Hawk: (12 page)

As Tildy waited until the end of the hour
, she nervously tugged at her hair again, arranging it to cover the cut just above her eye. Most of her students were too busy working on their exam to pay much attention, but Mariposa had noticed the smaller cut on Tildy’s bottom lip and the dark circles under her eyes.

Tildy had offered the same explanation she’d given her parents that morning, that she’d fallen on the darkened pathway from the garage to the house. Her mother had dismissed it as Tildy’s ‘usual clumsiness
’. Tildy had wondered if that excuse had been used so many times when people caught a glimpse of Tildy’s
other
injuries that her mother had started actually believing it herself.

Mariposa had been more difficult to convince, having long suspected that Tildy was unhappy at home. A different sort of thought had occurred to the older woman as well
, and she’d asked, “Your older man?”

Tildy had simply shaken her head. She didn’t want to talk about it. “I fell,” she’d insisted. Mariposa had given her a stern look but taken her seat.

Now class was close to over, and Tildy could escape to the relative safety of her home for the rest of the weekend. As people brought their exams to her desk, she hurriedly stuffed them into her bag. She was always the last one out of the classroom, and so she stayed, smiling politely to her students as they exited. When the last one left, she practically bolted to the door but stopped up short, as she nearly ran into a tall man in an RCPD uniform.

“Whoa there,” he said as she skidded to a stop.

Tildy’s mouth dropped open, and she backed up a few steps. He entered the room, and on his heels was a man she did recognize, also wearing a uniform. She stared at Hawk’s friend Caleb, whose gaze was dark and unreadable. She watched him take in her damaged lip, and she licked it nervously. She looked to the other, older man, praying Caleb wouldn’t say he knew her.

“Tildy,” Caleb said, nodding at her.

She scowled. Well, there went that hope. She remained quiet.

“Miss Fletcher?” the older man asked.

Tildy looked at him again.

“Were you by any chance at Maria’s bar last night?” he asked. He said it politely
, but there was a definite edge to his voice. Maybe that was just her imagination.

“Told you she was,” Caleb muttered.

The older man ignored him.

Tildy tightened the grip on her bag. “Yes,” she admitted. “Not for long though,” she added quickly. “I left early.”

The older man nodded. “Before or after you got that cut on your lip?”

Tildy swallowed and rubbed her mouth. “I tripped,” she told him. “At home.”

Both men’s eyes narrowed. It was obvious that neither one of them believed her. Tildy squared her shoulders. There was no way they prove anything, anything at all. If she just kept to her story, they would discover they’d hit a brick wall and leave. She couldn’t even figure out why they were here in the first place. Tildy hadn’t told anyone, not even Skylar.

“What’d you do at Maria’s?” the older one asked. “Have anything to drink?”

Tildy bristled. “No,” she snapped. The last thing she needed was to be accused of drinking and driving. “I did not.”

The other man, whose name
tag Tildy noticed said “Rawlins,” glanced at Caleb, who nodded.

“Spend any time w
ith anyone while you were there
not
drinking?”

Tildy shook her h
ead. “No. Not really. I just... danced and then I went home.”

Rawlins nodded. “With one guy? Or more than one guy? Or one guy more than the others?” he pressed.

Tildy glared at him. His tone implied that dancing actually meant something else and then to ask if there had been
more
than one guy...

“I don’t remember,” she said curtly.

Rawlins raised an eyebrow at her. “Don’t remember? But you didn’t have anything to drink?”

Tildy scowled. Damn. This was why she usually didn’t attempt to lie on the fly like this. Years of passing off bruises as random incidents had taught her that less was more
, and if you stuck to your story no matter what, people didn’t have anywhere to go with it.

“Two,” she said finally. “Just two. And then I left.”

“Their names?”

Tildy’s shoulders sagged. She’d never asked the cowboy’s name and to admit that would confirm Rawlins’ suspicions about what kind of girl she was. “Um,” she said, tugging her hair into place. “I don’t know the first guy’s name,” she was forced to admit. “But we didn’t dance for long. Just barely. Before Hawk stepped in.”

Rawlins’ eyes narrowed suddenly, and he shot a look at Caleb, whose own face remained passive. Tildy’s stomach fluttered. She’d said something wrong, very wrong. She hadn’t meant to, it had just popped out of her mouth.

“I-” she began
, but Rawlins cut her off.

“So now you were at Maria’s bar last night and got mixed up with Hawk Red Cloud,” Rawlins clarified. He cut his gaze to Caleb again. “Might have mentioned that,” he said to the man.

“How much time did you spend
dancing
with Red Cloud?” Rawlins demanded.

Tildy’s eyes widened. “Um.” She glanced at Caleb who said nothing. “Just...
I don’t know... not long. Then I left.”

“By yourself?” Rawlins demanded.

Tildy risked another look at Caleb. He knew the truth. Would he call her out if she lied? Would he risk his job to cover her?

“Um,” she stammered, stalling for time. “Hawk walked me to the door. But we split up in the parking lot. He was parked on the other side.”

“So, he just walked away?”

Tildy nodded.

“And you went home?”

Tildy nodded again.

“Where you fell?”

Tildy held her breath while Rawlins sighed dramatically. “Well, see now, Ms. Fletcher, there’s where we have our problem.”

“W-what problem?” she asked.

“We’ve got a witness who’s staying at the Rainbow Motel, says she saw a fender bender right outside.”

Tildy shifted back and forth on her feet. Her heart pounded away in her chest.

“Ms. Fletcher, how’d you get the dent in your rear bumper?”

Tildy gasped.

“Your Mercedes? Parked outside in the lot?” he reminded her, as though she’d forgotten.

“That’s been there,” she countered. “For a while. I just... haven’t gotten it fixed.”

Now she was starting to panic a little. A witness? He had to be telling the truth. How could they have known otherwise?

“Can your parents confirm that?” Rawlins asked.

“No!” Tildy practically shouted. Taking a deep breath, more calmly she said, “No. I didn’t think to tell them about it. They don’t know.” She looked back and forth between the two men, practically pleading with them.

“Rawlins,” Caleb warned.

“So
, it’s just a coincidence that our witness saw a silver Mercedes get rear-ended just outside the Rainbow, and a girl matching your description was assaulted when she got out of the car?”

“I- I don’t-” Tildy just shook her head repeatedly. “I don’t know about that. I wasn’t there. I just went home. I left Maria’s early and I just went home.”

“Hmm,” was all Rawlins said for a moment. Then, “Well... we had to check it out. You understand. Just doing our jobs. And it’s a good thing the witness reported what she saw to the police. You know why, Ms. Fletcher?”

Tildy shook her head, willing them just to go away.

“Having knowledge of a crime and not reporting it is also a crime,” he told her. “Did you know that, Ms. Fletcher?”

“I-”

“Rawlins, that’s enough,” Caleb snapped.

Rawlins glared at him. “Well,” he said. “Let’s go talk to your friend Red Cloud and see what he has to say about last night.”

“No!” Tildy cried. Both men turned to look at her. “I mean, why? I only danced with him. And then I left. There’s nothing to ask him about.”

“Did you get friendly with him?” Rawlins asked.

Tildy’s mouth dropped open. “What? No.”

“Maybe you danced with him. Maybe he wanted to do more than dance,” the older man speculated.

“That’s not what happened.”

“Did he want to do more than dance, Ms. Fletcher? Maybe he did. And a nice girl like you, not a regular at a place like that, maybe you were just in over your head,” Rawlins continued, switching tactics on her. “So he followed you out of the bar and-”

“No. No, no, no. He just walked me to the door.”

“Well, maybe he was angry with you.”

“There’s... what?... why would he be angry?”

“You don’t know Hawk Red Cloud very well, do you?” Rawlins asked. “ ‘Course you don’t. He’s been a blight on this town for a real long time. Got into a lot of trouble in his younger days. In and out of jail. Now he has family in and out of prison. Joined the
Army and says he got himself straight, but I don’t buy it. He’s still getting in fights around town,” Rawlins told her. “Mostly at Maria’s place.”

Tildy felt her face reddening.

“Sleeps around a lot too. See, Hawk comes home from the Army, and women practically throw themselves at him. Used to getting what he wants, when he wants it, if you know what I mean. But he meets you, and you don’t want it. Maybe that upset him. He’s not used to being told no, so he followed you-”

“That did
not
happen.”

“Maybe it did, maybe it didn’t. I think I’ll pay him a visit anyway.”

“None of that happened,”
Tildy insisted.

Rawlins shrugged. “Then maybe he saw someone suspicious hanging around the bar. Maybe by talking to him we could find out who might have done this.”

“I told you,” Tildy insisted. “Nothing happened.”

Rawlins smirked at her. “Not to
you
, you said. But some poor young woman was sexually assaulted outside a motel last night and we wouldn’t be protecting and serving, Ms. Fletcher, if we didn’t find out exactly what happened.”

Ha
wk’s cell phone rang in his pocket, and he wiped his hands well enough to answer it on the third ring.

“Doc?” he asked, based on the name on the screen.

Shooter, Easy, and Tex stopped working and glanced at him.

“Listen, I don’t have a lot of time,” Caleb said. “Rawlins is on his way to the garage.”

Hawk put down his rag. “Why?”

“He’s coming to question you, and
I’m not allowed to come with him. Listen to me; Tildy was attacked last night.”

Hawk’s stomach twisted into a hard knot. “What do you mean attacked?”

At this, the other three men came over to stand around him.

“She was followed home from the bar last night
, and someone hurt her,” Caleb replied.

“How bad?”

“I don’t know for sure. So far she’s not talking, but your name came up, and Rawlins is hauling ass to Burnout to pull you in. Just go with it. Don’t argue. I can get you a lawyer if you want.”

Hawk’s hand tightened on the phone. “Don’t need a fucking lawyer,” he replied
, as he turned and watched a squad car turn and roll into the gravel lot. He disconnected the call as Rawlins opened the driver’s side door and jostled his overweight frame out of the vehicle.

“What happened?” Shooter demanded, bouncing his gaze from Rawlins, whom he had a personal hate-on for, and Hawk.

“Tildy got hurt last night. Someone attacked her.”

“Who?” Shooter demanded. “How bad is she hurt?”

Hawk shook his head. “Don’t know.”

“Hawk Red Cloud,” Rawlins drawled from behind him.

Hawk sat in possibly the world’s most uncomfortable chair and looked across the metal table at Rawlins, who had not gotten any thinner or smarter since Hawk had seen him last. He knew Caleb was around but not allowed into the interrogation -
interview
- room. Rawlins was doing his best to look intimidating. If Tildy hadn’t been hurt, possibly injured, Hawk would have laughed. So far Rawlins was enjoying not telling Hawk anything about what happened to her, just in case Hawk was ‘innocent’.

O
f course, in Rawlins’ mind, Hawk Red Cloud would never be innocent, even if he wasn’t guilty. It had been that way since Rawlins had picked up Hawk all those years ago spray painting signs. On the way to the station with 18-year-old Hawk, Rawlins hadn’t held back from telling Hawk exactly what he thought of piece of shit, welfare ‘Injuns’. ‘Red Trash’ Rawlins had called him. Years later, Shooter confirmed that Rawlins had referred to Shooter’s own family as ‘White Trash’ whenever possible.

Now that Hawk was bigger, meaner and not so inclined to put up with Rawlins’ shit, Rawlins hadn’t even
tried to put him in the squad car to come to the station. He’d let Hawk take the Harley. Hawk supposed it was only because he wasn’t actually under arrest and
that
was because Rawlins simply hadn’t found anything to justify it.

“How long have you known Ms. Fletcher?” Rawlins demanded.

Hawk shrugged. “Not long. A week.”

“She your girlfriend? Oh
, right, you don’t have girlfriends. She your bed buddy?”

Hawk glared at the old man. “Nope.”

“You want her to be?”

Hawk rolled his eyes. “Rawlins, what does-?”

“Maybe she said no. Maybe she’s just not that into you,” he said smirking.

Hawk didn’t respond.

“So, you wanted her, but she said no. Just another little rich girl slumming it for the night with a dirty Indian and his biker crowd. She ditched you at the front door and headed back to her nice, big house on the north side of town.”

Hawk frowned at Rawlins. Rawlins, who was a pain in the ass
, but fairly decent at his job with the proper motivation, noticed. “What?” he prompted.

Hawk didn’t answer for a moment. Why would Tildy lie to the police? He could understand if she didn’t want to tell people they’d made out in his truck
, but to lie completely and not admit they’d been together in the parking lot didn’t make sense. Tildy didn’t strike Hawk as much of a liar.

Hawk shook his head, unable to see her angle. “It was raining outside,” he told Rawlins. “We hung out in my truck, waiting for it to stop.” There was no point in lying to the man. If he was so hell bent on investigating this, then he’d ask around at Maria’s and someone probably saw them together in the parking lot. It wasn’t worth it to get caught in a lie over something stupid. Which begged the question, why was Tildy doing it?

Rawlins’ interest was piqued by this admission, and he leaned forward in his chair. Hawk hoped that chair was at least as uncomfortable as his own. “Did you now?” he asked. “She didn’t mention it.”

“Don’t see why she’d leave it out. It was no big deal. It was pouring
, and my truck was closer than her car.”

That itself was a bit of a lie. They’d gone to his truck
because Hawk hadn’t been ready to send her home. He’d wanted to spend more time with her, but Rawlins didn’t need to know that.

Rawlins grinned at him. It was disconcerting to say the least. “What’d you do in your truck?”

Hawk sighed. “Talked about the weather,” he snapped.

“Really? Is that what
she’s going to say when I ask her?”

Hawk sighed again. There wasn’t a good strategy here, not without knowing what the hell was going on with Tildy. Rawlins wasn’t going to let it go, not when he thought he smelled blood. Well, it didn’t matter, because whatever happened to Tildy, and Hawk was for damn sure going to find out what
that was, it had happened after she’d left Maria’s. Hawk had a bar full of people who could attest that he stayed for the rest of the night until close. Rawlins couldn’t do shit to him.

“I don’t know what she’ll say, Rawlins. I don’t even know what happened to her. We danced a little. We went to my truck. We kissed a little
, and I sent her home.”

“You sent her home
, or she asked to go home?”

“What’s the difference?”

“A lot,” Rawlins declared. “Seems to me like you’re a guy who isn’t used to being told no.”

Hawk bristled. Rawlins might have a pretty low opinion of him, but no one had ever accused Hawk of anything so heinous before. It defini
tely didn’t sit well with him at all.

“Screw. You.”

Rawlins was undeterred. “Screw me or screw her?” he asked. “Maybe you decided she was going to give it up one way or the other. So, you followed her, but you didn’t count on the witness.”

“What witness?”

Caleb said Tildy wasn’t talking, but if someone else saw what happened, then Hawk could get the whole story from them, or at least a better picture of what happened.

“Oh,
does that make you nervous?” Rawlins asked.

“Rawlins, an entire bar full of people can tell you I stayed until close. Unless you think every single one of them is lying, then you’re shit out of luck on that score. I want to know what happened to her. What did the witness say?”

Rawlins smirked, if only to hide the fact that he was disappointed he couldn’t pin this on Hawk. “Sorry,” he said smugly. “Police investigation and all.”

Hawk stood up, shoving the chair backwards. He leaned over the table toward Rawlins. “Then you’d better investigate,” he growled. “And you better find out who did this her and do something about it. I’m giving you a week.”

Rawlins paled. “Before what?” he snapped.

“Before I find him myself.”

Rawlins spluttered. “You can’t do that!”

“Fuck you, I can’t. You fucked up with Sarah Sullivan. The whole town knows it. How she got brutalized by that psycho for
hours
because you wouldn’t look for her. How Caleb had to go over your head to the Chief to report her missing.”

Rawlins’ face turned red.

“That isn’t going to happen again,” Hawk warned the older man. “No other girl is going to get hurt because you’re a complete failure.”

He stormed toward the door, threw it open, and
walked out. He hated Rawlins; that was the truth. Rawlins was a failure of a cop; that was also another bit of truth. The truth Hawk didn’t want to admit, the piece that hurt the most, was that
he’d
let Tildy down by not protecting her.

Caleb was waiting for him outside the station. Hawk strode up to him. “What the fuck is going on?”

“She’s alright,” Caleb replied. “I mean, she’s not horrifically injured at any rate. Other than that I can’t be sure.” Just then the front doors opened, and Rawlins stepped out. He loosened his tie and glared at the two men.

“Let’s go,” Caleb prompted. “Everyone’s at Shooter and Slick’s place. We’ll talk there. I’ll tell you everything I know.”