Chapter 36
The police took all of them to Lone Peak hospital. Trevino and Daniel went first in the ambulance, with a police escort. Tean and Jem went later in a patrol car—after they’d given their statements. It was too late for Van Cleave.
In the emergency room, a petite doctor with her hair in a SpongeBob scrunchy listened to Tean’s chest, read the list of ingredients in the bear spray, and told him he’d be fine.
When he asked about the long-term effects of capsaicin inhalation and the potentially permanent eye damage, she told him to stop being a baby.
Jem hissed and flinched and moaned when a nurse and doctor worked together to remove the blood-stiff jacket from his arm, but because he was Jem, nobody told him to stop being a baby.
The nurse kept saying how brave he was. And the doctor laughed when Jem asked for a sucker—but she gave him one anyway.
The cut was less than an inch long. The doctor decided it didn’t even need stitches; most of the blood had been transferred from the wolfman’s knife, and so the police kept the jacket as evidence.
“That blows,” Jem said around the sucker. He was lying on the exam table, feet hanging off the end, thumping them with absolutely zero sense of rhythm against the base. “That was my favorite jacket.”
“Your favorite jacket is that hideous windbreaker. You put it in the closet like you’re tucking it into bed.”
“But this was my favorite jacket I got this year.”
As though that made any sense at all.
A rap came at the door.
The man who stood there was balding, his remaining gray hair buzzed short on the sides and back. He had a cop’s clean-shaven look and a cop’s suit. A striped scarf hung limply around his neck.
“Lieutenant Orsino with the State Bureau of Investigation.” He displayed a badge. “May I speak with you for a moment?”
Jem sat up.
Tean put a hand on his knee, but all he said was “Of course.”
After settling himself in one of the remaining chairs, Orsino adjusted his scarf, looked from Tean to Jem and back to Tean, and then he said, “Could you walk me through today’s events?”
So, Tean told him about the drive to the campground out in the Uinta Basin, learning about Rydel’s background, and then the realization that Kazen might have his wallet.
“We called your buddies and told them,” Jem interrupted. “We didn’t keep anything back.”
Tean squeezed his knee. “How is Agent Trevino?”
Orsino sat with his hands wrapped around the arms of the chair. “She’s still in surgery. They stabbed her forty-seven times, by the surgeon’s best count.”
“Fucking animals,” Jem said.
Nodding, Orsino said, “From what we can determine, Agent Trevino and Agent Van Cleave approached the residence and were allowed to enter. There’s no evidence of a struggle until they reach the hallway.”
“They lured them in,” Jem said. “They caught them by surprise.”
“There’s a lot we still don’t know.”
“I bet it was that asshole, Zeb,” Jem said. “He probably opened the door for them. Told them how glad he was they were there.”
Orsino said, “What happened at the house?”
“We got there,” Tean said. “There wasn’t any sign that anything was wrong.” He frowned. “The driveway was empty.”
“Someone moved their vehicle into the garage.”
“Jem thought we should check the place out before we went inside.”
“He means before we knocked on the door,” Jem said. “Because we weren’t going to do anything illegal.”
“Right. But when we got to the back of the house, we heard them arguing, and then one of them came outside.”
“And you attacked him?” Orsino said, as though clarifying a point.
“He saw me, and he had a weapon,” Jem said. “I was defending myself.”
“That’s why you ran into the house.”
“Sometimes the best defense is a good offense.”
Orsino’s expression was impossible to read. “And then?”
Tean ran him through the rest of the events.
When he finished, he said, “Lieutenant, we believe we know who these men are. We gave statements at the house and provided their names. One of them is called Kai. Another is called Zeb. I’m not sure about the third one, but they’re all connected to a campground called Strange Lights in the Uinta Basin. ”
“Yes, I spoke to the officers. They told me your theory that this man, Rydel Owens, is some sort of serial killer, and that he also sexually assaulted his stepbrother, Zeb Welker, when they were younger—a kind of a warm-up, in your opinion, to the killings he’d carry out later on.
And then, when Zeb found out what his brother was doing, he and his friends decided to kill him. ”
“I know it sounds farfetched,” Tean said. “But won’t you at least talk to those men? Go out to the campground. Jem hurt two of them badly. All three of them will have injuries that match our account. They left a knife at the scene, so there will be prints you can check. Surely Daniel’s statement—”
“That boy is deeply traumatized,” Orsino said. “He saw one man who matches the description of Rydel Owens. The others he just calls wolves. That’s all he’ll say. You saved him from wolves.” The lieutenant ran his hand over his head. “They’re gone.”
“Who?” Tean said.
“Those pieces of shit,” Jem said. “They’re gone? Where?”
“That’s the question, isn’t it? When the local PD got to the campground to pick them up for questioning, the place was empty.”
“They’re all gone?” Tean asked. “There was a woman, Tess—”
“All of them,” Orsino said.
“But—” Tean stopped, though, because he didn’t know what to say.
Several long seconds of silence passed. The paper on the exam table rustled under Jem as he leaned forward. “So, that’s it. Can we go?”
Orsino eyed him.
“You’re going to keep looking for them, right?” Tean said.
“It’s the twenty-first century,” Orsino said. “Nobody can disappear forever.”
“What about Daniel?” Tean asked. “What about Ammon? What happens now?”
“The young man is with his family. From what I understand, he only suffered minor injuries. Detective Young decided he didn’t want to confess after all, and there’s not enough evidence to hold him.
In the meantime, the investigation into Brennon Lee’s death will continue.
” In a tired voice, he added, “If you’re right about this, we’re just scratching the surface. ”
The broken body in the bathtub. The blood. On the bedroom wall, like the word was floating in the air: GROOMER.
Orsino levered himself to his feet. The leather of his shoes, Tean noticed now, was worn close to cracking. “We’ll be in touch,” he said as he drew a business card from his pocket. He laid it on the counter, next to a plastic rack full of brochures about NARCAN.
Orsino was almost to the door when Tean spoke.
“Who was he? Rydel, I mean.”
Hand on the door, Orsino paused. He answered without looking back. “A delivery driver. Veterinary supplies.”