by Dale Mayer
“Nobody’s on her side from the looks of it either.”
“No, it’s more a case of she survives, or she doesn’t. Nobody’ll really care either way.”
“And that’s unbelievable, considering she’s been here her whole life. Where are her neighbors?”
“Most of them moved on,” Levi said. “That area was hit pretty rough economically a few years ago, and they lost a lot of the younger people.”
“Surely some of the old-timers will be there for her.”
“I wouldn’t count on it,” Levi said.
“It’s a damn sad state of affairs if that’s the truth,” he said. “Somebody out here should be helping her at all times.”
“There is somebody,” he said, “there’s you.” Then he hung up.
Bonaparte fell asleep not long afterward. With a smile on his face. But the smile wasn’t there when he woke to an odd sound. True, he was in an area he wasn’t familiar with, and the completely natural noises all around him were some that he didn’t recognize. But that noise, he did. It was the sharp ping of a bullet. He slipped out of bed and pulled on his jeans, checking out the window from its side and saw nothing, before he slipped down the stairs, heading for the front door. He bypassed the door and went to one of the big windows on the side and checked outside from a corner. Absolutely nothing was in the driveway, not that he could see as he walked around the house checking out the other windows. He reached the back door to find Angela, leaning against the doorjamb, rifle in hand.
“Was that you?” he asked quietly.
“No,” she said. “It was him, up there.” She pointed.
Even as he watched, he caught a wink of shiny metal. “Jesus,” he said, “that’s a dead giveaway.”
“Yeah, and that shot went into the house.”
“And yet you’re standing here in a clear line of sight?”
“As is the rifle,” she said.
“You don’t think he’ll get you there?” he asked, cautiously looking at her in surprise.
“I don’t think so, but I could be wrong.”
He wondered just where this was going.
She looked at him, smiled, and said, “Enough barriers are between here and there,” she said, “that I don’t think he can get to me.” But she stepped back and said, “And I haven’t been out here for very long.”
“Any time is too long,” he said, “if he has any idea what he’s doing.”
“Well, that should have proven to you that he’s not capable because that shot was a good ten minutes ago.”
“It did wake me,” he admitted.
“I’m not surprised,” she said. “A sound like that is something you recognize for the rest of your life.”
“And yet there’s no sign of who it is?”
“No, not at all. And I know, by the time I get out there, he’ll be long gone.”
“How far can he go?”
“Well, miles in any direction, in theory. And to their own property, if it’s the brothers,” she said. “It isn’t all that far. Maybe three miles cross country.”
“And it’s a clear night with a full moon,” he added.
“Exactly.”
“So what is the purpose? Just to make you nervous or something?”
“Well, I’ve wondered that myself,” she said. “I can’t see how they would think that would be very effective. I’ve spent a lifetime here, and I work in law enforcement, so I hardly think a stray bullet will make a difference.”
“And what about when they start killing your dogs?” he asked.
She nodded. “Oh, don’t worry. I’ve thought of that too. And, of course, it’ll make me mad as hell. If I could prove who it is, I’d have stopped them by now. But you know what it’s like to get proof on something like that. With the dogs, I’ll come home one day, and it will be done.”
He frowned at that, as he looked down at the happy dogs milling at his feet. “You know it’s a shitty thing that people do just to hurt you.”
“It’s the shady things that people do as a warning,” she said. “Abusing animals to hurt their human owners. Because people suck.”
“That they do,” he murmured, then sighed. “If you tell me where to go, I could certainly go out and take a look.”
“I was just getting my boots on,” she said, pointing down. “I’m watching to see which direction he goes.”
As Bonaparte stared at her, she smiled and said, “Really, I’m not giving up by any means. But I do have a good idea of who this is and what he’s doing. If that shiny reflection moves in that direction,” she said, “it’s the guy Ronnie from the restaurant.” Even as they watched, they saw another wink of steel moving in the right direction. She nodded. “Bull’s-eye.” She immediately stepped into her boots, and then, with her rifle in hand and the dogs beside her, she stepped off the porch and headed in that direction.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he said. “Where are you going?”
“To have a talk with my neighbor,” she said and didn’t slow down at all.
It was all he could do to grab his own gear, and, without even a shirt on, he raced behind her. “The least you could do is wait for me.”
“You don’t have to come,” she said. “This is my fight, not yours.”
He snorted at that. “You can stop that line of thinking right now,” he said. “That’s bull.”
“If you want to come along, your company is welcome. Just so you know what you’re getting into.”
“Oh, I know what I’m getting into,” he said. “The shit falls not very far from the stick, and, in this case, we saw the stick.”
She laughed at that. “You could be right,” she said, “but I’ve never been able to catch him.”
“And you don’t really seem to think you will now either, do you?”
“Nope,” she said. “This is just a game to them, and I’m not even sure it’s them, versus a hired hand.”
“Which would be even worse, since that would be murder for hire.”
“You know what? I’m not sure if that’s even the case yet,” she said, frowning. “I think they could have done a better job if it were murder for hire. They could have taken me out anytime.”
“Yet they haven’t. So why is that?”
“I think it’s the last resort honestly,” she said. “I think they want the property, but they’re hoping to get it without having to kill me.”
“Well, that would certainly reduce their exposure, wouldn’t it?”
“It would,” she said cheerfully, “but it won’t work. So how long until they give up on that idea?”
Chapter 5
Angela had seen this time and time again, only she didn’t walk out in the middle of the night afterward. But tonight? She was just fed up and pissed off enough that she wanted to see if her shooter would really go to the property she thought he was. Angela stomped through the brush, not even making any attempt to stay calm or quiet.
“You want to make this a little more stealthy in our approach?” he asked.
“Nope,” she said, “I don’t.”
He just shrugged and let her go.
She appreciated that; it was a sign of a mutual respect growing between them. When they finally got to the neighbor’s place, she studied the layout, looking to see any changes made to the place. Lights were definitely on in the kitchen, projecting into the backyard. She walked a wide perimeter around the house, which was close to her property’s boundary. Another reason Ronnie probably wanted her land. There were all kinds of reasons, but she didn’t have to make excuses. They wanted it, but they couldn’t have it, so they would be immature about it.
Just then, on the far side, she watched somebody open a gate and step through.
Instantly Bonaparte stiffened beside her. “There’s our shooter.”
“Yeah, it sure is,” she said, “but I need that rifle to prove it.”
“That’s easy enough,” he said and disappeared from sight. She swore silently, as he melted aro
und the corner and, like a shadow, blended from tree to tree to tree.
As the shooter stopped and stretched, he rotated his shoulders and neck, then placed the rifle on the ground beside him and just stood there for a long moment. A dog came out of the house and raced toward him. He gave it a big long cuddle, as if he had been waiting for the dog to come. When he started to get up, he reached for the gun, stopped, looked around, and looked again. The rifle was gone. Then he started to swear. The dog at his side started to bark and bark.
Somebody from inside the house stepped out. “Honey, is that you?”
“Go back to bed. I told you not to wait up for me,” the man yelled.
“When you go out of the house in the middle of the night, what do you expect me to do?” The woman’s voice had a plaintive tone.
Angela studied the woman but didn’t recognize her, although that wasn’t surprising, since women came and went with a scary regularity. The man just swore at her and said, “Get the fuck in the house. Somebody’s out here.”
“No, there isn’t,” she said. “It was just you. Come on in. You can have a drink and relax.”
“No!” he said. “Just do as I say and go inside.”
“Don’t be so grouchy. Come on. I know you’re just going out there and taking potshots at coyotes,” she said, “and I presume the hunting didn’t go all that well, or you’d be in a better mood.”
“Do I have a gun with me?” he snapped, as he walked closer.
“Well, you did when you left,” she said, with a very clear don’t speak to me in that tone of voice attitude behind her words.
He glared. “Just pack up and get the hell out of my house,” he said.
“Well, it’s not my fault the hunting didn’t go well,” she snapped. “You don’t have to blame me.”
“Hell,” he said, “you better go pack up and get out of here, before I decide that you become the next hunt.”
She gasped at that. “Don’t you dare talk to me that way. Are you calling me an animal?”
He just looked at her, and Angela could see from the light of the kitchen door that he was still struggling with what his latest bimbo was thinking. Angela wanted to laugh out loud, yet it was hardly a laughing matter if he ended up turning the gun on the woman. Except for the fact that there was no gun because it had disappeared. Even now, as he was yelling at her to get into the house, he was looking around for the rifle, but there was no sign of it.
Meanwhile, the dog was tripping him up, thinking this was a new game. He was barking and jumping into the whole mess. Angela stood here, her dogs on alert but staying silent on her orders, watching in amazement, as this calm and organized-looking killer just lost it. Before she had a chance to consider that further, Bonaparte was at her side.
“Well, I’ve got the rifle,” he said. “Did you want to stay and watch the show?”
“Nope,” she said. “I’ve seen enough. It was great, but now I want to go home.”
So together they slid into the darkness, this time retracing their steps with a silence that she appreciated. When they got back to her house, she looked at the rifle and realized that he wore gloves. “Where’d you get those?” she asked.
“Oh, I keep an emergency pair or two in my pocket all the time,” he said. “You never know when you’ll come across some evidence, or you don’t want to leave any,” he said, with a smirk. “Now we’ll find out where the bullets are.”
“Yeah, I haven’t figured that part out yet,” she said.
“We’ll find them tomorrow,” he promised.
She looked at him in surprise. “You’re awfully confident. How do you propose to do that?”
He grinned broadly. “Metal detector.”
She was both astonished and gratified because that could work. “If you could do that, it would give me the first bit of proof. As long as we can match the bullet to this barrel, of course.”
“I presume you can get that done at work?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I sure can.”
“Good enough,” he said. “Tomorrow it is. Now, go get some rest,” he said. “We’ve got a big day tomorrow.”
“We do?”
“Absolutely,” he said. “There’s a pool to dive into, and I’d love to explore the area.”
She smiled. “That would be good,” she said. “Generally it’s just me out there.”
“I can see how that’s probably been lonely as hell for you. But I’m here now, so we can liven things up a little bit,” he said. “You’ve got a nice barbecue pit out there. Can I cook on it?”
“Sure,” she said. “What do you want to make?”
“Got any ribs?” he asked, as he waggled his eyebrows at her.
“Oh, stop,” she said, laughing.
“I love, love, love barbecue. So, if we get the ribs,” he said, “I’ll take over cooking dinner tomorrow night.”
“You’re on,” she said. “It’s the weekend anyway, but I should warn you. Since I have no deputies, you can count on the fact that I’ll get called out.”
“Well, where you get called, I’m going as well,” he said. “We are not to be apart. Do you hear me?”
She nodded. “Is that your dictate, or is it Levi’s?”
“Both of us.”
“He does realize that I can take care of myself, right?”
“Of course he does,” he said, “and so do I. But remember. We all need help occasionally. Sometimes shit goes the wrong way, and it doesn’t matter who we are or what capabilities we have. Bullets really aren’t discerning. They’ll take us all out, one way or another.”
“Good enough, as long as you don’t believe I can’t handle this.”
“I believe it,” he said. “I do. You have nothing to prove, and we all need help sometimes. In this case Levi knows just how bad things are, and he sent me to give you a hand.”
She nodded, with a smile. “And it’s appreciated,” she said. “Honestly it is.”
“No doubt,” he said. “Now go to bed. Tomorrow’s a whole new day.” She smiled, and, with the dogs traipsing upstairs beside her, she headed to bed. Quickly she switched out of the clothes she’d thrown on and lay down on the bed. The little dogs came up beside her, and Max lay down at her feet.
“It’s okay, Max,” she murmured. He rarely slept anymore. The potshots in the dark made him a little more edgy, a little more disgruntled throughout the day, but he was always listening for those intruders that they both knew were out there, just waiting for a chance to pounce.
“We made it through another night, buddy, and, with Bonaparte here, we should at least get some sleep.” Maybe for the first time in a very long time, she thought to herself. At least since all this shit came down. How the hell had her life gotten so warped? She’d been the sheriff for eight years, one of the youngest ever hired in the area. In all that time, she’d been doing a damn good job, as far as she was concerned; and, so far, the town had agreed. But somewhere along the line it had turned into a mess, and she knew exactly who to blame. She wanted her town cleaned up, and she wanted back again the confidence and the respect she’d worked so hard to earn from the townsfolk. But getting there looked like it would be a little more difficult than she had anticipated.
Maybe with Bonaparte giving her a hand, she could pull this off. She damn well hoped so. But, like he’d said, everybody needs a little help sometimes. Because, along with being the sheriff and having her property here, this is where she wanted to stay, … for the rest of her life. She wasn’t sure if she would still have a way to make a living wage after the next election, but she’d figure out something. Hopefully she wouldn’t have to seek alternate employment because it would be awfully hard to tackle anything different when her heart and soul were committed to this work. Right along with this property that was her heritage and maybe going the self-sustaining route. With that thought uppermost in her mind, she fell asleep.
*
Bonaparte woke up the next morning, rested and raring to go.
He jumped out of bed, pulled on a change of clothes, and went downstairs. Even as he got there, he found her up and sitting outside, with a cup of coffee. He stared at her in disgruntlement. “You know what? I used to be the first person up,” he said. “I don’t know too many people who are up before me.”
“Well then, you’ve never been here before, have you?” she said, getting up, heading inside with a smile.
“I guess not. Why are you up so early?”
“I’m always up early,” she murmured, refilling her coffee mug. “It goes along with the dogs. And the life.”
“Well, the life maybe,” he said. “I can see that. Anything happen while I slept?”
“Nope. Everything is calm,” she said, reaching for another cup, “deceptively so.”
“The calm before the storm?” he asked.
“Yeah. What will you do today?” she asked, as she poured him a coffee, then headed back outside.
Bonaparte followed her to the patio table and sat beside her. “I’ve ordered a metal detector. It’s supposed to come in today,” he said. “I’ll go to town pick it up.”
“I’ll come with you,” she said.
“You don’t think I can handle it?”
“No, I just want to see people’s reactions,” she said, leaning back in her chair.
“You don’t want to stay here alone and enjoy some downtime?”
“Not sure that’s even possible,” she said. “When they start taking potshots in the middle of the night,” she noted, “you know they’ll be up for most anything.”
“Yeah,” he said. “They could also burn down your house.”
“I’ve thought of that,” she said. “I raised my homeowner’s coverage just in case.”
“Right. Because it’s still just a house, isn’t it?”
“I could rebuild if I had to,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to, but I could.”
“You know what? I think it’s a better idea if you do come with me,” he said. “Maybe we’ll take the dogs along too.”
“Why is that?”