Read Online Indivisible by Kristen Heitzmann - Free Book Online

turned, expecting Moser, but saw Tia, hand pressed to her nose and mouth. She had approached on the trail just above Duffy’s property from which he guessed the perpetrator may have released the raccoons. He moved between her and the carnage, trying to block both animals. “Don’t look. It’s grim.”
    She spoke through her hand. “Dead raccoons?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Isn’t that Department of Wildlife’s business?”
    “Would be, except they were sewn together. This pair had limbs removed and organs joined.”
    “What?” She searched his face.
    “This is why I warned you not to be out alone.” What if she had happened upon the sicko having his sport? He looked up the trail. “How long have you been hiking?”
    “About three hours. You said not to be out after dark.”
    Leave it to Tia to find the loophole. He checked his watch. “So you passed here, when?”
    “I didn’t.” Her face shifted. “I cut up toward the aerie.”
    A reckless hike to take alone. He should never have shown her—not that he’d done so intentionally. The memory came with stark definition. Others may have reached the ledge beneath the aerie, but he’d shared it with no one else. She’d been like a kid sister until that day—or so he’d told himself.
    “This is sick stuff, Tia. There’s a sadist out there—”
    “Which you didn’t tell me the first time.”
    “I’m telling you now. These animals were tortured. And these things escalate.”
    Her eyes flashed. “How do you escalate from …” She waved her hand. “To people?”
    He didn’t want to speculate. The anatomical element scared him.
    “You have to warn everyone, Jonah. Not just me. Tell them what’s happening.”
    “Put Redford in a panic? I don’t know what’s happening here.” He shook his head. “Besides, giving him the spotlight might encourage a step he wouldn’t otherwise take.”
    “But—”
    “Maybe he just hates raccoons.”
    Her jaw fell slack. “You know that’s not it.”
    “Tia, let me do my job. We’re searching this area for evidence.”
    “Found any?”
    “Not much. But sooner or later he’ll make a mistake.”
    “What if it’s later?”
    He understood her concern. But he was not going to put the town in a panic if it was some sick prank. “If I see people alone I’ll caution them, as I did you. Not that it mattered.”
    “People need to know why.”
    “Some people just listen.” She had no idea how complicated an investigation was. What did she think, he could hang a flier and the guy would turn himself in?
    “You might try it yourself sometime.” She shook her head and started back down the trail.
    He jammed his hands in his pockets and left Moser to bury the carnage.

    From the bench seat encircling an aspen cluster, Piper watched Tia coming down the trail. She had a mountaineer’s physique, toned and slender, sinewy, her tanned legs muscular in cargo shorts and hiking boots. She was not breathing hard, but, by the flush of her face and the set of her jaw, something was wrong.
    Piper clutched the paperback to her chest. “What happened?”
    “I’ll tell you, but let’s go inside.”
    Piper scooped a leaf off the ground and used it as a bookmark, tucked the paperback under her arm, and followed Tia. “Did you see the eagles?”
    “I saw something else.” Tia leaned the walking stick into the corner of the mud room. “Two raccoons. Jonah said they’d been sewn together, but they had torn themselves apart. It was awful.”
    “What did he mean sewn?”
    “Surgically. Legs removed and organs joined together.”
    Piper recoiled. “That must be what I saw.”
    “When?” Tia hung her jacket on the hook.
    “The day I met the chief. On our path. I thought it was a dead animal. That was the night he warned you not to be out. Remember?”
    Tia slumped. “I didn’t know it was right on our path.”
    “Does he know who did it?”
    “I don’t think he has a clue.”
    “Maybe we can help. Ask around.” She