Indivisible. Part 13

"So they can tell me it's bruised?"

"Ice it then."

It was hurting enough to bring tears if she b.u.mped it. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed one end of the tempered gla.s.s shelf lying across the display frame. No way could she move it alone. Jonah came up beside her.

Together they lifted the shelves off the frame. A broken edge had gouged the floor. They raised the frame and inserted the three unbroken shelves. The other display was a single unit. They righted it, and she straightened.

"Can you think of anything else about this guy that might help me find him?"

She shook her head. "I don't want him prosecuted."

"You've got serious damage and personal injury."

"It was an accident." She looked at her leg. "I just need to clean up." She surveyed the shards of gla.s.s and broken pottery and crumbled wax. She had intended to make a claim for her insurance, which would require a police report. When had that changed?

"You should close up until it's safe. Last thing you need is someone slipping on a shard."

"Last thing I need is someone minding my business." She hadn't meant to snipe but hated his stating the obvious.

"Yeah. Got it." He looked her up and down, then walked out, turning the sign to CLOSED as he went.

Jonah left Tia's shop, scanning for the person she had described. He might be long gone, but if he was still upset about Tia's touching him, he could endanger others or himself. He checked the nearest shops. The kid at the T-shirt store had seen nothing. The man at the Western gallery had heard the crash but not seen anyone.

Jonah went into the bakery, glad to see Piper had forgiven Sarge's outburst and gone back to work-with no renegotiation of terms, as far as he knew. She looked up from arranging items on a tray and said, "Hi."

"Hi."

"Can I get you something?"

"No, thanks. Tia had an altercation next-door. I wondered if you saw or heard anything."

"Just now?"

"Forty minutes to an hour ago."

She shook her head. "The smoke alarm went off in the kitchen. I've been dealing with that."

"Okay."

"What happened at Tia's?"

He repeated an abbreviated version, then described the man.

"That guy?" Piper looked distressed.

"You saw him?"

"Not today. Awhile ago. I can't believe he'd do that."

"Tia said it wasn't intentional. He snapped."

Piper shook her head. "Poor guy. He's got that Monk thing."

"He's a monk?"

"No, you know the TV show."

Jonah hadn't owned a television in years. Typical mountain reception, and it wasn't worth paying for satellite.

"That guy who has to have everything lined up and spotless."

"OCD?"

Piper shrugged. "He seemed nice enough. A little funny about germs. I sold him a fig and pine-nut sticky roll that could have been yours if you'd come in that time I asked."

He half smiled and got her back on point. "He made no threats ..."

"He's not mean, just different."

"And you didn't see him today."

Her silky blond ponytail swung as she shook her head. "Is Tia okay?"

There were too many ways he could answer that. "You can check with her." He palmed his notebook. "Thanks for your help."

Having done all he could with that, he drove to the emergency clinic, found Sue and Sam in the waiting room.

Sue looked to be holding herself together with sheer force of will. "Eli's getting x-rays."

Sam sat, elbows on his thighs, hands shaking. He raised red-rimmed eyes, his face rough with several days' growth of beard. "What are you staring at? Accidents happen."

He was a thin man, narrow across the shoulders and chest, getting a bad-habit belly that made his jeans ride low. Jonah curbed his tongue. The last thing Sue needed was an altercation between her husband and her boss.

"How did he fall?"

"Climbed the railing on the balcony. He knows he's not supposed to go there."

"Where were you?"

"On the couch. Sleeping. He was supposed to be napping too."

"How did he get outside?"

"Gets hot in there. I opened the balcony door. He was supposed to be sleeping." He wrung his hands together, exhibiting remorse, until he muttered, "It's not my fault."

Jonah leaned in. "You're blaming the kid?"

"Back off."

Jonah grabbed his shirt collar. "You're supposed to be his protector, not a liability."

"Get off me." He jerked away.

"Jonah." Sue gripped his arm.

A tech wheeled Eli out of the radiation room. Sue rushed over, Sam plodding behind, indignant and self-righteous. Jonah turned on his heel. A toddler alone on a balcony? Negligence at best. The severity of the injury would determine a lot. He hoped for Sue's sake, and Sam's, that this would be a wake-up call and nothing more.

He climbed into the Bronco, annoyed that he'd vented his frustration on Sam, deserving though he was. Getting physical on the job was his dad's forte. Jonah drove to the animal hospital and went inside. After ringing the bell, he stood for a long time without acknowledgment. Finally Liz came out with a miniature Pomeranian in her arms. She handed the dog to a pet.i.te woman who looked just like it.

Jonah didn't know her name, but he'd seen her around town with the dog. He smiled as she pa.s.sed. She smiled back like a proud grandmother, her cinnamon hair and closely cl.u.s.tered features a perfect familial match. Liz came around the counter, limping without wincing, which led him to believe the injury was not new, maybe even congenital.

"How's your coyote?"

"Don't think we can call her mine. But she's breathing, lapped a little mash, a little water."

"Predators will smell her injuries."

"I called a friend to watch her."

Liz raised her brows. "Does she know not to touch?"

"He's good with animals, children, and former drunks." No telling why he'd said it, but understanding dawned in her face. good with animals, children, and former drunks." No telling why he'd said it, but understanding dawned in her face.

"Ah."

"I'll try the antibiotics you mentioned."

"Sure." She went through a door and came back with a pill bottle. "Bury these in raw meat, liverwurst, peanut b.u.t.ter, anything that sparks her interest. She should swallow it whole."

He took the bottle. "Thank you for coming over last night, risking contact."

She gave him a knowing look. "I doubt half what I've heard is true."

He stiffened.

She broke into a smile. "Just teasing."

She'd either learned things from people in town or she'd been probing. "What do I owe you for the pills?"

"If you keep her until she bears her litter, I'd like two."

Now it was his turn for surprise. "If a coyote mated the coydog, they'll be wilder than she is. Full grown, two of them could take you down."

A smile touched her lips. "I'll take my chances."

He shook his head. "I can't be responsible."

"I'm sure you can-when you want to be."

"That's not what I-" Again she'd been teasing. Flirting. He sized her up.

"So that's the deal," she said. "If the medicine makes her well, I have my choice of the litter."

He sighed. "We'll talk about it when the time comes." Chances were good the animal wouldn't live long enough to bear pups or would run off to bear them in secret.

As he got into his truck, the radio dispatched a call to the middle- and high-school complex. Arson in the boys' locker room. Someone had lit a heap of sweaty gym socks on fire. Jonah radioed that he was on it. He even had a guess who'd done it.

The fire department had everything under control when he arrived. Standing in the parking lot, while the firefighters removed the soaked and charred material, Lieutenant "Stogy" Sanders gave him the rundown. "The emergency sprinklers extinguished the blaze before it really got going. Little, if any, accelerant used. Not even possibly accidental."

Jonah nodded. It was the kind of thing adolescent boys found funny before their frontal lobes matured. But fire was no toy. They'd bring juvie charges.

Jonah turned to the man beside him. "Any ideas, Coach?"

"Snyder's in my office. I suggested he wait around and talk with you."

"You left him alone in your office?"

"Cozzie's with him."

The girls' softball coach was built like a cannon. Packed about the same punch too, without raising a hand. Jonah went in and relieved her, staring down the kid he'd reprimanded a couple of months ago for luring a stray dog with lunch meat, then tossing cherry bombs. They might be discussing more than arson today.

Ten.

So we grew together, like to a double cherry, seeming parted, but yet an union in part.i.tion.-WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Piper pulled open the pantry door and shrieked.

"Shh." Wedged between the wall and shelves, the big guy clamped his hands to his ears.

Heart pumping, she pressed her palm to her chest. "What are you doing?"

"He's looking for me." The Lego man looked miserable, drawing his big knees to his chest "The chief?"

One decisive nod.

"Because you messed up Tia's shop?"

"I didn't mean to."

Piper crouched down. "Of course you didn't."

"She touched me. And I b.u.mped the shelves. Then everything was falling." He rubbed his knees. "I can't go to jail with all the germs and dirty people." He closed his eyes and shuddered.

"Why would you go to jail?"