Page 44 of Rabid

“If we do this, we’ll share meals and cleanup. You have a lot to learn about taking care of the property.”

“I doubt I’ll ever know as much as you.”

Dale laughed. “Joan beat us both. There was nothing that darned woman couldn’t learn. I complained about a problem with my well pump once, and she told me exactly what the problem was without looking at it. I have a feeling you’ll surpass her.”

“I doubt it,” Willow muttered, which only made Dale’s smile widen.

Dale insisted on paying for his new bed but told Willow to order it. He handed over his bank card.

“What’s your spending limit?” she asked him.

He actually blushed, then shuffled his feet for about ten seconds. “I’m getting up there, and it would be nice to have one of those fancy beds that I could read in while sitting upright. If you call it a medical bed, I’ll move back into the trailer.”

She shook her head at how ridiculous he was and purposely hid her smile. “I’ll order a medical bed.”

Dale cussed a few times. She heard him mutter, “Dang blasted woman is Joan incarnate,” as he walked out the door.

Willow went to the computer and started searching.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Vengeance of the Hogg

Lance waited weeks for the bitch to be alone. She looked like her grandmother, and he owed her for everything the old woman had done to his family. He thought of her as the bitch because she looked too big for her britches, and she had everything he wanted.

After his father went crazy and shot his mother and brothers, Lance ran into the desert to escape. Before he left, he’d carried his mom to her bed. He’d mostly felt sorry for her because she was about as worthless as they came. He’d liked Carrie, though, and was pissed at his da for killing her.

He hadn’t understood the insanity of that night until he’d had a chance to think about it.Rabies was the obvious culprit, and his mind came up with the excuse that it was the old woman’s fault. She’d caused trouble since they moved in. He wished he could have killed her himself.

He’d watched from a high ridge, far enough away but close enough to see when the police arrived. He’d seen the barn explode, which really pissed him off. They had another large meth order to fulfill and had already been paid. The money burned up in the house. Their buyer would kill him, so he decided to lay low.

It wasn’t easy. He’d lost weight, been eaten by mosquitoes, and his only water supply came from the water mill the cows used. He had cuts and scrapes covering him, along with constant head and body aches. Two teeth had fallen out, and another was loose. His goal was to kill the old man, who had been a cop, and take over the property. His da’s place was destroyed, and there was nothing left for him.

He’d decided to rattle them first. It was most likely stupid, but he couldn’t help it. He didn’t have a gun, though he’d managed to steal a good-sized hunting knife. His da had always called him worthless, but who was worthless now? He’d been the only one left standing.

As part of his plan to terrorize, he’d stole paint from a storage shed a few miles away. He stayed in a deserted homestead that had been abandoned years before. It was little more than ashack and didn’t have much inside, but it did have the metal traps, which enabled him to catch rabbits. He’d stolen blankets from another place and got lucky one night when he found a Dutch oven at a homestead a mile away. The only person out here who called the cops had been the old lady, so he felt relatively safe that he wouldn’t be caught stealing what he needed.

Each month, when he couldn’t stand his smell any longer, he’d sneak over to the water mill at night and bathe. At first, he liked being on his own. The cold had gotten bad, and he almost froze to death several times. He wanted to kill the cop, just so he could use his place to get warm. He worried about his cop friends though. He got sick several times and that most likely started because he lit wood fires inside the shack with little ventilation. He’d survived two winters and now all he could think of was the bitch and what he would do to her.

She would change everything. After he beat her up some, she would do what he said. The old man would die, but he would keep the bitch alive until she no longer pleased him.

That could take a while because he was horny just thinking about her. Sometimes his thoughts didn’t make sense, but he’d been that way his whole life. His da said he was the dumbest of the bunch.

He put his hand between his legs and made himself feel better.

The bitch would be doing it soon.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Crossing the Line

Willow couldn’t help but dwell on the ramifications of going after Lance Hogg. She’d never regretted killing her father. She was twenty-five now. Could she kill a stranger? She didn’t think so. It wasn’t just the threat of prison; it was who she had become. Killing was wrong. As Dale said, she was not the judge and jury.

Dale started coffee at four in the morning. She heard him moving around the kitchen and went out to speak with him about the thoughts that had kept her up all night. He listened to everything she said.

“Just because I hung up my badge doesn’tmean I plan to break the law,” he told her. A small quirk formed on his lips. “There are very few lines I’ll cross so don’t blame me for the guns that go against the law for you. In a few years, you’ll be able to apply to get your rights back. No person in their right mind would think twice about you having protection out here,” he continued. “Lance Hogg has an active warrant. I want him to pay for his crimes legally. The meth lab will likely get him ten years. The jaw trap and even the painting on the barn are minor offenses and will get him a slap on the wrist. I’m going after him because the sheriff’s department won’t. My plan is to deliver him very much alive. If he has a bruise or two, I won’t have any idea how it happened.”

He took her hand. “I’ve never killed a man, though I’ve had to think long and hard about it. My job meant it could happen. I won’t throw away the years I gave to law enforcement for prison. I will, however, protect us. You need to have your head right, or I don’t want you with me. Looking for Lance Hogg is dangerous, and it’s no reason to die.”

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