Page 39 of Coyote

Something about the tone of her voice was odd. I guessed it was because of everything she’d been through today, what with working at my grand opening event and then her friend’s house getting torched. It was enough to make anyone jumpy.

I waited until she fell asleep and slid out of bed. Carefully pulling the blanket up and tucking it around her, I decided there was no time like the present to begin following up on this situation. Pulling on some fresh clothing, I grabbed my cell phone before quietly slipping out of the bedroom.

First, I padded across the hall and cracked open Nessa’s door to check on her. Ruby had moved from her bed on the floor and was curled up on top of the blankets at the foot of Nessa’s bed. Her head came up hard and fast, as if she was expecting trouble to come barreling through the door. When the little dog discovered it was just me, her head dropped back down and her eyes drifted closed. I guess it wasn’t just me making sure Bethany and her daughter were safe, Ruby was on the job too.

***

I called my auto repair shop, one of the prospects would be staying there. Mace picked up right away and it didn’t sound like I woke him. I have to say I was really impressed with the guy, he was older than the other prospects and took his role seriously.

“Yeah, boss. What’s up?”

I paced back and forth across my living room as I answered. “The decision to leave off monitoring Bethany at night wasn’t a good idea.”

His voice turned alarmed. “Shit! What happened?”

“Arson attempt. We think that asshole who’s been bothering her tried to burn down her house. Except the asshole burned down her friend’s house instead.”

“She stays in the pool house, if that fucker had eyes on her then he’d know that, surely?” Mace said.

“You would think so, but our friend ain’t the sharpest tool in the box,” I responded.

Mace was quiet for a moment or two, “He might have been trying to send a message of some sort, knowing that the fire would be discovered before anyone was seriously harmed.”

I pondered that, but then said what was really on my mind, “I’m worried that he got it into his head that if he couldn’t have her no one could.”

Mace gasped, “You really think that asshole is capable of murder? When I escorted him from the supermarket, he really didn’t strike me as the kind of person who’d do more than bitch about stuff. All talk, no action.”

I rubbed my temple, trying to lessen the migraine building there. “Whoever it was slashed the tires on both cars until they were shreds. I take that to mean they were super pissed about something.”

“That sounds like it might be the case. In all the time I’ve been looking out for her, Rufus is the only man who’s approached her. She normally just goes about her business, without drawing much notice. Your old lady is a good woman. She works, takes care of her kid, and goes home. Bethany never bothers anyone. It’s a shame that someone has it in for her.”

“Yeah, she’s always been sweet. I know that you shadowed her home earlier today. Did you notice anything unusual? Anyone hanging around that shouldn’t be there.”

His voice hardened. “Of course not. I would have been all over that shit immediately. When I left, I saw that one-eyed bastard from Twisted Metal hanging out at Shark’s automobile repair shop, he gave me the finger, so I reckon he was pissed when you threw him off your property. But other than that, the ride back to her place was uneventful.”

I still wasn’t happy about Cyclops, though I agreed with what Bethany said earlier. He was an asshole, but if he had a grudge against anyone it would be me, and not her. It’s not as if they had any history.

I decided I needed to be proactive, “I’m sure the police and the fire department are still there. I want you and Axel to snoop around and see if you can gather intel. I’m gonna call Storm and see if he can get his police contact in Griffinsford to link up with the cops there to get us the police report when it comes through. I want to figure this out before I remove Rufus’ fucking head from his shoulders.”

“Roger that, boss,” Mace stated quickly. “We’ll leave right away and let you know what we find.”

I spent the next couple of hours working through my contacts. I got Storm and Hacker on board. Then I called Breaker. He might be grumpy as shit when you wake him up but he’s still my brother-in-law and I know he has my back.

He answered in a groggy voice, “Whoever this is waking me up in the middle of the fucking night had better have their life hanging in the fucking balance.”

“It’s me, Coyote. I think someone tried to kill Bethany and her kid tonight.”

Breaker was alert in an instant. “What did you just say? Repeat it.”

“Someone burned down the house next to her, the one her boss lives in. I’ve got them both at mine so they’re safe, but we need to figure out who did this. I called Storm already, and Hacker is seeing what he can come up with.”

There was lots of grumbling and the sound of someone shifting in bed, “Okay, I’ll be at your place for breakfast.”

“We gotta hurry on this one. You know what Storm would say?” I added.

“You can fuck off with that, we are not burning any fucking daylight right now, it’s fucking five o’ clock in the fucking morning,”

I could hear Callie in the background asking him what was going on when the phone went dead.