Deadly Hunter

“Why do they put so much poison in the collars? Allison said it’s enough to kill six grown men. Coyotes aren’t that big.”

“Sure kill,” Tate said. “One nip, a little on a canine tooth, and the coyote will bite the dust. From that perspective, and only that perspective, does it make sense.”

Jerrod nodded, taking a gulp of coffee. Hot and bitter, it slid down his welcoming throat. “Nobody’s worried it might kill their animals?”

“Some aren’t, apparently. Most of the time a grazing animal wouldn’t be affected, and since the coyote runs away he’s not likely to poison anything else until he gets sick and dies. Then you get a case like Madison’s.” Tate shook his head again.

“Would anybody do that deliberately to Madison? Have a grudge that big?”

Tate’s eyes narrowed, even as his lips stretched in a humorless smile. “Anything’s possible. Thing is, though, around here you might have a grudge, but you don’t mess with a man’s stock. That’s a killing offense in these parts.”

“Really?” Apparently some of the Wild West still survived out here.

“You get caught at it, somebody might take the law into their own hands. We have some rustling problems from time to time, and no jury around here would convict a rancher who shot a rustler. Or someone caught poisoning a rancher’s land or stock. No, you got a problem with someone, you’d best take it up with them directly.”

“So it was probably some kind of accident.”

“Probably. A bad one, though. If we ever found out where it came from, somebody would be paying for two Angus cows and maybe a little more, besides. I sure wish we could find out where it started.”

“Allison doesn’t think that’s likely.”

Tate sighed. “Mebbe not. Likely not. What little I know about that toxin gives me a real bad feeling, and the way it spreads makes it almost impossible to trace.” He cocked a brow at Jerrod. “So you went out with her on Saturday? You keeping an eye on her?”

“I thought she shouldn’t be out there alone. In case.”

“There’re a lot of in cases out there. Especially when the snow covers things. From prairie-dog holes on up. I don’t think cell phones work any too good out at the Madison place.”

“I didn’t think so. Which brings me around to something else.”

Tate nodded. “She ought to have a radio. I’ll stop by the office and talk to Gage Dalton. He’s the new sheriff.” Tate suddenly laughed. “Been a while since I retired, but he’s probably always going to be the new sheriff. Anyway, I’ll have a word with him. Chances are Allison won’t get around to it.”

He turned and dumped the dregs of his coffee into the sink. “I’ll think on what you said about a grudge. Don’t want to dismiss any possibility. In the meantime, you keep an eye on that young woman. I reckon you’re good at that.”

“It’s not exactly something I’ve done before, but I get the basics.”

Tate’s gaze measured him. “Reckon you do,” he said finally. “Who were you with?”

“Can’t say.”

“Like that, is it?” The former sheriff let it drop. “You need anything, give me a shout. And if you get to feeling sociable, I got a wife who loves nothing better than a guest for dinner.”

When Tate walked out, Jerrod was left holding his card. He stared at it, figuring he had just found an ally who could help with intel.

So Tate didn’t think it was likely someone had a score to settle with Madison. That was good to know, but it opened up some questions, like who and why? Just an accident?

It had been a long time since Jerrod had given much credence to accidents. Just like he wasn’t ready to give credence to the idea that they’d never be able to find the person who was responsible for the poison. It might be difficult, but not necessarily impossible. And what if the person responsible for the release had something to hide? Say, some illicit stock of the poison that wasn’t in collars at all. That would fit better with the idea of those cows ingesting some. In which case, somebody could have a whole lot of reasons for stopping Allison.

Remembering the way he’d felt watched out there, then later here on the street, he couldn’t dismiss the possibility out of hand.

Of course, it was always possible that he was trying to act on training that had no place here in his new life. Maybe he wanted to believe this because it gave him a purpose again.

If so, he might be worse off than he thought.

Grabbing his jacket, he decided to head over to the college and see if he could find Allison. Just a friendly gesture, an offer to take her out for lunch. It seemed the least he could do after that wonderful lasagna the other night.

Or maybe it was because his whole body was humming like a homing beacon, dragging him toward her.

He snorted, but didn’t fight it. She was interested in him, too, and she was a grown woman who could make her own decisions.

Whether he’d be good for her didn’t even enter into it. That was her decision.

Besides, he’d all but promised to keep an eye on her.

* * *

Allison stood looking at the back of her sporty SUV with dismay. Somebody had tried to smash the tailgate window. Trying to get at the samples? But why?

They hadn’t broken in, though. The car was still locked, the window was crazed with cracks and dented in at one place, but nobody had gotten in. So why?

It would be easy enough to take a swing at her car in the faculty lot. Even now, as lunch hour approached, there wasn’t another soul around. There rarely was except in the early morning or late afternoon. Unlike the student parking lot, this one was seldom busy.

Well, if they’d wanted the samples, it wouldn’t have taken much more work to get at them. Why would anyone want them, anyway? They might be dangerous, and it wasn’t as if she couldn’t just go out to collect some more.

Swearing softly, she pulled out her phone to call campus security. Dan Digby was going to be here shortly, and he’d be thrilled to find out that his trip had been lengthened by this. She probably wouldn’t even be allowed to open her car until someone had gone over it.

Not that the campus had much of a security force. There’d likely be another delay as they called the sheriff. She sighed this time. Just lovely.

She shivered a little in the cold. She really hadn’t dressed for standing out here long, but she didn’t feel she could step inside a building. What if someone saw this as an opportunity to get into her car and look for money or something? They might get exposed to that toxin.

Security didn’t keep her waiting long. Well, of course not. They generally had little to do on this small campus. Ben Herbert climbed out of the car, took one look at her and the window and said, “Climb in my passenger seat before you freeze. I called the sheriff.”

“I thought you would. Has there been a rash of this?” she asked hopefully. It would be so nice to feel this wasn’t directed at her.

“No,” he answered bluntly. “Probably some stupid kid who did it on a dare, though. You wouldn’t believe how much craziness happens on a dare. Maybe even fraternity hazing of some kind.”

She liked that idea. She slid into his car, which was still running and blasting welcome heat. Even though she was wearing lined gloves, she held them out to the heater vent. Too much cold, too much snow. If this was the harbinger of the kind of winter it was going to be, everyone was going to wind up wishing they lived in igloos. At least the heating costs would go down.

A sheriff’s car pulled up just minutes later. It was followed by a police car, this one piloted by the chief, Jake Madison. The deputy turned out to be Sarah Ironheart. Allison was almost amused by the fact that her broken window had drawn so much attention. That a broken car window could be such a big deal gave her some idea how little happened around here. Although on the same day they found the dead cows, they’d had that killer from Minneapolis show up and try to take out Jake’s fiancée, Nora.

Crap, maybe things weren’t as quiet around here as everyone liked to pretend, now that she thought about it.

She opened the door and leaned out of the car. “Don’t touch anything inside the back of my car. I’ve got soil samples, water samples and a bag full of possibly contaminated gear in there.”

Jake looked at her. “From Saturday?”

“Yeah. Dan Digby, from the state, should be here any minute to pick it up.”

“He might have to wait a few,” Sarah said. Holding a camera, she started taking pictures.

“I’m sure it’s just a prank,” Ben Herbert said. “We get all kinds of pranks here.”

“Pretty expensive prank,” Jake remarked. He looked at Sarah. “You want to dust or you want me to?”

She shrugged. “I’m voting baseball bat and not one fingerprint.”

“You’re probably right.”

Which meant, Allison thought, they’d never figure out who did it. Oh, well.

Just then they were joined by Jerrod Marquette. Allison heard his step and turned to see who it was. She felt startled that he’d followed her here, but was glad to see him, more so because she hadn’t even caught a glimpse of him yesterday. Of course, she had told him she would be grading papers on Sunday, so apparently he was respectful of her time. Nice.

“Hi,” he said. He clearly had already taken in the scene. “I came to buy you lunch. Looks like that’ll have to wait. What happened?”

“Baseball bat? Nobody knows. They didn’t try to get into the car, though.”

“Lucky for them if that stuff in there is toxic.”

“I just warned everyone.”

He squatted down beside her. “I’m sorry this happened.”

“Me, too. But at least they didn’t break the windshield completely. I can probably tape it and wait until the auto repair shop gets a new one in.”

“Probably.”

She glanced at him and realized his gaze was fixed on her. Immediately, her insides sparked in response. Boy, she was getting it bad. Not good.

“Why don’t you scoot in and close the door so you can keep warm,” he suggested quietly.

“I’m waiting for Dan Digby from the state.”

“Do you know him?” He barely waited for her nod. “Then you’ll recognize him as soon as he gets out of his car.”

He had a point. “But what about you?”

“I’m fine. I ran over here. It warmed me up nicely. If I get cold, I’ll run around the parking lot.”

So she pulled her legs in and let him close the door for her. Then he went over and shook hands with Jake Madison, and was clearly introduced to Sarah and Ben. She wondered briefly if they’d be suspicious of him because he was a newcomer, but body language belied that. Finally impatient because she couldn’t hear what was going on, she climbed back out into the cold.

They were beginning to collect a small crowd of gawking students as Jake dutifully covered the back end of her car with black fingerprint dust. She figured the students wouldn’t be here long. The wind seemed to be growing more bitter by the second.

“Well?” she asked as she approached the knot of cops.

Jake looked at her with amusement. “You want a complete forensic analysis in ten minutes?”

“No, but a short one would do.”

“Blunt object. And Ben’s probably right about it being a bad prank, or some kind of hazing. Unless you gave someone a failing grade recently?”

He was serious, she realized. “Not recently. Whether they like the subject or not, no one is taking chemistry who doesn’t need it for a reason. Almost everyone works hard. It’s been a couple of semesters since I last failed someone.”

Jake nodded and looked at Sarah. “It doesn’t look angry.”

She agreed. “Angry would have involved more than one heavy swing. I’d expect your entire tailgate and maybe other parts of the car to be involved.”

“Unless,” said Jerrod, “they got scared away by something.”

Allison looked at him. “What’s that mean?”

“Probably nothing at all.”

But Jake and Sarah didn’t take it that way. “That’s a possibility. It happened since you got here this morning, right?”

“Some time in the past three hours.”

Just then a car pulled into the lot. It bore the state emblem on the side and parked close before Dan Digby climbed out. A balding, slightly portly man of about fifty, he quickly pulled on a fur hat and looked around. “What the hell?”

“Vandalism,” Ben Herbert said, stepping forward. He’d been quick enough to call the police, but apparently he wasn’t going to relinquish all authority here. Allison felt a flutter of amusement run through her, despite her anger about her rear window. Watching men could sometimes be downright amusing.

Dan ignored Ben and came hurrying over. “Are you all right, Allison?”

“Of course. I wasn’t here when it happened. And it really does look like somebody’s bad idea of a prank.”

“Hazing,” Ben said knowingly.

Digby glanced at him and nodded. “Just so long as everyone’s okay. But I suppose my samples are in there.”

“Yes, they are,” Allison answered. “You’d suggested that. Are you in a hurry?”

He flashed a surprisingly charming smile. “Only to get out of this cold.”

“It’ll only be a few more minutes,” Jake told him. “We’re almost done. Why don’t you keep warm in your vehicle?”

“Because this is more interesting,” Digby answered frankly. He pulled down the earflaps on his hat, then snapped the strap under his chin.

“Allison?” Sarah said. “Walk around your car and make sure nothing else appears damaged.”

She did as asked, but didn’t see one ding or scratch that she didn’t recognize.

Jake shook his head. “Protocol says we should dust the entire car in case someone tried to enter it, especially the driver’s side. But who’d be out here without gloves?”

“Skip it,” Allison said. “Only a lunatic would pull his gloves off to try a car door latch. Not today. Can we get Dan’s samples now?”

“Before we all freeze to death?” Sarah said with a humorous smile. “I think we’re done. No prints. Of course, the cold isn’t helping with that, either.”

“I guess I’m going to find out if duct tape sticks at this temperature,” Allison remarked as she opened the tailgate. Five minutes later, Dan Digby drove away with the samples, leaving her fresh core tubes to use, as well as additional sets of gloves and booties. The parking lot emptied out and she turned toward Jerrod, who was now bouncing from foot to foot to stay warm.

“I’m rescuing you,” she said. “Climb in. At least you’ll be out of the wind.”

It was picking up again, as if the air wanted to snatch the last heat it could from them.

In the driver’s seat, turning the engine over, she realized that she could hear the wind whistling inside the cab of her car now. Apparently some of those cracks had gone all the way through even though it was safety glass. Hell, she hoped the damn thing didn’t fall out.

Given that the last temperature she had seen said it was about eighteen degrees out, she let the engine warm up again. “Guess I’m going to have to plug in tonight,” she remarked.

“Plug in?” Jerrod asked.

“Engine block heater. I can tell you’ve never had a vehicle in a climate as cold as this.”

“Not usually. Once I was inserted, I hoofed it.”

That told her a lot, she supposed, or maybe nothing at all. “Back in the old days, when it got really cold, people would drain the oil from their cars and bring it inside, then put it back in the car in the morning. The block heater is a lot more convenient, but you can use an electric blanket under the hood, too.”

“Things I never thought about.”

The engine was starting to put out some heat, so she figured it was warm enough to drive. “It’s kind of you to want to take me to lunch.”

“Well, given a choice of eating alone or eating with you...” Then he laughed. She looked at him, wondering how to take that and then saw the heat in his gaze. Instantly, she blushed. He wanted her. Wow. Too bad he didn’t have any idea what he might be getting into. She dragged her gaze from him, telling her body to shut up. She knew this could lead nowhere good. Maybe she should have refused the lunch, but the rudeness... She sighed and gave in. No way could she insult him by refusing his invitation. She was going to have to find another kind of armor. Trying to sound businesslike, she asked, “Where did you want to have lunch? It’s not like we have an abundance of choices.”

“The diner downtown is pretty good.”

“Sure, if you can take Maude.”

He chuckled quietly. “She doesn’t bug me.”

“She’d be disappointed to hear that.”

The whistling from her back window worsened as she drove. She hoped it wasn’t an omen. She hoped she was right, that no one would have a reason to come after her just for taking soil samples. That no one was stupid enough to think she could find out who had done this thing.

She hoped the uneasiness that Jerrod had inadvertently wedged into her life with his comment about grudges was unnecessary.

She hoped life wasn’t about to change for the worse in a big way.

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