Breacher (Tom Keeler Book 2) by Jack Lively (reading well TXT) 📕

Maybe it was the mist, maybe not. But the smell of salmon hung heavy in the air. Which wasn’t surprising, given that we were bang in the middle of their spawning season. The creeks and rivers were brimming with fish expending their last energy. Each one a story of success and struggle and maybe ultimate frustration. Each one spawned by an elder fish upstream. And each one coming of age in the great Pacific Ocean. The wild salmon is a predator, hunting smaller creatures. Once mature, the hunter returns to the sweet water creeks to spawn and die. Which is not as simple as it sounds. Each of them has to fight its way upstream, against the flow, against the wishes of the bears and eagles and fishermen who harness all their guile in an effort to prevent the fish from its purpose. In the end, what did the salmon get for the effort? Death and reincarnation as another nameless fish, just like the first.

The same but different.

Ellie’s pickup truck pulled into the lot. She swept it around in front of me with a satisfying rolling crunch of large tires on gravel, coming to a stop twenty yards away. A minute later she was in the backseat of the Toyota with me. Ellie came with a scent of soap. I stole a glance at her. She looked good. Fresh and ready. I turned back to the view.

I said, “You look well rested.”

“Hardly. Sorry it took me longer than I thought. Some kind of a wildlife incident on the road from town. What have you got?”

I was looking out the window, at the parking lot. Scanning the tree line on the other side.

“Chapman was in there. We had words. Not many because she is in a situation.” I looked at Ellie. I had her attention. I said, “She’s a player Ellie, not some kind of accidental victim. She’s managed to get in with the Mister Lawrence crew, and it looks like they’re taking her onto the property.”

Ellie snorted. “Why would they do that?”

I said, “According to her, the guy everyone thinks is Mister Lawrence is some kind of an evil clown, her words. She seems to have exploited the clown and she’s in there with them, wearing a dress and everything. You know how it is.”

I caught Ellie nodding in my peripheral vision.

“Playing the femme fatale.”

I nodded.

“When I was in there, I saw her leaving a message for someone. Someone who isn’t me. Like what they call a dead drop in the spying business. Which is what I think we’re dealing with here. She didn’t see me seeing her. I’ve got some ideas about what’s going on with Chapman. I think I’ve got a pretty clear picture in fact. But there isn’t much reason for me to explain the ideas to you because we’re about to find out who she left that message for. And when we do, we’ll be hearing about a whole lot of other things as well.”

Ellie was staring at me. “Are we now.”

“Yes. I think so. And I wanted you to be with me so I wouldn’t have to repeat it to you later. Save me the effort.”

“Plus you missed me.”

“Plus what else were you going to do tonight?”

“True, watching TV with young Hank wasn’t as fun as this.”

I said, “You’re kidding, right?”

“Yes, I don’t have a TV.”

“What about you? Smithson and the building plans. Any of it work out?”

Ellie sank into the seat. I figured the tops of our heads were just about visible from outside, if you were looking hard and had very good night vision. She said, “First Smithson. I interrupted his favorite TV show, which wasn’t something that he took very well. But he got over it and we had a conversation. The upshot is that he has agreed to get in touch with the FBI if he can get that past his boss. He said that he will let me know as soon as he knows.”

I said, “Which is something he’s going to get concerned with right away, or is he waiting for the show to be over?”

She shrugged. “I pushed him hard as I could. I said tonight. We shall see.”

I wasn’t surprised. “Luck with the building plans?”

“Luck didn’t play much of a part in it, Keeler. Code Enforcement. I got the key from the chief enforcement officer. You know how it is, small town, no big deal.”

I said, “We’ve got time, give me the details.”

Ellie glanced at me and smiled. “The guy even delivered the key to me, Keeler. That’s what I’m talking about. In his pajamas, wearing a pair of construction boots.”

“Nice.”

“Right, so I went into the office, flicked on the lights. Couple of rows of filing cabinets, cream-colored, steel boxes filled with papers in folders. All organized by geography.”

“Coffee machine working?”

“I didn’t stick around long enough to need coffee. Plus, I’m particular about my coffee. I like dark roasted.”

“What did you find?”

“I took the whole folder. They filed plans for the build seven years ago. I didn’t have any time to examine what it amounts to. Not like I’m a trained architect either.”

I said, “Sounds good. You bring that with you?”

“No. Back at the house.”

I nodded to myself. “Okay. Well done. After this we’ll go back to your place and take a look. Make some of that dark roast coffee.”

While we talked, my eye had been drawn to the edge of the lot where I’d seen the raccoons emerge earlier. A narrow gulley running along a slight incline to the east of the Rendezvous. At first there was nothing but stillness and the mist slowly crawling up. But I hung in there, because I trust my intuition. Which paid off when there was movement. A flicker before absolute stillness.

I stopped talking and Ellie said, “What is it?”

I said nothing. I held my breath and concentrated upon what I was looking at. For a while, nothing happened. Maybe a minute or