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“I’ll play along—best as I can,” Frank told him.
“I can bring in help. ”
Vine was silent.
“You don’t want me to invite in the FBI?” Dustin asked after a minute. “It doesn’t have to be that official. If you prefer, I can just get a few people to drive over to Tennessee and do some legwork. ”
Vine shook his head. “Damn, I wish I could say I can manage this without help. ”
Dustin smiled. “Frank, we couldn’t come in and manage anything—if you weren’t giving us help. ”
“I see a couple of guys coming out to give us a hand with all this gear. I’m assuming you want to get right to the hospital?”
“I do. And I want Olivia Gordon with us. ”
Frank groaned. “Something else going on?”
“I think someone tried to break into her house the other night. ”
“You should’ve called. We could have done something. ”
Dustin didn’t respond, and Frank sighed. “Yeah, yeah, you’re right. We would’ve walked around and seen nothing and probably thought she heard raccoons crawling around on her porch. But you don’t think it was that. ”
“No. ”
Frank sighed again. “Things are weird around here, no matter how you look at it. I’m damned glad I’ve already taken my dog from that place! So, here’s the deal. You bring in whoever you want—but you keep me apprised. You make me aware of everything. ”
“Agreed. ”
They didn’t speak anymore; they’d reached the ranch and both Drew and Sydney were outside, waiting to take the horses as they dismounted. Sammy was out in the yard and he greeted Dustin as if he were his master, as if they’d been together ever since the big mutt had been a puppy. He could only give the dog his distracted attention because Drew was anxious to speak.
“He—he’s conscious,” he told Dustin. “That’s got to be good, right?”
“Sounds good to me, Drew. Sounds good to me,” Dustin assured him. He looked toward the office. Olivia was standing by the steps. Deputy Callahan came out behind her, presumably to see what his next orders were.
“Hang in here for a bit, Jimmy. Help these fellows keep an eye on things,” Frank told him. “I’m going to the hospital with Agent Blake. Liv, you come on with us. You’re in charge now, so if Aaron’s up to speaking, he just might want to talk to you. ”
Dustin lowered his head, trying not to smile.
It was good to be in with the local law. That could make things so much easier. Frank knew he was worried about Olivia; he was helping him keep her close by.
“Sure. Okay. Thank you,” Olivia said. She walked out to meet them. Sammy ran up to her, and she dropped down, petting the dog. “Sammy, I’m so sorry. You’ve got to stay here awhile longer. Okay? I’ll be back for you, I promise. ”
Frank was already headed to his official car; he’d had a couple of his deputies drop it off. The dog was whining, as if afraid to see Olivia go.
“I’ve got him. ” Sydney grasped Sammy’s collar. “What’s gotten into you?” he demanded. “Olivia will be back!”
Sammy continued to whine as she joined Dustin, and the two of them followed Frank to his police car. Within minutes, they were halfway to the hospital.
Vine had decided to use his siren.
* * *
Aaron looked good. In fact, his appearance didn’t even resemble the way he’d looked the last time Olivia had seen him—wet, a strange shade of pale ashen blue, his bones seeming to protrude everywhere.
He was in a semiupright position on his hospital bed. An IV was providing him with some kind of nourishment or medication, but his color was back and his eyes were bright.
“Aaron!” she whispered, entering. She ran to his bed and realized she was trembling. She’d almost lost another friend; she was suddenly weak at the knees, so grateful that she hadn’t.
“Liv!”
She carefully hugged him. He hugged her back with a surprising and gratifying strength.
She stood at the side of his bed, gazing down at him. Dustin and Frank were behind her, while Sandra remained in the waiting room, fit to be tied. Dustin had told her they just needed a few minutes, and then she’d be able to see Aaron.
When Frank tried to explain that Olivia had to be first because of her position at the Horse Farm, Sandra had looked at her resentfully. Olivia had been shocked by the venom in that stare.
But, in all honesty, she understood—in a way. Sandra was sleeping with Aaron. Something she’d apparently been the last to realize.
“Thank God you’re here!” Aaron said, looking at Olivia and then Dustin and Frank. His voice seemed to tremble. “I understand I’m alive because of you, Dustin. Thank you. ”
“I did what anyone would have,” Dustin said. “You’re welcome. We’re glad to see you. ”
“Why won’t they let Sandra in?” Aaron asked.
“We needed to speak with you first,” Frank said. “Aaron, what happened to you? You’re not the kind of man who’d walk to the stream and just fall in. ”
“Yeah, I know. It was odd as hell, and dumb as hell!” Aaron told them. “I’d walked on over to the stream—didn’t think anyone else was up yet—and I was getting ready to kneel down and wash my face. Then. . . ”
He closed his eyes for a minute, puzzled. “Then I don’t know,” he admitted.
“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Frank repeated, clearly annoyed.
“I was there, and then I was in the water,” Aaron said.
“Okay, think, Aaron. Did you see anyone, hear anyone? Was there anything out of the ordinary?” Dustin asked, trying to encourage him.
Aaron was thoughtful. “No. . . Must have hit my head on a rock or something. I mean, the water isn’t even deep. What, I was in about two feet of it?”
“Something like that,” Dustin confirmed.
“Aaron, this just beats all,” Frank said. “There must have been something. ”
“Nothing. It was just a regular morning,” Aaron said. “Got up, looked over at the horses, felt the chill of the morning. I walked the fifty or so yards to the water. . . heard some birds chirp. . . the buzz of some insects and then. . . I woke up here. In some kind of brain machine! I’m fine now, honest to God, I’m fine now. If they’ll just let me out. ”
“They’ll keep you overnight for observation,” Frank told him.
“Let’s back up,” Dustin said. “Frank—you heard insects? Like a buzzing in your ear?”
“Flies and mosquitos do seem to buzz in your ear, don’t they?” Aaron asked, shaking his head and smiling.
“Which ear?” Dustin persisted.
“What?”
“Which ear?” Dustin repeated. “Never mind. May I look at your neck, at the side of your head?”
“Okay. ” Aaron shrugged. “They’ve pushed and prodded everything else. ”
Dustin walked over to Aaron and moved his head forward, studying it with intensity. He frowned suddenly, feeling something in his hair.
“Smarts there a little,” Aaron said.
Dustin pulled out his penlight and inspected Aaron’s scalp. He nodded at Frank, who walked over.
“Looks like an insect bite,” Frank said.
“Except it isn’t. ” Dustin stepped back. “Aaron, I believe someone shot you with a dart gun. There was enough of a drug cocktail on the arrow tip to knock you out. It wouldn’t have killed you. But since you were standing by the water, you fell in and nearly died. ”
“What?” Aaron demanded incredulously.
“I believe Marcus Danby was murdered, struck with a like dart laced with a similar cocktail of drugs. When he was unconscious, he was injected with the heroin and ‘helped’ to fall into the ravine. ”
“Uh—” Aaron said, staring from one to the other. “Why?”
“I don’t know the answer to that y
et,” Dustin said.
Aaron turned to Frank Vine. “That’s crazy,” he said. “Why kill Marcus? Why kill me? All he had, really, was the Horse Farm and it’s tied up in trusts and it’s nonprofit, so. . . ”
He broke off. His eyes fell on Olivia—not with accusation but with confusion. “Why?” he asked again.
“I don’t know,” Dustin said. “We were hoping you might’ve seen someone, heard someone. . . Been able to help. ”
“I—I’m sorry. The thing on my head must be a bite. Not a prick from a dart gun. Dart gun! Come on! Who the hell runs around the hills of Tennessee with a dart gun?”
“That’s what we have to find out,” Dustin said.
“And you’re sure?” Aaron asked in a trembling voice.
Olivia glanced at Dustin, then turned back to Aaron. “I can’t believe Marcus suddenly went mad in the woods and started shooting up. You knew him. Did you believe that when you heard it?”
Aaron swallowed. “No,” he admitted. “But. . . dart guns?”
“Whatever the exact composition of the poison, it causes an instant knockout,” Dustin said. “But it doesn’t remain in the system. Or it’s difficult to identify—and requires special tests at autopsy. The kind that aren’t usually done unless poisoning is suspected. I think that same person tried to attack Olivia in the woods, and then went after you at the stream. ”
Aaron looked at Frank Vine. “This is crazy—crazy,” he said.
Frank shrugged. “You wanna live, Aaron? Crazy or not, you might want to listen to him. ”
“So what do I do? How the hell do you hide from a dart gun?”
“You watch your step,” Frank told him. “Stay with people at all times. It’s hard for someone to pull off an ‘accident’ when you’re in a group. ”
“How close are you to catching whoever is doing this?” Aaron asked.