“Holy shit! Don’t break my arm!”

“Don’t move.” Zander kept his knee in the center of Billy’s back, and Edwards, who’d recovered, cuffed the other wrist and then the one Zander was holding. Zander got to his feet, adrenaline still pumping and breathing hard. “You okay?” he asked Edwards.

“Yeah.” The officer was sheepish. “Haven’t had the wind knocked out of me since I fell off a swing set in grade school.”

“Worst feeling ever.”

“You can’t take me in, man! You’ve got to let me go!”

“You’re joking, right?” Zander asked Billy. “We have questions about some deaths in town that I suspect only you can answer.”

“No! No, you need to let me go. He’s going to kill me.” His voice was frantic, his head whipping from side to side as he lay on the ground.

Zander made a show of scanning the woods. “Who? Edwards here? He’s a little pissed you knocked the wind out of him, but I don’t think he’ll kill you over it.”

“Not him. I’m supposed to be gone!”

“Dead gone? Or just gone gone?”

“I’ll be dead gone if he knows you’ve got me.” Billy dug his forehead into the dirt. “Dammit. This can’t be happening!”

The hairs rose on Zander’s neck. The man was scared. Who is he worried about?

“You talking about Kyle?”

“Oh shit. He’s going to kill Kyle first if he finds out I’m still around.” Billy squirmed and pulled at his wrists.

Zander exchanged a look with Edwards, who shrugged.

Greer and Daigle arrived, both blowing hard. Greer slapped Edwards on the back. “Nice job.”

“He popped out and tackled me,” Edwards admitted. “Lost my breath, and he had his hand on my weapon until Zander took him down.”

“Important part is that we have him.” Now that Billy wasn’t sprinting, Zander noticed the white T-shirt was yellowed and grimy, and his jeans were filthy. And this wasn’t from his roll on the forest floor.

“Doesn’t your girlfriend have a washing machine, Billy?”

“Fuck off.”

“Let’s go.” Greer grabbed Billy under one arm and Daigle took the other, and they hauled him to his feet.

Billy stared wild-eyed at Greer. “You’ve got to let me go, Sheriff,” he begged.

Zander started. Are those tears?

“Knock it off,” answered Greer. “We’ve got a nice clean cell just waiting for you.”

“He’s gonna kill Kyle and Rachel if he knows I’m still here!”

“Wait.” Zander stepped in front of Billy. “Rachel’s the woman at the house here, right? Who’s gonna kill her and your brother?”

He hung his head. “I can’t tell you.”

“Dammit,” said Greer. “I don’t have time for this.” He tugged on Billy’s arm.

The man started to shake, panic in his eyes, and he abruptly thrashed, breaking Greer’s hold. He took one lunging step, and Daigle neatly tripped him. Billy landed on his side and curled into a ball, still shaking.

The three men exchanged curious glances.

Is he petrified or bullshitting us?

Zander nudged him with a foot. “We can’t help Kyle if you don’t tell us what’s going on.”

Billy moaned and coiled tighter, muttering under his breath.

“What?” Zander squatted again. His legs still ached from his sprint.

“You’ve got to promise me you’ll protect Kyle and Rachel.”

“Promised.”

Billy sucked in a deep breath, and words sped out of his mouth. “I was paid to help someone with Sean, and then I was supposed to get out of town.”

Zander struggled to speak coherently. “You helped someone kill Sean. Is that what you’re saying? But not Lindsay?”

“Yeah.” Billy seemed to deflate, sinking into the dirt.

“How much were you paid to take someone’s life?” Zander spit out.

Billy turned his face into the dirt. “Two thousand dollars,” he mumbled.

Reeling, Zander stepped away, his hands going through his hair. He’s lying. He’s got to be lying. But why? “Who was it, Billy? Who paid you?”

Billy wouldn’t look up. “I’m a dead man.”

“I’ll kill you myself if you don’t tell me what happened.” Zander’s temper hung by a thread. He sold his soul for two thousand dollars. “You’ve got two seconds.”

“Harlan Trapp.”

No one breathed.

“Bullshit,” said Greer. “You’re accusing the mayor of murder?”

Zander pictured the tall, bald man. The one who couldn’t control a community meeting.

He is our killer?

Zander struggled to wrap his mind around it.

Billy turned to look Greer in the eye. “He’s fucking evil. It was just supposed to be Sean, but then Harlan took down Lindsay too. He brutalized her.”

Greer jerked away and snarled in disgust.

“What about Nate?” asked Daigle. “Did you shoot Nate?”

Billy said nothing and curled tighter.

“You fucker!” Daigle hauled back and kicked him.

Greer and Edwards grabbed Daigle and yanked him back. Greer pushed him away with a rough shove. “Go cool off. If I see or hear of you doing that again, you’re out of a job.” Daigle lurched toward a fir, slammed a hand against it, bent over, and vomited.

The other three men turned away.

“I’m not lying about Harlan,” Billy said in a broken voice from the ground. “He’s psychotic. He threatened to kill Kyle if I also didn’t take care of Nate. He thinks Nate saw us at Sean’s.”

“What about Emily Mills? Does he want Emily dead too?” Zander could barely breathe. “Did you shoot at Emily and Ava McLane yesterday?”

“He didn’t say anything to me about Emily. And I don’t know the other person you said.”

“Why did Harlan want Sean killed?” Zander asked Billy, wincing as Daigle retched again.

“Dunno.”

“You helped him kill a man and don’t know why?” said Greer.

“He said Sean knew about him.”

“Knew what about him?”

“Dunno.”

Zander wanted to kick Billy himself.

33

Sheriff Greer insisted they knock on the door again at Harlan Trapp’s home. Zander was hesitant. It had worked well with Billy, but trying it twice was pushing their luck.

“He knows me,” Greer stated. “And the sheriff showing up on a night when most of the town is out of power won’t surprise him one bit. He’ll let me in.”

“Power’s out over there,” Edwards said.

“Then he’ll be happy I have a flashlight.”

Zander had pulled the sheriff aside after a deputy arrived to take Billy Osburne to jail. “Billy pointed his finger at the mayor. How do you feel about that?”

The sheriff looked thoughtful. “What I feel doesn’t matter. It’s a serious accusation and needs to be followed up.”

“But can you see him doing what Billy says?”

“Fuck no. I’ve known Harlan most of my life. Nicest guy imaginable. I expect we’ll find out that Billy is full of shit, and I look forward to my next discussion with Billy. Hopefully he’ll be more inclined to tell us the truth. Either way, he’s admitted to murdering Nate and Sean Fitch.” Fury colored the sheriff’s tone.

“Think his brother was involved?” asked Zander.

“Next on my list.”

Even with the sheriff’s confidence, the four of them took the same positions as for the door knock at Billy’s. Harlan Trapp’s home wasn’t deep in trees. It was part of a small subdivision with close neighbors. Luckily, no one had fenced yards. Zander and Edwards were close to each other near Harlan’s back door. It was pitch-dark. No lighting at all. The mayor’s little neighborhood looked like a town that’d been lost to zombies.

The sheriff parked in Harlan’s driveway, and Zander waited.

Edwards’s mic crackled. “No one’s answering,” said the sheriff. “And his car isn’t in the garage.”

“Knocking on the back door,” answered Edwards.

Zander exhaled, and they both closed in on the sliding glass door to Harlan’s patio. Edwards rapped on the glass with his flashlight. “Mr. Trapp! You home? Clatsop County Sheriff’s Department.”

A dog barked a few homes away, but no noise came from the house. Edwards repeated the knock and announcement.

“Seems like no one’s here,” said Zander as he finally looked through the door and gave the handle a small tug. Locked. He could make out furniture shapes inside but nothing else.

“Checking windows,” said the sheriff over Edwards’s mic. “Coming around the south side, Daigle’s on the north.”

A few moments later the four of them convened in the backyard.

“I checked the front door,” Daigle said. “It was locked.”

“Same with the back door.”

“I’ll head back to the station and see if Billy will talk a little more,” said the sheriff. “You two get out the word with Harlan’s license plate number and vehicle description,” Greer said to his deputies. “If anyone spots it, they’re to let me know first.”