by Sydnie MacElroy
[MD1, Sheriff's office]
>"Maybe you do, Sheriff, but human's brain is not perfect. >You might forget things. And I definitely do not want call >you up 2am in the morning just to discuss the details of the >case." Jordan informed him.
>"Its such a waste of time and effort," Dolan continued.
>"Take your time though," Leo told Jim, "I think you might >return in time for the second interview. It sounds like its >going to be a long conversation between the two of them." >He chuckled.
>"Wana come along?" Jim asked Vanessa. "I think you need >to get out of this smelly town."
Zenya sighed as she listened to the exchange between Jordan and Sheriff Dolan. It seemed that the sheriff had a thousand justifications for not writing detailed reports and he was calling on every one of them to get out of elaborating on the details. He seemed perfectly willing to be helpful, but not to waste his time writing down what he considered insignificant information.
Zenya leaned against the wall, closed her eyes for a moment, and thought about Jessie Colquitt. She was starting to believe that he really didn't remember anything. It could have all been an act, of course, but she didn't think so. She had tried to see him as capable of planning and carrying out the murder of his parents, but it just didn't work. He was just a scared kid who was doing the best he could to cope with a situation he didn't quite understand.
What had he said? That he'd been asleep the whole time and found out they were dead when the sheriff woke him. That he hadn't and wouldn't have done it. That was almost easier to believe than that he had been the killer. She wondered if Dolan had thought to test the boy for powder residue. Then she wondered if he'd ever even heard of the test.
The sudden feeling that someone was staring at her brought her out of those thoughts. She looked up and saw Leo standing by the sheriff's desk. As soon as she looked at him, his gaze shifted down to the family portrait on the sheriff's desk. Zenya stared at it for a moment before her mind could make the connection. The older of the two girls in the photo was the girl who had been watching them from the diner across the street.
"This could be a while," Leo said. "Want to get a cup of coffee?"
Zenya smiled. "Not really, but lunch would be good. I didn't eat before we left DC."
"Bring back something for you, Jordan," Leo asked.
Jordan looked up from his conversation with the sheriff. He looked mildly exasperated, as though it was taking most of his concentration to be patient with Dolan. "Sure, anything."
After getting Martin's order for a burger and fries, they left the office. "Do you think she'll still be there," Zenya asked as soon as they were out of the room.
"I'd be willing to bet on it."
Stepping out into the street a moment later, they saw that she was indeed still there, sitting at the same table, but this time, not watching them, but talking to the boy she was with. Leo and Zenya crossed the street and went into the diner, where they took seats at the counter where they could watch the girl while they placed their orders. When that was done, they approached the girl.
"Excuse us," Leo said, "you're the sheriff's daughter, aren't you?"
The girl looked up at them with a puzzled expression for a moment, then smiled. "Yes. You must be the FBI people. Dad said you were coming. I'm Lori Dolan."
"I'm Agent Jones, this is Agent Gorky. Could we ask you a few questions?"
"Sure," Lori said. She turned to her date. "Shove over, Mike. Give 'em room to sit down."
"Mike," Zenya asked, sitting down next to Lori. "Mike Pruitt, by chance?"
The boy nodded. "How did you know.."
"Jessie mentioned your name," Leo said.
Mike nodded. "Hell of a thing. I don't think anyone could have seen it coming. I mean, we were together just a few hours before he.. well, you know.. herding those damned cows. Everything seemed just.. completely normal."
"Do you know Jessie, as well," Zenya asked Lori.
"Of course. Not as well as Mike does, but we hung out once in a while. It's just so weird, even if it was just Jessie. Wendy Perkins is my best friend, and I *know* she got along okay with her folks. Just to cut their throats like that." She shook her head and shivered. "Dad hasn't let me talk to her since it happened."
"And don't forget about Matt," Mike said. "Although him, I can half-way understand."
"Michael Pruitt, don't you dare say a thing like that," Lori exclaimed.
"I just mean that.."
"I know what you mean, and its a terrible thing to say!"
Leo and Zenya exchanged a look. "What do you mean," Leo asked.
"Just that Matt and his old man didn't get along very well. That's all."
"In what way?"
"They just didn't. I don't know." Mike folded his arms, hung his head, and basically made it clear that he wasn't going to say anything else.
"Matt has a little bit of a temper," Lori said to Leo and Zenya, then turned to look straight at Mike. "But I cannot believe that he would ever hurt anyone."
"You know him well, then," Leo said.
"She's had a crush on him since third grade," Mike said bitterly. "He doesn't even know she's alive."
Zenya decided that it was time to change the subject before they sparked off a domestic incident. "Why were you watching us earlier?"
Mike and Lori both looked at her with blank expressions. "What do you mean," Mike asked, utterly confused.
"A little while ago, after the cows took off down the street," Leo said. "You had been watching us since we got here."
Lori shook her head. "We'd never seen you before you came over here to talk to us," she said. "I mean, we were watching the cows, and then they ran off. Then Mike said something about there being an epidemic of runaway cows around here."
*****
"Did you believe them," Jordan asked when they got back to the office. The sheriff was in the outer office, committing his recollection of the murder scenes to paper.
"My first inclination would be to say no," Zenya said. "But if the Colquitt boy could murder his parents and not remember it, then its entirely possible that they could not remember watching us." She absentmindedly moved her salad around in its styrofoam container as if rearranging it might make it taste better. Should have gotten a burger, she thought. At least Martin seemed to be enjoying his lunch.
Jordan grinned. "Starting to believe his story?"
"Did I say that? I'm willing to admit the possibility."
"Does it seem strange to anyone else that there have been two cases of herds of cattle running through the streets recently," Jordan asked, then added, "that we know of."
Leo nodded. "Assuming that Lori and Mike were telling the truth, that they don't remember, that's the one thing the two incidents have in common."
"What could cows have to do with it," Martin asked.
"It could be some kind of post-hypnotic suggestion," Zenya ventured, though she didn't sound the least bit convinced of her own idea. "The appearance of the cows as some sort of trigger." She shrugged.
"That would be a rather elaborate choice," Jordan said. "If there were someone trying to control behavior, wouldn't they use something more easily controllable than runaway cows?"
"Probably," Zenya said.
"Well, there are two more people to talk to," Martin said. "If neither of them had any unexplained encounters with cows, then we can rule it out. If they did.."
Dolan came into the room and dropped a notepad on the table. He didn't look happy. "Should I bring the Duggins boy in now," he asked.
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NRPG:
Speaking as one who grew up in a semi-rural area where cow pie tossing is considered a legitimate sport (which I wisely never participated in!), I just have to say.. I always did think there was something sinister about cattle. It's that look they give people that seems to say 'You may think you're the superior lifeform around here, but just who's playing with who's dung?' ;)