She was anxious to find out more about his purpose for being here and how it could add to her political coffers. He alluded to a big event that would happen in Watercreek. If the state was involved, she wanted to be the first to know about it. Susan was floating on an ego cloud that wasn’t going to burst for a long time. This morning and the events of the last two days did not seem as important as they were an hour ago.
Chapter 67
Michelle convinced the attending doctor she was okay. She promised to take it easy the rest of the day. She collected her clothes which still smelled like burnt oil and rotten eggs from the fumes of the fire. She made her way to her office in the hospital hoping that she still had a change of clothes in the closet. Someone was thoughtful enough to bring her purse down from her office. She fished through it to grab her pass key and phone. She was fearful that someone had already gone through it. Her fears were relieved when she found the flower she collected still in the evidence bag.
Once in her office, Michelle dressed in fresh clothes making her feel better. She needed to see August again and was hoping to make a better impression than earlier, but impressions would need to wait, she needed to track down where that flower came from.
Fortunate for Michelle, the lab, next to the morgue was not destroyed by the fire. Breaking her promise to take it easy Michelle went straight to the lab where she could research additional information concerning the flower.
Chapter 68
Her suspicions about the flower was correct. The flower was one of the deadliest. Known as the queen of poisons, or the wolfsbane. A victim can only last several hours after touching the flower. All Steve would have had to do was pick up the flower or brush against it with any bare skin and the poison would start acting. No trace of injection. No rashes or cuts. Very few medical examiners would know what to look for. Michelle’s course in natural toxins taken on a dare that was never meant to pay off was coming through now.
Someone knew that Michelle would know what this flower was cable of. Someone placed that flower to help Michelle or to silence her. Whoever it was, left fingerprints on her head rest. She was hoping the FBI could identify their owner.
Michelle drove away from the hospital with plans of a quick shower and return to the lab and wait for the results of the blood she took from Fr. Steve and the girl when they were first brought in. Driving down Main Street to her apartment at the opposite end of town, she passed August walking back up the street. Fortunately, he was turned away from the street as she passed.
Michelle could not shake the feeling that she was being watched.
For the first time, she regretted having such a standout car.
Chapter 69
August made it back to the Courthouse lawn. He stopped to talk with a couple of the regulars that parked themselves on the bench under the shade of the reported oldest tree in town. The same guys met there every morning. They were better than any security camera, they knew the comings and goings of most people from their vantage point.
“Morning Sheriff,” came from Greg Kotts who used to own the local shoe store. He knew almost everyone in town and probably fit most with their first shoes.
His other friends joined in, each commenting on weather, heat and shame of what happened with Fr. Steve and asked how August was feeling.
August joked with them.
“You guys behaving.”
“We are Sheriff, volunteered Greg.
“How are you feeling Sheriff? Heard you had a little scare?
“I am fine guys. You know what it’s like. All part of getting older.”
“Guess you have a deputy helping you out now?” George said as he poked the other guys while all three broke into laugh at a secret joke between them.
“What are you talking about?”
“We could see you checking out Fr. Steve’s car the other day. We have a perfect view of the impound lot from here. Just after you left, Mayor Susan followed you.
She must have been making sure you didn’t miss anything.”
August didn’t allow his anger to show. He made a joke that if she wanted his job too, it was hers.
“See you guys later; stop in if you want some coffee, I’ll have the pot on.”
Once inside, August picked up a package sitting at his door, most likely his new phone system. He unlocked the door and pitched the package on his desk. The room was thick with heat and he turned the dial on the air conditioner with a quick anger flick of the wrist. The hum from the machine helped to distract his thoughts and quieted the ringing in his ears from elevated pressure and anger.
“What the hell was she doing fishing around Steve’s car?”
His first reaction was to march down to her office; fortunately, the cool air started to calm him down and began to come up with a plan how to handle the revelation about Susan. He cut open the package and plugged in his new phone and answering machine. Once he had a dial tone, he made a call to Dan Faraday.
No answer.
From his hotel room, Saine watched Michelle’s red Porsche drive up Main Street. He also followed August as he stopped to talk with the old men on the bench and kept an eye on the Mayor’s assistant walking across the street to the diner for her morning break.
Saine made a call to St. Mary's parish office to ask what time Fr. Steve’s funeral was scheduled. An automated phone menu gave the Mass times along with the update of Fr. Steve’s funeral at 10:00AM Friday.
Chapter 70
Michelle felt better now after a shower and was at least able to take a breath without smelling the fumes from the fire. She replayed in her head the flash from the light switch and the rolling clouds of fire above her head. The bodies of Fr. Steve and the young girl bothered her. She respected their bodies. In her mind, they died a second horrible death. She felt like the devil himself was in the morgue with her. At the thought of that, a chill ran through her.
The man that saved her.
She wished she knew his name. He seemed to be there just when she needed saved and then he was gone.
Michelle was anxious to get back to work. She rushed around the apartment gathering things she felt she would need. Without giving much thought, she pulled a semi-automatic handgun from her dresser drawer and racked the slide back putting a shell in the chamber. She forgot how good and empowering that action felt. She slipped it in her small handbag, brewed a cup of coffee, got in her car and drove back to her hospital office.
Again, the feeling of being followed haunted Michelle. She was paying more attention to the rear-view mirrors than what was ahead of her.
Ever since the morning at August’s house, she felt she had a shadow. She decided to change her route to the hospital. This path would take a little longer, but she would be able to see behind her for a greater distance. A little bit of her Marine training was kicking in again. She was starting to appreciate the flatness of the town and some of the unobstructed views.
There was a lot of traffic on the main road through town. The July heat was reaching its peak for the day and many of the farmers and their families were coming in to town to escape the heat in the fields. They would finish their work later in the day working from headlights and illuminated barnyards. The kids were being dropped off at the swim park not far from the hospital while the parents spent time at the Wal-Mart at the opposite end of town.
Michelle pulled into the hospital lot and parked in her assigned slot.
In her office, she immediately went to her computer to see if there were any results from the blood test.
Nothing. She figured it was early yet, these things take time.
She placed a call to August to see if she could accompany him to Fr. Steve’s funeral. She wanted to be as close to him as she could. He was going to need support. She thought about him standing at her bed this morning. She wished she would have had the courage and strength to pull him next to her. For now, she replayed his touch and that would need to be enough until this was all over. August’s office phone
rang several times then went to voice mail. It was not his voice, just the canned voice that comes with the machine. She was hoping to at least hear his voice. She would try later. Walking out of her office, she left her computer open to her email and walked down to the morgue to inspect the damage.
Chapter 71
Susan Park instructed Anna to make reservations for her and a friend at the hotel restaurant for 6:00. Susan left her office and the Courthouse by way of August’s office. She made a point of clicking her heels hard on the ceramic floor. She loved the sound of authority it gave as it echoed up and down the hall.
She wanted people to know she was coming.
Susan opened August office door just as he was slamming the phone down. She never let go of the door knob. Instead she leaned into the office like one would lean over a cliff to look down.
“Easy August, I hear you’re going through phones faster than you are careers.”
August didn’t react. He didn’t even want to look in her direction for fear he would disclose what he knew of her sneaking around.
“I just wanted you to know that Michelle and I had a nice talk this morning. We are planning lunch together soon. I thought you would like to know your two favorite girls have been getting along great in your absence.”
Susan straightened herself back into the hall and gently closed the door.
She knew what was just shared with August would be the start of the wedge between he and Michelle.
“God, I’m good,” she thought.
She knew how to make these situations work. She greeted a few Watercreek citizens as she passed by with a political smile. She let her heels tap even harder as she walked away and at the same time dialed up her favorite stylist for an afternoon appointment. She had confidence in how the evening was going to go with Bob Saine, but a little insurance never hurt.
Chapter 72
August wasn’t back in town more than a half a day and already Susan had been the source of repeated bouts of anger. How could one woman generate so much confusion and hatred?
Mumbling to himself,
“Maybe I should just tell her the whole story. She might leave well enough alone at that point. What was with her digging around the impound lot? There is nothing there that would be of any value to her.
She and Michelle, together, that doesn’t make any sense either, but she was going into Michelle’s hospital room earlier.”
August sat in his chair and let the cold air from the air-conditioner blow down the back of his neck. He decided to place a call to the alternate number for Dan Feraday. He was instructed to use the alternate if he lost contact with Dan for more than two days in a row.
August tapped out the numbers on the new office phone and waited for the request of an access code. After entering it, he could hear the call being channeled through the various networks and security before it went to a regular ring. While waiting, August was looking around the office as if he was seeing it for the last time.
Chapter 73
The cell on Saine’s nightstand started to vibrate across the stand. He knew who was calling. He answered,
“Marshal Steve Lassco, how can I help you?”
“Marshal, August Hawk. I am trying to locate Marshal Dan Feraday. The number I just dialed I was instructed to call when I was not able to reach him.”
Saine got up from his chair and looked out the hotel in the direction of the Courthouse directly across the street. He could see August’s window and imagined him pacing back and forth in his office while he talked.
“August, I am afraid I have some bad news. Dan Faraday was killed on Monday. The details of which I can’t share with you, you understand, but how can I help you?
There was a long pause and Saine could hear Hawk cussing in a whisper and he figured the thump must have been August kicking something over.
“Is something wrong?”
August got back on the line and cleared his throat.
“Yes. I have no doubt my identity has been compromised, and there are some individuals in my community, that I don’t know. As sheriff, I know pretty much everyone. There is one person who disturbs me. He has been hanging around downtown and with some of the people I associate with, but no one seems to know where he came from. He is staying at the hotel and goes by the name of Bob Saine. He is telling people he is from the State Agriculture Department.”
“Sheriff…August, let us check him out and I will get back to you. I understand you operate without a cell.”
“Yes and no, I need to get a new one. Just call back on my office number.”
“Don’t worry August, we will find out who he is. Now what are the other events happening that have you concerned?”
August brought the new marshal up to date including his time as a priest and all that went on in the jungle.
When he was finished he felt like he had confessed his soul to a stranger.
For the first time he felt some freedom. It was different than sharing his story with Demetrius or Father Steve.
He also knew he had shared more than the marshal had asked for.
He said his good byes and hung up.
Bob Saine clicked the phone off. Smiled at himself in the mirror and walked into the bathroom to shower for his date with Susan.
Chapter 74
Michelle walked back into the office depressed after reviewing the damage done to the morgue. A state of the art facility that was reduced to charred walls, melted plastic and bent steel tables. The heat, intense as it was, destroyed everything. The corpses, what was left of them, were removed and sent to the funeral home for processing.
She went back to her office and sat down at her desk and started flipping through emails and reports that were starting to back up. Most of the emails were deleted without even giving them much attention. The further down the list she started to delete with increasing apathy which matched her overall mood right now.
Moving so quickly, she almost eliminated the email that bounced her back to the present. The report she was waiting for had news she never expected. She couldn’t believe the results of fingerprint analysis.
She hit the print button, grabbed the report from the printer. Deleted the email from her account, then placed the report in her office safe. She picked up her purse, forgetting about the weight of the automatic.
She was glad she had it after what she just read.
Now she knew, she could only trust herself and August.
Michelle locked the door behind her and walked to her car. Her plan was to drive around town to clear her head and maybe stop at the local bar restaurant at the end of town. She was convincing herself that a few cold beers and a steak was what she needed.
Chapter 75
The sun was starting to cast long shadows over Main Street as Susan pulled into the parking lot of the hotel. The grand structure, one of the few remaining in town from days when corn and railroads ruled the territory, cast a shadow over a full parking lot. Susan stepped out of her car and checked herself one last time in the windows.
She felt good about herself. Her tight leather skirt with a crisp white blouse tucked in showed all her finest features. She opted for flats as she didn’t want to tower over her date. Most of the time she enjoyed the feeling of power over men, but for some reason, this man made her feel different.
The two agreed to meet in the lobby, which was really Susan’s preference. She wanted as many people as possible to see her with this new man. She knew many women in town would jump at the opportunity to be with a man of such mystery and good looks. She also felt if he had any state contacts, she wanted to be seen on his arm as often as possible.
Susan looked up to catch Saine coming down the long flight of stairs. He was dressed in jeans, polished cowboy boots and a pale blue dress shirt contrasting with his deep bronze skin. This was the first time she saw him without his ball cap, his thick black hair was casually slicked back. She thought a model could not have looked any more inviting. As they
walked out of the lobby, more than one person followed what looked like a celebrity couple out on a date.
Susan arranged for a table in the middle of the hotel dining room. She didn’t want anyone to miss the opportunity of seeing the two of them together. Normally on an occasion like this she would be up and down working the room. Instead, Saine’s charm kept her glued to her chair.
When dinner was over the couple made their way to Susan’s car. A light breeze was adding a little cooling to the parking lot. They pulled out and headed down Main Street. Bob didn’t take his eyes off Susan, and he knew she was aware of his stare.
Chapter 76
August closed the office and decided to walk home. The evening was cooling off which was unusual for a Nebraska July evening. He just couldn’t get in his jeep one more time. Too much time was spent inside, and he needed fresh air.
Walking down the Courthouse steps he caught a glimpse of Susan and Bob Saine across the street in the hotel parking lot. That confirmed to him that the two of them were getting better acquainted. He couldn’t let her get under his skin anymore today. He had to focus on Fr. Steve’s funeral tomorrow. He was delivering the eulogy and he hadn’t even begun to think about what to say. Just the fact of going inside a church let alone getting on the altar was scary enough. It would be the first time in years looking back at a congregation.
August also had the state police breathing down his neck for answers to the accident. So far, he had been able to keep the fact it was no accident between he and Michelle.
That wasn’t going to be the case for long.
The conversation with Marshal Lassco bothered him. The fact that Dan was dead scared him. It seemed Lassco was too free with that information. Was Faradays’ death connected with what is going on in Watercreek? He trusted Dan, but it took years to build that trust. This new guy seems too casual. He didn’t know why he spilled his guts to him like a little kid caught in a lie, now he regretted giving so much information.
Necessary Sin Page 13