Six Cut Kill

by David R Lewis

  Suzanne giggled. “We’re in couples’ therapy,” she said. “Our therapist says we’re doing very well. We’re on our way to the city for a date and just wanted to let you know that you did a good thing, and we’re grateful.”

  “Thank you,” Crockett said.

  “No, Underwood said, offering his hand again. “Thank you.”

  “We appreciate you,” Suzanne said, rising to her tiptoes and kissing Crockett on the cheek.

  “Good luck,” Crockett replied as the two of them skittered out the door. He turned to see Marge frowning at him from the radio cubicle.

  “Not a snowball’s chance in hell,” she said.

  “Why Margie,” Crockett said, “you sentimental fool, you.”

  Marge glowered at him. “Just ‘cause I’m a pushover, don’t you git no ideas. I got pepper spray.”

  Crockett blew her a kiss and headed back to the truck.

  He wasn’t back on the street for five minutes before the radio crackled to life.

  HQ, Hart two.”

  “Go ahead, HQ.”

  “Hart two, 10-25 post one. See the woman.”

  Aw, hell. Again? “Ten-four, headquarters. En route.”

  Parked in front of the cop shop was a slightly beat up white Ford Ranger with an extended cab and a Missouri plate. He de-trucked and walked into the lobby. The words “Hi, Dad,” turned him to his left. There, wearing blue jeans, cowboy boots, a light blue t-shirt, with her hair in short pigtails and her face split by a wide grin, stood Danni.

  “Well,” Crockett said, feeling his eyes fill, “isn’t this just fine.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Crockett left work early and got home a little after nine. Danni met him on the porch and hugged him thoroughly before she’d let him in the house. Crockett kissed his wife, said hello to Stitch, and went upstairs to divest himself of his cop utensils. When he returned, Satin had a bowl of six or seven layer bean dip and white corn chips on the coffee table, Danni and Stitch were on the couch, and Donk was leaning against Danni’s knee.

  “Goddammit,” Crockett complained, reaching for a chip, “you leave my dog alone.”

  Danni grinned. “He likes me.”

  “Worst dog I ever had. I’d shoot him if bullets didn’t cost so damn much.”

  “I like him, too,” Danni went on.

  “Dumb as a post. Best he’ll ever be is a doorstop.”

  “Just the kinda dog I need,” Danni continued. “He even knows how to fish.”

  Crockett glanced at Satin just in time to catch her wink. “Well,” he said, “he’ll be able to hang out with you a lot once you’re living over here this spring.”

  Danni stared at him, eyebrows uplifted. “What?”

  Crockett grinned. “Take over, Mom,” he said.

  During the ten-minute explanation, Danni hugged everybody in the room four or five times, including Donk.

  “My large animal internship ends in late May. Then what?”

  “Then,” Satin replied, “you and Lucy move here. If things aren’t ready yet, you stay in my old apartment. We’ll find some part time day care for the kid, you can sling hash at the café for a while if necessary, and things will work out.”

  “How’s the school system around here?”

  “Between you and me and Crockett, we can home school Lucy to augment what she can’t get elsewhere.”

  “Wow. This is too much. Horses, disadvantaged and challenged kids, and a dog rescue. This Charlene lady must have money.”

  “She does, plus we’re getting a lot of help from a group called the Triumph Trust. A feed company has offered to provide what we need in exchange for publicity, and a candy company is gonna give us peanut hulls to bed the horses on.”

  “They’ll do that?”

  “Evidently. The barn and kennels will all be new construction.”

  “I’m not an expert about how to do that kinda stuff exactly right, but over the past couple of years I’ve learned a lot about how not to do it wrong,” Danni said. “And, you’re gonna run the place?”

  “I don’t know how that’s gonna work. Charlene is the head honcho. I guess, under her command or whatever, I’ll be involved somehow. Maybe finding people to work, both paid and volunteers, doing some of the mundane paperwork or whatever. I’m sure the legal and accounting aspects will be taken care of by people Charlene already has or the Triumph Trust. It damn sure isn’t gonna be me. I have no intention of starting a new career or working fifty or sixty hours a week. Actually, I think Charlene wants me around because we’re becoming friends.”

  “And I’ll care for the animals.”

  “Yep. You’ll be on call most of the time, attend to the day to day health and well-being, find a vet or two that you trust, get someone qualified and competent to shoe the horses and take care of their feet, watch over the dogs and the kennels. Lots of responsibility.”

  “How many horses?”

  “The barn Charlene wants to build will have twenty stalls and an indoor arena.”

  “Gonna take a fair sized tack room, a small office, and, if these horses are gonna be going out in groups, two wash racks and a motorized hotwalker. I don’t want hot horses standing around because there aren’t enough people to cool them out, and I don’t want dirty and sweaty horses hanging out as fly bait waiting to get washed. I want clean and groomed animals that are fed twice daily according to their individual needs and kept in clean and well maintained stalls with enough pasture they can be turned out in good weather to associate in a herd.”

  Satin grinned. “Okay by me,” she said.

  “How many dogs?” Danni asked.

  “I don’t know. It’ll be predominately a Pit Bull rescue. With Charlene’s connections, there could be animals from all over the country. Fifty, a hundred, maybe more.”

  Danni nodded. “I won’t keep dogs exclusively on concrete. Bad for their hips legs and feet. For new, anti-social animals and dogs being rehabilitated, each will have his own small run and house. The doghouse can be on a pad, but the rest of the area will be dirt. Maybe even bedded with peanut hulls. There will be cement channels connecting the runs so the poop can be shoveled in and flushed away with water like they do in dairy barns. The runs will be roofed with misting systems to keep down dust and help cool the area in hot weather. There will also be large spaces where socially adapted dogs can go with a handler for toys and stuff to climb and play on, as well as pools so they can get in, swim if they want, and cool off. The dog area will be kept clean and sanitary. The dogs will receive what each one needs to eat to stay at good weight and be healthy. That will include vitamins, shots, and supplements to control or stave off hip and joint problems. Each dog will have human contact daily. It will be a kennel, not a warehouse.

  “All of the areas and runs will be fenced with chain link in concrete footings. It will last longer and no dog will be able to dig his way out. There will be no loose animals. If a dog is free in the compound, it will be accompanied by a handler. Each area will have electricity to provide heat, if necessary, during cold weather. Pits are shorthaired. They will not be allowed suffer in the cold. They will all have access to automatic water spigots. They will be free of disease. Dogs that are ill will be quarantined away from the general population until they are healthy. All the dogs will be treated right, many for the first time in their lives. Everyone who works with them will also be thoroughly interviewed by me. They will watch videos on the pack mentality and on how to handle strong dogs. These animals will have firm leadership and care. They will not be hugged into happiness or abused into obedience. It will be done right or not at all.”

  “Damn,” Satin whispered.

  Crockett grinned. “That’s my girl,” he said.

  The conversation didn’t break up until after midnight, when Danni and Stitch headed over to his place. Crockett smiled at Satin.

  “Some kid you got there,” he said.

  Satin returned his smile. “We,” she said. “Some kid we got there.
”

  The next morning, Stitch called and invited everybody over for lunch. A little before noon Crockett, Satin, Dundee, and Donk loaded up on the pontoon boat and arrived to find burgers and ka-bobs on the grill. After everybody pigged out, Danni took the floor.

  “I’ve been on the phone with the Mustang Leather Company out of Fort Worth this morning,” she said. “I told them about our project. For just a little over four hundred and fifty dollars per horse for a minimum of ten horses, they have agreed to supply us with saddles, headstalls, a selection of bits and bozals, reins, saddle blankets, hoof picks, brushes, scrapers, combs, halters, and lead ropes.”

  “Is that good?” Satin asked.

  “Yeah,” Crockett said. “That’s good.”

  “It’s not classy tack,” Danni went on. “The saddles are only leather around the fiberglass tree and the cantle. The rest is Cordoba, even the fenders. Easy to clean, requires almost no maintenance. What I’ve got in mind is a swell fork and a low ground seat to keep the riders feet under him. I settled on a four-inch cantle with a Cheyenne roll, and bellbottom breakaway stirrups on swivels.” She paused to look at Crockett.

  “Sounds good to me, Kiddo,” he said. “Safety first. Saddles should be nice and light, easy to handle.”

  “Once we get horses here, I can judge what kind of tree to use on a given animal, and the gullet of the tree to keep the withers in good shape. The rocker, twist, and flare are important for a comfortable horse. They told me two weeks delivery at cost plus ten on what we get, and they’ll pay the shipping. In return, a little free publicity when possible.”

  “You’re not wasting any time, are you?” Satin said.

  “Not me. I been on my laptop this morning putting together a breakdown of what I said about the facility last night, and the information from the Mustang Leather Company for that Charlene lady. Can I print it out at your place?”

  “Sure. I’ll call Charlene and see if she’d like to drop by. You two can meet, and you can overwhelm her with your enthusiasm and hustle.”

  “Am I comin’ on too strong?”

  “Not for me.”

  “Good. While I’m in the area for the next few days, I wanna check out farriers and local vets. Just to get a feeling for what I’m going to be dealing with.”

  “You know,” Satin said, “that none of this is going to happen before spring.”

  “Everything I can accomplish now, I won’t have to worry about then. There’ll be enough shit I haven’t thought of anyway.”

  Charlene came over about six that evening. She met Danni and quickly read through the information that had been printed on Satin’s computer.

  “When did you find out about this project?” Charlene asked.

  “About ten last night.”

  “And you did all this.”

  “No point in waiting.”

  “Including finding a company to provide below wholesale tack.”

  “I just called and talked to them.”

  “Here’s what I have in mind,” Charlene went on. “Facilities for a hundred dogs on site, start with no more than twenty-five, build up slowly to eighty or so, never more than ninety. Ever. That’s the cut-off. Sound okay to you?”

  “Fine,” Danni agreed.

  “Let’s bump the barn up to space for thirty stalls to be sure we have ample room for the wash racks, office, tack room, and such. That’ll make the indoor arena longer, too. Try to keep the stock to ten to start with, expand to twenty if the need is there. Okay?”

  “Makes sense to me,” Danni replied.

  “I see no reason to depart from any of the suggestions you’ve made. They seem reasonable and correct to me. Good work.”

  “Thanks.”

  “How’s sixteen by forty-eight sound to you?” Charlene went on.

  “Sixteen by forty-eight what?” Danni asked.

  “Sixteen by forty-eight feet. That works out to seven hundred and sixty-two square feet. Living room, two bedrooms with walk-in closets, two baths, a galley kitchen, and a sixteen by twenty-four foot deck that contains a twelve by eight foot mudroom. That enough space for you and your daughter?”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really. That okay?”

  “Sure!”

  “Is your little white truck outside?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Do you owe money on it?”

  “Yeah. I just bought it a couple of weeks ago for about seven thousand dollars. I put a grand down.”

  “I’ll give you six thousand for it, and you keep it as a company vehicle.”

  “Ah, okay.”

  “I’ll start you at seven-fifty a week for the first six months. If you decide you want to stay, you go to forty-five grand a year, with benefits. If you want a horse or dog of your own, room and board is on the house.”

  “No kidding?”

  “You will work your butt off, youngster. All this is contingent on the project going through. My husband has agreed. Within two weeks, we will have one and a half sections of land for the venture in my name. This all gets cleared with Triumph Trust, and we’re off and running. One of the first things we will do is put up your modular housing. I’ll want you here no later than the middle of May. The first of March would be better, but I know that your daughter has just started school. Displacing her for only my sake might not be a good idea. It’s up to you.”

  “If necessary, she can stay with her aunt for a few weeks.”

  “All right. If all this goes well, and down the road a year or two you want to go back to school part time to get your veterinary degree and license, we’ll work it out.”

  “Oh, wow.”

  “Just one more thing,” Charlene went on. “A hug.”

  Danni grinned and bounced to her feet. “You betcha,” she said, tears in her eyes.

  Both women had teared up by the time the hug ended. Satin, too. But not Crockett. No. Never Crockett.

  Cletus arrived as Crockett was preparing for work the following afternoon. He called HQ and put himself on standby for the balance of the shift, took off his hardware and such, but remained in his almost uniform. The reunion was joyful ,and the whole group went to Hartrick for the Thursday meatloaf special at Wagers Café. When they got back to the cabin, Clete talked with Satin and Danni while Crockett and Stitch kicked back on the deck for a while. Shortly after dark, Crockett made a trip to the fridge for two more Crème Sodas and heard a comment from Clete.

  So that’s the deal,” the Texican said. “Two million dollars for a five year lease on the property. During that first five-year period, Triumph Trust’s grant will be protected by the lease in case, for whatever reason, there is a falling out among the participants in the project. The project will remain, regardless, contingent upon the stipulations of the lease. If, at the end of the five year period, all concerned parties remain in agreement and intact, another two million bucks, adjusted for inflation, will be made available for the next five year period and the lease’ll be renewed.

  “So,” Satin said, “Triumph Trust will, essentially, have control over the business in return for the money.”

  Clete shook his head. “No. What the lease will stipulate is that, if you guys start throwing rocks at each other and run off or something equally wrong happens, Triumph Trust then can step in and take control to keep the place running as planned for the balance of the five year time period. They also want the right of first refusal to buy the property and facilities at fair market value should Ms. Bryant ever want to divest herself of the holding. As long as nothing out of the ordinary happens, Triumph trust will not have anything to do with how the place is constructed, managed, or maintained. They do not want to be in the rehabilitation or rescue business. They just want to make sure that once the project is started, it continues for at least five years. They not only want their investment protected, they want the business to thrive. See?”

  Satin nodded. “Makes sense to me.” She turned to Crockett. “What do you think?”

/>   “Give it to the lawyers,” Crockett said. “They’ll screw it up so nobody will be able to understand it. You know Ivy. She wants to protect the project. The money doesn’t mean a thing to her. The lease will protect the project, you, and Danni. That’s what concerns her. She doesn’t know Charlene, but she trusts us. So, she takes this approach. Good for everybody as long as they do what they said they would. Good for you if they don’t. Win-win. It’ll soon be Charlene’s land and her decision anyway. She’ll go for it. She has nothing to lose.”

  “I’ll present it to her,” Clete said. “Lay a little West Texas charm on the lady.”

  “Another dream shot to hell,” Crockett said. “It was nice while it lasted. Sorry, you guys.”

  He managed to get the sliding door closed just in time to deflect Clete’s return fire.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  Friday morning Cletus and Crockett sat at the snack bar drinking coffee and watching light rain fall on the deck.

  “You work tonight?” Clete asked.

  Crockett shook his head. “I’m on call if something serious happens, but I took today and tomorrow off for the big fish fry.”

  “You actually got fish big enough to cook up?”

  “Those hybrid bluegill are mutants! Considering they’ve only been in the water for about two years, there are some monsters out there.”

  Clete grinned. “Son,” he said, “you light up when you talk about them fish or that lake. Good for ya. You gotcha a real nice place. So does Stitch. Good what you and Satin done for him. I don’t know how much more a feller could want than what you folks got here. About as much paradise as this ol’ boy is ever gonna see.”

  “Always room for one more,” Crockett said.

  “What?”

  “You heard me.”

  “Well hell, pard. That’s some kinda offer, but you know my stump is settin’ up north.”

  “That stump won’t always be there, Clete.”