Chapter Nine
Stranger Danger, Serial Killer
Willow
“How long will it take until we hear something?” Willow asked after the doctor and deputies left.
“Most likely months. The state lab is always backed up, and those bones are not exactly a priority for anyone but us.”
“You seem to like the doctor,” she said.
“Hank and I go way back. He’s been the coroner for years, and he’s also my primary care doctor. When I was still working, I’d go into his office for some ailment or another, and we would talk about dead bodies. I hadn’t seen him in a few years.”
“You should go have a beer with him sometime,” Willow said.
“Trying to get rid of me?” Dale asked.
“No, but you must get bored with only me for company.”
“Oh no,” he said. “You’ve insulted the dogs. They are my best friends.”
“I didn’t insult the dogs, and I thought I might be your best friend.” She didn’t wait for his answer. “You gave me the warm fuzzies when you told Deputy Wallard I was your granddaughter.”
“Warm fuzzies good, or warm fuzzies bad?” he asked.
“I think of you as my grandfather. I never said it because I worried you would be offended.”
They were still sitting under the awning. Dale reached over and squeezed her hand. “I would be honored to be your grandfather. But don’t you dare call me pops. I almost decked that stupid moron.”
“As your granddaughter, I will always be available to bail you out of jail. I think almost killing him from heat stroke was a better punishment, though.”
“It was sweet to see his red face and shaking hands. Idiot should always carry water in his vehicle. What did you think of him?”
Willow didn’t need time to give her answer. “I knew guards like him. You learned to stay clear of them whenever possible.”
“His story about his other department was a bunch of crap. He left before they fired him. This county has no problem hiring rejects. I’ll be surprised if he lasts more than a few years.
While he’s covering this district, treat him like those bad guards.
Stay clear of him unless I’m around. He’s the type of officer who allows women to pay off speeding tickets with their body.
” Heat rose in Dale’s face. “I know that was impolite to say, but I’ve seen his kind before. Steer clear.”
She saluted him. “Dinner won’t prepare itself, and I’m making something complicated from Joan’s cookbook.”
“It’s Chinese food, isn’t it?” he said, groaning.
“You’ll see.”
“It is Chinese food, and it’s gonna have that tofu garbage in it.”
“Half the time you don’t even know when I use tofu. You complain over everything healthy.”
“You want me to grow man boobs,” he protested.
Willow laughed. “That’s a crock of bull. Tofu does not cause man boobs. I watched an entire documentary on it. Asian men and women have the least amount of body fat and man boobs in the world. They also eat the most tofu.”
“Okay, but if I get man boobs, you’re buying the bras.”
Willow laughed all the way into the house.
◆◆◆
“Something’s bothering me,” Dale said on an overcast morning two weeks later. They hadn’t heard back from Deputy Wallard. They didn’t know how long the body had been there, whether it was male or female, or if the person died from natural causes, which Dale thought was doubtful.
“I’m all ears,” Willow told him as she swept the kitchen.
“Those deputies did a small grid search, but never looked around the area. I think you and I should go find that marker together and check out the surroundings outside the gully.”
Willow gazed around the house and placed the broom in the corner. “I planned to clean all day. You don’t need to ask twice. Let me get my boots on.”
They took the dogs.
“You would think those two were littermates,” Dale said as they watched the dogs stick close to each other as they ran out of sight, then back.
“Max had the saddest eyes when you took Daisy to town,” Willow volunteered.
“Max always has sad eyes.” He smiled and shifted his hat a bit. “It’s a Rottweiler trait.”
“You’re only saying that because you didn’t see his pouty face.”
Dale laughed. “I’ll take your word for it.”
Using the GPS on her phone, they stopped at the location that should have the marker. After looking around for fifteen minutes, Dale suggested they grid the area.
“You look two feet to either side and ahead. I’ll walk next to you and do the same thing. If Joan put in her book that the marker was here last time she checked, it was here. That woman kept meticulous track of everything.”
“I’m up for the grid search. Maybe we’ll find something connected to the body.”
“Look for anything out of place,” Dale told her as he motioned her to the location he wanted to start. “Say stop if you see something you need to examine closer so we stay even.”
“Got it.”
They walked back and forth for an hour, adding several water breaks. The day was overcast, and the temperature wasn’t as hot as the day before.
“The monsoons will start soon,” Dale said during one of the breaks.
“We need the rain. I also like searching the wash after it floods.”
Willow had a nice collection of petrified wood.
Dale planned to get her a rock tumbler for Christmas.
They had agreed not to share gifts on birthdays, but Christmas was fair game.
He’d been studying the machines on the internet to find a good one.
They had relatively low wattage, and it shouldn’t affect the solar power too much.
He was excited about getting her started.
He worried that she needed friends her own age as much as she worried about him having male friends.
Dale stopped and looked around. He saw something flash in the distance.
“Look up there,” he said.
“Who is that?” she asked.
“No idea, but we should check it out. He’s seen us, and he’s on your land.”
Willow felt a small touch of apprehension, but they were both armed. Dale called the dogs in, and they obeyed him instantly. When the man noticed them heading toward him, he waved and walked closer.
Max gave a low growl, and Dale told him to hush.
“Howdy, neighbor,” the man said when he was close enough.
He appeared to be in his early fifties, wasn’t as dirty as many of the people who lived out here, and had all his teeth which were very white.
His face was clean-shaven, which was something Willow rarely saw on the ranch.
He wore a short-sleeved solid olive-green shirt that blended with the surroundings, along with jeans.
He carried a shotgun similar to the one Willow carried, and had a large knife strapped in a sheath at his hip.
Dale had his revolver in the holster at his waist.
The man’s blue eyes drew Willow’s attention, and she wasn’t sure why. He studied them as closely as Dale studied people. She wondered if the man had ever been in law enforcement.
“Don’t think I’ve had the pleasure,” Dale acknowledged when about eight feet separated them.
“Name’s Larry,” he said in a friendly manner. “My property is about a mile that way,” he volunteered. He looked at Willow. “You must be Joan’s daughter.”
That threw her for a moment. “Granddaughter, actually. Did you know my grandmother?”
“Met her a few times. Nice woman. Read about what happened to her in the paper. Sorry for your loss.”
The man seemed nice enough, but for some reason, Willow had a bad feeling about him.
“This is her property. Do you come out here hiking often?” Dale asked.
The man chuckled. “Sorry about that. I’ve lived here for years and still get turned around. Thought I was on public land.” He shifted his weight and slung his shotgun farther back.
Max gave another low growl, and Daisy never took her eyes off him. Of the two, she was less protective, but something bothered her too.
“I’ve lived out here for a long time. I’m surprised we haven’t met,” Dale said.
“When I’m not working, I keep to myself. I like the peace and quiet.” He rubbed his hand on his non-existent gut. “I hike to stay in shape.” He added a smile for good measure.
“What kind of work do you do?” Dale asked.
“Trucker. Own my own rig and have steady jobs that take me across the country. What about you?”
“Retired,” Dale said. “My granddaughter keeps me busy helping her around the property.”
“Yeah, this lot wasn’t available when I was buying. Nice acreage you’ve got,” he said to Willow. “I’ll stay away from this section of land. Sorry if I disturbed you. Nice to know the neighbors, though.”
Dale nodded without answering. Willow wondered if he was being intentionally rude because something raised the hair on the back of his neck like it did hers. Larry seemed nice enough, and she had no idea why he gave off a bad vibe.
But the bad vibes were something she couldn’t quite shake.