Lion Down by Stuart Gibbs

Lion Down by Stuart Gibbs

Author:Stuart Gibbs
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers


12

SUSPECTS

“Tommy and I have some exciting new leads in the Rocket case,” Lily said. “But we don’t have much time to pursue them.”

We were driving along a two-lane road through the Texas Hill Country, a little north of school. On both sides of us, barbed-wire fences ran along the shoulder with huge tracts of oak and cedar forest behind them. We were in ranching country, where the properties were enormous and the homes were few and far between. We had seen far more cattle than cars.

Summer was in the front seat. I was in the back, along with a box of 20,000 pamphlets protesting the inhumane treatment of animals in testing drugs for humans. All the windows were rolled down, so hot wind was whistling through the car. The pamphlets fluttered noisily in the box.

“Could we roll the windows up?” I asked. “I can barely hear anything!”

“I’d prefer not to,” Lily replied. “My air conditioner conked out yesterday. At least this way, there’s a breeze.”

Summer sighed with resignation, then asked, “Why don’t we have much time?”

Lily said, “Tommy says Fish and Wildlife is under a lot of pressure to make a decision about the permit to kill Rocket. Probably because of Lincoln revving up all his followers. Tommy’s been doing his best to slow the process down, and he’s not the only one, but—”

“There are other people there who think Rocket might have been framed?” I asked.

“Well, there are other people who think that they should at least take their time to examine all the evidence before saying it’s okay to kill a cougar.” Lily swerved wildly into the opposite lane to avoid an armadillo that was foraging on the side of the road. “Lots of people, really. But they’re not assigned to the case. So the process can only be stalled so long. Which is why we need to find some ironclad evidence to exonerate Rocket.”

“Then let’s get to it,” Summer said. “What are your leads?”

Lily answered, “Tommy got ahold of the video from Lincoln Stone’s security system for last Friday night, like you suggested. He knows a guy at the security company. They had to do it on the down-low, because Tommy’s boss wouldn’t approve even this much investigating. We only have the video from the front gates, but it’s enough. Turns out, Lincoln had a couple friends over the night that King died.”

“Yeah, we heard,” Summer said.

Lily looked at her over the top of her sunglasses, surprised. “How?”

“From Natasha Mason, the mother of the boys we saw near the crime scene,” Summer replied. “She said the guests were all drunk and using the firing range.”

“She said they might have been drunk,” I corrected.

Lily said, “Tommy called Lincoln’s office to ask about them. He couldn’t get Lincoln, but an assistant said Lincoln hosts a poker night every couple Fridays. As far as I know, the assistant didn’t even admit that everyone had been out on the firing range. He didn’t tell Tommy much of anything, really. He wouldn’t even give out the names of the guys who were there.



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