Avoiding her gaze, he turned away and headed for the trailer. As he entered, he looked back to see her watching him. Giving her a little finger wave, he closed the door.
Feeling unsettled, Mattie climbed into her cruiser and drove away, wondering why a teenager would notice that the hot springs owner had a lot of cash.
Chapter 16
During the next hour, Mattie patrolled the streets of Timber Creek thinking about her conversation with Tommy O’Malley. She’d expected him to deny any knowledge of drug use or Grace’s killing, but she’d been surprised when he mentioned the hot springs owner. Had he blurted out the name of his supplier when he’d felt pressured?
The killing of Grace Hartman and Mike Chadron had to be related to the drug trade. Yesterday, when Angela Walker said there’d been rumors that Tommy O’Malley might be selling, she’d backed off from pressing her, both for the sake of establishing rapport and because she felt sympathy for the girl’s grief. Now she needed to know if Tommy had a reputation as a dealer at school or not. She needed something more solid the next time she questioned him.
Perhaps Angela’s grief wouldn’t be as new and raw as it had been yesterday. She reached for her cell phone, swiped to Cole Walker’s business number, and dialed.
“Hello, Deputy Cobb,” he said.
“Good morning. How are the salmonella patients doing today?”
“They’re better, thanks, at least from a physical standpoint. From the looks of things, I’d guess that they’re both a little depressed though.”
“Yeah.” Mattie’s mind conjured pictures of both dog and teen from the day before. She sighed and said in a tone meant to show her sympathy. “Why wouldn’t they be, right? You, too, I imagine.”
He cleared his throat. “I’ll be all right.”
She adopted a more businesslike tone. “Have you heard about Mike Chadron yet?”
“No, what’s up?”
“We found him last night at his home. Deceased. Apparent suicide.”
“Good grief! That’s not like the Mike I know. In all the times he brought his dogs in, he never once seemed despondent or depressed.”
His comment backed up their theory. “Really?” she said, inviting more.
“Well, maybe he hid it, like some people do.” He paused. Mattie waited to see if he’d continue. “My wife has been dealing with depression all summer, earlier than that, really, unbeknownst to me. So who am I to be able to recognize it?”
“I’m sorry about your wife’s troubles,” Mattie said, surprised that he would share something so personal.
“Ex-wife, I should say. I’m not used to that yet.”
So the rumors were true. “I’m sure it’s been hard on you. The kids, too.”
“Yeah.” He paused again.
Mattie switched the topic back to business. “I wondered if I could talk to Angela again this morning.”
“Yes, but later. My sister will be leaving, and we need to spend some time with her first. Maybe you could come by around eleven thirty?”
“House or office?”
“House.”
“I’ll be there.”
After disconnecting the call, Mattie realized she felt flushed. She’d never been comfortable discussing people’s personal lives unless the discussion had something to do with the job. Surely that was the only reason.
She decided to call Stella to tell her about the hot springs lead, and the detective answered immediately.
“LoSasso.”
Mattie told her about her conversation with Tommy and how he pointed to the owner of the hot springs as someone who had a lot of money. She shared her suspicion that the group could be involved with drug running. “One of us should go out there and meet him. See if he could also be a suspect for our killings.”
“I’m on my way to meet Chadron’s parents now. You go ahead and see what you think. When we meet at noon, we’ll share info and set up a plan for next steps.”
“All right.”
Mattie checked in with dispatch, telling Rainbow that she was headed out to patrol the highway. She didn’t want Rainbow to call ahead and inadvertently alert her new friends about the visit, so she didn’t mention her destination. Taking Highway 12 out of town, she passed the turnoff to the vet clinic and realized she’d be back just about the right time to stop in for her appointment.
Their route also led to Ute Canyon, and Robo stood behind her, watching intensely out the windshield. She realized he remembered the drive from both days before and thought he was going back up to work.
“We’re not heading up there today. Not that I know of anyway. We’re going to Valley Vista hot springs. You’ll see.”
During the ten-minute drive through dry grassland on the valley floor, the elevation rose slightly so that she could see Timber Creek, like an oasis surrounded by trees, behind her.
She turned east onto a county road that stretched in a gray line running upslope and ended in a pocket of aspen growing in a canyon at the base of the mountains. Although Valley Vista was located only halfway up the road, Mattie had been to the end many times, hiking the trails that led to crystal-clear lakes nestled between the peaks above timberline.
Valley Vista itself couldn’t boast the jewel-like appearance of the lakes in the high country. Instead, it was more like a concrete-lined mud hole in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by buffalo grass and rabbit bush. Abandoned for years, the only structure at the place was a tumbledown bathhouse that had been built decades earlier. There were no trees to block the high-altitude sunlight that beat down on the valley, creating solar waves that bent the atmosphere.
As Mattie approached, she could see the cluster of large, white tents that had been pitched around the premises. The old bathhouse had been taken down and a new one had been partially framed to take its place. Three workmen paused to observe her as she parked her patrol car on the far side of the pool and turned off the engine. Since there was no shade to park under, she decided to take Robo with her. Besides, an alert from a narcotics detection dog provided probable cause to search, something she would just love to do.
She remembered the name of Rainbow’s new friend. “I’m looking for Anya Yamamoto,” she called to the workers.
A well-muscled, young Hispanic male, shirtless and with sweat glistening on his brown skin, pointed his hammer toward the nearest tent. Now that she was closer, she could see that it was actually a yurt. “Should be over there. If she’s not, someone should be there to help you.”
“Thanks.”
The rotten egg smell from the sulfur springs was decidedly unpleasant. She opened her mouth slightly so she wouldn’t have to breathe through her nostrils and made her way toward the yurt, a white nylon structure supported with a wooden frame. Its flaps were pinned back, and as Mattie approached, she could see that it contained a floor made from a wooden platform, two desks with computers on top, printers, telephones, and other equipment that made up an office. Mattie figured the entire setup, including several other yurts and electrical installation, must have cost a bundle.
She wondered where the money to front this enterprise was coming from.
An Asian woman was seated at one desk, a man at the other. The woman rose to greet her while the man’s attention remained fixed on his computer screen. He was tapping away at the keyboard.
The woman said, “Mattie Cobb . . . welcome.”
Surprised, Mattie said, “You know me?”
The woman smiled. “From Rainbow’s description. None other could be dressed in officer’s uniform, leading a large, black dog.”