He eyed her, thinking. “Probably growled to warn you when you approached. Might not have used the full scream.”
Her experience with cougars was limited to only one encounter last October, so she wasn’t the expert. “I suppose that’s possible. But is it likely that a cougar would feed on a human?”
Stella wore a perplexed scowl. “In the nine-one-one call, Wilson Nichol said he’d been shot and was bleeding to death. I think the cougar attack came after, or at least I hope so.”
Brody continued to look thoughtful. “Cougars are usually shy of humans, but if one was hungry, or if a mother was feeding cubs, she might have taken advantage of an easy food source. She could have judged Nichol to be fallen prey, that’s all. It doesn’t necessarily mean we have a man killer on our hands.”
Mattie hoped that was true, but the fact remained that they did have a killer on their hands. Only the killer was human. “Who is that new wildlife manager? I think we should call her in to take a look at these prints.”
“Glenna Dalton. I’ll give her a call, see if she can meet us up here tomorrow morning.” Brody squinted at Stella. “He has an entry wound on his chest with an exit wound on his back. How does that compare with what the ME discovered during Nate Fletcher’s autopsy?”
“He recovered the lead from Nate’s body. Two .38 caliber bullets to the chest. Both penetrated the heart. Hollow-point projectiles for maximum expansion, so the shooter came armed to kill. Stippling on Nate’s shirt indicated gunpowder burn. He was shot at close range, which supports the theory that he knew his killer.”
Brody frowned. “Two taps to the heart makes me think of a hired hit.”
Mattie couldn’t dismiss the fact that Robo had found a trace of narcotics inside the van door panel. “Leads me back to drug running, which could mean we have an unknown suspect.”
“That might work for Nate, but there’s no evidence that he and Wilson were into drug running together,” Stella said. “In fact, what we know about them contradicts any kind of partnership.”
Mattie realized they could be jumping to conclusions about these two homicides being related. “How can we be so sure we’ve got only one shooter here?”
“That’s right,” Stella said. “At this point, we have nothing. If we could recover the bullet at Wilson’s scene, we could see if it was from a handgun or a rifle and at least determine if he was shot at close range like Nate. A similar MO might make me lean more toward the one-shooter theory.”
“Robo and I will do an evidence search in the morning.”
“Those scuff marks indicate the cougar dragged him a ways,” Brody said. “It’ll be impossible to determine trajectory that shows you where to search.”
“We still have to try,” Mattie said. “And we need to locate Ben Underwood and Zach Irving. Those two have a connection to Nate Fletcher, and they’re from out of town. I’d love to let Robo sweep that Cadillac of theirs for narcotics.”
Brody nodded. “You two go ahead and see if you can track them down at the motel. I’ll stay here until the techs are done with the crime scene. We’ll keep a guard on it overnight and take a fresh look early tomorrow morning. Sheriff McCoy is coming back to town tonight, so he’ll be available soon.”
“We’ll stay in touch,” Stella said before turning to leave.
Grateful that Robo, Stella, and a powerful flashlight accompanied her, Mattie turned away from the fire to head into the darkness, still wondering if a cougar could produce the low-pitched growl she’d heard.
* * *
When they arrived at the Big Sky Motel, four cars were parked inside the well-lit courtyard, and Mattie was pleased to see Zach Irving’s silver Cadillac Escalade among them.
“There it is,” she said. “I’m going to get permission from the manager for Robo to take a sniff of the cars here in their lot.”
“Good idea.”
The owner of the motel was on duty, and as one of the merchants on the committee that had funded Robo’s purchase, he was more than willing to cooperate, though he said he would contact the owners of the Cadillac in question and let them know she wanted to talk to them.
As Mattie stepped out of the office, the door to room eight opened, and the cowboy that Rainbow had been dancing with the night before stepped outside and stood under the porch light. He appeared to be looking at her SUV while another man exited the room and stood behind him.
Stella went to meet them while Mattie passed by her unit to leave the driver’s side door open before following. Robo’s cage was equipped with a latch that could be opened remotely with a button attached to her utility belt, and it had paid off before to leave an open exit so that her partner could provide backup if she needed him.
Stella introduced herself and then Mattie while Ben Underwood performed the introductions on their side. They offered handshakes all around.
Mattie remembered Ben’s dark good looks from the dance. In the courtyard’s spotlights, his brown eyes twinkled with friendliness; he was about six two and lean. Last night he’d worn a Stetson, but tonight he was bareheaded, revealing dark-brown hair clipped close on the sides with the top about three inches long.
Zach Irving was a couple inches shorter than Ben. He had sandy hair and the same dark eyes, though not quite as friendly. Both were dressed in jeans, boots, and short-sleeved shirts. Judging from the bronze tone of their skin, it looked like they might spend a large amount of time outdoors.
“We want to talk to you about Nate Fletcher,” Stella said, cutting right to the chase.
Ben’s eyes took on a serious cast. “Tyler Redman called early this morning. Horrible news.”
“What do you know about it?”
“Just what I was told. That someone shot and killed Nate last night.”
Mattie studied the two. While Ben showed the appropriate amount of dismay, Zach appeared to be searching their faces, his eyes darting between hers and Stella’s. Nervous.
“When did you meet Nate?” Stella asked.
“We never had the chance to. We found his website and signed up for a fishing trip. I spoke to him on the phone once to be sure all the arrangements had been made, but we never met in person.”
So far Ben seemed to be doing all the talking, which Mattie thought rather odd.
Stella continued to question both of them. “Where were you last night?”
“I was at the dance here in town. Zach’s engaged to be married soon, so he stayed here at the motel like a good boy.” Ben tossed a smile in his friend’s direction. “Evidently, that puts an end to all his fun.”
Stella gave him a tight smile. “Could I see some identification, please?”
Zach cleared his throat, his voice crackling with tension as he spoke for the first time. “Are we in some kind of trouble here?”
“No trouble. You’re in the unfortunate position of having an appointment with a man who was shot and killed last night. We need to clear you in order to move on with our investigation.”
Both men produced California driver’s licenses, the identification on which matched the names they’d given earlier. Mattie recorded the license numbers and their addresses, then handed them back to their owners.
Stella continued with the drill. “I need to ask a few more questions.”
Zach gave her a hard stare. “Do we need an attorney?”
Since he’d mentioned it, Mattie had to wonder the very same thing.
Stella answered. “Not that I’m aware of, sir. This is strictly routine.”
True. Typically, interviews were strictly routine … until they weren’t. Zach’s nervous behavior and his lack of an alibi made Mattie’s radar light up.
“And where were the two of you this evening around six o’clock?” Stella asked, moving on to Wilson’s death.