Wounded Badge Vista

by Kieran York

  ***

  When Coleen Herman had been booked, and jailed. Royce felt exhausted. But she had indeed broken Coleen ‘Cookie’ Herman.”

  On her way to Mike’s office, Royce ran into Stella. “Thanks for the rushed fingerprint job.”

  “Hey, when the sheriff wants prints to be crisp and now, I give my best effort. See you later.”

  As she entered the D.A.’s office Royce took a deep breath. “I had to leave early,” Mike uttered. “Court case. Did she give us anything new?”

  “They’ve been staying in an older area, off Gold Mine Road. We’ll need a search warrant. The house hadn’t been lived in for a couple years. It was rough living. However, Buck Eisner piggy-backed electricity and water from one of the larger homes. They parked their car, or cars in a broken-down barn.”

  “We’ll see what evidence that turns up.”

  “I thought you would approve of the deal. I told her I needed to check it though. I thought we could take the death penalty card off the table.”

  “If we wouldn’t have that option,” Mike spoke defensively of it, “we’d have no bargaining chip and we’d be letting more killers off. You bet, I approve of it as a bargaining chip. That might make it possible for giving Buck the injection.”

  “I told her I would check on what kind of time she might be looking at. She may be expecting life.”

  “Confession signed. I’m impressed Royce.”

  “After the dam broke, the flood gate gushed.” Royce leaned on his desk. “The last Coleen heard was that Buck was screaming at Delton about not being able to get the sheriff to meet him at Wounded Badge Vista. The Boss wanted me killed at the Vista.”

  “But why,” Mike questioned. “Why there?”

  “I’m thinking that Sumner had wanted his brother, a former sheriff, to have his name engraved on the Wounded Badge monument.” Royce covered her eyes a moment. “Buck wanted to ‘take me out’ at the hospital. Because he said it would be easy. I visited the wounded Undersheriff nearly every day. And he could get a shot at me there. He told Coleen that he’d use an AK-15. That automatic long gun could take me down like a target in a corner. Oh, and by the way, the couple had made a hundred thousand, and were promised half a million for the killing.”

  Mike’s exhaled breath was elongated. “Half a mil. Don’t take this wrong, Royce. You’re an important sheriff, but half a mil? I’m betting that as a district attorney, I’m only worth a hundred grand at best.”

  Royce teased, “That’s pushing it. A hundred grand. You don’t even know how to drive a squad car, or shoot a gun.”

  He tried to swallow his laugh. “You got me there. Holy crap, a half-million for bringing down a sheriff.” Mike’s gallows humor erupted, “I wonder if that includes the undersheriff. Two for one special.”

  Royce chuckled. “Well, needless to say, we aren’t giving up without a fight. We’re borrowing all the spare deputies from neighboring counties that we can to keep everyone guarded. We’ll have adequate guard units for anyone endangered. We need to get this guy. He may be very impatient since his ‘wife’ left, or as far as he knows, she left. Ran away, or left for drug shooting gallery in Denver.”

  “Look, I’m insisting. I want you to have a 24-7 bodyguard. Seriously, Royce. This guy is compulsive about ending your life. And it may be an enormous payday to the shooter. But this seems to be Sumner’s life’s work.”

  “Mike, since it’s come to light – how they’ve been living. I’ve been convinced throughout this investigation that Coleen and Buck were meticulously challenging our brain power. Thinking that they were smart, and had been flawless at confounding us at every angle. I had thought they were too intelligent to be captured.”

  “Well, you’ve got one out of the two behind bars. And there is so much citizen concern, that I don’t think Buck Eisner is going to be free for very long. She’ll be remanded without bail. And when he’s apprehended, he’ll also be remanded without bail. Maybe they haven’t been so genius.”

  Royce thought about what these two people had put her county through. And were still putting her Timber through. And she wondered if she would ever apprehend one. And wondered now if she would apprehend the other. “I credited them with too many brains. In retrospect, I’m thinking that they probably weren’t so savvy. They were mostly lucky.”

  Chapter 23

  For everyone’s safety, the general public had not been informed about two events. They were: Nick’s transfer to Denver and the capture of suspect Coleen ‘Cookie’ Herman. Royce understood that the media finding out, and revealing, one or both of those covert strategies, was possible. But until then, information would be secreted, and secured. Protecting the information was vitally important for the well-being of both Nick and Royce.

  Gran always said that gossip goes around, like in any small town or city. But in Timber, private information usually stays put where it belongs. Royce hoped that confidentiality was to be.

  That morning, after the children had gone out to exercise the dogs, Royce told Hertha about the capture, and that it was strictly confidential. Hertha’s startled face reflected her immediate surprise. She took another sip of herbal tea. Her normally steady hands appeared to be shivering.

  “At least, it’s one less killer to worry about,” she remarked. “Last night when you came to bed, I knew something had gone on. But I speculated that you were simply tired, and the stress was getting to you.”

  “Hertha, you’ve got a lot happening in your life, and I didn’t want you to be bothered by it. To be honest, I was talked-out by last night. Yesterday afternoon I spent over five hours interrogating Coleen Herman. From the moment she was apprehended, I knew I’d need to figure her out. She’s very complex. I had to dig deeply to find all of the evil she’d stored up.”

  “When you arrested her, did she fight with you?”

  “No, she gave up immediately. I approached her. Arm-locked her while Terry was coming in the front door with gun pointing at her. I just cuffed her. No resistance at all.”

  “She confessed?”

  “A complete confession. Signed. And video-taped. She knew about and was in on it all. She didn’t do the actual killing. She continued to remind me of that. But she was there during the commission of most of the crimes. She assisted Buck Eisner by enticing poor Kirk Dillard to meet her for brunch. She introduced Buck as her brother. Then they overtook Kirk. Tied him up. Took him to a vacant spot. Coleen held him at gunpoint while Buck drove to Wounded Badge and attempted to kill Nick. Then Buck drove back, picked up Coleen and they bound-up Kirk. Murdered Kirk. Shoved the truck off the cliff and into the lake.”

  “They’re so vicious,” Hertha commented. “How does the human soul become so vicious?”

  “I’ve been wondering that for the last decades.” Royce frowned. “Don’t let this frighten you, but they had attempted to kill me. Several times. Coleen mentioned that Buck had some good shots, but Chance was always getting in the way. They were both afraid of Chance. Or as Coleen called her, ‘my damn f-ing dog’…” Royce looked down at Chance. She was forever guarding Royce. Royce could tell.

  “I’ve always said that I know you’re smart about protecting yourself, but this does frighten me. The man is a psycho.”

  “He wants to be a rich psycho. Sumner is paying him a half million to off me. That much money can take him back to Texas, and across the border. Lots of hiding places. For now, he isn’t aware of where Coleen is. I’m certain Eisner will stick around until his job is done. If I know Sumner, he’s not only put a bounty on my head, he’s probably offering a bonus. My life is all that stands between Eisner and his financial dream.”

  “As you say, the secrets can’t be buried forever.” Hertha looked away. Her eyelids blinked. “And Royce, I don’t want you to end up buried forever. Please be careful. And keep Chance with you. Promise me?”

  Royce smiled, then sipped coffee. “I promise. I know your love brings me back to you.”

  Deep in thought, He
rtha took the sheriff’s hand. “Remember when I kept my secret from you, and your first suspicion was that I was breaking up?”

  “I shouldn’t have suspected.”

  “Royce, I’ve been thinking about something. I’m yours forever. Now that same-sex marriage is available, I wondered if you might be secure if we take that step.”

  With closed eyes, Royce considered it. “Deep down, I do know our love is secure.”

  “I haven’t mentioned it because I realize what a tremendous responsibility it is to have two children to raise.”

  “If we married, I would be able to adopt the children. I think they’d like that.”

  “But what about you? It would be a responsibility. A total commitment for us both. You’d be taking on a family. The children and me. It might tie you down.”

  “I already feel a total commitment to you and the kids. Let’s both consider it when this case is closed.”

  Hertha agreed. “Yes, now isn’t the time. But I love you, and I want you to know I’ll do anything to prove my love to you.”

  ***

  Royce fitted Chance’s bullet-proof vest on her K-9 Deputy. Now that she knew Eisner was frightened of Chance, she insisted the deputies keep a close eye on her. To Chance, Royce whispered, “No more roaming at will. You stick with your team.” For some reason, Chance was acting more independent of Royce’s commands. Perhaps she was picking up on Royce’s tensions. When Royce chatted with a member of the K-9 team in Denver, she was told dogs go through the terrible twos just like children. She hugged Chance again. “This is dangerous time, for both of us. And I want you to listen perfectly to all your commands.”

  The morning Sheriff’s Department meeting was mainly tactical. After pointing to the motto: Be Ready! Be Steady! Royce announced that they would be studying two locations. Crystal General Hospital, and the Wounded Badge Vista area. First, she instructed, each deputy would need to study the overhead shots of the entire hospital complex. Deputies found the advantages, and disadvantages of a shootout near the large hospital, and larger surrounding grounds. Royce and the enforcers considered the perimeter encircling the hospital. A map, with blueprinted buildings showed both structures and outlying area. The team was most concerned with the parking area, along with the wildlife land adjoining the parking lot.

  After the deputy’s study that considered a multitude of scenarios at the hospital, they turned their attention to the wooded areas around Wounded Badge. The plan was developed to have the forests covered on both sides of the actual memorial. Eisner would no doubt attempt to escape from the area off to the side – right or left. Rock formations lifted from the ground, trees and bush made excellent hiding areas. For both deputies, and for suspect.

  Royce wanted the deputies to be aware of the dynamics of both sides of the locations. The trails, the spots with good cover, and all information that might help a deputy survive. “Commit it to memory. Don’t rely on a pocket map, you may not have time. Think about the region’s cubbyholes and shielding brush that could hide you from being shot. The brush, and rocks can conceal you. Eisner will be armed with a long gun. A semiautomatic rifle. With multiple clips of ammo. He’ll have the arms power to do damage. And watch how near you’re getting to the edge of the cliff. Watch your footing.

  Directly behind the monument, was a ledge. The cliff offered an incredible visual. It dangerously stretched for over a mile, and projected multiple shelves along the mantle top. Royce wondered if Eisner planned to shove Royce from the cliff. He had probably intended on throwing Nick’s body over the cliff. Then there was the lake cliff, where Kirk Dillard’s body and truck were disposed of. His penchant, his MO, might have included sending his murder victims on a final flight downward. The ultimate journey would end at the rocky base of the valley below. Jagged rock ledges extended from the sheer cliff. Perhaps he had instructions from Sumner. Sumner was where the true animus, the fierce hatred, evolved.

  The sheriff stopped herself from over thinking Sumner’s cruelty. The women and men enforcers were given cursory paramilitary training. They studied special weapons and tactics. In small mountain towns, it wasn’t unusual for a deputy to never have fired his or her gun on duty. The sheriff gave a final admonition to her squad. They were to expect an assault on their sheriff, with a probability of sooner rather than later. Sumner was impatient. Which automatically made Buckley Eisner itchy to complete his task.

  ***

  Royce and a deputy had pulled up to the hospital. The deputy was staying in the car with Chance. Carefully, the sheriff walked to the doors. An undercover deputy opened the door for her. She had been planning to wait fifteen minutes, long enough to have pretended to visited Nick, had he been there as a patient. Then she would leave.

  She had been inside the hospital corridor ten minutes when a message from her radio interrupted her thought. “Chance is missing.” She exited the building, she saw the deputy in the nearby field, he was racing toward the other edge of the open land. When Royce got to her vehicle, she heard the deputy explain on his radio, “I just let her out to take a leak. All of a sudden, she took off like a shot, then I heard her yelp. Someone loaded her into that car.”

  Royce started the engine. She drove to the side of the field. The deputy jumped in the passenger side. Royce’s words rushed, “Keep your eye on that vehicle. Put out a bulletin that he has Chance. I’d bet anything Buck Eisner is on his way to Wounded Badge. Dispatch deputies to the vista.”

  “Sheriff, I’m sorry. She was right with me. Then I called to her. That’s the first time she disobeyed my orders. I didn’t think she’d run like that.”

  “It’s okay. Right now, we need to make this as precise as we can. I want you to continue to feed the deputies information. Coordinate the effort. When I see Eisner’s vehicle, I’m going to approach it. You stay with this vehicle. I want everyone standing back, but in position. The man has an assault rifle, and I don’t want errant bullets from deputies spraying the landscape. Just hold back.”

  She followed closely, driving behind one of the vehicles Buck Eisner had stolen. They were soon approaching the entry road to the Wounded Badge memorial.

  At the apex of the memorial park, Royce saw that Eisner had skidded up against the Corduroy Trail. The sheriff quickly stopped thirty yards behind him. She ducked behind brush. Eisner had gained some space between them. He seemed to be struggling with Chance. Pulling Chance.

  When she looked closer, she saw that he’d come prepared to kidnap Chance. Eisner knew the sheriff would chase him forever if he had her dog. He’d planned it out perfectly. He was pulling a rope that he’d tied around her neck collar. There was wide white bandage of medical tape binding her front paws together. Her muzzle also had tape wrapped around it. He had probably bashed Chance’s head with the gun’s barrel. Then wrapped the tape. And now he was pulling her toward the left side of the cliff. He was pulling her over the bumpy log steps of Corduroy Trail.

  Royce was near enough to hear Chance moaning, and see her struggling. The dog would attempt to get to her feet, but with her front paws tied together, the tripod stance gave her no stability. When she fell, Eisner pulled the rope harder. He was a large, strong, muscled man.

  Yet he would have been no match for Chance if she weren’t bound. Royce’s pulse was pounding. Her heart felt like a hot coal. She continued following after the man as he roughly dragged the German shepherd behind him.

  When he’d almost run out of earth, and was nearing the edge of the cliff, he pulled Chance toward him. He detonated a spray of gunfire. It surrounded the area where the sheriff hid. Royce continued advancing. She could see the rope had strung backward as Chance was pulled into Eisner’s arm. He had grasped her collar. He felt certainty that with Chance near, Royce wouldn’t fire. The rope that had been dragged was about ten feet away from her.

  “You come any closer, and I’m tossing the fucking dog over the edge. Do you hear me?” he screamed.

  “I’m not moving.” She kept her eyes on t
he rope.

  Chance had heard her voice. She lifted herself and became seated upright. Royce watched as the bedraggled, tottering dog began trying to lift her tied front paws. Suddenly, without warning, Chance catapulted upward. The strength in her back legs vaulted toward Eisner. He released her collar as he was pitched backward, attempting to retain his balance.

  Royce yelled, “No,” as she was airborne. The sheriff made a leap forward and to the ground. She grabbed, and held the rope, pulling vigorously. She’d wound the rope around her arm. Holding, fighting to keep Chance from going over the edge. Her arms were exhausted. Her elbow was scuffed and the palm of her hand was burning. She felt Chance’s fierce hurtle at the killer. It was difficult to break. She screamed, “At ease.” When she finally felt Chance stop advancing, Royce used her unarmed hand to pull Chance toward her. As she’d secured Chance to her, she hugged the K-9 deputy tightly her. She carefully began to crawl backward toward the brush.

  Behind Chance, she saw Eisner drawing down on her with his rifle. She was in his line of sight. His aim for the sheriff was on target. Chance suddenly began an attempt to rush him. Eisner struggling with his own balance. His feet were slipping, sliding. The dirt under his shoes projected around him. Clouds of dust lifted. He abruptly took two unsure steps back to gain balance. Royce watched the look on his face as he realized he was going to fall.

  The volume of his scream diminished as he fell. Royce could also hear the body hitting against stones and trees that clung to the cliff. The sound of his long gun bouncing behind him was metallic meeting stone.

  Royce had not moved, she just held tightly to Chance. As she sat, she talked into the body cam. “I’m glad I left this thing on,” she said muttered. Then into the speaker, she said, “Please reinforce. We need Coroner, Forensics. Crime scene. I’m going to require a stretcher to get Chance down to the vets. Deputy Chance is wounded. Somebody please, phone Hertha and tell her we’re on our way to the clinic.”