Walton (The K9 Files #26)

Chapter 11

“A re you okay?” Chelsea asked, after they’d been driving for a few minutes. When he frowned over at her, she shrugged. “You seem pretty intense.”

“Yeah, I don’t know why really,” he said, “but something just doesn’t feel right.”

“No, I definitely get that too,” she murmured. “I don’t know that it has anything to do with us though.”

“No, probably not,” he agreed, with a smile in her direction. “But I don’t want Detectives Hogan and McKenna to get caught up in something they aren’t expecting either.”

She stared at him, confused for a moment. “Are you expecting us to get caught up in something too?”

“I hope not,” he muttered. “I just don’t know what is bothering me about this whole deal.”

“Did you see everybody standing around Chad’s body right after the two shots were fired?”

Walton nodded. “I saw them all there. By the time I arrived at Chad’s body, all three men were there.”

“And you still think that two of them had something to do with shooting Chad?”

He shrugged. “I could easily be wrong, and that’s the problem. I just don’t know what’s going on, but something is seriously wrong with this whole picture.”

“I wish they would speak up about their dead friend Rudy too. What the hell was that all about?”

“Wouldn’t that be nice to have honesty from suspects,” Walton quipped, with a nod. “I don’t know that these guys are capable of telling the truth.”

“Oh my God,” she whispered. “You think they all lied?”

“I don’t know if they lied or not, but I’m definitely suspicious of anything that comes out of their mouths. I have an itch here that I can’t scratch.”

“Wow, okay then,” she muttered. “That’s understandable. I hope that you’re wrong though, and that we get home without any trouble.”

“Me too.”

They drove down the highway for several more minutes. Walton got a text. Walton glanced at the screen, his cell phone propped up on the dashboard, but immediately returned his gaze to the roadway. He didn’t say anything, so Chelsea left it alone.

Chelsea asked him, “They should be quite a distance ahead of us, right?”

“They should be,” he agreed, with a nod, “but that doesn’t mean they are.”

“Okay then,” she noted. As they kept on going, she felt the uneasiness rising up in her gut. “I don’t know what the hell’s going on,” she muttered, “but you’re making me nervous.” When he turned to her, she shrugged. “Now I’ve got your heebie-jeebies.”

He chuckled. “ Heebie-jeebies . I like that term.”

She groaned. “You might like it, but I don’t. It just makes me realize how wrong some of this is.”

“ All of it is,” he stated, “and that’s the trouble. Once you start down that pathway of lies and deceit, nobody knows who the hell’s telling the truth.”

“Maybe,” she said, “and maybe it’s something completely different.”

“We won’t know if one of them doesn’t speak up. And they’re bound and determined not to. They’ve already lost two of their friends, and, although they might have their suspicions, they’re most likely to only voice those suspicions privately.”

“So,” she began, “if they do it to the wrong person…” He looked over at her, and she nodded. “Right, if they do it to the wrong person, they’ll likely end up dead.”

He nodded. “If somebody’s trying to hide one murder—and now a second one—it’s possible that they’ll do anything they can to avoid getting caught now.”

“Crap,” she muttered. “How did we get involved in any of this?”

“My fault. I was chasing a War Dog.”

“Your fault but not your fault,” she clarified, glancing over at him. “It’s not as if you had anything to do with their killing each other. Why couldn’t they have just done it all on their own, without involving anybody else?”

“Wouldn’t that have been nice? On the other hand,” he noted, with a smile, “we got to spend some quality time together.”

She brightened, then looked over at him. “I want to spend more time with you,” she admitted.

“That would make me really happy,” he shared. “I was trying to get into better shape, so I could come back and not be a broken model. At least not as broken.”

“I never saw you as broken,” she declared. “I saw you as this determined, stalwart, but incredibly strong individual, who was doing everything he could to pull himself back out of a horrific injury.” He looked at her, and she smiled. “I don’t think we ever see ourselves as other people do, and I think sometimes we need to stop, take stock, and realize that it’s not all bad. In your case, you fought so hard to get back on your feet, to get full movement, and then you were gone.”

“It wasn’t that I was gone,” he clarified, a bit abashed.

“You were gone,” she declared.

He winced, his gaze flicking her way before going back to the road again. “Maybe, and, for that, I’m sorry.”

“No apologies necessary,” she said, “at least now I know why.” Then she laughed. “Honestly, I could probably help you get up to the next level, versus you trying to do it on your own.”

“I know. You’re right. I was just…” He winced. “I’ll put that down to pride.”

“Yeah, I will too,” she added, with a groan. “I’m telling you that male pride is nothing to mess with. It can be brutal and causes a lot of bad decisions.”

He laughed. “Honest to God, it’s one of the worst things ever. We’re not that fragile, until something goes wrong, and then we are as fragile as anyone.”

As they came around a corner, a good twenty minutes into the trip, she asked, “Do you think they’re up ahead?” Walton remained silent. She looked over at him and asked again, “Do you?”

He looked at her and nodded. “Yeah, I think they’re up ahead.”

“You’re really expecting something bad, aren’t you?”

“I’m hoping not.”

“And yet you’re speeding like crazy.”

He took his foot off the accelerator and sighed. She watched his shoulders relaxing somewhat. “So, you’re really expecting something bad. That’s good to know. Not .”

“Now you’re bracing for it,” he pointed out, “and that’s not what I wanted.”

“Of course not,” she stated in a hard tone. “I don’t want it either, but we also know that it’ll likely turn up right here in front of us.”

“I’m afraid it is,” he declared and hit the brakes.

She saw the two police vehicles up ahead. “Oh, crap.”

They pulled up behind the closest cop car, as Walton shut down the engine to his truck and got out. No sign of anybody was here. He called down the nearby ravine, and one of the detectives answered him. Walton had no idea if it was McKenna or Hogan, but it was definitely one of them.

“Stay up there,” he yelled at Walton.

Walton waited, as one of them climbed up from the ravine and stepped onto the highway. It was Detective McKenna. “What the hell happened?” Walton asked him.

“One of the vehicles went off the road and over the edge.”

“Shit,” he said, looking at McKenna.

“We don’t know that it’s foul play though. Remember that.”

“No, of course not. Is somebody dead?”

“Yes, two dead bodies are down there.”

“Two?” Walton asked, staring at him.

“Yes, the vehicle went over at full speed,” he added.

“What about the other vehicle?”

“It was in the lead, so no need for it to stop. He wouldn’t have seen the accident.”

“Unless he saw it in the rearview mirror. Unless he cut the brakes and wanted it to happen.”

“Maybe,” Detective McKenna replied, as Detective Hogan now joined them. “We’ll have to catch up with the third guy down the road, but, right now, we’ve got to call this in and get some help up here.”

Walton looked from Detective Hogan to Detective McKenna. “Are you guys heading back down there?”

“That was the plan,” McKenna said, staring down the ravine.

“I will head down now and see what I can do,” Hogan added, as he started down.

Walton asked, “Are you sure you see no evidence of foul play?”

Detective McKenna shrugged. “Not for me to say, but it looks as if they went straight off the road. Could have had an argument, could have been an accident,” he suggested. “It’s a hell of a corner.”

Walton had to agree because it was a hell of a corner. Chelsea had tears in her eyes as she came out of the vehicle with Brutus, who stood on the road and whined.

“I know, buddy,” Walton told the War Dog, “but nothing good is down there for us.” He looked at Detective McKenna. “I really would appreciate it if you would treat this like a crime scene.”

Detective McKenna stiffened and stated, “We do know how to do our jobs.”

“I know you do,” Walton replied, raising his hands. “I did warn both of you earlier that something like this could likely happen.”

The detective studied him for a long moment and then nodded. “We’re taking every possible precaution. You guys don’t need to be here. It’s better if you carry on, and we’ll get this taken care of. We’ll be in touch.”

Walton wasn’t sure what that meant about being in touch , but he nodded because it was obvious the detectives wanted them out of the way.

As they stepped back over toward his vehicle, another vehicle barreled around the corner from the other direction. It stopped when it saw them. Darren got out and raced toward Walton. “What the hell happened?” he cried out, visibly shaken.

The detective grabbed him by the shoulders and snapped, “Calm down.”

“Are they okay? Where’s the vehicle? They were behind me, and then they weren’t. I slowed down, but they weren’t behind me. I got worried and came back. What the hell’s going on?”

The detective replied, “They drove off the road.”

Darren crumpled to his knees, just staring at the detective, then jumped up. “Let’s go get them. I’ll help. Where are they?” he asked frantically, moving to the cliff’s edge.

“No,” Detective McKenna said, grabbing him and pulling him back. “You can’t go down there.”

Walton knew exactly why he couldn’t go down there, but it was obvious that Darren didn’t have a clue.

“Why not? My friends are down there.”

“I know.” Detective McKenna hesitated and then relented. “It doesn’t appear that anyone survived the accident.”

Darren stared at him in shock, then started to cry in big, ugly, uncontrollable sobs. “No, no, no, no. We just came up here for a holiday. We came up here for a long weekend, for a few days together,” he mumbled to himself. “This can’t be happening.”

“I’m very sorry,” McKenna said, “but I can tell you that nobody survived down there. We have local police and search and rescue coming.”

“Search and rescue?” he asked.

“Yes, search-and-rescue. The vehicle needs to be dealt with, and your friends need to be brought up.”

Darren just stared at him, still not comprehending in full yet. But, when he dropped to the ground, he seemed to understand.

Chelsea walked over and sat down beside him, a hand on his shoulder. “Take it easy, Darren. I know this is pretty rough news.”

He shook his head, his gaze unfocused. “It just can’t be,” he said. “I mean, we were going into town to have a few beers. How can everybody be gone?”

Something the detective said had piqued Walton’s interest. Walking over to him, he asked in a low tone, “Are there two bodies?”

He nodded. “We definitely found two bodies, and, as you saw, my partner’s down there right now.”

Walton asked, “Would you mind if I go down there with Brutus?”

“What good would that do?” he asked.

He hesitated, then spoke. “I don’t know. I’m going by instincts here.”

Detective McKenna considered his request and then shrugged. “It’s on you, be my guest, but don’t contaminate the crime scene.”

“I hear you.” Walton walked over to the edge of the road, looked back at Chelsea, and added, “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Her eyebrows shot up as he smiled. “It’ll be fine.” Then he stepped over the edge with Brutus.

“No, no, no,” she cried out.

He heard her in the background but knew that the detective would stop her. He made his way down to the bottom of the hill where the wreckage was. The vehicle had flipped multiple times, and not a whole lot was left inside. He walked over to where Detective Hogan was taking photos. “Hey,” Walton hailed him. “You found both bodies?”

The detective frowned at him and then nodded. “They’re both here.”

“It’s not that I don’t believe you, but I wanted to take a look myself.”

“Okay, do you want to explain that?”

“No, I don’t really understand myself. I guess I want to see the victims, since I met them all back at the lodge.”

Hogan pointed to where the first body was.

Walton took a closer look. Walton nodded. “That’s definitely Hawk.”

“Yeah, it sure is, or at least what’s left of him,” Detective Hogan said, irony in his tone, “if that’s what you came down here for.”

As they circled the crash site, Walton asked, “Where’s the other body?”

“He was flipped over there,” Hogan pointed out.

And, with that, Walton headed to where the body had done a complete flip, and, indeed, the remains of a broken man were on the ground. Walton studied the body for a long moment and wondered if he could possibly be wrong.

Detective Hogan came over. “This is George.”

Walton studied the body and shook his head. “I am not so sure about that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I am not so sure that it is.”

“Who else would it be?”

“It’ll be the missing friend that they’ve not been forthcoming about. They were certainly hiding something, or in this case,… someone.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. You’re telling me this is another friend who is dead? Not George?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty-damn sure yet another friend is dead,” Walton shared, “and it appears to me that this is him. Not George.”

“No, no, that can’t be,” Hogan frowned. “Or is it really possible?”

“One of the things I recently found out, when my boss did a deeper dive into these friends, is that George had a brother, a twin brother.” When Hogan glared at him, Walton added, “My boss just told me. I can show you the timestamped text that I got while driving here this morning.”

“So, you think this is him, the twin?”

“I think it’s quite possibly him. The body is broken, as in quite badly broken. DNA with an identical twin will give us the same results, twice, from what I understand.”

“Well, shit,” Hogan muttered. “What makes you think this isn’t George?”

“I noticed a scar on George’s face, just behind the hairline, but there is no hairline left on this body,” he noted.

“So, what you’re telling me is that the one bit of evidence that might direct us to tell the difference between two identical twins is not here anymore?”

“Exactly.”

Hogan swore. “That’s a hell of a thing, and I hear you. Now, just go on up, take care of your girlfriend and the War Dog, and let us do our job.”

Knowing it would be useless to say anything else, Walton nodded and slowly climbed up the hill. Finding the other detective on the phone at his car and Chelsea still sitting beside Darren, Walton walked over and crouched down in front of them. “What happened to George’s brother?” he asked Darren.

He looked up at him, blinked, and shrugged. “I don’t know really. They had a falling out, but some peacemaking was in progress. Then another falling out occurred and more peacemaking. I don’t know what the hell happened after that.”

“George had a brother?” Chelsea asked.

Walton nodded. “Yeah, he did, but not anymore.” And on that cryptic note, he stood up and announced, “We need to leave.”

“What about Darren here?” she asked.

“I’m staying until my friends are taken away,” Darren replied, as he stared down at the ravine. “I don’t have a clue what the hell’s going on, but my friends are all gone. Every last one of them,” he whispered.

Not knowing what else to say to him, Walton urged Chelsea to get up. “Ready to go home?”

She frowned at him, pointing back to Darren.

Walton nodded. “Darren, do you want us to give you a lift home?”

He stared at them. “No, I’ve got to return the rental.”

“I’m sure the cops could arrange that,” Walton suggested.

“No, no,” he replied. “I’ll be fine, honestly. I just need to see my friends.”

“Good enough.” Walton helped Chelsea to her feet. “Come on. Time to go home.”

They got into his truck, and very slowly he pulled out onto the road. This time he drove much slower.

“You were half expecting that, weren’t you?” she asked.

“I don’t know if I was expecting that ,” he clarified. “I was expecting something, but what I got was a whole lot more than anticipated.”

“That makes absolutely no sense to me,” she replied. “I wish you wouldn’t speak in riddles.”

“I’m sorry.” He gave her a smile. “That’s not what I was trying to do. I still haven’t figured out what I just found.”

“Ah, well, I guess it’s okay. You’ll piece it together soon enough.”

He chuckled. “Thank you.”

She smiled. “It’s just very disturbing to see that.”

He immediately felt bad. “You’re right. I should have thought of that.”

She gave a wave of her hand. “It is not your fault. Stop trying to make everything your fault.”

“I’m not trying to make anything my fault,” he protested.

“No, but you’re not exactly letting go of stuff,” she pointed out, with a smile. “I feel sorry for Darren and for whatever the hell was going on in their world. I hope the cops get to the bottom of it, but I am not at all blaming you.”

“Good.” He smiled again. “Let’s go home and finally get some sleep.”

“Didn’t you get any sleep last night?” she asked him.

“Nope, I sure didn’t. Rick and I took over for the ranch hand, guarding the body. We didn’t want anyone to take away or to leave evidence or to in any way alter the crime scene. We were waiting for the police to come, plus checking on you two back at the lodge, so we kept taking turns.”

“Jesus. Sitting out there with the dead body? Walking back and forth in the dead of night?”

“I know, and honestly, I should have just brought the body to the lodge, but, for some reason, I thought it would be better out there.”

“You did what you thought was right at the time.” She shrugged. “No one can blame you for that.”

“You’ll be surprised at what people can blame me for,” he teased, with another smile. “It doesn’t really matter though. We got this far, and that’s fine. Now I just want to get you home and get you safely back where you belong.”

“And where do I belong?” she asked, with a chuckle.

Walton smiled as he looked at her. “With me.” When she stared at him in shock, he shrugged. “That sounded a little more possessive than I intended it to be, but I meant it in the best way possible.”

“I won’t say that we don’t know each other because obviously we do, and I won’t say that I’m not interested because obviously I am, but that statement definitely came out of left field.”

“Yeah, I’m a little out of practice.”

“Practice doesn’t mean a damn thing to me,” she said, “but what is it exactly that you’re thinking of here?”

“Just getting to know each other,” he replied, “if that’s of interest.”

“Absolutely it’s of interest,” she stated, staring at him. “This has been a pretty unsettling couple of days.”

“Yeah, it sure has been,” he agreed. “For all of us really, but you’ve handled it beautifully.”

“I don’t think I’ve handled anything,” she groaned. “It just seems as if everything’s gone to shit.”

He burst out laughing. “That’s not a bad way to look at it. I like that description myself, though I know it’s foolish,” he muttered.

“It isn’t that far off. We see a dead man near the lodge and then a car accident with two men who we spent the last couple days with, and now they’re dead too,” she noted, the horror still clear in her tone.

He nodded. “I don’t think you should be alone tonight.”

She shot him a glance. “Why is that?” she asked.

There was just enough confusion or almost suspicion in her tone that he frowned at her. “I’m not trying to pull one over on you. I just don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be alone right now.”

“I’m not sure I want to be alone,” she agreed. “I was just trying to figure out why you even suggested that.”

He didn’t know how much to tell her. Honestly, he didn’t know if he should tell her anything because none of this made any sense. “You’re tired and stressed out, and you’ve been through a lot. How many more reasons do you need? Besides, I like knowing that you’re right next door.”

“Ah, so what do you want to do? Go to a hotel, so you can sleep on one side of an adjoining room, and I can sleep on the other?” she asked in a teasing tone.

Glad that she wasn’t angry at his suggestion, he smiled. “I don’t think we have to go that crazy,” he murmured, “but your place will seem awfully empty, and I don’t want you waking up in the middle of the night over what happened. Things like these can creep up on any of us.”

“And that could definitely be the case,” she muttered. “But I didn’t see Chad’s body or those other two. You did. That couldn’t have been easy for you either.”

“Maybe not easy,” he clarified, “but it was something I needed to do.”

“I’ll never understand that,” she muttered. “How is it you needed to do that?”

Again he didn’t know how much to tell her, so he just stayed quiet.

“Why don’t you spend the night at my place?” she suggested. “We can grab some sleep and talk about it in the morning.”

“That sounds good,” he replied casually. She glanced over at him with suspicion on her face, and he laughed. “Honest, I’m not making any moves.”

“Ha. Good thing. I’m way too tired for moves anyway.”

“Exactly. We’re both exhausted. It’s been a pretty rough few days, and obviously things are still not settled as far as everything else that’s going on.”

“Right, and I’m not sure it’ll ever be settled after what we just saw,” she declared. “It’s definitely not how I thought this would end.” She hesitated and then added, “I can’t seem to shake the feeling that you’re keeping something from me.”

He glanced at her and nodded. “I wouldn’t say I’m keeping anything from you. I just haven’t sorted through everything that’s gone on.”

“I would think not,” she said. “Everything keeps on happening in front of us.”

“If I ever figure out what is bothering me, I will be happy to tell you. In the meantime, it’s just guesses and absolutely nothing of any value.”

“At least it’s over though,” she said, “and I don’t have to worry about those guys anymore.”

“Absolutely,” he agreed, with a smile in her direction. “It’s not the nicest way to have it be over, but at least it’s pretty cut-and-dried.”

“I think that’s the part that makes me feel bad, the finality of it. It is over, and, no, it’s not the nicest thing, but I’m glad that it is that cut-and-dried,” she explained. “There was something creepy, yet not creepy about them, but creepy about the way they all acted together. Like the one guy mentioned about them all being under Chad’s control, and that was creepy in itself,” she muttered.

“I get it.”

“I know you do. You would never have anybody under your control. Everybody needs to be in control of themselves. They all should stand on their own two feet. Anybody who wants control over others generally has serious issues.”

“Pretty sure we can agree that these guys all had some issues.”

“Maybe not the same problems, but they definitely had troubles. I still don’t understand what the hell they were all doing up there,” she muttered.

“They were doing exactly what Chad told them to do. They were making an effort to bond.”

“A bonding effort,” she repeated, shaking her head. “How is that even a bonding effort when you are forced into it?” She slumped back into the seat and yawned.

He smiled at her and said, “Have a nap. I’ll wake you up when we get closer.”

She hesitated. “Are you sure you don’t need me to stay awake for you?”

“No, I’m fine,” he replied, with a wave of his hand. “Go ahead and doze off. It’ll be good for you.”

“Yeah, you say that now.”

“I mean it. Go ahead.”

And it wasn’t long before he heard her snoring. He should text Badger, but then his phone would be lit up with responses and more questions. Something odd was going on here, and it was a little farfetched for Walton to truly believe it, yet it was hard not to.

When she woke up a little later, they were still on the road. She yawned and asked, “How far?”

“About another forty minutes or so,” he guessed.

She frowned at him. “Wow, I really slept, didn’t I?”

“You really did,” he said in amusement. “You sound surprised.”

“I don’t normally sleep in vehicles,” she muttered. “I don’t usually like being a passenger either.” When he looked at her in surprise, she shrugged. “It hasn’t been an issue with you, so that’s another funny thing.”

“It just means that you feel safe,” he noted. “That’s good. So accept it and move on.” She burst out laughing again, and he smiled. “See? You think it’s good too.”

Very quickly they headed into one of the nearby towns, and she suggested that a bathroom break would be good. “Yeah, I got you there,” he replied. They pulled into a gas station, and, while he filled up with fuel, she went into the bathroom and then took Brutus to do his business. When she came back out, he added, “I’ll go use the facilities, and then I could use a coffee.” They met inside the café and ordered coffee to go. “I really do just want to keep on going, but only if you’re okay with that.”

“I just want this over with,” she muttered. “That was all just so creepy.”

He smiled and nodded. “No excuses, no reasons needed. Let’s just keep moving.”