if you had your heart set on Cabin 17, I couldn’t have rented it to you.”
“Why not?”
“It’s already rented. Has been for a long time.”
“A long time. By who?”
She pursed her lips. “Well, that’s confidential, isn’t it?”
“If you say so,” replied Robie with a smile. The last thing he needed was her calling Titanium’s police on him for being overly curious. “Thing is number 17 is the one I wore when I played football in college. Best years of my life. So wherever I go, I always try to stay in number 17. Stupid, I know, but it’s important to me.”
“Hell, honey, I play the same numbers on the lottery every week because they’re my wedding day, 11, 15, and 21, my age when I got married. My big ball Lotto numbers are the year I was born, which I won’t share with you because you’d know I was over twenty-one. Hard to know just by looking at me, right?”
“Right,” said Robie, with another grin.
“So I don’t begrudge you your 17.”
“Thanks,” answered Robie. “So where are your cabins?”
“Oh, we have twenty of them. I know, almost as many as the rooms we have. But that was the original owner’s idea again. Let you get communal with nature. They’re set back in the woods. Very rustic. That means one room with a bed and a toilet and sink, a woodstove that’s also a cookstove, and running water when the pump’s working. So, R-U-S-T-I-C.”
“How about a shower?”
“You can use the one here. We have it designated for cabin renters. Or you can just use the sink in the cabin for a quick one. Most folks renting cabins don’t have personal hygiene high on their priority list. Hell, I never see most of the folks. They come and go as they please.”
“Other than Cabin 17, any others rented?”
“No.”
“Anyone in Cabin 17 now?”
“I wouldn’t know. Like I said, they come and go.”
“They. Two people?”
“Well, aren’t you the curious one?”
“Always have been. Gets me in more trouble, so I’ll just stop right now.” Robie gave her another grin, which he hoped was disarming. He had the sense he had just pushed too hard. He hoped he didn’t regret it.
She eyed him. “Look, honey, you want to trade in your room for a cabin? Number 14 is all ready to go. It’s got a nice view and a new toilet. Well, new in the sense that it’s less than five years old and works more often than not.”
“Hey, why not?” said Robie. “I like communing with nature as much as the next person. How do I get there?”
“About a quarter-mile walk from here. The cabins are spread out in the woods, but there’re signs posted telling you where each one is. You can leave your car in the lot out front and walk back there. The trail starts right behind the center of the motel.”
A few minutes later Robie was walking on the trail toward Cabin 14 with his knapsack over his left shoulder.
And his Glock in his right hand.
CHAPTER
55
CABIN 14 WAS EXACTLY AS Gwen had described it. Rustic. He set his knapsack down on the bed that was barely more than a cot. It was shorter than Robie was tall.
Woodstove in the corner. A table. A chair. A toilet and sink behind a makeshift enclosure. Two windows on opposite walls. He went to one window and looked out.
There was no cabin in sight, just trees. People who rented them must want their privacy. He would have to do a walk around to get the lay of the land.
He had seen the sign for Cabin 17. It was to his left. He just didn’t know how far. He was so deep in the woods now that he could hear no cars, no people talking. No TVs or radios.
He could be alone with nature.
Only maybe he wasn’t alone.
He sat in the one chair, facing the door, his Glock in his right hand. With his left hand he slid the book on World War II out of his knapsack. It was the last unsolved clue.
Everything she did had a purpose.
She was linear.
I like to begin at the beginning and end at the end.
He opened the book. He had looked through it before, but not all that carefully. It was a long book and he just hadn’t had the time.
Now he felt like he had to make the time.
The light was rapidly diminishing and the cabin was not wired for electricity. As he slowly turned the pages and it