Page 103 of See How They Hide

He checked his watch. “I need you back on babysitting detail, Kara. Michael and I are running down a lead at a motel forty miles south of here, outside Pagosa Springs. Based on our BOLO, one of the managers called, said the sketches match two guests who checked in. They haven’t checked out.”

“I’m on it,” Kara said, as she got up. “I’ll send the map to Ryder when Riley is done.”

“Thanks, Kara,” Matt said.

She went upstairs and checked in with Sloane before she left for Colorado Springs. Then she went over to where Riley was still working.

The map had taken on a life of its own. It was detailed with every structure labeled in perfect tiny block print. “It’s not to scale,” Riley said with a frown. “I think the houses are farther apart. And the greenhouse and barn are more south...”

Kara said, “This is exactly what we need. You can tweak it all you want, but it gives us a place to start. Let me take pictures and then you can continue tweaking it.”

Riley agreed. While Kara took several pictures with her phone camera, Riley asked, “Agent Costa said that he and Agent Harris found where Anton may be staying?”

“Yes. Hopefully we’ll end this sooner rather than later.” That they hadn’t checked out didn’t mean anything—they could have grabbed their things and bolted. But they could be back at any time. The room hadn’t been cleaned, and that meant they could get prints and possibly more evidence tying Ginger to the poisoning of Gardner—or both of them to the murder of Donovan Smith.

The sooner they were in custody, the sooner Riley would be safe.

38

Pagosa Springs, Colorado

Matt showed his ID to the manager and said, “You spoke with the Rio Grande sheriff about two guests that matched our BOLO.”

“Yep,” the manager said. “A dark green Ford truck, right?”

“Yes. The last two numbers are 3-1.”

“Here’s the registration card, and I checked the plate myself.”

Matt looked at the registration card. Ginger Ann Bellamy.

“There was a man with Ms. Bellamy?”

“Yep, but he wasn’t with her when she checked in. They’re supposed to register each guest, but some people don’t. I seen him, though, couple of times. Big guy, tall and broad, not overweight. Dark hair, kinda long.”

“I need to see their room.”

He looked at a wall of keys, grabbed one labeled 119, and handed it to Matt. “Last room downstairs, far side of the first building.”

“When was the last time you saw either of them?”

“They came in yesterday in the truck, about five, five thirty,” the manager said.

That would put them coming here from the lodge where Riley was staying, it was about a forty-five-minute drive, and they had seen Anton at four ten in the afternoon. Matt asked, “And when did they leave?”

“An hour later. Six thirty, that I’m pretty certain about, because I had a pizza delivered and it came about the same time they left.”

“They didn’t check out.”

“No, sir. I assumed they were going to dinner. When I left at nine, they weren’t back. My night manager said he didn’t see their truck all night. Not everyone checks out, but they’re paid through Sunday.”

“Thank you,” Matt said. He held up the key. “I’ll bring this back.”

“Oh, and there was another guy here, too. I only seen him once leaving their room. Younger than Ms. Bellamy and the dark-haired guy, maybe early thirties? Light hair, on the short side. Maybe five-nine? Ten?”

“You’re certain he was with them?”

The manager shrugged. “Couldn’t say for sure, but he came out of their room when they was in there, so I assume they knew each other.”

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