Full Cry

CHAPTER 40

“Hear me out.” Sister sat in the kitchen at Sam’s house. She’d called him at work and told him she’d be there at six-thirty.

Sam shifted in the wooden kitchen chair; they sat at the old porcelain-topped table.

“I didn’t take a drink. Not knowingly.”

“I hope you’re telling me the truth. You have got to tell me who you left the AA meeting with and where you went.”

“I can’t do that.”

“All right then, let me tell you what I think. I think someone who we don’t realize is a recovering alcoholic, like, say, Clay Berry, left with you. And you were hungry. You went to eat. I think you looked away or got up to go to the bathroom and that person spiked your drink. What was the old phrase? ‘Slipped you a mickey’? And whoever did this is behind the killings of Anthony and Mitch.”

Sam’s face registered a flash of fear. “Why?”

“They knew something, those guys. And you were friends with them. You used to perform odd jobs with them, didn’t you?”

“Sure.” He shrugged.

“But you’re back. I mean, your senses are restored. You’ve got a good job. Why would anyone want to take you down? Think!” she commanded.

“My memory might return.” He stopped, leaned toward her. “But I didn’t do that much with Anthony and Mitch. I rarely worked for the same people they did. They were big guys or bigger than I am. I wasn’t going to be able to lift the stuff they could. The jobs I picked up were mostly janitorial or the odd tack cleaning and repair job. Mostly I tried to keep some horse contact going, even when I was down at the station.”

“You know that, but the killers might not. They might think that Anthony and Mitch told you a lot. Did they?”

“No. Every now and then they’d get money. Seemed like a lot then. Anything over fifty dollars was a lot to us. I never asked. Hell, Sister, I was too drunk or too hungover to care.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure. And if these people are that worried about me, why don’t they just kill me?”

“Good question. I think I have the answer.” She folded her hands together on the tabletop. “They’ve done enough damage, taken enough chances. They either need to set you up as the killer or kill you with booze.”

He passed his hand over his eyes. “Christ.”

“You might want to pray to him because you’re in danger.”

“Did you tell Gray?”

“No. He’s worried enough as it is, and he thinks you’re back on the bottle.”

“I don’t blame him,” Sam’s voice lowered.

“Will you help me catch them?”

“Yes,” Sam said with conviction.

“It’s a funny thing, Sam. Call it loyalty to an old dance partner, but tattered as Anthony’s life was, no one had the right to take it away from him. He didn’t deserve to die like that. None of them did.”

“No. What do you want me to do?”

“I’ve drawn over our foxes, lying tight in a covert. They know I’ve drawn over them, and they think I’ve gone. With me?”

“Sure.”

“I’m going to swing back around and draw in the opposite direction. I think I can flush them out.”

“Who?”

“Dalton, Clay, and Izzy. I’m damned certain she’s in on this, if not behind it.”

He swallowed hard. “Oh.”

“And one of them was with you at that AA meeting, am I correct?”

“Yes.”

“Well, keep to your rules. I guess I don’t need to know exactly which one. What I want you to do is to get into a fight with Xavier.”

“That’s easy enough.” He laughed.

“Yes and no. It means you two must cooperate.”

“Have you talked to X?”

“I’ve come directly from his house. He agrees.”

“He likes to hit me.” Sam smiled ruefully.

“With good reason, but you know what I always say. Send the past into the ocean; let the waves take it away. He can’t change it, you can’t, Dee can’t. Done is done.”

“He doesn’t see it that way.”

“Not now. He might later. X is a good man. I love him very much.”

Sam sighed deeply. “And I once hurt him very much.”

“You did, but that’s over.”

“Why do you want us to pick a fight?”

“A diversion and a shake up. Next hunt. I’ll turn and lift my crop up over my head. I think of the three of them, Clay’s the shakiest. While you two put on your show, I’ll go for Clay. I think Dalton and Izzy will be mesmerized by your joint performance, and they won’t look to help Clay.”

“You’re taking a risk.”

“Life is a risk.”

“You must have loved Anthony once.”

She blinked, then slowly said, “He was the first man I ever slept with, and at eighteen, I thought it was love. Perhaps it was.”

“You’re something, Sister.”

“Know something? So are you.”