Watcher in the Woods (Rockton #4)(34)

As soon as Garcia’s on the table, I shoo off our three helpers with thanks. By that point, Garcia is barely breathing. Anders has already figured out my plan, and he’s jumped in to work on Garcia. April thankfully follows his lead, and the last thing the trio of residents see is the two of them heroically trying to save a man who cannot be saved.

They don’t stop as soon as their audience is gone. We do make every effort to save the marshal. When he breathes his last, we all step back from the table.

“He’s comatose,” I say.

April gives me that are-you-an-idiot look again. “This man is—”

“Comatose,” I say. “We have about forty-eight hours before the smell will prove otherwise.”

Anders chuckles under his breath.

April stares at him. “I realize you are a police officer, Deputy Anders, but let me assure you, I do not share my sister’s sense of gallows humor.”

“Yeah, pretty sure you don’t have a sense of humor, period,” he says under his breath.

“Excuse me?”

“We aren’t making jokes here, doc,” Anders says. “But you’re right that we’re law enforcement. Your sister is a detective first, medical assistant second, same as me. She has a killer to catch. A killer who shouldn’t know that he succeeded.”

“Or that she succeeded,” I say. “I realize you’re using the masculine for simplicity, but I didn’t even see enough to establish gender.” I turn to April. “Marshal Garcia came to town to catch an alleged fugitive. Unfortunately, he made his intentions clear.”

Anders looks at the body. “Fatal mistake, I’d say.”

“Everyone in town knew what he was here for,” I continue. “I had to tell them. After Garcia went door-to-door, enough people knew for the news to travel like wildfire. Better for me to clarify. Someone in Rockton knew there was a supposed U.S. Marshal here to arrest them. That person tried to make arrest impossible.”

“We don’t want them to know they succeeded,” Anders says.

I nod. “I’ll put out the word that Garcia survived but has gone into a coma, from which we hope he’ll recover. I’ll make it clear that Marshal Garcia did not reveal his suspect’s identity, but that he certainly will when he awakes. With any luck, our shooter will move to ensure Garcia never wakes up.”

April thinks this over and then nods slowly. “All right.”

“I’ll set up guards right away,” Anders says.

“Hold off for a bit,” I say. “First, I’m going to need to figure out which militia members we can eliminate. For now, that’ll just be everyone who was in sight at the time of the shots.”

Anders lifts his hand. “I was with Jen and two volunteers.” He looks at April. “You have no idea what a relief that is. Around here, that’s step one in any crime: eliminate the law officers from the suspect list.”

She stares at him.

“You think I’m kidding,” Anders says.

I shake my head. “No, she just hopes you are. Okay, let’s go talk to the militia.”

*

I’m heading outside with Anders when Dalton comes striding through town. From his expression, I know he didn’t catch the shooter. I retreat into the clinic, leaving Anders in charge of getting militia alibis.

“How is he?” Dalton asks as he throws open the clinic door.

“Comatose,” I say.

I’m tucked back, out of sight of the militia, waving for Dalton to come in and shut the door, but he says, “Fuck. What are his chances?” as the door still’s shutting.

“Pretty good,” I say. Then I lead Dalton into the back room. “Garcia’s dead.”

“What?”

“Lower your voice please,” I say. “It was a fatal wound. He survived long enough to get here, so I’m saying he’s in a coma, in hopes of flushing out the killer. If you disagree, let me know, and he’ll suffer a sudden fatal relapse.”

“No, you’re right. It’s a good idea. Given our track record, the shooter will figure he can break in here no problem.”

“I know you’re being sarcastic, Eric, but yes, the shooter has to think they have a chance of success.”

He slumps into a chair. April is rattling about, cleaning, but he ignores her.

“I didn’t see anything except a shape,” I say. “Adult human. That’s all I have.”

“That’s all I’ve got, too. I picked up the trail, but whoever it was, they made a beeline for town. Re-entered by the lumber shed. By the time I got there, people were all over the place. They heard the shots and came out to see what it was.”

“Maybe one of them saw someone enter town in from that direction.”

“Yeah. Hope so.” He waves at Garcia. “He’s not gonna be any help.” He exhales. “Fucking shitty thing to say.”

“Earlier I wanted to make him name his suspect before I rescued him. But I felt like a ghoul. Poor guy was attacked by wolves and thought he might die in that hole, and I wanted to barter for his release. I should have. I really should have.”

“Wouldn’t have helped. He would have just made shit up.”

“Now he didn’t even survive our rescue. He might have been better off staying in that hole.”