Hissy Fit (Possum Creek #2)

by Gen Griffin

  “I do not.”

  “Your Daddy did.”

  “I'm not him.”

  “Obviously. Your Daddy wouldn't have been,” Perkins took another wheezing breath and doubled over slightly with the effort, “stupid enough to chase two armed men into the woods for no damned reason.”

  “I'm not chasing you for no reason.”

  “You're chasing me for a stupid reason. Even worse.”

  “Um, no offense y'all, but I think we're too late anyhow,” Addison Malone's smooth, almost joking tone of voice was unmistakable. Kerry felt his heart sinking into his chest. Addison Malone and Ian McIntyre were here. And someone else. For a brief moment Kerry allowed himself to hope it was Frank Chasson. The Sheriff wouldn't let him die.

  Perkins wasn't afraid of the third man. That much was obvious. He wasn't afraid of Addison or Ian either.

  The posse had arrived and the bad guy was visibly unimpressed.

  “Look, we can work this out,” Perkins said.

  “You killed Kerry, didn't you?”

  That was Addison. He didn't sound overly upset. Kerry could hear the loud rasping of Perkins' continued struggle for air as he stared down Addison.

  “He attacked me,” Perkins lied. Kerry nearly fell over in shock. He couldn't believe the words he had just heard.

  “Try again,” the mystery man said. Clearly he couldn't believe what he was hearing either.

  “I mean it, David. He attacked me. Took me completely by surprise. I cut my arm fending him off.” Perkins held up his left forearm to reveal a long cut that was still oozing blood. “He killed that man. Benjamin Whoever. Kerry did it. He did it, and he tried to frame you.”

  Kerry closed his eyes and felt any last glimpses of hope evaporating out of his chest. Perkins had said David. Considering the current company, David could only be one person. The third man who had come into the woods with Addison and Ian was David Breedlove. The last person in Possum Creek who would have any reason to want Kerry to survive the day.

  “He didn't attack you. You fired off 10 rounds. We heard you.”

  “Be reasonable, Addison. I fired those shots in self-defense. I want to bring him in to the station, so he can face justice.”

  “Yeah. Right. And I'm going to be the next Pope.”

  “This can work out well for all of us,” Perkins said. He appeared to be catching his breath. “Hear me out.”

  “I don't want to,” Addison muttered.

  “Shut up.”

  “Get on with it.”

  “Can we just get this over with already?”

  “Fine,” David gestured at Perkins. “Go ahead. Enlighten me.”

  “Kerry pulled my truck over and attacked me. I fought him off and got the handcuffs on him, but then he ran away. I followed him into the swamp because I want to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else. You boys help me catch him and y'all won't ever have to worry about Kerry digging up your morbid little secret again.”

  “You want us to help you kill Kerry?” Addison asked disbelievingly.

  “No. I just want you to help me find him.”

  “So you can kill him?”

  “Kerry won't get hurt unless he gives me a reason to hurt him.”

  “Like breathing?”

  “Shit happens.” Perkins shrugged his shoulders and smirked at the other three. “Y'all know what I'm saying makes sense.”

  David, Addison and Ian came a couple steps closer to Kerry's hiding place. They were now between him and Perkins. Kerry pressed his back against the tree, ignoring the painful bite of the metal handcuffs against his wrists.

  “What’s to stop you from shooting Kerry and then shooting us?” Addison asked, clearly considering the deal Perkins was offering.

  “You all have guns,” Perkins pointed out. “I can't take down all three of you at once.”

  “Not that you have enough sense not to try.” David was holding a service revolver. Kerry guessed it was Ian's. He had it casually trained on Perkins.

  “Oh come on, David. You're smarter than that. No one is going to care if Kerry disappears. The three of y'all are a bit more valuable. Frank Chasson will launch a real investigation if y'all go missing along with Kerry. Too much risk in that.”

  “You have a point,” Addison said.

  “He's still a sick, twisted bastard,” David said.

  “So are you.” Addison shifted his weight from side to side. Kerry noticed that Addison and Ian were flanking David.

  Kerry felt a fresh wave of panic welling up in his chest, choking him so that it was a struggle to draw fresh air into his lungs. They were going to agree to Perkins' plan. They had no reason not to. If Kerry died, Ian could be a sheriff's deputy and David wouldn't have to worry about Kerry ever solving Casey's death and putting him in federal prison for the rest of his natural life.

  The three of them had every reason to let Perkins kill Kerry. They would probably be able to sleep just fine at night using their own justifications for their actions.

  “No,” Ian said abruptly, his voice was faint but firm. It was the first time he'd spoken since Perkins had proposed the ridiculous plan.

  “No?” Perkins scowled at him. “Don't you get it boy? I'm handing you the golden fucking biscuit here. Your cousin gets away with murder, and you get to stay out of the welfare line.”

  “I said no.” Ian stepped forward slightly, shaking his head and holding the shotgun on Perkins. The barrel wobbled slightly but Kerry knew that if Ian fired the weapon, he'd pepper everything within a 10 foot radius of Perkins.

  “I didn't sign up to become a police officer so I could turn around and betray everything an officer of the law is supposed to be,” Ian said.

  Kerry was so focused on Ian's words that he almost didn't see the look Addison and David exchanged over Ian's head. He nearly didn't see David slipping the handgun casually into his pocket as he took a step towards where Perkins was standing.

  Ian kept talking. “I'm fixing to be a daddy, and God knows I want to be a man that my son or daughter will be able to look up to. To be proud of. My Dad wouldn't have gone along with your stupid plans and I'm not going to either.”

  Kerry would never know if Addison lunged for Perkins before or after the big man had raised his gun. What he did know was that in a split second David, Addison and Richard Perkins were on the ground, rolling around, and swinging fists at one another. Ian stood off to the sidelines and, when an opening presented itself a second later, swung the butt of the shotgun down directly into Perkins' forehead.

  The big man let out a loud oomph and collapsed into a limp heap. David had to wriggle sideways out from underneath him in order to extract himself. “Get some damn handcuffs on that nutcase before he wakes up.”

  Addison and Ian grabbed Perkins by the arms and forcefully rolled him over. Ian retrieved his cuffs and clasped them onto Perkins ‘wrists. His hands were shaking so badly he dropped the metal rings twice.

  “Crap. Tell me he's still breathing. I didn't kill him, did I?”

  “He ain't dead.” Addison jabbed the toe of one of his boots into Perkins' side. “We might be after we have to lug his sorry carcass all the way back up that godforsaken trail though.”

  “Sorry,” Ian muttered. “I saw my chance, and I went for it.”

  “You did good.”

  “Y'all think he's already killed Kerry?” Ian's face was wrinkled with worry.

  “Maybe,” Addison sighed.

  “No,” David said firmly.

  “No?”

  “No.”

  “How can you be sure?” Addison asked. “Just because he asked us to help him find him doesn't mean he wasn't just trying to trick us into going into the woods with him.”

  “He didn't kill Kerry because the trail ends here.” David jabbed the toe of his boot into the dirt where Kerry had fallen earlier. He knelt down next to the tree. He was only about 10 feet away from where Kerry was hiding.

  Kerry felt David's eyes settle on him.

>   “He's been watching us the whole time.”

  Kerry took one look at the expression in David's hooded green eyes and peed himself.

  Chapter 41

  “Explain to me again why your mother thinks you're marrying David?” Loretta Walker was leaning against the edge of the counter in her massive, homey kitchen and watching Gracie with a concerned look on her face. Gracie sighed and sank down onto her elbows at the edge of the breakfast nook. She loved watching Cal's mother cook. They still had several hours until the dinner was supposed to start, but Loretta already had eggs boiling on the stove, chicken waiting to be fried and a red velvet cake baking in the oven.

  Loretta had taken the news that Gracie and Cal were engaged with a squeal of joy and a rib-shattering hug. She hadn't batted an eyelash at the circumstances of their getting back together. She'd just told Gracie that she knew God would work things out and then started talking about where they would have the wedding and what colors would best compliment Gracie's eyes.

  “It's a really long story. Mom thinks I'm turning into Addison.” Gracie wanted nothing more than to tell Loretta everything. She'd always been closer to Cal's mother than she had her own. Probably because Cal's mother was the one who had always had fresh baked brownies waiting for them when they had gotten off the school bus. Loretta Walker always been there as a shoulder to cry on when Gracie needed her.

  “Turning into Addison?” The disbelief was clear in Loretta's voice.

  “Apparently,” Gracie sighed. “I guess my adviser from the university called her and told her I'm failing a lot of my classes. Then she ran into me and David at the Gas 'N Go, and she saw the ring on my finger and started yelling at me.”

  “Did you try to tell her she was wrong?” Loretta asked. She'd walked over behind Gracie and was gently running her fingers through Gracie's long hair and massaging her scalp. Gracie was tempted to melt into the tabletop, but she made herself focus long enough to reply to her soon-to-be mother in law. “David says I picked the fight.”

  “David is probably right then,” Loretta pointed out gently.

  “Mom just ticked me off. She always does. She never listens to me.”

  “Your Mom has a lot on her plate, Gracie. She's just worried about you.”

  “She thinks I'm screwing up my life.”

  “Do you think you're screwing up my life?”

  “No,” Gracie frowned at her, surprised to find herself blinking back tears. “I'm trying to fix it.”

  “Cal's been pretty lost without you,” Loretta said gently as she stroked Gracie's hair. “I know he can be stubborn, but I'm so glad you managed to work through things with him.”

  “I think we're working on that. The stubborn part. At least he's promised me he would work on it. If he had just listened to me to begin with.” Gracie was exhausted. Her voice broke as she struggled to explain how she felt to Momma without telling her about the horrible things that had happened. “College has been awful. I don't fit in at all. I've spent the entire time missing Cal. I thought things would be alright once I came back down here, but now my mother is completely freaking out on me.”

  “It'll be okay,” Loretta hugged her warmly. “You know we'll always take care of you. You know Cal won't let you go without anything you want or need.”

  “I know, but shouldn't my Mom care about me enough to at least listen to what I have to say?”

  “She'll listen,” Loretta smiled at Gracie. “I promise baby girl. She'll listen.”

  “Maybe you should break the news to her,” Gracie said with a sigh.

  “I thought that was why we were having this dinner,” Loretta said. “You said Cal wanted to set the record straight and stop all the rumors. If that's what he wants, then you know it’s what will happen. Cal doesn't take no for an answer.”

  “Thank God,” Gracie whispered with a small smile. She held up her diamond in the light. Cal had been right when he'd picked the ring out. It was perfect for her. “Stubborn jerk that he is.”

  Loretta laughed. “Why don't you go take a shower and get cleaned up. Everyone will be here in a couple of hours. Do you have something pretty to wear tonight?”

  Gracie frowned and picked at the hem of her t-shirt. “I hadn't even thought about it.”

  “You need something pretty to wear at your engagement dinner,” Loretta teased her gently as she picked up her own purse and pulled out her debit card. “Why don't you go down to that little boutique in town and get yourself a pretty little dress to wear tonight?”

  “Are you sure?” Gracie asked.

  Loretta pushed the card into her hands. “Of course I am. Nothing like a little retail therapy to cure what ails you. Pick yourself up a couple of new outfits while you're there. Shop until you feel better.”

  “Come with me?” Gracie asked hopefully.

  Loretta glanced at the timer on the oven. “We should have time. I'm ready when you are.”

  “Let’s go,” Gracie said with a smile. Maybe things really would be alright after all.

  Chapter 42

  It took Cal 45 minutes to get the wrecker and bring it out to Highway 77 to pick up Perkins' Toyota for processing. The Sheriff rode with him.

  Perkins was awake and muttering about his right to a lawyer by the time Addison and Frank managed to get him stuffed into the back of Ian's squad car.

  Kerry watched despondently as the Sheriff fussed and fawned over Ian and Addison, making sure his favorite son and favorite nephew had escaped their brush with the rogue deputy. David sat on the tailgate of Addison's truck, watching the process with an expression that was something like amusement.

  It had taken both David and Cal Walker to get the handcuffs off of Kerry. The keys had been lost somewhere in the swamp and no one felt like trying to search for them. David kept a pair of bolt cutters in his wrecker, which Cal had used to snap the metal cuffs off of Kerry's wrists.

  “You guys already knew that Perkins was the killer when you came into the woods?” Kerry asked. He was rubbing his wrists where the metal had cut into his bruised skin.

  “Yeah,” David nodded.

  “How?” Kerry asked.

  “Because Cal's a genius.” Addison leaned across the tailgate of the truck and grabbed hold of a cooler that had been snugged up against the cab.

  “I remembered seeing Sharyn Perkins with Benjamin Gomez on the night he was killed,” Cal clarified, brushing away Addison's compliment. He shrugged his broad shoulders at Kerry. “I wasn't 100 percent positive who the killer was until David remembered that Sharyn Perkins had a Toyota just like his.”

  “Good work,” Sheriff Chasson clapped Cal on the shoulder. “If you ever decide to leave the hardware business, let me know. I'll make you a detective.”

  Cal laughed and Kerry's heart sank. Solving Benjamin Gomez's murder had been his job. His responsibility. Not only had he not realized the murderer was hiding in plain sight but he'd nearly gotten himself killed in the process.

  “Does this mean that I get to keep my job?” Ian interrupted the Sheriff. “I mean, I know Cal technically solved the murder, but I did catch the guy. Well, okay, David tracked him and Addison tackled him. But?”

  “Ian knocked him unconscious.”

  “Ian was the one who found the car in the first place.”

  “When he saw the Toyota, he put it together right away that Perkins must have been the one who dumped that body.”

  Kerry's hopes sunk a little further into the pit of his stomach as he heard Ian's friends chiming in support of his hiring. Kerry wondered what it would be like to have friends that would go to bat for him. Friends willing to give up their own accomplishments so that he could benefit from them.

  The Sheriff frowned and gave his mustache a tug. “Actually-.”

  “Ian deserves the job,” Kerry said the words so suddenly he surprised himself. “He's a good cop. He did a good job catching the killer.”

  The rest of them stared at him in various stages of shock. Kerry knew how he
must look. His uniform was caked in mud. He smelled like pee. He had bloody scratches all over his arms and face. According to David, his throbbing shoulder was probably dislocated. “Give the job to Ian. He did a better job bringing Perkins to justice than I did.”

  “Wow. Gee. Thanks, Kerry,” Ian said. “That means a lot to me, coming from you.”

  “Actually, you're both going to keep your jobs,” the Sheriff said.

  “What?” Kerry looked up in surprise.

  “How?” Ian asked.

  “Perkins is fired,” David pointed out, saving Frank Chasson the trouble. “I mean, really, what did y'all expect?”

  Addison snorted back a laugh. Ian grinned and turned to Frank. “Is he right?”

  Frank nodded, releasing his grip on the mustache. “He's right. Perkins is obviously fired. Since there are now two job openings and we have two candidates, it makes sense that y'all each get a job.”

  “Thank God.” Ian's shoulders slumped in obvious relief. He turned to David. “Now you don't have to hire me.”

  “I didn't particularly want to hire you,” David was smiling when he said it. “You are a mechanical disaster. Everything you repair shorts out and catches fire.”

  “You still would have hired me. I'm your favorite cousin.” Ian was grinning now.

  “You're also my only cousin.”

  “Still. I'm family. You wouldn't let family starve.”

  “I would have hired you,” Cal said, earning another grin from Ian and an unexpected spurt of jealousy from Kerry. He was certain absolutely no one would have hired him if he hadn't made the cut as a sheriff's deputy.

  He looked over at Ian and the other deputy grinned at him and gave him a thumbs up. Kerry tried to hold onto his momentary resentment and couldn't. He sighed. “I'm going to go back to my house, get cleaned up, and then go down to the station to file my report on all this.” He considered Ian for a minute. “You want me to just write about the entire incident and make a copy for you to sign as well? It would save Addison the trouble of rewriting it for you.”

  “Sure. Thanks,” Ian said gratefully.

  “That would be fantastic,” Addison said as he thumped Kerry hard on the shoulder and grinned down at him, “because I'm going home, getting a shower, and going to go get laid.”