Carter

by Dale Mayer

  What he had was very decent already, and the designer had been surprised at the quality and flexibility of what he was currently using, but she thought she could do better. Carter had seen Geir’s and all the rest of their prosthetics, and Carter had been pretty amazed. He had a running blade himself, which would have made life a lot easier these last couple days when Carter was out packing Gordon around and trying to track people down, but he wanted to appear as normal as possible.

  It was an interesting thing what people did, whenever they saw he was handicapped. They immediately treated him differently, almost as if he were deaf, and they had to raise their voices to get him to hear. Nothing was wrong with his senses, but they didn’t seem to recognize that. When he wore clothing that hid the bulk of his prosthetics, they didn’t notice and so treated him the same as everyone else.

  “What are you thinking about?” Hailey murmured, wrapping her arms around his.

  “That I should have done this a long time ago.”

  “You should have,” she whispered with a chuckle. “We could have saved ourselves a lot of years of anger.”

  “I kept thinking it wasn’t the right thing to do because you were Gordon’s sister.”

  “And I kept thinking you were ideal because he really liked you as a man.”

  “Meaning, Gordon didn’t like your other boyfriends?”

  “Most of the time, because,” she said, “I think he was always comparing them to you.”

  “I doubt it. Gordon and I are friends, but we never discussed the fact that maybe we should become family. And he certainly never gave me permission to bed his sister.”

  “No, I’m not surprised, but that doesn’t change the fact I think that’s what he wanted too.”

  “Well, he was very careful not to mention it to me,” he said, thinking about all the conversations they’d had over the years. He didn’t remember Gordon ever mentioning that Carter should hook up with his sister. At least not before this visit. “Maybe I was putting up barriers that said I wasn’t interested. I don’t know. I’d have to talk to Gordon about it. I was obviously interested. Any healthy male around you would be interested, but I didn’t want to ruin my friendship with Gordon if you and I didn’t work out.”

  “Understood,” she said. Then she yawned and snuggled into his embrace. “Do we have to get up yet?”

  “Not unless you want to. At least we know Gordon was awake and will survive. But we still have a lot of very loose threads to tie up to make life a little easier on us.”

  “What about Matzuka? It’s kind of like we forgot about him.”

  At that, they heard a bark. Carter turned to look at the floor beside him. He chuckled and greeted the dog. Matzuka jumped in the middle of the bed. Laughing, Hailey rolled over to make room for him. Matzuka stretched out between the two of them. They gave him a good morning cuddle, and then he started to bark lightly again.

  “I think that message is for you,” Hailey said. “He wants to go out.”

  “Me?” he asked, but he was already sitting and putting the sock over his stump, then attaching his prosthetic. He stood. “Come on, Matzuka.”

  Hailey jumped off the bed and raced to the bedroom door, stopping him. “Don’t you want some clothes on?” she teased.

  He glanced down and rolled his eyes. “I guess. It’s not like any neighbors are around though.”

  “Be modest for the deer,” she said.

  “Huh. I’d be surprised if you’ve got any deer around with the number of dogs here.” Still, he put on his boxers and then his jeans, while the dog waited impatiently by the bedroom door. After that, he made his way downstairs and opened the door so Matzuka could go out, then went back into the kitchen and put on coffee. He stared out into the morning landscape. It was after six-thirty a.m., almost seven according to his watch, but he and Hailey were both tired after a very stressful day yesterday followed by not much sleep last night.

  He focused his attention on Matzuka, watching him greet the other dogs and wander around. He seemed to like it here or at least enjoyed being outside again. Carter thought this would be a good place for the dog. But as for him? Carter didn’t know. He was getting more confused by the minute because, although Hailey had said it was just for the night, she was anything but a one-night stand. And neither was he.

  Especially when he found somebody who could accept him for who he was. He wasn’t interested in losing her. Not now. Probably never had been. Something kept bringing him back here. Sure, his buddy was here, but that back-and-forth with Hailey he’d never quite understood until now. He hurt for the years where she must have hurt too, and he hadn’t even been aware. He’d just blocked it out as not a possibility.

  And to think he’d married the wrong person instead, when Hailey had been there, waiting. That dented his heart a little bit more. But then life was like that. He thought of all the disappointments he’d been through and the problems and the things he wished he could go back and redo differently, yet there was no way to do so. Life was a bit of a bitch that way. In the distance, he heard the phone ring and realized it was probably Hailey’s. With any luck, she was talking to her brother.

  When could Gordon come home? Carter walked to where he had set up his laptop, then he sat down and studied what was going on in the company’s books. He quickly lost himself in numbers and almost missed it.

  He went back and realized entries on one account had been changed multiple times. It was coded, so he wasn’t sure whether the employees understood those specific codes or not, but, as Carter went back and looked at the old entries, it became obvious to him that the figures had been changed, dropping them down by over 500 percent. And it was Gordon’s ranch accounts. Accessed unbeknownst by Hailey. He frowned and checked the file’s history. It was a numbered account. That always made him suspicious. People had numbered accounts all the time, but not ones that had multiple changed entries.

  And the numbers here were changed not just once but many times. He frowned at that, his mind thinking of all the reasons. Then there was the second account … Sure, rotten data entry was one reason but not with these repeated changes kind of thing going on. Unless someone was fudging numbers to fit what they were trying to make the accounts look like. He checked it out and realized it was supposedly a property management company. But then, where were they getting those revised figures from? Who entered them? And why?

  When Carter took another closer look, this was from one of Phil’s corporate accounts. Carter frowned and checked the others, but nothing suspicious was there. Writing down some of the details, he got up and called for Matzuka. Then he walked into the kitchen to pour two cups of coffee and went back to Hailey. She sat in bed, leaning against the headboard with a blanket pulled up to her chest, talking to Gordon.

  “I’m fine, Gordon,” she said. “I promise I’ll get out, and I’ll feed everybody. … Yes, I know. I’m still in bed but sorry. Yesterday was a little stressful.” She looked up when Carter came in and grinned at him impishly. “Yes, I slept just fine. … Yes, I’ll drag Carter out of bed to come and help me. … No reason he shouldn’t help,” she snapped at something Gordon had said.

  Carter just chuckled. He placed a coffee near Hailey’s side of the bed, then walked to his side to put his coffee down and hopped back in, jeans and all. Matzuka, not wanting to be left out, lay down beside him. He put the information into an email and sent it to both Hailey and Gordon, knowing they’d get the notification on their phones when they got off. He planned to go over his findings when the conversations was done. Or maybe later depending on their time alone…

  He gently stroked Matzuka, checking his healing wounds. He was still sore and tender, and definitely big scabs were evident on his side. Carter wondered if any vet had seen him since he went missing and gently ran a hand over the dog’s tattoo mark. The poor boy. He’d been through a lot. He rolled over onto his side and placed an arm around Matzuka. The two of them lay like that, Matzuka quite content to be with Carter
, and that was always important.

  Carter wondered if Matzuka had bonded as quickly with the guy who had beaten him. Not from what Carter saw when Harold had walked Matzuka through town yesterday. Carter was sure about that. The dog had walked at the end of the leash, as far away as possible from Harold Longfellow. But even that might have been just so Matzuka could check out whatever newness was around him.

  Carter wished he’d had a chance to see Matzuka in a natural surrounding where he wasn’t primed to be an aggressive threat dog. That was not who he was meant to be. As he looked down at him, he just smiled and buried his face in his neck while scratching him. But suddenly Matzuka sat up. A growl rose from deep in his throat as he bolted from the room. Carter stood and followed. The dog had better instincts than he did. He also had better hearing.

  Downstairs, Carter could see a vehicle coming. Matzuka stood at the door, growling. “Well, you don’t like him, huh? I wonder why.” He placed several fingers on top of the dog’s head and gently stroked him. He didn’t calm down.

  As soon as the sheriff hopped out of his truck, Matzuka barked like crazy. Carter eyed the deputy by Raleigh’s side. He didn’t know the kid. Then, grabbing Matzuka by the scruff, he ordered him to calm down. He immediately stopped barking, but the soft and gentle growl at the back of the dog’s throat was an interesting response. Lots of ranch dogs were around, but none of those were as aggressive as Matzuka was right now. He didn’t like something.

  Carter snapped onto Matzuka the collar and a leash he had gotten last night while in town, then brought him to the front porch. “Good morning, Sheriff,” Carter said.

  The sheriff nodded, the easy camaraderie and polite facade no longer evident after their last meeting. He shoved his hands on his hips and said, “Is that the dog? I’ve got another report that says you stole it.”

  Carter gave him a gentle smile. “Stole?”

  “According to the report I got this morning, you walked across the street, had a few words with Harold, then grabbed the dog out of Harold’s hand, took it back into your truck, and left.”

  “So he showed you a valid bill of sale, right?” Carter asked.

  The sheriff simply frowned at him.

  “As I already explained, this is the War Dog named Matzuka, who I came to find on behalf of US Navy Commander Cross from the War Dogs division,” Carter said. “So, of course, your complainant signed an official police report. I hope he didn’t commit perjury,” Carter stated, staring down the sheriff. “And this witness produced valid documentation to supplement his police report, correct?”

  The sheriff slid his gaze sideways to the man with him.

  Carter turned toward the deputy, leaning over the hood of Gordon’s truck. “Oh, look at this,” Carter said. “Another Longfellow.” He said it with such a sneer that the deputy immediately straightened.

  “Hey, now,” the sheriff said. “No need for that.”

  “Apparently there is. This town needs a bit of cleaning up.”

  “And you think,” the deputy said, “you’ll be man enough to do it? I don’t think so, old man.”

  “David and Donnie and Brenda are getting on up there.”

  “They’re the old ones,” the deputy said. “That’s what happens.”

  Something was in his tone, that casual lack of respect, that had Carter suddenly thinking something. He turned to the sheriff. “How old is Donnie?”

  “In his eighties,” the sheriff said.

  “The woman I spoke to last night had to be a well-preserved lady in her late seventies or early eighties,” Carter said.

  “Brenda would fight it to her grave, but I’m sure she’s over the eighty mark too.” The sheriff pushed his hat back off his head slightly. “So?”

  “And her husband, David?”

  “Same. What are you getting at?”

  Carter studied the deputy. The kid had to be in his early thirties or late twenties. “Sounds to me like the younger Longfellow generation doesn’t want to wait until the older generation passes on naturally.”

  The deputy started to get irate. “You don’t even know who I am.”

  “No, but I know you’re related to Harold, the wannabe drug dealer in town, and you came here trying to defend him.”

  “We came here because you stole his dog.”

  “Show me that bill of sale that says it’s his dog,” Carter said. “Of course you came with it to show me, correct?”

  “We’ll have to see what the judge says in that case,” the deputy said.

  “Yes. Let’s see the circuit court judge go up against the US Navy’s War Dogs Division.” Carter actually had no idea how much legal backing he had here, but it was a pretty good bluff.

  The deputy frowned and looked at the sheriff, who just gave a one-arm shrug.

  “I’m interested in seeing that too,” Carter said, pointing to the sheriff, “since you’re allowing Harold to continue to walk the streets and to take care of his illegal business practices. And yet when it comes to a War Dog that he was abusing and using to threaten people, you’re not at all bothered.”

  “How do you know that?” The sheriff glared at Carter now. “We’ve been getting reports of him having a dangerous dog many times.”

  “Of course. That’s why you haven’t done anything about it, correct? Here I thought maybe you were one of the good guys, Sheriff.”

  The sheriff continued glaring at Carter.

  Carter nodded. “Yeah, I’m still here, and whoever shot Gordon is still out there. What have you done about that?”

  Just then he heard footsteps behind him. He waited for Hailey to join him, now fully dressed by his side.

  Hailey studied the deputy. “Walton, you’re back to being a deputy again? I thought you lost your job.” Then she turned to the sheriff. “Or was the pressure a little too much again, Sheriff? Must be tough to be between a rock and a hard place, between the law and the Longfellows.”

  “That’s enough of that,” Walton said, his voice harsh. “The sheriff’s only doing what he’s supposed to do.”

  “To stay elected, yes,” she said quietly, “but not to uphold the law. So, what did you really come here about? Unless of course, you found Gordon’s shooter? Or maybe you’ll try and make that look like he did it himself too?”

  “Maybe he did,” Walton said. “I wouldn’t put it past him to make it look like it was one of the Longfellows.”

  “Yeah, right,” Carter butted in. “If it was a revolver maybe. But a 30-30 lever action? That’s not happening.”

  “How do you know that?” Raleigh asked.

  “Because I saw the bullet. And, if you were doing your job, you’d know where it came from yourself.”

  The sheriff pushed his hat back. “A lot of people have rifles out here.”

  “This was lever action, and he would have had to load it quickly in order to have fired two rounds,” Carter said. “Or there were two shooters.”

  “Think you know a lot, don’t you?” Walton asked. “But we’re on the law side here, and it doesn’t look like you’re one of those law-abiding citizens who you keep talking about.”

  Carter waved a hand at him as if to tell him to shut up. He kept his gaze on the sheriff. “So, what’ll it be, Sheriff? Are you even looking for Gordon’s attacker?”

  “Of course I am! I don’t like you interfering in anything else.”

  “And yet you rehired Walton,” Hailey said. “Back again, even after he beat up one of your suspects. Funny how that works. Do you really think we haven’t already gone over your head and talked to the authorities in other counties to see what can be done about a bad sheriff here?”

  “I’m not a bad sheriff.”

  “Maybe you’re not fully there quite yet,” Carter said. “Right now, you’re on that knife’s edge. Every day though, you have an opportunity to be the sheriff you should be or you can live up to the Longfellow reputation. And they’ll take you down as soon as they have whatever it is they want from you.”<
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  “Since when did this become about Longfellows being bad guys?” Walton said, half-joking.

  Carter deliberately ignored him.

  That seemed to enrage him all the more. “Hey, you,” Walton exclaimed. “You don’t get to ignore me like that.”

  “Why not? You aren’t saying anything I’m willing to listen to. You’re not even supposed to be a deputy. You should have been fired from that position of trust a long time ago. So, the US government will have to open an investigation into that too. Your sorry ass should be in jail right now.” Carter turned to Hailey. “Do you remember when it was?”

  She nodded. “I also know who it was—somebody up against the Longfellows. They picked him up, took him to jail, and, while the sheriff here wasn’t present, the deputies beat the crap out of him. He went to the hospital with several broken ribs. Those guys got sidelined until an investigation was done, but guess who’s back at work now?”

  “Since it happened in the jail cells, there should be videos of it. Aren’t there, Sheriff?” Carter asked.

  “That’s our business,” Walton said suddenly.

  “Not anymore. I’ll be sure to let the US government know what’s going on in this county.”

  “He paid restitution,” the sheriff said. “The victim’s family decided not to press charges. I didn’t have any choice.”

  “Hey,” Walton said, “you don’t get to tell him that.”

  The sheriff turned to him. “Shut up. You’re only here as backup. I’m warning you, if you do that again, you’re out of here.”

  “Whatever. Remember that your job’s on the line too.”

  Raleigh shook his head. “It’s not my job that’s on the line. It’s yours. Get back in that vehicle, and let me talk to them.”