Kascius, page 9
“I’ll be in your mother’s room. Better I wait for the doctor with her.”
He looked back at her, with a scrutinizing gaze. “Is there a problem?”
“Nope. Not that I know of,” she replied cheerfully, then picked up a glass to take some water in to Bella while she was at it. As she walked in, she noted a bit of residue on the glass. She frowned as she looked at it and realized it was the glass that she had handed to Kascius to get more water.
She’d seen a bit of something on the bottom of the glass earlier but hadn’t really thought about it. And now, with the glass clutched in her hand, she wondered if this was seriously a problem. How could she get the doctor to worry enough about testing it?
The stray thought weighed on her. Was she being foolish? It seemed so in some ways, but, at the same time, she couldn’t let it go. A mistake at this juncture could mean shortening a life, … Bella’s life.
As she looked down at her patient, she had to wonder if Bella would even want to be kept alive longer. What if somebody was trying to make her days easier? Tormented by all the possibilities, Ainsley sat in silence.
When the doctor arrived, she tried hard to take a slow and steady pace to the front door, but it seemed as if she were almost running. As she glanced around, she saw Angus watching her from the living room.
“What’s the rush?” he asked.
“I was trying not to wake Emily.”
He shrugged. “It will be good when that damn baby pops out.”
“Why?”
“Everybody is always catering to her,” he said in disgust. “What’s up with that? Women have been giving birth since time began.”
She stared at him but had already reached the door, so she opened it to let the doctor in.
He smiled at her, as she held a finger to her lips. She wanted to make sure that Angus couldn’t see or hear anything more, and she led the doctor through to Bella’s room, trying to talk to him naturally. Inside the bedroom, she closed the door gently, then turned to find him looking at her.
“Seriously?” the doctor asked.
She shrugged. “I don’t know what it is, and I totally get that I’m probably coming off as a hysterical caregiver. But I don’t know what else to say.” She walked over, then picked up the glass she had retrieved. “This is the glass that was in here this morning. When I asked Kascius to go get me some water, he left it in the kitchen and brought in a clean glass.”
“But you can’t be sure because you didn’t see it in the kitchen.”
“No, I did, and I saw it here first. It’s one of the reasons I sent him for fresh water. The glass was pretty dirty looking, but I don’t know what made it that way. I had a chance to see it again not long afterward, and there is definitely a powdery residue at the bottom.” She produced the glass for the doc to see.
He stared at the glass, frowning. “I wouldn’t be so upset about it.”
“But it’s obvious that she’s sleeping more and is less alert than before by far.”
“Which, given the passage of time, is very normal,” he noted, speaking gently. “You know very well that the drugs tend to do that.”
“I do. I know all that. Believe me. It took a lot for me to call you with this.”
“Let me take a look at her, and then we’ll talk some more.”
She stepped back to give him some room. When he was done, he frowned at her. “She’s definitely failing, but I’m not sure it’s anything more than what we would have expected at this stage.”
“I know, and that’s a problem.”
“She’s not very lucid, and I don’t know that somebody would have given her more medication in order to make her less so. It doesn’t sound as if she’s there much anyway.”
“Sorry. It goes back to that whole thing about me being overly cautious.”
“Not at all. I’ve certainly seen more than my fair share of the ugly side of humanity, but what we do need to do is not oversimplify things. So, I’ll take the next step, and hopefully we can get to the truth. I can get the substance from the glass analyzed. Then at least we’ll know that much.” He took it from her and added, “I suppose you want me to keep it between us for now.”
She walked over to the en suite bathroom counter, picked up an empty bag for the glass, and handed it to him. “Yes, please.”
Kascius sat in his rental vehicle across from the address. It was a residential street, lined with houses on both sides, but a bit more rural, with adjacent fields full of lots of fences, cross-fences, and even electric fences. It was the use of electric fences that cinched it for him. The fact that anybody would use electric fences pissed him off. In most cases, animals could be trusted to have that experience once and never again, but, in a case where there was probably dogfighting, Kascius wasn’t so sure.
He got out and walked up and down the street, trying not to make it look obvious, but a stranger and a strange vehicle would do just that, letting the neighborhood know something was going on. He didn’t want to tip off anybody inside the suspect property but figured it was already too late for that.
Still, he hopped back into the truck and drove down several blocks and came back around. When he did, he found the cop sitting at the far end. He hopped out and walked to the police vehicle. At that, Detective Sinclair rolled down his window. “What did you see out here?”
“Lots of cross pastures, lots of electric fences. I have the names being run down by my department, as to who and what can be there, but that’s not happening very fast, and there is little to nothing on the owners so far.”
“Yeah, well, … welcome to Scotland. I deal with that every day.” He shook his head, as he stared over at the property. “I don’t know anything about this place, but I can’t see anything that looks particularly suspicious.”
“Then you’re not looking for the things that I’m looking for. This is a perfect spot, particularly in the back, to have training and possibly dogfights too.”
“How do you figure that?”
Kascius quickly explained the details of this location that he had pulled from an aerial photo.
Sinclair frowned. “Do you really think the War Dog is here?”
“I do, and, more than that, I think that they probably know that we’re looking for him.”
“That’s not good. We shouldn’t even be sitting here then.”
“Yet a lot of other neighbors are around here too.”
As they talked, Kascius watched an older lady get into a vehicle from a house across the street and drive away. He looked over at the cop. “I’ll go see if I can talk to her.”
He asked, “Why?”
“Because she’s a neighbor, and chances are she knows more than a lot of people.”
At that, the cop nodded. “Okay, let me know what you find out.”
“You don’t want to come with me?” he asked, with a note of humor in his voice.
“No, it’s probably better if I don’t at this point. If you find something, then it will be a different story. But you know how people can be about talking to the police. I’m sure you have run up against it too.”
“I sure have,” he said, with a sigh. “I’m on it.”
With that, he hopped back into his truck and slowly followed the older lady down the street until she turned into a grocery store parking lot. Quickly parking, he hopped out, walked over, giving her plenty of time to see him coming. Introducing himself, he told her that he was looking for a dog and that there had been some talk of a dog at her neighbor’s property and wondered if she knew anything about that.
She looked at him. “They always have dogs over there. A lot of dogs.”
After he asked her a few more questions, she held up a hand. “I think that’s a bit more of interrogation than I can handle. Why are you asking about this?”
“Curiosity, plus I’m looking for a specific dog.”
“I really don’t want to rat on my neighbor.” She frowned at him. “Yet always something is going on over there. I do hear quite a bit of partying and maybe fights going on. The place is buzzing at odd times.” She shrugged. “Outside of that, they are huge sports fans,” she said, with a reminiscent smile. “My husband was like that. The minute the game came on, he was jumping all over the furniture and generally making a fool of himself.”
“Is that what you think is happening over there?”
“I have no clue.” She shrugged. “What I can tell you is, they stick to themselves, and I’ve never had a problem with any of them. Honestly, I think if I needed help, they’d probably come running.”
He nodded and smiled. “That’s the kind of neighbors to have.”
“It is.” She gave a nod. “It’s hard to find that these days. The world is changing.”
He quickly asked several other questions, but she didn’t appear to know anything. He wondered if she could really be that unobservant or if she was on their side. Suspicious, he thanked her and walked away, but he kept an eye on her.
When he was out of her sight line, he positioned himself so he could see her. She hadn’t gone too many steps toward the store before she had pulled out her phone and had made a call. He smiled at that. If he had ever needed confirmation of what his gut was telling him, he got it with that one call.
When she came around a corner to see him leaning against a wall, she immediately stopped and froze.
He nodded. “So, when your friends are convicted of a crime, and, as it all comes before a judge and jury, that phone call you just made will make you look guilty as well. So now you’re an accessory.”
She almost seemed to wilt in front of him. “I didn’t do anything. Believe me. I didn’t.”
“Maybe not, but you warned them, and that is something the judge will not take kindly to.”
“No, no, no,” she cried out. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Yeah, you did. Who did you call?”
She stared at him in a panic, putting her phone behind her back almost instinctively, such a two-year-old child’s reaction.
He raised an eyebrow. “The cops will love that.”
“Cops?” she asked, the color draining from her face.
“Did you really think this wasn’t a police matter?” Kascius asked her.
“You said it was an American War Dog.”
“Your friends are into dogfighting, and that’s where the War Dog has been taken to. But that’s okay, you get to keep your little antic to yourself for now—until it becomes public knowledge, when the details of this all come to light later on. I’ve already texted your name and address to the detective investigating the matter.”
“No, you don’t understand,” she cried out in panic. “I can’t be caught up in that. My family would never forgive me.”
“Yet apparently you didn’t think about that when you tipped off these guys. So why on earth would you have done that if you are such a lovely law-abiding citizen who cares so much about the health and well-being of dogs? Which obviously you aren’t and you don’t. So, what’s the deal? Are you gambling on the dogfights or something?”
She shook her head. “No, you don’t understand.”
“No, I sure don’t, and, until you explain it, I won’t understand.”
“But I can’t,” she said fretfully. “If my daughter finds out, she’ll be so ashamed.”
“Yeah, I wonder why?” he snapped, not letting up. “Do you think your age will save you? It won’t. I can tell you that right now.”
She stared at him and held her hand to her chest, as if she couldn’t breathe anymore.
He shook his head, pulled out his phone, and called the detective. “She’s definitely involved. She’s not exactly telling me why or what her involvement is, but she called someone and gave them a heads-up.”
He heard the detective swearing on the other end.
“You’ve got a lead at least,” Kascius pointed out.
“What is that?” the detective asked.
“Her phone. She’s got the phone number for the dogfighting group. If you want to meet me, she’s right here beside me.” He gave him the name of the shopping center they were standing nearby and said, “What I don’t know is what they’ll do when they find out that she’s been caught. Are these guys willing to kill for their involvement, or do they consider this a sideline?”
“Oh, I think they’re pretty committed. I’m on my way to you.”
“Good enough. I’ll stand here with her and make sure she doesn’t get shot in the meantime,” he said in disgust. And that’s what he did. As soon as he hung up the phone, he crossed his arms and stared at her. “Still think your neighbors will help you now that the cops are involved?”
She looked beyond upset but remained silent.
Kascius wasn’t having anything to do with it. He’d seen an awful lot of people in his life who used all kinds of ruses, and he wasn’t about to be taken in by somebody who used her age to get away with this crap. He waited until the detective pulled into the parking lot.
When she realized it really was the police, she started to panic. “No, no, no, I can’t.”
“You should’ve thought about that before you warned your neighbors.” Kascius glanced at her. “We don’t have a whole lot of patience with criminals, particularly ones involved in illegal gambling and God only knows what else, particularly when they hurt the dogs to do it.”
“I don’t know anything about that,” she said immediately.
“Yeah, well, I don’t believe you. I highly doubt that the detective will believe you either.”
At that, the detective strode toward them, took one look at her, and his eyebrows shot up. “Seriously?” He looked over at Kascius.
“Yeah, seriously. She phoned and let them know that I was out asking questions and looking for the War Dog. She’s been stalling ever since, saying she doesn’t dare get caught and that nobody is allowed to tell her daughter, who will be so ashamed of her.”
Sinclair turned to her and frowned. “It sure would be nice if she had thought about that before she got involved with these criminals. No doubt that your neighborhood will be abuzz with the news pretty soon,” he told her, motioning toward his cruiser. “So let’s get you down to the station.”
“No, no, no,” she cried out. “I can’t.”
“Why not?” he asked, looking at her doubtfully.
“Somebody has to be there to feed my cat,” she replied.
Kascius groaned. “Yeah, so you care about the cat, but you don’t care about the dogs? Got it. I’ll go take care of your damn cat,” Kascius muttered in a disgusted tone. “But you go with the detective.” He turned to Sinclair. “As long as she gives me permission to go in, I’ll feed the cat and put out fresh water.”
He nodded. “Do that. And call me when you’re there.”
“Will do.” Ignoring the neighbor lady’s continuing diatribe, he headed toward his vehicle.
Suddenly he felt an odd sensation in the back of his head, and, as he turned, he looked over at the neighbor lady, and shouted, “Duck!”
The shot rang out hard and clear.
Chapter 5
Long after the doctor left, Ainsley sat at Bella’s bedside. She wondered and puzzled through why anybody would want to hurt Bella at this point in time. Unless it was for compassionate reasons, and maybe then Ainsley would understand. But considering how close Bella was to dying, it didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Not all that long ago, Bella had still been capable of jotting things down, talking lucidly, and watching TV, but she had slipped quite a bit in recent weeks and was into a quicker decline now. Was it a natural slip in her health or had somebody helped her along?
Once the suspicions started, it was really hard for Ainsley to stop them. The trouble was, she had almost accused Kascius of being involved earlier today, and now she could see that he probably had nothing to do with it, but his arrival was a hell of a convenience, if someone had done something. The timing made it all seem even dodgier.
Three other people were in this house with full access to Bella and her meds all the time, but others came and went as well, though it was more likely to be one of the three. That bothered her terribly because she had been friends with Emily and Liam for a very long time and didn’t want to even consider that they could be involved. But because she didn’t want to absolve them immediately, she had to carefully consider that option. Then there was Angus, the easy scapegoat.
But to think that he had gone through with this was even more terrifying. He was scary, and he bothered her a lot, but she never would have thought he would do something to seriously hurt his own mother. He loved her, so what possible motive could there be? Although, according to Emily, Angus would get money or some part of the farm, which was something that had Liam on the hot seat. Yet what good would it do to make that whole timeline go faster? She didn’t understand any of it.
She waited until Bella woke up again and stared at her. Bella was a little disoriented. “Good morning,” Ainsley greeted her, “although it’s well past noon now. How are you doing?”
Bella looked at her and plucked away at her bedcovers. “I’m fine,” she whispered. “Can I have a cup of tea?”
“Yes, you absolutely can.” She helped Bella to the bathroom, then came back and refilled her water, while the teakettle boiled the water for tea. As soon as it was ready, she brought her a hot cup. “How are you feeling?”
Bella smiled. “I’m feeling better today. The world is not quite so foggy.”
“Good. Makes for a good day.”
At that, Bella nodded and asked in a hopeful tone, “Is Angus here?”
“No, I don’t think so. He was here this morning, but he left. You were sound asleep at the time, so I didn’t wake you.”
At that, Bella frowned. “I always want to see Angus. You know that,” she grumbled.
“I get that, but you also needed to sleep.”
But Bella wasn’t to be appeased. “I want to see him when he comes back.” Then she snapped, “No, I want to see him now.”
