Meadows sighed.“God damn it.I knew you bastards were gonna come talk to me.”
“And why is that, sir?”
“Because you’re assholes, that’s why.Damned dog owners leaving their pets off leashes and making a racket all night, and I can’t get Quantico PD out here to take care of it.Some self-centered bitches die, and who should show up at my doorstep but the goddamned FBI.”
“Murder’s pretty serious, Mr.Meadows,” Faith said coldly.“And you had bad blood with our victims.So yeah, we’re here.”
“What am I supposed to do?”he whined.“Damned dog owners thinking they can do whatever they want.”
He closed the door, but before Faith could knock on it again, he pulled a chain and opened it all the way.“This used to be a nice neighborhood.I’ve lived here for forty-three years, and it’s only the past five that everyone started to be an asshole.”
“Enough of an asshole to kill them?”
Meadows jutted his chin toward Faith.He was an elderly man, in his late seventies, Faith guessed, but his back was straight, and his gnarled hands hung at the ends of burly arms.He was about six-four, an inch taller than Faith’s estimate, and looked to weigh about twenty pounds less, but he was definitely in good health.She glanced at his feet and confirmed the size thirteen shoe.
“I didn’t kill anyone,” Meadows insisted.“They deserved it, but I didn’t kill them.”
Faith’s eyes narrowed.“Do you mind if we continue this conversation inside?I don’t think you want us talking about this out loud where your neighbors might hear that you think one of them deserved to die because her dog barked.”
“I don’t want you talking about it at all,” Meadows complained, not registering Faith’s reaction to his claim that Iris and Mark deserved death.“This is bullshit.Pet owners need to be responsible.You can’t have wild animals walking around off…”
He blinked at Turk as though seeing him for the first time.He flinched as though struck by lightning and retreated behind his door.He opened it to the length of the chain once more and looked through it at Faith.“Put your goddamned dog on a leash!I’ll call the police!”
“Go ahead,” Faith said.“In the meantime, may I ask if you’re always this aggressive and confrontational?”
"I'm not…" Meadows took a deep breath."What am I supposed to do?"he whined."People keep letting their dogs walk around, as they can just do whatever they want.There arerulespeople are supposed to follow.If people stop following rules, then society falls apart.”
“So, they should die if they don’t follow those rules?”
“No!I didn’t…” His left eye twitched as he realized hedid, in fact, say that.“I didn’t kill anyone.”
“Let’s back up a bit,” Faith said.“Describe your interactions with Iris Caldwell and Mark Patterson.”
Meadows chuckled.“Iris’s dog was barking all night.You could hear it from across the neighborhood.”
Faith wasn’t sure about that, but she wasn’t here to challenge Meadows’s hearing.“And what happened when you reported this to the police?”
“What do you think happened?Nothing happened!That’s the damned problem.Nothing ever happened.I’d tell the police about a problem, and they’d just ignore it like it didn’t matter.”
“So, you decided to take matters into your own hands.”
Meadows stared at Faith with a hateful expression.“How about you get off my property?”
“You didn’t answer my question,” Faith replied calmly.
“You didn’t ask a question.You just told me that I took matters into my own hands.I already told you I didn’t kill them.You have no reason to be here.”
“Did you take matters into your own hands?”
Meadows released another angry laugh.“Why am I the one being questioned here?I follow the rules.I pay my taxes.I just want to live in my own goddamned house without dogs barking all night and running wild off leashes.”
“Brian Meadows, did you take it upon yourself to address Iris Caldwell’s—”
“I called her a bitch,” he replied.“She denied that her dog was barking all night so that everyone here could hear it, and I walked to her house, pointed at her and called her a bitch.”
He thrust his chin at Faith as though daring her to say anything about that.“And Mark Patterson’s dog was walking without a leash just like he was a damned person.I told him to get that animal on a leash, or I would have it taken away and put to sleep.”
“And you did, in fact, call the police.”
