Blue Smoke and Murder

15

SEPTEMBER 14

12:17 A.M.

Zach Balfour knocked smartly on the door of 435, then stepped back so that he was clearly visible in the room door’s peephole. Not that a view of his four-day stubble would be reassuring, but he didn’t give a damn. He was supposed to be on vacation, not catching imaginary bullets for another bimbo.

“Who is it?” asked a woman.

The voice was low, slightly husky without being at all breathless.

At least she doesn’t sound like a squirrel on speed, he told himself. That’s worth something.

“Zach Balfour, St. Kilda Consulting.”

“Slide your card under the door.”

It wasn’t a request.

His dark eyebrows climbed, but Zach dug out a St. Kilda card and pushed it as far as he could under the hotel room door.

A few moments later, the bolt clicked, the chain rattled, and the door opened.

“Come in,” Jill said.

Zach didn’t wait for a second invitation. He stepped into the room and watched while Jillian Breck closed, bolted, and chained the door again.

The room was pretty much what he expected. Against the far wall there was a double bed sporting a rumpled spread and a belly bag stuffed like a sausage. A small, butt-sprung couch that likely pulled out into another bed faced the TV. Neither clean nor dirty, the room was just a place to stash stuff between casino raids.

Jillian Breck wasn’t what he’d expected. She wore jeans, a Ray Troll T-shirt, and beat-up river sandals. She had unpolished fingernails, minimal if any makeup, hair a casual auburn cap, nice breasts, trim butt, and a body that was both fit and unmistakably female.

Pale green eyes, steady and clear.

Real green, too, not contacts like the unadorable DeeDee.

Slowly Zach began to feel less homicidal toward St. Kilda Consulting. He held out his hand and said, “Pleased to meet you, Ms. Breck.”

“Jill.”

Her handshake was brief, surprisingly strong, with ridges of callus that came from rowing rafts down unruly rivers.

“Call me Zach. Have you had any more trouble since you first called St. Kilda?”

She blinked. “Well, that’s blunt.”

“Saves time.”

She tilted her head and looked up, then down the long, lean man who stood in front of her. She’d worked with enough men on the river not to underestimate the power in his rangy body and wide shoulders, or the penetrating intelligence of his whiskey-colored eyes. A crop of black stubble did nothing to soften the hard planes of his face. He had equally black hair that was too rough to be well groomed, and too clean to be a collar-length gesture of contempt aimed at the civilized world. His clothes looked like he’d slept in them after a long day of hiking. Maybe several days.

“You’re not what I expected,” she said.

“No tuxedo, pistol, and martini, shaken not stirred?”

Her laugh was as real as the color of her eyes. “Sorry, I’m very new to this.”

“Don’t feel bad. Damn few people are used to death threats.”

Her laughter vanished. Tight, pale lines appeared around the mouth that had been a soft, deep rose.

Nice going, Zach told himself with a sigh. Turn the client into a net of twanging nerves with a few badly chosen words.

DeeDee had never noticed.

Could be why he spent a lot of the time working with intel, not clients.

“My social skills need polish,” he said. “Let’s start all over again. Hi, I’m Zach. Joe Faroe wanted to come in my place but his wife is having a baby as we speak.”

“Really?” Jill grinned. “I’ll bet Lane is so excited he’s bouncing in place. Not many boys his age would be, but he’s really looking forward to having a crumb-crusher in the house.”

Zach’s smile surprised her as much as his beat-up hiking boots, dirty jeans, and clean hands.

“I hope he gets a brother,” he said.

One of Jill’s dark brown eyebrows rose. “You don’t like women?”

“I have four sisters, all older than me by at least eight years. My dad died in a stock car race when I was twelve. I couldn’t wait to live in an estrogen-free zone.”

Jill smiled slightly. “I was raised by women in a militantly testosterone-free zone.”

“Should be interesting.”

“What?”

“The next few days.”

Her smiled faded. “That’s one way of putting it.”

“Like I said, my social skills need some work. So why don’t you do the talking? Tell me about everything that led up to my knock on your hotel room door.”

“Everything?”

“If it has to do with the reason your little SUV got slashed, yes. You can leave out the boyfriend trashing, giggling sleepovers, brutal labor stories, and choices in gear for your monthlies.”

Jill stared at him for a long moment. “Whew. You really meant it, didn’t you? About the estrogen free.”

“If I never again have to listen to a debate over the joys of pads versus tampons, it’s fine by me. You can leave out the my-cramps-are-worse-than-yours contest, too.”

“In return, you won’t drool over big tits, pant over heart-shaped ass, and whine about not getting any. Deal?”

Zach smiled slowly, then laughed. This one definitely wasn’t DeeDee. “Deal. Now tell me why you called St. Kilda Consulting instead of the cops.”

“I trust Joe Faroe.”

“And you don’t trust cops?”

She shrugged. “Let’s just say I’m not real impressed by the sheriff of Canyon County, Arizona. And he’s even less impressed with me.”

“Any particular reason?”

Jill took a deep breath and told Zach about her great-aunt, the paintings, the gallery letter, the fire, the stiff-necked sheriff, and an art dealer called Blanchard from east Texas.

Zach might look scruffy, but he listened with an intensity and intelligence that reminded her of Joe Faroe. He asked questions, she answered with what information she had, he asked more, and she got frustrated by her lack of answers for basic data on her relatives.

“Hey, don’t feel bad,” he said. “Most people barely know their parents’ birth dates, much less the grandparents’ and grand-siblings’. I’m lucky to remember my sisters’ birthdays. As for my herd of nieces and nephews, forget it. Don’t worry, St. Kilda will fill in your family gaps. Beginning now.”

Zach took out his cell phone, put it on speaker, and hit speed dial.

“Research,” a woman’s voice said.

“This is Zach Balfour. I need a run on an art dealer called Blanchard, male, may or may not be based in east Texas. A photo would be primo. I know that you probably won’t find zilch, but you may get lucky.”

“Hey, Zach. It’s Shawna Singh. Steele told me to put you on the top of my list tonight. No guarantees about tomorrow, though.”

Zach whistled softly. “I appreciate whatever time you can spare. I do like working with the best. If I’d known you were back from maternity leave, I’d have asked for you by name.”

“Keep that in mind when you start chewing on me for not getting something from nothing. You know how useless a search based on a single name will be.”

Zach grunted.

Jill smothered a laugh. She’d never met Shawna and already liked her.

“Anything better than Blanchard for me to handle?” the researcher continued.

“Modesty Breck,” Zach said. “Normal spelling. DOB June 1922, ’23, or ’24, maybe ’25, residence on Breck ranch outside of Blessing, Arizona. Sheriff Ned Purcell, Canyon County, Arizona. Justine née Breck, DOB…”

Pulled between curiosity and a feeling of unease, Jill listened while Zach ordered up research on her family. She wanted to ask if it was really necessary to pry into the lives of the dead, but didn’t. She’d called for help, and she’d gotten it.

Now she had to live with it or walk away and go it alone.

Memories of the death threat, the trashed SUV, and the canvas rags jamming her belly pack along with her sat phone didn’t make being alone look attractive to Jill.

Nature’s violence was one thing.

Human violence was quite another.

“Then look at Ford Hillhouse, Art of the Historic West, Park City, Utah,” Zach said. He knew a lot about Western art, but he’d been out of the art loop too long to take anything for granted. “Ramsey Worthington, Fine Western Arts, Snowbird, Utah. When I get more, you’ll get more.”

Zach answered a few questions, disconnected, saw his battery wasn’t holding a charge worth a damn, and sighed. He doubted that any small Western towns sold the kind of goods he needed for his sleek sat/cell phone. He’d plug it in overnight and hope for the best.

He looked at his watch. “Two choices-sleep here or go get the paintings.”

“Nobody but my great-aunt knows that I use the homestead cabin, so the paintings should be safe there. My mail comes to a P.O. box in Blessing.”

Since St. Kilda’s researchers hadn’t mentioned the cabin, and it hadn’t burned, Zach figured the art would be good overnight.

Besides, he’d been told to guard Jill Breck, not a bunch of paintings.

“I’ll take the foldout bed,” he said, looking at the butt-sprung couch facing the TV.

“What about my car?”

“Someone from St. Kilda will handle it. Just like they’ll take care of the Chevelle I was hauling home when they called me.”

Jill opened her mouth, closed it. “Just like that? They’ll take care of my car?”

“Is that a problem?”

“I’m not used to other people taking care of things for me.”

He smiled slightly. “Get used to it. It’s what St. Kilda Consulting does best.”