Prolonged Exposure

Chapter 41

By the time I left Paul Cole’s final resting place, a fair convocation of folks had arrived, including Dr. Alan Perrone, the assistant county coroner. Deputy Pasquale didn’t like it much, but I commandeered his Bronco, leaving him to catch a ride with one of the other deputies.

Estelle had taken her husband and son back into Posadas in my car, and I needed to know what other information she had been able to pry gently out of little Francis. I didn’t want to infringe on her time or her privacy with her family, especially with her mother in intensive care. But there was still a whole mountain of information we badly needed.

I drove into Posadas at twenty minutes after eight that morning, feeling an odd combination of immense relief and apprehension. Paul Cole had been an unknown quantity-I had never met him, knew nothing about him. His notion of fooling both wife and school with the fake hunting trip spoke of a kind of brainless, lame bravado-make things too complicated, and then try and bull through. It hadn’t worked with Roberto Madrid, either.

But Paul Cole wasn’t calling the shots anymore. Andy Browers was. And I knew a little bit about Browers.

I pulled into the Public Safety Building’s parking lot and walked quickly inside. To my surprise, Gayle Sedillos was working Dispatch. To my even greater surprise, she rose quickly to her feet, reached me in three quick steps, and enveloped me in a hard bear hug.

“What’s that for?” I said, returning the squeeze.

Her smile was brilliant. She was a lovely girl, and I wished that the old department bachelor, Robert Torrez, would look her way once in awhile.

“I just decided that today was a good day to hug everyone I see,” she said.

“Fair enough.” I grinned. “Has Stanley Willit been in yet this morning? He needs one.”

“No.” She made a face. “Estelle wants you to call her, though.”

“She home?” I asked. Gayle nodded. “How long ago did she call?”

“About ten minutes. And you’ve got important company waiting for you.” She pointed toward my office door.

I went into my office and found my daughter sitting at my desk, playing solitaire on the computer. She was resting her head in her left hand, moving the mouse with her right in dreamy circles.

“Hey there,” I said.

“Hey there, yourself,” Camille replied. She offered a bright smile, and then her expression turned to one of sympathy. “Is the little boy really all right?”

“As far as I know. I was going to call right now. Estelle left a message that she wanted to talk to me.”

“And then am I going to be able to get you to go home?”

“Eventually, I suppose. What’s up?”

She shrugged and turned away from the screen. “I just don’t want you to keel over in your tracks.” She pointed at a small plastic box. “And I brought some of the medications you’ve been ignoring.”

“You and Francis,” I said, and reached across the desk to punch the autodialer button for Estelle’s number. After six rings, I was about to hang up, but then the good doctor answered, chatty as usual.

“Guzman.”

“Francis, how’s the kid?” I said without preamble.

“He’s fine.” There was a slight pause. “Physically, anyway. He only dropped a degree or two in body temperature, so he’s just tired. Thank God they put him in some clothes. He wasn’t abused in any way, other than a small bruise on his left elbow. But he may have gotten that up in the rocks.” He chuckled softly. “Our little mountain climber. He was asleep two minutes after we left the ranch.”

“I’m sure the boy’s going to have a nightmare or two for a while, but he’ll heal. I wish I could have spared him this.”

“It’s not your fault, Bill.”

“I know it’s not. I’d just like to have a magic wand sometimes, is all.”

“Wouldn’t we all. And we’ve still got one out there, haven’t we?”

The photo of Cody Cole flashed through my mind and I grimaced. “Yes, we do.”

“Estelle wants to talk with you. Take care of yourself. And by the way, when things settle down a little, I really do need to review your meds with you.”

He didn’t give me time to object.

“Sir?” Estelle said, so quickly that she must have lifted the other extension, “I caught some of the radio traffic. You found the body?”

“Yes. I think it’s Paul Cole.”

“That fits, then. Francisco woke up for a few minutes when we got home, and he said a couple of things that might be useful. First of all, it sounds like he was in the motel. He got the idea that Cody’s ‘daddy’ wanted him to go with ‘that man,’ who I assume was Roberto Madrid, and ‘that man’ didn’t want him. It sounds like they started to fight, and Francis ran into the bathroom. That’s all he’ll say.”

“That pretty much follows what we were thinking,” I said.

“Right. What we don’t know is if Francis was a last-minute substitute for Cody.”

“Or an addition, maybe,” I said.

“If he was just an addition to the deal, there would be no reason for the fight. There would be if the Coles were trying some kind of switch. Trying to pull a fast one.”

“Maybe so. Would he say anything else?”

“I asked him if Paul Cole was the man who abducted him. Actually, what I asked was, ‘Did Cody’s daddy come here to get you?’ or words to that effect. He frowned that really serious frown of his and said, ‘Cody’s got two daddies.’ And then he nodded. Maybe a photo would help.”

“Don’t do that, Estelle. Not unless we really have to. We know that either Paul Cole or Andy Browers came and took him. Erma says it was a big man, and that fits Cole, not Browers. Let’s not give the kid’s nightmares any more ammunition.”

“What are you going to do, sir?”

“I’m going to find the sheriff and go over to Posadas Electric Co-op and have a chat with Browers’s supervisor. Anyone who would choose the back side of County Road Fourteen to drop someone off is used to thinking about little nooks and crannies in the county. And that makes sense if we’re dealing with Andy Browers. He knows every electric pole, every transformer, every little scratch in the sand that calls itself a road. Costace and I agreed-the first thing Browers is going to do now is get rid of that RV. It’s a liability now, and he has to know that.”

“He could just abandon it anywhere, sir.”

“True enough, but then he has to get away clean. So he can’t just drive it into downtown Posadas. We’ve got his old pickup truck, so he can’t get that. And I’ve got a couple of ideas.”

“Will you pick me up on the way?”

“No, sweetheart, I won’t.”

“Sir, please. Francis is here. He got someone to cover for him. Erma’s here. Even the lady next door came over at seven-thirty. I can break away for a few minutes. It’s all right.”

“When the kid wakes up, you need to be there, Estelle. Don’t be ridiculous.”

There was a long silence. “Do you know what I keep seeing, sir?”

“What?”

“I keep having this image of Cody Cole as just a little bump in the snow down in the San Cristobal Mountains. Remember when we were all up on the mesa and I was holding Francis? Remember that?”

“Yes.”

“And I asked him if he’d run down to the fence and back?”

“Right. He wouldn’t go.”

“Right. I don’t think any of us can imagine what it’s like being three years old and spending the night out, all alone.”

“I’ve thought about that more than once, sweetheart. And that’s my point.”

“One of the things Francis said when I was tucking him into bed was that last night he could hear all the ‘doggies’ around him. Three years old, sitting by a rock, and listening to coyotes.”

“Estelle…”

“He’s safe now, sir. Cody Cole isn’t. I don’t think there’d be much paz en mi alma if something happened to him that I could help prevent. Please stop by and pick me up. Francis says I should go, so you know I’m right.”

“You win.” I sighed.

She heard it and actually chuckled. “Promise?”

“Yep.”

“See you in a few minutes, padrino.”

When I hung up, Camille asked, “Is everything all right with the boy?”

“He’s home and asleep. He’ll be fine.” I took a deep breath. “One down, one to go.”

Camille frowned. “With one big difference, Dad.” She reached around and turned off the computer. “Cody Cole won’t have much to come home to, if he makes it at all. What will happen to him?”

I rubbed my face, trying to think clearly. “I don’t know, Camille. Let’s find him first. Then…” I groped for the right words. “Then…I don’t know what happens.”