The Ridge(39)
“You just wanted to see the place in the dark,” Kimble echoed.
“That’s right.”
“Well, hang on a minute, will you?”
He turned back to Audrey and Wesley and said, “One night. Figure out what you want to try to get him back, but you’ve only got one night to do it. Shipley, you willing to stay on and assist?”
The deputy’s brow knitted and his blue eyes drifted from Kimble and down to the road. “All due respect, sir, I’d like to head home.”
This seemed to stun Kimble. He said, “Shipley, I think they could use—”
“We’re fine,” Audrey said. “Between Wes and me, we’ll be fine.”
Kimble gave a slow nod, but Wesley could see he was disappointed in his deputy. “All right. Go on and get some rest, Shipley. I know it’s been a long day and you’re still recovering.”
Shipley, flushed with embarrassment, said, “I can come back out at sunup. See what we have.”
“Sure,” Kimble said, and turned back to the car. “Now, Darmus, I’m going to give you a choice, based on that stunt you pulled with the notebook yesterday. I can arrest you, or you can buy me a drink and we can talk. Right now, I could use a drink. Which will it be?”
“You know, I just noticed that I gave you the wrong pages,” the gray-haired reporter said, his face suddenly full of Tom Sawyer innocence. “Silly mistake. I’ll be happy to—”
“Oh, give it a rest,” Kimble said. “We’re going to talk. It can be an official talk pretty easily. I don’t think you want that option.”
Darmus grinned. “Kimble, you look parched. Could I interest you in a beverage?”
Kimble didn’t smile as he said, “Roman’s, twenty minutes.”
Darmus put his vehicle into reverse and began the awkward trick of turning around on the narrow road and Kimble returned his attention to Audrey and Wesley.
“You’re on your own, guys. Make something good happen. If you need help, call for it fast.” He looked at the cats beyond and said, “Good luck.”
Then they left, too, Kimble and Shipley, the latter driving away from the preserve as if he were fleeing, and it was just Audrey and Wesley in the dark.
They stood in silence until the cars were gone, and then Audrey turned to him and spread her hands.
“What is the matter with you? The sheriff already doesn’t like us, and you’re acting as if—”
“Audrey,” he said, “I’m not acting any way. I’m not pretending. You haven’t been out here at night before. Things got a little…”
“A little what?”
“Nothing,” he said, because he realized that if he told her the story, she’d want to be out here herself. She’d want to see it with her own eyes. That didn’t seem like a good idea. If that light—and the feline response to it—was going to continue, then Wes wanted some time to watch it and consider it, alone.
“It’s just a change for them,” Wes said. “They’re stressed. You’ve moved before, Audrey. Didn’t you feel any stress? Well, imagine being picked up and moved, no consultation, no understanding. How would you react?”
“They were fine until that damned cougar—”
“No, they weren’t,” he said.
“What?”
He sighed. “They get agitated at night. Sorry I bothered you by bringing it up in front of the police. But they were pretty wild last night.”
“They seemed fine this morning.”
“I’m sure they’re adjusting,” Wes said. He was thinking about the blue light and looking at Lily. Lily was a gorgeous white tiger. Lily was also blind. She’d been rescued from a traveling animal show where she’d been kept in a tiny cage and fed dog food. Now she was almost four hundred pounds of beauty, but the terrible care of her youth had left her blind. If the blue light came back in the night, Wes wanted to see if Lily reacted to it. If she did… if she did, it would tell him something. Not what he was hoping, but what he feared.
“Can we get Ira back?” Audrey asked.
“Ira’s gone, I’d say. I’ll put a trap out there, but the way he took off didn’t seem to indicate he had plans for a return.”
“I still can’t believe he did that. What scared him so much? He was terrified.”
“Audrey? Go on home. Get some sleep. I’ll make sure the cats are safe.”
“Maybe I should stay here tonight instead of you.”
“Why?”
“Well, we’ve never seen anything like this before!”
“And you’re more qualified to deal with that than I am?”