Chapter 53

FIFTY-THREE

To spread word that Vinnie's in Bellingham, we plan to go to Custer to the No Name Bar and then back to Lynden to the Word of the Lamb shelter. We arrive at the crossroads in Custer and get out at the No Name Bar. It's well after noon and we haven't heard from Jack or Rebecca.

"We can eat lunch here if you've had your hepatitis shots," I say.

Ronnie found a picture of Missy on Facebook and saved it along with the pictures of Thundercloud and Duke and Vinnie. "Do you want to show these people the photos of everyone?"

I was counting on it. I don't think the kidnapper will do anything to Victoria and risk getting nothing. I don't tell Ronnie this. I'm risking her mom's well-being on my gut feeling. "It's going on six days, Ronnie. We need to push the kidnappers and find your uncle. Jack will pay the kidnappers, won't he?"

"He will. I'm sure of it."

I'm not sure of anything. But this is Ronnie's family.

It looks like the same pickup trucks are parked outside. We enter and the regulars are debating the consequence of not paying their taxes. The conversation stops and all eyes are on Ronnie. The bartender, Tammy, doesn't look up and says, "Put your teeth back in your mouth, Hank." No one laughs. Hank swallows loudly.

Hank wants to say something so badly that if I had a needle, I could burst him like a balloon. I preempt him and introduce Ronnie.

"Hi, Hank. This is my partner, Detective Ronnie Marsh. She's armed. So am I. Play nice or I'll shoot you in the leg. Maybe the middle one."

This causes a chorus of laughs, and those near Hank thump him on the back.

Tammy grins and says, "She got you good, you old bastard."

"Who you calling old?" Hank says, and one of the boozers sputters beer in a fine mist and wipes his mouth with his sleeve.

I say, "A round of drinks on me." If you want cooperation, mention anything free, especially liquor.

One of the drunks asks, "What're we celebratin', princess?"

"You all helped me solve my case. I thought I'd buy you a drink." To Tammy I say, "We need to get some lunch. What do you have?"

"Cheese pizza or cheese pizza. Your pick."

"We'll split the cheese pizza. Burn it."

"Brown?"

"Cremated." I hate burned pizza but I have to play the tough girl. I should order a Scotch in a dirty glass but I'm not that crazy.

Tammy unwraps a frozen pizza and sticks it in an air-cooker then starts replenishing drinks for our audience. "What do you want to drink, ladies?"

"Diet Coke for me. Water with lemon for Ronnie. We're still on duty."

Hank says, "Good call. You wouldn't want Tommy Tittle to get you for drunk drivin'." They guffaw and raise their drinks to me in a toast. "Here's to the best women detectives I know."

Another drunk says, "They're the only women detectives you know, Hank."

"The best damn lookin' ones I've seen anyway."

I cock an eye at him. "Remember we're armed, Hank."

"Yes'm." He puts on a solemn face.

"Say thank you," I say to all of them.

They all say thanks.

Tammy brings our drinks. My Diet Coke is in an ice-cold can. The water is in a bottle. She leans across and whispers, "We're out of lemon and I don't expect you'll stay long enough to eat the pizza. Why are you really here?"

"Tammy, I need your help again." She hadn't helped last time but a girl can hope. "We're looking for some other people now."

Tammy holds a hand out, and Ronnie puts enough money on the bar for another round of drinks and the pizza for us. Tammy scoops it up and stuffs it down the front of her tank top. She's not wearing a bra. Or deodorant either. "And you don't want these yahoos knowing nothing, am I right?"

"I want you to listen to us tell them something and call me if anyone makes a call or says anything after we leave. Will you do that?"

She nods.

I say loud enough to overcome the slurping and burping at the bar, "Take a look at these pictures, Tammy. We're trying to find them. Anything you can tell us will be appreciated." I show her the pictures of Thundercloud, Missy, and Duke—and Vinnie last. She recognizes Vinnie and Thundercloud. I can tell by her eyes. She takes my phone and slides it down the bar in front of the men. They gather around Hank, and he flips through the photos of the two men.

Hank says, "That's Vacuum Vinnie," and points to the picture of Vinnie. "I don't know the other." They all look then shake their collective heads and go back to their drinks. We do the same with the pictures of Missy and Duke with the only response being whistles at the picture of Missy. I guess free booze only buys so much. Tammy hands the phone back, then slides the pizza out of the air-fryer onto a couple paper plates and covers this with a wad of paper towels creating a makeshift to-go box. Our cue to leave. We leave.

Back in the parking lot Ronnie holds the pizza in her lap and hands me a piece on one of the paper towels. "Tough crowd," she says.

I take a bite and almost break a tooth on the hard crust. "Tough pizza too." I ignore the littering law and pitch the pizza out of the window. Ronnie does the same and settles for her water.

"This seems like a wasted trip," she says.

"We're going to Lynden. Nothing is wasted." Except the pizza. And Ronnie's money. "Call Rebecca and see where we're at with the motel."

"Maybe we should go to Missy's mother's place. We might find Thundercloud. Someone else was there when we were talking."

"We're not ready to talk to him yet. I just want to know where he is. Maybe a drive-by won't hurt. Can you check and see if he has any vehicles registered to him?"

Tammy knocks on the window. Megan powers it down, and Tammy is holding a bulging black trash bag. "You see what my customers are like. I can't say nothing in there or I wouldn't have any customers at all. Show me the pictures again. The ones of the guys with scarred faces."

Ronnie pulls the photos up on her iPad to make them larger. Tammy stops her at Thundercloud's photo. "I've seen him." She takes the iPad to get a closer look. "Yep. He was in here right after you and the rude cop were here."

She means Lucas. I ask, "What did he want?" I don't ask if Hank or his comedy crew had seen him. It doesn't matter.

"He was asking about Vinnie. Said he was a friend and had some news for him. I might 'a messed up."

I ask, "What do you mean, Tammy?"

"I might 'a told him some cops were looking for Vinnie too. Hank might 'a told him about the VW camper that Vinnie bought. I should 'a known he was lying. Vinnie doesn't have any friends as far as I know. But this guy was one scary looking man. Is he in trouble?"

I say, "We're going to arrest him for P.U. Public Ugliness."

Tammy chuckles. "In that case you'd better take everyone in my bar."

We thank her, and Tammy heads off to the trash bin.

"Thundercloud is looking for my uncle," Ronnie says. "He just made the top of my list of suspects."

"Along with Duke and Missy," I say.

Ronnie gets on her iPad. "I'm sending the pictures to Officer Nelson's phone. He can check with the shelter and save us some time."

"Good idea. There's still one person here we need to show."

There's no traffic so I run the stop sign hoping Tommy Tittle, the town constable I'd met earlier in No Name Bar, is hiding behind a billboard. Maybe he'll stop me and help us spread the word or at least listen in at the bar. But Tittle's not taking the bait. I don't wait for Ronnie to finish to see if we're going to Lynden or to Bellingham and pull out of Tammy's place running the stop sign. I then make a U-turn and run the stop sign again going toward Bellingham.

Ronnie gets off the phone. "You just ran that stop sign, Megan."

"Sorry. I was thinking." I was thinking there's never a cop around when you need one.

"I texted Nelson and he'll do that for us. I texted Rebecca too. She rented all the rooms at the Ocean View Motel."

Before I can ask where the Ocean View Motel is, a black car with wig-wag lights in the grille speeds up behind us almost tapping my bumper. The siren is blasting the peaceful stillness I'd been enjoying. I pull over, and a policeman in a khaki uniform, straw Western hat, large gold badge, cowboy boots and big mirrored aviator glasses saunters to my window.

"Ma'am," he says, and tips the silly hat.

"Officer Tittle," I respond.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to cite you for running that traffic sign back there."

"I'm afraid too, Officer Tittle." I fake a shudder, and he chuckles.

He pulls a ticket book from his back pocket and writes something on it; not enough to be a citation. "I'm not really going to write you a ticket, Detective Carpenter. Who's your friend?" He lowers his sunglasses almost comically and assesses Ronnie.

"She's a murder suspect and she's holding me hostage. Help."

His jaw comes unhinged, and I have to quickly say, "Detective Ronnie Marsh. My partner. This is Officer Thomas Tittle. He's the law here."

He says, "I knew you was kiddin'."

He really didn't.

He says, "You got some quick come-backs, Detective Carpenter. That's good. Us lawmen—and women—he tips his hat, need to have a quick mind. Like for example I know'd you was trying to get my attention when you blew through the stop sign. Smart. And a' course I had to come after you to make it look real."

Ronnie looks at the ticket and there are smiley faces drawn across the form. She smiles, leans across me, and offers her hand. He holds it longer than necessary. She says, "Megan has told me about you. She said we can count on you, Constable."

His smile widens with each word.

"You can call me Tommy."

"Ronnie," she says, and has to ask for her hand back. "That's some grip, Tommy."

"I work out at the gym in Bellingham. Us lawmen have to keep in shape."

"Keep up the good work," I say, and want to gag. "We have some pictures to show you. Of course you can't tell anyone."

He puts two fingers to his lips and turns an imaginary key, which to me means he'll spill his guts to anyone and everyone.

"Ronnie will show you while you check her identification to make this look real."

He goes to Ronnie's window and checks out everything but her credentials. She shows him the photos of our quarry and in between lecherous looks he glances at each one. I hate using her like this. Actually, I don't.

Ronnie tells him the names. "These are persons of interest in a kidnapping."

Constable Tittle examines the photos and quickly points to the ones of Duke and Thundercloud. "I've seen these two guys together in Bellingham. I was taking a prisoner to the jail there since it's the closest and they were on the street across from the gym I go to. That was three weeks ago. I can get the date for you if you want."

"That's not necessary, Tommy," I say.

"The other guy is Vinnie, right?"

"Good eye," I tell him.

Ronnie says, "We showed these photos back at Tammy's bar so I would very much appreciate it if you would listen to the talk. Find out anything you can and call me."

She gives him a business card.

"I'll owe you. That's Megan and I'm Ronnie from now on."

His hand shakes visibly when he takes the card.

As we drive away, slowly, Ronnie buttons the top two buttons of her blouse.

I laugh. "You should be ashamed."