by Dale Mayer
This time it was his turn to swear. “We’re about ten minutes out. Make sure you stay alive until I get there.”
She laughed. “Why? I’ve been here the whole time, and you didn’t give a shit then.”
“It’s different now,” he said tersely. “Don’t make me come in there and smack you for that.”
“Could be fun,” she said, chuckling. Just then a window shattered, and glass rained all over her. “Goddamn it. That window cost several hundred bucks.”
“I want you to stay away from the windows too. Do I have to tell you that again?”
“I’m on the ground in front of the double oak doors, but I can’t see anything.”
“Don’t even try to.”
“Yeah, and what’ll stop the shooter from coming up the front steps and in the front door? He at least shot at the window, so now I’ve got a way to shoot back at him.” She lowered her voice. It almost sounded like she growled out the next words. “And you better believe I will shoot without mercy. The minute there’s a footfall on that step, I’m pulling the trigger on the shotgun.”
“That’s my girl,” Carter said. “But try not to engage them until I get there. You stay alive and away from a confrontation like this, okay? Once you start a gunfight, nobody wins.”
“I hear you, but, in this case, something major has to blow up before we’ll get this to stop.”
“We’ve got both Slim and Walton in jail,” he said. “We still have to pick up Andy and Harold. Apparently, all four of them are in it together. Burgess is on the list too, but he was acting out on his own.”
“What about the talk with the elders?” Hailey asked.
“We had a talk with the middle generation. None of them believe it, and they’re all sure we’re mistaken. Donnie and Brenda are suspiciously silent. David’s in the hospital.”
“What’s wrong with David?”
“A heart attack,” Carter said. “Last night.”
“I’m betting Slim and Walton brought that on.”
“We think so too. I think it’s also why Brenda and Donnie are quiet. There’s definitely an ongoing power struggle.”
“If you’ve got two of the assholes down, then I’ve got the other two here at the ranch. But one’s just an asshole, and one’s a wannabe drug dealer,” Hailey said. “Too bad you didn’t leave Matzuka here.”
“I’m about to let him out at the gate. I’m coming down the driveway.”
“So, why are you letting the dog loose?”
“Because he’s a whole lot smaller and harder to hit. They won’t be expecting it. When they see the truck, they’ll start firing as soon as I get within range.”
“Only once,” she said. “Only once.” Then she hung up. Calling the dogs to her, keeping them quiet and out of the way was paramount. Matzuka might be trained for conflict but the others weren’t. Yet they would defend her if that’s what the fight came too.
She studied the living room, looking for a way to get a better view as to who and what was coming toward her. On her hands and knees, she crawled carefully under the broken window and around to the other side, then carried on underneath the second set of windows where a partial room divider of logs was. There, she stood on the other side of it and peered through the windows.
The two guys were at the barn, one on either side. Why were they attacking her? Was it because of the sheriff warning her earlier? Or because she was the one stopping them from getting the company? Although how they figured they’d get it now, she didn’t know. The lawyer had already drawn up the paperwork. In the case of her death, the company went to her brother and to Carter, even though Carter didn’t know about it. Were the Longfellow grandsons planning on taking out her and Gordon, so they could take over their ranch then? Because that wouldn’t work either. If so, they were plenty stupid enough to think they could do that and then get away with murdering her and her brother.
Another bullet fired harmlessly at the front door. She just watched and waited because what the shooters didn’t know was they would soon get ambushed from behind the barn. She watched as Carter’s truck came into view alongside the sheriff’s. Instead of coming down the road and raising a cloud of dirt, they carefully drove across the field. As she watched, it looked like they shut off the engines, coasting now, and just rolled up behind the barn. From the far side, she could see Matzuka racing toward one side of the barn too.
She heard a sharp whistle, then looked to where Carter was. With Matzuka now at his side, Carter and Raleigh split up and went around the barn. Hailey raised the shotgun, afraid she wouldn’t be in time to save either man because all it would take was for these two idiots to turn around and take out both men. The younger idiot, suddenly hearing something, turned and fired. He fired again and again, but she saw his gun fly in the air, a shot going wild. Matzuka had charged him and jumped to lock his jaw on the man’s shoulder. Screaming, Andy stumbled backward and went down under the dog’s charge, ending flat on his back.
“Matzuka, release,” Carter ordered, his voice easily reaching her at the house.
But Matzuka wasn’t having any of it. He growled and shook the sobbing man’s shoulder. Finally, getting him calmed down, Carter ordered Matzuka to release his prey again.
This time Matzuka released his grip on the man now unconscious on the ground, then sat and stood guard over Andy. Carter stood over the man his dog had knocked out cold.
However, as Carter was preoccupied moving the unconscious man, Harold stepped in behind him and raised his gun and held it against Carter’s head.
She watched it happen, her throat closing in fear as the tables suddenly turned. It was almost like a comical movie, but nothing was funny about it. She couldn’t hear the words spoken between the two men, but she could imagine …
And just when she thought all was lost, the sheriff came up behind, and he put his gun against Harold’s back. Hailey exhaled the breath she didn’t realize she held. She shook her head and pushed open the door.
“Just in case you think he’s alone,” Hailey called out, motioning behind Harold with her raised shotgun pointing at him too, “he’s not alone at all.”
The wannabe drug dealer turned and glared at her.
She shrugged. “At least you should realize when you’re beaten. Now, get on the ground, beside your asshole cousin there.”
With no other choice, he dropped to the ground. Just then, a shot came from around the side of the house. It narrowly missed Hailey. She stepped behind the railing where there was nothing to be seen, but still she raced toward the shooter, even though she heard Carter swear at her to run away. But, with the sheriff holding his gun on Harold, Carter needed to secure the two men they had down, so she had to be the one to act. She went around and came up against somebody else with a gun.
“Well, look at that—Angela, Phil’s errant foster daughter. Did you really think the company was Phil’s to hand off like that?” Hailey asked.
Angela stared at her with glowing animosity. “Of course it was. I’m his only family.”
“You mean, you’re his only family now?”
“Yes, so it’s all mine. As is his house and other property. He told me that I would inherit it all.”
“I don’t think so anymore. I think you’ll find he mortgaged it to pay for his medical care.”
“No way. They had lots of money.”
“But lots more in medical expenses,” Hailey said gently. “It’s one of the reasons Phil was still working well past the point he hoped he needed to. Did you have to kill both of them?”
Angela shrugged. “Who gives a shit? The old lady was just about as dead as Phil was anyway.”
“If you’d waited a little longer, she would have died on her own. Then you wouldn’t be up on three murder charges.”
Hailey still held the shotgun while the other woman held her small revolver. They were definitely at a stalemate. Hailey could shoot Angela and blast her into shreds, but Hailey would likely take a bullet at these
close quarters too.
Where was Matzuka? Hailey tried to look around but didn’t dare take her eyes off the greedy heartless young woman in front of her.
“We took them both out because I would inherit everything. Why wait for him to spend more? Phil had one foot in the grave already. Talk about a waste of money.”
The coldness of her words momentarily stopped Hailey in her tracks. So much entitlement and hatred. Such a lack of love. … Did Angela have any compassion for what that couple went through? “What about poor Fred? Did he deserve to get shot too?”
“Yes,” Angela cried out. “What’s with all these old folks sticking around and not dying in time for the younger generation to actually get anywhere? You think we want to sit here and wait until they finally kick the bucket?”
“You could try that,” Hailey said. “You forget another generation stands in the middle.”
“Yeah,” Angela said, “but they’re useless. They’re too soft, too easy, and they’ve been puppets for a long time. The older generation was dominant. And they made the next generation weak.” Then she chuckled. “But that’s all right because a strong generation is back again. We don’t even have to take out the middle generation. We’ll just step into place. Pretty damn easy. They haven’t given us any resistance yet.”
“I think that’s because they didn’t realize what you were doing,” Hailey said. “So, yes, maybe they were blind. And maybe they also weren’t thinking their beloved children would do something like this. I wonder what they’ll do when they find out you killed some of their parents.”
Angela shrugged. “Whatever.”
“And Fred. You killed Fred for what? Because you five thought one of you could get his part of the company?”
“Fred told Slim that he was getting it. I was to get Phil’s portion and he was getting Fred’s. We were going to have Andy cook the books to inflate the value then sell it off. Andy has been embezzling money for all of us for a couple of years now. But he can’t get caught so we’ll sell in the chaos following the multiple partner deaths. And we’ll live just …” She sneered. “Believe me, while the lawyers have this all tied up, you’ll be bankrupt along with the rest of them.”
Behind Angela, Hailey could see Matzuka and Carter approaching. Relief that the stalemate was about to end but nervous that everything could still go wrong, she kept Angela focused on her. “Oh, I don’t think so, but that’s all right. I’ll see you in court. Of course you and your buddies will be coming with a public defender from behind bars after murdering three people.”
Angela laughed. “No one can prove I had anything to do with this.”
“Says you,” Hailey said cheerfully. “You’re all going down for three murders along with all the other related charges.”
Just like that though, Angela lifted the revolver and aimed. “I’ll just end it all by fucking shooting you. I don’t care.”
Matzuka howled deep in his throat, … a sound guaranteed to fill anyone’s veins with ice. And he was right behind Angela.
“Shit,” Angela whispered as she glanced wildly from side to side.
“I wouldn’t pull that trigger if I were you,” Hailey said gently. “Matzuka’s a little unhappy right now.”
Angela’s shaky fingers were ready to pull the trigger, but the sound of the gun cocking came from behind her too. She froze and glared at Hailey. “Who the hell else could be around here? Aren’t there fucking enough of you guys already? And to take over Harold’s dog—that’s just wrong …”
“I think that’s our line,” Carter said from behind Angela. He held the gun right at her head. “Give me an excuse to blow your head to smithereens, but, if you want to live another day, you’ll take that gun, and you’ll drop it on the ground.”
She hesitated.
“Or I can order Matzuka to attack, and he can tear apart your shoulder so your right arm will hurt like hell for the rest of your lazy ill-gotten life.”
She glared at Hailey who still stood in front of her.
Hailey could see Angela considering her options, until Matzuka growled one high-pitched eager sound that had Angela hastily throwing her weapon off to the side. “That’s all right. We’ve got money and lawyers. You’ll never lock us up.”
Carter laughed. “Raleigh’s getting ready to lock up the lot of you. And you don’t have money anymore. It seems to have been fabricated from thin air.”
“What the hell?” Angela yelled, turning to face Carter.
“Yep, your man Andy cooked the book with his creative accounting. Although trying to make Hailey and Gordon’s ranch broke was beneath you. Still his numbers are all hocus pocus. And those lawyers you talk about?”
Angela frowned.
“They’ll probably be disbarred for what they’ve helped the Longfellows do for decades to this town. So, like Hailey said, you and the other four will probably have to share one public defender. Good luck with that.”
Finally Hailey could feel the tension draining off her shoulders.
Carter ignored Angela for the moment and focused on Hailey. “Are you okay?”
“I sure am,” she said. “This little witch turned out to be part of the murders. Oh, and, Angela, our ranch was never put up as collateral against my company buy-in. So not sure why devaluing my ranch on crooked books would help you there. It’s paid for as is the company—my company not yours. And I have enough legal documents to make sure that never becomes a legal challenge. And if you kill me, Carter here inherits it all with my brother. Between Andy and Slim, with your agreement with the murders, the pincer move on the road to take me out, shooting my brother… all of it should put you and the others away for a lifetime.”
Angela stared at her, all the color fading from her skin.
Carter stepped up to her side. “At least that long.” He smiled at Angela. “Let’s go.”
“You can tell the sheriff whatever you want,” Angela said. “I’ll just deny it. You two are fucking nuts anyway, so nobody’ll listen to you.”
“Well, that would be true, except for this.” Carter held up his phone and replayed the recording from the beginning. It was enough to recognize Angela’s sneering voice talking about Fred’s, Phil’s, and Betty’s deaths.
Angela’s eyes widened, and she swore.
After that, Carter led Angela to where the other two lay on the ground. While all three were now on the ground, facedown, Carter played the tape for the sheriff.
Raleigh shook his head in disgust. “Good Lord.”
“Now what about your deputies?” Carter asked.
“The other team came in. They are back at the station,” the sheriff said. “The other two deputies are under house arrest until we can interrogate them. As for Walton, after what he did today before my very eyes, and according to this recording, it’ll be a long time before he ever sees daylight again.” Then he paused and looked at Carter and Hailey. “I know you want to stay here, but …”
“Go,” Hailey said to Carter, smiling. “These guys need to be in jail. And I want to make sure the sheriff is safe too.”
Carter looked at her and frowned.
“Go,” she said.
He reached over and kissed her hard. “Make sure you’re here when I get back.”
She batted her eyelashes. “We’ll have a day or two before Gordon comes home from the hospital, so you better get home fast.”
The sheriff sighed. “Could you two just keep all that mushy stuff for later? We have business to attend to.”
Carter chuckled before reaching out to grab the two men. He helped them to their feet and led them to the sheriff’s vehicle. Then he shoved them both into the back seat, while Raleigh put Angela in with them. Carter turned to look at Hailey. “Do you want to follow us in the ranch truck? I’ll ride in with the sheriff to make sure nobody plays any games.” He didn’t wait for her answer though. He picked up the multitude of weapons they’d confiscated and stowed them in the floorboard before Carter climbed into the passenger
seat up front in the sheriff’s dual-cab truck.
Hailey smiled. That was a good idea. She opened the passenger door of Gordon’s truck, then called for Matzuka. Matzuka came along with Bonnie and Clyde, Hailey’s two border collies. All three dogs rode in the front seat as she headed out behind the sheriff and Carter. She smiled as she drove.
Debbie called her a few moments later and said, “Did you hear anything?”
She laughed and updated her sister-in-law. “Yeah, it’s over. It was the younger generation. All five of them.”
“Oh, my word,” Debbie cried out. “To think all that happened while we were here.”
“Yeah, we’re taking them to jail to make sure nobody else gets loose,” Hailey said. “And then I’m going home, and I’m bringing Carter with me. We’re going to bed, and we’re not leaving for days. Do you hear me?”
At that, Debbie laughed a hearty belly laugh. “So, does that mean Gordon has to stay in the hospital a little longer?”
“Keep him there for a week or two,” Hailey said humorously. “Carter and I have a lot of time to make up for.”
“I’m seriously thrilled for you,” Debbie said warmly. “I know this is what you’ve wanted for a long time.”
“I have. I just don’t know how to make him stay.”
“There’s nothing to make,” Debbie said. “It’s what he always wanted as well. He was just too scared he might ruin his friendship with Gordon.”
Hailey stared at the phone. “You know what? That’s exactly what Carter told me earlier, but I didn’t believe him.”
“That’s too bad,” Debbie said, “because it’s true. Now, go enjoy your future.”
“Oh, I plan on it. You take care of Gordon for me.”
“Done deal.”
Epilogue
Weston Thurlow walked into the offices of the Titanium Corp, then threw himself down into a chair, and said, “I want in.”