“And the caching? Is that normal?”
“It is. They’ll use deadfall sometimes, but a tree will do the trick, too. Any place to hide their prey.”
“So unless I can shape-shift into a big cat, this ain’t my fault,” Cypher says as he rises to his feet. “Agreed?”
“You knew what happened to him,” I say. “You knew where he was. But you had to toy with us.”
“Out here, you take your amusement where you find it. And you two were so cute. Hot on the trail of the killer cougar. You gonna go arrest her?”
“You gonna tell us where we can find her?” Dalton says. “This is at least the second person she’s killed in the last few years. She’s learned we’re easy prey, which is no joking matter.”
“Nope, it’s not,” Cypher says. “Which is why you don’t need to worry about this particular she-bitch. I’ve been out here every day, watching for her to come back.”
“How long exactly?” I ask.
He eyes me. “That important?”
“It might be.”
“I was out checking my traps six days ago when I heard Silas scream. By the time I got here, she was hauling him up that tree.”
THIRTY-EIGHT
I’m preparing to leave when Cypher steps into my path and says, “You do realize I used to be sheriff in Rockton, right? Whatever this boy’s daddy thought of my methods, I kept the law in that town. I know a few things about police work. Had a lot of experience circumventing it in my former life, if you know what I mean.”
I have no intention of walking away without questioning him. But I can’t let him know I want something, or it’ll be another invitation to a game.
“Well,” I say, “if you know police investigations, you know there’s a limit to what I can tell you. Short version is that we’re looking for a man who held a Rockton woman captive in a cave for over a year. And she may not have been the first he put there—just the first who survived the ordeal.”
He looks at Dalton. “She serious?”
“Does either of us seem like the type who’d joke about that?”
“Keeping a woman in a cave? That’s fucked up. And you say there’ve been others?”
“Possibly two.”
“Stretching back how far?”
“The first one disappeared from Rockton about five years ago.”
“After my time.” He nods in satisfaction. “Knew your daddy wasn’t up to the job.”
“Yeah, well, half as many people disappeared into the forest under his watch.”
“Mine didn’t disappear. They took off ’cause I scared them away. Weeding out the bad apples.” He looks at me. “So if we’re talking five years, that must cut your in-town suspects down to about zero. That why you’re rooting around out here?”
“It is.”
“Huh. Well, the problem, as I’m sure our boy told you, is that we don’t exactly have a high proportion of stable individuals in these woods. Ol’ Silas would have been a damned fine suspect. Other than that … Well, now that I think of it, I might have another lead for you.”
“Go on,” Dalton says.
“I was talking to your girl. I think my information is valuable enough to set a price. Tit for tat.” He leers at me. “You show me yours, and I’ll show you mine.”
“Enough,” Dalton says. “You fancy yourself a former lawman? Try showing her a little professional respect.”
“Oh, come on,” Cypher says. “Just a flash. Make an old man’s day. You don’t have to look, boy. We’ll do it behind the cabin over here.”
“Shut the fuck—”
“I’ve got this,” I say to Dalton.
His look says not to play Cypher’s game. Which doesn’t mean he actually thinks I’ll flash my breasts—just that he’s had enough of Cypher’s bullshit. When I head behind the cabin, though, he only grumbles. It takes Cypher a moment to follow. He does, and we’re out of sight, and he glances back around to check on Dalton.
“You trying to make the boss jealous?” he says as he walks to me.
“Why do you think that?”
“’Cause you’re sure as hell not going to flash me.”
“Then why ask? Oh, let me guess—you were just trying to rile me up.”
“Nah. You don’t give a shit. Him, though…” He jerks a thumb toward the front of the cabin and grins. “That boy’s got a serious case of puppy love, and I wanted to yank his chain.”
“So you don’t want to see my tits?”
“Fuck, no. I’m not a perv.”
I shake my head. “I called you back here so I can get the answers in a way Eric might not approve of.” I take off my jacket. “By beating them out of you.”
He laughs. Laughs so hard he has to lean against the cabin for support. Two minutes later, he’s flat on his stomach with his arm twisted behind his back.
“Shit,” he says.
“The bigger they are…”
“Huh.” He cranes his neck to look back at me, completely unperturbed. “Where’d you learn to throw down like that?”
“Black belt in aikido. I’ve also got a boxing championship, but it’s flyweight, meaning I can’t actually beat the answers out of you. Well, I could pin you down and kick until you talk, but that’s unsporting. It will get awfully cold, though, facedown in the snow.”