"Figured you knew it was me your old man had been paying off," Briggs said.
"You were the only one in a position to make the Pruett case go away," Trey said. "I just hadn't realized until recently that the old bastard had been making blackmail payments to you."
"Came as a shock, huh? It wasn't you he was protecting, you know."
"I'm well aware of that. It was the Greenslade name and the reputation of the company that he worried about. It was pretty much all he cared about."
"Yep. If the truth about what you'd done all those years ago had come out, it would have destroyed some kind of acquisition deal that was in the works at the time. Might have taken down the whole company. It sure as hell would have pissed off your grandmother. And everyone knows she controls Loring-Greenslade."
"That's what she keeps telling me."
"You kept at it, didn't you? Pruett was just the first. I reminded your pa of that from time to time."
"So you know that, too?"
"I used to be a damn good cop."
"A damn dirty cop. Where's the evidence box?"
Briggs jerked his head toward the doorway of the cabin. "In there."
"I'm sure you can understand that I want to see it before I turn over the cash."
"You'll see it when I'm gone. Put the briefcase in the front seat of my vehicle."
"Here's the thing, Briggs, I'd like to keep the truck between us."
Briggs snorted. "You think I'm gonna kill you?"
"Isn't that the plan? I give you the money and you get rid of me?"
"No need to do that. I'm the one who's going to disappear. Been planning to do it for a while now. After I found out that the Sawyer woman and that damned PI from Seattle were poking around in the Pruett case, I figured it was time to get into the wind."
"Still, I'd rather not take any chances," Trey said. He raised his right hand, showing Briggs the pistol he had brought with him. "Just so you know you're not the only one with a weapon. I didn't much like my old man, but I gotta tell you, I learned a couple of things from him. One of those things was how to run Loring-Greenslade. The other was how to shoot."
Briggs spit on the ground. "So we got us a standoff. No reason we can't do a little more business. Tell you what. I'll bring out the box and put it right here on the step. Then you toss the briefcase to me. I'll get into the van and leave. That suit you?"
"All right. You go first. I want to see that box."
Briggs backed into the cabin, never lowering the gun. A moment later he reappeared with a cardboard file box bearing the faded logo of the Loring Police Department. A series of numbers and the word Evidence had been scrawled by hand on the front.
Trey's heart pounded. He would soon be able to breathe freely again.
"Here's your box," Briggs said. "Wait until you see what's inside it. Had you dead to rights, you fool. You made a couple of serious mistakes that night. I knew what I had straight off. Called your pa the next day. He didn't hesitate for a second. Offered me half a year's salary right then and there. And that was only the beginning."
"Shut up and put down the box."
Briggs crouched to set the box on the front step. He kept the gun leveled. "Put the case on the hood of your truck," he said.
"You're making me nervous, Briggs."
"Put the goddamned case on the hood."
Trey set the briefcase on the front end of the pickup and gave it a shove. It slid a short distance across the hood.
Briggs moved out of the doorway of the cabin. He edged toward the pickup, keeping the gun aimed at Trey.
When he reached the truck, he seized the handle of the briefcase and backed swiftly to the SUV. He made his way around the front to the driver's side.
The bulk of the SUV now formed a barricade. Briggs opened the driver's-side door and put the briefcase on the front seat. Trey waited while he opened it and verified that the cash was inside.
"Satisfied?" Trey asked.
"Yep, looks good. Been nice doin' business with the Greenslade family."
Briggs got into the van, cranked up the engine and put it in gear. He drove off down the old logging road, mud and gravel spitting from under the wheels.
Trey counted to three and decided the van was far enough away. He took the remote out of the pocket of his jacket and pressed the button.
The small device hidden under the cash in the briefcase exploded. The big vehicle swerved violently; it slammed into a tree and bounced back onto the dirt road. The vehicle burst into flames.
Given the rain-drenched landscape and the fact that the van was in the center of the muddy road, there wasn't much danger of a forest fire that would attract attention, Trey thought.
Dazed with the intoxicating adrenaline rush of what he had just done, he walked slowly toward the burning SUV.
The explosion had ripped off the driver's-side door. Egan Briggs had been thrown from the vehicle. He was a bloodied mess, but he was still alive-barely.
His eyelids flickered. He squinted up at Trey.
"Told your dad there wasn't much point giving you a second chance," Egan whispered. His voice was almost gone. "You're broken. But he said he didn't have a choice."
Briggs closed his eyes. He was dying.
Trey shot him in the head, just to make certain. Then he tossed several plastic packets of drugs into and around the SUV. When the police finally got around to investigating, they would conclude crazy Egan Briggs had been dealing and had been taken out by his competitors.
One of the useful things about having grown up in a family that had made its fortune in pharmaceuticals was that you had access to a lot of interesting chemicals and meds, Trey thought. He'd been twelve years old when he created his first exotic street drugs and sold them to some out-of-town kids whose families were vacationing in the mountains outside of Loring.
Satisfied with the scene, he hurried back to cabin 6. With the blackmailer out of the way he could return to the hunt for Pruett. For years he had told himself that she would never be a problem. He had liked knowing she was out there. He was sure she thought about him every single day. But he hadn't realized that she was actively searching for him until recently. That news had come as a shock. She had gotten too close. The time had come to get rid of her.
But the evidence box was the more immediate threat. Once the contents had been destroyed, he could relax and take his time with Pruett.
He reached the step and bent down to examine the evidence box. The contents chained him to the past. He would not be free until everything inside had been destroyed.
He tore off the tape and raised the lid of the box.
For a few seconds he did not comprehend what he was looking at. Then it hit him. There was nothing inside the evidence box except some yellowed paperbacks and a handful of old magazines.
Egan Briggs had cheated him.
CHAPTER 34
It was afternoon by the time they got back to Seattle. Max drove straight to his house to pack a bag.
His phone rang just as he shut down the car engine. He glanced at the screen. Loring Police Department.
"Cutler," he said.
"Detective Walsh. Thought you might be interested in knowing that a road repair crew just found the body of Egan Briggs."
"Briggs is dead?"
"The investigation is still ongoing, but it looks like Briggs was running. Unfortunately for him it appears he tried to do a drug deal before he pulled his disappearing act. Whoever he met got rid of him with a small explosive device. There was charred money and drugs at the scene. Briggs was shot once in the head, execution style. The killer wanted to be sure."
"You think Briggs was dealing?"
"Might explain how he was able to take early retirement."
Charlotte was listening intently.
"What about Roxanne Briggs?" she asked.
"Charlotte's asking about Mrs. Briggs," Max said.
"I went to see Roxanne Briggs personally to deliver the bad news," Walsh said. "She didn't seem particularly surprised. Not exactly grief-stricken, either. It was more like she had been expecting to hear that her husband was dead."
"In other words, she probably knew that Briggs was going to meet someone and that things might end badly."
"Yeah, but she denied it. She said Egan told her he was headed for Idaho or Wyoming."
"Have you got anything else from the scene?"
"Not much," Walsh said. "It started raining again about an hour after you left Loring. You know what water does to evidence."
"Yeah."
"One more thing. A road crew spotted your vehicle washed up on the side of the river. They hauled it out. Good luck dealing with the insurance company, by the way. But Ms. Sawyer's handbag was still inside, all zipped up. Her phone probably didn't survive, but her plastic is all intact-she won't have to cancel her credit cards or get a new driver's license. I've got her address. You can tell her I'll overnight the bag and everything in it to her today. She should have it tomorrow."
"Thanks," Max said.
"If you come across anything I ought to know, you'll give me a call, right?"
"Right."
Max ended the connection and looked at Charlotte. "You heard all that?"
"Yes. They found my bag and Briggs is dead."
"At this point the cops think Briggs tried to pull off one last drug deal before disappearing. Things did not go well."