Page 125 of My UnTrue Love
“I didn’t think he’d go after Clem, either.” Hank admitted. “When Johnny snapped, I assumed he’d just shoot you from behind.”
“I woulda taken that hit a thousand times over.”
“I know.” Hank said again. “Maybe that’s why he did it this way. Maybe he’s smarter than we figured and he struck where he knew it would hurt you the most.”
“I gotta have her back.” Bill rested his cheek against Clem’s head, willing all of his energy into her body. “I’ll die if I don’t have her back.”
“She’ll come back.” Dark eyes met Bill’s. “And it’s not just you that set this into motion. Seems Johnny’s hurt women before.”
Bill’s brows furrowed. “He what?”
“Drugged them and forced them. He didn’t get that far with Clem, but he did with plenty of others.”
Bill dragged in a deep, angry breath. “If I’d known about that, he’d already be gone.”
“Oh, he’s gone. I got lawyers calling me to set up interviews with their clients. Victims coming forward. Johnny’sdone. That’s what pushed him over the edge. Not just you.”
“If you think finding out that my wife’s old roommate is a rapist is gonna help me feel better…? It don’t.”
Hank nodded in tired agreement. For a few minutes there was silence. “So, where did you get the forbidden talismans?” He asked, as if he was trying to pass the time.
“Come again?”
“The forbidden talismans that I know damn good and well you put in Stew Slewfoot’s house. Where’d you get them?
“I have no idea what you mean, Sheriff.”
Hank looked distinctly skeptical.
“Bears might have something like that hidden under their beds.” Bill hazarded after moment, because maybe talking to Hank would be another kind of apology. Maybe if he apologized enough, Clem would open her eyes.
“Bears?” Hank repeated. “The one from the racetrack, who you put in the hospital, you mean?”
“I’m just speculating… If someone searched that bear’s house, on their way to a job interview…? And if that someone found a shipment of forbidden talismans during that search…? And if that someone realized that they were valuable items, so having them go missing would fuck over the bear…? Why, putting them in Stew’s apartment and then phoning in a tip to the Cavaliers would be a way to get rid of both men.” Bill nuzzled Clem’s head. “In a quiet, indirect way.”
Hank’s eyebrows climbed. “You’d already done them bothmassivebodily harm. Wasn’t that enough?”
“No. They put their hands onmywife. They deserve whatever they fucking get.”
“That dumb grizzly was probably just a middleman for the talismans.” Hank crossed his arms over his chest. “His bosses are going to be pissed. Am I now going to have a cartel of forbidden-magic dealers assassinating bears in my town?”
“How am I supposed to know? I got nothin’ to do with it. I was at a job interview.”
Hank shook his head, somewhere between impressed and horrified. “You scare me much more than the kid does.” He pointed towards Luke. “Your claws are better hidden.” The phone rang and he went to answer it.
Bill petted Clem’s hair, just trying to keep himself together.
Luke stayed in the corner, teetering on the edge of a feral abyss.
“Bill?” Hank covered up the mouthpiece of the phone, his expression incredulous. “Would you care to explain what the fuck you did to Tenderfoot Tompkins?”
“Come again?”
“Tyler “Tenderfoot” Tompkins.” Hank spaced out the words. “Who, as I recall, took my baby sister to dinner at that weird aviary restaurant once. Who I remember punching for making her cry. And who was apparently just devoured by a half-owl, half-parrot, carnivorous bird-monster.”
Bill stared at him impassively. “I was at a job interview when that package with the egg was delivered to Tyler’s house.”
Hank heaved another long-suffering sigh and went back to the phone call.
