by Ben Rehder
When the kid got within twenty yards, Colby saw that his face was covered in brown and black grease paint—and blood. Lots of blood.
Colby opened his truck door and stepped out. He wanted to be prepared for whatever might happen next.
“May I help you?” said a woman’s voice from the keypad. Caroline was finally answering.
Suddenly the kid took a left and began to follow the fence line parallel to the road.
Colby didn’t know what to make of it. Hadn’t the kid seen Colby parked here? He appeared to be in a hurry—possibly needing help—so Colby had expected him to come straight to the gate and tell Colby what was happening.
Colby got back into this truck, started the engine, and backed out. He dropped it into forward gear and idled slowly along the county road. In just a few seconds, he had pulled even with the kid, who was moving along as fast as he could, without actually running.
“Hey, you need some help?” Colby called out.
The kid ignored him.
“You okay?”
No reaction.
“How did you get hurt?”
Still nothing.
“Were you hunting?” Colby asked. At this point, he was wondering if the kid was a poacher trying to leave as quickly as possible. That, or his head injury had knocked him loopy.
A large cluster of cedar trees on Colby’s side of the fence blocked his view of the kid, who was out of sight for several seconds. Then the kid came around the side of the trees, now on this side of the fence. There had to be a hole in the fence, because the kid certainly hadn’t climbed over.
Before Colby could say anything more, the kid looked right at him, then cut across in front of Colby’s truck, crossing the county road. He stepped over a chain strung between two posts, and hobbled along a caliche driveway until he was out of sight.
Colby pulled over to the side of the road.
What in the holy hell was going on?
Call Marlin? Call the sheriff’s department?
Before Colby could make up his mind, here came the kid again, moving faster now, and coming directly toward Colby’s truck.
He hopped over the chain and stepped right up to Colby’s open passenger-side window.
“I need help! Can you help me?”
The kid was frantic. Nearly crying.
“What’s going on?” Colby said.
“He has her. Some big guy with a rifle has Jessi.”
Who was Jessi? Did it matter? Not really. But Colby had a pretty good idea who the big guy was.
“What the...” Red said. “I don’t...”
He was watching through the binoculars and he couldn’t figure out what in the hell was happening.
Phil Colby was parked in the driveway, and then he got out of his truck, and then Red saw somebody hobbling toward the gate from the other side, and then Red realized it was the kid from the Hyundai, decked out in camo and grease paint, with an injured leg and blood on his face, and then the kid veered to his left and followed the fence line, and then Colby got back into his truck and started to slowly follow the kid.
“Is that...” Billy Don said.
“Yeah,” Red said. “It’s him.”
The kid was momentarily obscured behind some trees, and then he was suddenly on this side of the fence, meaning there must be a hole, and then the kid ran in front of Colby’s truck and clumsily hopped over the chain between the posts, and now Red couldn’t see him anymore, because there were too many trees in the way.
“Where’s the girl?” Billy Don said.
“Got me.”
“What’s happening?”
“Don’t know. But the kid didn’t drop the chain, which means he might not be leaving.”
“Or he forgot,” Billy Don said. “He’s freakin’ out about something.”
Red waited and watched. Phil Colby had pulled his truck to the side of the road, near the chained driveway, and was just sitting there. Nothing happened for at least thirty seconds.
Then the kid came back. He hopped over the chain again and went directly to the passenger-side window of Colby’s truck. They were having an animated conversation. The kid pointed toward the Endicott ranch.
Then Colby stepped out of his truck with a pistol in his hand.
“I got no idea what’s happening,” Red said, “but I’m pretty sure we don’t want to miss out on it.”
Billy Don already had his door open.
37
“What did you and that kid do?” the big man said through clenched teeth. He was still looking at the column of smoke, but now he glared at Jessi. “You burn my house down?”
“We paid you back,” Jessi said, trying to sound brave. “You deserved it. You’re lucky we didn’t do worse.”
“Paid me back for what? What the hell are you talking about? I don’t even know who you are.”
“Paid you back for being a murderer,” Jessi said, because that’s what hunting was. Murder. Hunters murdered animals. There was no other word for it.
And the big man did something Jessi didn’t expect at all. He began to grin. He was obviously amused by her comment—amused by slaughtering animals. What a sicko.
Then he said, “You kin to Harley Frizzell?”
“Who?”
“That’s what this is all about, huh? You think I murdered that old man? Well, I didn’t kill him. But I know who did.”
Jessi said, “Dude...what’re you even talking about?”
John Marlin was five miles south of Blanco on Highway 281 when his phone rang. Phil Colby calling.
“What’s up?” Marlin said.
“You need to come to the Endicott ranch right now.”
There was no mistaking the urgent tone in Colby’s voice.
“What’s going on?” Marlin said.
Colby replied, but the connection wasn’t very good. The Central Texas hills played havoc with the signal.
“Phil, I can’t hear you.”
“Hold on a sec,” Colby said, apparently speaking to somebody with him. He sounded out of breath. Then, to Marlin, he said, “Aaron Endicott took a young girl. We’re looking for her right now and we need your help. Or send a deputy. Somebody needs to come right now.”
“What do you mean he took her? What girl?”
Marlin heard noise, and he assumed Colby was on the move, maybe running.
“Phil, where are you right now?”
More noise. Then Colby said, “I’m on the Endicott ranch, not far from the front gate.” He was breathing rapidly.
Marlin had just turned right on Ranch Road 473. Just a few miles to the ranch.
“Phil, you need to stop and tell me exactly what is going on.”
No reply. Just noise.
“Phil, do not do anything. Wait for me to get there.”
“Hurry, John,” Colby said.
“Tell me what’s happening.”
“I told you!” Colby said. “Two kids were on the Endicott ranch. Aaron busted the boy’s face with the butt of a rifle, then took off with his girlfriend. Her name is Jessi. The boy is Liam. They’re from Nebraska. That’s all I know. And we’re going to look for her. Oh, goddamn!”
“What happened?”
“Red O’Brien and Billy Don Craddock are here. They came up from behind me. Freaked me out.”
Colby said something else that was garbled by a poor signal. Then the call disconnected.
Marlin immediately called back, but it went straight to voicemail. He stomped the accelerator, and just as he grabbed his microphone to call for back-up from any available officer in the area, he heard the dispatcher say a large structure fire had been reported at the Endicott ranch.
Colby had no idea how or why Red O’Brien and Billy Don Craddock were suddenly behind him and this Liam kid, but he didn’t really care. These two rednecks were a couple of the biggest idiots around, but Colby didn’t care about that, either. More manpower was more manpower, and even though these two yahoos hardly had a complete high school educati
on between them, they did know how to stalk prey in the woods. Colby noticed that Red O’Brien was carrying a Colt revolver. Craddock was unarmed.
Colby quickly said, “One of the Endicotts knocked this kid out, then grabbed his girlfriend. We’re gonna go get her back. Y’all want to help?”
“Hell, yeah,” O’Brien said.
“That’s why we’re here,” Craddock said.
Colby turned toward Liam. “Which way?”
The big man said, “I’m talking about that old man. What’re you talking about?”
“Who are you?” Jessi said.
“No, who the fuck are you? Why did you burn my house down?”
He wasn’t pointing the rifle directly at her at this moment. Maybe she should run. Maybe it was her only chance. But she didn’t have the guts. Right now, showing him some attitude seemed to be working, so why not continue?
“Tell me your name and I’ll tell you why we did it,” she said.
“You’re a stubborn little bitch, aren’t you?”
“Hey, fuck you.”
He let out a sigh, then said, “Aaron.”
“Aaron what?”
“That’s all you’re getting,” he said.
“Okay, Aaron. We did it because the Endicotts murder animals,” she said. “And apparently you do, too.”
He appeared puzzled or confused. “That’s a joke, right? Are you for real?”
“Absolutely.”
“I murder animals.”
“That’s right. You sit in a tree with a rifle and assassinate them.”
“They are animals,” he said. “You can’t murder ’em.”
“Sure you can. That’s what people like you do.”
“What about when you eat a hamburger?” Aaron said. “Was the cow murdered? Or when you eat chicken strips or pork chops?”
“I don’t eat meat of any kind.”
“You’re fucking crazy,” Aaron said.
“Why? Because I don’t kill living creatures?”
Aaron was shaking his head, perplexed, and he had obviously decided it wasn’t worth the argument. He pointed the rifle at her. “Down the hill.”
“I’ll make you a deal,” she said, trying to stall. “I’ll go down the hill if you tell me what you meant about that old man.”
They moved in single file, with the kid out front, but it was obvious that his leg was causing him more pain with every step. Colby was becoming impatient.
Based on what he knew about Aaron Endicott, this girl Jessi was in serious danger. It had been tempting to let Marlin and the sheriff’s deputies handle it, but what if Endicott did something to the girl before they arrived? Colby hadn’t been willing to take that chance.
Liam stumbled and fell, letting out a grunt of pain in the process. Prior to that, Colby had noticed that the kid was unsteady on his feet. He could very well have a concussion. Colby leaned down to help him up. Hell, he could be delusional. Wouldn’t that be funny if the kid was imagining all this?
“Whoa,” Billy Don Craddock said. “Check it out.”
He was pointing slightly to the right, to the two o’clock position, where a tall column of black smoke could be seen above the treetops. This was not the typical gray smoke from a pile of burning brush or a grass fire. Something much bigger and more toxic, such as a structure, was burning.
“You know anything about that?” Colby asked Liam.
He nodded his head and suddenly seemed defiant. “Damn right. We did it.”
Marlin rounded a curve and saw Phil Colby’s truck parked on the side of the county road, about sixty yards from the gate to the Endicott ranch. Marlin whipped his own truck over to the side of the road, killed the engine, and hopped out.
He had already called for assistance. Unfortunately, there wasn’t another game warden, a deputy, or even a state trooper within ten miles of this location. Several units were now en route, but Marlin couldn’t wait for them to arrive—not when so many individuals were in danger.
Marlin grabbed his Sako .270 from the overhead rifle rack, but he didn’t bother with the handheld radio because, as he’d heard one warden put it, you could yell farther than those radios would transmit.
He hustled over to Colby’s truck to look inside. Empty, which is what he expected. But why had Colby parked here, rather than by the gate? How had he, Red O’Brien, and Billy Don Craddock gotten onto the property? Climbed the eight-foot fence?
Marlin crossed the county road and made his way toward a thick cluster of cedar trees between the road and the fence. He had a hunch. Sure enough, after he had circled the trees, he spotted a hidden hole in the fence. He slipped through it.
Now what? Which direction?
He pulled his phone to try calling Colby again, but he had no signal.
“Dude, that’s really fucked up,” Jessi said.
“It’s the truth,” Aaron said. “You don’t believe me?”
Jessi didn’t know what to say, and apparently her failure to answer immediately pissed him off.
“Down the hill,” he said once more.
“Sorry, I lied,” Jessi said. “I’m not going anywhere.”
He raised the rifle to his shoulder.
Jessi said, “If you’re going to shoot me, you’ll have to shoot me right here.”
“Think I won’t?”
“No, I think you probably will, because you’re a murderer.”
“You need to stop saying that. You’re making me mad.”
“Why do you shoot animals? I don’t understand why anyone would do that. Doesn’t it seem strange to sit in a tree and shoot living creatures?”
She was still stalling, plain and simple, because she didn’t want to go down the hill, and because she didn’t know what else to do. Maybe Liam would show up and rescue her. But how? What could Liam do against this enormous man with a rifle?
“Think I’m going to explain that to you?” he said. “Waste of time.”
“We set the fire to make a statement,” Liam said.
“About what?” Colby said quietly. “Never mind. I don’t care. Not right now. We need to find your girlfriend and you’re slowing us down. So you need to—”
“I’m going with you,” Liam said.
“Keep your voice down. You can hardly walk.”
Liam opened his mouth, but Red O’Brien said, “Kid, just do what he says. This ain’t up for debate.”
“Go back to your car and wait,” Colby said.
“But you won’t know which direction to go,” Liam said.
“Toward the house, right?” Colby said. “And you’re just guessing anyway. They could’ve gone anywhere.”
Liam didn’t argue.
“How far to the hill?” Colby asked.
“Probably a hundred yards,” Liam said.
Colby nodded. “Go back to your car.”
“Why is it a waste of time?” Jessi asked.
“Because wackos like you never listen.”
Now Jessi had a more hopeful thought. Maybe Liam had gone back to the car and was calling the police right now. It meant they’d get caught for the arson, but that was better than being killed and buried in the woods.
“I’ll listen,” she said. “Tell me.”
“Bullshit.”
“You don’t seem very concerned about your house burning down.”
“Fuck, no.”
“Why not?”
“I hate it here. I don’t give a damn. That’s what insurance is for. But it sucks that you killed my three dogs.”
Oh my god, dogs! Jessi had never considered that there might be pets inside the house. This was horrible.
Then Aaron began to laugh. His laugh was as ugly as he was. Sort of a cross between a cackle and a snort.
“Asshole,” she said. “You don’t have any dogs.”
“Nope.”
“That’s just mean.”
Aaron plainly wasn’t quite right in the head. Even though he had no pets, why wouldn’t he care about all of his pos
sessions being destroyed by fire?
And now something else occurred to Jessi. The houses on the ranch were spaced far apart, but surely one of the Endicotts—or one of their employees—had noticed the fire by now. And they would have called 9-1-1. Even if Liam wasn’t calling the cops, firefighters would descend on the ranch very soon. Dozens of vehicles with lights and sirens.
“Enough stalling,” he said.
“How about if I just leave?” Jessi said. “And I won’t tell anyone you pointed a gun at me.”
“Down the hill,” he said.
“Why? What are you going to do to me down there?”
He just looked at her, shaking his head. “My phone is in my truck. I’m gonna call the sheriff. What the hell do you think I’m gonna do?”
Before Jessi could think of an answer, she looked over Aaron’s shoulder, because she saw movement behind him, in the trees, no more than fifty yards away. Was it Liam?
Aaron said, “I’m not falling for that bullshit.”
She kept watching. If it was Liam, he wasn’t alone. She saw at least three figures creeping through the shadows under the large oak trees. One of the figures was almost as large as Aaron was.
“How dumb do you think I am?” Aaron said.
Jessi brought her eyes back to meet his. “I don’t think you’re dumb at all, Aaron.”
Was she smiling? She was trying not to, but there was a good chance her relief was showing on her face.
Finally Aaron couldn’t resist it any longer. He took a quick peek back, and when he did, Jessi immediately sprinted to her left, heading for another nearby grove of trees.
She made it about twenty yards before she heard a gunshot.
38
Marlin moved swiftly but cautiously through the open areas between groups of trees, keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of movement. He didn’t want to make his own presence too obvious.
He paused for a moment once more to check his phone. Still no signal. Couldn’t call Colby. Couldn’t call the dispatcher, or any of the responding deputies, to let them know what was happening.