AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You know my daughter, Brighton.” Pop gestures as if he isn’t making an intro at a freaking summons.
“I do.” Percy turns to me and extends a hand. “How are you, Dr. Ranger?”
“I’ve been better.” I look around the room. “I’m more at ease in work boots and with my horses.” I offer him a smile when my eyes come back to his.
“We haven’t met.” He extends a hand that Eli takes. “Percy Krause.”
“Elias Finchley. Nice to meet you.”
“Let’s sit,” the District Attorney gestures to the chairs. “We normally would do this with jurors present, but some have been sick and, with the holidays barreling down on us, I wanted to get this done. We’re basically simulcasting this like a Zoom meeting, if you agree, with the caveat that we may need to ask additional questions later if we have any technology issues.”
I look to Eli. At his nod, I affirm the DA’s request. “If that’s your preference, I’m fine with that.”
He flicks on a button, and I look at the camera, knowing I have no body language feedback and Eli has no way to gauge reaction. I also realize that I cannot let my guard down because I’m talking with Pop’s old friend instead of being grilled in court.
“Let’s begin. Dr. Ranger, please state your name and occupation for the record.”
I do.
“How long has it been since you lived at your father’s address?”
“I was eighteen when I left for college and twenty-five when I finished veterinary school. I was home for holidays and summers during that time. I bought a home three years ago.”
“But you go home often?”
I smile smally. “I’m there five or six days a week. I’m our business’s veterinarian. Horses aren’t nine-to-five, so yes, I’m home more than I’m, well, home.”
“You still consider it home?”
“Yes, sir. I always will.”
Pop puffs out his chest in pride.
“On the day in question, October twelfth, were you there working?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Was anything unusual that day?”
I shiver. “Everything was unusual that day.”
“How so?”
“We’re a working ranch. We breed. We stable. We break—though I hate that term. We train is a better way of saying it. There’s a routine to it that was interrupted that day.”
“Interrupted how?”
“There had been threats against my brother and against my nephew. They were credible and unnerving. Do you have horses, Mr. Krause?”
The DA looks taken aback as if I’m not allowed to ask questions.
“No, I don’t.”
“Horses are mirrors. They mirror emotion. It’s almost as if they absorb joy or fear. My normally playful, relaxed horses were edgy that day. I suspect it was the sirens among other things.”
“The sirens?”
I explain to him about the delivery man and the ambulances. “I say that only as background. I have no first-hand knowledge of what happened, aside from the sound echoing in our barn. I can say the sirens were painful and incessant.”
