'Try Meredith Allen at the courthouse.' Granger frowned. 'No, wait. I'll call her.'
He took a breathe before saying, 'Meredith, this is Granger. I need you to come out to the Montano Ranch. I want you to drive carefully, but get here as fast as you can.'
Granger hung up the phone.
'What'd she say?' Adam asked.
'She said she's on her way.'
Adam didn't look like he believed the sheriff. 'Didn't she ask any questions? Like what was going on? Or why we'd want her out here in the middle of nowhere on a cold day like this?'
'She knew I wouldn't have asked if I hadn't needed her.' Granger smiled to himself. 'You'd better head to the hospital. As of right now, Zack Larson is in our custody. Don't let him out of your sight. I don't want anyone talking to him when he comes to. Understand? No one.'
'You got it, chief.' Adam headed out. 'Do I smell overtime'?'
'Looks that way. Call Inez on your radio and see if she can get hold of someone from campus security. Maybe Phil can handle the calls coming into our office until we get this settled. With the college out for holidays he's not doing anything but circling empty buildings. And tell Inez to order lunch delivered on me. She's to stay on the desk until I get back.'
'She'll have time to finish a whole book.' Adam laughed an he casually saluted goodbye.
Granger watched him leave as he retrieved his equipment from the trunk of his patrol car. Using the kitchen table, he spread out everything he would need. By the time Meredith arrived, he had already taken a dozen pictures and collected samples of blood. He'd also bagged one of the iron lamps that had blood and hair on it as well as the small Colt.
Meredith took one look at the room and whispered 'Anna?'
'I don't think she's hurt bad, but I need to get her examined at the hospital.' Granger hated telling Meredith, but he needed her help. 'Her brother said Zack Larson raped her this morning.'
He wasn't sure how he had expected Meredith to act. Cry probably. Maybe even fall apart. But she didn't. For the first time, he saw it. The steel inside her. The teacher who must have wiped bloody noses and cleaned up after sick children a thousand times. The one who had to be calm, no matter what the chaos.
'You can handle this, can't you?' He met her gaze.
She nodded and he realized behind the reindeer sweater and necklace of Christmas lights was a soldier who had faced the front and lived to tell about it.
'Her face is bruised.' He led Meredith down the hallway 'If you suspect any other injuries, we need to deal with their first. Try not to handle her clothes any more than necessary. They're evidence. And get her to tell you what happened if you can.'
Granger tapped on the door. 'Anna, Meredith Allen here to see you.'
The bolt clicked open.
Meredith stared at him as she turned the knob. 'I'll worry about Anna first and your evidence second.' She stepped into the room before he had time to say more.
He watched as she knelt beside Anna and opened her arms. Without a word, Anna leaned toward Meredith and hugged her tightly.
For a long while he heard Anna's crying and Meredith's soft, comforting words as he went about the careful job collecting details. There was no sign of forced entry, but Granger knew few ranchers bothered to lock their doors.
His pager sounded, blinking the hospital number.
'Adam,' Granger said, when he finally got the deputy.
'Sheriff,' Adam's voice sounded relieved. 'I was afraid you had trouble with the snow and ice. I thought you'd be here by now.'
Granger hadn't bothered to look out. When he glanced through the kitchen window, he was surprised to see huge snowflakes covering the ground. 'We're still here. Mrs. Montano hasn't agreed to come in yet. How are Zack and Carlo?'
'Carlo is being prepped for surgery. The bullet's lodged just behind his knee. Doctor wants him to spend a night, maybe two. That's if everything goes all right with the removal.'.
'Zack's too full of painkillers to say much. He took twenty stitches across his skull and another five over an eyebrow. Somebody hit him with something besides a fist to do that kind of damage. He's also got a couple of cracked ribs.'
'When can we move him to a jail cell?' Granger was more worried about someone getting to Larson than Larson running away. The roughnecks, the ranch hands, someone might decide to make him pay back once word got out that Anna had been raped.
'Doctor says he can go tomorrow morning if nothing's still bleeding.' Adam hesitated. 'I might be able to take him out to the county jail after the sun's up, but with this snow, it's not going to be an easy drive. And you know how they hate checking people in on Sunday.'
Granger knew what Adam was thinking. But taking his chances against the storm seemed easier than trying to watch all the doors and windows in a hospital. 'We'll take him up to the cell on the third floor above the office until he sees the judge Monday morning. We'll make sure he has plenty of blankets and take shifts staying with him. He'll be all right up there for one night.'
'Sounds like a plan,' Adam voiced one of his favorite responses.
'I'll check in with you as soon as we're on our way back to town.' Granger hung up the phone as Meredith walked into the great room. She stepped over and around things careful not to disturb anything. 'How is she?'
'Bruised and cut a few places, but all right.' Meredith looked tired. 'She won't talk much, only to say she's not leaving this house. She's not pressing charges and says she doesn't want to see anyone, including you. She's frightened, truly and completely frightened. And it is more than just for her own life. I'm no cop, but I'd say she's protecting someone with her silence. Or maybe saving someone.'
'What?' Granger was angry at himself for being surprised. How many rape cases had he worked over the years he was in Houston? Thirty? Fifty? And how many went to trial, one? But this one would have been easy. A woman in her own house, minding her own business. A brother who saw the act. No unknown assailant, no dark alley. This tine he had more evidence than he'd be able to sort through in a month. Only the lady wasn't talking. The state could press the charges against Zack, but without Anna's testimony they wouldn't have a chance of getting a conviction.
The phone startled him from his thoughts.
'Yes,' he took the call.
'Sheriff?' Adam's voice came across the line.
'What?'
'I almost forgot to tell you, there was no powder residue on the hands. I checked between the thumb and finger. Learned two facts-Zack didn't shoot Carlo, and Carlo didn't shoot himself.'
This time Granger showed no sign of being surprised.
'Maybe the gun fell and fired accidentally?' Adam guessed. 'Or maybe Zack washed his hands after he fired.'
'Maybe,' Granger mumbled as he hung up the phone.
'Where is Anna?' He looked at Meredith. Carlo's sister was the third piece to this puzzle. The only other one in the room who could have fired the gun.
'Showering,' Meredith answered.
Granger fought to keep all emotion from his face. 'She just destroyed evidence.'
'She figured that,' Meredith answered. 'There's no need fur you to hang around. I'll stay with her.'
'We'll go after Zack on trespassing charges and attempted murder.' Granger sounded determined. 'Anna may he afraid to testify, but her brother won't be.'
The new man at the rig site was called 'the worm' because he got all the grub jobs. He would be called that until another new man was hired, or until he lost a finger.
