by Gen Griffin
“A soda?” Gracie pulled back away from him reluctantly.
“My throat hurts.”
“Orange soda with a whole bunch of ice in it?” Gracie asked him.
Addison nodded. “Please.”
“Are you allowed to have soda?”
“He'll be fine, Gracie.” Cal reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He handed it to her. “Get me a coke too, while you're down there.”
“Okay,” Gracie stood up and smiled gently at her brother. “But only because I love you.”
Addison quirked his lips up in a half-smile. Two seconds later, Gracie was gone and the door had shut behind her.
“Tell me everything,” Addison said.
Cal sighed. “Everything as in what happened to you, or everything as in explain exactly how much hell has rained down on us since it happened?”
Addison held up two fingers. His throat hurt too badly to talk and breathing itself was getting progressively more painful as the meds they had pumped him full of continued to wear off.
“We know that Trish's ex-husband shot you. He then proceeded to steal your truck and drive it here to the hospital, where he snuck into Grover's room and murdered him.”
“Fuck.” Addison's throat didn't hurt too badly for cussing.
“He tried to kidnap Trish. He broke her arm, but she escaped. Unfortunately, so did the ex-husband.”
“Y'all didn't get him?” Now Addison was surprised.
“Not yet. Breedlove went after him when we got the call that you'd been shot and he'd taken your truck. He's determined to kill the bastard.”
“I need to talk to him.”
Cal snorted. “Good luck. He's not answering anyone's phone calls. Not mine. Not Gracie's. I don't even think he's talking to Trish.”
“He can't blame her,” Addison said. “This isn't her fault. It's mine. I provoked the guy. I held a gun to his head and then shot just past him.”
“Jesus Christ. Why?”
“I wanted to scare him away from her. She's afraid of him.”
“With damn good reason.”
Gracie walked back into the room carrying several drinks. “Here y'all go.”
“Thanks.” Cal smiled at Gracie as he took the drink from her.
Addison reached up to take his drink, but when he tried to grasp it, his grip was too weak to hold it up. Gracie picked it up and held the straw up to his lips for him.
Addison took a tentative sip of the drink. It felt a lot better than the water had. He took several more sips. He drank half the glass in less than two minutes.
“Okay, you're going to make yourself sick.” Gracie pulled the drink away from him. “Though Mom was screaming at your doctor in the hallway when I was coming back with your drink. He said the drink wouldn't hurt you, but not to bring you any solid foods or cigarettes.”
“Damn, I could use the cigarettes.”
“Not a chance,” Cal said.
“How about my phone?”
“If I knew where it was,” Cal said.
“We think it got stolen with your truck. No one has been able to find it,” Gracie explained.
“Shit.” Addison gestured for Gracie to give him back the drink. “Give me your phone.”
“He's not going to answer.” Cal pulled his own cell phone out of his pocket and pressed a couple of buttons on it. “But it's dialing.”
“Keep calling until the son of a bitch answers.”
Cal laughed. “Damn am I glad you're not dead.”
Chapter 14
David's cell phone refused to stop ringing. He was surprised it was still working considering how many times he'd accidentally submerged it in water during the last 24 hours.
“Are you going to answer that?” Ian asked.
“No.” David looked at the muddy ditch that separated the road from the cypress swamp that bordered the lake. “He can't have gotten that far. Why am I not seeing any fresh tracks heading into the woods.”
“Maybe he didn't come this way?” Ian suggested.
“There wasn't any other way for him to go,” David pointed out. “Kerry would have seen him.”
“Maybe Kerry did see him,” Ian suggested.
“What?” David frowned at his cousin.
“Kerry hauled out of here just as soon as you and I started hunting for Curtis. He said he had go worship the god of the porcelain throne.”
“You didn't believe him?” David was genuinely surprised.
Ian shrugged. “If you didn't think there was anything weird going on then don't worry about it. We both know I'm not half as smart as you.”
“I'm not on my A-game,” David said. “It hasn't been a good week for me.”
Ian hesitated and then shrugged. “Kerry hates you, David. He thinks you murdered Casey. He thinks that body under your trailer was Casey's.”
“He's wrong.” David blew off Ian's concerns without elaborating. “Tell me why you think Kerry was lying about having to go take a shit.”
“I don't know for sure that he was lying.” Ian adapted to the change in conversation topic well enough.
“But?”
“Kerry beat you to the landing, right?”
“Yeah,” David nodded. “Mason Slaughter was tracking Addison's truck by GPS. He was calling the location to me over the phone. I guess he called it through dispatch too.”
Ian nodded. “I got the call when it came through dispatch. I was fifteen minutes out.”
“Kerry must have been pretty close to the landing if he beat both of us to it.”
“Well, you see, that's the funny part.” Ian started gnawing on his lower lip as David's phone continued to ring in his pocket.
David pressed the ignore button again. “Spit it out, Ian.”
“Kerry was already off duty when that call came through.”
“What?” David was startled.
“Kerry had called in that he was going off duty more than an hour before Mason helped you track Addison's truck to Hollow Point Landing.”
“You're sure?”
“Yeah, I'm sure. I thought it was kind of bullshit and I said so. He told me-.”
“He told you what?”
“He said that Addy getting shot wasn't his problem. He thinks Addison got what he had coming to him.”
“Addy got what he had coming to him?” David felt a fresh burst of anger flare through his veins.
“Because of Casey.”
“Remind me to kill that little twerp.” David automatically checked the number of shells he had loaded into the shotgun.
“Kerry had already gone home for the night when Mason put his call about the truck through dispatch,” Ian said. “Why would he rush back on duty to track down a truck he spent most of the day refusing to search for?”
“What do you mean?”
“He sat his ass next to the on ramp of the interstate all day. His cruiser never moved. I drove past him three dozen times. He looked like he was reading a book behind the wheel of his cruiser.”
“You're not serious.”
“I ain't dumb enough to lie to you,” Ian said.
David gritted his teeth together. “You're telling me that Kerry refused to help with the search for Addison's truck, went off duty and then somehow managed to go back on duty and beat me to the truck, even though I was chasing the suspect in the truck?”
“That's what I'm telling you, but it doesn't even seem to make sense to me.” Ian shrugged.
“You're right. It doesn't make sense.” David stuck the butt of the shotgun into the mud and then leaned on it. “If Kerry doesn't care about Addison, why would he have gone chasing after the guy who shot him?”
“More importantly, how did he beat you to the truck?”
“Good question.” David bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. “You think he saw Curtis escape?”
“Do you think he could have beaten you to the truck without seeing Curtis?” Ian asked. “I mean, that motor was still smoking when I pulled up
. You had to be hot on his trail.”
“And now we can't find any sign of Curtis.” David was more than slightly bothered by this revelation. “And Kerry's hauled ass out of here.”
“It just doesn't sit right with me,” Ian chewed on his lip, looking as lost in thought as David had ever seen him look.
“Me neither.” David's phone started ringing again. This time he pulled it out and looked down at the display. Cal's name was flashing in green writing against the blue background. He pressed the answer button.
“I think we have a problem.”
“No shit. I took a goddamned bullet for you.” Addison's voice was cracking and hoarse, but it sent a sudden flush of relief through David.
“Holy crap. Addy?”
“I had to call you 27 times in a row for you to answer. That's kind of bullshit, considering that I'm laying strapped to a hospital bed.” Addison sounded like shit but he was alive. That was good enough for David.
“I haven't been answering the phone for anybody,” David said. “Been kind of preoccupied with this whole loose murderer problem we're having.”
“You get him yet?”
“No,” David said with a sigh. “I've got your truck though.”
“Tell me that it still runs.”
“Not exactly,” David nearly smiled. “Dude, I can't tell you how glad I am to hear your voice.”
“You didn't think I was going to die, did you?” Addison sounded amused.
“Maybe there was more than one reason I wasn't answering my phone,” David unexpectedly admitted. “Not that I thought you were dead. I mean, I wasn't letting myself think that you could be dead.”
“I'm not dead. But Trish's ex is psycho, David.”
“I noticed,” David grumbled.
“Then why aren't you with her right now?”
David didn't have a good answer to that question. “Trish is with Cal.”
“No, she's not. Cal's with me.”
“Trish isn't with Cal?” David's heart dropped into the pit of his stomach.
Addison said something to someone in the background and then came back on the line. “Cal says she went home. He thinks she's blaming herself for me getting shot.”
“It's my fault you got shot, not Trish's.” David suddenly felt incredibly tired and beaten down.
“It's my own fault that I got shot,” Addy sounded annoyed now. “I was the one who beat the guy up and put a bullet past his right ear. I threatened him. I misjudged him. I failed to recognize him when I saw him on the side of the road. He got the drop on me.”
“I knew Trish was afraid of him. I should have handled the son of a bitch myself before we got to this point.”
“I thought we agreed it was a bad idea to keep hiding bodies?” Addison's voice sounded surprisingly steady.
“I didn't say a damn word about hiding bodies,” David pointed out.
“Look, Curtis is going to come after Trish again. That's why I just called you 27 times in a row. He said he'd never let her go and I believe him. He's willing to kill multiple people to keep her.”
“Why do you think I'm trying to hunt the bastard down in this godforsaken storm?” David asked.
“You don't need to be out chasing lunatics through a storm. You need to be with Trish.”
“I think Trish might hate me right now,” David voiced his darkest fear aloud.
“What?”
“I failed her, Addy. I promised I would protect her and then I let her get attacked by her insane ex-husband. I failed her.” David's voice broke from stress and frustration. “I completely and totally failed her.”
“And you think hunting down Curtis and killing him is the only way she'll forgive you?”
“Its the only way I'm going to forgive myself,” David choked on the words.
“Trish isn't going to blame you for what Curtis has done,” Addison said. “You're human. Short of killing the bastard in cold blood, there was nothing you could have done to prevent any of this.”
David took a deep breath and nodded, only to realize that Addy couldn't see him. “Have I mentioned that I'm really glad you aren't dead?”
“I love you too,” Addison said.
“You love me?” David snorted doubtfully.
“Like a brother,” Addison replied. “And since I got shot today, I'm not feeling real shy about admitting it.”
“I love you too. Like a brother.” David was surprised to realize that he was close to crying.
“Stop hunting for Curtis. You need to be with Trish. Stay with her long enough and Curtis is going to turn up on his own.”
“What am I going to do if I show up on her doorstep and she says she hates me?” David asked.
“She won't.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because she's Trish. She'll think you hate her.”
“Why the hell would she think I was mad at her?”
“Because she's Trish. Now stop asking questions and go protect your girl. The doctor just showed up in my room and he says he wants to stuff me full of painkillers. My chest feels like its on fire, so I'm going to let him. Try not to do anything too heroically stupid before my stitches heal, okay?”
David had to smile as Addison said his goodbye and then hung up the phone.
“Was that really Addy?” Ian asked.
David had nearly forgotten that Ian was still standing with him on the side of Hollow Point Landing Road. “Yeah. It was Addy.”
“He's okay?”
“He says he is.”
“That's a relief.”
“It is.” David took a deep breath and scanned the road one last time, searching for any sign of Curtis. He wasn't seeing any area of the woods that looked like a big man had recently gone through it. “He wants me to stop searching for Curtis. He says I need to take care of Trish.”
Ian shrugged. “Its your call. Do what you think is right.”
“I don't know what's right anymore.” David chewed the inside of his cheek as he considered what Ian had said about Kerry. “But I don't see any sign of Curtis out here and its getting late. I don't know how he got away from that landing, but he did.”
“What about Kerry?” Ian asked.
“What about Kerry?” David repeated the question back at him. Talking to Addison had made him feel significantly calmer and more rational about the entire situation.
“Do you think he let Curtis go?” Ian asked.
“I have no idea,” David said. “Kerry's behavior is definitely off, but he's never exactly been normal. Maybe he saw where Curtis went but he didn't want to tell me.”
“Why would he do that?” Ian appeared genuinely confused.
“Maybe he wanted to catch Curtis all by himself.”
“You think he wants the credit for catching Grover's killer?”
“I think that Kerry is probably half a fuck up away from being fired by the Sheriff. Catching a wanted fugitive might earn him a few desperately needed brownie points.” David adjusted his grip on the shotgun and began walking back towards the lake itself. “My guess is that he saw where Curtis went and he purposely let me go in the wrong direction. He waited until you and I left and then he went after Curtis on his own.”
“That would explain why he drove off right after we left,” Ian said.
“It would.”
“What's going to happen if Kerry can't bring Curtis in on his own?” Ian asked. “I mean, Curtis took down Addison. Addy's a hell of a lot tougher than Kerry ever thought about being.”
“Addison got taken by surprise. If Kerry gets attacked and killed by Curtis after lying to me about where Curtis went, then he deserves whatever happens to him. I'm not chasing after him. I have enough people to worry about.”
“Kerry's on his own?”
“It's sure as hell not my job to save him.” David brushed his soaking wet hair away from his face as they walked back down the road. “I don't care what happens to Kerry. I kind of hope he gets killed. It would serve his
ass right for lying to me and sending me off on this wild goose chase.”
Chapter 15
“What can I get you tonight, sweetheart?” An unfamiliar graying waitress hovered over Trish's table for one with her order pad in her hand. “We have our shrimp and jalapeno house salad on special tonight. Just $6.99.”
Trish debated having the salad for approximately four seconds. She'd liked salads before Curtis had nagged and shamed her into eating them every day for lunch and dinner for nearly a year. “Screw the salad,” she said. “I'll take a bacon cheeseburger with curly fries and a bottle of Bud Light.”
“Feeling shameless tonight, are we?” The waitress looked her up and down twice before jotting the order down on the notepad without asking Trish to prove she was old enough to legally drink.
“Just too tired to care about my jean size.” Trish stared out the window across the darkened bayou. The Shrimp Bar was a popular local restaurant, though not all that popular on a weekday night. There were more empty tables in the restaurant than full ones. Trish didn't recognize any familiar faces, which was a relief. She had chosen to drive all the way to Canterville to get dinner because she didn't feel like trying to explain her role in any of the disastrous events that had occurred over the last 48 hours. Southerners loved to gossip and Trish just wasn't feeling the urge to share.
The waitress brought back her beer as well as a plate of complimentary chips and salsa. Trish stared at the backside of her cell phone as she picked up a chip. She didn't know if she was hoping the phone would ring or if she wanted it to stay quiet for the rest of the night. She'd woken up from her nap shortly after the sun had set. The air conditioner in Grover's house had gone on the fritz again and Trish had found herself sweat soaked and starving. David hadn't called her. She'd taken a second shower and gotten dressed in a bright pink cotton sundress that was far more comfortable than it was stylish. Her dark hair was hanging down in loose, scraggly waves because she lacked the talent necessary to style it one-handed. She'd gone outside and gotten in the truck, thinking she would head to the diner to grab a bite to eat. That thought had lasted just long enough for her to notice that the parking lot of the small-town restaurant was overflowing with cars.