Sanctuary Lost WITSEC Town Series Book 1 (29 page)

**

John started his evidence search at the park.
He walked from there to Aaron’s residence, using the most direct
route. He found nothing, so he pounded on the door again.

No answer.

As John walked back to the park, he scanned
everything from the other direction. In case he’d missed something
on the first walk-through.

A Sanctuary resident had attacked Aaron.
Likely they were warning him in a more compelling way not to tell
anyone what he knew, but the plan had backfired. If Aaron could
tell him what he knew, this might be John’s chance to get the
information he needed and close the case.

Could Aaron really have witnessed the murder?
He could simply be remembering some other traumatic experience.
This could be nothing but PTSD and a nasty accident. Aaron could’ve
thought it wasn’t too bad and made it to his place before he
collapsed on the stairs.

Until Aaron woke up, John wouldn’t know for
sure.

He was almost to the park when something in a
shrub caught his attention. A rusty pipe had been tossed into the
bush. John pulled on a pair of latex gloves and picked it up. Blood
and hair was stuck to the end. He was going to have to take prints
from this, too. It was attempted murder. At least until Aaron woke
up…or didn’t.

John took pictures, stowed the metal pipe in
a brown evidence sack from his trunk and got it all noted down.
This wasn’t looking like Aaron had an accident of his own accord.
Whoever hit him had tossed the pipe in the bush to hide their
actions. But who? Aaron was lean, but he could still be strong
enough if he needed to defend himself.

Aaron had no problem showing his back. He’d
done it in the sheriff’s office plenty of times when his mind was
on the intricacies of his mail delivery. That could have happened
this time, if he was preoccupied with everything that had gone
down.

Whoever hit him must have rushed up on him
from behind and took him by surprise. Was it someone he was
comfortable enough with to feel safe…until he was struck?

John didn’t like any of it, least of all the
fact his son was caught up in this. Pat and the murder
investigation were supposed to have remained two separate things.
Did whoever attacked Aaron know the young man shared something with
John’s son? If they tried again, would they try to silence Pat?

John parked outside the medical center. The
reception desk was empty although two people waited to see the
doctor.

John strode straight to the hall, where Pat
was sitting. “Hey, any word?” His son shook his head, so John
crouched in front of him. “Doctor Fenton is with him?”

“He didn’t wake up.”

“I’m sure Doctor Fenton will patch him
up.”

At least, John hoped so. He sat, using an arm
around his son’s shoulder to pull Pat into his side. The clock
ticked, the only sound in the hall until Fenton emerged from
Aaron’s room, typing onto a tablet with one finger. The fact the
doctor had computerized records when so much of Sanctuary was
woefully outdated was surprising. How long would it take John to
get a handle on everything going on in this town?

Pat jumped up from his chair.

John said to the doctor, “How is Aaron?”

“Stable. I patched up his head. We won’t know
how he is until he wakes up and I can check his mental status.”

John didn’t envy the man that job. Aaron
struggled with straight answers at the best of times.

“Can I sit with him?”

Doctor Fenton looked at John, who nodded. He
glanced back at Pat. “So long as you’re quiet and you let Aaron
rest.”

Pat let himself in the room.

John waited until he shut the door. “I found
a pipe.”

Fenton nodded. “It was a good, solid blow. He
has cranial swelling, so we’ll have to wait until that goes down
before he’s likely to be coherent. He could be asleep for
hours.”

“I want someone protecting him.”

Fenton lifted his arms and let them fall.
“I’m working solo. That’s not something I can provide.”

“I’ll make a call.”

“You can use the front desk phone.” The
doctor strode away. He reached the end of the hall and looked down
at his tablet. “Mrs. Culler?”

It didn’t take long for Bolton to pull up
outside the medical center. John met the rancher on the sidewalk.
Both doors of the truck opened and Matthias climbed out also. He
lifted his chin to John and went inside.

Bolton came around to where John stood on the
sidewalk. “He wanted to make sure Pat was okay.”

What was John supposed to make of that? He
didn’t want to be suspicious, but what twenty-six year old man made
friends with an eight year old? Given everything that’d happened,
John had to be cautious. It could be perfectly innocent, a kid who
clearly needed friends. And a man who could relate, and was willing
to give Pat time out of his day.

“Diego is off on one of his benders. Matthias
doesn’t want to sit around at home wondering what his brother is up
to, so he’s distracting himself.”

“Diego gets up to trouble?”

Bolton nodded, clearly disturbed about
something. “And I can’t figure out who or where, but someone is
making moonshine. Probably up in the mountains.”

“Seriously?” First weed, and now moonshine.
Couldn’t these people just live within the boundaries that had been
set for them? “Why does it feel as if this job is going to be like
trying to babysit a bunch of rebellious teenagers?”

Bolton laughed. “Why do you think I prefer my
cattle?”

John figured the man had a solid point. He’d
known there was a reason Bolton turned down the job. If this was
it, John didn’t blame him even if he had been Grant’s first choice.
Still, John was the one getting stuck with the crappy end of the
stick.

“So how’s Aaron?”

“Still unconscious. He was hit on the back of
the head with something hard but not sharp. I found a pipe. Once he
wakes up, Doctor Fenton will run some tests. We won’t know anything
until then.”

The big man blew out a breath. “That’s rough.
He’s a good kid.”

“Yeah? I mean, Aaron seemed nice and Pat
likes him. But I wasn’t sure.”

Bolton folded his arms. “Watched his dad kill
his mom and then agreed to testify against his dad, who was this
big time preacher. TV shows and all that, thousands of people in
his congregation. Turns out on the side he has millions in gambling
debts and owes most of it to the mob. Your brother pulled some
strings and had him brought here. I think it’s been good for
him.”

“Wow.” Given Aaron’s aptitude for
coordinating the mail delivery, John was inclined to agree. Grant
had done a good thing. “Thanks for coming. I appreciate your
help.”

“I’ll be here. Matthias will stay until Aaron
wakes up. After that we can switch off.”

“Matthias can protect them both if you’re not
here?”

Bolton nodded. “I trained all my guys.
Matthias will call when Aaron wakes up and I’ll bring them back to
the ranch.”

“Think you can get Aaron to tell you what he
knows?”

Bolton nodded. “If we give him time and make
him feel safe enough, I think he will. And I have a secret
weapon.”

“Truth serum?” John didn’t have much time. He
needed to get to the bottom of this. If it was days before Aaron
said anything…Andra was going to be taken from town on Monday, when
the transport came. John couldn’t help thinking that if she went,
she would never be able to come back.

He had four days to solve this case before
Andra was done in Sanctuary.

“Not truth serum. Horses.” Bolton smirked.
“Some people like them.”

John narrowed his eyes.

“Aaron loves them. We’ll take care of him,
and the horses will settle him. Pat being there will help and with
Diego gone we have an even better chance. I’ll let you know.”

John led the big man inside. Doctor Fenton
was at his front desk with one person now in the waiting area.

Bolton rested his elbows on the counter.
“Harriett’s out today?”

The doctor’s mouth betrayed how he felt about
that, but he didn’t glance up from the computer. “Turns out I can
do both jobs, since hers requires almost no brainpower and only a
minimal amount of computer skills.”

John got down to business. “Bolton and
Matthias will switch-off staying with Pat and Aaron. No one else
gets in the room except you.”

The doctor looked taken aback for a moment.
He nodded.

“I need to get back to the office. I don’t
like leaving Andra alone.” Plus it was getting dark. She would need
something to eat pretty soon. “You’ll send someone and let me know?
My radio is AWOL right now.”

Bolton nodded and they shook hands. “If this
stretches into tomorrow, Pat can bunk with the boys for a couple
days.”

John smiled. “He would probably love
that.”

“Yeah, the four a.m. wake up call for chores
before breakfast will be fun for the first day at least.”

John chuckled and went in to tell Pat
goodbye. His son was laughing at something Matthias had said. “Hey,
I appreciate this.”

“No worries.” Matthias shrugged. “Gets me out
of evening chores. But don’t tell the boss I said that.”

“Bye, Pat.” John squeezed his son’s shoulder.
“Let me know when Aaron wakes up, okay?”

Pat nodded and gave him a small smile. John
drove back to the sheriff’s office. The back door was still locked,
not that it had stopped someone stealing Andra’s file. She was in
the holding cell, sitting and rubbing her head.

“You okay?”

She looked up, her eyes glassy. John unlocked
the cell and crouched in front of her. “What’s wrong?”

“I…something…”

He touched her cheeks, scanning her face
before he held her gaze to get her to focus on him. “Go slow. Tell
me what happened.”

“I feel weird.” She paused a moment as though
measuring her words. “Slow, like I’ve been drugged.”

“You haven’t had anything except coffee.”

John didn’t want to register how soft her
cheeks were, or how big her eyes were up close. The hardness he’d
seen over the last couple of days as her past was revealed and
Palmer had arrested her, was now gone. John took a moment to study
her when she wasn’t trying to keep him at a distance.

“That must be it.” She nodded. “I just
haven’t had anything to eat, so the coffee went to my head.”

John wasn’t convinced. “I’ll get you
something to eat, but I want Doctor Fenton to come and look at
you.”

She shook her head before he’d even finished
talking. “No. I’m okay, really. I just need water and something to
eat. It’ll pass.”

John left her sitting on the cot and shut her
in. If he called the diner, could he have Sam send someone over
with two meals? He snapped up the phone—

His radio was on the desk.

John set the phone back down and turned to
Andra. “How long has this been here?”

She blinked and glanced at it. “I have no
idea. You didn’t have it?”

“It wasn’t here before. Then I was busy
getting Aaron medical attention.” He saw the question on her face
and said, “He’s okay for now. We’ll know for sure when he wakes
up.”

Her gaze darkened; her eyes much clearer now.
“And you didn’t have it?”

“No.”

It had been gone and then reappeared? John
was surer now someone could have taken it. Could they have drugged
Andra so she didn’t know?

He rubbed his eyes, then stared at the cold
coffee on his desk. At the half-full pot. Could whoever killed
Betty have drugged his coffee, attacked Aaron and then come to the
sheriff’s office to use his phone?

“Was anyone in here when I was gone?”

She glanced to the side. “I can’t really
remember.”

John sat back in his chair. What would have
happened if he’d drunk his coffee? Would he have been passed out on
the floor like Andra while Aaron bled to death? Pat would have
found him unconscious, unable to help. John would have been here
while someone was in the office, helpless to defend Andra if they’d
tried anything. And if Pat had been there, too…

John squeezed the bridge of his nose. This
was getting out of control. Spiking the coffee in his office? He
didn’t have the equipment to test it; he couldn’t even get it sent
off to whatever lab Grant was using until Monday. Which meant Andra
would be on the same helicopter out of town, cuffed to the floor
like she was a danger to the airmen transporting her.

There was no way he was going to let that
happen to her.

John turned to Andra. “Tell me about
Palmer.”

Her gaze shifted to him.

“You know something. I need to know if I can
trust him.”

“I don’t know that he’s a bad cop.” She
shifted. “Where was he Saturday night?”

John thought back to Battle Night. “Not in
the Meeting House like he said he’d be. When he showed up at the
scene, his buttons were off like he’d put his shirt on in a
hurry.”

“I’d guess he didn’t kill Betty because he
was with a woman. And being as it was Battle Night, I’d guess it
was the wife of someone involved in the game.”

John sat back in his chair. “Does he do that
often?”

Andra shrugged. “How should I know? I barely
come into town unless I need to. This is the most I’ve been off my
mountain in years.”

“Palmer has a history with women?” John
caught the look she tried to hide. “Tell me.”

She sighed. “He came up to my cabin once,
acting all weird. Riled up. Maybe drunk, I don’t know. He did smell
odd and he was slurring, talking about how it was time.”

When she didn’t say anything more, John said,
“And?”

“That…situation.” She looked at the ceiling.
“It was like history repeating itself. A man up-close about to do
something horrible. It was dark and I was scared. I didn’t react
well.”

“Understandable.”

“He threatened to tell Sheriff Chandler I’d
attacked him. But since he was the one at my cabin in the middle of
the night it wouldn’t have been easy to explain away.”