone? Where did they go?”

“Not sure yet.”

“Well, do you want to meet us for dinner?”

“I’m…um…following them. Not sure exactly when I’ll be back.”

“Following them? When were you going to tell me this?”

“Sorry. Had to move quickly. Didn’t have time.”

“Still not an excuse.”

“You’re right.”

Harp said nothing for a moment. “What about the letter?”

Logan cringed. “I said I’d give it to you the next time I saw you. I haven’t seen you yet.”

“It’s still with you?”

Logan could tell his father’s anxiety level was rising. “It’s still in the glove compartment. No one’s touched it.”