He was snapped out of his reverie when the ATV skidded to a stop at a gate in the tall fence surrounding the preserve. Dakota reached a hand out to an electronic box on a tall metal pole and pressed a button.
“Out visiting, Dakota?” The heavy male voice was muffled by the electronics.
“Sightseeing, Neil. Can we come in?”
“You vouch for your guest?”
“You bet. Come on. How about it? He wants to talk to you.”
Silence. Then, “All right, but can I throw him out if I don’t like him?”
She laughed. “Of course. Come on. Open the gate.”
Another few seconds passed. Then the metal gates slowly creaked open.
“Is everyone you know this friendly?”
She glanced over at him. “I don’t know that many people. And Neil’s…one of a kind.”
Jonah frowned. “What are we doing here, anyway?”
“You said you wanted to see where the killings occurred, right? Neil Washington owns the hunting preserve. He’ll show you exactly where it happened and answer your questions.” She flashed a quick glance at him. “As long as you’re polite.”
“I’m always polite.” He was also glad she’d slowed down to a decent speed.
They followed a caliche driveway up to a rambling adobe house sitting on the crest of a small hill. The door was open and a tall man stood framed in it, waiting, as imposing as the house itself. Dakota pulled to a stop, leaped out and raced up the stairs leading to the house. Jonah watched the man hug her and a fiery ribbon of jealousy curled through him.
What the hell?
He climbed out of the ATV, made sure all his limbs were in one piece and climbed the stairs.
“Come on,” Dakota called. “Meet my friend.”
“Her only friend,” the man laughed. But the laughter didn’t reach his eyes as he checked Jonah out.
As he reached the house he saw the man was much older than Dakota, a fact that quieted his jealousy but put all his senses on high alert. This was someone important in Dakota’s life, someone who could very well toss Jonah out of it.
And what does that mean? Are you wanting more of a place in it than just today?
Before he could figure out an answer to his own question he was standing almost toe-to-toe with Neil Washington. The man could have been fifty or seventy, Jonah wasn’t sure, but he looked like a man who would own a hunting preserve. The sun had tanned and weathered his skin and what might once have been a lanky frame was now fleshed out with tough sinew and muscle. He still had a thick head of hair, the sun-streaked brown heavily threaded with silver. Fine lines around his eyes gave notice of years squinting in the sun, the same kind of lines bracketing his mouth. Usually they indicated someone who smiled a lot, but from the man’s distinctly unfriendly posture Jonah didn’t think smiling was a big habit of his. An air of something deadly hung around this man and Jonah knew at once he wasn’t someone he could easily bullshit. He just hoped the man bought his story.
He approached Neil cautiously and held out his hand. The man took it in a bone-crushing grip. They stood there, like two warriors facing off, until Dakota stamped her foot.
“Stop it, both of you. Put a lid on the testosterone, okay? Jonah Grey, meet Neil Washington. Neil, you don’t have to put him to any of your tests. He’s not after my scalp.”
“We’ll see. Come on inside.”
The house was no nonsense, like the man, but beautiful in its simplicity. Tile floors reflected the sun pouring in through floor-to-ceiling windows. The furniture was massive, wood and leather, with a definitive western flavor to it. Washington led them through the house to a room at the back that was obviously a den or study. Or office. Or maybe all three. Washington sat behind his desk and motioned for Jonah and Dakota to sit in the two club chairs.
“All right, missy.” He looked Jonah over carefully. “Tell me about this stray you’ve dragged in here.”
“Quit it, Neil.” Her tone was impatient. She turned to Jonah. “Before he died my father worked for Neil policing the preserves and monitoring the hunters. He hired both my mother and me after that to do what he called ‘help out’.” She made a face at him. “Now that my mother is gone he thinks I’m his responsibility.”
Neil was still studying Jonah. “Dakota’s smart as a whip,” he said in a careful voice, “but she needs looking after. The good people of Eagle Pass don’t mind buying her concoctions from her but they wouldn’t give her house room. And we’ve had enough nosy reporters around her trying to make something out of her Kickapoo background, promote her as something she’s not. So maybe you’d better tell me exactly why you’re here and what you want with my girl.”
His posture behind the desk looked relaxed but Jonah knew every one of the man’s senses were on alert. So were Jonah’s. On the one hand he was glad to know Dakota had a champion in her life. On the other, he wondered if this would pose a problem. He chose his words carefully but made sure they didn’t sound too rehearsed.
“I’m a writer,” he began. “For
National Crime Magazine
. My editor somehow got hooked on the legend of the Chupacabra. When we got word of the killings here, he was sure it was this beast and sent me to see what I could find out. He’s hoping I can make a series out of this.”
Washington grunted and made a face. “So like the other idiots around here, you think that’s what got those two hunters and the deer on my property.”
“I’m just looking for information.” Jonah raised an eyebrow. “But I gather you don’t agree.”
“I think it could have been any number of wild animals.” He pointed out the window at the vast expanse of land stretching away from the house. “I’ve been doing this hunting lease thing for thirty years now and I’ve seen a lot of things. But never some mythical beast that people created out of whole cloth.”
“People swear they’ve seen it,” Jonah pointed out.
He snorted, a sound of disgust. “People will swear to anything if it gets them either attention or money. So what do you want with Dakota?”
“She’s the only one living out here except for you. I came out here to see if she’d seen or heard anything.” He looked at Dakota and back to Neil. “She decided on her own to bring me here. See if you could answer some questions. Maybe show me where the bodies were found.”
Seeing the site in daylight, even after all this time, might give him a better perspective on the situation.
“I don’t want her taken advantage of,” Washington warned.
“Neil, for god’s sake.” Dakota threw up her hands, leaped out of her chair and began pacing impatiently. “I just thought you could help Jo—Mr. Grey with some information. If you’re going to be rude we can just leave. And I can take good care of myself.”
No one said anything for a long moment. “I suppose you’ve got some identification to back up your story?” Neil asked, looking at Jonah.
Jonah pulled out his wallet and fished out one of the business cards Craig Stafford had given him. “Feel free to check it out. I’m legit.”
Casually Neil Washington lifted the phone on his desk and dialed the number on the card. Jonah sat back in his chair, watching. The number would ring back at Desolation Ranch where whoever was monitoring incoming traffic at the moment would verify his credentials. He looked over at Dakota, now sitting tensely on the edge of her chair again, fists curled in her lap, and smiled. He touched her arm and when she glanced at him he winked.
It will be all right
, he mouthed.
“Well, seems you at least work where you say you do,” Washington said, disconnecting the call. “I don’t much like strangers where Dakota’s concerned, as you can tell. But for now I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. What do you want to know?”
“Did you hear anything that day?” Jonah asked.
“We’re so used to the sounds of guns and the different animals out here that I usually just tune it out. Did I hear anything different? Not that registered with me at the time. Sorry.”
“What about people who work for you. Maybe someone saw something.”
Neil shook his head. “Son, I promise you. If anyone had seen anything we’d know about it.” he leaned back in his chair. “Remember. We’ve got animals all over the place and the hunters know to be careful where they set up and what they do.” He grunted. “At least they should.”
“What about the other hunters? Surely these weren’t the only two out there.”
Neil made an impatient gesture with his hand. “I place my hunters far enough apart they aren’t even in sight of each other. I can’t have some damn fool shooting another damn fool or I wouldn’t have any customers.”
Jonah nodded. “I understand. Is it possible I could see where it happened?”
“Come on.” Neil rose from his chair. “I’ll take you out to the spot. The tape is still up around it. Figured we’d leave it marked as a danger zone.”
Good. Maybe there’ll still be something for me to see.
Jonah worried that he’d have another carnival ride on an ATV so he was relieved when Neil led them into a huge garage that housed an SUV, a pickup and four Kawasaki Mules.
“I use these to patrol the preserve,” he explained. “I operate under a Land Management Permit from Texas Parks and Wildlife. That means seeing to the health of the animals within my fenced land. Limiting the hunting so the herds are thinned but not destroyed. Assuring the animals are properly fed and bred.”
“Sounds like a lot of responsibility,” Jonah commented.
“It is, but I enjoy it. And I can assure you, I’m very picky about who I let in here to hunt. All my hunters are thoroughly vetted before they get a permit.”
He backed the mule out of the garage, pressed a control that opened a gate in the fencing that ran along the side of the house and depressed the accelerator. The land was left in its natural state, with a variety of trees and vegetation. The soft breeze picked up each of the scents, mixed them in a witch’s cauldron and whispered it over the land, creating the same wonderful blend of mesquite, persimmon and black brush Jonah had scented the other night. In several places he saw tall metal tripods with small silos atop them.
“Feeders,” Neil said in answer to his question. “Part of the responsibility of managing the land is making sure the deer are fed. We have other feeders for the turkeys.”
“But not the other animals.”
“Neil snorted. “They can take care of themselves. We’ve got javelinas, feral hogs, bobcats, coyotes. That’s why I have such a hard time believing some mythical animal got in here and did the killing. Any of the animals I just named could have been the culprit.”
As they crossed the hunting preserve whitetail deer often leaped from behind trees or shrubs, squirrels skittered along the ground and coveys of quail waddled and fluttered. Once a feral hog darted close to them, snorting, its red eyes reflecting the sun. Neil lifted the handgun he had lying next to him on the seat, ready to use it if necessary, but the animal apparently wasn’t after human prey today.
They reached an area with sparsely scattered trees and tall shrubs where a large rectangle had been marked off by orange tape, and Neil stopped the mule.
“Well, here it is.” He climbed out “Although I don’t know what you think you’ll see after all this time.”
Jonah fished a small camera from his pocket and turned it on. “I asked Dakota why one hunter wouldn’t have shot whatever animal it was while his friend was being attacked.”
“Sometimes you just don’t react. Fear paralyzes people. A bobcat attacks swiftly and finishes off his victims almost before they know what hits them.” He shook his head. “Of course, these guys were sitting in a blind. Whatever attacked them may have pulled it down around them.” He wheeled around a copse of trees and pulled to a stop. “Well, here we are.”
There was no distinctive smell clinging to the area. Jonah would have given his left nut to be able to shift right then. To get low to the ground and see if he could find a lingering scent. But even in human form he had the same feeling that had permeated the other night when he raced through here as wolf. Evil. Soul-searing, heart-stopping evil. The aura left here hadn’t come from any normal animal, no matter what Neil Washington tried to tell him.
“Wouldn’t a bobcat or feral hog have eaten its fill of its prey and left just the remains?” he asked.
“Usually. But something might have spooked it.” Neil scratched his head. “Maybe another wild animal.”
“It happened in the early morning, right?” Jonah walked around the area, careful not to move under the tape and disturb anything although he wasn’t even sure what he was looking for.
“Yeah. That’s what we figured. While it was still dark. These guys go out about four thirty, long before sunup, to set their blinds. We give them about three hours to get set before I send one of the guys out on the first run. Don’t want to scare off the game, you know. Danny was the one making the first run that day, and he found them.” Neil shook his head. “Poor guy still has nightmares.”
“Did you come out and take a look yourself?”
“Damn right.” Neil grimaced. “It was a damn mess, I’ll tell you. I still see it in my mind.” He shook his head. “But I’m telling you, it could have been any of the wild creatures around here. So don’t read more into it than there is. Write your story, but I’m telling you, it’s all a bunch of hogwash. People go crazy over that story. Lose their minds.”