Page 106 of The Killing Plains

“Why not?”

“I killed my own mother.”

“You were a traumatized kid.”

Avery said nothing.

Colly picked up the photo of Budd Parker, burned and blackened, on the hospital gurney. She stared at it thoughtfully. “The Rangers thought Adam’s killer got him out of the pond. But that’s impossible.”

Avery’s eyes flickered with a hint of their usual animation. “Exactly—Dad was in the hospital for six months. Someone else found Adam and posed his body with that rabbit mask—then twenty years later, the same psycho killed Denny.”

Colly leaned back and sighed. “Maybe the Rangers were right about Willis, after all. I thought there was no way he could’ve transported Adam to the ranch—but this means he didn’t have to. He could’ve found Adam floating in the pond, already dead. Maybe that somehow got him fixated on the idea of murder.”

Avery frowned. “It can’t be Willis.”

“Why not? The doctors who evaluated him said he had an antisocially disordered brain structure—whatever that means. If he was already predisposed, finding Adam could’ve triggered him, somehow. Then he had twenty years in prison to fantasize about it. Maybe when he saw Denny hanging out at the stock pond last fall, the temptation was too much.”

“But Willis had a solid alibi, and he passed a polygraph,” Avery said. “Besides, who else but the killer could’ve broken into the farmhouse today and left that rabbit mask in Satchel’s suitcase?” Avery’s eyes, larger and darker than usual through the heavy-rimmed glasses, shone with impatience. “This is why I pushed Russ for the case review. I owed Willis that much, at least. I knew the Rangers had it wrong. I thought if we could prove Willis didn’t plant that mask on Denny, everyone would realize he couldn’t have planted the one on Adam, either. Don’t you see?”

Colly experienced a quick flash of anger. “Sure, I see. You wanted to free your conscience without having to fess up to the whole truth. So I had to waste four days finding it out for myself.”

Avery flushed. “Are you going to report me?”

“Reportyou? I should have you arrested. You’re guilty of obstruction, at the very least.”

Avery was silent. She stared at her feet. After a minute, she cleared her throat. “What happens now?”

“I don’t know.” Colly leaned back and stared at the ceiling, thinking hard. Avery’s story answered some questions. But it raised many others. It had been difficult enough to imagine a single-killer scenario that explained all the evidence. But two killers? The person who’d found Adam’s body was strong enough to pull him out of the pond—presumably an adult male or possibly more than one person. He, or they, must have cared about the boy and wanted his body discovered—yet for some reason didn’t call the police. That was riddle enough. But what was the hare’s mask about? And why would a person like that murder another boy two decades later in a similar way? Willis’s sexual deviance and brain abnormalities might explain it; but if Willis was innocent, Colly couldn’t imagine a scenario that accounted for all the variables.

A bump, followed by a faint clattering noise, interrupted her train of thought. The women leapt up, and Colly snatched her holstered pistol from the coffee table. “That came from outside.”

Avery nodded. “I’m not armed.”

“Stay behind me, then.”

Colly moved quickly to the foyer and opened the front door. A white envelope fell onto the mat. Ignoring it, Colly stepped outside. In the moonlight, a dark figure was running very fast down the long drive towards the road.

“Stop—police!” Colly started down the steps.

The screen door slammed, and Avery flew past.

So much for staying behind me, Colly thought.Hell’s bells, that kid can move.She followed as quickly as she could in her sock feet but was only halfway down the drive when Avery tackled the fleeing man. He went down with a loud grunt. By the time Colly reached them, Avery was sitting on the man’s back and twisting his arm in a hammerlock.

“I’ve got you covered,” Colly said. “Check him.”

Avery rolled the man onto his back and patted him down, then stepped away. “He’s all right.”

“Get up,” Colly ordered.

The man climbed slowly to his feet, cursing softly and rubbing his shoulder.

Avery switched on her phone’s flashlight app and turned it on the stranger, who quickly raised his hand to shield his eyes.

“Who are you?” Colly demanded.

The stranger remained silent.

“Lower your hand.”

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