Facing Evil Page 3

  Abby stalked out of the office, slamming the glass door that read Lieutenant M. Banks so hard the glass exploded and cascaded loudly to the floor. She walked away without blinking an eye.

  Lincoln stood stunned as he watched the last of the glass trickle to the ground, and then turned to his boss.

  “Don’t worry, Detective. I’ve no intention of keeping her badge or her gun. I spent half the day fighting for her to keep it.” She picked up Abby’s gun and badge and held them out to Lincoln. “She’s got a temper — that’s no secret — but she’s wound too tight right now. The time off is for her own good and we both know it.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Go talk to her. Convince her that this is a good thing.”

  Lincoln nodded as he pulled open the glassless door.

  “Detective...”

  Lincoln looked back at his boss.

  “I don’t want her hanging around here. I want her out of town and not at home talking to you on the phone every hour. I want her gone — away from Ward, away from the media, away from here. Is that understood?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He stepped over the glass and started to close the door.

  “Why bother?” Lieutenant Banks said sarcastically. Lincoln nodded and backed away from the mess. The lieutenant hollered after him, “Tell her she owes me a new door!”

  Abby reached down with her right hand to open the door to the roof of the police station; the thin white line around her lips was evidence of the pain she felt. Stepping back, she put her boot on the handle and kicked open the door. The heavy steel door swung open with a bang.

  Clouds darkened the afternoon skies, but the solemn detective took no notice as she made her way down the three stairs to the small covered deck the officers used when they wanted a smoke or just a break in their day. She stood there motionless, except for her long hair fluttering in the wind. Abby stepped up onto one of the wooden deck chairs and sat down on the back of it, huddling herself deeper into her leather jacket.

  She knew her anger had gotten the better of her in Bank’s office, as it had at the courthouse. Billy was a free man and she had just handed in her badge. No matter how she looked at it, the day made no sense. She hated how she had handled herself. Abby looked down at the cast that went from the tips of her fingers up her forearm. With a grimace, she managed to wiggle just the end of her index finger. With a heavy sigh, she reached into the inside pocket of her jacket with her right hand. A slice of pain went through her hand, telling her it was unhappy with the way she continued to treat it.

  With a loud hiss, she pulled her hand back and looked at the bandage. It was all she could do to pull out the pack and remove a cigarette with her teeth. She left the cigarette dangling from her mouth as she pulled out her lighter with a groan. After several attempts, she couldn’t even manage to get a spark. She tossed the lighter and cigarette to the ground in frustration. “To hell with it!”

  “I could’ve helped you with that.”

  The deep voice of her partner instantly curbed her rising temper. “I’ve been meaning to quit anyway.”

  “Smoking or your job?”

  “Both.” Her voice revealed her disappointment. “How am I gonna afford to smoke without a job?”

  “Oh, cut the shit. We both know your parents left you so much money that you’ll never have to work another day in your life.”

  “Lincoln,” she warned. “Fine, be a hard ass. But I’m not packing these around for the next six months.” Lincoln pulled her gun and badge out of his pocket. “Come on, take it. Banks said she didn’t spend all day fighting for it so you could leave it behind.”

  She looked at her weapon and shield for a long moment before she finally reached for them. “What the hell am I supposed to do for six months?”

  “Learn a second language?” Lincoln offered with a small smile.

  She gave him an icy stare. “Oh, you’re funny.”

  “How ‘bout a nice vacation? Dance on a table in Greece, go cuddle a koala?”

  “What exactly are you trying to say?”

  “Banks says you can’t stick around here.”

  “I got that part.”

  “I don’t mean here, as in the police station. I mean here, as in the city. You have to leave town.”

  “Oh, for the love of...” Abby climbed off the chair and walked across the rooftop. “I feel like I’m being run out of Dodge before sundown.”

  “Come on, Abby, give it a chance. Go away somewhere. Sleep in, get fat, fall in love. I don’t care, as long as you take a break and come back the woman I used to know. Abby, you’re too young to be burning out.”

  Back and forth she paced, her long strides digging deep into the roofing gravel as the wind blew her hair. Light rain began to fall but Abby paid it no attention.

  “Will you stop and talk to me? It’s starting to rain.”

  “Do I look like I give a shit? I’ve months to do nothing. Maybe I’ll catch a cold and die!”

  Lincoln shook his head as the rain speckled the wooden walkway and the gravel. “Why can’t you just look at it like a rest?”

  “Because, you big, dumb bastard, no one takes a rest for six months.”

  “You could get pregnant and take a year off on maternity.”

  Abby stopped her pacing and turned to look at him as raindrops fell onto her face. “Is your tie on too tight? I don’t want more time off!” She threw her arms up in exasperation and returned to her pacing. “Men! How the hell you ended up running the freakin’ world is beyond me. Jesus, Lincoln, you don’t think me being gay might make getting pregnant a little difficult?”

  Her sharp mind and quick tongue were part of what he loved about her. “Look, I talked to Carla, and we’ll look after Buck and your place for you.” She stopped and turned to look him in the eye. Even from this distance, he could see he had said the wrong thing.

  “I don’t care where I’m going, but wherever it is...I’m taking my dog with me!”

  Lincoln held his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay, all right. Far be it for me to come between a girl and her wolf.”

  “He’s not a wolf, he’s a hybrid…part wolf. Buck’s a great dog and would never hurt a fly, you know that.”

  “Yeah, I know. He’s a big puppy with big teeth,” Lincoln said with a small smile.

  “And he’d eat you anyhow.” Abby looked up at her partner in despair. “What am I going to do and where am I going to do it?”

  “Why don’t you head to that retreat you sent Carla and me to on our honeymoon? It was a great place, Abby, with fishing, hiking, and horseback riding.” Seeing that his words were finally softening her anger, he threw his arm around her shoulder.

  She gave him a playful jab to the ribs with her elbow. “You can be such a moron, the proverbial missing link.”

  “Fine, but I’m a missing link who’s surrounded by beautiful, stubborn women. Come on, Carla has dinner on and she’ll kill me if I don’t bring you home.”

  Chapter 3

  Taking her hand off the steering wheel, Abby flexed her fingers the best she could. The long drive had felt good, except for the discomfort in her hands and her butt. The mountains around her had become high and rugged, and the evergreens thick and tall. It had been a long time since she had been to the Gold Creek Resort, but her memories of it were as clear as if it were yesterday.

  Gold Creek Resort was where she had spent most of her summers when she was a child. The secluded resort was on the edge of a small lake nestled between three mountain ranges. The towering peaks were always capped by snow and their rugged terrain carpeted with a thousand different hues of green. The lake was stocked with rainbow trout for fishing. Its pristine waters were great for canoeing, and each small cabin positioned on the shore had its own dock that ran almost up to the deck of the cabin. There were trails for hiking or horseback riding, tennis courts, and even a small restaurant. The memories brought a smile to Abby’s face. She hadn’t told Lincoln and Carla that she had
been there before, because it seemed like a lifetime ago. The lifetime of a happy child long since buried beneath the brutality of the real world.

  The sign for Gold Creek Resort hung from massive timbers that framed the entrance. Pushed off to one side was a gate that had never been closed and the dirt road that led to the resort. Decelerating, she prepared herself for the onslaught of memories. Following the road along the lake’s edge, she noticed a few changes since she had last been there, including a helipad next to the front lawn, for those guests wishing for a faster exodus from the city.

  “I guess twenty years will change just about everything,” she said to herself. The small cabins along the lake looked bigger and more secluded and the lodge, once built out of post and beam, was now a long, log structure. The main building was tall, with a high peaked roof, and the gables were filled with windows facing the snowcapped mountains. Between the lodge and the lake, was a large field of luscious green grass where she had spent many a summer playing lawn games.

  Pulling into a parking spot in front, Abby barely had the Jeep’s motor turned off when the front screen door opened.

  “Abigail!” An elderly woman quickly made her way toward the vehicle. “Twenty years or not, I would know those eyes anywhere!”

  “Helga, it’s so great to see you.” It took Abby a moment to get the door of the Jeep open and even longer to pull her cramped, tired body out of her seat. The woman, who had known Abby as a child, wrapped her arms around the tall detective. “You are much taller now, Abigail. You promised me that you would not grow taller than me,” she said in a Scandinavian accent, followed by a wink.

  “Actually, it’s just Abby now,” she whispered into Helga’s ear as she relished the moment and the hug. Although Abby had not returned to the resort in twenty years, she talked to Helga and her husband Günter regularly by phone.

  “Whatever you say, dear. Let me look at you, child,” Helga said as she pulled out of the heartfelt embrace for a better look. “It has been a long time, but I see little Abigail. The years have been good to you. I have heard it, but now I see it. Though the cast and bandages are new, ja?”

  Abby nodded with a smile as Helga continued her running evaluation.

  “I still see the pain in those beautiful eyes of yours.” The detective tried to ignore the comment.

  “What you need is love. You need love in your life, child. You need to let it all go and learn to love. Let the dead rest in peace.” Seeing the effect of her words, Helga quickly changed the subject, her round face filling with a smile. “So, this must be the young man in your life.”

  Buck’s tail wagged happily at the attention. His powerful front legs hung out the window as he waited for his owner’s command to release him from the Jeep.

  “You were right, he is a big, handsome boy, but it’s not enough. You need a pretty girl to make those eyes sparkle again.”

  Not wanting to get into that conversation, Abby called on her companion to change the subject. “Buck, come.” She barely got the dog’s name out before he came through the open driver’s door window and landed in a sitting position at Abby’s feet. He wiggled and squirmed like a child wanting attention, his tail beating the hard packed dirt.

  “I had a hybrid back in the old country. Most are good, some are not. But I can tell he is good puppy, ja?”

  “Yes, but this puppy is four years old and about one hundred pounds too heavy to be a lap dog,” Abby commented as Buck enjoyed all the attention he was getting.

  “Günter will love him. Come, child, there are so many things I want to show you…changes we have made, but first I will take you to where you will be staying.”

  Before Abby could say a word, Helga had Buck back in the Jeep and she was getting in behind the wheel. The tall detective smiled as she walked around to get in the passenger side of her own vehicle.

  Helga took them on a slow tour of the resort, pointing out changes along the way. Abby listened, but kept her eyes on the winding trail that was barely wide enough for her Jeep. The large tires made little sound as they compressed hundreds of pinecones littering the trail. The wild flowers rising up on either side of the road were so close to the side of the Jeep that Abby was tempted to reach out and pick some. The rays of the afternoon sun shot through the trees in a sharp contrast to the shade of the thick branches.

  “Here you are, dear, the last cabin on the lake. The best…for you.” Helga turned down a narrow lane and pulled in beside a small log cabin. Abby noted the driveway, lined with recently stacked firewood, had fresh rake marks where someone had just cleaned off the debris deposited by the forest. As her Jeep came to a stop, Abby looked over her new accommodations.

  Four wooden steps led up to a beautiful L-shaped cedar sundeck that went along the side of the cabin and around the front. The lake crept to within an arm’s reach of the deck of the cabin, and the tall evergreen and alder trees surrounded them on both sides, giving Abby all the privacy that Helga had promised over the phone. Stepping out of the vehicle, Abby was a little surprised to see smoke coming from the river-rock chimney protruding from the tin roof. As she held open the door of the Jeep, Abby gave a small nod to Buck to let him know he was free from the confines of the vehicle.

  “I will get your bags, dear. You have no hands to help. You look around. Make acquaintance with the mountains again.”

  Each cabin had its own wooden dock, which reached from the shore to about thirty feet out over the lake. Abby gave a short whistle and Buck bounded to her side as she wandered past the deck and onto the dock. She took a deep breath and the aroma of nature instantly recharged her tired body and revitalized her memories. The air was clean and crisp blowing off the high white peaks, and a slight breeze rippled the water of the lake. Abby’s boots echoed on the wooden dock as Buck walked next to her, his eyes and ears registering all that was new to him. Abby sat down on the bench at the end of the dock and Buck quickly took up a position at her feet.

  Abby’s dark eyes took in all that hadn’t changed in twenty years, and for the first time in a long time, she felt connected to her surroundings. She always had a keen understanding of life and nature, and knew a person’s time on earth meant nothing to a mountain that would stand unchanged for a million years. The ripples of the lake constantly licked at the underbelly of the wooden dock. The floating, moss-like algae clung to the submerged pilings and would do so until time eroded what man had built. With a sad smile, she recalled the image of her father in the lake, the water up to his chest and Günter by his side as they built a dock for each cabin.

  Buck’s head snapped around and his ears twitched, alerting her to someone’s presence. Turning, she saw Günter coming out from the cabin and a smile spread across her face. His hair was completely white now, but other than that he hadn’t changed since she had seen him last. “Easy, boy, he’s one of the good guys.”

  Abby got to her feet and headed back down the dock. “Ah, my little angel has grown to be a tall beauty.”

  “Günter, you and Helga are good for a girl’s ego.” They hugged each other tightly.

  “You are so tall now, Abby,” he said. “You have your father’s eyes, my dear...and the smile of your mother.”

  Abby smiled as she gently put her fingertips against his lips. “Please.”

  He understood without saying a word as his tanned and leathered face clouded with concern. Günter reached for her battered and broken hands. “You are right, but we have much to catch up on when you feel you want to. Some I already know,” he said with a wink. Putting an arm around her waist, he directed her to the cabin. “Come, I have left you a treat in the cupboard in your cabin…a bottle of the best Aquavit,” he said in a whisper He looked back and waved at Helga. “I know you enjoy the bottles I send at Christmas, and after what I saw, you might need it for medicinal purposes.” He turned back and smiled at her. “You have the best left hook of anyone I know.” He gently patted her cast as he guided her to the stairs at the front of the cabin.


  “You saw that? Even up here?”

  “We may be out in the country here, however we are not in the Old Country.”

  The inside of the cabin was simple, but showcased Günter’s Scandinavian craftsmanship well. One bedroom opened out onto the deck via a sliding glass door. A full bathroom included an antique tub. There was a countertop with a small sink next to a wooden table with four chairs, and then finally, a sofa and a rocking chair in front of the river-rock fireplace.

  Helga had the double doors into the cabin opened wide. “The box arrived this morning. You have people who care for you, ja?”

  Abby nodded as she walked over to a large box sitting on the counter behind the table.

  “There is a card here.” Helga pulled it out and handed it to Abby.

  Abby,

  I thought I should make sure you had everything

  you needed to keep your ass in the mountains

  and away from here. Relax and enjoy.

  Linc

  Günter lifted out a brand new tackle box, holding it out for Abby to see, but she held up her damaged hands and smiled. “That is going to have to wait for a bit.”

  In the bottom of the box were several small wrapped boxes. “And three boxes of chocolates and three cases of beer.”

  Abby turned at Günter’s chuckle. “I think I’ll need one of the fridges.”

  “I will bring you one,” he said.

  “Come now, Günter. I think Abby needs some rest and some time alone.” Helga took her husband’s hand. “Let us know if you need anything, my child.”