by Dale Mayer
He got up, refilled his coffee and sat back down across from Anna. When he noticed hers was empty, he winced, stood again and poured a cup for her.
She raised her eyes to him. “Thank you.”
“Just relax,” he said. “We’ll get to the bottom of this.”
Logan came back in, his face grim and his voice hard. “I heard you say that.” He shook his head. “But it’s a whole lot more serious than that.”
Levi came in from the kitchen. “What did you find?”
“The blood in the bag and on the knife is not animal. It’s human.”
Anna gasped, her hand covering her mouth.
He held up the bag containing the knife for everyone to see. “And it’s covered from one end to the other.”
Flynn’s stomach knotted. He turned to Anna’s pale features.
Logan continued. “I don’t suppose you found a dead body—other than the owl—on your property, did you?”
She shook her head, saying, “No.”
“Did you even look?” Flynn asked.
“Why would I?” she cried. “I found the owl and was so upset, it never occurred to me to keep looking. And then I found the knife in the jacket. Obviously I assumed you used it on the owl.”
Flynn looked to Levi. “Definitely past time to call the cops.”
Levi nodded. “You’ll need to take her to the station and hand over the knife and jacket.”
He nodded as he stood up, looking at Anna. “Are you ready?”
“For what?”
“I’m taking you to the cops in Houston.” He glanced at the others. “And then I’ll go back to her place to see if we can find a body.”
She let out a hoarse cry.
“You want company?” Logan asked. “I got nothing better to do today, and I would like to see how this goes.”
Flynn nodded.
He and Logan had been buddies for a long time. He wouldn’t mind having him come along. Something was seriously off, and he knew better than most how important it was to have someone he trusted to watch his back.
Chapter 3
Anna huddled inside her jacket. She was grateful she’d thought to grab one. She couldn’t believe the sudden turn of events, and was really not looking forward to a trip to the police station. Then somehow going home with Flynn on one side and Logan the other was completely the opposite of what she thought would happen this morning.
To find out the knife was covered in human blood changed everything. She cast her mind to what she thought she’d heard last night and everything she’d seen this morning, but there had been nothing to indicate an injured human was anywhere around. She just couldn’t believe this.
They made the trip in complete silence. As they entered the city, Flynn turned to look at Logan and asked, “How about a change of plan? We should check on her place first, make sure there isn’t something else to find, and then report to the police.”
“Good idea,” Logan said. “We’d look pretty stupid if we take a knife in, then go to her place and find a body.”
She shrunk down into the seat a little farther. The last thing she wanted was to find anything else dead around her place. At least she had a decent security system. But what good was it when an intruder could shut it down, like this one must have? The cost of running the place was so high she was barely limping along. She had several acres here in what had been the outskirts of Houston, only the city had grown up around her—increasing her taxes and utilities. How could she set up security for the entire place? It would cost a small fortune.
Flynn drove into the driveway and parked off to the side. Stuck in the middle, she had to wait for the men to get out first. She hopped down, walked up to the front door to unlock it, only to find the door was ajar.
“Shit.”
“Shit what?” Flynn stepped up and seeing the door open, pushed her out of the way and pulled a weapon from his back pocket.
She’d almost forgotten about the fact he carried. Sure this was Texas, and she should be used to it, but there was something about the way he wielded it. He was a man who knew exactly what to do with that weapon. And wasn’t scared of doing what needed to be done.
It wasn’t comforting before, but now it was downright soothing.
Both men had their weapons out and walked into her house quietly. “Stay here,” Flynn whispered.
She made a face. She wasn’t stupid. She would let them go first, but no way would they keep her out for long. She was terrified of what might happen to her animals in the back.
After giving them a long moment, she peered around the corner into the front hallway and living room. It seemed normal. As upset as she had been when she left earlier, there was a chance she forgot to shut the door.
She walked in and followed the men as they searched the entire downstairs. She shrugged. Nothing appeared to be wrong or out of place. “Maybe I forgot to lock up,” she said.
She walked to the kitchen back door. It was closed, the lock in place. She opened it and went toward the animals in their kennels. With her heart pounding, she walked through the shelter, checking all the cages, finding everyone safe and sound.
She turned to face the men and realized only Logan was here with her. “Where’s Flynn?”
“He’s gone to check the rest of the house.”
That made sense. “All the animals are here and accounted for.”
She walked to where the dogs were kept. She hated to leave them for very long. As soon as she got home, she would move them out to the yard for a few hours to get some exercise.
There was Jimbo, a big golden Lab, and Duggy, a pitbull/Doberman cross that needed freedom more than the others. She also had two small dogs, which was a blessing. She quickly shuffled the bigger ones and their pens, letting the animals out back, and they jumped and played with each other. She smiled. It was one of the reasons she did this, and a way she could find homes for them.
She took the remaining dogs and moved them to one of the smaller pens. She had four cats in residence right now. She shifted them as well. Something she normally would’ve done this morning.
The playhouse was in a separate room where the cats could sprawl out for most of the day. After finding the owl this morning, she’d put everyone back in their cages. Maybe a foolish thought, but now they could return to the play area.
It took a good ten minutes to shuffle everyone around. Several other animals were at her place right now, and one was a huge bunny named Bugs. But he lived outside in a pen—as long as the weather was warm enough for him. She checked and found him nibbling on grass.
That left the snake, in a glass terrarium for now, safely sequestered from the hamster in a large cage off to the side. He was snoozing in the sawdust. Happy.
“Good. Everyone here is fine,” she said to herself. She turned to find Logan, standing guard. She winced. “Are you actually playing bodyguard?”
He gave her a flat stare. “Until we figure out what the hell’s going on, yes. You won’t be alone until then. And there’s nothing playful about this.”
She nodded and brushed past him. “I’m heading back to the house then.”
“Wait. How much of this is your property, and is there somewhere else we should look for a body?”
She froze. “I have four acres here,” she said. “You want to check everywhere? Just stay out of the dog pen. They don’t know you. Other than that, do what you want.”
Flynn spoke from behind her. “What about the food shed?”
She turned to stare at him. “What about it?”
“Have you been inside it this morning?”
She shook her head. “No. I don’t need to. I have dog food inside.”
“Then Logan’ll stay with you in the house, and I’ll check the rest of the property.”
He glanced at Logan, and she saw as they exchanged looks.
She threw up her hands. “Fine, we’ll go together.” She led the way to the back and opened the double doors. “I get a lot
of food donated by companies. I keep most of it in the shed.”
“Is it locked?” Logan asked.
“Yes,” she said. “I have to. I can’t afford to have any of it go missing. It’s expensive enough to keep this place up.”
“You need better security here,” Flynn said from behind her.
Immediately her back stiffened. “So you said, more than once.” She took several steps toward the shed, adding, “As I said before, there isn’t any money to upgrade.”
At the shed she stopped and stared at the busted lock. “Ah, hell. It’s been broken into.” She’d just die if all the food was gone. There was over a year’s supply stored in there. She wouldn’t be able to replace it.
Her shoulders were grabbed roughly, and she was jerked back several feet. “We’ll go in. You stay out of the way.”
She shot Flynn a fulminating glare, but he wasn’t looking her way. Instead, he and Logan were communicating in a way that was all too easy to understand. As she watched, Flynn gave a nod to Logan to open up the door.
With her gut wrenching in fear, she waited, her arms across her chest as she chewed on her bottom lip. This was one of the easiest, most accessible places on the property.
And she hadn’t really considered it that way before.
Logan pulled open the door, and both men jumped in, weapons out.
When would this nightmare end? When Flynn had stayed at her place to keep an eye on her, all she’d been able to think about was the day he’d finally leave. He’d been such an irritant in so many damn ways. Yet, he’d also been fun, bringing a lot of laughter to her world. When he did leave, all she could think about was an excuse to see him again.
But today hadn’t gone the way she’d hoped. She’d just been so angry and upset that she hadn’t been able to think straight. Now he was here, coming to her rescue yet again, and all she wanted was for him stay.
“Anna?”
She was startled back to the present and walked a few feet forward to peer into the darkened room. “What?”
Flynn’s voice was somber and hard. “We found what we were looking for.”
She couldn’t see anything with the two men standing in front of her. She pushed her way in between them. The shed wasn’t that big. On the floor between the full racks of pet food lay a man, collapsed on the floor.
*
Flynn watched her face, seeing the shock as emotions swept over her. She clapped her hands over her mouth, and tears filled her eyes. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach. “You know him?”
She raised her gaze to him. “You do too.”
He pulled out his keys with a small flashlight at the end and turned it on. Focusing on the man’s face. “Hell, that’s Jonas, the asshole that’s always after you. The damn stalker.”
“Whoa,” said Logan. “Her stalker ends up dead on her property. And the knife likely used to kill him ends up in your jacket pocket in her bedroom.” He shook his head. “This is not good. Someone is pinning this murder on you, buddy. Who the hell did you piss off so bad they want to lock you up for twenty years?”
“No one. Hell, I haven’t pissed anyone off lately. Not so they’d do something like this,” Flynn protested.
“Except me,” Anna muttered. Flynn gave her a sharp look, and she had the grace to look ashamed. “Okay, you have a tendency to rub people the wrong way. But that’s no reason to set you up for murder.” She turned to look around the small room. “What really concerns me at the moment is, to set you up, what other evidence is here adding weight to that?”
“No idea. But I didn’t do it, so it doesn’t matter what the hell they find. It just means I have to clear myself.”
Logan said, “Hey, buddy. I know that’s how it’s supposed to work, but too often the cops just look at the surface. They get easy evidence, and that’s it. Slam dunk. You’re locked away as a murderer.”
Flynn glared at him. He crouched beside the body. “He looks like he’s been shot.”
“Except his arm is cut up pretty bad too,” Logan said, pointing to the dried blood on the dead man’s sleeve.
Flynn exchanged a hard glance with Logan. “I have an ugly suspicion as to what knife might have caused that injury too. It would explain the human blood on it.”
Logan held up his hands. “I know you wouldn’t do something like this. We’ll help any way we can. This is bullshit. I know it. You know it. But we still have to call the cops.”
“I’ll do it,” Anna said, pulling out her phone. “It needs to be me.”
Flynn pulled out his. “Do it,” he barked at Anna. “I’m calling Levi.”
Logan held up his phone. “Good idea. I’m calling my father. I think we might need everyone in on this deal.”
Chapter 4
Anna stared at the officer standing in her kitchen. “I’m sorry. Did you just say I need to leave? I don’t have any place to take the animals. This is a shelter. They are here because they require someone to care for them in the first place.”
“It’s now a crime scene. You can’t be here.”
“No,” she protested. “The shed is a crime scene. That has nothing to do with the animal shelter or my house.”
“And yet we think it’s related to the owl being killed. The knife was found in your bedroom in a jacket pocket. Therefore, evidence is tracked to the house.”
“You don’t understand. I have no place to go.” She stood and looked out the window at the animals. “And there are no other shelters around that can take them. That’s the reason they’re here.”
The police officer walked several steps away and pulled out his phone. She didn’t know who he was calling, and didn’t care. Somebody needed to solve this. How long would her place be a crime scene? Surely a day was enough for them to get whatever evidence they needed.
If they left the animals, she could come back and feed them. Maybe she could stay somewhere for the night. She just didn’t know. Often the police wouldn’t let people back into their homes for days, if not weeks. That couldn’t happen here. It was her home. Surely something could be done.
So far Logan and Flynn stood quietly at her side. They answered all the questions they’d been asked, but hadn’t offered anything extra. She understood how Flynn felt. At the moment she was feeling pretty damn antagonistic toward the police herself.
Then she remembered that Jonas’s mother was alive. That was one thing about Jonas always coming around and making a nuisance of himself—he’d talked. A lot. She knew how hard this news would be for his mother. Nobody should lose a child. Now that he was dead, she was sorry for not having treated him nicer. But he’d become difficult, a pain in the ass, someone who wouldn’t take no for an answer.
But she had never wanted him dead, just to go away and leave her alone.
She deliberately kept her gaze from zeroing in on his body, instead looking at the back window of the shed. She couldn’t help worrying that she might need access to the food stored there. Damn, what was wrong with her? Someone had been killed in there, and all she could worry about was the animals.
That was typical. The donation money had slowed to a trickle, and she was in dire straits. The last thing she needed was something like this. It was hard to get support for the animals at any time. If anybody thought a murder investigation was going on at the shelter, the money would completely stop.
Morose, she sat at her kitchen table, drinking coffee, waiting for the police to go through whatever it was they needed to. There was no point in fighting it. She’d given them access to the entire property. She wanted them to do their job.
The officer came back and told her, “We need the property for twenty-four hours. When it’s time for you to work with the animals, an officer will be with you at all times. You can’t stay here overnight, but during the day, you can be here for the animals. After that time, we should be done, and you can have the place back.” He stood and waited for a response.
What choice did she have? This was the best she coul
d get. She gave a curt nod. “I will be here from seven in the morning to seven at night. At that point, I will leave.” He frowned, and she shook her head. “There are dogs to feed and walk, cats to look after, as well as cages to empty and disinfect. There’s food to sort and medicine to give out. There are phone calls to make, etc. This is a business, and it’s a charity. I need people to understand it’s still operational.”
He turned and walked away. She sank back into her chair. “That went well.”
Flynn spoke from behind her. “Where are you going overnight?”
“I want to sleep in the cages with the animals,” she muttered. “I don’t really want to leave them alone.”
“The police won’t let you do that.”
She propped her elbows on the table and dropped her chin into her hands. “Of course they won’t. That would be too easy. I have no idea what I’ll do. How’s that for an answer?”
She stared out the window, wondering what the hell happened, and how she would get past this—then chastised herself for being selfish. She knew Flynn was in bigger trouble. Yet he had people backing him. People he could trust to find out what was going on and make sure this didn’t have a long-lasting impact on his life. She was in the same boat Katina had been in before, and now understood why she was with Merk at the compound.
In fact, it wasn’t that far away, but still she wouldn’t impose on her friend any more than she had to. Mentally she went through a list of people she knew, wondering if anybody would be generous enough to offer their couch for the night. But the list was short, and the answers were no by the time she got to the end of it. No way could she justify staying at a hotel. She needed money for her own electricity, phone, and water bill. She would not blow that kind of money on a hotel.
So maybe she would have to spend the night in her car.
Logan appeared at her side. “Levi said you’re welcome back at the compound until the police are finished in your house.”
