Yeah? And this is what happens when boys are taught their divine right is to rule the roost. I debated cuffing him to the steering wheel. Instead, I quit the fight. If he wanted to totter after me on this frigid night, I didn’t have time for the skirmish.
I bolted from the car, slipped through the two top wires of the barbed wire fence and trotted toward Meredith’s house. The windows on the south side showed an empty house until Meredith pitched down the stairs carrying a box. She dropped it on the floor next to the door. I hurried to the front and up the porch steps. Without hesitating, I banged on the door.
“Sheriff. Open up.” It’s what every American had seen during prime time their whole lives, except maybe Enoch, who didn’t own a TV.
Through the living room window I watched Meredith react like the bad guys do on TV. She spun around and ran away.
I crashed through the front door. Meredith had turned into a good Sandhiller, no blinds on her windows, no locks on her doors. She was already beyond the breakfast bar heading for the back door. Her hand slipped on the knob, giving me time to close the gap between us. But she wrenched the door open and sped into the night.
I flew from the kitchen across the patio, crisscrossed with shadows from the moon winking through the pergola. She bounded along the side of the house, her feet crunching on the thick lawn and snow, making her way to her Volvo.
Even with my heavy boots versus her running shoes, I gained on her. I’d catch her before she had time to climb into the car. She slowed and reached for the door latch. Before she grabbed it, the door swung open, catching her in the chin and knocking her backward. She slipped on the loose gravel of the drive and fell, clutching her nose. “Ah!”
What the …
Enoch slid out of the driver’s seat, aiming a satisfied smirk my way.
Meredith struggled on her back, both hands clutching her face, blood squeezing through her fingers. “My nose. Oh God, I think it’s broken.”
I knelt over her. “Let me look at it.”
I pulled her forearm to help her sit up and peeled her hand away. “Yep.” I placed her hand back so she could keep pressure on it. “Looks broken to me.”
Enoch stood over us. “You’re lucky. That will help you look tough in jail.”
With both hands on her nose she shook her head, her whole upper body moving along for the ride. “No. You can’t.”
Again, I latched onto her forearm and hauled her to stand. “I can and so can you.”
Enoch leaned in. “Whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”
“I didn’t. I swear. I didn’t do it.” Meredith broke down in desperate sobs.
I directed her toward the cruiser still parked on the road. “Let’s go.” That sounded so damned tough. All CSI.
“What about my nose?” Sniffing, sobbing, and a nasal wail. “There’s so much blood.”
“I’ve got a first aid kit in the car.” Not that you can do much for a broken nose. Maybe Daddy knew a good plastic surgeon who made house calls to the state pen. “And towels.”
Enoch followed us to the cruiser, his steps slow. His shoulders bent in, and he dropped his head. Probably worn to stubs from his big adventure.
After depositing Meredith into the back seat, I scrounged in the trunk for a towel. The ice pack chilled immediately when I cracked it. I opened the back door and handed the first aid to her.
Enoch eased into the front seat and huddled into himself.
Meredith snuffled and mewled, but other than that, we rode in silence for a while. My phone rang, and I fumbled to unzip my coat and reach into my pocket. Enoch cocked his head but didn’t turn toward me.
I pulled onto the highway and answered. “Sheriff.”
Trey didn’t hesitate. The concern in his voice annoying. “Where are you? What’s going on?”
“Heading into the courthouse.”
Meredith reached for the Plexiglas between the front and back seats, smearing the surface with her bloody fingers. “No.”
Enoch didn’t move.
Trey’s angst surged through the phone. “Did you see Meredith? What happened?”
More to prove my point than anything, I gave a robotic response. “I apprehended the suspect and am en route to temporary restraint at the Grand County courthouse.”
Meredith banged on the gate. “You can’t take me there.”
Enoch joined in the protest as if everyone got a vote. “You get that real officer here. Let him do what needs doing.”
Driving and talking on the phone didn’t leave me a hand with which to swat Enoch. With Trey talking and Meredith protesting, Enoch’s opinion came at me, and I responded without thought. “Trey’s busy booking Josh in Ogallala.”
Enoch’s noodled bones turned to steel, and he popped forward. “Joshua? My Joshua?”
Meredith didn’t let up. “Take me there. Down to Ogallala. Take me to Josh.”
I held the phone to my ear and spoke to everyone at once. “There is a holding cell at the courthouse. Meredith is going there until I can get Mr. Stevens settled someplace safe. After that, I’ll transport the suspect to Ogallala.”
Everyone rattled at once, and I didn’t listen to any of them. I punched the phone off, stuffed it back in my pocket, and gripped the wheel, letting Meredith and Enoch tell me all the wonderful things they thought about my brains and personality. I think Meredith had a word or two about my looks, as well. We pulled up to the rear of the courthouse, and I shut off the engine.
“Please.” Meredith’s nose had stopped bleeding, but she still sounded like she needed a good antihistamine. She started to cry. “You don’t understand. You can’t take me in there.”
I swiveled around. “Why not?”
Her eyes had already started to swell. “You c-c-can’t.”
I drew in a long breath. “Guess I can.”
“No. Not here. Anywhere else.” She smacked the Plexiglas. “Please.”
“You don’t get to choose your jail based on being close to your boyfriend.”
Enoch jabbed at my arm with his bony finger. “Do a smart thing for once and take us to Ogallala where the real cops are.”
I pointed my finger back at him. “Stay here. I’ll get Meredith locked in the cell and be right back.”
“I don’t need some girl telling me what to do. I’m going to Ogallala and get my boy whether you take me there or not.”
I stared at him for a moment. “Tell you what, come on in, and we’ll call Josh.”
Meredith sniffed and wiped her hand under her nose. “Good. That’s good. Josh will tell you I didn’t kill Chad.”
I turned to her. “You sit tight for a second.” I couldn’t leave her there long with the icy temperatures, especially since she wasn’t wearing a coat.
Enoch shuffled to the back door of the courthouse, and I hurried to unlock it and let us in. He lumbered up the stairs, using the handrail to pull his tired legs. He turned and started toward the sheriff’s office. I stopped at the commissioner’s room. “We can use the phone in there.” A more worldly guy might have questioned why I didn’t use my cell phone.
Enoch strode in front of me, his gait tipping from side to side, shoulders hunched. I directed him to the sturdy desk in the corner. Without questioning me, he sat in the hard chair.
He looked around at the old phone books and maps littering the desk. “Where’s the phone?”
With speed born from roping and tying calves, I whipped my cuffs from my pocket, grasped one of his thin wrists, and snapped the other end of the cuffs onto a desk drawer. Since this desk was one of those government-issue metal jobs with drawers that don’t slide all the way out, Enoch would be caught for a spell. He could eventually work his way out, but I’d have Meredith in the luxury accommodations of the cell by then.
Someone as ornery as Enoch would probably be fine on his own.
“You. You, you.” He sputtered and his face turned red. “This is not right. You should not. You are not.” He couldn’t find the w
ords. I’ll bet he never lost them when Josh was young. There would be plenty of stupids, sinfuls, wickeds, and ungratefuls to toss at a son.
Why was I feeling sorry for Josh? Maybe his upbringing lacked the affection that surrounded me, but that didn’t mean it was okay to steal and kill and sleep with your best friend’s wife.
“I’ll be back for you soon, and we’ll get you someplace safe to spend the night.”
“I will spend the night in my own home. After I get Joshua out of that jail where he doesn’t belong.”
I walked away, letting his wrath wrap around itself.
When I hurried out to the cruiser, tears streaked through the blood smeared on Meredith’s face, but there didn’t seem to be much more damage. I reached for her and she scooted away from me. “I can’t go in there.”
She was gnawing on my last niblet of patience. “Either tell me what all this hoopla is about, or you’re going in.”
She shook her head, eyes brimming with fear. “I can’t.”
I reached for her and after a tussle, got a grip on her wrist, and yanked her from the back seat.
She fought and bucked me all the way up the stairs and into the building, kicking at the door and causing a ruckus. Enoch’s bellows only added to the whole crazy symphony.
Meredith pulled against me like an unbroken filly. She kicked and wriggled, nearly sending us tumbling down three stairs for every one we climbed. All the while her sobs growing more hysterical.
I wrestled with her in the hallway, dragging her past the commissioner’s room where Enoch ranted and banged on the desk.
It took quite a juggle to unlock my office door while not allowing Meredith to escape. I finally pushed her into the cell, slamming the door closed and locking it.
“Don’t! Please. You can’t lock me up.” Meredith couldn’t fake the panic that had her weeping and screaming and gripping the bars of the cell.
I needed to unlock Enoch and get him someplace safe, but I couldn’t be sure Meredith wouldn’t find something to use as a weapon in the boxes or piles of supplies junking up the cell. “Why are you so scared to be here?”
Her bright eyes focused behind me, as if waiting for a monster to burst in. “I didn’t kill Chad.”
“But you helped Josh do it.” I hated saying that. Couldn’t really believe it even now.
Purple bags decorated her face under her eyes, and blood smeared her cheeks. “You don’t understand. Josh was helping me. We were trying to find out who killed Chad.”
I nodded with false sincerity. “I see. Someone else was stealing from the railroad and hiding big screen TVs in Josh’s barn.”
She shook her head. “We were hiding them. Hoping that Chad’s partner would show himself. But he killed Chad.” A sob rattled through her.
“Good one,” I said.
Tears streaked down her face. “I know you don’t believe me. But you know Josh. He’d never do something like that.”
Damn. Her words pierced me like a poisoned arrow. “So why were you running away?”
Her lips looked pale without that lovely lipstick Mrs. Sterling insisted upon. “Because whoever killed Chad will kill me, too.”
This was interesting. “Right. And who is that?”
She banged her palm on a bar. “If we knew that we’d have turned them in.”
“Then how do you know they’re after you?”
“Because I stole their stuff, and they’re going to want it back.”
“So you didn’t steal from BNSF; you stole from your husband and his partner, who is the one who killed Chad. But you don’t know who that partner is. You didn’t tell me or the state trooper. Why?”
“Because we knew you wouldn’t believe us. Like this. And you’d waste time arresting us, and the real killer would get away.”
Damn if she didn’t sound convincing. Probably too convincing. “So you and Josh are playing detective.”
She wiped a hand under her nose and swiped the snot on her jeans. “Ask Clete Rasmussen. He was helping us. He knows.”
“Why would Clete be helping you?”
She sobbed before she got herself under control. “His stepson. Ron and Chad were good friends, and Clete always felt Chad was the son he never had. He wanted to keep Chad from trouble. If we could figure out what was going on, we could get Chad to stop, and he wouldn’t have to go to jail.”
While I tried to process that, she hiccupped and sniffled. Through her swelling nose, she continued, “But when we confronted Chad he said he’d quit. His partner killed him, I know it. And now he’ll come after me and Josh.”
A bump drew my attention. Was Enoch tugging the desk? I needed to deal with him, but leaving Meredith alone didn’t seem like a great idea. What if she was telling the truth and someone wanted to silence her?
The office door banged open and Meredith screamed. That was good because it covered my startled gasp.
Clete strode in with Enoch in tow. “What the hell is Enoch Stevens doing handcuffed to the commissioner’s desk?”
I glared at the cuffs in Clete’s hand then back at him. “How and why did you unlock him?”
Clete winced as if a burning gas bubble exploded in his gullet. “I used a paper clip. Cuffs aren’t Fort Knox. I unlocked him because, for the love of God, it’s Enoch Stevens, and I’ve known him all my life. He’s no criminal.”
Enoch’s contempt for me billowed from him. “This is the kind of foolishness you get when women are in charge.”
Clete’s mouth popped open when he spotted Meredith in the cell. “Oh, good Lord.” He hurried to the cell. “Are you okay?”
Meredith started to cry again. “You’ve got to help me. She thinks I killed Chad. Tell her. I loved Chad. I wouldn’t.”
He turned to me. “What have you done?”
“I’m arresting Meredith for the murder of Chad Mills and for theft from BNSF.”
Clete blinked. “Meredith? That can’t be right.”
Enoch sniffed. “It sure as heck is right. Like Delilah. She somehow drug my boy into it, but I’ll get to the bottom of that.”
Clete digested the scene along with Enoch’s words. “Meredith and Josh. Yes. It makes sense now.” He dropped onto a metal folding chair in front of my desk. “I should have seen it before.”
Meredith clutched the bars. “No. It’s not like that. We came to you for help.”
Clete massaged his forehead, as if whatever ailed his digestive system migrated north. “You wanted an ally. Someone to stand up for you and Josh. But now I see how you set this up from the beginning.”
Enoch twitched his head toward Meredith. “Joshua is not involved with that Jezebel. I may not know everything, but I know that much.”
Meredith implored Clete, “I loved Chad. You can’t believe I’d hurt him.”
Sorrow steeped into the wrinkles on Clete’s face. “He deserved better.”
Meredith slid to the floor. “You have to believe me.”
Clete stood with arms akimbo and studied her, amid the boxes and crap strewn around the cell. “You can’t hold her in there.”
I figured out a temporary place for Enoch. “She only has to stay here long enough for me to settle Enoch at Louise’s house.”
Enoch gave me the brick wall stare. “I don’t need a babysitter, especially that beefy woman.”
I tossed Enoch back the same expression. “You can’t stay at your ranch alone, and there’s no telling when Josh will be back. You’ll stay with Louise until I get back from Ogallala. After that, we’ll figure something else.”
Clete threw a chin in Meredith’s direction. “What about her?”
Meredith watched me. She all but begged me not to leave her alone in the cell, an easy target for the alleged bad guy.
I turned to Clete. “Can you stay here for just a few minutes and watch her?”
Clete’s lips clamped down so tight they disappeared. Even so, he managed to mumble, “Ted never needed me to do sheriff work for him.”
I didn’t recall Ted ever facing this kind of situation. “Come on, Enoch.” I put a hand on his shoulder and ushered him into the hall.
He jerked away from my touch.
Dim light cast the basement stairs in deep shadow as we clumped down and to the back door. For the first time in a few days, I didn’t gasp at the cold. Maybe that warm front really would make an appearance. I held out about as much hope for that as I did for a peaceful Fox family gathering.
Enoch lost his starch as we trudged to the car, and he slid into the passenger side without a word. Louise and Norm lived three miles west of town, one mile down an oil strip, and a half mile more on gravel behind a hill. Of all my brothers and sisters, they were the closest to town, not counting Jeremy, who bounced from place to place and on any given night might be occupying someone’s bed in town.
Enoch didn’t talk on the drive out, something I appreciated since my thoughts whirled like tumbleweeds in a tornado. As we turned off the oil onto the gravel road, he flipped his face toward me and scowled. “You youngsters. The good Lord has plans, but young ones rebel and turn sour. Sometimes they come back to their raisin’ but not always. Take that woman back there. Pretty as a picture. They think I don’t remember when she belonged to Joshua, but I do. Then she up and left him for the Mills boy.”
This talkative turn was a whole new side to Enoch. “Chad Mills. He was never any good. When they were young that Mills boy and the Saunders kid tried to get Joshua in trouble. ’Course that Mills boy had no upbringing. His folks didn’t hold to any church, and that’s the downfall with the whole clan.”
I murmured something that might have sounded commiserating.
He snapped his attention to me. “You Foxes are lacking there, too. It would have been good for you, all those children running wild. Parents that don’t train their children up in the ways of the Lord end up with heartache.”
The biggest heartache Mom and Dad had to weather didn’t come from poorly raised kids but from a kamikaze cancer aimed at Glenda’s stomach.
Enoch seemed to have run out of steam again. We trundled on the gravel when Enoch surprised me with another barrage.
“Not my Joshua, though. Proverbs 22:6 says it true: ‘Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.’”
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