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Miranda laughed wearily and nodded. “Gladly. Let’s get this mess cleaned up and go. I’m about to fall face-first into Excel spreadsheets.”
* * *
JEREMIAH THOUGHT IT would be best if he had both Vee and Rhett meet at the fish-and-game office to declare it neutral ground. When Rhett and Vee showed up at the exact same time, the stony glares and stubborn jaws were nearly identical.
Jeremiah took them into his office and shut the door for privacy. Miranda started the meeting by handing them each a copy of their employee list with the man in question circled in red as well as information they’d managed to pull from the other outfits who’d also used his services as a pilot.
“What is this?” Rhett asked gruffly, looking in confusion at the information.
Vee caught on quickly and swore under her breath. “That rotten little pisser. I’ll skin him alive.”
“What’s going on?” Rhett asked, looking for someone to clear up the confusion.
“Someone has been using us,” Vee explained impatiently. “James Mack is Mack James.”
Understanding hit Rhett and his face colored as his anger blew up. “I’ll kill him. When I hired him I told him no freelancing.”
“There’s a bigger issue at stake here,” Jeremiah said. “We believe James Mack, or whoever he is, has been using the legitimate cover as a freelance helicopter pilot to have a reason to be in the areas where the kills have occurred. He’s in and out before anyone is the wiser and no one thinks to question the helicopter pilot. Think about it...what does your pilot do while your clients are hunting their quarry?” he asked.
“Either they wait at the designated landing or they return to base and return later. It all depends on the job,” Rhett said.
“Which means, he has plenty of time to get the job done and split before anyone notices he’s gone.”
“But what about the blood? I think someone would notice if the helicopter pilot is covered in blood,” Vee pointed out, frowning.
“I suspect he’s wearing some sort of suit, like a bio-contamination suit that he slips on when everyone is gone, which is why we’ve found no tracks at the scene, and then after his kill, he only takes specific parts, which he likely stores in a small cooler that no one is going to notice.”
Rhett cast Vee an accusatory stare. “Do you know about this?”
Vee glared. “You idiot. He’s been using me, too. I thought I was helping the kid out but I should have known he was too good to be true. He was subsidizing his piloting fee by using our legitimate jobs to cover his tracks.”
“I knew his rate was too low,” Rhett agreed with a growl. “I knew it.”
They both looked to Jeremiah and Miranda. “What are we going to do about it?” Rhett asked.
“Unfortunately, at this point our evidence is speculative. We need proof.”
“And how are we supposed to get that? I doubt he’s going to simply throw his hands up and admit his guilt,” Rhett groused. “Maybe I could beat a confession out of him.”
“Old man, you’d likely throw your back out before you landed a hit. I’ll take care of him,” Vee said.
“And how do you plan to do that? Hurl harsh words at the kid and kill him with sarcasm?” Rhett jeered, equally ticked off.
“No one is going to beat or kill anyone.” Miranda stood. “We need to catch him in the act. So that means you two need to work together and act as if nothing has changed. So in other words, keep being completely awful to one another.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Vee sniped, shooting a look at Rhett. “I just received word that I’m being audited. My bet is that this oaf had something to do with it.”
“If your books are clean, you have nothing to worry about,” Rhett countered, not the least bit apologetic.
Miranda snapped her fingers at them both as if they were quarreling children. “Focus, please,” she said, ignoring their glares. “If James is tipped off to anything being different it’ll spook him and he’ll bolt. I’ve been tracking this guy for two years and I’m not about to lose him this time. I need your help, so please put your differences aside just this once and agree to work together.”
Rhett and Vee shared a look and a reluctant truce followed. Rhett nodded and grudgingly agreed. “Sounds good to me. I want to nail this SOB to the ground.”
Vee also agreed. “That makes two of us. I’ll play along.”
Miranda smiled. “I knew I could count on you.” She handed them both a new set of papers. “Here’s the plan. Please follow it to the letter. No deviating from the instructions.” She looked purposefully to Rhett and he grunted in acceptance. “The Fish and Game is going to book a trip at both Vivid Adventures and Big Game Trophy. They will be near the areas where he’s been known to trap bears. We don’t know which area he’s going to choose, so that’s why we’re booking with both outfits. Whichever gig he takes is the one where he’s already looked and set his traps. What he doesn’t know is every single person on that expedition will be law enforcement ready to take him down.”
