“Are you flirting with me?” Hanley looked like he’d swallowed down one of Grandma’s hot biscuits slathered with butter and drizzled with maple syrup. “Are you asking if you can sign up for extra services, too?” He took a step back from the tree and a step closer to me.
“Was the big bruise on Jill’s face one of the extra services?”
“Did she say I did that to her?”
“She said you’d had a bit too much to drink while the two of you were up at the camp on Friday night and that you let loose on her.”
“I don’t remember things going just exactly like that.”
“But you might not remember if you’d been drinking as much as she said you had, would you?”
“Maybe not.”
“Do remember being with Jill?” I wondered how credible a witness he was. If he didn’t remember hitting her, would he remember her even being around? And even if he did, could his memory be trusted?
“Jill is very memorable, if you follow my meaning.” Hanley winked at me and, even worse, licked his lips. I could do without that picture being seared into my brain, but I guess I had asked for it by poking my nose into police business.
“So she was with you on Friday night?”
“Why do you care? I’m not your husband.”
“Jill wasn’t at the pancake breakfast like she was supposed to be. When I asked her why, she said it was because of the bruise you gave her.”
“Why is it your business?”
“Because it is my business that is being impacted by Alanza’s death. If Jill knew not to go to the breakfast, that looks like she had something to do with what happened to Alanza.”
“Jill was with me on Friday night. But I wished I hadn’t been away from home.”
“Why not? If Jill was so memorable, I would have thought you’d be glad of all the time you can spend together.”
“Because of the goats. I came back to a hell of a mess. Something got into the goat pen and tore things up good on Friday night while I was away. Connie was all shook up about it. She couldn’t get me on the cell phone since the coverage up there ain’t too good.”
“What do you think did it?”
“It’s hard to say. The fencing was damaged; one goat was cut up pretty bad but’ll recover. Another one is just missing, like it was spirited off. It makes me wonder if that Fish and Game guy is really telling all he knows or if there is something more dangerous on the loose around here than he is admitting.” I considered the possibility that Graham was holding something back. Or maybe he wasn’t aware there was a big cat in the group of animals released because the guy who let him out hadn’t admitted it. Next stop, Connie’s, I was hoping to spot evidence of a mountain lion.
• • •
Connie waved me into the hallway of her antique cape, a phone clamped tightly between her ear and shoulder. I stood in the cramped space trying to shove down my feelings of claustrophobia. Old farm tools with pointy ends and hooks covered the walls and made the hall feel like an inside-out cheese grater. There might have been a hall table in there, too, but it was hard to tell because of the mounds of unopened mail, library books, and firewood stacked every which way. Connie’s dog, Profiterole, curled up in his basket, which mostly blocked the entrance to the kitchen. I wondered what Hanley’s camp looked like inside and if he liked to go there to get away from all the mess that surrounded him at home.
“Sorry about that, Dani. One of my bookkeeping clients needed me to clarify something. So what brings you by?” Connie ran her rough hand through her curly graying hair. She looked more like a farmer than an office worker with her weathered complexion, well-muscled hands, and rugged, earth mother clothing.
“Hanley was up checking our trees today and he told me about the trouble with your goats. I wondered if I could take a look.”
“Well, sure you can, but why would you want to?”
“Let’s just say I have a bet going with the local Fish and Game officer about what might have done it.”
“That sure is a mess with all those animals running around. Do you think this had something to do with all that?”
“I don’t know but it seems strange that the same night a bunch of exotic animals get loose, you end up with your goats getting attacked.”
“If it turns out it was that truck driver’s fault, I don’t know what I’m gonna do. Whatever could that guy have been thinking when he let those animals out?”
“I think he was thinking about how his wife was being unfaithful to him with someone else he trusted.” I tried gauging Connie’s reaction to the topic of infidelity without being too obvious. The lines between her eyebrows scrunched down deeper, whatever that meant.