Fatal Intent (Desert Heat Book 3) Read online

  Early on the Friday, he talked to Alex’s housemate, Lisa. “Is everything set?”

  “Yeah, she thinks we’re headed for Rocky Point today. It’s on Saturday, right?” Lisa and Natalie were going to Rocky Point, but only for Friday night. They’d be in Dodge with their normal haul of seafood for the party on Saturday afternoon.

  “Yeah, Saturday. Don’t get that mixed up!” Dylan laughed. He liked Lisa and Natalie both. They were good friends to Alex, even though they hadn’t known her long. Lisa kept him posted on Alex’s mood, especially since Dawn’s accident.

  “Hey,” he said, as if it had been an afterthought. “What do you hear about Dawn?”

  Lisa paused and said something away from the phone. When she came back, she said, “Natalie thinks she’s out of the hospital. Alex hasn’t said much for the past few days.”

  She didn’t seem concerned, so Dylan let it go. “Okay, well, that’s good. So I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

  “Wouldn’t miss it.”

  When he ended the call with Lisa, Dylan called Paul, Alex’s dad, to let him know the shrimp boil was on. Paul told him Jen, Wanda and his mom, Alex’s Nana, would be there. Aunt Jess wasn’t feeling well and wouldn’t come. Dylan told Paul that besides himself and his boys, he’d lined up his friend Ange and her boyfriend Bill and Bill’s boss, Kevin Thurston, along with Alex’s housemates, of course. That alone would complete the surprise.

  “When’s Alex getting here?” Paul asked.

  “She should be there by dinnertime tonight. Want to meet up at Jen’s place and grab a burger?”

  “Sounds good.”

  With the plans for the weekend set, Dylan left the office and went out on patrol with his partner. He wasn’t good company as he considered what he was going to say to Alex in private on Sunday. Their biggest hurdle was the distance between them. Dylan ached to hold her every single night, and Alex had told him she missed him desperately when they couldn’t see each other for more than a week. There were other reasons he wanted to change this situation.

  Alex had decided that scholarship or no scholarship, she had to transfer to Phoenix next semester. She’d already stayed at the community college too long, and any opportunities for employment she wanted in a bigger town were going to slip away if she didn’t get there and graduate from one of the more prestigious communications programs in the state. That would put her even further away, but at least she wouldn’t be in the constant sight of the rougher elements in Casa Grande.

  Without telling her, he had decided to try to transfer to a park closer to Phoenix. It wasn’t just for her. He’d never wanted to live in Dodge once he left, and had only come back because of his mom and the boys. Now he wanted to get the boys out, too, before the small-town mentality had a chance to ruin their promise. They were such bright kids, inquisitive, smart and full of energy. They deserved better than the little town could give them in educational experience.

  For all these reasons, he’d decided to tell Alex that he’d be moving to Phoenix or a suburb, as soon as he could get a transfer. If she agreed, he wanted her to move in with him and the boys. It would help her with housing and him with the boys, since he’d be moving away from his support group. Best of all, it would mean she was with him every night, every day, always. He wanted to marry her, but she wasn’t ready for that. Maybe she’d at least agree to this.

  ELEVEN

  On Friday morning, Alex couldn’t wait to get on the road, but first she had a couple of things to run down. Dawn was out of the hospital and had agreed to see her this morning, but she was at home with her parents during her recuperation. Alex packed her things, planning to take a smaller road from the reservation to Gila Bend after talking with Dawn. Even though it was a slower road, not having to backtrack to Highway 8 on Highway 10 meant the time was a little less, and besides, it was less familiar territory. Something new to look at for a change.

  Before she could leave for the reservation, though, she had another errand. She’d never been able to get over Lisa telling her that a former roommate had disappeared and they hadn’t even reported her missing. When she got to know them well enough, she asked the roommate’s name and began trying to find her. She’d finally hit pay dirt when she located the girl’s parents, but her concern had increased when she spoke to them on the phone. They hadn’t heard from their daughter for over four months. And yes, they’d reported her missing.

  Chandler, Arizona was a suburb of Phoenix, technically, but was less than an hour from Casa Grande. It would require some backtracking, but she’d planned the morning so she could interview Sarah’s parents first, then Dawn, then head for home. The first thing she was going to ask Sarah’s parents, the Davises, was why in the world Sarah was attending school in Casa Grande instead of a bigger school in the metro area.

  She headed out ten minutes late, at eight-thirty, hoping to make up those minutes on the highway to get to the nine o’clock appointment on time, since she’d been the one to press for such an early meeting on a Saturday.

  The Davises were a subdued couple, offering Alex a cup of coffee and insisting when she said she didn’t want to be a bother. As soon as Mrs. Davis returned to the living room with a fragrantly steaming cup for Alex and one for Mr. Davis, Alex asked them her burning question. The Davises didn’t seem offended.

  “She was interested in the sociology of the Native American tribes in southern Arizona,” Mrs. Davis explained. “She felt she’d have a better understanding if she went to school in that area, where so many of them go to the same school. She was drawn to the activist group. That girl that lost her leg, Dawn something, Sarah knew her. Such a terrible thing to happen to a young person.”

  Alex was silent for a moment, processing the coincidence. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled as she remembered Dylan’s insistence that true coincidences were rare. “Did Sarah publicize her involvement with that group in any way?” she asked. “Facebook? A blog? Anything?”

  “Oh, yes,” Mrs. Davis said, a smile breaking through for the first time. “Sarah was always posting on Facebook. Pictures of her with those kids, marching.”

  “Mrs. Davis, did anyone ever speak to her housemates about her disappearance?” Alex asked.

  “Well, no, I don’t think so. They called us, you know, to ask for Sarah, but she wasn’t here. I asked why they were calling, and they said because all of her things were gone. We all thought she’d gone on her own, so we were sure she’d turn up soon. When I finally persuaded my husband that she wouldn’t have stayed away so long without getting in touch, we told the officers that. They said she’d probably turn up if that was the case. I don’t think there was ever a real investigation. When you called, it was the first time anyone had.”

  Alex carefully kept her face neutral. This must not have been a close family. Four months, and they were still sitting here, passively waiting for a missing daughter to turn up? It reminded her of her dad, still waiting for a wife who’d been gone almost fifteen years. That, in turn, pissed her off. She stood abruptly.

  “Thank you for seeing me,” she said. “And for the coffee. I’ll be sure to let you know if I learn anything.

  “Thank you, dear. If you see her, ask her to give us a call. We miss her.”

  Apparently not much.

  “Of course I will,” Alex said. She didn’t expect to see Sarah. In fact, she had a horrible feeling Sarah could be one of the unidentified sets of remains on her blog’s database. Who sat back and waited that long? Oh, right, her dad.

  Half an hour after leaving the Davis house, Alex sat in a straight chair in Dawn’s cramped bedroom while Dawn gave her the details about her accident. Alex shuddered at the brutality of it. There was no doubt, the person who sideswiped Dawn’s compact car, then forced it to the side and over the low barrier intended murder.

  Dawn thought it was a man, but couldn’t give much of a description. Her terror when he relentlessly steered her toward the barrier had occupied every brain cell, she told
Alex. She was looking at the barrier and fighting her steering wheel, not thinking about identifying him later.

  Alex relived those terrifying moments with Dawn and fought the beginnings of a panic attack. She forced herself to remain calm by asking Dawn if she remembered the make, model or even the color of the other vehicle. But Dawn couldn’t say, other than it was a dark car. The attack had come at night, while on her way back to school from the visit with her parents.

  “Why did your mom think it was the Patriots?” Alex asked.

  “We’ve had trouble with them before. My mom started this organization. You could ask about their history, she won’t mind.”

  “I’m going to have to take a rain check on that. I’m due at home. When do you think you’ll return to classes?”

  “Not sure. I’m going to have to get a special prosthesis made, and then learn to use it and all. Not next semester, for sure. Maybe spring semester, next year.”

  “I’m so sorry, Dawn.”

  “Thank you. I’ll be okay. Listen, Alex. You be careful.”

  “That reminds me. Do you remember a Sarah Davis? Her mom mentioned she knew you.”

  “Yeah, I know her. Haven’t seen her around lately,” Dawn answered.

  “Did she say anything about leaving? Turns out, she used to live where I live now, and no one has heard from her for over four months, not even her parents.”

  Dawn sat up abruptly. “No, she didn’t say anything. Isn’t someone looking for her?”

  “No. Her things were cleared out when my housemates got back from a trip. I guess they go to Rocky Point almost every weekend. Anyway, they called her parents, and the parents called the police. No one is seriously looking for her. Since her belongings were gone, it appears she went off on her own. Was she the kind of girl who’d just go off and not say anything to anyone?”

  “I didn’t know her well,” said Dawn. “I don’t think so. She was into us, you know? Almost like she wanted to be us. She was even learning some of the language.”

  “Weird,” said Alex.

  “No weirder than you, Alex,” Dawn said, laughing. “You like us because we’re Native, don’t you? It’s like reverse discrimination.”

  Shocked, Alex stared at her. “No! That’s not it.” She paused. What could she say to redeem herself with Dawn? “I mean, okay, I guess I’m passionate about the way Native peoples have been treated, but my main focus is on the unidentified remains.”

  Dawn turned serious. “Well, I can tell you that those Patriots you seem so interested in are behind more of those than the authorities realize. They hunt people like big game, Alex. They’re monsters.”

  Alex asked for an explanation, but got no further. Dawn said she was tired, and as if she’d been listening, her mom came in to ask Alex to give Dawn some time to rest. Alex told them both goodbye and left with more to think about than she’d bargained for. The nearly two hours to Dodge passed almost unnoticed as she tried to fit the puzzle pieces together. The key eluded her. It obviously had to do with the Patriots, but she didn’t really know their agenda. She thought they were anti-illegals. Why were they targeting Pimas and Caucasian college students?

  The road was almost deserted, and as she drove, Alex thought she knew why. There was virtually nothing out here. After the small town of Maricopa, which was even smaller than Dodge, miles passed with little more than dirt roads leading off the two-lane road she was traveling. Seeing a signpost marking the border of the Sonoran Desert National Monument was a surprise. She’d been through the area on Highway 8 before, but never really noticed. It was just more of the same, desert, punctuated by creosote bushes, saguaro cacti, and an occasional outcropping of broken black rock.

  It was even more surprising, then, when, not too far from her turn at Gila Bend, she passed a group of motorcycles riding in the other direction in tight formation. She had little time to wonder if they were the gang Dylan was always fussing about, when an eighteen-wheeler with no insignia blew past her, with another group of motorcycles behind it. The tractor-trailer rig must have somehow cut the motorcycle club in half when it came off the highway, she reflected. Before she knew it, she was at Gila Bend and had to slow down for the town speed limits and to turn onto Highway 85.

  TWELVE

  Dylan wasn’t sure where Alex planned to stay on Friday night. He wasn’t even sure if he should suggest she stay with him. Dodge was different from Casa Grande. Even though it was no longer a secret they were a couple, tongues would wag if Alex’s car sat in his driveway all night.

  He recognized that his mind kept skittering off the subject because he hoped desperately she would spend the night with him. It had been three weeks since they’d made love. While he’d gone without for longer than that before, the last time with her had been something special. He wanted it again, so much.

  Here in town, though, he’d follow her lead. He trusted her judgment when it came to her dad, and his attitude about their relationship. So far, Paul hadn’t said anything to him about his relationship with Alex and was still friendly toward him. Surely he knew? Had to, since they’d gone off to Tucson together for some weeks before the boys came here. Paul had to know he visited Alex in Casa Grande, too.

  Dylan resolutely stopped thinking about Alex and sex and went about his business until it was time to leave for Dodge. He waved to his fellow rangers and climbed into his Silverado for the half-hour drive to Dodge. His first stop was at the school, where the boys usually stayed until six on weekday afternoons, even though he was usually in town by four-thirty at the latest. It gave them more time with the other kids and him a chance to do any errands he had without dragging them along. That left the evening clear for his quality time with them.

  Today, however, he wanted to clean them up for the dinner at Jen’s place. He was going to farm them out to Ange or Wanda on Sunday, because he had something important to say to Alex, alone.

  A call to Paul at work verified that Alex had made it to town not long before him, and was looking forward to an evening out with what Dylan thought of as their whole family—Alex, himself, his boys, her dad, and Jen if she could join them. It was an odd sort of family, but it worked for them, as long as Alex didn’t start in on her dad again about marrying Jen. That always made Jen blush and leave, and annoyed her dad. Dylan couldn’t figure out why it was so important to Alex, anyway. It wasn’t as if she needed a mom, now.

  “Who wants to get hamburgers at Jen’s?” he called out to the boys. They’d been playing video games in the living room while he was talking to Paul and then had tried to call Alex. Since there was no answer, he figured she must be in the shower or something. He hadn’t told the boys about tonight yet, knowing Davi would be out of control and climbing the walls before it was time if he did. And he wasn’t going to tell them about tomorrow at all, until it was time. Otherwise, the surprise party wouldn’t be a surprise at all.

  Paul and Alex were already there when they got to Jen’s. Dylan started smiling broadly when he saw Alex had brought her own car. So she didn’t intend to go home with her dad, it looked like. His heart stuttered when he saw her. She looked up as he and the boys stepped inside. The smile she gave him answered his and his world clicked into place. He hadn’t even known it was off-kilter until that moment.

  The boys ran to Alex and almost bowled her over with their hugs. It seemed like Juan had grown half a foot since she’d seen him. Davi, the little monkey, was hanging on her neck so she’d pick him up when she stood. Dylan plucked Davi off her and set him down, dropping him to the floor when he wouldn’t put his feet down so he could take Alex in his arms. To catcalls of ‘get a room’, he gave her a thorough kiss. To his surprise, Paul’s voice was among the jeerers.

  Deciding discretion was the better part of valor, Dylan didn’t answer, but he gave Alex a squeeze before he released her. She winked, making him wonder what was in store for later. They made a fun evening of it, with Alex teaching the boys to play pinball while Paul and Dylan squared off at a
pool table. When it was time for the boys to go to bed, Dylan gave Alex a questioning look, and she winked again. He wasn’t sure what it meant.

  “Well, Paul, Alex, I’d better get these hooligans in bed. It’s been great. See you sometime tomorrow?” Dylan held out his hand for Paul to shake.

  “You bet,” Paul answered. He was distracted, already lining up another game.

  Alex moved closer to Dylan. “Dad, I’m going to help Dylan with the boys.”

  “Okay,” Paul said. His attention was on his opponent, who was laying five one-dollar bills along the rail of the pool table.

  Alex laughed and took Dylan’s arm. “I’ll follow you,” she whispered.

  Dylan hustled the boys into their pjs, glad now he’d had them bathe earlier. In record time, their teeth were brushed, their stalling techniques handled and their bedtime story read, with Alex helping. Dylan led Alex into the living room and poured them each a glass of wine before he sat next to her on the sofa.

  “I’m confused,” he said. “Are you staying the night, or… ”

  “Oh, yes, I’m staying. If you want me to,” she said, giving him a smirk that made him want to kiss her.

  A few minutes later, after he’d kissed the smirk off her face, she handed him her car keys so he could retrieve her overnight bag and the clothes she’d brought on a hanger for the next day. His heart was beating wildly, knowing that in a few minutes she’d be in his bed, for the whole night. That she’d do this with the boys in the house meant something, he hoped.