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“Mac Gleeson said you were into things of a ‘witchy’ kind,” Charlie interjected. “He thought you were up in those hills doing something satanic. Were you?”
Lance Nielsen let out a thin laugh. “That old man lives in the surroundings of nature’s awe, and he cannot see what’s right in front of him.”
“And what is that?” Sheriff Carter said, grimly.
The suspect leaned forward in his chair, and the fluorescent light above cast jagged shadows on his face.
“That nature is God itself,” he whispered. “He thinks so conventionally, the second he sees someone using a pagan symbol, he thinks it means the devil or something evil.”
“Do you practice paganism?” Valerie asked.
“Of a kind, yes,” Nielsen answered. “And that old fart kicked me out of the farm for it. You’re telling me, if I’d hung a cross on my wall instead of a wreath of hay, he’d have chucked me out? Hell no. He’d probably have invited me to ask his granddaughter out. All because I’d have been a ‘good, God-fearing boy’.”
“What does this have to do with anything?” Sheriff Carter snapped. “Take a look at this.”
He pulled out some photographs of Maggie, the farmhand’s, butchered body tied to the inside of the tractor cab.
“Look what you did!” Carter went on. “Is this your God? Is this what your religion teaches you? Hell, I’m an atheist, and I know damn fine well that to kill is a sin no matter which way you look at it. Life is precious, Nielsen, and you cut this woman’s down like it was nothing.”
Valerie had initially been annoyed at the sheriff for losing his composure so suddenly, but his confrontation with the pictures had revealed something. Valerie saw it only for an instant, but Lance Nielsen’s composure slipped at the sight of Maggie’s dead body. His bottom lip quivered ever so slightly before the blank expression returned to his face.
What was that?Valerie thought.Regret? Or …
“Mr. Nielsen … Lance,” Valerie said, softening her voice. “If these pictures upset you, I can remove them.”
“I ... I ... In God's name forgive me ..." the man whispered.
Valerie looked at Charlie, but she could see in her partner’s eyes that he believed Lance was the killer. She was no longer sure of that. Valerie slowly slid the pictures away from Lance and leaned in a little closer. She knew she was treading on dangerous ground, but something inside her told her that this man was not what he seemed.
“Tell me about Maggie,” Valerie said softly. “What kind of person was she? What did you think of her?”
Lance sighed heavily and looked away from the table, his eyes distant and unfocused. He paused for a few moments before speaking again and then his emotions finally got the better of him.
The words flowed out of him like a torrent.
“Maggie was … different,” he began slowly. “She wasn't like other people. She had an innocence about her that could never be marred by anyone or anything, no matter how hard they tried to take it away from her. Everyone who knew Maggie loved her; she had a way of making people feel seen and understood without saying anything at all. I never met someone so full of life and yet so gentle at the same time. I felt like I could open up to her in ways I've never been able to with anyone else before."
Valerie's brow furrowed as she processed these words coming out of Lance's mouth. Something was very wrong here. The more he talked, the more Valerie looked into his eyes, the more convinced she was that he was no killer.
"Were you romantically involved?" Valerie pushed.
Lance looked around the room and bowed his head.
"It's okay," Valerie said gently. "The more you tell us, the more we can help."
Charlie let out a loud sigh making his disapproval of the soft approach clear. But Valerie had to follow her gut. "Tell us, Lance, did you love Maggie?" Valerie said.
Lance sighed and looked away for a moment before he spoke again.
"She was so full of life and energy; I could feel the force of nature emanating from her every time she entered a room. We talked often, sometimes about the farm and other times about things more personal to us both: our beliefs, our hopes for the future. When we were together, it felt like the world just stopped turning and we were in some sort of perfect harmony with one another."
"Did she share your religious views?"
"Not exactly," he said. "But she was sympathetic to them. She believed there was something in nature too."
"Something in nature?" Sheriff Carter repeated, his voice full of frustration.
"That the natural world is filled with spirit, that's about all I'll say."
