You're the One (15 page)

Moz’s gut
twisted a little. She’d gone outside armed with a baseball bat.
Great.

“Missy went
straight past me being chased by a ruddy big dog, and it wasn’t
friendly, let me tell you.”

Kirk didn’t
move, his attention focussed on her, cop face stoic.

“A couple of
men came over and got the dog.” Del shrugged. “That was pretty much
it.”

Like hell it
was. “Just a couple of men,” Moz intoned.

“Yep.”

“That’s not
what your mother said.”

“Okay, there
were four.”

“Name them,”
Kirk ordered quietly.

“Brand Dawson,
Pierce Harding, Cutter and some bloke called Fritz. I’ve not seen
Fritz before, he’s not from around here.”

If Moz hadn’t
already known about the men, he’d have been swearing. He’d done his
share of that already, which was a good thing otherwise Del would
have been pissed at him being pissed.

Truthfully, he
was a little pissed just hearing her recount what had happened,
mostly because she’d been willing to brush it off as just a
‘couple’ of men, when in fact it had been four. Of those four, one
was unknown, two were dangerously stupid, the fourth, Cutter, was
simply dangerous.

A muscle
ticked in his jaw. “What time was this?”

The fleeting
glance she cast him now held a touch of wariness. “Um…you know…late
afternoon.”

“Try again,”
he advised.

Her shoulders
straightened a touch defiantly. “Around seven thirty.”

Okay, he knew
roughly what had happened, but just hearing the admission from her
own mouth was setting sparks off in his normally controlled
temper.

Obviously Kirk
could see the steam starting to roll from his ears because he
snagged Del’s attention. “Around seven thirty you heard men
yelling, dogs barking, a yelping, and this dog came onto your
property. Describe the dog to me. Big, small, savage, scars?
Limping?”

Forcing
himself to relax, Moz listened. Letting his normal control slip
wouldn’t help the situation. He had to get his personal feelings
under control, don his inspector’s role, look for clues in her
story. Del was the closest they’d gotten to the dog fighting ring,
what she had to say could lead to a breakthrough. If he let
personal feelings interfere while she was being interviewed by
Kirk, he could stuff it all up.

Personal
feelings could come to the fore later. For now it was business. He
couldn’t believe he had to keep reminding himself of it. Talk about
brain farts.

“The dog was
big, powerfully built. Didn’t look a particular breed, more of a
mongrel.” Del’s nose screwed up as she thought. “From memory, I
think there was a scar on its shoulder, quite a long scar, and its
muzzle might have had some scars but I can’t be sure.” She shook
her head. “The lights also cast shadows, you know?”

Missy climbed
up Moz’s chest, intent on getting to the top of the sofa, and he
absentmindedly lifted her up in his palm, placing her level with
the sofa where she ran along the back happily.

Kirk nodded
encouragingly. “Anything else about the dog?”

“I think it
was contemplating having a go at me.”

Jesus, just
the thought of Del at the mercy of a savage dog had Moz’s gut
tightening.

Almost as
though she’d caught his vibe, Del cast him a cautious glance. Woman
had a right to be cautious, after all, she’d gone out
alone
in the
freakin’ dark
armed with only a baseball bat.

“Um…”
Obviously a little rattled at the way he was watching her, Del
continued, “Then the blokes came and took it, so all’s good,
right?”

“You think?”
he growled. Bloody oath it wasn’t good.

Her eyebrows
rose.

Kirk reclaimed
her attention calmly. “Can you describe the fourth man, Fritz?”

Del bent her
leg, one foot going beneath her bottom as she leaned against the
armrest of the chair. “Not much to look at, really. Medium height,
medium build, old clothes - jeans and t-shirt, thongs. Kind of
brown hair, I guess, it looked like it in the shadows and light.
Couldn’t see the colour of his eyes, I wasn’t that close.”

Damned lucky
for her.

“Had a bit of
a moustache, no beard.” Del shrugged. “I’m sorry, that’s all I can
tell you.”

Kirk was
jotting the description down on a small notepad he’d plucked from
his pocket.

“Oh,” she
added brightly, “the dog’s name was Killer.”

Killer
.
He was going to have a stroke. Moz rubbed his eyes. Cripes, he
never got this angry with a victim. And that was the whole bloody
problem, Del could have been a victim, savaged by a dog or hurt by
a group of four men, maybe both. A woman living alone and going out
into the dark with only a baseball bat.

Obviously Kirk
thought the same. “I can’t tell you right now what is going on,
Del, but you need to be careful. No more going out investigating
things on your own, no going up on the roof. You hear dogs or men,
you call the police station, understand?”

“And me.”
Damn, Moz could hear the roughness in his own voice but no way
could he stop it. Leaning forward, he speared Del with his gaze.
“You call me.”

She looked
between the men. “Look, what is going on?”

“Like I said,”
Kirk replied evenly, “we can’t tell you.”

“You can’t
tell me but you think you can tell me what to do?” Annoyed, she
folded her arms. “I need more of an explanation than that.”

“You’re not
getting more,” Moz stated. “But you will do as you’re instructed,
understand? It’s for your safety.”

She stared at
him for several seconds before throwing her hands up in the air.
“Fine. Whatever.”

Moz shook his
head. Did she really think they were that stupid?

Kirk’s eyes
narrowed a fraction.

“What?” she
demanded. “I just agreed.”

His gaze was
steady, getting that look that unnerved a lot of people.

Del avoided
his gaze, looked at Moz, her brows lowering. “What?”

“This is no
game. There’re things going on that could result in you getting
hurt.”

“Okay, I get
it.”

“Do you?”

“Yes.” When
both men met this with silence, she repeated vehemently, “Yes!”

“You hear a
noise, you see something, you ring us,” Moz ordered.

“Fine. Yes, I
will ring you both.”

“I’m holding
you to that.”

“I’m not an
idiot,” she said tightly.

“No, but
you’re a stubborn woman with an independence issue.” Oops, he
hadn’t meant to say that. Too late, it was out.

Her mouth fell
open. “I beg your pardon?”

Ignoring the
byplay, Kirk tapped the pen against the notepad. “Did the men say
anything in particular?”

Still glaring
at Moz, she replied, “You mean apart from not taking my telling off
well?”

Moz was
instantly on the alert, Kirk’s head snapping upright.

“You told them
off?” Moz asked incredulously, though why that would be he had no
idea. The woman was apt to do anything, as he was fast finding
out.

“One of them
kicked the dog in the ribs. There was no call for that.” Her brow
darkened. “I also told them that if dogs can’t be controlled they
should be tied up.”

The woman’s
tongue was going to get her seriously hurt. “How did they take
that?”

She shrugged.
“Pierce said he knew. Fritz leashed the dog and took it away.”

“Did they say
anything else?” Kirk asked.

Moz arched a
brow. “Maybe the question should be, what else did you tell
them?”

Del looked him
right in the eyes, her chin lifting. “I said that if I saw his
friend abusing the dog again, I’d report him.”

Shit.
Moz dropped his foot to the floor and leaned forward, his gaze
locking on hers. He admired her spunk, but at the same time her
bravado was foolish. “You said that while those four men were right
in front of you?”

“I don’t think
they’d have heard me if I’d shouted it across the road.”

“You have no
idea how dangerous this could get,” he said tightly.

“I won’t sit
back and watch an animal be abused, no matter what,” she replied
fiercely.

“Del-” Kirk
began.

“No.” She
stood. “Okay, I won’t go on the roof, I won’t go outside and
investigate at night if I hear something, but don’t expect me to
just stand there and watch an animal be abused. I won’t do it.”
Arms folded, she glared down at them both.

Great, now she
was getting really angry. He couldn’t blame her, not really, seeing
an animal getting hurt was something he wouldn’t tolerate either,
but neither was seeing her harmed. “I understand.”

“No, you
don’t.” She glared at him. “If you saw or heard anything, you’d go
out and investigate, not wait around. But I’m expected to just
phone for help and sit here like a swooning female. How could you
understand?”

Hmmm. He eyed
her. Now here he had a clear pathway. “I do understand. I urged my
sister for years to break free of our parents, to make a life of
her own. But she understands the difference between being
independent and being smart.” At her gasp, he realized he’d said
the wrong thing. Again. “Let me rephrase that.”

Hands slammed
on slim hips. “You better bloody rephrase that, Baylon!”

A small smile
played around Kirk’s lips. Bastard was getting some amusement out
of this.

Moz couldn’t
say the same. “Del, if you want to rip a piece out of my hide,
fine, but right now we need you to focus.”

“Focus? I’ve
told you everything I know!”

Kirk
interrupted smoothly. “How did the men react when you threatened to
report them for abuse?”

Her expression
plainly thought he was a nut for even asking. “Well, as you’d
imagine, they weren’t happy.”

“Did they
threaten you in any way?”

Her hesitation
was fleeting but evident. “No.”

She was lying.
Moz just knew it. “Del.”

“They weren’t
happy, okay?” She shot him a defensive glance. “Shot a lot of hot
air like some blokes do, being the big man, but I dealt with
it.”

He didn’t miss
the singular emphasis. “Man? Not men? Which one?” He’d personally
punch his lights out when he found out. Or he would as soon as the
investigation was finished, but if the bastard did something to Del
beforehand all bets were off.

For a second
he thought Del was going to argue more, but instead she sighed. “It
was Cutter.”

Moz exchanged
a look with Kirk. This sounded worse by the minute. “What, exactly,
did he say?”

“I don’t quite
remember, okay? I told them I’d report them if I saw them abusing
the dog - or Fritz abusing it, whatever. They weren’t happy, told
me to mind my own business, but they didn’t do anything to me, all
right? They took their dog and left.”

It was
frustrating. She was frustrating. He just knew she was holding
back, could feel it in his bones. But she met his gaze
unflinchingly, refusing to back down.

Pushing to his
feet, he looked down at her, not moving forward, just studying her,
looking for a chink in her amour.

“I can’t tell
you what you want to hear just to keep you sweet,” she informed
him.

“No, but you
could tell me the truth.”

“I already
told you the truth.”

“All of
it.”

“I didn’t
exactly take a tape recording, Moz. I heard the dog, I saw the dog,
I saw the four men, they told me to mind my own business, they
left.” She suddenly blinked, her head angling to the side. “Why
this interest in dogs and those men?”

“Just
following a few leads.”

“Wait.” Her
eyes widened. “Is someone stealing dogs or something?”

“No.”

‘Then it has
something else to do with dogs, doesn’t it?” Her brow furrowed in
thought. “But what-”

Leaning
forward, Moz pointed his finger right under her nose. “You will
keep out of this. You won’t say a word to anyone-”

“Hey!”
Indignant, she pushed his hand away. “I wouldn’t endanger an
investigation! What kind of a drongo do you think I am?”

“-and you
won’t jump to conclusions,” he finished.

“I don’t jump
to conclusions.” Scowling, she looked at Kirk. “Why are you
grinning?”

“No real
reason.” Standing, Kirk tucked the notepad into his top pocket.

“You know,”
she smiled sweetly at him, “if you told me what this was about then
I might be able to help, keep an eye on things out here and-”

“Like hell,”
Moz growled.

“What he
said,” Kirk agreed.

“But I could
really help,” she argued. “I’m in a prime position, aren’t I?
You’re obviously watching Pierce and the others, and I live right
across the road from him.”

Oh shit, just
what they needed. Moz frowned. “No.”

“Besides,”
Kirk said calmly, “who said we were investigating Pierce?”

You did.”

“Nope. I said
what happened last night might help with our investigation, I
didn’t say anything about it being about Pierce.”

“Then the
other blokes.”

Time to nip
this in the bud. Moz leisurely slid his hands into his jeans
pockets. “I thought you didn’t jump to conclusions?”

The look Del
shot him was openly speculative. “I don’t.”

“What do you
call accusing Harding and his mob?”

“What do you
call going over to Harding’s the other day and talking to him and
his mob?”

“I was talking
to him, not his mob.”

“Don’t
nit-pick. You were over there.”

“I was doing
my job.” Okay, he should be angry with her, but he couldn’t help
but admire the way she was putting everything together. Admirable,
and a touch alarming. “RSPCA work.”

“Dogs are
RSPCA work.”

“People are
cop’s work.”

“People are
also RSPCA work.”

“Are you
trying to get me to breach confidentiality and tell you why I was
at Harding’s?”