He shot to his feet so fast Angie jerked back in shock.
He pointed his finger down at her face. “You fuck off out of here, okay?” He swung his hand toward Claire. “And you too, Tollet. Don’t know what in the hell traitorous shit gameyou’replaying by bringing this woman here.”
Angie rose up from her stump. Budge took a fast step toward her, forcing her to brace against the deck railing.
“I hope to God thatyounever have to lose anyone you love.” He ground the words out, the alcohol fumes on his breath washing into her face. “The only reprieve I found was at the bottom of a goddamn bottle, and those Jacobi men are good men. Good cops. Hank could see what trouble I was having. Hehelpedme. He spoke to the other party involved in the accident, told them about the grief that was killing me. They let him drop charges for me not remaining at the scene of the accident.Nothingillegal was done, okay? I was still prosecuted for impaired driving. I still paid my dues—I still got the damn criminal record to prove it. I got it the record burned right here in my heart.” He bashed his fist against his chest, face red, eyes watering.
“That Jasmine Gulati woman got what was coming to her. She was a sinner. She seduced married men for the fun of it, to test her own power over them, and that’s just evil. Funny how justice can work out here, eh? So you go get the fuck off of my property now before you get what’s coming to you, too. Or beforeIgo mistakingyoursorry city ass for a bear and shooting you dead.”
Shaking, he whirled around and lurched for his cabin door. He yanked it open. Tucker leaped all over Budge as the old-timer entered the cabin, then slammed the door shut behind him.
Angie stared at the door, her pulse racing, her face hot.
“Are you done yet?”
Angie’s attention flashed to Claire. She stood in the mud, arms akimbo, anger scrawled across her face. Tiny flakes of snow settled on the dark braids that hung over her shoulders.
“Well, I didn’t get to ask him about his truck yet,” Angie said, descending the two stairs that led up to the porch. “You okay, Claire?”
Claire spun around and stalked in sullen silence toward the path that led back into the forest. Angie had to hurry to catch up and keep pace behind her. As the path narrowed, Claire pushed branches aside, allowing them to slap back at Angie.
They hiked in this combative fashion for several kilometers into the woods. From the Garmin GPS Claire had loaned her, Angie saw they were almost at Axel Tollet’s place.
Claire halted abruptly on the trailhead and spun to face Angie.
“You going to mess with Uncle Axel’s head, too? What on earth was all that with Budge anyway? You just trying to hurt him? He’s a mess over the death of his wife. He never recovered. What’s the deal with all these questions? You think he killed his own wife or something? What does that have to do with your case, anyway?”
“I’m sorry, Claire,” Angie said softly. She did feel some guilt over Budge. She’d also hewed very close to having Budge let slip that it was Claire’s father who’d been seduced by Jasmine. If and when that got out, it was going to hurt Claire, too.
“Look, it’s not my intention to hurt anyone, Claire. But there is a chance that Jasmine Gulati’s death was not what it seemed.”
Claire stared at her. Wind rushed through the forest. It carried upon its chill winter breath the metallic scent of snow. “You mean ... it wasn’t anaccident?”
“I mean only that there are some anomalies, conflicting memories around the event. And I want to ask questions that might help throw fresh light on the incident.” She paused. “You saw her remains, Claire. You saw Jasmine Gulati’s bones buried in the dirt. She was twenty-five when she drowned, around your age. She’d been lying there in the muck, a couple hundred meters away from the river, for maybe two decades after the flooding likely deposited her body there. All alone. No one knowing where she was. Her mother and father were desperate to find her. It almost cost them their marriage.”
“If it wasn’t an accident,” Claire said slowly, “that means ... someone out here, someone I know, could have hurt her. Is that what you’re saying? You think it was Budge? That he drowned her because maybe he drowned his own wife?”
“I just want to hear everyone’s story.”
“Bullshit. You’re off base, way off. You’re digging up painful pasts to appease some old woman who’s only going to find out that her granddaughter had an accident. What of everyone you hurt in the process? What happens when you waltz out of town leaving a wake of collateral damage? Who picks up the pieces then?”
She pointed into the woods. “Because that back there—that sounded like a fishing expedition, and it was cruel.”
“Claire,” she said quietly, “I think you’re overreacting. Budge was drunk. He’s an alcoholic, sounds like he was a drunk before he even moved to Port Ferris. He’s probably not even going to remember we visited him by the time he wakes up tomorrow morning.”
“I can’t take you to see Axel,” she said curtly. “Not if you’re going to attack him like you did Budge. He’s ... Uncle Axe can be a little slow with certain things. Not because he’s stupid, but the education system failed him when he was a kid. He has a learning disability, and because of it he never got proper schooling. And he ... he’s vulnerable. I can’t let you hurt him.”
“I know what you’re worried about. I know what happened to Axel when he was a kid,” Angie said gently. “I can’t promise to avoid it totally when I talk to him because it could be relevant in unexpected ways. But I’ve worked for over six years in sex crimes, and I know how survivors of those crimes can—”
“You knowwhatabout him?” Confusion chased across Claire’s face. “Whathappened to Axel when he was a kid—what’s this about sex crimes?”
Shit!Angie stared at Claire. She didn’t know about the rape. Why in the hellshouldshe know? Even if half the old-timers in town did.
“Angie,” Claire growled, coming closer. “You better tell me. Now. Tell me what happened with Axel. What is ‘it’ that you can’t promise to avoid?”
Angie inhaled deeply, her brain racing for a way out. “I’m aware that Axel Tollet was bullied as a kid.”
“Don’t bullshit me!Tellme what happened—what does this have to do with your experience in sex crimes? Or I’m not taking you in there. Without me Axel will not talk to you. I guarantee it.”
