The time was past six. The sky was turning a vivid crimson as the red ball of the sun sank behind the mansion. A sheriff car swept up the cliff side and drew up in front of the mansion.
Hatton and Dean got out of the car. In the backseat was Selena, a dark, bewildered expression on her face.
Dutch and Weston, who had been patrolling the grounds, came to them.
“Where’s your boss?” Hatton demanded, yawning and stretching his legs. The little drive from the town to the cliff side had taken a toll on him.
“He’s coming down,” Dutch replied, looking over at Hatton, Dean and the car. Weston stood beside him, his face cold and expressionless. Dutch saw a human shape in the backseat. He dragged his eyes to Hatton.
“Who is that?”
Hatton grinned.
“That’s a little present for your boss, son,”
Just then the front door opened and stepped out. Right behind at his heels was Dvorak. Caesar looked at them suspiciously. He looked at Hatton, Dean, then over at the car. His eyes took in Selena.
“Nice police work, Sheriff,” he said.
“As you ordered. All in one piece,” Hatton beamed sardonically.
“Gave you any trouble?”
“Yeah, yeah, but nothing we couldn’t handle,” Hatton said.
“Okay, you can now. My boys would take it from here,”
Dvorak stepped forward.
“Watch it, son. She’s a hellcat,” Hatton warned.
Dvorak said nothing. He came over to the car and pushed Selena out of it. She began to struggle in his hands as he dragged her to Caesar.
“You bastard! What’s all these?” She screamed, her voice like a whiplash. “The Sheriff came to my house accusing me of having a hand in Lionel's death and now they brought me here. Are you behind this nonsense?” She bawled. “Are you trying to get back at me by accusing me of what I didn’t do?”
Caesar regarded her coldly but said nothing. He turned to Dvorak.
“Take her away, I will join you soon enough,”
Selena began to scream as Dvorak pulled her away. When they had gone, Caesar turned to Hatton.
“Remember, control the situation! Shut down any noise that might leak out. Nothing goes out, nothing! Her father must not hear of this. I don’t want that old bastard stirring shit up,”
Hatton nodded.
“Anything, you say Caesar. You got it.” and as he and his deputy turned to go, Caesar called.
“Sheriff. For you and your boy,” he tossed a white thick envelope to Hatton who was caught in mid air just the way a lizard snatched up a fly. The sheriff patted the envelope and grinned wolfishly. He and Dean were smiling as they drove away. Caesar turned to Dutch and Weston.
“Be on alert! There might be trouble,” and he left them and walked back to the garage. He entered the garage, and walked to a door. He opened it and walked into a well narrow lit hallway. A three staircase led to the floor of the hallway.
He walked down the stairs, walked through the hallway and to a cell at the bed of the hallway. Dvorak was standing in front of the cell, his arms akimbo, patiently waiting for him.
Caesar nodded his head at Dvorak and looked through the bars. Selena was sitting on a chair, her head in her hands. He turned to Dvorak.
“Go back into the house and watch things. I’ll take care of this,”
Dvorak nodded and went away.
Caesar took out a key card from his pockets. He touched it to a key scanner set in a wall beside the cell. At the touch of the key surface on the scanner, the cell door swung open. He entered the cell. Selena looked up when the door opened. They stared at each other for a long moment, each busy with his own thoughts.
As Caesar was looking at her, he felt a wave of desire for her, that had been buried long in him washed over him. He quickly paused the thoughts away.
“Selena, you’ve been a bad girl,” he said.
“Why do you have the sheriff bringing me here?” She said coldly.
Caesar sensed the steel in her voice. He knew she was not afraid of him and that really put him off. But he wouldn’t show it.
“I have my ways of doing things, Selena,” he said. He pulled back a chair and sat on it. He put out his hands on the table and folded his fingers, his eyes boring into Selena’s.
“You are connected to the death of Lionel. Ofcourse, you didn’t kill him. We have proof of that. But somehow you are entangled in the web.” He paused and went on. “I’m gonna get to the root of it.”
“You do what you have to do. I didn’t kill Lionel,” she said curtly.
“But you had a fight with him in the store?”
“Yeah, that I did. He beat me. He tortured me. He tried to rape me and we slugged it out. I put him in his place. End of discussion,” she said tersely. “Whatever happens is not even your business. You don’t have any rights to question me. I should be at the sheriff’s office now answering questions and not talking to some goddamned power hungry bully,” she snapped, her violet eyes blazing with fury.
“You should watch how you talk to me, Selena. I could be of help to you,” he said calmly, staring hard into her eyes.
“I don’t need your help,” she said fiercely. “You don’t have any right whatsoever to keep me here against my will. It’s a slap on my human rights,” her eyes blazed at him.
Caesar regarded her thoughtfully. She was going to be difficult to get along with. Ofcourse, he knew the kind of girl she was. Impulsively, he reached out and raked a long finger down her cheeks. She flinched from him.
“Don’t touch me!” She hissed.
Caesar sniggered.
“I’ll leave you for now. It seems you are still hot. When you are ready for a good, nice conversation, we’ll talk” and he shifted the chair back and got to his feet. Selena's eyes were on him cold and hard.
“I need to leave this place! You can’t keep me here! This doesn’t make any sense,” she got to her feet.
Caesar pointed a finger at her.
“Don’t be foolish. Because of my respect for you, I don’t want you on a leash. But if you prove difficult, I will ask Dvorak to put some restraint on you.” He pointed to some big chains shackled to floors and walls. His voice took on a menacing tone.“Those are for those who prove too difficult. You will be bound like a demented dog to the ground. Is that what you want? Is it? Answer me, goddamned you!” His growled, his face tightened.
“You are sick,” Selena seethed out, shaking her head. “You’ve got every ilks in this town under your control. The sheriff, his deputy, Dvorak and the rest of ‘em” she shook her head. “And that’s why I never got married to you. You are a megalomaniac. A fucking power hungry pest, that’s what you are!”
Listening to her, Caesar was half insane with rage.
“Shut up! Don’t ever talk about that goddamned wedding.” His voice was low and furious. “Your punishment for that is coming in due time.” His face became murderous. “If you make any problem, I will make sure you are strapped to that chair. I promise you that!” He moved towards the door as she continued to watch him, her mouth twitching with anger. “This will make a change for you” he sneered.
“Caesa! I can’t stay here! I just can’t!” Selena said curtly, her voice shaken.
He noted the unsteadiness in her voice and he grinned wickedly.
“This is where you will stay till we are done with Lionel’s case,” he paused, then decided to jump a fast one on her. “So tell me, how’s Victor doing?
Selena turned scarlet. Blood flowed into her face, and then quickly went away, leaving her white and taut.
“Who’s Victor?” She said finally, her voice breathless and hard.
Caesar grinned wickedly. His question had scored a bull. Her reaction and the way she had sounded when she responded had told him everything he needed to know.
“A John Doe,” he said and opened the cell door.
An invisible hand seemed to touch Selena and her body became alive. She shifted the chair back and sprung after Caesar. Hearing rushing movements behind him, Caesar quickly stepped outside the cell and swiftly shut the door before Selena reached it. She got there and grabbed the bars, and began to shake it violently.
“Don’t you dare do anything to him,” she screamed, her eyes open very wild. “Don’t you dare touch him; you fuck king sick bastard!”
Caesar quickly backed away, gaping at her, thinking how half insane she looked. She continued to scream at him, and after a moment or so of watching her, he began to move away.
“Leave him out of this!” She went on screaming, “ leave him alone.”
Caesar walked through the hallway, back into the garage and into the house. Dvorak was pacing around in the living room, his eyes cold and alert. Marianna had heard Selena screaming, and had come down from her bedroom. She was sitting down on an armchair, the expression on her face coolly. Dvorak started up short when Caesar walked in, and quickly noticed the tense expression on his face.
“Are you alright sir?”
“Never been better. We need to talk. Come with me to the library,” he began to move towards the stairs, pretending not to see Marianna.
“I saw Selena here, with the sheriff’s car. What’s she doing here?” She said, staring coldly at him.
Caesar turned on her like a cat.
“Shut your goddamn mouth. This ain’t your turf. Stay out of this alright or I will do to you what you don’t like,” and he flounced up the stairs with Dvorak behind him.
Marianna watched them go, her beautiful face scowling..
When they got into the library, Caesar went behind his desk, sat on his chair and took out a cigar. He lit it and drew in smoke. He looked at Dvorak who stood by the door.
“Victor killed Lionel,” he said evenly.
Dvorak's mouth jerked open.
“What?”
Caesar nodded, thick smoke spiraling out of his mouth.
“I didn’t even have to work on Selena to get the facts out. The whole thing just came right to me,” and he went on to tell Dvorak his whole conversation with Selena and all that happened in the cell.
“But how? How did you connect the dots?” Dvorak said, awed.
Caesar lifted his shoulders, and let it fall.
“It’s simple. You remember I told you I had a hunch about this whole thing,” when Dvorak nodded, he went on. “Good! Here it is. I believed the story that Lionel actually raped Selena in the store. What Lionel told his maid and butler about having a fight with Selena corroborated this rape story pretty well. However, he could never tell them he tried to rape her. That would be really stupid. So the only sensible thing to say about why he had gotten into a fight with her was that she was stealing from him. Now, that’s a logical reason. I believed this is what happened; Lionel tried to rape her and she fought him off, got home, and told Victor about it. Victor, I believed must be way in over his head with her, risking the bounty on his head, came into town like an outlaw on a revenge path. There was a report from the Fur Hunters at the town’s gate about a werewolf. I believe that must be a Victor. He somehow got past the Fur Hunters at the main gate, went down to Lionel’s house and fixed him,” He paused and went on. “His got Lionel’s address, I don’t know. But I would say that was brilliant of him. Maybe Selena gave it to him, maybe she didn’t, he found the address, fixed Lionel and took off.” He shook his head. “Lionel fumbled around with his woman, and as the prince in shining armor he came to her rescue,”
“Damn! This is one hell of a theory,” Dvorak exclaimed. “But can all these be true? Just like that?”
Caesar sniggered.
“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. The facts are all there even for the blind to see. Victor and Selena are lovers. You see, this is what I believe. After my failed wedding with her, they both got together somehow. They’ve been seeing each other for months. You see, when I made mention of Victor’s name, you should've seen Selena’s face. That girl is in love with that wolf bastard. She couldn’t even hide it. The love in her eyes was as clear as daylight. And the way she behaved in that cell, warning me to leave Victor, telling me to go near him narrows down to one thing; They’ve been fucking,” he snarled, shaking in his head.
“I’ll be damned,” Dvorak muttered.
Caesar’s face changed into a cruel, vicious looking lunatic.