“That’s OK,” Dex said reassuringly. “Most people don’t. Even we have a hard time with it.”
That was an understatement.
Will nodded. “Well, I’m glad then that you are here. I needed some proof that I wasn’t going crazy.”
I suddenly felt a flooding of warmth towards him. “You aren’t going crazy Mr. Lancaster. We won’t leave until we figure this whole thing out.”
“Please, call me Will. And thank you. It helps to hear that.”
“So, Will, what have you been seeing? And when did it start?” Dex prompted. “And do you mind if I get my video camera?”
I had totally forgotten about the filming. Somehow it just felt wrong at this moment. Will, however, just lifted his hand and nodded. “It’s fine. I understand.”
Dex left and quickly came back with his small camcorder in hand and some papers. Much less intrusive than the big number he had filmed me with before. He walked over to Will and plunked the papers in front of him.
“Just need you to sign this. Basically that you don’t object to being on camera…unless you do, which may make things a little trickier.”
Will nodded and signed them after a slight hesitation.
Dex smiled. “Perfect. We’ll see if we can get Bird and the others to sign off on them tomorrow as well. I’d like to interview them.”
See, this is why Dex was in charge. I had no idea about these waivers and whatnot.
Will looked skeptical. “I don’t know if Shan or Miguel will sign them but you’re welcome to try.”
“I got the feeling Miguel won’t be singing that,” I said.
“Oh, you met Miguel already?”
“Yeah,” Dex said as he sat down across from me and flipped on the camera. “Charming fellow.”
Will cleared his throat a few times. “He’s not easy to get along with but he works hard and he’s easy to afford. In better times, I wouldn’t have him here but, well, we don’t have much choice. He’s also had a tough life. It’s hard to judge him.”
Strange, it was easy for me to judge him. I gave Dex a quick look across the table but he was fiddling with the camera.
“And what is Shan’s deal?” Dex asked carefully without looking up.
“Shan?” Will sounded surprised. “Shan’s a good man. He’s been a friend of the family for many, many years. Grew up with Sarah, in town. Smart as whip. Doesn’t say much but he’s easy to get along with. He gets the job done.”
“OK,” Dex raised up the camera and pressed play. The red button stopped flashing. Thankfully, he turned the camera to Will and not to me.
Dex asked him a few questions, mainly about the working logistics of the ranch. How many sheep they had, if they had cattle, when they first started farming, how the economic climate has changed things, the government, the decline of Red Fox, etc. By the time the set-up questions were done, Will had relaxed considerably and I felt pretty empathetic for the guy. I thought I had it bad; I thought times were tough where I lived but seeing this grown man almost get weepy over the decline of his livelihood was something else. Being a native man, in this area of the country wasn’t easy and all the added turmoil was just the piss icing on a cake made of crap.
Dex got down to business. He aimed the camera my way, which made me flinch considerably. My looks had certainly not improved since the last time I looked in the mirror, but I couldn’t be vain about it.
“Start asking questions,” he urged. “About what’s been going on…here…lately.”
You know, I had all day to prepare for what we were doing but somehow it never crossed my mind. Was it procrastination or just lack of attention? I hated how my bad habits were catching up with me.
I took a deep breath and put my faith in Dex’s editing skills. I turned to Will and put on my “investigative reporter” face.
“Tell me, Will, when did you first notice anything unusual happening?”
He sighed reluctantly before saying, “It was a few weeks ago. I was lying in bed and heard something growling. I thought it was a dream at first but the more I listened, the louder it got. It was coming from the door. I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t want to get up but if Sarah was down the hall, she might need my protection. I grabbed my old baseball bat and opened the door. The growling stopped. There was nothing there. I didn’t want to wake up Sarah if I didn’t need to but the next day she said she heard growling too. She also thought it was a dream. Then Bird came over and told us a few sheep had been…ripped to pieces. Three of them, up on the ridge. Heads, legs…all separated. But the sheep hadn’t been eaten at all. It’s like whoever did this, did it for fun.”
His story gave me the creeps. Didn’t help that the house suddenly felt so large and dark.
“Who do you think did it?”
“Obviously coyotes did. Or wolves, though they are rare in this area. But it just doesn’t make sense. They would have eaten the sheep. Especially before winter. Now is the time to fatten up.”
“You don’t think young punks or kids from town did it? People can be pretty fucked up when it comes to animals,” I said, remembering a bunch of cat-killings we had in our neighborhood a few years ago.
He shook his head. “No. I know the kids in this town sometimes don’t have anything better to do, but they would never do anything like that.”
“You don’t have any enemies that would want to hurt the ranch?”
He shook his head. I believed him. He was a hard man to dislike.