Out of a Texas Night

by Phyliss Miranda

  Those thoughts quickly moved on down the line, as Dannie returned to reflecting on the turbulence she felt around her. The unrest that came with working in the judicial system hung around her shoulders like a concrete jacket with a PVC collar.

  Topping her list was her worry over the note from her mother, which Dannie had read a half a dozen times before she fell asleep. She saw nothing but a perfect storm racing toward her. She knew her mother well enough to know that if she had to see a doctor or there were any family problems, she would share whatever was going on with Dannie’s father and then usually Dannie. She had a feeling this was one of those times that her mother had chosen to not tell her daughter everything, thinking she was protecting her.

  It was a Humphrey-Sullivan family trait, protecting each other.

  The front door opened, and familiar voices came down the short hallway into the kitchen. She smiled, listening to her father fuss at her mother for trying to bring in too much luggage. If there was one man that could be called a true Texas gentleman, it would be her father. She was sure he got it from his father and grandfather, both Texas Rangers.

  Avery stopped at the threshold to the entryway. Her mother, Kathleen Claire Sullivan Humphrey, stood there, surrounded by luggage, looking like Cinderella waiting for directions to her carriage. She turned in the direction of Dannie’s father and said, “Ira Lambert, darlin’, please be careful and not fall over our luggage.”

  Kathleen stepped toward her daughter. Gently her mother set her handbag, which cost more than Dannie’s two-way airline ticket from Houston to Amarillo, on the antique parlor table. She opened her arms, and Dannie flew into her embrace.

  “I’m so glad to see you, darlin’ Dannie.” Her mother kissed her on the forehead and wrapped her arms around her, pulling her daughter tightly against her.

  Avery felt certain her mother had no idea how much she had missed being called Dannie.

  Her father obviously had a crisis going on, the way he waved and blew a kiss to Dannie without missing a word of his conversation on his cell phone. As a lawyer, the town’s mayor, and chairman of more state and regional committees than she could count, he always had an emergency to be dealt with. This one seemed more serious than usual.

  Typically, her father, who had a voice to match his height, could be eight feet tall if she used that as a comparison to how he sounded. His breathing was deep and each breath seemed closer together.

  Dannie had gotten her height from her father but was sure happy the Good Lord had seen fit to give Dannie her mother’s figure. One thing for sure, they owned the sturdiest furniture in town. Much of it had belonged to her grandfather Humphrey, who was just as large as the life he lived.

  “What kind of emergency is going on, Mother?”

  “I thought you of all people would know, since it happened last night—actually early this morning.” Kathleen kept an eye on her husband, who went into the parlor still talking nearly loud enough for his wife and daughter to hear clearly.

  Dannie’s leg muscles tightened, as if she were about to buckle over. At least her headache had lightened up a bit. Her premonition must be true.

  “Oh God, Mother, tell me. Please don’t say that someone from the sheriff’s department got injured. Please, Mother, please.” Dannie’s hands turned clammy. By the look on her mother’s face, Dannie knew she was right.

  “Darlin’, I thought you would have already heard about it, but Sheriff Cowan is in critical condition in the hospital in Amarillo. Or they may have airlifted him to Lubbock—”

  “Oh God…I just knew it was the sheriff or one of the deputies. I just knew it.” She shook her head in disbelief and clutched her throat. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know exactly, but it seems there was an altercation near the Jacks Bluff last night and they had to send out a search party before daylight this morning and it took a while to locate him.” Kathleen stood unwavering as she walked to the kitchen. “I need some coffee, and your father will tell us what he knows as soon as he gets the final report. Right now he’s having a conference call with the commissioners to see what course of action they should follow.”

  “What they need to do? He’s that bad?” Dannie closed her eyes and let the perspiration run between her breasts as she awaited the answer.

  “When Lifestar arrived and the trauma team saw him, he was unresponsive. He has a head injury of some sort, but I don’t know how serious, and had been out in the elements for a few hours.” Kathleen tucked a couple of tresses of hair back into her bun. “Things have taken a turn for the worse and they can’t get him to move—and although the doctors said he hadn’t been shot, it looks like his spinal column has been damaged. Nobody knows how right now, but there was blood, not a lot but a significant amount. One good thing: although he’s in a medically induced coma, it appears there’s nothing wrong with his brain. He just can’t respond verbally. They said his recovery after surgery might take a while.” She lowered her head. “If he recovers.”

  Dannie measured coffee for a regular pot, although her hands shook. Nobody really needed caffeine, but it was such a family ritual that she didn’t give it a thought until after she had it on. She’d fix herself some tea.

  “I thought from your letter that you all wouldn’t be home until Tuesday.” Dannie wiped her hands on a tea towel.

  “I wasn’t sure how long we’d be, when I wrote the note. We’ll talk about it later.”

  Kathleen sat in her favorite spot where she watched the bird feeder right outside the bay window. Being spring, she no doubt could see several little beaks bobbing up and down in the bird’s nest. She folded her hands as if praying and looked over Dannie’s shoulder. Dannie knew exactly what her mother was thinking, because they’d talked about it hundreds of times over the years.

  Out of the blue, her mother said, “You know, darlin’, you shouldn’t wear a sleeveless top and shorts at the table.”

  Before Dannie could respond, her father entered, still on his conference call.

  Dannie took the chair next to her mother, waiting on the coffee, and listened to her father.

  Beginning to feel like an eavesdropper when she didn’t even have a bull in the chute, Dannie got up, rinsed out her cup, and started a new cup of tea. Then she filled two more with coffee. After giving a mug of coffee to her father and putting her mother’s in a cup with a saucer, Dannie returned to her seat. At least she had showered, washed her hair, and dressed before her parents got home. You’d think her mother would know Dannie had prepared to go running, but Dannie had thought for years that her mother surely carried the genes of Emily Post.

  Her father’s conversation caught her attention when she heard him endorse Danny as a replacement for Sheriff Cowan if he wasn’t able to return fairly soon. A hot, shrinking feeling hit her stomach and she thought for sure she was going to throw up. Daddy had only used his first name, but Danny Scott was the only Danny in the department and to her knowledge was the highest-ranking officer.

  She heard him go on to say, “According to Rainey, the doctors said it could be months or more before Deuce will be able to return, and that’s after he comes out of the medically induced coma and goes through rehab.” He stopped to listen then said, “Whatever you do, don’t let the name get out yet. All hell might break lose. Just remember that we can appoint any qualified person we want to be interim sheriff and we’re less than six months away from the mid-term elections, and then the citizens can make their own choice.” He took a sip of his coffee, sat the mug on the table, and looked over at Dannie. “No, kept it to yourself, I’ll talk to the candidate myself, and since we have a consensus all we’ll need is to call an executive session, take a formal vote to go into the minutes.”

  Her father lowered himself into his chair. “Charlie, you aren’t out in the open talking to us are you?” He bit his lip listening. “Sylvie Dewey! She’ll have it spread all over
town before we can talk to the candidate or any of the deputies. We might as well hold a press conference in ten minutes.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “That’s probably why she keeps her iPhone within easy reach at all times.

  “Okay, let’s all take time, cool off, and test the waters. Remember everything depends on Deuce. I know you guys are with me and my family in praying that our sheriff comes out of his coma and there’s little damage. I want him back as sheriff.” He took another sip of coffee. “Yes, I agree, keep it as low-key as possible. As far as I know, it could have been an accident. He could have fallen out there in those old cottonwoods. And if it wasn’t an accident, they said we don’t even have a suspect.” He waited, obviously listening to one of the county commissioners. “I don’t know about the crushed phone. It does look suspicious, but he could have dropped it and stepped on it.” He stopped to listen again. “I agree. We may never know what happened if Deuce doesn’t wake up.”

  Dannie lowered her head and covered her eyes with crossed hands. The situation for Rainey had to be earthshaking. Mesa had told Dannie about Deuce’s mother, who was suffering in the later stages of Alzheimer’s. Dannie didn’t know much, but she knew Mrs. Cowan lived in the local nursing home and rehab center.

  “Mother, who’s going to take care of Deuce’s mother?” she said in a soft voice. Feeling sorry for Deuce and Rainey didn’t even seem adequate.

  “Darlin’, she’s really bad. But in her own way is doing well where she is. She’s obsessed with Deuce’s football years and doesn’t even know him when he visits. She thinks he’s someone else. It breaks my heart. Sylvie can’t go out there because it upsets Mrs. Cowan too much. She loves Rainey.” Dannie’s mother clutched the pearls hanging from her neck, twisting them so hard Dannie was certain they would break. “I can go once or twice a week, and we’ll get a group of the ladies from the church and various social organizations to help out and see who fits in with her. Of course, we’ll talk to Rainey first and hopefully, it won’t be long until Deuce will be in the same facility because it sounds like he’ll need a lot of rehab.... That is, once he comes out of the coma.” Dannie’s mother accidentally knocked her coffee over, leaving a dark stain on the white lace tablecloth.

  Dannie jumped up, grabbed a handful of paper towels, and dabbed away the liquid. “I’ll put the tablecloth in the washer right after I’ve treated it with spot remover.”

  “Thank you, darlin’. Generally it could wait until Jennie comes, but I do love that tablecloth and would hate to have ruined it. I need to unpack and make up a grocery list.”

  Dannie tossed the paper towels in the trash, got fresh napkins from the linen drawer, and sat back down.

  Although it was bad timing, she felt like she needed to talk to her parents. She hated to do it with everything happening, but then there probably wasn’t going to be a better opportunity any time soon.

  “Daddy, I need to talk to you and Mama. It won’t take long.”

  “I need to talk to you, too, sweetheart. Mine won’t take very long, either.”

  The hardcore detective in Dannie made her determined to say her piece first. “Just give me a minute. Mine’s a yes or no with little if any discussion at the moment.” She went on without waiting for an answer.

  “First off, I really have two questions.” She turned toward her mother, but kept her gaze on her father to see his reaction. “Is something wrong with you, Mother? Something medically? I’ve never known you to miss the Spring Festival unless it’s an emergency.”

  “No, darlin’, there isn’t. My doctor in Amarillo didn’t like what he saw on my annual mammogram and wanted a specialist in Dallas to check me out—”

  Her father interrupted, “I’m the real culprit. I know her doctor was right, but I wanted her to be seen in Dallas by a specialist.”

  “Yes, darlin’, he’s right. Things are fine. I’ll have to take some treatments over in Amarillo, but you know me, I’ve never let anything get me down.” She patted Dannie’s hand. “I’m sorry if I frightened you. To be honest, I was a little scared myself, but with everything you’ve been going through, you didn’t need to be worried unnecessarily. I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”

  “Okay, I’ll believe you.” Dannie smiled at her father, who had taken on a look of liar, liar, pants on fire.

  Her father had just made the decision for her.

  “Daddy, I’m going to catch a flight today or tomorrow to Houston to check on my apartment—”

  “Aren’t you planning on staying around here a while?” Her mother looked at her with sad eyes.

  “Before I do anything, I have to talk to my boss. Then turn in my official resignation. Since I’ve been on paid mandatory leave I don’t think I’ll have to go through the normal channels of giving them notice.” Dannie folded her arms across her chest. “My apartment is leased for another six months, so I won’t have to be in a hurry getting my things organized and making any type of decisions. That’ll give me an opportunity to find a job....”

  Before she could gather her thoughts to continue, her father blurted out, “Sweetheart, I can find you one while you’re gone.”

  “Thanks, Dad. I don’t care if it’s working for Pumpkin at her café or the Dairy Queen. Even helping you out at your office. Just as long as I have some money coming in. I’ve got plenty saved for a rainy day, but one never knows when it will rain.”

  Her father stood there drumming his fingers on his thigh with a slight glimmer to his eyes. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about….”

  Chapter 9

  Brody slowly opened his eyes to early morning sunlight filtering through the old cottonwoods.

  He blinked several times, sat up, and rubbed his forehead. If anything he might well be more tired now than when he had crashed the night before. It reminded him of frat parties when he was at UT. In those years, he and Deuce thought they were invincible.

  As a man matured and saw himself in the victim’s place, it grew harder to shake off.

  Most of the night he had tossed and turned, wondering what the future held for Deuce. For Brody, too. Damn it, the whole sheriff’s department, for that matter.

  Any decision he made about his future with Bonita County was now dependent on what happened to Deuce in the long term. On the other side of the coin, he’d already made a commitment to Deuce before he got injured.

  Hell, injured! In Brody’s heart, he knew it wasn’t just a simple injury but an assault. He felt certain of that so did Chief Deputy Danny Scott, but he wouldn’t put money on it. The longer Brody waited to act on the investigative work he had done the night before, the harder it would be to solve the mystery...a mystery to all but Deuce.

  Before Brody went to the hospital to see his friend, he needed to check in with the department. Afterward, he wanted to have a talk with his sister and, for that matter, Stanley. One of the first things he had learned doing undercover work—hell being in law enforcement period—was the worn out cliché: Keep you friends close and your enemies closer.

  This was definitely one of those times the saying needed to be put into actions. Maybe he’d arrived at a point to play nice with Stanley.

  As Brody put on coffee, he laughed and thought, Maybe “you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar” was more fitting. Another worn-out cliché that a journalist would avoid like the plague.

  While the coffee brewed, he put up the half-empty liquor bottle and washed out his glass. He was happy to have a glass, because in the mood he had been in the night before, typically he’d be picking up shards all over the floor.

  He went to the bathroom to take a shower but found himself scrubbing his head like he’d been out in the dirt for two weeks without any water. He made a note to call the gal who cut his hair and see when she could get him in. That step alone would definitely disqualify him for the joint task force.

  In most parts of Texas there wer
e three things you’d rarely find: A barbershop open on Monday, alcohol sold before noon Sunday, and car lots open seven days a week. He knew he could call June at home and she’d open her shop just for him.

  It took Brody surprisingly longer to shave his shaggy beard and sideburns than he anticipated, but finally he wiped a clean hand towel over his face. Other than his hair, he hardly recognized himself in the mirror.

  What a surprise everyone would have when they held muster on Tuesday morning. Unless they had run into Sylvie or Lola Ruth, nobody but Danny Scott would know Brody had cleaned up because he’d come out from working undercover.

  After drinking three mugs of coffee, Brody dressed and headed for the sheriff’s department. As he crossed the last cattle guard leaving his ranch, he’d had time to think about maybe stepping out of his comfort zone and running a small cow-calf operation on his land. He had an old bunkhouse where he could put up a couple of hired hands. He could get that housekeeper he’d thought about and add cook to the job description. That was, if he wanted to go back into ranching.

  Before he knew it, he had crossed the railroad tracks and had entered the city limits. He stopped by the sheriff’s office to see if anybody had an update on Deuce.

  He also wanted to know if they’d gotten anywhere with the investigation and if Tommy was a person of interest. Until Deuce returned, Brody didn’t trust anybody with the investigative material he had. If he did, he might wake up one morning with a knife in his back.

  Nothing about Deuce’s condition sounded positive. Brody knew if the trauma team had flown his friend to Lubbock it wasn’t a good sign, but he’d get excellent treatment for his head injury. The only other thing he learned, as he anticipated, was that Danny Scott was still drivin’ the “I” wagon.

  Brody looked at his watch. It was between breakfast run and lunchtime at his sister’s cafe. Typically, Stanley cut the brisket, ham, and ribs on Monday about this time, so possibly Brody would have an opportunity to talk with his sister alone.