the bloodstain on his sleeve to your satisfaction?â
â Doctor McCarty,â Sam told her. âGuyâs a vet.â
âThat makes it all better.â
McCarty was unrolling the sleeve, holding it away from his arm so they could all take a look. âItâs blood.â
âCut yourself shaving this morning?â
McCarty gave her a look. âAnd you looked so bright. This is Joelleâs blood. I was the first one on the scene, remember?â He looked from Sonora to Sam. âYou have a problem with this? Letâs put your mind at rest. Search my house and barn. Feel free, Iâve got nothing to hide.â
Sonora waited for him to say âTrust meâ but he didnât. She smiled at him. âThe last guy who told me he had nothing to hide kept a frozen torso in his Sears deep-freeze. So, thanks very much, we will search your house and barn.â
âYou talking about that district attorney?â
Sonora nodded. She almost felt like they were talking shop.
âIn the meantime, you might want to put out an APB, or even set up roadblocks, to stop every horse van between here.â â McCarty stopped to look at his watch â âand about a two-hundred-mile radius.â
âThatâs a hell of a radius.â Sonora cocked her head sideways. âWhat makes you think a horse van went through here?â
âItâs a possibility, donât you think? With a horse missing? You got a guy looking at tracks, what does he think?â
âI want your shirt,â Sonora said.
âFine. If you wind up stopping vans, ask for a Coggins test. Anyone transporting horses is supposed to carry one. Very possible that whoever came through here wonât have one.â
âThanks for your help,â Sam said.
Sonora gave McCarty a hard stare. âWeâll take the shirt, for now. And take you up on your offer to show us around. Your house and barn.â
He held out his wrists. Smiled at Sonora. âYou can handcuff me if you want.â
âSome other time.â
Chapter Six
McCarty paused outside a small and dingy cinderblock house that sat no more than fifty yards from a small concrete barn trimmed in red, about a third the size of Delaneyâs barn.
âItâs not locked.â McCarty waved a hand toward the front door of his house.
Sonora motioned the two uniforms she had grabbed to step back off the porch. âTake him on in,â she told Sam.
McCarty nodded at her, and walked in ahead of Sam without looking back.
Something about him.
Sonora turned to the uniforms. Both young, male, short haircuts and on testosterone overload. She wished she hadnât sent Renquist off with Dixon Chauncey. She could use two or three of that man.
She started with their names, making them introduce themselves since she didnât know them. Majors was the black one. Hill was white.
âOfficer Majors. Officer Hill. Letâs start with what you already know. Female, fifteen years old, brown hair. You saw the blood. Likely severe head injury and God knows what else. Dr McCarty is âassistingâ us in our investigations. Thatâs information you will keep to yourselves.â
Both of them nodded. Brows knit and on their toes.
âWe have the ownerâs permission and we have probable cause. What we donât have is a warrant, so donât take an ax to the place, you got me? But you make sure that there is no chance that a fifteen-year-old girl is in there listening to you walk through the halls, praying that youâll have the imagination to open the right door, or check under the cellar stairs. That make sense?â
They nodded, heads synchronized, like puppets on a string.
âGo. And Hill?â
âYes, maâam?â
âHolster your weapon.â
The house disappointed her. It was not the kind of house she would have pictured for McCarty.
The kitchen was small and would have been