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“Okay, Bailey, we’ll go see Chief Blake now, and tell him what’s happened,” Fin said. Like Joe, his face looked like it had been carved in granite.
“Okay.” She looked up at the sound of a horse approaching, and saw Jack’s mount trotting back inside.
“Let me unsaddle her, and put her in a stall, then I’ll come too,” Maggie said.
Soon they were in Fin’s cruiser, Bailey wrapped in a blanket, as her tank top was covered in blood. Maggs sat in the back seat with her.
“I’m okay now, really. It was just the shock.”
“Humor me, okay. I need to know you’re warm and right here beside me. I’ve heard about shock, and maybe you don’t have it, but I sure as hell do.”
Bailey leaned into her friend and let her hold her. It felt good. She hadn’t leaned on anyone in years... if ever.
“Okay now, Bailey. Let’s get this done, then Maggs can take you home,” Fin said as they pulled up outside the Ryker Falls Police Department.
It’d changed some since she was last here. Then it had been a small shed-like building; it was now long and low, and made of stone. Beside it was the fire department, and she imagined Luke had left there in a hurry already.
She got out with Maggs.
“Okay, let’s go.”
They walked her inside between them, and Bailey was grateful for the support. In fact, it felt good to have them watching over her.
“Jonas, is the chief in?”
The man behind reception nodded, then lifted his phone and spoke into it.
“Go on through, Fin, you know the way.”
She saw desks with phones and computers. Trays with paper, and passed a room that had a coffee machine that made her desperately want a cup to steady her nerves.
“Chief Blake.”
“Come on in, Fin.”
They entered a large office that had an equally large desk, two chairs, and a long squishy-looking black sofa.
“This is Bailey Jones, Chief, and you know Maggie.”
“Course I do, how’s my favorite art critic doing?”
“Good thanks, Chief Blake.”
The man who came around the desk wasn’t overly tall or big, but she knew he was fit. Bailey pegged him as late fifties, with short spiky hair and hazel eyes. She shook the hand he held out to her.
“That blood yours, Miss Jones?” He looked at her hands and arms. “And have anything to do with that ambulance call out at the Trainer ranch?”
She shook her head, and then nodded, and he waved her into a seat. Maggs took the one beside her, and Fin stood at her back.
“Not injured, are you?”
“No, but Jack Trainer is.”
“Like those Trainer boys,” Chief Blake said, moving back round his desk. “Be mighty unhappy if they’re hurt through any fault but their own.”
“I sent Steve and Jed out to take a look around, Chief. Thought it best while the trail is warm. They agreed after I told them I’d bring Bailey in here so you could get her statement down,” Fin said.
Bailey watched Chief Blake hit a button on his phone.
