Page 136 of Blood Moon

“A couple of deputies went out to your place with the intention of serving the warrant. You weren’t there. They looked around.”

The gurney was being wheeled out of the building. “Get to it please, Derby. They’re about to take my girl to the hospital, and I’m riding along.”

“That shed out back of your house?”

John looked at Mitch, who was stroking that wretched mustache and looking uneasy. John went back to the detective. “What about it?”

“Those deputies found Frank Gray in there. Dead. GSW to the back of his head. Point-blank range. He’d been dead for a while.”

John didn’t gasp as Beth did, but he shared her shock. He looked at Mitch, who said, “Wait for it. It gets better.”

Clearly uncomfortable, Derby shifted his weight and cleared his throat. “The deputies called it in. Crime scene unit arrived. They found a pistol in the brambles about twenty yards from the shed. Recently fired. They ran the serial number. It’s your service weapon, John.”

Chapter 36

John responded with a huff of disbelief. “My service weapon? Derby, just about everybody in the CAP unit saw me surrender that gun to Tom Barker.”

“And several of them heard you tell the ogre that you were going to blow his head off. Which somebody did.”

“Mitch knows I wasn’t that somebody.”

“Told him that,” Mitch said. “Told him all about that escapade last night, how it was a bait-and-switch set up by Barker, and how it all went down.”

John said to Derby, “We left the ogre locked inside that shed, stewing in his own juice. You said deputies discovered him. How did they open the shed?”

“They didn’t have to. The door was ajar, padlock shot to pieces.”

“Huh. It’s my shed, right? My padlock? I know the combination to it. Why would I shoot it out?” He glanced over his shoulder. The gurney was being lifted into the ambulance.

Coming back around, he said, “The last time I saw that pistol, it was on Tom Barker’s desk alongside my badge and ID. If you want to know how it got into the brambles behind my house, start by asking him.

“By the way, you know how many homicides I’ve worked, Derby? Some of them I’ve worked with you. Do you really think that I’d use a weapon registered to me to murder a man? And then be stupid enough to throw it into the bushes twenty yards from where I’d killed him?”

He began backing up. “I’m going to the hospital with my daughter now. If you want to talk about this some more, you can find me there.”

“Don’t make yourself hard to find, John.”

“Wild horses couldn’t drag me out of town while Molly is in the hospital. Put an ankle bracelet on me if you like.”

Derby gave him a pained look.

“Okay then.” He turned to Mitch and slapped him on the shoulder. “You came through again. Saying thank you isn’t enough.”

“So don’t bother. I love Molly, too, you know.”

“Dare I ask for one more favor?”

“See to that ugly dog?”

“Would you mind?”

“Is that beer I bought you still in the fridge?”

“Help yourself.”

He smiled. “Later.”

They fist bumped, then John took Beth’s hand and together they walked quickly toward the ambulance. “You still have my car key?” he asked.

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