Page 78 of The Woman Left Behind

Both the men stopped five feet from the foot of the steps to the deck.

“Can have a chat here or can take you to the station. We don’t have Uber in MP yet. Jerry’s still running his taxi service, though, gotta say, it’d probably be a helluva fare to get back,” Harry said.

“You got no cause to take me to the station,” Dern retorted.

“How sure are you about that?” Harry asked.

His dog was strong and raring to take a bite out of Harry and Rus. So much so, he pulled Dern a good foot toward the edge of the deck before Dern again gained control over him.

“Not feeling you have control over that animal and are clearly using him as a threat. It would haunt me to my dying day if I had to shoot your dog, but I will, you don’t put him inside,” Harry warned. “And leave your shotgun in there when you do.”

“Got nothin’ to say to you,” Dern returned.

“Okay then, let me tell you, we’re looking at murder and you’re indicated. So, now you know why we’re here, you gonna stick with that?”

The color fled Dern’s face.

Harry kept at him. “Now, I don’t think you pulled any of the triggers, but I do think it wouldn’t be tough to find my way to believing you were an accessory or aided and abetted, either before or after the fact…” he paused for effect, “on all three.”

When Harry said “three,” Dern started looking sick.

This, unfortunately, could mean anything.

Harry had cleaned house when he took over. That meant he gave the officers on staff the opportunity to pull their shit tight or get out. Some left. Some Harry knew were useless, so he found reasons to let them go.

Some of them, Harry also knew, were still close to Dern.

Therefore, Harry had no doubt Dern knew they were looking at his cases. He had no doubt Dern would know they’d find something. And he had no doubt, as a former cop, that the time Dern did in prison was probably not very fun.

He could just be tweaked about anything that even hinted at a road back there.

Or he could be involved in one—or three—murders, and he knew it.

“So I suggest you put your fucking dog in your house, leave the gun in there too, and have a chat with me and my detective,” Harry concluded.

Dern, being Dern, wasted a good minute of their time by having a staring contest with Harry.

This pissed him off, because he’d felt his phone vibrate, so he knew Lillian had replied, and he didn’t want to be standing there for an hour having a staring contest. He wanted to get this done so he could read and reply to it.

Dern finally turned and moved to the door of his house.

Harry pulled out his phone and checked his texts.

Yeah, honey. Want anything special for dinner? She asked.

We’ll do that farro thing, he replied.

He was able to read her OK before Dern returned.

Harry shoved his phone back in his pocket.

Rus muttered, “She good?” under his breath.

Harry nodded, his attention on Dern.

Dern led with, “I see you’re trumping up more charges like landing my ass in prison and taking my office wasn’t enough for you.”

He and Rus discussed this on the long ride out there.

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