Burning Ridge Read online

  Mattie found it soothing to watch the familiar process performed by Doreen’s flying fingers, and realized with some surprise that this felt like home. Even though these women weren’t related to her by blood, she still felt like she was among family.

  Her first bite of Mama T’s spicy chili confirmed her feeling. Comfort food.

  “Do you have any idea who killed your brother?”

  Doreen’s words threw up a wall between them; Mattie might feel like she was home, but that didn’t mean she would share information about Willie’s case. “Nothing I can talk about.”

  Mama T placed her warm hand on her shoulder, and it steadied her. She realized she’d come across as abrupt, and she put her own hand up to cover her mama’s.

  Doreen’s gaze conveyed sympathy. “I’m sorry. We should talk about other things.”

  As she went back to wrapping tamales, Doreen told Mattie how she’d grown up in Timber Creek but left after high school, how she’d driven an old beat up Chevy wherever her heart and her savings would take her and had ended up in New Mexico, and how she’d married a man who was a farmer and had been later blessed with two children, a boy and a girl.

  Mattie felt the knots in her shoulders release, and her appetite returned as she listened. She finished her plate and stood to take her dish to the sink, a rule established for all of Mama T’s children.

  “Mama T said you were looking for your biological mother,” Doreen said.

  “My brother and I had talked about it.”

  “I have to say again that I’m so, so sorry about your brother.” Doreen’s eyes brimmed, and her sorrow appeared genuine. “But maybe you can carry on by yourself and find your mom. If I can help in any way, please tell me. What’s her name?”

  “Ramona Cobb.”

  “Ramona—such a pretty name.”

  Mattie thought so, too. Her phone vibrated in her pocket, and she reached for it to check caller ID—Stella. “Excuse me for a minute. I’ve got to take this call.”

  She rose from her chair, stepped outside the kitchen door as she answered the phone, and leaned up against the white stucco wall of the house. “Hi, Stella. You back in town?”

  “Just about. Are you home?”

  “I’m at my foster mom’s, a few blocks away.”

  “Can you meet me at your house in a few minutes?”

  “Sure.”

  She knew that Stella had information she wanted to share privately, and the thought gave her a chill. Stella was coming back from Willie’s autopsy. What had she learned?

  Mattie returned to the kitchen, remembering she needed to confirm a start date for Riley. She mentioned it to Mama T, they agreed on Thursday after school, and then Mattie turned to Doreen to say goodbye.

  Doreen clasped her in a warm hug and murmured, “I hope to see you tomorrow for dinner, my sister.” The sentiment made Mattie’s eyes fill, and she turned away so that her emotion wouldn’t show. Though Doreen’s words were meant to be kind, they came as a reminder that the one who could truly call her “sister” was now gone.

  As she drove the few blocks to her home, she realized that her emotions were raw, which she attributed to being exhausted. The circumstances of Willie’s death and the physical demands of the last two days had taken their toll. And now, the foreboding associated with the information that Stella might be bringing weighed heavily on her.

  When she pulled up in front of her house, she felt relieved that she’d left on the porch light. That bit of brightness seemed to give her an inordinate amount of comfort. She sent a text to Riley, telling her when she could start work with the kids, before she unlocked the door and let herself inside. Robo’s woof came from the bedroom followed by the ticking sound of his toenails as he scrambled out of bed to greet her, yawning as he trotted across the room. She sank to her knees and opened her arms, clasping his warm, furry body to her heart and holding him. He swiped a wet kiss against her cheek.

  “Did you have a good sleep? Hmm?” She dodged his tongue as he revved up for a serious face licking. “Stop that now.” She grasped the ruff at the back of his neck and gave it a gentle shake, an imitation of the way a mother dog disciplines her pup. Although Mattie allowed a small amount of licking now and then, it was always important with Robo to remind him of who was alpha in their two-member pack. She’d been taught this at academy and time had proven that consistency kept him from testing her boundaries, as these high-drive male dogs were prone to do.

  “Do you want to go outside? Come on, let’s take a break.”

  After letting Robo outside in the backyard, she heard the doorbell ring. Stepping back into the kitchen, she hurried through to the living room to open the front door for Stella. The detective’s eyes were red-rimmed and bloodshot from strain, and Mattie could tell that she wasn’t the only one running on empty.

  Stella came inside, shucking her jacket and kicking off her loafers before making a beeline for the kitchen. “You got a beer in here for me?”

  “Sure.”

  “You want one?”

  “No, thanks.” Although she kept a supply on hand for Stella, Mattie avoided alcohol after learning the hard way that she didn’t handle it well. She drank an occasional beer, but the last thing she wanted was to end up being a drunk like her father.

  She opened the back door for Robo, and he trotted inside, rushing to greet their guest. Stella gave him a playful ear rub. “Look at you, all full of pep. I see running up and down the mountain hasn’t interfered with your mojo.”

  “He’ll be ready to go again by tomorrow.”

  “I can see that.” Examining Mattie’s face, Stella popped the cap off her beer. “And how are you doing?”

  “I’m okay.”

  “I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news from the autopsy that I need to share with you.”

  “I thought that might be the case.”

  They settled on opposite ends of the couch—Stella with her legs stretched out and feet on the coffee table, Mattie with both legs bent, hugging her knees. Robo leaned against the couch beside Mattie, his head against her hip as if aware that she needed him.

  Stella finished a few swallows of her drink, apparently fortifying herself. They’d been in this position before, and they’d learned there was no need to soften the blow with each other. “The medical examiner found soot in William’s trachea.”

  Even though Mattie suspected bad news of some kind, the words hit her hard. “Meaning he was alive when he was set on fire.”

  “Yes.”

  Curling into herself, Mattie put her forehead on her knees and closed her eyes. Robo nosed her side, and she rested one hand on his head.

  “I’m sorry, Mattie. Damn it all anyway.”

  Her eyes were blurry with unshed tears when she looked at Stella, but there was nothing she could dredge up to say.

  “The ME confirmed ligature marks on his legs and multiple marks at the back of his neck. Although his wrists were too damaged by fire to tell, it appears that he’d been bound prior to death, and he was possibly strangled more than once. That’s speculation of course, but … that’s what the evidence points to. There are some marks on his back that look like cigarette burns. No sign of bullets or being shot.”

  Willie had been tortured. Mattie buried her face against her knees, unable to respond.

  “I hate having to tell you this.” Stella sighed. “We sent blood tests for drugs and other substances to the lab. We’ll have results in a few days.”

  Drawing a deep breath, Mattie focused on Robo’s upturned face. He was staring at her as if trying to determine why she was upset. She stroked his ears. “Thank you for telling me this tonight, before I have to hear it in the meeting tomorrow.”

  “Well, that’s the other thing. Sheriff McCoy sent the message that you can sit this one out if you want to. I can meet with you separately.”

  Mattie shook her head. “That won’t be necessary. I’ll be at the meeting in the morning. What time will it be?”

&
nbsp; “Seven o’clock. Rick Lawson will be there, too.”

  With her eyes still fixed on Robo, Mattie nodded. She owed it to Willie to do whatever she could to bring his killer to justice, and she would stay on the job no matter what.

  EIGHTEEN

  After Stella left, Mattie wasn’t sure what to do with herself. Thoughts of Willie’s last hours on earth chased through her mind like demons, taunting her. There was only one thing she could do to roust out of this state, and that was to run. Even though her legs felt rubbery with fatigue, she had to stay on the move to escape the torment of her thoughts.

  She changed into sweats and running shoes, dodging Robo as she went back to the living room. He gamboled in front of her, his mouth wide in a happy grin, alternating between leaping about and play posing. “Yes, we’re going for a run.”

  His nails skittered on the hardwood floor as he whirled to retrieve the leash that was hanging by the front door. Before she could snap it on his collar, the doorbell rang, sending him back to the door to bark.

  “Robo, it’s me.” Cole’s voice.

  With mixed feelings, Mattie shushed Robo and clipped his leash to his collar. She was in such turmoil, she wasn’t sure she could deal with another person, even someone she loved. Or maybe especially someone she loved. She opened the door.

  Cole wore a sheepish expression. “Sorry to drop in on you like this, but I happened to be in the neighborhood and saw you were home.”

  Mattie lived on a quiet street that led to nowhere, and she doubted that Cole just happened to drive by. Nevertheless, she felt glad to see him. And from the way Robo was acting the fool by pressing his body against Cole’s legs, he must be glad to see him, too.

  “I should have called you after I got home from Mama T’s house, but it’s been just one thing after another,” she said.

  “I had to see you tonight.”

  He was still standing on the porch. Since he was dressed in jeans, western shirt, and boots, Mattie guessed she would need to postpone her run for a few minutes instead of inviting him to join her. She opened the door wide. “Do you want to come in?”

  He hesitated. “Were you about to go somewhere?”

  “I thought I’d go for a run.”

  He looked surprised. “Weren’t you up at Redstone Ridge today?”

  She nodded, bending down to settle Robo beside her with a touch. “Sometimes I just need to run. You know, before I can turn in at night. It relaxes me.”

  “I would’ve thought you’d had enough exercise for the day.”

  She felt an overwhelming urge to confide in him, to share her sorrow with someone she could trust, someone who would be sympathetic. “I got some bad news tonight.”

  Without saying a word, he stepped inside, away from the spotlight on the well-lit porch, and took her in his arms. The tension that had quivered inside her like a bowstring eased somewhat as Mattie allowed herself to lean against Cole’s broad chest. She clenched her teeth to hold back tears.

  He spoke in a soft voice. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “I think so.” The walls of her home felt like they were closing in on her, and she needed to escape into the outdoors. “But I don’t want to sit in here right now.”

  He paused, still holding her close. “Would you like to take a drive?”

  It sounded like a solution for her tired body. “That sounds good.”

  He squeezed her before letting go. “Robo can come too.”

  Mattie locked the front door behind her and Cole led the way to his truck, going to the passenger side to open the rear door. Robo hopped into the back seat and Mattie unclipped his leash. After Cole moved the passenger seat back into position, Mattie settled in while he went around to the driver’s side.

  The truck’s diesel engine roared to life, and Cole headed toward the highway, turning left to go north out of town toward his place. The motion of the truck calmed her as he drove past his house and on another half mile, signaling left at the turnoff to Lookout Mountain.

  She knew where they were going, and as they entered the thin stand of pine that covered the hillside, she rolled down her window to take in the scent of the forest. This wasn’t really a mountain, but rather a hill that rose up on the north side of town, with a road that wound up the backside leading all the way to the top. Once there, they could take in a view of the entire town and beyond into the surrounding meadows. During the day, that is. Tonight, the view would be different.

  The sound of Robo’s yawn came from the back, making Cole glance in the rearview mirror before catching Mattie’s eye. “A drive always puts the kids to sleep.”

  She acknowledged his humor with a thin smile and turned away to look out at the shadowy evergreens. A quarter moon cast a weak glow, allowing the stars to pop. It looked like every star in the sky shimmered, and though Mattie seldom thought about life after death, she wondered about it now. Was Willie in some heavenly place where he no longer felt pain and the stresses of life? Or was death the end of everything? Oblivion, nothingness?

  They reached the end of the road, and Cole pulled over to park at the lookout. The streetlights of Timber Creek lit up the east side of town, while the windows of homes on the west side glowed warmly.

  “I hear they’re going to put streetlights on the west side of town,” she said. That seemed like a safe topic. “It’s a good thing for families with kids out after sundown, but I think I’ll miss the darkness.”

  “Why is that?”

  Mattie hadn’t given any thought about why; she’d merely been musing aloud. “I guess I like the privacy. Maybe it feels more cozy.”

  Cole didn’t comment as he shut down the engine and turned off the headlights. Then he leaned back, and Mattie knew he was waiting for her to speak first. Robo circled and lay down on the back seat.

  “Stella came by with results of Willie’s autopsy.” She glanced at him, but he was looking out the windshield at the lights of Timber Creek. “There was evidence that he’d been tortured and then set on fire while he was still alive.”

  “Good God, Mattie!” He looked at her now, shadows overlaying his face so that she couldn’t see his eyes. He reached out to grasp her hand and she held on, not realizing her fingers were so cold until he’d clasped them within the warmth of his.

  “They’ve sent blood tests to the lab to see if he’d started using again, and to look for other substances. I guess that will be back in a few days.”

  “I think it hardly matters if he’d started using again. Your brother was murdered, that’s what matters. I think that’s where the focus should be, not on whether he might’ve brought this on himself.” Cole waved his hand in frustration. “That’s not … you know what I mean.”

  “I know. But if he was back into drugs, we might get a lead out of California, someone he used to be associated with. Or even a new connection. A lot will depend on what the detective in L.A. can turn up. See if any of his old gang had connections to Timber Creek.”

  He began chafing her fingers between his two hands. “You’re cold. Do you want me to turn on the heater?”

  “No, it’s only my hands that are cold, and now they’re warming up.” She slipped her free hand under her leg for warmth, thinking about the other thing that plagued her. “I wish I could go back in time and meet with Willie as soon as he contacted me last fall.”

  “Life can be full of regrets if you focus on them. We make decisions for whatever reasons we have in the moment, not because we have some superhuman vision of what will happen in the future.”

  She’d pulled away from her brother after he apologized to her for not keeping their father from molesting her, memories she’d suppressed until then. Although she didn’t blame Willie for their father’s actions, she’d had to withdraw from him to deal with the tumult he’d set off with his one phone call. It had taken time and counseling to sort out exactly how she felt toward both him and her mother, something she had to determine before she could tackle the prospect of reunitin
g with either of them.

  Her past was something she felt ashamed of, and she’d never shared all the details with Cole. She couldn’t explain to him now how complicated it had all been.

  “I know I can’t focus on the regret, but it still slips into my mind, you know.”

  “I know.”

  They sat in silence for a few moments while Mattie decided what to say next. “I want justice for Willie. I want to find something that will pull this case together, but most of what we’ve found so far seems related to something else, not him.”

  “Like the slug and casing we found with the dead ram. But we have to wonder if the ram’s death is related to William’s death in some way. Why would someone take that shot when all of us were up there in the area? I still think the shooter might have been trying to pull us away from the area around the gravesite.”

  But there was more he hadn’t heard about. “Today they excavated three graves in the depressions we saw from the ridge. Old graves, with skeletonized remains.”

  “Good grief. I thought that could be the case, although I didn’t want to believe it. Not here, not so close to home.”

  “One was a child.”

  Cole’s breath released in a huff, the news evidently leaving him speechless. He stared out the windshield. Finally, he spoke. “Can they tell how many years ago those bodies were buried?”

  “Not with pinpoint accuracy. But Robo found a handgun, a Desert Eagle .357 Magnum that was manufactured in the eighties. Agent Lawson thinks the gun might be the weapon used. There was lead inside one skull, and ballistics can tell if it matches up with the pistol.”

  Cole tapped the steering wheel with his index finger. “Did this gun have anything to do with William’s death?”

  “We found it in the ravine by his gravesite, but it looks like it’s been exposed to the elements for years. So probably not.” She struggled to speak normally despite the tightness in her throat. “Besides, there were no bullets found in his body.”