clothes looked as though they had come off the rack in the same St. Vincent de Paul store-work shirt, faded jeans, dusty, run-down boots.
Rita Brice was well into her fifties with naturally silver hair and the icy blue eyes of a born Scandinavian. Deep laugh lines crinkled up from the corners of her eyes, across tanned and weathered cheeks. The eyes weren't laughing now.
'How's Kimi, Andy? she asked, addressing Detective Halvorsen with easy small-town familiarity. 'Any word yet?
'They're taking her to Spokane for surgery.
The blue eyes narrowed at Halvorsen's answer. 'What about her mother?
'She'll probably be all right. They're keeping her in Colfax for observation.
A car door slammed and the deputy came hotfooting it toward us at a fast trot. 'Got a message for you from the sheriff, Detective Halvorsen. He says Cap Reardon just called in to say whoever cut the lines musta used a helicopter.
'What? Halvorsen demanded.
'Sheriff Coffee says they used a helicopter. He says for you to call in as soon as you can and he'll give you the details.
Halvorsen sprinted away toward the car, leaving me standing there with Rita Brice. 'Who are you? she asked.
'Detective Beaumont, I replied. 'With the Seattle Police Department. I offered her a business card.
'What happened to your hand? she asked.
'Slammed it in a door, I replied, grateful that at least I now had that much of an answer when somebody asked the question.
She stuffed the card in her hip pocket. 'What's a Seattle detective doing out here?
'You haven't heard about Kimi's father?
Rita frowned. 'What about him?
'He was murdered the night before last. I'm the detective on that case.
A white pallor slipped under the tanned skin of her cheeks. 'What's this all about? Why would anyone do such a thing?
'That's what we're trying to find out.
For a time we said nothing. I could see Halvorsen through the windshield of the K-car, talking animatedly on his radio.
Finally, Rita said, 'Do you want to see the barn? I let the other horses out, but Sadie's still in there. I'll have to have help to move her.
'Please, I said.
We said nothing more as I followed her to the sagging barn. When we first entered the shadowy building, it smelled the way you'd expect it to smell, of hay and manure and horses, but toward the back of the barn, there was another smell as well, the distinct metallic odor of blood.
Rita led me to a stall at the far end and I peered inside over the wooden railing where a mutilated horse lay dead on the floor, sprawled in a blood-soaked layer of straw. A cloud of flies hovered busily on and around the dead animal.
'It must have been terrible for Kimi, Rita said quietly. 'To have to watch. Sadie was like her child. She pointed toward the far corner of the stall. 'That's where I found her.
Near the wall was another blood-soaked layer of straw. 'Those bastards! I muttered.
Rita Brice nodded and wiped her eyes.
I had seen enough. As we turned away from the stall, Halvorsen came rushing to meet us.
'Can you beat that? A goddamned helicopter. That's what they used. I couldn't figure out how they managed to be all over the county at once.
'One of the linemen called his supervisor in Spokane this morning after it got light enough to see. He said he noticed a place near one of the poles where the wheat was all beaten down. Sheriff Coffee sent somebody out to check and sure enough, they found evidence that a helicopter landed there. They stopped off at two more sites on the way back. Same thing.
He had been talking excitedly. Suddenly he stopped and his face fell. 'Damn!
'What's the matter?
'Those roadblocks won't ever catch a damn helicopter.
The three of us walked out of the barn together. Outside, away from the smell of death, the world was serene, peaceful, and awesomely quiet.
'You didn't hear anything? I asked Rita. It seemed to me that a terrified horse would have made a helluva lot of noise.
Rita Brice shook her head. 'I sleep with the television set on, she said. 'My husband snored, and I still haven't learned to sleep when it's quiet.
'And you don't have a dog?
'I don't like dogs, she answered simply. 'They chase horses.
Halvorsen walked straight to the car. 'We've lost them, he said. 'We'd better go see the mother.
I nodded in bleak agreement while Halvorsen relit the short stub of his cigar before starting the car. 'So did they get what they were looking for or not?
'Who knows?
Halvorsen was my kind of cop-action first, bullshit and paperwork later. We had lost one round fair and square, but he was ready to get up and get back in the game.
Rita Brice went to the house to change clothes before heading to Spokane where she, along with a police guard, would stand vigil with Kimi at Sacred Heart Medical Center. We left her place, drove back out to the highway, and turned left to drive toward Colfax.
'I've got a bad feeling about all this, Halvorsen said quietly.
'Like what?
'Helicopters, cut telephone lines, what they did to her. This sounds like big-time shit to me-professionals, the mob. It's the kind of crap I wanted to leave behind me when I came back home to work. And if we're dealing with name-brand muscle here, then whatever or whoever it is has to be big. Something to do with drugs unless I miss my guess. Is it possible either the father or the daughter were involved in dealing drugs?
'No way, I said. 'Tadeo Kurobashi was broke, dead broke. He was losing both his business and his house. And his daughter shovels horseshit for a living. That doesn't sound like any high-flying drug dealers I know.
'I still think it's drugs, Halvorsen insisted.
Colfax Community Hospital, situated on a hillside at the edge of town, was small but modern enough to have gotten on the no-smoking bandwagon, so Halvorsen snuffed out the smoldering remains of his cigar in a sand-filled ashtray near the hospital's main entrance. A nurse directed us to the proper room.
Machiko Kurobashi, looking more frail than ever, lay flat on the bed, wearing a hospital-issue gown. Both eyes were black. A jagged cut on her lower lip had been neatly stitched shut. Her left arm, bandaged and in a sling, was strapped firmly to her chest while the fingers of her other hand stroked a gnarled wooden piece of what had once been her cane. Her glasses were gone, and I assumed they too had been smashed by her attacker.
She gave no sign of recognition when I walked into the room. Only when I came close enough that she could focus on me clearly, did her eyes widen in alarm and her free hand go to her mouth. I'm sure she thought I was coming to give her more bad news about Kimi.
'Kimiko okay? she asked plaintively, reaching out and grasping my hand with her thin, clawlike fingers.
'I don't have any news of her, Mrs. Kurobashi, I said gently. 'They have taken her to Spokane. That's all I know.
She nodded and let go of my hand. Peering behind me, she caught a glimpse of someone else and frowned.
'It's Detective Halvorsen, I explained. 'From the sheriff's department. We must ask you some questions.
Machiko Kurobashi closed her eyes. I wondered if she was listening or not.
'Do you know the men who did this to you?
'No.
