The Same Place (The Lamb and the Lion #2) - Gregory Ashe Page 0,105

have ever found her.”

“Thank you for—”

“It’s all there. What aren’t you seeing? Means, motive, and opportunity. Means—I just told you, he’s got the bear. Motive, that’s easy. He’d been trapping near the pig farm because coyotes are drawn to places like that. His conflicts with Joy were escalating. He hated her with an insane level of hatred, and he’s obviously unbalanced, sadistic, probably psychopathic. Opportunity, easy. His property adjoins theirs, and Joy had a habit of trying to free coyotes from his traps. All he had to do was wait until she was alone and take her at gunpoint.”

“Yes, Mr. Leon. You’ve made those points very clearly. Thank you—”

“This is bullshit,” Kat said, standing, and stalked out of the room. She slammed the door shut behind her, and Ammon flinched. In the silence that followed, Tean could hear the hiss of the HVAC system. Then the door opened, and Kat stuck her head in long enough to say, “Wrap it up,” before slamming the door again.

“What’s her problem—”

“Her problem,” Ammon said, his voice rising with each word, “is that you’ve been going at us hammer and tongs like we’re a couple of morons. Jeez, Tean. Have you even been listening to yourself? We’re not stupid, ok? Did you even consider that there might be a reason we’re not following your breadcrumb trail?”

Tean opened his mouth and hesitated. He thought about Kat’s short absence. He glanced at PROCEEDINGS ARE ALWAYS MONITORED AND RECORDED. Then he looked at Ammon.

“Yeah, dummy,” Ammon said, but he softened the word by touching Tean’s hand. “When this goes to court, we don’t want Hannah’s defense claiming that we were influenced by her friend and co-worker, who also happens to be my longtime friend.” Ammon bit his lip. “Maybe, hopefully, if you’ll reconsider, more than friend.”

“Now’s not the time—”

“I know. I’m just telling you why we’ve only got a minute or two, and then I’ve got to walk you out of here, with Kat right there with us, so there’s not even a shadow of suspicion.”

“Ammon, I know Hannah didn’t do this. I know she didn’t. And I’m giving you, right now, the guy who did. It’s all there.”

“It’s all there if you’re playing cops and robbers, Tean. In court, what do you have? You have an anonymously posted YouTube video that shows an injured, captive bear. You don’t have Sievers’s face on the video. You don’t have his voice. You have someone, and it could have been anyone, torturing a black bear on camera. You’ve got Sievers making a really awful comment about the body being eaten by pigs—”

“That nobody else could have known!”

“Please be realistic about this. Almost anybody could have known that. There were three jurisdictions present at that crime scene, not to mention techs and investigators from the MEs office. Do you really think nobody said anything about the body dumped in a pig pen? Half of Heber Valley probably knows what someone wanted to happen to Joy’s body.”

“But I could say the same thing about Hannah. All you’ve got is weird phone calls and a video showing her throwing money at Joy. That could have been anything.”

“It wasn’t anything, sweetheart. It was blackmail. You know it, and I know it. Joy needed the money; the divorce was expensive, and she was facing the possibility of losing everything. Hannah needed silence.” When Tean opened his mouth, Ammon held up a hand. “She has no alibi after that meeting with Joy at the Kneaders on Monday. She claims she was at home, and her cell records make it look like that, but we’ve got her car on an HOV camera on I-15. She won’t tell us where she was going or what she was doing. What am I supposed to think?”

“You’re supposed to give her the benefit of the doubt.”

“She’s your friend, Tean. Not mine. And I’ve got a job to do.”

“I cannot believe you’re doing this. I know you. I know you’re a good person. Why aren’t you listening to what I’m telling you? You’re punishing me. Is that it? You’re doing this because you’re mad at me, because I wanted to slow things down.”

“I’m mad at you? I’m punishing you? What was yesterday? What the hell do you think that was all about?”

“Yesterday?”

“And you could give me a little credit, Tean. You and your boy toy want to play cops and robbers, fine, but at least do me the courtesy of pretending you believe I’m a professional and that I’m good at