Aggie studied the layers of paper for several minutes before finding just the right spot for her new shiny.
CHAPTER 13
Grimshaw
Sunsday, Juin 13
Grimshaw drove slowly toward the main road, listening to the tires crunch on gravel—listening for the odd and terrible silence that usually meant the presence of Elders. He stopped when Julian approached the car.
“Is there anyone here who could give Officer Osgood a ride to the police station?” Grimshaw asked. He had left a crime scene unsecured, left a body unattended when he knew there were predators in the area. But this wasn’t a human town or even a human place, and right now the need for caution—and the desire not to become the next dead body—overruled the basic protocol of investigation.
Besides, he wanted to get the baby cop out of there before someone told Swinn about the casualties to his team.
Julian rested an arm on the cruiser’s door, leaning in to speak quietly. “The firemen got the driver out of the car. The EMTs have him and are on their way to the hospital in Bristol. I’m fairly certain he’ll be DOA.” He waved to a man dressed in a white shirt and sports coat, holding a medical bag. “Talk to the doc about that ride.”
Julian stepped back to give Grimshaw room to open the door and get out of the cruiser.
“Doc?” Grimshaw said. The man looked too young to have his own practice, even in a small town. At least, that would have been true a year ago. Now, any doctor who was willing to practice in a small community like Sproing would be welcomed with open arms—and only a cursory check of his credentials.
“Steven Wallace. Junior partner at the medical office in Sproing.”
They shook hands. Then Grimshaw crooked a finger at Osgood, who reluctantly got out of the cruiser, and said to Wallace, “If you’re headed back to the village, could you give Officer Osgood a checkup, make sure he’s all right?”
“I’m fine,” Osgood protested, still looking sickly pale.
“Then you’ll be in and out and can wait for me at the police station. Man the phones until I get there. Will you do that?”
“Yes, sir.”
Wallace pointed at a vehicle parked behind the hearse. “That’s my car over there.”
Grimshaw waited until Osgood reached the car. “Doc? Are you the medical examiner?”
“More or less. I do determine cause of death among the residents of Sproing, as well as among the families who run the farms and vineyards all around this area, but if there’s a criminal investigation or if it looks to be a suspicious death, the body is taken to Bristol for the autopsy.”
That’s what he figured, but he hoped for a little wiggle room. “There’s another body near the main house. Is there anyplace in the village where you could take a look at it and give me an idea of the cause of death?”
Wallace took his time answering. “We can take the body to the funeral home, which also serves as our morgue, and examine it there.” His lips curved in a grim smile. “Small town, small budget. The hearse is used to transport bodies. They already have the man who was killed in the car.”
Grimshaw looked at the two men sitting in the front of the hearse, waiting for instructions. Then he heard a jangling and turned at the same time Julian said, “We’ve got company.”
Two men walked down the road from the direction of the main house. The dark-haired one was a big man wearing jeans and a muscle shirt—and had way too much body hair to wear a shirt like that. The other one wasn’t as heavily muscled and had golden-brown hair and eyes, but Grimshaw had the impression of speed and power that would easily match the other man’s brawn.
Where had they come from? Grimshaw wondered, taking a step toward them. “Something I can do for you gentlemen?”
They ignored him and looked at the trees on either side of the road. Finding two that suited them, the leaner man padlocked two coils of chain around the trees. Then they uncoiled the chain the big man had carried over one shoulder. Simple hooks on each end were slipped through links in the padlocked chains. Attached to the middle of the long chain now blocking the access road was a wooden board with the words PRIVIT PROPERTEE, NO TRESPAZZING.
“You do know this is Ms. DeVine’s property?” he asked. They stood on either side of the road, next to the trees.
“We’re the groundskeepers and security,” the muscled one said.
Had Vicki DeVine had groundskeepers and security before today? Or would she learn about her new employees when she returned from Silence Lodge?
“Your name, sir?” Too many civilians and not enough weapons, even if he dared draw a weapon.
“Conan Beargard.”
Oh gods. That explained the build—and the hair. Grimshaw looked at the other male.
“Robert Panthera.”
Grimshaw would bet a month’s pay that the name was an alias. “Do people call you Robert?”
“Call me Cougar.” A hand slapped the tree truck. But in those seconds of movement, the hand changed, so what slapped the tree was a large, golden-furred paw with serious claws.
That explained who had used a tree near the main house as a scratching post. Did it also explain Detective Chesnik’s shredded legs? Or had something even bigger done that damage?
“There’s a body up near the main house. We need to retrieve it. I promised Ilya Sanguinati it would be gone before Ms. DeVine returns home.”
“We know,” Cougar said. “You can take the meat.”
“You should tell that Swinn human that he and his packmates aren’t welcome here,” Conan Beargard growled.
“I’ll tell him.” Swinn would go ballistic when that message was delivered. “We’ll go up to the main house, do our police things, and remove the body. Then we’ll be on our way.”
Turning his back on the two terra indigene, he looked at Julian. “Consider yourself deputized.”
“No.”
“I’ve got one shot at collecting evidence and looking around. I need another pair of eyes—and someone with better investigative skills than I have.”
“I left the force, remember?”
“Get in the damn car, Julian.” He waved to the men in the hearse. “You follow me up to the house.” He looked at Wallace, who was still staring at Cougar’s furry paw. “Doc? We’ll meet you at the funeral home after you give Officer Osgood a checkup.”
Wallace jerked. Then he regained his composure. “Of course.” He walked to his car.
Cougar unhooked his side of the chain and walked across the road to stand beside Conan Beargard.
Grimshaw drove slowly, not giving any of the predators watching him a reason to attack. He parked at the main house, opened the cruiser’s trunk, then addressed the men in the hearse.
“Give us a few minutes. I’ll let you know when you can take the body.”
“Make it fast, okay, Chief?” the driver said.
“I’m not the chief.”
“That’s not what I heard.”
He’d deal with that later.
Relief breathed through him when he saw Julian taking the camera out of the trunk, along with the crime scene kit.
“You know what you’re doing?” Julian asked softly.
“Doing what I can to supply my commanding officer with the evidence he may need.” Of course, the evidence pointed to Swinn’s men breaking into a house when they had been told they couldn’t enter without a warrant. But that would be Captain Hargreaves’s headache.
“I mean about having me involved. Swinn will chew bricks if he discovers I collected any evidence.”
Another thing he’d deal with later. “Well, he’ll never have a chance to look for himself, will he? Let’s do this and get out of here.”