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“House hunting,” answered Lucas. “I mean, the cabins are nice and all, but with two kids—and maybe more in the future—we’re going to need a much bigger home.”
“Lucas is only here until tomorrow,” added Malia. “Then he has to return to Boise for a while to make arrangements.”
“Better work fast,” joked Tyler.
“He always does, Dad,” Malia said, reaching for Lucas’s hand.
Chapter 24
Tuesday, August 17
Two days after Lucas returned to Boise, Malia was at home, vainly trying to enjoying a day off without her mate.
Her phone rang, and she saw that Maggie was calling her.
Malia glanced at the time. It was the middle of lunch rush at Cinnamon + Sugar, so this probably wasn’t a social call.
She tapped Answer. “Maggie?” she asked warily. “What’s up?”
“It’s Rob.” Her cousin’s voice was tight with fear. “He’s about to do something stupid, and you need to stop him!”
Malia’s chest tightened. “Maggie, slow down. What happened?”
“It’s those two poachers you arrested the other day,” Maggie said.
In the background, Malia heard the sound of a mixer whirring away, and realized that she must have gone into the bakery to make her call.
“They’re out on bail,” Maggie continued. “They were just in here, buying some sandwiches, and telling a couple of the other hunters in line that they posted bail and that their lawyer assured them that none of the charges against them were going to stick.”
“Oh, no! All that work Lucas did on the case. All of it’s going to be wasted?” she asked in disbelief. She really hoped that Bickham had misunderstood his lawyer, and was indulging in wishful thinking.
Even with the ballistics test results still pending from the lab, there was a lot of evidence against Bickham and Silvers, including their recorded confessions.
Bickham’s delusional if he thinks he’s going to beat all of the charges against him!she thought angrily.
“It gets even worse,” Maggie said. “I overheard them say that they were going to go hunting on their way out of town, and that the game wardens couldn’t do a damned thing about it because they still have their hunting permits and tags.”
“But we confiscated their guns,” Malia said. “And Bickham’s truck.”
“Well, they probably had other rifles stashed somewhere. And they showed up in an old blue Ford pickup, so they’ve got wheels. The real problem is that Rob was in here, having coffee, and he overheard them. After they left, he told Ellie that he wasn’t going to let those two get off scot-free after what they did to him. He stormed out of the café a minute or two after they left.”
“Oh, crap,” said Malia. She went cold.
She could picture it now: her hothead brother chasing after Bickham and Silvers, determined to make them pay for what they’d done to him. “Thanks for telling me, Maggie. Bye!”
She immediately dialed Rob, then grabbed her keys, her badge, and her service weapon, and ran for her car.
Her brother picked up on the fourth ring, just when Malia thought the call might go to voicemail.
“M, what is it?” he asked, his voice fuzzy with road noise. “I’m a little busy right now.”
“Where are you?” she demanded as she started her car. “I just talked to Maggie. You can’t go after those guys on your own, Rob. You’re going to get killed this time.”
“You want me to let those two jerks get away with it?” he protested. “I can’t. You should have heard them talking about how their fancy lawyer was going to get all the charges dropped against them, M! After theyshotme!”
“Well, then, let me at least be your backup,” she responded. “Tell me where you are.”
“I’m driving north on Highway 93. Their truck just turned off on Crow Gulch Road. And I know exactly where they’re going.”
