by Sandra Brown
In the pictures taken after that, Trapper was alone.
The bedroom had been left undisturbed by the investigators. Trapper touched nothing in it now. Although the room had been prepared for him, he was never homesick for it. The things in it belonged to him, but he felt no emotional connection to anything, no compulsion to claim ownership. They were stage props.
He went out and closed the door behind him, then continued down the hall to The Major’s bedroom. The door was standing ajar. He opened it the rest of the way and was embraced by familiar scents.
The room smelled like Old Spice. Leather. The wool coat hanging on the wall rack.
It smelled like Dad, like the man in the photographs.
This room, much like the front room, attested to the thoroughness of the investigation. It had been determined that the two intruders had gone out through a window in this room because it was on the back side of the house. That window, the wall surrounding it, the floor beneath, had evidence tags attached and a coating of fingerprint dust.
Trapper went over to the window and looked through it to gauge the distance to ground. Because of the grade, it was a more severe drop than the one outside the powder room, which Kerra had braved. A man with reasonable physicality could get out this way.
It would be much more challenging to get in.
As he made his way back down the hall, Trapper was so lost in thought, he didn’t realize that anyone else was there until he reentered the living area and saw the silhouette of a large man filling the front doorway.
Chapter 26
Trapper dropped into a crouch and went for his pistol.
“Hell, man, easy there.”
Trapper then identified the man by his cowboy hat and uniform. “Jenks?”
“Didn’t expect you. Isn’t that Ms. Bailey’s car?”
Trapper eased up to standing. “Yeah. How’d you know?”
“It’s been parked at the motel for almost a week. We’ve been keeping an eye on it, afraid somebody would strip it.”
“She and I picked it up earlier today. Since her key is still in her shoulder bag, and it’s in evidence, I had to break into her car and hot-wire it.”
Jenks advanced into the room and took a look around. “She with you?”
“No, she’s on her way back to Dallas.”
“Without her wheels?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Sounds like it. Looks like it, too.” Jenks motioned toward Trapper’s cheek. “She do that?”
“No. That’s courtesy of a preacher man.”
Jenks guffawed. “Hank Addison threw a punch?”
“Hmm.”
“I didn’t think he had it in him.”
Trapper touched the sore spot and winced. “He was riled over Glenn. I guess you know he’s in the ER.”
The deputy nodded. “I wasn’t in the office when it happened, but everybody was in a flap. Word got around fast.”
“Hank blames me for bringing it on.”
“I heard about the scene this morning with the suspect. He’s been arraigned. Bail denied.”
Carson had already texted Trapper. He didn’t pursue it with the deputy. “What’s the latest on Glenn?”
“Wasn’t cardiac, except that his heart was beating a mile a minute. Bad panic attack. They’re going to monitor him for a couple more hours to make sure he’s okay, but it’s expected he’ll go home.”
Trapper exhaled a long breath of relief. “Good to hear.”
Jenks nodded agreement, and for a moment nothing was said, then, “Officially, nobody’s supposed to be in here, Trapper.”
“Officially, I know that. But The Major asked me to fetch him a bathrobe. They’re getting him up more, moving him around. He’s tired of mooning the nurses.”
Jenks chuckled, but he looked down at Trapper’s empty hands. “Couldn’t find his robe?”
“I did, but it was pretty sad, and you know how The Major prides himself on his appearance. I decided to buy him a new one.”
“Good plan. I’ll walk you out.”
The deputy moved aside. Trapper realized the choice of whether or not to leave wasn’t his to make. He headed for the front door, Jenks a few steps behind him. Close behind him.
As they moved onto the porch, Trapper asked, “Is this part of the county your regular patrol?”
“No. But when The Major comes home, sheriff wants the house to be intact. He asked me to drive out at least once a day, keep an eye out for intruders, souvenir seekers, like that.”
“You going to write me up?”
“Naw. You own the place, right?”
“Only half.”
“Did you stay on your half?”
Trapper gave him the expected laugh.
“Besides,” Jenks said, “the sheriff’s got enough on his plate. Had to bother him last night with a missing person report.”
“She was with me.”
Jenks threw back his head and laughed. “That’s just what Glenn said, but it wasn’t for Ms. Bailey. You know a guy named Petey Moss?”
Trapper shook his head.
“Well, doesn’t matter. Landlord filed, but I think Moss is trying to outrun his ex. Left the landlord with dead goldfish and unpaid months on his lease.”
Trapper replaced the spare door key where he’d found it, cleared the steps, and walked toward Kerra’s car, which was still purring. “Thanks for keeping a watch on the house.”
“You bet.” The deputy brushed the brim of his hat with his finger and climbed into his unit.
He followed Trapper down the drive and gave two friendly honks of his horn as he turned in the opposite direction out of the gate.
A couple of miles down the road, Trapper spotted an old cattle auction barn, which now stood vacant and derelict. He pulled off the highway and drove around behind the structure where he couldn’t be seen.
He got out of the car and began searching the wheel wells and undercarriage. In no time at all, he spied the transmitter. “Souvenir seekers, my ass.”
“What happened to your face?”
“Hello to you, too.” Trapper dropped a plastic Walmart bag onto the bed and sat down in the chair at The Major’s bedside. “I went to the ICU floor. They told me where to find you. Not that I needed directions once I reached this floor. The hallway is so crowded with goodie baskets and flowers, the staff is having to run an obstacle course to get to their other patients. When did they move you?”
“Couple of hours ago.”
“Means you’re on the mend.” He gave a casual look around. “Nice room. Open the blinds, you’ll have a view of the sunset. And I can bring some of those flowers in if you want. I spotted some chocolates that look good.”
“I asked you a question, John.”
Trapper sighed, propped his forearms on his thighs, and stared down at his boots. They were covered with dust from the old auction barn. From there, he’d made a quick stop at the store before coming to the hospital. There were several things he wanted to discuss with The Major, all of them touchy subjects.
He said, “Hank is what happened to my face.”
“Hank?”
“Right before he went to correct an I-beam misplacement for the tabernacle that’s under construction. Did you know about that?”
“Couldn’t live here and not know about it. Hank says it will be the fulfilment of God’s plan for his church.”
“Well, God may want to anoint a new architect. This one fucked up the I-beams.”
“Did Hank slug you for making a crack like that? Or did it have to do with Glenn’s anxiety attack?”
“So you know?”
“Hospital grapevine. I’m told it was alarming but not life-threatening.”
“I’m grateful it wasn’t worse.” He pointed to his injured cheek. “Hank blames me for maxing out Glenn’s stress level. I contributed to it, I’m sure. But I’m told you two had a visit this morning, and that Glenn was upset after it. How come?”
Th
e Major hesitated.
“Well?”
“I told him everything, John. Beginning with Debra’s diary and how you used it to persuade—”
“Force.”
“To force me to retreat from the public eye. I told him about the conclusions you’d drawn about the bombing and your certainty that there’s a correlation between it and the attempt on my life.”
“You mention Thomas Wilcox?”
“I told Glenn you suspected him of some involvement.”
“What did he say to that?”
“I got no indication that he’d ever heard of Wilcox, but he said you must have something on the man or you wouldn’t make such serious allegations.”
“Nice of him to say. What did you come back with? Did you tell him you think I’m delusional?”
“No, I told him I think you’re right.”
That being the last thing he’d expected to hear, Trapper’s heart bumped hard against his ribs. He was at a loss for words.
With tight-lipped reluctance, The Major continued. “I don’t know if all your hypotheses are correct, but, along with your stubborn streak, you also have integrity that’s equally ironclad. You wouldn’t condemn a man on a whim, or for self-gain, or for any reason other than your conviction of his guilt.”
Trapper was relieved of having to respond when a nurse entered the room to exchange bags on The Major’s IV drip. Trapper left the chair and went over to the window, where he stared unseeing across the hospital parking lot and tried to come to terms with receiving even a backhanded compliment from his father.
Call him a cynic, but he couldn’t help but wonder why the stroking was coming now.
He could validate his father’s flattery by telling him about Wilcox’s visit to his office, his willingness to make a deal with prosecutors, his admission that he needed Trapper in order to do that.
But Trapper was reluctant to share that just yet. Not yet.
He stayed at the window for as long as it took the nurse to go through her routine, then turned his back on the splendid sunset and faced The Major. “I went out to your house this afternoon.”
“What for?”
“Ostensibly to get your bathrobe.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No, that was my lie to cover why I was there.” He motioned toward the Walmart bag. “You have a new flannel robe, and I bought myself a shirt. One with snaps, not a pullover.” He pinched up the stretchy fabric of the black t-shirt Carson had bought for him. “This is a little too Euro to suit me.”
“You’re stalling, John. Who’d you lie to?”
“Deputy Jenks. Know him?”
“Only through Glenn. He says he’s one of the best deputies in the department.”
“Well, he’s certainly been on the ball this week. He pulled a graveyard shift guarding Kerra’s hospital room. Then today, he caught me at your house. Said he’d been asked to keep an eye out for intruders.”
“Glenn told me he would see to it that the house wasn’t looted in my absence.”
Trapper supposed that was a valid explanation. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something off about Deputy Jenks. He recalled him being exceptionally curious about Kerra’s and his conversation in her hospital room. He’d specifically asked if she had recounted to him what had happened.
“Why did you go to the house today, John?”
Trapper returned to the chair and sat down. He assumed the same hunched position as before, looking down at the floor between his spread knees. “I went looking for something.”
“What?”
“A way for someone to get in undetected.”
“Into the house?”
“Kerra swears that someone tried to open the powder room door before she heard the gunshot.” He raised his head to gauge The Major’s reaction. He appeared to be thinking hard.
“The man who shot me and his accomplice were on either side of the front door. Are you saying there was a third?”
“Kerra says it. Her mind is clear on the point. So unless it was you—”
“Me?”
“Well, you were there.”
“Why would I try to open the bathroom door, knowing full well Kerra was in there?”
“Then someone else was in the back of the house, and it had to be someone familiar with it, or they could easily break their neck trying to get inside. Especially on the north side at the back, and especially in the dark.”
“Glenn hasn’t mentioned a third suspect to me.”
“Which is curious in itself. He’s not convinced there was a third party. He thinks Kerra got confused, the concussion and all.”
He gave The Major time to contemplate all that before continuing. “The day I delivered Kerra to meet you, I drove directly from your house to the Addisons’ and informed Glenn of the upcoming interview.”
“He called me soon after you left him. He wanted to confirm with me that the interview was actually going to take place. He was grousing about the commotion that having a TV crew in town would create, part-time deputies put on the payroll, the overtime it would cost.”
“Soon everyone in his department would have been aware of when and where the interview was to take place.”
“Soon everyone in the whole world knew, John.”
But not everyone in the whole world knew about the sharply varying grade around The Major’s house or the steep ravine where Kerra might have died. It would take someone familiar with the place to know the pitfalls to watch for if sneaking in through a rear window.
Trapper didn’t believe that Jenks just happened to be passing by on that rural road and noticed Kerra’s car at The Major’s house. Finding the tracking device reinforced his suspicions of the deputy.
But he didn’t air those with The Major, either. He was beginning to sound paranoid even to himself.
“You’re frowning, John.”
“Am I?”
“Just like you did as a boy when a riddle had you stumped.”
He wasn’t so much stumped by the things that weren’t adding up as he was deeply disturbed by the things that were.
“Why all the questions about Glenn?” The Major asked.
“I’m worried about him.”
“In what context?”
In the context of Glenn taking him to ball games when his own father was off making speeches. Glenn giving him advice on women, which he hadn’t taken, and on where to buy the best boots, which he had. Glenn sparing him a paddling over an Easter egg prank. Glenn with an unspecified problem that was causing him to drink too much and giving him anxiety attacks.
Suddenly Trapper didn’t want to talk any more. Or think any more. He stood up. “I gotta go.”
“John—”
“You look tired. I think changing rooms must’ve worn you out.”
“We didn’t finish earlier.”
“Finish what?”
“You know damn well what,” The Major snapped. “I told you I thought you were right.”
“Thanks.”
“But—”
“See? This is why I avoided a finish. I didn’t want to hear the ‘but.’”
“But I don’t want your obsession, as noble as it is, to destroy you. Taking on somebody like a Thomas Wilcox—”
“Believe me, I’m aware of the risks involved. Look at what happened to you.”
“Then for god’s sake ask yourself if persisting is worth it. Can’t you just drop it?”
Trapper placed his hands on his hips. “Even though you think I’m right, I have ironclad integrity, conviction, etcetera, you’re advising that I drop it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Why?”
“Why should I drop it? Tell me. Give me a reason.”
“Because I want you to have a life.”
“I do. This is it.” He stabbed his finger toward the floor. “And this is the second time today I’ve had to tell somebody that.”
“Kerra?”
/> “You’ll be glad to know that she’s safely off my destructive path. She’s gone back to Dallas.”
“By choice? Or did you drive her away?”
He didn’t reply to that. Instead he said, “I’m not dropping it.”
“No matter what?”
Trapper held his father’s stare. “No matter what.” He turned and walked out.
“Hello, it’s Hank Addison.”
“I saw your name on the ID,” Kerra said. “I hope you’re not calling with bad news.”
“No, it’s good. You were kind enough to ask me to call you if things went south, but I thought you’d like to know that my dad was released. We just got him home. He’s irritable, but okay.”
She smiled into the phone. “Irritable is a good sign, I think. I know you’re all relieved.”
“I tried to reach Trapper to let him know, but Dad says he’s changed his phone number.”
“I’ll pass along the news. He’ll be glad to hear it.”
“I’m ashamed of myself for hitting him.”
“Even he admitted that he had it coming.”
“Still.” He paused, then, “Well, I won’t keep you.”
“Actually I’m glad you called. I went online and found the website for your church. The architectural renderings of the new tabernacle are most impressive. My schedule is in flux right now, but after I return to work and things settle down, would you agree to my doing a feature story on the church? If the stats on the website are true—”
“God would hold us accountable if we fudged on the stats.”
She laughed. “Would you agree to letting me do a story?”
“Absolutely.”
“Not so much from a proselytizing standpoint, but as an aspect of area growth. That kind of thing.”
“I’ll figure a way to work in the proselytizing without anybody noticing.”
“Great, then. I’ll be in touch, but in the meantime, please notify me if something of special interest occurs, and I’ll try to—” She broke off when she heard footsteps approaching the door. “Sorry, Hank. I need to run. I’m glad your father is doing well. Thank you for letting me know.”
She disconnected just as the lock clicked and Trapper pushed open the door. Seeing her, he stopped short of clearing the threshold. He looked around the room, taking in her bag on the floor in the corner, her laptop open on the table where she sat, her handbag on the dresser with a few articles scattered around it.