A Treacherous Mix Read online

  “Did he say what happened to the man?”

  “Brody thinks he was dead. He wanted to go check on him, but was afraid they might be coming back to get his body. So he got out of there.”

  “Well, did he get a good look at the guy?”

  “Hardly at all. He’d been checking out the lady with his binoculars. Said she was gorgeous and sexy and very classy—a real looker. The man was wearing sunglasses, and his back was to Brody most of the time. But he appeared to be earthy and casual—a regular Joe. He seemed way out of his league.”

  You have no idea. “It’s been two days,” Hawk said. “Has anyone reported either of these people missing?”

  “Not that I know of. I’ve watched the paper and listened to the news.”

  “So you think Brody imagined the whole thing?”

  “Don’t you? I mean, nothing fits.”

  “How can you be sure, since the man and woman are missing? I’d at least want to go up there and check it out.”

  Dennis shot Hawk a sheepish look. “Okay, I did go with Brody to where he saw the drone and where the woman was taken and the man was left. There was no body. We went to the nearby house where he swears the woman was put in the Suburban. There’s a for-sale sign in the front yard. I called the real estate company and asked if the house was occupied. Get this: they said it’s been vacant for months. Pretty insane, huh?”

  “It’s weird, all right.” The twilight zone! Hawk wiped the perspiration off his lip. “But it seems extremely detailed, not what I’d expect to hear from the head of a guy who was really disturbed.”

  “But there’s no other explanation, right?”

  “I don’t have one,” Hawk said. “It does bug me that no one has reported either person missing. How well did you search the grass where the couple was supposedly covered with the red stuff from the drone?”

  “I didn’t get down on my hands and knees, if that’s what you mean. But I didn’t see anything on the grass. I’m telling you, man, if he’s imagining that kind of stuff, he needs help.”

  “Well, at least it’s over now.”

  “Think again.” Dennis lifted his head out from under the hood. “The reason Brody left mad this morning is because I cut him off before he was through talking and said I’d heard enough.”

  “There’s more?”

  “Oh yeah. Now he’s convinced he’s being followed. Did you see anyone else when you pulled up?”

  Hawk shook his head. “No. No one.”

  “Well, Brody’s scared to go to work. Scared to go home. I’m thinking about calling my aunt and uncle and seeing if he can move home until they can get him an appointment with his shrink. Maybe he needs his medication increased.”

  Chapter 4

  Hawk drove past Kennedy’s house and saw the for-sale sign in the front yard, just as Dennis had told him. He dialed the phone number on the sign and let it ring.

  “On the Spot Realty, this is Hilda Schneider, how may I help you?”

  “Yes, ma’am, this is Johnny Smith. I’m inquiring about the house for sale at 101 Mountain View Court in Raleigh County. The mailing address is Foggy Ridge. I’m sitting out front now, and there are no flyers. I was wondering if you could fill me in.”

  “One moment, please …”

  Hawk looked in his rearview mirror and all around him. He didn’t see any other houses nearby, though it looked like some of the lots were being cleared.

  “Hello, Mr. Smith?”

  “Yes, I’m here.”

  “That’s the gorgeous cedar home with a stone front. I would be happy to go through all the features with you. Or you could just go to our website at onthespotrealty-dot-org and take a virtual tour of the home and see if it’s a good fit. The price is two million two-seventy-five but is negotiable.”

  “Is it currently occupied?” Hawk said.

  “No, sir. It’s been vacant since October of last year when we got the listing. However, the owner has kept it maintained inside and out, so it’s move-in ready. It’s really quite spectacular.”

  Hawk glanced up at the house. “Do you know if the owner lives in this area?”

  “I see here it’s owned by the FAMPRO Corporation out of Little Rock.”

  “All right. I’ll look up the listing on your website. Thanks. You’ve been very helpful.”

  Hawk took out his phone and pulled up the website, then found the listing. He read the description and watched the slideshow. The house had six bedrooms, five and a half baths, a formal living and dining, a family room, a kitchen fit for a chef, a media room, and was sixty-five hundred square feet. Two million, two-hundred-seventy-five-thousand dollars … he smiled without meaning to. Not even that beautiful estate house of Elliot’s had sold for that much.

  It was clear that Kennedy had lied about having bought the house with her inheritance money. The real estate company lied about the house having been vacant since October. Someone was definitely hiding something. He had a feeling the FAMPRO Corporation might have the answers. What if it was a front for the people behind Kennedy’s disappearance? Did he dare start nosing around when he had no idea what he was dealing with? Brody’s account of what had happened seemed to fit, and Dennis said that Brody was scared he was being followed. If whoever was behind this thought they had left Hawk for dead, the last thing he wanted to do was draw attention to himself.

  The loud cawing of a crow echoed through the trees and caused him to look up, his pulse racing. A cold chill slithered up his spine.

  He started the Jeep and headed down the mountain toward Angel View Lodge with an eerie, unsettling feeling that he was being watched.

  Hawk worked all afternoon and into the evening, taking guests on Jeep tours across Sure Foot Mountain. While he was working, he’d been able to focus on making it a fun adventure for the guests and forget about the black cloud of unanswered questions that just kept growing.

  But the minute he headed to the house and opened the front door, he was all too aware of both the affair he’d confessed and the secret he was keeping to himself. He took a shower and changed clothes, dreading dinner with the family.

  Jesse appeared at the bathroom door. “Dinner’s almost ready. We’re having pot roast. Mama’s in a mood and so is Abby. Women are sure hard to figure out.”

  “Tell me about it.” Hawk took a towel, rubbed the fog off the mirror, and combed his wet hair. “Better get used to it. It’s one of the mysteries we guys live with.”

  “Elliot’s not cranky, but he’s really quiet. Grandpa too. Is there something going on I should know about?” Jesse said.

  How could Hawk possibly explain his situation to his thirteen-year-old brother? Yet the way Jesse was always eavesdropping, he was bound to overhear something. Better to nip it in the bud.

  Hawk went over to his bed and sat. “Come here. There is something you should know.”

  Jesse plopped down on the bed.

  “I’m going to speak man to man about something private. But I think you can handle it, now that you’re a teenager.”

  Jesse smiled. “Cool.”

  “Laura Lynn and I broke up,” Hawk said. “It was all my fault. I was seeing another woman behind her back. I knew it was wrong, but I let my strong attraction to this other woman cloud my judgment. I allowed things to happen with this other woman that I promised I wouldn’t do until I got married. It hurt Laura Lynn—a lot. It was a betrayal. Do you understand what that means?”

  “Isn’t it like doing something the other person never expected of you, and it really hurts them?”

  “Yes. And it changed me. I can’t explain how, but I’ve robbed myself of something special, and I can never go back and undo it. Does that make sense?”

  Jesse nodded, his cheeks flushed.

  Hawk looked into Jesse’s eyes. “Listen to me. I’m ashamed of what I did, and I hope you’ll
have better sense. There’s a reason the Bible instructs us to wait until we’re married to get involved that way. It complicates everything.”

  “I get it. We talked about that in youth group. I’m sorry you and Laura Lynn broke up. I really liked her. Is she mad?”

  Hawk sighed. “More like devastated. I hate that I’ve hurt her so much. Mom and Abby are really upset and disappointed in me, so don’t be surprised if they get emotional. Grandpa and Elliot are disappointed too, but they seem to shut down and not say anything. I’m not sure which is worse. One thing I am sure of is that no one is more disappointed in me than me.”

  “I understand how that feels,” Jesse said.

  Hawk patted Jesse’s knee. “I know you do. I’d appreciate it if you’d keep this just between us. I haven’t told anyone outside the family, and I’d like to keep it that way. It’ll be humiliating for Laura Lynn if people start talking about what I did.”

  “I won’t say anything. Thanks for trusting me. That means a lot.”

  “What it means is you’re growing up. Okay, sport”—Hawk pulled Jesse to his feet—“let’s go eat.”

  After dinner, Hawk didn’t know what to do with himself. There was no place to go and no one to be with, so he walked down to the gazebo on the back lawn of Angel View and decided to find out more about the FAMPRO Corporation. He took his phone out of his pocket and logged on. He googled the name, then read the business description.

  “FAMPRO Corporation is located in Little Rock, Arkansas. This organization primarily operates in the Business Activities at Noncommercial site business/industry within the Business Services Sector. The organization has been operating for approximately ten years. FAMPRO Corporation is estimated to generate $10,103,000 in annual revenues, and employs 6 people at this single location.”

  Hawk swatted a mosquito. That didn’t tell him anything that meant anything. He wrote the contact’s name, the street address, and the phone number on the palm of his left hand, though he had second thoughts about looking into anything related to Kennedy’s disappearance. But after what Brody said he witnessed, there could be no doubt that she didn’t leave of her own volition. Hawk could no longer pretend it was none of his business.

  But what if he was dealing with the mob? Or a drug cartel? Or some other criminal force? They had already left him for dead once. To go digging for answers on his own was dangerous. To report it to the authorities could be even more dangerous. And he had no way of knowing whether Kennedy was still alive.

  Lord, I can’t believe the mess I’m in. I know it’s my own fault, but I don’t want to do the wrong thing and cause something tragic to happen—to me or to Kennedy, or to anyone else. I need You to show me what to do. Lord, give me wisdom and don’t let me doubt it when You do. In Jesus’s name, I pray.

  “Okay if I join you?” Grandpa Buck stood at the bottom of the steps.

  “Sure,” Hawk said.

  Buck came up the gazebo steps and sat next to Hawk. “I guess it was a little too icy at the dinner table, eh?”

  “Pretty much,” Hawk said. “I don’t blame anyone but myself, though. It’ll take time for everyone to get over the disappointment. But it’s not just that, Grandpa. I’m a little lost right now. My life’s changed dramatically. There’s really nowhere to go, and no one to be with.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t worry too much about that. It’ll change soon enough. Maybe it’s good you have a little time to reflect. Make some adjustments.”

  “That’s all I seem to be doing.”

  “Hawk, you need to give it time. This isn’t going to just blow over.”

  “I know. But the more I think about it, the worse I feel. I learned my lesson. I’m never going to let something like this happen again.”

  “Well, there’s more learnin’ involved than just deciding what you won’t do. You might want to consider what you will do. Such as, going out of your way to win back your mother and your sister. I’m not sure you realize how personal this feels to them as women.”

  “So now I have to worry about all the females in the family ganging up on me? Like I don’t already feel guilty enough?”

  “They’re not ganging up on you, Hawk. They love Laura Lynn too. We all do. They just have more empathy for her pain than for your remorse. They’ll come around a whole lot quicker if you don’t get your defenses up.”

  “What defenses? I didn’t say a word at dinner.”

  “Well, believe me, women read between the lines.” Grandpa shot him a crooked smile. “What I’m tryin’ to say is don’t be afraid to let them see your pain. They may never understand the temptations a man faces, or how a man can get involved the way you did. But they can sure relate to how much you’re hurtin’ and how sorry you are, if you just don’t try so hard to cover it up.”

  Hawk cracked his knuckles. “Is that what I’m doing?”

  “I’ve known you all your life, Hawk. You can hold back on showin’ your true feelings as well as any man I’ve ever known.”

  Hawk nodded. “I guess that’s true. I’ve never been good at letting my feelings show. I wait until I’m alone.”

  “And that’s fine,” Grandpa said. “But I promise you, those two women need to see how sorry you are. You might start by not avoiding eye contact. And if that makes you uncomfortable, just go with it. The important thing is to be real.”

  How real can I be when I’ve only told half the truth?

  Chapter 5

  On Tuesday morning, Hawk woke up with a throbbing headache, but he was glad that he’d gotten through the night without a repeat of that awful spider dream. He sat up on the side of the bed and took two Excedrin, acutely aware that the reality of the spider drone was much worse than the dream.

  He glanced at the clock. It was ten minutes to seven. He showered and dressed and quietly left the house.

  He drove into Foggy Ridge and bought a copy of the weekly newspaper from the machine in front of the post office. He got back in the Jeep and scanned the lead article about the sailboat races. Then he scanned each subsequent page. No missing persons reported. No sightings of a mysterious drone. It was as though it had never happened. Only it had. The awful headaches were proof enough for him, especially after Brody had filled in the blanks. But his sunglasses, shirt, and shorts with the red spatter were tangible proof.

  As he put the newspaper on the passenger seat, he thought he saw someone duck behind the drop-off mailbox across the street. He froze, the beating of his heart almost audible. He looked up and down the sidewalk but didn’t see anyone. The only business open before nine a.m. this far off Main Street was the Sweet Butter Café half a block up the street.

  “Hello?” Hawk said. “Who’s there? No point in hiding. I saw you.”

  Hawk reached down on the floor, picked up the ball bat he’d never gotten around to putting away after the church softball game.

  “Why are you following me?” Hawk said. “Show yourself. Let’s talk.”

  Hawk hopped out of the Jeep and crouched down behind it. He could hardly breathe. Was he crazy? Whoever was hiding could have a gun. He was tempted to run up the street to the café but didn’t want to risk getting a bullet in his back.

  “Tell me what you want!” he shouted. His words were met with silence.

  Hawk cowered behind his Jeep for what seemed an eternity, the bizarre events of recent days bombarding his mind. Finally, his anger boiled over. He jumped up, let out a war whoop, and charged the mailbox with the ball bat ready to start swinging. He slowed as he reached the side of the mailbox and then stopped abruptly when he could see no one was hiding there.

  He listened for the sound of feet pounding the pavement, all the while looking up and down the street. All was quiet except for the low hum of early morning traffic.

  Feeling both foolish and furious, Hawk hurried back to his Jeep. He climbed in, started the motor, and pulled onto Sw
eet Butter Street. He was starting to act as paranoid as Brody.

  He turned right onto Shelby and drove several blocks until he came to Main Street, still feeling the sting of having acted like an idiot. His cell phone rang just as the traffic light turned red. What could Dennis want this early?

  “Hey, Dennis.”

  “Something terrible’s happened! Brody tried to tell me, and I blew it off—”

  “Slow down, man. What’s wrong?”

  “Brody’s dead.”

  “Dead? Good grief! What happened?”

  “My uncle called and said that Brody spent the night with him and my aunt. He went to bed around ten o’clock, but slipped out the window in his room and went for a drive up the mountain. He misjudged a curve and went off the side of the road and down a steep embankment. A couple in an SUV must have come by right after it happened and noticed the twisted guardrail and a cloud of dust. They spotted his Mustang smashed headlong into a huge hardwood tree about a hundred feet below and called nine-one-one. It took a long time to get to him. My uncle called Brody’s cell phone, but he didn’t answer. When they finally got to his car and pulled it up, Brody was dead. Apparently it was horrific. The deputies wouldn’t let my uncle see him.”

  Hawk’s heart was practically beating out of his chest. “So the authorities think it was an accident?”

  “Yes, but I’m sure it wasn’t! I don’t know if the skid marks will prove anything, but in my gut, I know someone ran him off the road. I should go talk to the sheriff.”

  Hawk’s mind raced with the implications. “Have you talked to anyone besides me about what Brody told you?”

  “No. I told my aunt and uncle that Brody had been imagining things and acting more paranoid than usual, and that maybe he needed to see his shrink.”

  “Hold on a minute.” The light turned green, and Hawk pulled into a convenience store and shut off the engine. “Dennis, you still there?”

  “Yeah, man.”

  “Don’t say another word on the phone. You remember where you were when you got up the nerve to finally ask Jillian to go out?”