Spirit Bound - Christine Feehan [106]
Lev shrugged casually, his expression completely closed. “Judith invited a stranger over and I watched him.” He was unapologetic. “Just to be safe I was armed. I didn’t really know much about him so I waited until he went to leave and struck up a conversation. We were walking, talking about his business and we spotted a man hiding up on that small knoll just above Judith’s house, hiding in the trees there. He was making a racket, must have gotten spooked by the owls nesting there. He’s all torn up.”
“The birds living on this property are particularly vicious,” Jonas observed dryly. “This isn’t the first time someone’s had a problem with them.”
“He shot at us,” Levi continued, ignoring the comment. “I can show you where one of the bullets hit.”
“Just once? One shot?” Jonas asked.
Levi shook his head. “Three at Vincent. Two at me. Five all together. His gun’s over there.”
“I’ll need to swab your hands for residue. You know the drill. I’ve got the GSR kit in the car. Let’s get it done and then I’ll talk to Vincent.”
“Shariton has a camera with a lot of pictures of Judith on it,” Lev added.
The expression on Jonas’s face changed. He walked with Lev to the car, pulling out his kit. “My partner will swab Shariton’s hand and get his story.”
While he was talking, he was looking Stefan over. Stefan was very grateful he’d taken after his mother in coloring. While he had his father’s height and bulk, a fighter’s solid muscular build, his eyes and hair color differed significantly from Lev’s. The sheriff’s eyes were just a little too sharp.
He seemed satisfied with the results of his test and removed Levi’s cuffs. “Wait over there while I talk with your friend here.”
He opened the door, allowing Stefan to step outside the vehicle. Pushing down the need to remove the cuffs, Stefan complied, breathing in the night air.
“Your name?”
“Thomas Vincent.”
“Tell me what happened here.”
“It all happened fast. I was visiting with Judith Henderson and when I went to leave, I ran into Levi Hammond there. He lives on the farm and is married to one of Judith’s sisters. We got to talking and he was showing me a little of property, just walking really while we talked, and there was a man in a grove of trees just above Judith’s house.”
“Who spotted him?”
Stefan frowned and shook his head. “I don’t honestly remember. We were talking and then a bird called out loud, and he screamed. Maybe that’s what drew our attention. In any case, Levi shouted something, and the guy took off running. We separated, trying to come at him from two positions and he shot at me.”
“How many times did he fire his gun?”
“Three times. Well, at me. He shot at Levi a couple more times.”
“You’ve got a few splinters in your face.”
“It happened so fast,” Thomas reiterated. “I didn’t have time to think. I just reacted. I tackled him when he was shooting at Levi. I thought he was going to kill me.”
“Not the smartest thing in the world, tackling a man with a gun,” Jonas observed. “You’re lucky he didn’t kill you. I need to check your hands for gun residue.”
Jonas unlocked the handcuffs. Stefan noticed his eyes never shifted away. The sheriff was ready for anything. He dutifully held out his hands for the swab.
Aleksandr Volstov approached, using a small hand gesture to summon his partner for a conference. “His name’s Mike Shariton. He lives in Point Arena. I read him his rights. He tested positive for gun residue. He said he gets paid for taking pictures of Judith and has for the last five years. This is only the second time he went over the fence and onto the property. He admits to shooting at both men. In fact, he didn’t hold anything back.”
Jonas cast a suspicious glance back at Lev. “He confessed to shooting at them?”
“The way he tells it, he was scared and trying to just frighten them enough to back off.”
“He’s stalking Judith.”
“He claims he gets paid to take the photographs for someone else. He was contacted and offered money to do the job and the pay is good and comes immediately when he sends the pictures over the Internet.”
Distaste crossed