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A s Timber drove slowly back home, he stopped periodically to put up battery-operated cameras, hiding them in the trees, small but with a decent distance for recording.

Now he had some semblance of security around the place.

He’d planned on doing it right from the get-go, but there was also such a thing as time and money and importance to consider.

Still, he should have made it a higher priority in all three terms. But he was here now, getting everything back on track, as he worked his way through the camera installations on his property and finally got back home.

He was surprised to see Badger there, with two other men.

As Timber pulled up and parked, Badger walked over, his face grim. “Kat told me about Max Killerman.”

Timber winced. “Yeah, I wanted to ask you about him.”

“We already know all about him,” he stated, with a snort. “For every bunch of good guys in the military, it seems there’s one bad apple. Max received a medical discharge, but it was a mental disability, and I’ve got to tell you, he’s not all there.”

“I would definitely agree with you on that,” Timber confirmed.

“You’ve talked to him?”

“I did, and, for whatever reason, he seems to think that Andy selling me this place broke some deal between them.”

Badger shook his head at that. “Max has known that Andy’s been looking at selling for a very long time. Andy just didn’t want to confront Max about it or to fess up and move forward with it. Andy’s not getting any younger.”

“No, in fact he looked pretty beat up last night. I think Max tried to convince him with his fists.” Timber shrugged. “Then I put some additional pressure on Andy over the grandkid, Brian.”

Badger nodded. “Probably what the kid needs.”

“Sure, but that’s where the father should come in, right?”

“So, Andy’s probably afraid Brian will turn out like his father.”

“Afraid is what both Andy and the kid are. They’re clearly terrified of Max.”

“They’re not wrong to feel that way. It seems Max had a bit of a history before he went in the military to begin with. It sounds as if he went in, full of joy.”

At that, Timber winced, because anybody who went in with that kind of attitude was probably looking forward to the killing part, and that was never a good combination.