“I hear doubt in your voice.”

“I don’t think he took a bus. Bus drivers have set routes, know the regulars. A stranger in a small area like this? Early in the morning? He’d stand out.”

“Wouldn’t a taxi also notice a stranger?”

“Not the same way—but taxis tend to keep better records.”

Five minutes later, Andy pulled over to a small parking area on the south side of the lake. “Not here,” he said as he drove slowly through it.

“It is. Somewhere nearby.” She felt it in her bones, and she always trusted her instincts.

He glanced at her. “We can come back with a search team.”

“Leave me here, have lunch with your girl, and pick me up in an hour.”

Andy shook his head and parked on the far side of the lot. “No solos. We have time.”

“If he parked here,” Kara said, “he could drive the ATV along the bike trail... Shit, Andy, her body was found less than a mile from here.”

There were no cars parked here, but it wasn’t exactly lake activity weather, and it was after noon on a Friday. By tomorrow, dedicated outdoors people would be on the lake fishing, hiking, having a picnic. During their canvass, they’d passed a few bikers, but the kids were all in school. Those who drove to the lake to hike parked at the main entrance, closer to the highway. If Kara wanted to park somewhere and not be seen, she’d do it here.

“What’s the closest vacant cabin?”

He looked at his list. “We’d have to drive—oh, wait, we can walk. The mountain trail would go right by it.”

They only had to hike fifty yards from the turnout before they reached the cabin from behind.

And there it was. An ATV, covered with a canvas tarp.

“Call the crime techs,” Kara said.

“We should verify it’s the missing ATV.”

There was no doubt in Kara’s mind that it was. Though time and weather had disappeared discernible tire treads, this was it. She felt it in her gut. Maybe she should have been a homicide detective.

Andy pulled out latex gloves and slipped them on. He walked around the ATV, pulled back the canvas from the front, and looked at the small license.

“You’re right, Kara, this is it. I’ll call it in.”

17

Spokane
12:45 p.m.

Matt ended the call. Andy and Kara had found the ATV—he really didn’t think they’d do it so fast, but he was pleased. Jim Esteban was hitching a ride with the prickly crime scene tech, so his own person was out there, and Michael Harris was still at the lake, unreachable. Matt hoped he was right and the weapon could be recovered, because it would be one more piece to their puzzle. But right now he was focused on Olivia Gunderson and what she might know about Anne Banks.

Anne’s friend still worked at Spokane General and was on duty, but as soon as Matt said he was with the FBI and investigating both the Anne Banks and Victoria Manners homicides, she got someone to cover for her and met Matt in a private office.