H and E RANCH
MR. and MRS. HENRY CALLAHAN
SPRUCE LAKE, NEW YORK
Sean wondered how Jon Callahan felt living out here with his uncle. Unmarried, commuting three hours to Montreal several times a month. Unless he had something else going on-something illegal and lucrative. Agent Victoria Sheffield had been investigating white-collar crimes that crossed the border. Sean could see all the pieces of the puzzle, but he didn’t know how they fit together-yet.
“Did you hear me?” Duke asked.
“Sorry, almost missed my turn.”
“Kane speculated that Bobbie Swain had planned for Corbin to take over.”
Sean’s truck bounced over the potholes and he had to slow even more. “You mean she started the war between Molina and Gomez in order for a dark horse to come in and take over?”
“Bingo.”
“Do you have any evidence? That’s pretty damn cold-blooded.”
“It is. There’s no proof and little talk. But Corbin knows certain information that only Molina had-Molina and his wife.”
“When did this happen?”
“Six years ago.”
“Around the same time Paul Swain was sent to prison. Could that be a coincidence?”
“You tell me.”
The driveway turned sharply to the left, then a well-lit house came into view. He turned off his headlights, drove past the house, and parked on the far side of the garage. The sudden silence was broken only by the tick of his cooling engine.
“I’m talking to Paul Swain tomorrow.”
“Watch out for him.”
“Kane have intel on him, too?”
“No, he doesn’t track the domestic drug trade. Never heard of Spruce Lake or Paul Swain, and Bobbie Swain dropped off his radar when she left Miami. He’s going to ask around, but doubts he’ll find out anything in the next day or two.”
“Meaning he’s not going to try.” Sean knew his brother well, better than Duke thought he did. Kane’s priorities were always at the top of the list. He had quiet disdain for small-time drug action. The low-level players were easy to take out, but another asshole always popped up.
“I’ll see what I can find out. Be careful, Sean. This woman sounds like a dangerous piece of work.”
“I know exactly what she is,” Sean said. “She’s a monster.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’ll talk to you later.” He hung up. Abigail Swain’s letter to her son made complete sense now.
Paul Swain had something on his sister, some piece of information that was so big that it would get him killed in prison. It might put her in jail for life, or possibly even get her killed. If it was so big that it had kept Bobbie out of Spruce Lake and away from Ricky Swain, it was likely connected to Herve Molina’s murder.
Bobbie Swain sounded ruthless, at least the way Kane portrayed her. But his oldest brother didn’t sugarcoat anything. A spade was a spade. A killer, a killer. No excuses, no explanations.
More than once Sean had threatened Duke that he’d head south and join Kane’s team of mercenaries. It was the surest way to get easygoing Duke riled up. Duke had spent three months in Central America with Kane’s team and returned a changed man. But Sean had never done it, and he’d always felt when he was younger that Duke thought he was too weak or too spoiled or too comfortable.
Sean saw the allure of fighting for something bigger than himself, fighting to save people from a fate worse than death. Rescuing young boys from the battlefield and giving them back to their mothers. Burning coca fields before harvest. Storming brothels where girls and women were held as sex slaves and bringing them to safety. Killing their captors because in some countries, there was no other justice.
But Sean feared that in such violent scenarios he might well lose his humanity. He could be trained to do what Kane did, but wouldn’t emerge unscathed. He sometimes wondered if his brother was superhuman, because no one could do what he did with his soul intact.
Sitting in the truck, Sean considered another theory about the sniper. Someone in town knew precisely what was going on and wanted Sean and Lucy out of the way before one or both of them was killed. The sniper hadn’t tried to kill him, true to his note. He thought he was doing them a favor.
Sean didn’t like the game, and he wasn’t leaving until he found out what had happened to Victoria Sheffield and Jimmy Benson. And he certainly wasn’t leaving until he had Ricky Swain in his custody. The kid was a wild card, potentially dangerous and also in danger. He could get himself killed if he confronted the wrong people. Someone who would kill a federal agent could just as easily kill a teenager seeking vengeance for his uncle’s death.
Sean quietly got out of the truck and pulled on a jacket. He walked up to the front door, acutely aware of the surrounding silence, marred only by occasional sounds of wildlife.
He knocked on the door, but it took a full minute before Henry Callahan answered. He stepped back, surprised by the visit. “Mr. Rogan.”
“Is your nephew Jon here?”
“No, he’s at the bar. Do you want to speak to him?”
“I actually came to talk to you. Do you have a minute?”
A flash of fear crossed the older man’s face. He glanced over his shoulder, as if someone were there. Sean whispered, “Are you alone?”
Henry motioned for Sean to enter, then closed the door. “My wife, Emily.”
She sat in a chair, white-haired and beautiful, but with eyes that were too bright, a handmade afghan on her lap, gently rocking her chair back and forth. A small, well-read Bible sat open on the blanket, the print so small Sean didn’t think she’d easily be able to read it. Comfort, possibly.
“She had a stroke last year. She’s in pain.”
She looked stoned to Sean, but if she was in pain he wasn’t going to criticize a septuagenarian for smoking a little pot, though he didn’t smell the telltale signs.
“Henry?” Emily questioned. She looked toward them, but didn’t seem to see them.
“Right here, dear.” He walked over and moved the thick glasses that were on a string around her neck to her face.
She focused on Henry and smiled. “Dear. We had a lovely drive today, didn’t we?”
“Yes, we did.”
“Who is your friend?”
“He’s a friend of Joe Hendrickson’s. You remember Joe?”
“Yes, of course I remember Joe. Why doesn’t he visit more often?”
“He died last year, honey. We went to his funeral.”
Her smile faltered. “I remember.” It was clear by her expression that she didn’t.
“I’m going to take Joe’s friend to the kitchen for a beer. Is that all right with you?”
“I’d like a beer, too.”
“You don’t like beer.”
“I think I might.”
“How about a martini? Extra vermouth and three olives?”
“That sounds lovely.”
Sean followed Henry through a large formal dining room that didn’t look as though it had been used for some time. One of the most famous reproductions of The Last Supper had a prominent position on one wall. Henry glanced at the picture, sadness in his eyes. He didn’t stop until they were in the back of the house, where a country-style kitchen looked far more lived in.
He cleared his throat. “Excuse me.”
His eyes were bright, not from pain or drugs, but emotion. “Usually, I’m okay with her forgetfulness, but it’s been a hard week.” He looked pointedly at Sean. “I think you know why.”
“I need answers, Henry. What’s going on in Spruce Lake?”
Henry sighed and pulled two bottles of beer from the refrigerator. He handed one to Sean and opened the other for himself. “I didn’t tell Emily your name so she won’t repeat that you were here. I don’t want to put you in more danger than you’re already in.”
“Explain.”
Henry shook his head and sat on a barstool, resting his elbows on the table.
Sean slammed his unopened beer bottle down on the kitchen counter. “I can bring in the cavalry-just say the word.”
“And tell them what? You bring in the police, they’ll find nothing, because your people need warrants. The bastards in charge will know before the ink is dry and destroy the evidence, then punish whoever they think turned them in. The devil you know …”
“I need your help,” Sean said.
“Paul Swain was a ruthless bastard, but he took care of this town. As long as you were on his side, he took care of you. Someone turned on him.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know. When he went to prison and the cops left, some of the players changed.”
Sean was getting frustrated. He didn’t have time for a history lesson, and he wished Henry would just spit it out.
“I know a lot more than you think I do.” The pieces were beginning to take form and Sean could see part of the bigger picture. “Before Paul Swain went to prison, someone undermined him. I don’t know how-by threat, bribery, sex-but when she got enough people over to her side, she turned her own brother in to the cops. Though Swain was in prison, he had something on her-something that would get her killed or imprisoned-so she stayed away.” As he spoke, Sean saw Henry’s expression grow darker. He knew Sean was talking about Bobbie Swain.
“Bobbie Swain couldn’t gloat or run the business the way she wanted, relying on people like your nephew Jon to keep it in line,” Sean continued. “But something changed, and Bobbie’s come back.”
“Dear God, you saw her?” A look of terror crossed Henry’s face.
“She was bartending tonight.”
Henry’s whole body sagged. Sean didn’t actually know everything that he’d just told Henry, but he’d been working on the theory after hearing what Duke told him about Miami. If Bobbie Swain was cold-blooded enough to kill her husband and frame another drug dealer, she was certainly cold-blooded enough to turn in her brother Paul.
“Jon heard she was coming back,” said Henry. “She called him, told him to convince Tim and Adam to postpone the resort. But you don’t understand-Jon’s not what you think he is. All he wants is to help people keep food on their table and a roof over their head. Protect them from Bobbie and her people.”
“So that’s why he bought up all the land? Put everyone into indentured servitude as a form of protection?”
“You should leave.”
“I’m not leaving without answers.”
“You won’t find them here.”
Sean turned away from Henry, frustrated but knowing that being a hard-ass with the old man wasn’t going to get him the answers he needed. Henry was more than a little scared-for himself and his ailing wife.
He glanced around the spacious kitchen, circa late fifties. The brown appliances, though old, fit with the colorful tiles and collection of spoons on the wall above the gas stove. It was homey and comfortable. The dishes had been hand-washed and were drying in a rack on the counter. On the refrigerator were a variety of magnets from local businesses holding up faded pictures of Henry and Emily, some showing a younger, happier couple. Jon Callahan was in many of them. There were also snapshots from important events-his college graduation stood out.
Sean walked over to look at the pictures, but didn’t really focus. He finally opened his beer and drank a long swallow. He’d taken the wrong tack with Henry. Maybe if he came back with Lucy, they could convince him to trust them.
Sean stared at one half-hidden photograph of Jon Callahan with a familiar blond woman. It was taken outside during spring or summer, the trees lush and green. He pulled it off the refrigerator. The blonde was turned partly away from the camera, so he only saw her profile, and her face was partly obscured by her long hair. But it was clear from her smile and their pose that she and Jon were more than friends.
He showed the picture to Henry. “Who is this?” He didn’t need to ask, his gut told him he knew who the woman was, but he wanted to hear it from Henry.
Henry looked up with a long, sad face. “Jon’s fiancee.”
Sean hadn’t been expecting that answer. “Fiancee?”
“She died.”
“How?”
“You need to leave.”
“My girlfriend found Jon’s fiancee dead in the mine. Now her body is missing. Pack a bag for your wife, I’ll get you out of town tonight.”
“You saw my wife! She can’t travel; she can barely remember what she likes to drink and eat. She’s dying. She needs to die in her own home.”
“Henry, you’re not thinking straight.” Sean ran a hand through his hair, wishing again Lucy was here. “Did Jon kill her? Is that why you’re scared?”
Henry shook his head. “He loved her more than anything.”
Frustrated and desperate, Sean said, “Did you know she was an FBI agent? Did she find out what Jon was doing-”
Henry cut him off. “You have to leave. If they’re watching me you may have just signed my death warrant, Mr. Rogan. Leave now. I’m not asking again.”
“Dammit, Henry!”
“Don’t swear at me, young man!” Henry rose from the stool. He still looked old, but he had fire in him. “You came to town three days ago and think you can solve generations’s worth of problems? Spruce Lake has been on the wrong side of the law for more than a century, starting with Paul’s great-grandfather, one of the original moonshiners in the county. Smuggling into Canada is as old as sin for our town. Alcohol, cigarettes, meth, marijuana-what’s next? I don’t know, but we’ll be in the middle of it, and nothing you or I can do will stop it. These folks have killed for far less. And now that Bobbie Swain is in town-so help us God, she’ll slash and burn on a whim if it strikes her fancy. I’m telling you to get out now, before you’re not able to.”
“Please, I need-”
Henry put up his hand. “Go, before Jon comes home. Last year, he would have agreed to help you. Now, I don’t think he has a soul. Bobbie destroyed it. I can’t do anything. I’m sorry.”
Sean wanted to argue, but Henry was right-he couldn’t be here when Jon Callahan returned. If only to protect Henry and Emily. Yet, Henry didn’t seem to fear his nephew.
He handed Henry his card. “Call me. I’ll drop everything to help.”
Henry stared at Sean, tears in his eyes. “Leave Spruce Lake tonight, Sean. Take your pretty lady with you. And never come back.”
Sean shook his head. “I’m not going anywhere until I stop that woman.”
“You don’t know Bobbie. She’s a monster.”
Sean had heard it before. “I’ve slain dragons before. I’m not going to be scared away by Bobbie Swain.” He walked out the way he came. Mrs. Callahan smiled at him. “Nice to see you again.”
Sean understood Henry’s fear. He was protecting his wife from a monster. Sean looked around the comfortable, simply furnished home. The handmade blankets. The clean, worn furniture. The older-model television. Stitchery on the walls, a framed hand-stitched ornate cross embroidered with the words I am the vine, you are the branches.
Simple home, simple people. If Jon Callahan was making a fortune in the drug business, he wasn’t sharing it with his family.
He looked at Henry one last time before leaving. “Remember what I said.”
On his way back to the lodge, Sean called Patrick. “I need to change the plans for tomorrow.” He told his partner about the possible threat to Lucy. “Lucy’s the only one who saw the body in the mine, and right now no one knows we’ve already identified the victim.” He doubted Henry would say anything.
“So what are we doing to keep her safe?” Patrick asked.
“I need Noah to come with you on the commuter flight tomorrow morning.” As much as he disliked Noah, the Fed was a former Air Force Raven and a good cop. Sean didn’t particularly like the plan he’d come up with, but it was the best way to make sure nothing happened to Lucy on her way to Albany.
TWENTY-FOUR
Coming home is always bittersweet.
Ian and I finished inspecting the barns, the pleasing, sweet smell of drying cannabis making me proud of what I’d accomplished. This was the end of an era; I was ushering in the future. On Sunday, I would lead my men down a richer path.
“Are you ready to go?” Ian asked.
“A minute,” I said. I told Ian to run through the plan again with the others. Though he was irritated, he agreed, leaving me alone.
I enjoyed Ian, but he was becoming clingy. On our return trip from Potsdam, we had to pull over for a fast screw. It was fun, but not as exciting as in the past. I appreciated Ian’s attention, but he was too subservient when I wanted him to take charge.
I sighed and walked around the side of the barn farthest from the house, looking out into the dark valley spread all around. A coyote called, followed by another. I heard the flapping of wings-bats, I figured, this time of night. A perfect, crisp quarter moon sliced the sky, surrounded by a field of stars.
My empire.
As a child, Spruce Lake was truly my kingdom. I was the princess, my father the king, my brothers the two princes, the townsfolk our servants. Daddy taught us the power of fear. He’d never expected that it would be his daughter who learned the lesson best.
Paul was Daddy’s pride and joy. Paul could do no wrong. I hated him because Daddy loved him best. As if being born with a penis gave him the right to the keys of the kingdom.
Paul became the king when Daddy died, even though Daddy promised to hand the reins to me. Paul banished me when he saw I was a threat. That I was smarter than him, more ruthless, more focused.
My brother lost his focus when he fell for a woman.
He was in l-o-v-e. I was eager to see how long that would last when I told the little lady just how our family made our money.
Sweet dumb little Abigail deserved to know who she had married. That Paul killed for Daddy. That he ran drugs up to Canada with the oh-so-proper Jon Callahan. That he’d screwed half the women in Spruce Lake. He especially liked to screw them from behind like dogs, and I had a few tapes to prove it.
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