Quinn - Iris Johansen [90]
He nodded and began to extinguish the flames. “As you command.”
For the time being, she thought ruefully. Gallo wasn’t going to accept any will but his own for long. She absently watched him work about the camp as she talked to Sheriff Rupert. Lord, Gallo was stunning. In black jeans and shirt he looked lean and yet muscular, and the way he moved …
She jerked her attention back to what the sheriff was telling her.
As she hung up, Gallo turned to face her. “Well?”
“The day after Black and Queen were taken to the local morgue, Thomas Jacobs showed up with his Army Intelligence credentials and a story about how Nate Queen was undercover and trying to find a way to trap Black. According to him, Paul Black was supposed to be a suspect in the killing of an Army Intelligence officer.”
“But they already had a statement from Eve about Queen’s involvement with Black.”
“Evidently Jacobs was very plausible, and Sheriff Rupert isn’t used to dealing with military and government types. He was even impressed with my credentials.”
“It was probably not your credentials that impressed him. He’s a typical good old boy, and he appreciates a beautiful woman when he sees her.”
“You should know. Evidently, you became buddies with him and the entire sheriff’s office.”
“It seemed the thing to do at the time. So did Jacobs get his hands on the ledger?”
“No, the sheriff wasn’t that gullible. Though Jacobs tried to tell him that it was evidence and was needed to save military lives. It was in Korea, so Jacobs had a good shot at convincing him of his story. It hadn’t been translated.”
“Has it been translated yet?”
“No, clearly things move slowly up here.” She added, “And Sheriff Rupert was a little suspicious when Jacobs didn’t mention claiming Queen’s body for burial. It didn’t seem to be the proper way to behave when Jacobs was giving him this sad story about Queen’s giving his life for his country.”
“And he had Eve’s statement to compare with Jacobs’s story.”
Catherine nodded. “Anyway, the sheriff refused to turn over anything to Jacobs since he was implicated in the story that Eve told him. He told Jacobs to have his superior contact him, and he’d cooperate. So Jacobs didn’t get the ledger, and everything must have seemed to be going downhill for him. His partner was dead, and he was probably going to be revealed as a crook and his Army career would go down the drain.” She picked up her knapsack. “Which means we’d better get on the move. Jacobs has had too long to tie up loose ends and destroy any other evidence against him. We’ll be lucky if we’re able to locate him.”
“We’ll locate him.” Gallo was already moving down the trail. “Call your chief Venable as soon as we get to the car and see if he can trace him.”
Gallo’s tone was as grim as his face. He was in battle mode.
Well, so was she, Catherine thought. It was strange that after being enemies these last weeks, they were walking this path together.
Strange and somehow right.
* * *
AN HOUR LATER, SHE HUNG UP from the callback she’d received from Venable and turned to Gallo, who was in the driver’s seat. “Jacobs took a leave of absence from the office the day after he returned from Milwaukee. His superiors have been trying to get in touch with him since all hell broke loose about Queen’s death. The questions began to fly about Queen’s and Jacobs’s possible criminal involvement. No luck. Jacobs is not answering his phone, and he’s just recently moved out of his apartment.” She shook her head. “We may be too late. He could have panicked and decided to go on the run. He’s probably flown off to someplace in the South Seas from which he can’t be extradited.”
“Possibly.” Gallo was thinking. “But Jacobs wasn’t the type to turn into a beachcomber. It would be too savage for his tastes. He was very urban oriented.”
“How do you know? I thought you said he was the invisible man.”
“That doesn’t mean I didn’t make the effort to see him for what he was. He worked closely with Queen. There was always a chance that I’d find a use for him. If he did go on the run, it shouldn