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At her house, Dela and Mugshot entered the backyard through the gate on the side. Jethro’s braying sounded hoarse as if he’d been calling for his friend all night.
“Hey, boy, we’re both here.” She opened the gate and the donkey pushed into the yard, sniffing Mugshot and then pushing his head against Dela for a scratch between the ears. “Sorry you were worried about us,” she said, playing with his big furry ears.
Mugshot wandered out into the pasture and Jethro followed.
That’s when Dela looked up and saw that the door with the broken glass had been covered with a piece of plywood. She wondered who had thought to put the wood on the door.
“I’ll measure the door and get some glass ordered,” Travis said, standing behind her.
She spun around. “You don’t need to stay with me. I’ll just get the things I need and head back to your mom’s.”
“I can hang out until you’re ready to leave. I’ll get a tape measure.” He disappeared out the side gate.
Dela took a step toward the door. She’d noticed crime scene tape on the front door when they’d driven up. But there was only the plywood on the back. She turned the knob and walked in. The glass had been cleaned up, but she could feel the house was different. More than the boarded-up door.
She grabbed her purse hanging on the coat rack by the front door and walked cautiously down the hall to her bedroom. The door stood open. She focused on the beautiful mural Toby had painted on the wall above her headboard. The dreamcatchers and feathers calmed her rapidly beating heart.
While it was true, she had killed people before; she had never come back to where it had happened. Most of the time, she’d never even seen the face of the person she’d shot. They had been the enemy. They had been out to kill her and her fellow soldiers. She’d seen Jones’s face many times, quarreled with him, been disgusted by him, and she had been the one to end his life.
As these thoughts circled in her head, her gaze lowered to the bloody spot in the middle of her mattress. That was blood she’d spilled.
She spun around and peered at the mural on this wall. It was a beautiful sunset over the Blue Mountains. Again, it brought her a sense of peace and tranquility.
“Dela, do you need help?” Travis asked from the hallway.
“No. Stay there. I’ll be right out.” She didn’t look at the bed again. She walked over, pulled the photo out of the bedside drawer, and put it in her purse. Then she went to her closet and grabbed two sets of work clothes, two more sets of everyday clothes, and a pair of pajamas. She had plenty of toiletries in her duffel to use before she could move back into the house.
She found another duffel and filled it with everything she’d grabbed.
At the end of the hall, Travis took the bag from her. “I’ll put it in your car. Do you want me to grab the dog food bag, too?”
“Thank you, but I’ll just get enough to last Mugshot a few days. I’m sure I’ll be able to move back in by Monday.” She went to the pantry with the large bag of dog food and scooped out enough into a paper bag to tide Mugshot over for several days.
Travis returned from putting her duffel in the car and grabbed the bag of food. “Anything else?” he asked.
“That’s it.” She followed him out the back door and closed it. Then she walked out into the pasture, watching Jethro eat and Mugshot laying on the ground beside him chewing on a stick.
“Come on, Mugshot. We’ll come back this evening and check on Jethro.” Dela walked back to the gate. Mugshot hopped through the gate. Jethro watched them but continued eating. “He must be satisfied we’re okay,” she said, patting the dog on the head. “Let’s go see a couple of people before we go back to Molly’s.”
Travis had left already. Dela loaded Mugshot into her car and drove down the road to Mrs. Swan’s house. There was a small building behind the house. She wondered if there might be something in it to shed light on what had happened next door. Dela parked in the driveway and walked over to the building. There weren’t any windows to look in. She raised the board cradled in a U-shaped piece of metal on each door and set it to the side.
Opening one door, the sunlight flashed in a side mirror of an older car. She caught a glimpse of an Idaho plate before an arm wrapped around her neck.
Dela dropped her chin, spread her legs, bending at the knees, grasped the arm around her neck with both hands, and bent forward, flinging the person over her head.
Mugshot’s barking nearly drowned out the sound of Levi as he lay on his back gasping for air. Dela grabbed him by one arm and rolled him over, sitting with one knee in his back as she pulled out her phone and called Heath.
“Hey, how’s it going?”
“I’m in Mrs. Swan’s driveway, sitting on Levi. Can you or someone else get here quickly?”
A siren rang out from the other side of the phone. “Ten away,” he said and she heard him calling it in on his radio. “Hold on, we’re on our way.”
“Thanks. I need both hands. Just get here quick.” She ended the call as Levi started to gain his breath and struggle to get up.
“Get off me. You are the one trespassing.” Levi squirmed and she knew there was no way she’d be able to keep him restrained like this for ten minutes.
“If I let you up do you promise not to attack me?” she asked, easing up on the pressure of her knee in his back.
“Yeah. Why’d you call the police?” he asked as she rose to her feet and he rolled to his back.
“Because they have been looking for you.”
His eyes darted from side to side in the sockets. He appeared to be looking for an escape route.
She grabbed an arm, helping him to his feet, but instead of releasing him, she wrenched his arm behind his back and walked him over to her car where Mugshot was barking and frothing at the mouth. “If you take off, I’ll open that door and let my dog bring you down.”
Levi glanced at Mugshot and stood still.
It wasn’t long and the sound of sirens filled the air. She could see the lights from the street a block away. She had so many questions but wanted to wait until Heath was here to record them.
To her surprise, Quinn’s SUV parked behind her car. He stepped out and strode over to them, taking Levi’s arm and cuffing his hands behind his back.
“Hey, what have I done to be treated like this?” Levi asked.
“You’ve been evading the authorities,” Quinn said. Then he turned to Dela. “What made you think he’d be here?”
“I just noticed the shed behind the house and wondered if I’d find anything of use to find him.” She shrugged. “I saw a car and a glimpse of an Idaho plate when someone attacked me from behind, I was pretty sure it would be Levi. Who else would be living in Mrs. Swan’s house and hiding a vehicle from Idaho here.”
Heath pulled up, followed by another tribal vehicle. He strode over, studying her. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.” She faced Quinn. “Can I listen to his answers?”
“You caught him, you should get to ask him questions and hear his answers.” Quinn nodded to his SUV. “I’m going to take him to the tribal station and we’ll interview him there.”
“Why are you asking me questions, why were you even looking for me?” Levi asked.
Dela poked a finger in his chest. “Stop playing stupid. You knew we were looking for you or you wouldn’t have dumped your Jeep in Idaho and hid this one with Idaho plates. Do you know where your grandmother is?”
He stared at the ground.
“Did you know all the police at my house last night was because I shot Detective Jones?”
Levi’s gaze latched onto her. “Is he dead?”
She nodded.
A smile spread across his face. “I need to call grandmother.”
“When we get to the tribal station.” Quinn led Levi away, stopping halfway to his vehicle. “Are you coming?” he asked Dela.
She glanced at Heath then back at Quinn. “I’ll bring my own car.”
When the SUV pulled away, she told Heath and the other officer what had happened. Heath told the other man to take photos of the vehicle in the shed and then he walked Dela to her car. “What were you doing here?”
“Travis brought me to my house to check on Jethro and get more things and my car. As I was driving away, I spotted the shed and my curiosity took over.” She smiled. “I think we’ll get some answers now.”
“Me, too. See you at the station.”
