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“Sure,” the old man said gleefully. “I just mentioned his name. Lance Nielsen.”
“Boss, I don't think Lance would ...” the young man said before being cut off.
“Damn your eyes, Harry. Shut your mouth. Let me deal with this.” There was a moment of silence and the deathly stare from Mr. Gleeson again. Harry’s eyes then bowed with his head as if not wanting to meet the stare any longer than necessary.
“Sorry, Mr. Gleeson,” Harry said sheepishly.
“Who is Lance Nielsen?” Will asked.
“A farmhand who worked with me for a while. About a month ago, we had a disagreement, and I kicked him out," Mac said. "But I have seen him. He's still lurkin' around, I'm sure of it.”
“Still lurking around?” Charlie said.
Mac Gleeson looked to the silhouettes of the hills around them. Will felt a cold, creeping unease fingering its way up the back of his neck in response. Something was prowling the hills of Kerry County.
“I've seen Lance up on those ridges,” Mac said. “God knows what he’s doing. But I'll tell you, it ain’t good. The boy was into strange sorts of things.”
“Like what?” Charlie asked.
“Witchy stuff, ya know?” Mac said. "Devil stuff. I saw him with a book filled with old pentagrams and other things. Then one of our pigs got cut up."
"Slaughtered?" Will asked.
"Yeah, and not by a butcher. Like a sacrifice." Mac shuffled uncomfortably in his seat.
"As soon as we found the sow," Harry said from behind. "Mr. Gleeson fired Lance. He grabbed his things and headed out into the hills."
"Animal murder, a key first step," Will said to Charlie.
"Did you know for certain that it was Lance who killed the pig?" Charlie asked.
"Who else could it have been?" asked Mac. "The boy was reading bad things. And then he acted it out."
"When did you last see him?" Charlie said.
"A day ago," answered Harry. "I saw him up near one of the feeding troughs. He was hanging around. But the thing is ..."
"Hold yer tongue," Mac snapped. "I think that's enough."
"If there's more, you need to tell us," Charlie explained.
"You fellas have everythin' you need," he said. "Now go find Lance and stop botherin' me."
Mac stood up and then walked back inside.
It was obvious that there was more going on at the Gleeson farm than met the eye. Will knew that they needed to press forward and see if it related to the case. He stood up and saw Harry still standing there.
"Can you show us where you last saw Lance?" Will asked.
"He's busy!" Gleeson shouted from inside, clearly still listening.
"If you follow the trail up that hill," Harry said nervously, "you'll reach a patch of trees. There's a trough underneath it. That's where I saw him."
"It's worth taking a look," Charlie said before raising his voice. "All right, Mr. Gleeson. We'll be back."
Will followed Charlie off the porch as the wind whipped up around them. The horses in the opposite field galloped into a set of stables.
"What now?" Will asked.
