by Vella Munn
Hank pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead. “I talk to Thomas, Zachary and Zed. Try to determine which of them took Hope and left her where she’d have nothing to eat for months. If it was them.”
“Try?” Saying the word knotted her stomach. “Are you saying you might never be able to charge anyone?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Doc Beck muttered. “More often than I want to think about, someone leaves an animal or animals here. Usually I don’t bother calling Hank because there’s no way of determining ownership.”
“This is different.” She pressed. “It has to be. What happened to Hope isn’t a matter of someone not bothering to have an animal spayed and dumping off the results of that neglect. Either the neighbor, Zachary or Zed deliberately—”
“I want to charge one of those men,” Hank interrupted. “There’s nothing I’d like more.”
“But if you can’t get someone to confess— I hate this.”
Darick stood on the opposite side of the room. Maybe he’d chosen that spot so he could watch her. Instead of resenting the lack of privacy, she liked that she could do the same to him.
“Livia can’t be the easiest person to live with,” Darick said. “It’d be interesting to get her husband’s side of their relationship. At first I thought he was the dominant personality in the marriage. Now I’m not sure. Thomas might have valid reasons for wishing he didn’t have that bunch for neighbors.”
“Zed’s the one I feel sorry for,” Niko said. “It sounds as if Livia never embraced the role of stepmother. Hank, I want to be with you when you interview them.”
He shook his head. “I understand. Believe me, I do. If I’d saved Hope and Mist, I’d feel the same way, but you have no official role in the investigation. It should jeopardize what I’m going to try to do by letting you—”
“Come on, Niko,” Darick interrupted. “You know he’s right.”
She glared at the man she’d recently had sex with, sex, not lovemaking after all. Fortunately, he had no way of knowing why she desperately needed to be part of the questioning. “All I’m asking is a few minutes.”
“What are you planning to take to the interview?” Doc asked. “A gun?”
“No, of course not.”
“Can we believe you?” The way Darick studied her, she wasn’t sure she could keep any emotion from him. “Darn it. Let Hank do his job.”
“He wouldn’t have a job to do if I hadn’t found Hope.”
Hank groaned. “You’re right, but you’re the one who carried Mist out of the woods. I don’t see how you can be objective.”
“Can you?”
“It won’t be easy, but I’ll do what I have to. Dealing with Zachary has to be done carefully. He has a temper, especially when he’s been drinking.”
“You’ve dealt with him?” she asked.
“Unfortunately, although I didn’t play the primary role. Law enforcement did.” He frowned. “I’m trying to remember the details. Yeah. That’s it. He was at the bar with some of his co-workers, one of whom had left his pit bull tied in the back of his pickup. Zachary and the dog’s owner got into an argument, one of those stupid things drunks fight about. Zachary went out and hoisted the dog over the side of the truck. He would have left him to hang if the bar owner hadn’t gone looking for Zachary. That’s why my department got involved.”
Niko shuddered. “Thank goodness.”
“Yeah. You remember that, don’t you, Doc?”
“The pit’s windpipe was so swollen we almost lost him.”
“That’s awful. What happened to Zachary?” she asked.
“What he did was considered a misdemeanor. If it had been a human, it would have been attempted murder, but that’s another story. He was found guilty and fined. I don’t know if he ever paid it, but that’s when I learned he had a record. Mostly minor stuff, but he has spent time in prison.”
“Lovely,” Niko muttered. Are you listening, Masauwu? Do you have enough information to pass onto the grays? And what do you want them to do with it?
“According to Livia,” Hank continued, “her husband resented supporting her horse. Maybe Zachary knew better than to confront her, so he took his anger out on Hope.”
Niko didn’t trust herself to speak. If she did, the men, Darick in particular, would know how much she longed to take matters into her hands. No, not me. The grays.
“Don’t,” Darick warned.
“Don’t what?”
“Do what you’re thinking. Damn it, we’ve been through this.”
“I can’t stand back and do nothing. You’re asking the impossible of me. Hank, if you don’t let me go with you—I promise I won’t confront anyone—I’ll look for them on my own.” I have no choice.
Hank and Darick exchanged another look. “You really believe you can be a silent observer?” Hank asked. “Keep your emotions under wraps?”
No. “Use me in any way you think will benefit the case. Maybe just telling the suspects what I found and having to look me in the eye will—”
“How about this?” Darick broke in. “She comes with us, but the moment she says or does anything out of line, I’ll haul her out of there.”
“‘Us’? How are you—?”
“I’m Hank’s backup.”
* * * *
Darick couldn’t see Livia and Zachary Ross’ property from where they were standing at Thomas’ front door. He didn’t understand how the neighbors could be at odds with so much land between the properties, but then there wasn’t much he got about the whole situation.
As Hank knocked, Darick noted that he wasn’t the only one taking in their surroundings. Niko had barely spoken since he’d declared he was assuming responsibility for her behavior. She’d closed herself off, locked her emotions where he couldn’t access them. At the moment, she was studying the half dozen vehicles and farm equipment strewn about. Judging by the cobwebs and dead leaves around them, he guessed that all except for the Ford truck were inoperable. A couple of growling pit mix dogs were chained to truck tires. Even with their attitude, he hated seeing them confined. At least they appeared healthy.
The door opened and a white-haired man poked his head out. Hank introduced himself, then Darick did the same. The man nodded at them but didn’t appear curious about the woman who’d accompanied them. Niko didn’t speak.
“I’m hoping you can tell me some things about your neighbors,” Hank said. “In particular, about a mare that was there earlier this year.”
The man—he assumed it was Thomas—scratched his chest. He was wearing a sleeveless undershirt that had probably once been white. If it smelled as bad as it looked, Darick didn’t want to get any closer than he was. He put Thomas’s age in his late sixties or early seventies. The man clearly hadn’t shaved for several days and his slippers were worn. His jeans hung on his bony hips, making Darick guess Thomas had recently lost weight.
“I mind my own business,” Thomas said. “Things work out best if I do.”
“I understand,” Hank said. “I talked to Livia earlier today. She led us to believe you aren’t the best of friends. I’d like to hear your side of the situation.”
“Who could get along with that bunch? I suppose you want to come in.” With that, he turned around, nearly stepping out of his slippers as he did.
The house’s interior was so dark Darick wondered if Thomas was hiding from the world. Maybe Niko had come to the same conclusion, because she shook her head before perching on the edge of a blanket-covered chair. She seemed to be breathing through her mouth, probably in an attempt to lessen the impact of the stale air.
Dismissing her, Darick tried to concentrate on Hank’s interviewing technique. Instead of letting Thomas know he was a suspect in the mare’s disappearance, Hank encouraged Thomas to tell him everything he could about the Ross couple and their son.
“That boy isn’t hers,” Thomas corrected. “Back when Zachary and I were on better terms, he told me he wished she’d cut the ki
d some slack, that they’d all get along better that way, but I don’t think she ever did. Sometimes I could hear her yelling from here. Livia has a voice like a screech owl. She doesn’t care who hears when she goes off.”
“How do you think Zed took it?” Darick asked. “He was pretty young when his dad married Livia, wasn’t he?”
“He was. Skinny little thing. He’d come over here after school and on weekends and I’d show him how to repair things.” Thomas held up large hands with swollen knuckles. “I could fix everything before my arthritis got so bad. It was nice having the boy around. I miss him.”
“So he doesn’t spend much time here anymore?”
“No, and I don’t blame him. Soon as he had a job and could support himself, he was out from under that bitch.”
“Does he hate her?” Niko asked.
Darick shot her a warning look she didn’t acknowledge.
“He said he did, but mostly he was afraid of her. He was scared of his old man too, until he realized he’d gotten big and strong enough to take Zachary down.” Thomas shook his head, making his long, dry hair fly about.
“Did father and son get into physical fights?” Hank asked.
“According to the kid they did. By then I was no longer on speaking terms with Zachary and Livia. She found fault with everything. Kept threatening to call animal control about my dogs. Then…”
“Then what?” Darick pushed.
Thomas turned his head so the faint light coming through a space in the drawn drapes highlighted his features. He still looked old and worn down, but his nostrils were flared, his mouth tight.
“One of them, I’m thinking it had to be that bitch, came over while I was gone and let my dogs loose. Lady went onto the road and got killed. Lady was special. She shouldn’t have died like that.”
“What makes you suspect her?” Hank asked.
“She holds the biggest grudge against me. Said all the damn mosquitoes, snakes and wasps come from my property. I told her she was crazy and if she wanted to get rid of the mosquitoes, she needed to drain that stagnant pond of theirs.” He sighed and sank back. “It went on and on. I swear that bitch would have blamed me for the rain if she thought she could have gotten anyone to listen.”
“Was she the same way with her stepson and husband?” Niko asked. “Blaming them?”
Maybe, Darick thought, he should warn her not to speak, but so far, her questions had been reasonable. He might relax if he knew what she was thinking, but maybe that would just make him even more on edge. Right now, he didn’t know her at all.
“Pretty much,” Thomas said. “She’s an unhappy woman and takes that out on everyone and anything she’s around.”
“What about her mare?”
Thomas scratched his left armpit. “I didn’t see them together that much. Once she rode her past my place. I told her she was too heavy for the horse and she told me to fuck off. But when she came back, she was leading the mare. She was a pretty little thing, shiny coat and well-trimmed hooves like Livia took good care of her.”
“Was the mare thin when you last saw her?” Hank asked.
“Hell no. If anything, she was carrying too much weight—fortunately not as much as Livia does.” He chuckled.
Darick looked at Niko. He wasn’t surprised to see her eyes narrow. At one point Hope had been Livia’s pampered pet.
“Let’s go back to when you think Livia let your dogs loose,” Hank said. “I’m sure that upset you.”
“Damn right it did. Lady was my favorite dog. She slept with me. She knew when I was hurting and would rest her head on my knees and look up at me all sad and understanding.” He sniffed. “I loved that dog more than anything.”
“Enough to want to get back at the person you hold responsible for Lady’s death?”
Thomas pushed down on his knees until his knuckles turned white. He groaned. “Wouldn’t you?”
“Did you?”
“Did I what? Take my anger out on her horse? Hell no. I’d never do something like that.”
“Then who do you think did?” Hank asked.
Thomas frowned. “I don’t know anything about the people Livia works with. Hopefully she knows better than to sound off around them.”
“‘Hopefully’,” Hank repeated. “That pretty much leaves her husband and stepson.”
After again scratching his armpit, Thomas looked around as if seeing his living room for the first time. “Zed never stood up for himself against her. Even when he got taller and stronger than her, I never heard him yelling. I think she had him so pussy-whipped the only thing he could think to do was move out. Zachary’s another story. Once Livia pissed him off so much he shot out all of her tires.” He laughed. “That was one time he came over here. He was drunk. Thought her having four flat tires was the funniest thing he’d ever seen or done.”
“How did she react?”
“I didn’t hear anything, but when I saw him a few days later, he had a black eye and scratches on his cheeks and neck. Said those things had happened at work.”
“In other words,” Darick said, “Livia retaliates.”
Thomas nodded. “She was sure I was the one who set fire to their hay barn because the accident happened shortly after Lady died. She kept after the police trying to get them to charge me, but all three of the Rosses smoke. My understanding is the investigation was inconclusive.”
“Did you start the fire?” Niko asked.
“I’m not going to admit to anything, but what do you think?”
“Did you feel as if the slate had been wiped clean?” Hank asked. “You’d taught Livia not to mess with you.”
“It’ll never be over for that woman. The mare is the only living thing she gets along with.”
* * * *
“What do you think?” Darick asked Hank, once the three of them were in the cruelty investigator’s vehicle and parked where, hopefully, Thomas couldn’t see them. The air in the SUV was fresher than inside Thomas’ place, but it wouldn’t last long because the windows were up to guard against the deluge. Still, Darick didn’t want to leave until they’d had this conversation.
“At this point, I’m not going to say,” Hank said. “Next I want to see if what Thomas told us jives with the others’ stories. There’s always at least two sides to a situation. Zachary and Zed are at work. I want to talk to them separately afterward. It’s my guess Zachary will head for the bar near the mill. I’d prefer to talk to him there than wait until he gets home and risk having Livia show up. Something else. Just because she claims to love her horse doesn’t mean I’m ruling her out. It’s possible she’s hoping I’ll accuse her husband or stepson. She could have taken Hope someplace so she could pit father and son against each other. I’m not going to venture a guess as to why she let the animal starve.”
“You don’t take anyone at face value, do you?” Darick said.
“I haven’t since shortly after I took this job.”
“What about Zed?” Niko asked from the back seat.
“I’m going to ask Zachary’s probation officer if he has the kid’s address. I’m thinking I want to talk to him there.”
“What if Livia gives them a heads-up?” Niko asked. “Do you think that will happen?”
“Hopefully not,” Hank said. “I don’t see her trying to protect them. I wouldn’t be surprised if Zachary had a hand in getting the kid a job. He might not have protected Zed from his wife but at least he helped give Zed the means to get away from her. Zed isn’t twenty-one so I’m hoping we won’t run into him while we’re there.”
“What if they’ve heard about Hope and Mist?” Niko said. “I don’t know how they couldn’t have.”
Hank glanced back at her. “I hope they did. I want the guilty party to be nervous, which I didn’t pick up on when we were with Thomas. Did either of you get any particular vibes from him?”
Darick waited until Niko had said “no” before doing the same himself. She was looking at him, staring really, but h
e couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Right now, he didn’t know anything about her, including whether she had a way of letting the grays know what was happening. Would she leave it up to the grays to determine who was guilty, or could she get them to do her bidding, whatever it was?
Darn it. How’s life, and she, become so complicated?
Chapter Fourteen
Niko had never been inside the Relax Bar and, now that her eyes had adjusted to the dark interior, she hoped she’d never have to again. It smelled of sweat and beer, in addition to remnants of when smoking had been allowed. About a dozen men were at the bar or tables that were positioned so the patrons could watch the TV, where a sports talk show was being shown. The men appeared tired, their fingers wrapped around beer bottles with moisture dripping down the glass. It saddened her to think this was what they had to anticipate at the end of a work day. She longed to be back at school, surrounded by youthful energy and curiosity.
She also wanted something other than what was going on between her and Darick. At the moment, she felt like a lawbreaker under the watchful eye of a law enforcement officer contemplating a reason to put her in cuffs. He probably would if he knew what she’d been doing since they’d gone their separate ways this morning. After Hank had dropped her and Darick off at the vet’s office, she’d gone to work but had left a little early so she could run by her place. She’d looked for Gun there but hadn’t spotted the gray. Now Chinook was in her Jeep.
“You’re my bait,” Niko had told Chinook. “My attempt to get Gun’s attention.”
Her plan, if that’s what she could call it, was half-baked, but her only other option was to try to determine if Masauwu was aware of what was happening. Maybe he was tracking her as only a spirit could.
“There he is.” Hank indicated a stocky man at the far end of the bar. “I’m going to see if he’ll come outside. If not, hopefully he’ll agree to move to an unoccupied table.”
She and Darick stayed near the front door while Hank went to where Zachary Ross was curled around his beer. Most of the patrons were studying her. If Grandpa had known, he would have asked if she knew what she was doing.
