'She might be hurt. She might need help bad.'
'Listen to me, honey. When you are shot, if it's a bad hit, you die right away, like poor Mr. Dade. If it ain't hit you seriously, you can last for several hours. I saw it in Vietnam, the body is very tough and it'll fight on its own for a long time, and you know how tough Mommy is! So there's no real advantage to going to Mommy right now.
We can't risk that. She's either already dead or she's going to pull through. There's nothing in between.'
'I--I want Mommy,' said Nikki.
'Mommy's hurt.'
'I want Mommy, too,' said Bob.
'But sweetie, please trust me on this one. We can't help Mommy by getting ourselves killed. He may still be there.'
'I'll stay,' said Nikki.
'You're such a brave girl. But you can't stay. We have to get out of here, get the state cops and a medical team here fast. Do you understand, baby girl? That's what's best for Mommy, all right?'
His daughter shook her head, she was not convinced and nothing would ever convince her but Bob knew in his Marine heart that he had made the right decision--the tough one, but the right one.
CHAPTER twenty-nine.
It had to happen sooner or later and he was glad it happened sooner. It had to be gotten out of the way.
'Mr. Swagger,' said Lieutenant Benteen, the chief investigator of the Idaho State Police, 'would you mind stepping over here for a second, sir?'
Bob knew what was coming. As he stood on the escarpment, two and a half hours had passed since the shooting. His daughter was with a female state police detective and a nurse back at the house, here, an investigation team and coroner's team worked the crime site, while below a team of sheriffs deputies struggled through the trees and underbrush for a sign of Julie Swagger.
Across the gorge, detectives and deputies looked for evidence of the shooting site, ferried there by a state police helicopter that idled on that side of the gap.
'I figured you would be talking with me,' said Bob.
'You go ahead. Let's get it done with.'
'Yes, sir. You know, when a wife is killed it's been my experience that ninety-eight percent of the time, the husband is somehow involved, if he didn't do the thing himself.
Seen a lot of that.'
'Sure, it figures.'
'So I have to ask you to account for your whereabouts at the time of the shooting.'
'I was on the other side of the pass, riding up to join my wife and daughter. We usually go out for an early morning ride. Today we had words, and I let the girls go alone. Then I got mad at myself for letting my damn ego seem so important, so I went after them. I heard four shots and rode like hell, to find my baby girl in the shadows of the pass. I looked out and saw poor Dade. I decided the best thing was to get Nikki back to the house, where I called you all and you know the rest.'
'Did it occur to you to look for your wife?'
'It did, but I had no medical supplies and I didn't know if the shooter was around, so I thought it best to get the girl out of here and call in the sheriff and a medical team.'
'You are, sir, I believe, a marksman of some note.'
'I am a shooter, yes. I was a Marine sniper many years ago. I won the big shoot they hold in the east back in 1970. The Wimbledon Cup, they call it. Not for tennis, for long-range shooting. Also, I have been in some scrapes over the years. But, sir, can I point a thing out?'
'Go ahead, Mr. Swagger.'
'I think you'll find them shots came from the other side of the gap. That's what my daughter said, and that's what the indication of Dade's body said. Now, there ain't no way I could have fired those shots from over there and gotten to my daughter over here in a very few seconds.
There's a huge drop-off, then some rough country to negotiate.
I was with my daughter within thirty seconds of the last shot. You can also see the tracks of my horse up here from the ranch house, and no tracks that in any way connect me with what went on over there. And finally, you have surely figured out by now that poor Dade is gone because whoever pulled the trigger thought he was hitting me.'
'Duly noted, Mr. Swagger. But I will have to look into this further, to let you know. I will be asking questions. I have no choice.'
'You go ahead. Do I need a lawyer?'
'I will notify you if you are considered a suspect, sir.
That's how we do it out here.'
'Thank you.'
'But you were a shooter who used a rifle with a scope?
And if I don't miss my best guess, this was a pretty piece of shooting with just such a rig.'
'Possibly. I don't know yet.'
