Settling an Old Score - Delores Fossen Page 0,44

but this could be a “damned if he did, damned if he didn’t” situation. Rather than stand there and lose time, he went in and had a quick chat with Kellan. Once he got the green light from his brother to leave, Eli headed toward the front.

Gunnar and Ashlyn were already there, waiting for him, and they rushed out and into the cruiser. Gunnar took off as they all kept watch around them. However, keeping watch wouldn’t be easy with this trip because it was already starting to get dark.

Great.

Just what he didn’t want—more obstacles to keeping Ashlyn safe.

“A grave,” Ashlyn said. She still sounded shocked about that. “Maybe it’s some kind of memorial for Marta?”

Yeah, that had been his first thought, shortly followed by the possibility that it could be a ploy to throw them off the scent that Marta might be alive. If Remy showed them a memorial like that, he might believe it would convince them to stop looking for the woman.

It wouldn’t.

But maybe Remy was desperate.

Eli heard Gunnar’s phone ding with a text, and the deputy passed it back to Eli so he could read it. What he saw on the screen had Eli cursing.

“Garcia says that Remy’s walking away from the headstone,” Eli relayed to Gunnar and Ashlyn before he handed it back to Gunnar. “It looks as if Remy is about to leave.”

Eli wanted Remy on scene, and there was little chance they would make it there in time before he left, so Eli took out his own phone. He didn’t have Remy’s number in his cell so he went through dispatch to have them call the man. Eli wasn’t sure Remy would even answer, but he did on the fourth ring.

“Who the hell is this?” Remy snapped.

“Eli Slater. Just checking to see how you are.” Eli didn’t bother to sound sincere since Remy wouldn’t have believed him anyway.

“How the hell do you think I am?” Remy countered, and Eli had no trouble hearing the man’s sob.

“Did something happen?” Eli pressed. “Are you okay?”

Remy didn’t jump to answer that time, and then he cursed much as Eli had done just seconds earlier. “I see a car. You had someone follow me.” It wasn’t a question. “You SOB. You put a tail on me.”

“Yeah, I did,” Eli readily admitted. “Now, you want to explain to me who’s buried in that grave you were just crying over?”

That only brought on more cursing, and Eli waited him out while he mouthed for Ashlyn to use Gunnar’s phone to keep track of Remy through Garcia. If Remy tried to leave, he wanted Garcia to stop him.

“You had no right to follow me,” Remy finally said.

“I beg to differ. The badge gives me that right. Now tell me who’s in the grave, or I’ll get a bulldozer out there tonight, and I’ll have it dug up.”

“You can’t!” Remy shouted. He repeated that a couple more times and broke down into another sob.

Ashlyn nudged Eli to show him Garcia’s text message. Remy’s pacing in the backyard. He’s not heading back toward his car.

Good. He wanted Garcia to have backup before he tried to restrain Remy. The man could be armed. Heck, and he could be dangerous.

“I won’t let you dig it up,” Remy insisted.

“Then tell me who’s buried there.” Of course, Eli would have it dug up anyway, no matter what Remy told him.

Remy sobbed several more seconds, which Eli considered a good thing. Each second brought them closer to the place.

“She’s here,” Remy finally said on a choked breath. “Marta’s here.”

Eli felt the stillness slide through him. “Marta’s buried in that grave?”

Again, Remy paused, cried. “Yes. She’s here. I couldn’t have her buried so far away. I needed to be able to come and talk to her. I needed her to be close to me.”

The stillness didn’t last inside Eli. A new wave of grief came, and it was just as raw and fresh as it had been the night Marta had been gunned down. For a few hours, he’d allowed some part of himself to believe that she might be alive. But she wasn’t.

“How’d you get Marta’s body?” Eli pressed.

“The mortician,” Remy answered after a long pause. “I bribed him, but I didn’t kill him. I swear, I didn’t.”

Eli wasn’t going to take the man’s word for that. “And what about Marta’s hospital records?”

“I didn’t take those. There would have been no use in me doing that because she was dead. I only wanted her body so she