Xavier Black and Alan Gump from the real estate company emerged from the restaurant and headed for Alan’s BMW. Late for a dinner, but they were probably having a business meeting with Kurt. Gump had a long drive back to the city, but Black lived locally. They didn’t appear to be carrying guns,and he’d rather not speak withguests.
But out of curiosity, Walker pulled into the private parking lot the Kennedys used. The Escalade was there. The hood wasn’t warm, but there was no condensation on the windows. He looked at Kurt’s Mercedes next to it—the fog had formed a thin layer of moisture across the windshield. Carmel or her driver had been out, but that was meaningless. For allhe knew, they might have been in San Francisco and had justreturned.
The light was on in Lance’s studio. Carmel’s artistic brother kept odd hours and tended to leave the light burning night and day. The man barely knew how to feed himself. Walker doubted he’d be out shooting guns. Disturbing him would mean enduring a tour of his gallery while he mumbled through whatever was in his head.Lance wasn’t much better than a Lucy except that he seldom wentanywhere.
Walker drove around back to the security office. Alonzo was the evening shift officer in charge. He got off the phone as soon as Walkerentered.
“What brings you out here at this hour?” Alonzo asked, rightfullycurious.
“Report of shots fired,” Walker said without expression, waiting forreaction.
Alonzo shrugged. “Bernard thought he saw a cougar near the dumpsters. We’ve told him not to disturb the guests, but he’s young andstupid.”
“Mind if I take a look around anyway? Just to show I’m doing myjob?”
“Sure, knock yourself out. I’ll take my break and get some coffee. I’ll let Bernard know you’re out there so he doesn’t try to shoot youtoo.”
“Generous of you,”Walker saidwryly.
Cats and bears in the garbage were nothing new. The Lucys knew that. It was illegal as hell to shoot at them in a residential area, but people out here hunted. That’s what they did and there wasn’t any stopping them. So why did the Lucys want himhere?
He strolled around to the dumpsters, but there wasn’t enough light to check for tracks in the woods. The pavementshowed no dusty paw prints, but that didn’t mean much. He didn’t find any shell casings either, but Bernard might have been smart enough to pick thoseup.
Circling the sprawling lodge, he found Bernard sneaking a cigarette by the glass-enclosed swimming pool. “Do you think you wounded the cat?” Walker asked, admiring the expanse of glistening blue water in an area surrounded by parchedanddry.
Bernard looked startled, then shrugged. “Nah, just scared himoff.”
Bernard was a lousy liar. He puffed his cigarette to hide hisnervousness.
“You shouldn’t be using firearms around here. Just keep guests away from the cat and call the game warden. A wounded lion can cause a lot of trouble, and if she has a litter, someone is bound to report it. Don’t lose your jobover ananimal.”
The kid didn’t look happy about the reprimand, but he nodded. “Sorry to bring you out fornothing.”
“It’s okay. I’ll just crash here for the night. Let me know if the cat comes back.” Not satisfied, Walker continued his survey of the guest cabins further up the hill, but all the lights wereout.
An owl screeched deeper in the woods. He shuddered and headedback to the lodge. Instinct told him something was off, but this was private property. He could only push so far with no evidence of criminalactivity.
