“Yes.”Hutch didn’t hesitate to answer.
“As a neighbor and someone you wave to on CR 10, or something else?”
“I’ve fucked her.”
“I’m right now getting your intensity,” Rus muttered.
“That note was fucked up, Rus.”
“Agreed.”
“She’s alone, and the women who go into that compound never seem to come out.”
“Something we know.But as far as we know otherwise, they aren’t doing anything illegal.”
“How would you know if no woman was let out to tell you?”
“As much as it fucks me to say this, I know I don’t have to explain the concept of probable cause to you.”
Goddamnit.
“I thought you said you were giving her Hannibal?”Rus inquired.
“She and I had a chat.She doesn’t want Hannibal.She wants Tonks.”
“Tonks?”
“A red husky at the rescue who’s named after a fictional witch in a kids’ book.”
He heard Rus sigh.
“Okay, this is the situation, Hutch.You’re trained to solve problems.You get intel, command makes a decision, you get your orders, you act, no questions.That isn’t how it goes in law enforcement.Now, as much as it fucks me to saythis, which, I’ll admit, it fucks me a whole lot more, we come inaftershit goes down.”
He was giving a good man a hard time about something where that good man’s hands were tied.
And Rus might not be as tweaked about this as Hutch was, even so, that note had tweaked not only Rus, but Harry, Polly, Karen, Sean, Raul, and the entire Fret County Sheriff’s Department.
“This dog…Tonks, is it not gonna serve our purposes?”Rus asked.
“Huskies are pack animals.They form strong bonds.That dog has sat, unwanted and unloved, in a cage for three weeks.She’s freeing her.Anyone fucks with her, training or no, Tonks will lose her shit.”
“That’s good, yeah?”
Hutch didn’t answer Rus’s question.
He stated, “I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
“Join the club, Hutch.Keep an eye on her.But for fuck’s sake, don’t get caught on that bluff.”
Hutch tried not to be insulted.
He felt better about it when Rus mumbled, “Who am I talking to?”
“You know anything about that legal tangle the Flannery family got into with Lars Enstrom?”
“I know it’s an issue for a civil court.”
“Can you tell me how a guy provides for maybe fifteen other guys, perhaps the same number of women, kids, having trucks, ATVs, a house for each, a church, and I could go on, by selling jam?”
