Page 39 of Shadow Angel
“Sure.” Carter smiled. “Next time you’re in town, we’ll have a guys’ night out. You need to let your hair down sometime. All work and no play… well, you know the deal.”
“I sure do and, thanks, I’ll look forward to it.” Styles turned to Beth. “Are you happy to take Monday and Tuesday for some downtime? I’m going fishing and no one is going to stop me.”
Beth’s mind went straight to Levi Jackson. At last, she’d have time to slip away unnoticed. She nodded. “Yeah, Monday and Tuesday would work for me.”
“Great!” Styles tipped his head toward the door. “Let’s get out of here.”
Beth smiled. “I thought you’d never ask.”
FORTY
MONDAY
“If you need to contact me, message me.” Styles pushed his Stetson firmly on his head and smiled at her. “I’ll check my messages when I get into range. The bars are sketchy where I’m going. If it’s an emergency, use your satellite phone to reach me.” He gave her a long look. “Not work, right? The Snakeskin Gully team is bored stupid, so get them to handle any situation that comes up.” He paused a beat. “But if it’s personal, call me anytime.”
Beth nodded. “I’ll be fine. I’m only driving to a few towns and staying overnight. I’ll be looking at stores and driving. My phone will be off. I’ll turn it on if the sky falls.” She waved him out of the office door. “Go fishing. I’ll be leaving right behind you. I just need to book a room.”
She waited for him to walk into the elevator and headed for her computer. It was just after six and she’d planned on an early start. She’d need to perform a magic trick and be seen in several places at the same time, but not where she was actually heading.Complicatedwasn’t the word she’d use, but she’d managed similar situations many times before and they all just needed careful planning. She’d estimated by carefully analyzing Levi Jackson’s MO that he murdered twice in the same area and then moved on, which meant, he’d be hunting for another victim out of Running Water. It was in his comfort zone and the last place the cops discovered a body. She figured it was a ninety percent chance, Jackson had left his flyer offering a free room for work at his ranch in the Running Water Roadhouse. The position was perfect and right beside a bus station, the same as all the other scenarios. She just needed to get there and insert herself into the game before some poor girl was lured to her death.
Surreptitiously during the investigations into Joseph Crenshaw’s killing spree, Beth had been making plans. She’d accessed the dark web to obtain the necessary tools of the trade she’d need using reliable criminal associates. Yes, she had many untraceable “friends” who had no idea of her true identity and all accepted untraceable cryptocurrency as payment. Her wealth had tripled over the last year when she’d destroyed a catfisher preying on vulnerable women. The master of deception hadn’t fooled her and he’d have slipped by unnoticed by her, but he wasn’t happy to take just their money—he took their lives as well. His millions had become hers with a stroke of a key, to add to her substantial offshore accounts. Via the dark web there was really little she couldn’t buy.
With Levi Jackson firmly on her radar, she’d used the final week of the previous investigation to make a deal for a nondescript pickup under the name of Tim Burke and would pay cash on delivery. The vehicle would be housed in an old warehouse she’d purchased under another false identity. The place was padlocked and the keys secreted behind a loose brick. She would change the padlock. The building was an easy walk from the Rainbow bus station, and with buses twice daily to and from Spring Grove, it offered the perfect transport option.
She’d made a booking at the motel in Spring Grove in her name and asked for an end room. This was a practice she always used, as it was easier to slip away unnoticed through a side window. On arrival she’d make a big deal about visiting the local stores. Styles had zoned out when she’d explained the reason for staying over and then added her intention to head out to visit the Native American furniture and goods stores. This excuse would give her a good timespan to get back and forth to Running Water and hopefully become Levi Jackson’s next potential victim. After extensive research into Running Water and the surrounding counties, she’d planned everything, including booking a motel room under her alias, close to the roadhouse. If she needed to clean up after her encounter with Jackson, a motel used by thousands of travelers would be perfect. All motels accepted cash and her ID would pass scrutiny. As Tim Burke, she’d become one of many faceless travelers drifting through town.
She double-checked her computer, deleting all signs of her activity, and headed for her apartment. Everything was packed, her disguises and weapons. Excitement thrummed through her mixed with a little twinge of fear. The latter kept her on her toes and stopped her becoming complacent. Levi Jackson was a strong man and, from the condition of his victims, brutal and malicious. She’d need to bring her A game and hope it was enough. First, she’d need to set up her alibi. Beth must convince everyone she’d spent her downtime in Spring Grove. Making sure her presence was known would be the key to success.
A little after eight, she arrived in Spring Grove and headed straight to the motel, checked in, and asked what stores were in walking distance. Asking for recommendations and telling the woman at the counter how she loved to spend hours wandering through towns and buying small pieces of craft had set the scene. Her mention of exercising at daybreak offered a valid excuse, if for some reason she wasn’t in her room the following morning. It was a crucial part of her plan. The woman could identify her if necessary and recall their conversation. There had been no choice but to leave her truck in plain sight. She’d leave her phone as well. Both could be tracked, which was another added security, and could prove she was in town the entire night. She had an untraceable burner purchased in another state with her to use in Running Water.
In the week previously, Beth had checked out the entire area around the motel and roadhouse in Running Water online and found no CCTV cameras anywhere. It was a safe place for her to move around unnoticed. On arrival at the motel, she unpacked her things from a huge suitcase, left toiletries in the bathroom, messed up the bed, and dampened the towels. The bus left at ten, which gave her time to potter around the local stores buying things. Making sure, should any suspicion be thrown her way, she’d have a solid alibi. No one could possibly be in two places at the same time—but they weren’t the Tarot Killer.
Keeping one eye on the time, Beth purchased a few things, retelling her story of fixing up her cabin as she went. Being noticeable and using her charismatic personality made her memorable. Days ran into each other in the slower way of living in small towns, meaning the actual day she’d been there would be confusing, so she used her credit card to buy the items. The date stamp would prove when she’d been there. She slid her phone under the seat of her truck and locked it. Both vehicle and phone would track her movements and she needed to be electronically in Spring Grove for at least the next twenty-four hours.
The next phase slotted into place as she changed her appearance into Tim Burke. She applied appropriate makeup to change her face shape, carefully added a mustache and goatee. The thin shaggy wig, ball cap, plaid padded jacket, jeans, and scuffed boots would fool anyone. Her other disguise she’d use to kill Levi Jackson. Her weapons and other essentials she packed in a duffel. She checked all around the room, left a half-full to-go cup of coffee beside the bed, took the phone off the hook, and climbed out of the bathroom window. Looking all around, she pushed on sunglasses and headed for the bus station. Adding a thick Southern accent, she purchased a ticket with cash and climbed onto the bus heading for Rainbow. She sat at the back, took the window seat, hunched down, and became anonymous. Her stomach tightened. If all went to plan, in a few hours she’d be facing down Levi Jackson, in possibly a fight for her life.
FORTY-ONE
Rainbow was holding a festival of some kind or maybe a street fair, with stalls carrying all kinds of different items from antiques to cookies. From the bus, she made her way to the gas station. The mechanic was selling the Ford pickup. She asked for him by name and was sent round back to a small parking lot, used for vehicles awaiting repair. She walked around the pickup with thefor salesign resting against the windshield. Moments later a man wearing coveralls, with a rag hanging out of his back pocket, walked toward her smiling.
“Tim Burke?” The mechanic grinned. “Man, I could set my watch by you. I see you’ve found the truck. It’s only five years old and reliable. My son is selling it. He joined the Army.”
Nodding Beth moved around, peered inside, and looked at the engine when the man popped the hood. It looked clean. It was overpriced but had low mileage. “Is it gassed up, ready to go?”
“Just as I told you in my email.” The man held out the keys. “Start it up and see for yourself. It’s sound. I serviced it myself. It’s like new.”
Wanting to get away but acting as if she hadn’t made up her mind, she made him an offer of two thousand less but in cash. It sounded like a good idea and men liked to haggle. “What do you say?”
“One thousand less and that’s the best I can do.” The man’s expression was pained.
Nodding, Beth opened her rucksack. She had wads of bills in five-thousand-dollar bricks. She handed him a pile of bills and then took ten bills from another brick and added them to his pile. “Okay, give me the paperwork and a receipt for the cash. I don’t want the cops pulling me over and sayin’ this vehicle is stolen.”
The transaction took a few minutes and Beth slid behind the wheel and drove away. Time was ticking and she needed to check out the warehouse and change the lock. She found it easily enough. The key was behind the brick and inside the place was clean and dry. She could hide the truck inside and access it when necessary. Everything was going to plan and the entire process took only twenty minutes. She smiled as she drove away and turned the pickup onto the highway and then followed the signs to Billings. It was a nice day, not too windy and the sun shone on the open vistas. There could be nothing more spectacular than driving through Montana. The blacktop stretched out before her, snaking its way onward in a never-ending trail. Traffic was reasonable, mainly eighteen-wheelers and delivery vans moving cargo from one town to the next. The pickup had a GPS, but she used the one on her burner. She didn’t need anyone knowing where she’d gone after leaving Rainbow. All bases must be covered, take nothing for granted, and watch your back was her mantra.
She cruised through Running Water, past the roadhouse and the bus station, scoping out the area before turning around and pulling up to purchase some gas. She wandered into the roadhouse. In her disguise, no one took a second look at her as she perused the noticeboard. Her heart skipped a beat when she noticed the flyer. She had no doubt it belonged to Levi Jackson. The man was so confident he’d left flyers advertising his handyman and gardening service on the same board. She paid for the gas and drove around some, getting a feel for the area. After hunting down a suitable place to dump Jackson’s van after she’d put out the trash, she noted the position of the motel and headed down Main.
Moments later, she slid into a parking space outside a greasy spoon. Hunger gnawed at her belly and she needed to be strong and rested before slipping into her new persona. She’d thought long and hard about her look and studied Jackson’s previous victims, making her disguise as close to them as possible. Although none of the murders were attributed to him, she could easily identify him as the killer from his trademark moves. All of the bodies found dumped in the three surrounding towns were his victims. She had no doubt and her vendetta against him would be justified one way or the other later tonight. If he took the bait. She checked her watch, noting the traveling time between Rainbow and Running Water, and went inside, ordered, and then took a seat to wait for her meal to arrive.
The roadhouse had CCTV cameras on the gas pumps and the roadhouse door. That wouldn’t be a problem for her dressed as a man, but when she disguised herself as his next victim, Jackson might be watching the roadhouse via the camera feed. CCTV cameras were easily hacked but was Jackson that smart? Anything was possible for a killer who posted stories of his kills on the dark web. He would be watching the bus arrivals for sure and searching for potential damsels in distress. She had the bus schedules on her phone and checked them once again. Timing would be crucial. She’d need to slip into the group of passengers alighting from the bus and walk with them to the roadhouse. As she ate her meal, the thrill of the chase mixed with a stranger emotion she hadn’t encountered before: regret. If she failed, Styles would discover her true identity and she would have let him down. The tarot card, wrapped in its sterile container, was in her duffel along with her hatpins and she still carried the fentanyl pen Nate had given her. If she died tonight, Styles would carry some of the blame. His career would be over. They’d say he’d covered up her identity. She stared at her reflection in the window and met her familiar eyes.I will not fail.
