Page 30 of Wild Card
I hated to say it, but the law was on his side. He had the papers to prove ownership, and I had zero proof that he’d abandoned the animal. Even if Axel confirmed my suspicion, it would only be hearsay. “Yeah.”
“Awesome, because I could really use that money, you know? Five thousand bucks might not seem like much to some people, but that’shugefor me, you know?”
I nodded. It wasn’t chump change, that was for sure.
When I left the trailer, the two women looked up.
“I think I’ve got what I need,” I told Chloe. “How about you?”
“Yep.” She snapped her notebook closed. “I’ve learned all I can here.”
I nodded. “Then let’s roll out. We’ll follow up on the report and get back to you both.”
“Finally!” Candy said. “Geez. I don’t know how many times I had to tell you that we were robbed.” She crossed her arms over her chest with a huff of annoyance.
I ignored her and walked around to the car, my mind spinning. On the one hand, Axel had stolen this dog. No way around that. On the other, if Rusty and Candy abandoned the dog, then they may have stolen her from Axel’s property first. They had the ownership proof on their side, but Axel couldn’t know that.
It was a gray area at best. Maybe just gray enough that I could keep him out of jail.
Chloe slid into the passenger seat and closed her door with a sigh. “That was exhausting.”
I chuckled. “Tell me about it.”
“What now?”
I started the car. “Now, I’m going to take you by the station. This is a murky situation, and I think it’ll go over better if I talk to Axel alone.”
She blinked. “Are you sure? I’ll hang back, if that’s your concern. If this guy is violent, you shouldn’t?—”
“He’s not violent,” I said sharply.
She drew back, eyes wide. “Okay. So why…”
I chewed the inside of my lip, trying to decide how to explain it. “Working a place like this, it isn’t like in the city. Probably not even like a small city like Hayworth.”
“Okay…”
“You get to know people. Get to know their personalities. There are sometimes situations where cuffs aren’t the answer. I’m hoping this might be one of those times.”
“You don’t want to arrest Axel,” she said slowly.
“Not if I don’t have to.” My gut twisted. “I’m not saying I’ll turn a blind eye, but the situation is convoluted.”
I filled her in on the full story I’d gotten out of Rusty.
“I just want to see if I can work this out without an arrest. Rusty only cares about getting the dog and selling her for money, so he might be persuaded to drop the charges.”
She nodded. “Got it. And you think Axel will be easier to handle without me there?”
“Something like that.”
If I were smart, I would take her as a buffer. But truth was, I wanted to talk to him alone. He was going to be upset, no doubt about it. I might still have to arrest him. And as crazy as it sounded, I didn’t want anyone else watching me slap the cuffs on him.
I dropped Chloe at the sheriff’s office and headed back toward the edge of town and Axel’s junkyard. I parked on the side of the rutted road just outside the gate.
The wire fencing gave me a clear view of rusting, dented, and flattened cars, old appliances, and scrap metal piled up. A path ran through the center of the junk, wide enough that a tow truck could haul in salvaged wrecks.
Or an El Camino could easily drive in and park off to the side. I spotted it amongst the other junk, doing a pretty good job of blending in where it stood between a stripped-down minivan missing its doors and a sedan with a front end so smashed up I couldn’t recognize the make or model.
