Chapter Fourteen

Saturday, October 26 th .

Wild Stallion Ranch.

"I'm not sure I'll ask Vicki out again," said Virge. "For all her big talk, she wasn't much fun once we were fooling around together. I don't think she's had sex with anybody before and I'd rather get it on with somebody older than seventeen. Just say'n."

"I hear you and it makes sense. You don't want her telling her mother and then having to deal with a parent coming to talk to Dad."

"Fuck that," said Virge. "I'm not sure of Dale Burden's views on underage sex, but I don't want to find out either. Could be a short end to my life."

I laughed at Virge, but he was right. Best not to piss our dad off. He had unwritten rules but a lot of them weren't publicized until you fuckin broke one. Then you were dead in the water.

First thing Dad asked us when we came in from the barn, "Are the horses warm enough, boys?"

"We stayed out there with the heat on high until they warmed up, Dad. Did the same thing last night when y'all were…someplace."

"On surveillance at Darkers," said Travis.

"See anything?" asked Virge.

"Not enough to tell us what he's up to. How did your dates go?"

"Good. Real good. Virge isn't sure about Vicki, but I liked Penny well enough. She's a nice person. Met the roomie—Shavon—and she's nice too."

"I'm glad y'all had fun. Y'all seen Sunday?"

"Nope, not yet. She still sleeping?"

"Don't think she would be," said Billy. "I'll go check on her."

"You can't do the stairs," said Travis. "Virge, run upstairs and see if Sunday is still in Tammy's room."

"Yeah, sure."

Virge went flying upstairs and he was down just as quick. "She ain't up there, Dad. Where the hell is she? It's freezing outside and still storming."

Billy headed for the coat rack at the back door and put his parka on. "I'm going to look for her."

"We'll help you, Billy. It's almost a white-out outside. You can't see dick when the wind is gusting."

"Take the dogs," hollered Travis. "Butchie will look for her right off."

Virge whistled for Butchie, and we ran out into the freezing fucking snowstorm.

First place Billy went was around behind the barn where the fuckin bears always show up and I knew what he was thinking. Sunday went on another one of her bear-friendly walks.

I could hear Butchie whining way past the bunkhouse that we never used, and I ran that way. "Come on, Virge. Butchie is crying way back in the evergreens."

The big lab was flopped down beside what was left of Sunday with his head on her frozen chest and I felt so fuckin bad for the dog.

Sunday did this to herself, but she broke the dog's heart at the same time and that wasn't fair.

Billy caught up and saw Sunday's frozen body, clawed and ripped from top to bottom and he was sick right there in the snow.

"Go inside, Billy, and call Doctor Olsen."

"Yeah. Bring the dog in."

"Yep. Be right in. It will take the doc a while to get here, and Sunday won't be going far."

"Hope Billy didn't hear you say that, Virge."

"What does it matter? She did this on purpose. Why would anybody go out in a fuckin storm trying to make friends with fuckin grizzly bears?. Tell me who."

"Yeah, you're right, bro. I think there was something wrong with her head."

"You think?"

"But Billy liked her, and he's upset. Let's play down the senseless part and try to make him feel better."

"Yeah, sure. I can do that."

We went inside and waited and while we warmed up, Travis made us scrambled eggs and bacon.

Billy didn't eat anything, but Virge and I were starving. Virge ate half a loaf of toast and jam after he cleaned up his plate.

Doctor Olsen arrived an hour later and was upset to record another bear death. "It's only the end of October and that means there will be far more bear related deaths this year. The weather is all wrong and the bears are off their natural cycle."

"She saved my life up at the cabin, Doc, and I hate to see her like this."

"Not much you can do about it, Travis. She's been dead for a while. Why was she out in the storm in the middle of the night? Can you tell me that much?"

"No. I didn't hear her get up and leave the house. I can't tell you what she was thinking."

"She could've heard more growling," said Virge, "and decided to go out for a look-see."

Dad gave Virge the look to shut him up.

"Why would she go out if she could hear the bear growling?" asked Doctor Olsen.

"Sunday felt she had a gift for taming bears," said Travis, "but I think it was… misplaced."

Virge rolled his eyes at me.

Doctor Olsen's eyes were open wide. "That sounds slightly irrational to me, Travis. Was the woman of sound mind?"

"I'm not sure of that, Doc. When I met her up the mountain she was walking her pet bear on a leash."

"Oh, my. That might have been one bear in a million."

"I think so. A bear killed her husband, and she had a fixation, you might call it."

"I see." Doctor Olsen scowled.

"I feel like she saved my life up Black Wolf Mountain and I should have saved hers here on my own ranch, but I didn't hear her go outside."

"A difficult situation, Travis. I'm sorry for your loss."

We helped Doc Olsen get Sunday into the body bag and me and Virge carried her frozen remains to the Doc's van parked on the driveway.

After the doc left, we had one more coffee before we had to go to the station and feed the prisoners. It was the weekend and Molly wouldn't be doing it.

Dad cancelled surveillance for the day because of the storm and the bad road conditions. Me and Virge were happy about that.

"Billy, you stay home today and take it easy," said Travis. "The boys can run down and feed the prisoners and that's all the work we're doing."

"Copy that," mumbled Billy. He headed into the front room and fiddled around with the woodstove.

"Give them coffee and a breakfast container, check the landline and lock up, Harlan."

"Yep. Won't take us long, Dad. We'll come right back and warm up the barn again."

Sheriff's Office. Coyote Creek.

I unlocked the back door, went in and started two pots of coffee while Virge ran across the street in the wind to get the breakfast sandwiches for the prisoners.

We had three of them at the moment. Lila Gordon doing her thirty days for trespassing. Jerry Paige waiting for his murder trial. And Jyp Kassinger who couldn't come up with his bail bond.

While I waited for Virge to come back from the diner, I remembered to check the landline on Molly's desk. There was a message and I had to grab for a pen and write it down.

"This is Helen Preston calling, Sheriff. I'm Maria Hoover's mother. I came over to have a coffee with my daughter and she's dead, Sheriff. My daughter is dead in her own home, and I need help here. Can you send people over here right away?"

I wrote down the Shelby address and phone number and called her back.

"Mrs. Preston, this is Deputy Sheriff Harlan Bristol calling you back. We're on our way to the address you gave. Fifteen minutes and we'll be there. Don't touch anything if you can help it, ma'am."

"I won't. Thank you. Please hurry."

I called Dad and told him where me and Virge were going, and he said he'd meet us there.

Virge came back with the food, and I'd already given the prisoners their coffee.

"Mrs. Hoover?" Virge hollered. "The lying suit guy killed his fuckin wife?"

"We don't know that, Virgie. Lock the door. Dad's meeting us in Shelby."

Hoover Residence. Shelby.

Hal Hoover who owned the suit store lived in one of the big houses at the east end of Shelby. Only four properties on his road and they all had about two acres each.

Each custom house was set back a distance from the road and this time of year the driveways would be a bitch to keep clear. Hoover's drive looked like it had been plowed professionally. Something rich people could afford.

"Look how big these fuckin houses are, Harlan. Must be a lot of money in making suits."

"Yeah, must be."

"Live in a mansion and drive a Jag. Huh."

I parked the Jeep in the driveway close to the house and me and Virge ran to the door anxious to get in out of the fuckin wind.

The victim's mother let us in. She'd been waiting a while with her daughter's dead body and was pretty worked up when we got there.

Almost screaming in a high-pitched wail, she told us how she came into the house and couldn't find Maria and searched high and low for her. She found her daughter upstairs in the bathroom shower lying in a pool of blood. "I don't like her being naked like that, Deputies. Can't you cover her up?"

"We should leave her exactly as she is, ma'am, until Doctor Olsen gets here. We can close the bathroom door if that will make you feel better."

"Yes, please."

"Did you contact the husband?" asked Virge.

"I called the sheriff's number first and then I called Hal at the store. He's arranging for his assistant, Austin, to come watch the store so he can come home. At first Hal didn't believe what I was telling him."

"It would be a shock," I said.

"A bigger shock for me finding her dead." Mrs. Preston sobbed. "Maria is my only daughter. Who would do such a thing?"

"We'll find out, ma'am," said Virgil.

We were downstairs in the living room with the huge stone fireplace almost gone out when Dad caught up to us.

He stepped into the foyer, stamped the snow off his boots and introduced himself, "Sheriff Frost, Mrs. Preston. Sorry for your loss."

"Thank you, Sheriff. Your boys have been helping me deal with this tragedy."

Dad nodded and gave me a look. "Upstairs in the master bathroom," I said in a low voice.

Dad and Virge went up to look at the scene and I stayed with the mother. "What time did you come for coffee, ma'am?"

"Umm…it was around nine. I don't live far away. Just at the other end of town."

"And did you talk to Maria before you drove over here?"

"I called to tell her I was coming but she didn't answer, so I came over anyway. She's usually home when Hal is at the store. That's when she gets things done—when Hal isn't here bossing her around."

"Did Maria and Hal have a happy marriage?" I asked that question because Billy always did.

"Not happy lately, I'm sad to say. Maria was entertaining thoughts of divorcing Hal. She'd had enough of his verbal abuse. My poor girl couldn't do anything right—according to Hal."

"Did he ever threaten her?"

"Oh, no. Nothing like that. He constantly nagged her about everything she did and how she did it. Overly critical…I'd say. Hal is one of those people who thinks he's perfect. Know what I mean?"

"Yes, I do."

A knock on the door made Mrs. Preston jump. "Who can that be? Hal wouldn't knock."

"It will be the coroner, ma'am. Doctor Olsen from Cut Bank."

"Oh, yes. We're expecting him. I forgot." She dabbed at her eyes with more tissues.

I let Doc in and pointed at the stairs. "The victim is in the upstairs bathroom, Doc."

"Thank you, Harlan."

"This is Mrs. Preston, the victim's mother."

"Ma'am. So sorry for your loss."

"Thank you, Doctor."

Doctor Olsen went upstairs, and not more than a minute later, Hal came blasting through the front door. "Where is my wife? Where is Maria, Helen? I don't believe what you told me. Why would you lie to me like that and upset my morning at the store?"

He tore over to the stairs like he knew the victim was up there, but it might have been a reflex action.

I stood up and pointed to the sofa. "Sit down, Mister Hoover. You can't go upstairs."

He laughed. "You don't think so? Watch this."

I hollered up, "Sheriff, Hal Hoover is coming up."

At the top of the stairs I saw Dad step into the hallway and block the door to the master suite. "Wait downstairs, Mister Hoover. The coroner isn't finished."

"I want to see my wife."

"You can view her body at the morgue." Travis pointed. "Wait downstairs. I'm only saying it once and if you come up here, I'll cuff you to the fuckin railing."

"Yes, sir. I'll wait downstairs."

Dad could be scary when he was pressed.

I thought I detected a slight smile on Mrs. Preston's face when Hal retreated and took a seat on the sofa.

My notebook was already in my hand when Virge came down and asked, "What time did you leave the house this morning, Mister Hoover?"

"Who are you? You look like a high school kid in a uniform."

"I asked you a question." Virge took a stance in front of Hal.

"Umm…I left at my regular time. About ten after eight."

"And Maria was alive when you left?" asked Virgil.

"Of course she was. What kind of stupid question is that?"

I turned to Mrs. Preston. "You arrived around nine, ma'am?"

"Nine, or shortly after."

"We have a forty-five-minute window." Virge looked Hal straight in the eye. "Any cars parked on the road outside when you left for the store?"

"I didn't notice any. This is a fairly exclusive neighborhood, Deputy."

"But it ain't gated," said Virge. "Anybody can drive on this road."

"I guess so."

"Tell me what your wife said to you when you left for the store."

"Is this a test? If it is, I'm not finding it amusing, young man in uniform."

"I want to know if you actually saw Maria up walking around before you left the house," snapped Virge.

Hal appeared pensive. Like he hadn't thought about it. "I'm not sure I actually saw her, now that you mention it."

"Were you sleeping in separate bedrooms? Is that why you didn't see her?"

"Yes. We were sleeping apart." He glanced over at Mrs. Preston and dropped his chin onto his chest.

"So you didn't see her before you left for the store," said Virge. "That's because she was already dead in her shower. Doctor Olsen estimates your wife died at about three in the morning."

Travis stood on the stairs listening to Virge and then he came down and stood in front of Hal, the tailor. "I need a detailed statement of everything you did last evening."

"You think I killed Maria?"

"You were here when she died, weren't you?" asked Travis. "Obviously you did nothing to prevent it. What else am I going to think, Hal?"

"I didn't kill her, I swear."

"Did you kill my girl, Hal?" asked Mrs. Preston. "You've been awfully mean to her lately. She's been crying a lot because she thinks you've been cheating on her."

"What? I would never cheat on my wife, Helen. I'd appreciate it if you didn't verbalize crazy accusations that have no bearing in fact."

"Boys, take Mister Hoover to the station and get him started on a detailed written statement of everything he did in the last twenty-four hours."

"That's ridiculous," said Hal. "I'm not going to the police station and I'm certainly not making a statement like that. That's invasion of privacy."

Travis grabbed hold of Hal's suit jacket, jerked Hal to his feet and whipped his right arm up behind his back. "Harlan, cuff Hal and secure him in the Jeep."

"Copy that, Sheriff."

"You can't arrest me. I haven't done anything. I want my phone call."

"Shut up, Hal," said Travis. "This is my day off."

We hauled Hal's fancy ass out to the Jeep and locked him in the back seat. He argued and complained the entire way to the station in Coyote Creek and me and Virge ignored the fucker.

Dad wanted to do it this way and he had a reason. He had a reason for everything he did—every call he made.

On every call out we had, I learned something from Travis just by watching and listening to him.

Sheriff's Office. Coyote Creek.

Virge brought Hal inside the station. We got his coat and hat off and set him up with a yellow pad and a pen at one of the desks in the squad room. Virge made sure he was chained to the bar.

"This is stupid chaining me to the desk. It's not like I'm a criminal. You boys aren't even real sheriff's deputies. You can't be. I think I'll phone the county and see if they know about you two."

"Write down everything you did all day yesterday, during the night and this morning," I said. "Don't leave anything out. The Sheriff will be here soon, and he'll check over your statement."

"Our county sheriff looks a lot like an over-the-hill biker. I never voted for him."

Virge took exception. "What did you say about my father?"

"Your father? Umm…nothing."

"Virge, make coffee. It's almost time to give the prisoners lunch. I'll call over to Maryanne and have her get the food ready."

"Add lunch for Hal, you, me and Dad," said Virge. "We'll be here for a while."

"Copy that."

I was back from the diner with the food containers and the prisoners were fed when Travis came in through the sally port and stamped the snow off his boots.

"I see you got lunch, Mister Hoover. How's your statement coming along?"

"It's finished, Sheriff. I'd appreciate my phone call."

"Uh huh. What does your wife's death have to do with Sandra Ellington's death? Same MO. Probably the same weapon—therefore the same killer. What are your thoughts, Hal?"

"How could the two possibly be connected?" asked Hal. "There is nothing that links them together."

"Right," said Travis. "Nothing but the same fucking killer, Hal. That's a pretty strong connection in my book."

"What about a copycat?" asked Hal. "I've heard of those killers."

"Is that what you are, Hal? A copycat?"

"Of course not. I didn't kill my wife and I certainly didn't kill Mrs. Ellington. Like I said a few days ago, the only time I was at the Ellington's place here in Coyote Creek was to deliver suits to Bob Ellington."

"So you said." Travis shook his head. "But my boys said you were lying."

"Well, your boys were wrong, Sheriff." Hal frowned. "How much training have these kids had anyway? They look like they should be in algebra class."

"They may not be good at algebra, but they are both a good judge of suspects and they can add two and two. That makes you a strong murder suspect, Hal."

Travis unchained Hal from the desk. "Book him, Harlan. Suspicion of murder—two counts."

"No. You can't do that. I didn't kill those women."

"Who did?" asked Travis. "Tell me who did."

"I don't know who did."

"All I have is you for now, Hal. You're the best suspect I've got and until you give me somebody better, I'm going all the way to trial with you."

"That doesn't sound like intelligent police work to me, Sheriff," shouted Hal. "How did you get this job anyway?"

"People like you voted for Billy Johnson, and then he got hurt. I didn't want the fuckin job." Travis shrugged. "Ain't a popular job but the county begged me to do it. Never should've said I would, but I was too stupid to turn them down. Take him Harlan. When he's been processed, lock him up next to Lila."

"Copy that."

Wild Stallion Ranch.

After feeding the prisoners we had to go home for chores and to check on Billy. He was feeling bad about Sunday being torn apart by a bear, and he'd been alone all day. We needed to make sure he'd eaten something and try to cheer him up.

Me and Virge did chores and made sure the water wasn't frozen for the horses. The barn wasn't as cold as it had been when the wind was high coming at us from the Rockies.

When we went back into the house Dad was talking to Billy and saying, "Let's go down to the roadhouse, grab something to eat and drink a pitcher."

"Yeah, I could do that. Got to get out of here for a while and think about something else."

"Get cleaned up, boys. We'll get us some ribs at Jack's place."

"Copy, Dad." Virge bolted up the stairs. He was always starving.

Dry Run Roadhouse.

We drank a pitcher at the roadhouse and Dad ordered the rib special for all of us. Billy wouldn't eat, but he kept knocking back Miller until he slumped down in the corner of the booth and passed out.

"Seen that coming," said Travis. "He was keen on Sunday and then this happens. Hard on him."

"Yeah, it was," said Virge. "Let's get him home and into bed."

"Yep. Life ain't fair sometimes," I said.