#1-3--The O’Connells

by Lorhainne Eckhart

  Marcus shook his head, knowing the properties out this way had changed hands a time or two over the last number of years. They were so spread out and isolated. He didn’t know what to say. “No, no idea at all. The little girl is only able to tell me that his name is Tommy, and her mom is inside. It sounds like he brought them here. Don’t think the mom really knows him. Something has gone wrong, and now they’re both fucked. You familiar with anyone out here?”

  He pulled out his cell phone again and pulled up the number for the burner cell. He hadn’t wanted to call before because it would give Eva away, but now it was a moot point, considering it was the only way to talk to the guy inside.

  Ryan looked around and gave his head a shake. “None whatsoever. Can’t remember coming out here for any problems, either, but that doesn’t really help you does it? A lot of these properties aren’t locals, you know. They’re summer folks. But some cabins have been in the family forever and such.”

  Marcus knew that much, which also didn’t help. He dialed the number of the burner cell and put it to his ear. “Guess there’s only one way to deal with this: get him back on the phone and talking and find out his story.”

  His brother said nothing, but Marcus knew he had his back. He listened to the phone ring a second time, then a third.

  “What!” Tommy snapped, his deep voice filled with anger and amped-up energy. He was well on his way to ensuring someone ended up dead.

  “Tommy, don’t hang up. This is Deputy O’Connell. I’m outside and just want to talk. Is everyone okay inside?”

  “Did you not get the message? Get the fuck out of here, cop. You’re not wanted. You’re not welcome.”

  Okay, so he didn’t like cops. That wasn’t the first time he’d heard that.

  “I can’t do that, Tommy. You got a scared little girl in there. Is Eva okay?” He stared at the front door from where he was on the path. Ryan had stepped out a little farther and was watching the cabin as well.

  “You think I would hurt a kid?” Tommy snapped.

  Marcus wished he’d come outside. He wished Lonnie would answer the damn phone and get out there as well to back him up. More and more as of late, he’d been feeling as if he was the only one running the sheriff’s department in a place where it was impossible to be a one-man show.

  “Didn’t say that, Tommy. I just want to talk to you. Is Eva okay?”

  “She’s fine, although the little shit took my phone and was playing around with it. She knows better.”

  He knew his brother could hear what Tommy was saying by the way he dragged his gaze over to him. Marcus couldn’t hear anything or anyone in the background. “Look, she’s scared. I don’t want Eva hurt. I just want to know if she’s okay, and her mother. How about you send them both out? The last thing anyone wants is for anyone to get shot or hurt in any way.”

  “No, I’m not sending them out,” Tommy said. “It’s late. She should be in bed, asleep. Her mother can put her to bed. Everything’s fine here. They’re fine. You can go.” There it was again, the dismissal.

  “Afraid I can’t do that, Tommy. You see, as soon as someone calls 911, we have to come out and make sure everyone is okay. How about you let me in the house and let me see that everyone is okay, and we’ll all sit down and talk and find out what the problem is, and if it’s the case that everyone is fine, then I’ll be on my way.”

  There was also the matter of the gun he’d fired off, though. Marcus didn’t think he was getting anywhere near the story he needed.

  “Hey, I’m telling you everyone’s fine here,” Tommy said. “Reine, what the hell? You keep that little shit in line, you hear me?”

  Now he thought he heard a woman’s voice in the background.

  “Hey, hey, Tommy, how about this?” he said. “You come outside and talk to me and tell me what the problem is in there. Let’s talk face to face.” He wanted to step out, but Ryan had his hand on his arm and shook his head.

  “No, I’m not coming outside. For all I know, you’ve got someone out there just waiting to take me out with a single shot as soon as I step out, just because. I told you everything is fine here, the girl, her mother. They’re fine. They wanted a place to stay. I gave her a place to stay.”

  He still didn’t know anything about the situation, and he wasn’t getting any direct answers. “So this is your place, Tommy? What’s your last name? We ever met before?” Namely, he wanted to know if he’d ever arrested him, if he’d ever done time. He’d have remembered.

  All the man did was laugh, and it wasn’t reassuring. “Yeah, I know what you’re doing, trying to find out anything you can about me. I did my time, served my country, and this is what I get? I’ll tell you what, Deputy. I pay my taxes. I gave everything, but what did I get in return? Nothing. I was just another idealistic, wet-behind-the-ears kid. Didn’t understand what the hell I signed up for. But I’m not that way anymore. Now I just want you to leave me the fuck alone.”

  So he had served—in the military, army, marines, navy? It was a start.

  “You were in the military? What branch? My brother’s in the military. Sounds like it didn’t work out for you?” For a minute, he thought Tommy was going to hang up, but he didn’t.

  “You want to talk to the girl?” he finally said instead. “She’s right here.”

  He felt that knot in his stomach again as he pictured the phone being passed over to Eva. There was definitely something more to the military angle.

  “Deputy O’Connell?” she said.

  “Yeah, Eva, I’m right here. I’m right outside. Are you okay?” He shut his eyes for a second and felt his knees weaken.

  “I’m okay, but I’m scared.”

  He wasn’t sure what to say. “Is your mom there? Is she okay?”

  He pictured Eva nodding, but he could hear Tommy saying something to her.

  “You’ve talked to her, and now you hear she’s fine,” he said, back on the line. His voice had softened, but he still seemed to be fighting an urgency that Marcus couldn’t put his finger on “Now go.”

  “I can’t do that, Tommy. Told you before. She’s scared. You keeping a little girl and her mother here when they don’t want to be here is a problem. It’s called kidnapping,” he added, not wanting to push his buttons but also not knowing where the hell his head was.

  “Who said anything about kidnapping? I didn’t kidnap anyone.”

  He heard him say something else, but he couldn’t make out what it was. Just then, the front door opened, and light spilled out. A woman stepped outside, and the line went dead. He pocketed his phone and moved into the open, closer to the cabin, taking her in. She was slender, with shoulder-length hair, dressed in blue jeans and a T-shirt. Tommy was in the doorway, one hand on the frame, the other loosely holding the gun.

  “Reine Colbert?” Marcus called out and stopped by the truck just in case he needed to take cover.

  “Yes, that’s me,” she said. “Look, I’m sorry about all this. Eva shouldn’t have bothered you. We’re fine, though.”

  Something about the way she said it rang false. He wondered what Tommy had said to get her to step out there. Had he threatened her?

  “Reine, are you being held against your will, you and your daughter?”

  She was shaking her head and rubbed her arms in the cold. He should have been cold, too, but the adrenaline pumping through his body numbed him to it.

  “No, we are not,” she said. “Tommy here has helped us. It’s fine. We’re fine, as you can see.”

  He tried to see into the cabin, to see Eva. Tommy glanced back inside. His brown hair was long and kind of a mess, and he was unshaven.

  “Your daughter called me and is scared,” Marcus said. “Did you tell her to hide?”

  Why was Reine just standing there? Was it to protect her daughter?

  “My mistake,” she said. “Yes, I did, but she misunderstood. Look, we just needed a place to stay. Tommy brought us here. Everything’s fine. This is all just a misunder
standing.”

  “You heard her,” Tommy said. “It’s fine. They’re fine. Now go on.” He flicked his hand and the gun, a motion to leave, but Marcus still couldn’t see the little girl.

  “Well, see, here’s the problem,” he said. “I have a 911 caller, a little girl who called in terrified, scared of you, Tommy. Reine, you’re trying to say everything is fine, yet here you are, Tommy, holding a gun. You’re telling me this is all some sort of misunderstanding? Well, I’m telling you I’m not leaving. One, you shot off that gun, Tommy. Reine, you’re telling me you’re fine, but I don’t see your daughter. Now, this is the last time I’m going to tell you. Reine, you call Eva outside, and both of you come on down here now, because I’m not leaving when I know a little girl is afraid inside. Tommy, what you’re doing right now isn’t reassuring me in any way that anyone here is fine. So how about this? You drop your gun, and keep your hands where I can see them. Then the three of us will sit down and talk about what’s really going on here,” he said.

  And what did the man do but laugh?

  Chapter Six

  “Look, you’ve got to give me something,” Marcus said into his cell phone as he pulled open the door to his cruiser and climbed in. He flipped open the laptop secured to the swivel mount where an armrest would typically be, glad the sheriff had insisted the county fork over the funds to bring their department up to modern times. It was another request that had been put together by Marcus behind the scenes. The laptop gave him access to databases of witness reports, paperwork, and even crime scene photos—everything at his fingertips.

  “Look, Charlotte’s been riding my ass too, Marcus,” Tulli said. “All I can tell you is the facts on paper. The owner of the property is Thomas Marshall, out of Duluth, Minnesota. He owns a shipping company and has a wife, Helen, and two children, Samantha and Thomas Junior. The family appears to be well off. The daughter is married and lives in Florida, and Thomas was in the army and served four years of active duty. Trained at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin, then served in the Middle East, where he was injured. Looks like he was given a dishonorable discharge.”

  Marcus took in the image of Thomas Marshall, or Tommy, in his military fatigues. There was a warrant out for his arrest for attempted murder. His hair was shorter, his expression pissed. Marcus really had to look to see the resemblance to the man in the cabin now. “I’m not sure it’s him, Tulli. You have a last known address?”

  “Considering the outstanding warrant? No, nothing. His parents’ place in Duluth is the only thing the army has on file for a forwarding address. I can try reaching out to them, but you have everything I do. He’s considered dangerous.”

  Marcus listened to Tulli as he vaguely heard footsteps and spotted a light approaching. Lonnie had arrived and was walking with Ryan. He took in the computer screen, the officer report from Monroe County in Wisconsin. Tommy had beat a man nearly to death with a chain. The images of the victim were gruesome. He was considered dangerous? Well, that kind of went without saying. Add in the fact that he now had a gun in his possession, and Marcus had no choice but to assume the man was deadly. Boy, everything was just getting better and better.

  “I don’t have anything on Reine Colbert or her daughter, Eva,” Marcus said. “See what you can find for me, because there’s nothing in the database. Could mean nothing, just that she’s never had an incident with the cops. I’m getting the feeling this isn’t the kind of story that’s going to have a happy ending, not the way this is unfolding.”

  “Will do,” Tulli said. “Listen, I already alerted the sheriff’s office in Monroe County about Tommy. You got the sheriff on his way out there as well?”

  The last thing Marcus wanted were questions as to where the sheriff was. That was one thing they all knew, how to cover each other’s backs.

  “Marcus,” Lonnie said before he could respond, leaning on the open door. “I talked with the sheriff’s office in Laurel. They’re sending some backup.”

  “Great, thanks,” Marcus said. “You hear that, Tulli? Just start digging, and get me something I can use to get this guy to stand down and defuse the situation. Better yet, get a hold of his folks. Find out for me what makes this guy tick and what’s going on here.”

  He hung up his phone and closed up the laptop, taking in Lonnie and then Ryan, who was standing at the front of his cruiser, looking up the driveway to the cabin.

  “Ryan just filled me in on the situation,” Lonnie said. “He’s got a gun, and he won’t let the woman and girl leave?”

  Marcus could smell beer on Lonnie’s breath and wondered how incapacitated he was. “Nope, he walked back into the house, told me to get lost, and here we are. I see Charlotte tracked you down.”

  He was still bothered by the fact that Reine had simply gone back inside the minute Tommy called her. Not a chance he was going in there after him with just his brother and Lonnie there, not until he found out everything he needed to know about Tommy, Reine, and Eva. Too much uncertainty and too much chance for a little girl to end up in the morgue—but then, waiting around, trying to figure out what the hell he was supposed to do wouldn’t help either.

  “She did,” Lonnie said, then shrugged. “Was on a date. Phone was off.”

  Marcus just stared at him, wondering what he meant by that, considering he was married, with two kids.

  Maybe Lonnie could tell from the expression on his face, because he finally said, “Guess you didn’t know. Darlene and I split up. She was tired of being married to a cop.”

  Right. Well, now was not the time to talk about it. Marcus just shook his head.

  “Your call,” Lonnie continued. “What do you want to do here?” He pulled out his holstered gun and checked the rounds, something they all did, then re-holstered it. Marcus knew he was waiting for him to say something, but all he could do was walk around to the trunk, where he kept his shotgun and bulletproof vest, everything he needed when things went bad. He pulled the vest over his head and tossed a second one to his brother.

  “Come on, vest up, both of you,” Marcus said. “Then I’m going to get Tommy back on the phone, get him talking until someone gets me something on him. That’s what I’m going to do. It seems there’s a warrant out for him in Wisconsin. He tried to beat a man to death with a chain. I think we can assume he has a temper, and he was dishonorably discharged from the army, so who knows what weapons he’s got in there? For all we know, the house could have an arsenal, a bunker. Lonnie, I want you around back. Be my eyes back there.”

  He was walking toward the cabin again, and Lonnie jogged back to his car to pull his own bulletproof vest on. Ryan had said nothing. As he shone the flashlight, Marcus dialed the burner cell again. At least the light was still on inside the otherwise dark cabin.

  Tommy answered on the second ring. “What do you want?” he snapped, a man on a short leash.

  “It’s Deputy O’Connell again,” Marcus said. “Told you, Tommy, I can’t leave. Just want to talk, is all, and find out what’s going on in the house, make sure everyone is doing okay. You okay? How about Reine and Eva?”

  “Deputy O’Connell, what are you, the kind of guy who always has to get his man?”

  He had his phone on speaker so everyone could hear. “It’s not like that,” he said. “I need you to send Eva and Reine out. Just let them go.”

  There was no noise in the background, but Tommy said something in a low voice before coming back on the line. “I’m not sure I can be any clearer,” he said. “I’m not holding them against their will. She even told you that. The kid shouldn’t have been playing around with my phone. This is my property, so I’m asking you to vacate it now. Leave.” He wasn’t yelling, but he was quite direct. What was it about his change in demeanor that didn’t sit right?

  “How about letting me come in there and see for myself that everyone’s fine?” Marcus said.

  Ryan touched his arm, shook his head. Of course, he didn’t agree.

  The cabin door swung open. “You want to com
e in? The door’s open, but you leave your gun outside.”

  Ryan gave another shake of his head and mouthed a very direct no.

  “Not going to happen, Tommy,” Marcus said. “I need you to come on out and put the gun down, and we’ll talk, but I want you to send out Reine and her daughter. Do you want to tell me about what happened in the army? I see that you have a warrant out on you, as well.”

  This time he heard a sigh, and he couldn’t pull his gaze from the open door when Tommy suddenly appeared, wearing a hoodie now, the gun still in his hand. He held up the phone, and Marcus heard the click as he hung up. “It’s not how you think it is,” Tommy shouted.

  Marcus took a step closer to the cabin, his hand hovering over his gun. He could reach for it in a second. “It never is. Why don’t you tell me what happened?”

  Maybe he’d be able to reason with him, but he didn’t know where Reine and Eva were. He wanted nothing more than to get them out of the cabin. As he moved, he was well aware that his brother was behind him and Lonnie was making his way around the back.

  “Thought it would be the answer, you know,” Tommy said. “Had a fight with my old man, was never good enough for him, so I walked into a recruiting office. Seems there’s one on every street corner. Signed up for the army and bought the bill of goods hook, line, and sinker. Had no fucking idea what I was walking into…you know.” He stood on the porch, barefoot, and lifted his arm, brushing his wrist over his forehead. The gun dangled in his hand.

  What Marcus was hearing wasn’t the answer to his question, but maybe it was the thing he needed to hear. “People never do,” he replied. “I’ve heard it before. My brother’s in the military, so I understand what you’re saying.”

  He’d seen enough young ones in trouble who’d signed up, thinking that would be the answer, and next they were AWOL, a few trying to get across the border. Joining up worked out for some, but others ended up quickly drowning, in over their heads. “So what happened? Why’d you leave? You got injured?” He let it hang, recalling the dishonorable discharge mentioned in the file.