“That wasn’t me!”
“Did you know Dennis or did you pick him at random?” Keith keeps pushing, as if Ward had never spoken. “Maybe you did drugs with him?”
The guy’s eyes are wild while they flit around the room, as if the walls are closing in on him.
“I don’t know no Dennis. I’ve got nothing to do with this.”
“Don’t think the DA is gonna buy that, Tom. The evidence all points to you.” Then Blackfoot gestures to me. “Go ahead, VanDyken.”
I take a step forward when Ward suddenly shoots out of his chair and scrambles back until he hits the wall.
“I swear it wasn’t me. I didn’t kill the guy.”
Suddenly it’s like the floodgates open and he can’t talk fast enough to get his story out. At least the story he decided to go with. He was offered money for the use of his land and to look the other way. Claims he never knew what was going on. It’s clear he knows much more than that, but he promptly shuts down when Keith presses him.
“Who, Tom? Who offered you money?”
“I can’t, man. He’s gonna kill me.”
“Then it’s jail for you. You willing to go down for something you say you didn’t do?”
The guy looks miserable. Clearly not happy about any of his choices right now. I’m not even sure if at this point we have enough to charge him with anything, but he clearly believes so and that’s all that matters.
“You’d do time for some Joe Schmo? You’re even dumber than you look, Ward.”
He swings around on Ramirez who delivered that blow.
“Blood is thick.” It’s like the wind goes out of him.
“Cuff him and read him his rights. We’ll start with a charge of tampering with human remains and work our way up from there.”
Ward willingly turns with his hands behind his back once I’ve mirandized him, and I slap the cuffs on. Then I lead him out of the room and back to lockup.
I find Keith at his desk, the chief sitting on the edge.
“It’s family,” I tell them when I sit down in my chair.
“Yeah, I figured, and that’s a problem.”
Blackfoot leans back and lifts his boots on his desk.
“Why?”
“You didn’t grow up here but Tom Ward’s clan is a large one. The Wards, the Lobatos, the Brownleys, they’re all related and three quarters of them have spent time in jail. We start knocking on doors and the wagons will circle.” He tilts his head back and rubs his face vigorously. “Fuck, I’m tired.”
“Go home,” Joe says. “Both of you go home and get some rest. I’m gonna give Gomez a call.”
Gomez is FBI SAC Damian Gomez. It’s not unusual for us to call in their assistance in some cases, and vice versa.
“Why?” Blackfoot snaps and Joe gives him a sharp look.
“Because the moment Doc was assaulted in her own damn morgue, everyone in this office got too close to this case. I’m asking for assistance, I’m not handing it over—yet,” he adds pointedly.
Keith holds his gaze for a beat before lowering his eyes and pushing out of his chair.
“Fine.”
He stalks off and Joe turns to me.
“You going to see Doc?”
“Probably.”
I half expect a lecture but instead Joe nods.
“Good. If our perp wanted to harm her, he had every chance already, but it won’t hurt to be cautious.”
“So noted.”
Five minutes later I’m on my way up the mountain.
Chapter 17
Meredith
That nap did me good.
I stretch, almost knocking Belle off the bed. She’d climbed up here to keep me company while Beau chose to stay downstairs, keeping an eye on things. The kitten resumes her purring when I rub her between her ears with my finger. With her easy demeanor, she’s already blended seamlessly into my life. I still haven’t figured out where she might’ve come from. Frankly, even if it turned out she belonged to one of the places down the road, I’d be hard-pressed to give her back. Beau would never forgive me.
All right, time to get moving or I’ll be up all night.
The faint whine of a drill at the back of the house drifts in through the window. I almost forgot Jay is here.
He showed up a few minutes after I got home myself, surprising me. I know he said come hell or high water he’d finish my steps, but I’d taken it with a grain of salt. I’d assumed work would keep him busy, but he explained Benedetti had sent him home.
I planned to ask him if there was anything new, but the animals demanded attention and my head hurt too much to focus. He must’ve noticed I was uncomfortable and suggested I take something and lie down for a bit, adding he’d try to keep the noise down. As it turns out, it didn’t much matter since I was out like a light the moment I hit my pillow.
In the bathroom I splash some water on my face, make an attempt at taming my unruly head of hair, and give my teeth a quick brush before heading downstairs.
Beau must’ve been listening for me because he’s already sitting at the bottom of the stairs, his tail thumping on the floor.
“Who’s a good boy?”
I give him some attention while my eyes drift out the back doors where I catch sight of Jay’s back. At some point he must’ve ditched the shirt he was wearing, leaving him in only a white T-shirt stretched tight across his wide shoulders. Yowza. His height tends to make him look a bit lanky, but there’s nothing lean about those shoulders.
With the dog following at my heels, I walk over to the sliding door and open it.
“Did you get any rest?” he asks the moment he sees me.
“I did.” I follow a drop of sweat rolling down the side of his face and disappearing into his beard. “It’s warm out. Can I get you a drink? Beer?”
He grabs the hem of his T-shirt and pulls it up to wipe at his brow and I have to swallow hard. My erratic, peri-menopausal hormones surge to life at the sight of those hip dips above the waistband of his low-slung jeans.
Mercy.
“Not gonna say no to that.”
Staring mesmerized at the man’s midsection, I almost jump at the sound of his voice. A voice laced with humor. Too embarrassed to look him in the eye, I turn and head inside, spending more time than necessary with my head in the fridge to grab a few beers.
I notice he’s almost done the last step when I walk outside.
“I’ll put your beer here.”
I set the bottle on the armrest of one of my deck chairs and am about to walk back inside when he stops me.
“You're not staying out here?”
“I was gonna see what I could scrounge together for dinner.”
“I thought maybe I could run out and pick us up a pizza? Unless you want something else?”
“Already sick of my cooking?” I tease.
“No.” He grins back at me. “But I figured I’d give you a break.”
“Well, in that case, pizza sounds great.”
I sit down on the deck and sip my cool beer, trying not to ogle Jay as he screws down the last tread. At some point Belle comes wandering outside, and I’m amazed when Beau helps me keep an eye on her by picking her up every time she gets too close to the edge of the deck.