As they stepped out of the woods into what had been Max’s clearing, they heard a siren approaching fast.
Removing his first-aid kit from the trunk, the sheriff handed Kate a bandage to press against Zack’s shoulder to stop the bleeding. While the sheriff slapped a few quick bandages on Tommy’s wounds and slid him into the backseat, Kate rummaged through the kit for more bandages and tape for Zack.
The deputy pulled up, lights flashing. He cut off the siren, got out, and trotted up to the group.
“Help her,” ordered the sheriff, pointing at Kate.
Zack, Kate, and the deputy stood at the right rear fender of the sheriff’s cruiser. The sheriff leaned against the front right. Tommy sat in the backseat, with the window rolled down.
Zack’s shoulder throbbed with pain, and he felt his consciousness slipping. “You’d better ask Tommy what he did with the money, Sheriff,” he said weakly.
Tommy turned in his seat and looked through the back window. “I told you I don’t know anything about any money!”
“Don’t worry about that now,” said the sheriff. “If you’re ready, we have to get you to the hospital.”
Wait, thought Zack. If Tommy really didn’t take the money then it hit him. Of course! It all fit.
The sheriff turned to walk around to the driver’s side, when Zack called out, “Sheriff.”
The sheriff stopped at the front corner of the car and turned to Zack.
“Tommy didn’t take the money, did he?”
“What the hell you talking about, boy?” The sheriff stepped out and faced the group at the back of the car. His eyes narrowed.
Zack, getting weaker, continued. “When you searched Max’s house after we took him away, you found the money. I remember that Max’s bed, where the money was hidden, was made up tight when I shined the light on it that night we found him. Yesterday, when I came here, it had been stripped by you. You know, now that I think of it, that day Kate and I went to your office and told you about the stolen money, I never said where it was hidden. But later, I think you mentioned about it being under the mattress.”
The sheriff said nothing. He only stood listening.
Zack struggled to get it all out before he lost consciousness. “You weren’t going to arrest Tommy or anyone else. You hoped we’d buy the drifter/thief theory because that would account for the missing money, and you would be in the clear.”
The sheriff’s hand moved to his revolver.
“Also, Sheriff,” continued Zack, “you murdered Max.” That made Tommy’s head jerk toward Zack. “When Kate and I went to visit Max at the hospital the night he died, I heard the fire exit door at the end of the hallway close. I think, but probably won’t be able to prove, that that was you leaving the scene. You didn’t want Max to recover. The investigation might have continued and eventually you would have been exposed as the one who stole the money. You couldn’t have that. You just wanted this to all go away. Max had been improving and then, all of a sudden, he died. You gave yourself away when you showed up in the parking lot to pay your condolences only a short time after he died. There’s no way you could have known that quickly that Max had died, unless” Zack paused from the pain. “Unless you were the one who killed him.” Pain gripped him.
Kate spoke up. “You know, Zack. He pretended to have a bad radio when Mrs. Pollard and I were trying to contact him from the station to come out here. Then, later, he used it to call the deputy, no problem. Also, I think he intentionally missed the turnoff the first time. He’d been out here enough times to find the road in broad daylight. He was stalling. I think he wanted Tommy to kill you.”
“You can’t prove any of this,” said the sheriff.
“It will be easy enough to check to see if anyone at the hospital notified you about Max dying. I don’t think they did. And, what if the deputy got a warrant to search your house? I bet he’d find a wad of money.”
At that, the sheriff drew his gun and pointed it at them. “If you hadn’t come along, none of this would have ever happened.”
“But it did,” said Zack. “Because of Tommy’s arrogance and your greed. Not because of me.”
The deputy had stood silent, listening, his hands out to his side like an Old West gunfighter ready to draw.
After a long sigh, the sheriff’s shoulders slumped, and he spoke. “Deputy, I want you to draw your weapon.”
The deputy hesitated, looked at Zack and Kate, and then back at the sheriff.
“I said, take out your gun and point it at me.”
This time, the deputy obeyed, his hands shaking.
“I should have known better,” said the sheriff. “All my life” His words trailed off, then started again. “I gave my life to this damn county. I’ve been the sheriff here for more than twenty years! I cleaned the town drunks’ puke off my cruiser’s back seat, delivered two babies, and have been shot at least a dozen times. But when my wife got sick, no one raised any money to help pay her medical expenses. Few people even called or came over to see her. Now I’m broke and alone. All of our plans for a wonderful retirement died with her. How do you think that feels? I was searching Max’s house and found the money. I thought, oh hell, why not? When I called the hospital, they said he was in bad shape and might not make it through the night. I didn’t think he’d need the money. In a few years, I retire to a lousy three-hundred-a-month pension and Social Security. This was my chance to get back a little of what this county owes me. Now look at this mess.”
Zack fought to stay awake. He strained to hear.
“I didn’t want to kill Max, but I had no choice. I can’t go to jail. You would never have let this go, Taylor. You’d have kept pushing and pushing until someone eventually found out I took the money. Why couldn’t you just let it go?
“Deputy, in three seconds, I’m going to pull this trigger. If you’re smart, you’ll pull yours first. One.” He paused.
“Please, Sheriff, don’t make me.”
“Two.”
“Shit,” said the deputy.
“Three.”
Nothing happened.
“Hell, I knew you didn’t have the balls, deputy” The sheriff raised his gun barrel and put it under his own chin. He squeezed the trigger.
Zack saw the sheriff fall just before he passed out.
Epilogue
He blinked open his eyes once and then shut them again. Seconds passed while he tried to ignore the light that filtered through his eyelids. After a few minutes, he lost the battle and opened his eyes. The ceiling above him came slowly into focus. Where was he? What time was it? What day? He turned his head. A hospital. Then Zack remembered the woods, Tommy, the shotgun, and the sheriff.
“Well, look who’s back,” came an unfamiliar female voice. “We were wondering when you would wake up.”
Zack turned in the direction of the voice and saw a pretty nurse, probably in her forties, standing next to his bed, looking down at him.
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
He started to sit up, which he regretted immediately. A pain that dimmed his vision bolted through his shoulder. Why couldn’t they give him more drugs? He looked down at his bandages, being careful to move only his neck. “Holy” He sighed.
“It’s going to hurt for a long time,” she said. “You should be glad you feel pain at all. The doctor said a few inches to the right, and you would have never survived. But they always say that, don’t they? At least in the movies.”
“That’s great news,” he said in a jokingly sarcastic tone. His mouth was dry, and, sensing it, she lifted a cup of water with a straw to his lips. “How long have I been out?”
“Two days. Kate has been here the whole time.”
Zack quickly searched the room, flipping his head from side to side. “Where?”
“No, she’s downstairs right now. I talked her into going to the cafeteria. She hadn’t eaten all day.” She reached down and held his wrist while looking at her watch to check his pulse
rate. With her close, Zack smelled her sweet perfume. She then turned to walk out and looked back, “I’ll let her know you’re awake.” She disappeared into the corridor.
Zack lay in the silent room, looking out the window, and he figured it was late afternoon. It was all over. He couldn’t believe it. His friend was avenged, Tommy was behind bars, and the sheriff well, he had chosen his own ending.
Minutes passed until finally the door cracked open, and Kate poked in her head.
“Come on in,” he said.
She jumped inside and ran toward the bed, a broad smile on her face. “Thank God,” she said and kissed him. “I’ve been waiting.”
“That’s what the nurse said.”
“How are you feeling?”
“I feel like I’ve been shot and unconscious for two days in a hospital. My shoulder’s killing me, and I’m as weak as a baby. Besides all that, I’m fine.”
“Stupid question.”
Zack started to shrug, then shuddered when the pain hit. The shudder brought even more pain, so he held his breath, gritted his teeth, and lay as still as possible until the pain subsided. “Forgot,” he whispered.
“I wish there was something that I could do,” said Kate, wrinkling her forehead.
“You could call the nurse back and have her increase my pain medicine.”
Seconds passed in unnatural silence.
Kate spoke up. “Before they increase your meds, which will probably put you to sleep, I want to talk.” She paused, and then continued. “Before, I really wanted to get out of Michaeltown. I couldn’t wait. But now things are different. Since I met you” She went silent and looked down, avoiding his eyes.
“So what are you going to do now?”
“I don’t want to stay here for the rest of my life. I mean, eventually I want to see other places, you know, maybe live out west or something.”
“But?” he asked.
“Well, you see, I always thought that the reason I wasn’t happy was because I was stuck in this town and limited to this experience. But, I’ve realized that I wasn’t happy because I had lost hope for my future. The chance for a college degree passed and left me with a go-nowhere job and a dead-end relationship with Tommy. But then I met you. And you breathed life into me again. I now realize it has nothing to do with where I am; it has everything to do with hope. You give me hope that the future could be bright, and that happiness is possible. I know it sounds cheesy, but that’s really is how I feel. I’ve been saving money over the last few years, while working at the diner and living with my parents. There’s this little house for sale that I’ve got my eye on. It’s a couple blocks from my parents. I’m going to buy it!”
“Really? You know, I’ve been thinking about getting another place myself. That hotel room’s kind of small.” He smiled up at her. “You wouldn’t consider having a roommate, would you?”
She leaned over and threw her arms around him. “I was hoping”
“Owwwwwww!”
She jumped back. “Sorry. Forgot, too.”
Zack figured it was time to start acting like a grown-up and to stop avoiding commitment. Contemplating his future with Kate, he thought about how ironic the last month had been. The big city boy had a new beginning in a small town.
“Can you give me a little time to recover?" He looked down at his bandages.
“You got it,” she said, smiling.
They sat there holding hands for several minutes; neither of them felt a need to speak, just being together and safe was enough.
Finally Zack broke the silence. “Kate, would you do me a favor?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Would you find me some paper and a pen? I’d like to write a letter.”
She tilted her head, confused.
“Did I ever tell you about Mrs. Wilson?”
Part II
Retribution
Six years later…
Prologue
Zack rubbed his eyes and rolled over in bed, shaking off a dream. He squinted toward the clock radio on the side table which proclaimed 12:33 in red digital numbers. The phone rang again. “What the hell?” he murmured as he switched on the bedside lamp and scooped up the phone. “Hello?”
“Sheriff? It’s Harold.”
“What’s going on, Harold?” He swallowed and cleared his dry throat. “Is there a problem?”
“Yeah, sheriff. Sorry to wake you, but I figured you’d want to know. I have a 187 out here off Riker’s Road at the old Kennedy farm. Two victims. Neighbors heard shots about thirty minutes ago. No sign of the suspects.”
“Ah…okay.” His mind was still in a fog after being awakened so suddenly. “Who’s there now?” He rubbed his eyes some more and cleared his dry throat again.
“Just me. I called dispatch and Sally’s sending backup. Joe should be here any minute. She also contacted Rachel to come and document the crime scene. I told her I’d call you.” Rachel had been added to the force two years earlier. She was their accident and crime scene investigator.
“Okay, secure the scene and I’ll be there as soon as I can. Have Sally call in whoever’s on standby tonight. And be careful. The perps may still be in the area.” Zack hung up and swung his legs out of bed.
The other half of the bed was empty. He had been sleeping alone in the guest room, again.
He stood and went to the bathroom.
Within a few minutes he had splashed water in his face, gargled, and gotten dressed. He walked down the hallway and paused at his son’s open doorway. He entered Jimmy’s room and walked up to the bed where his son lay, softly snoring, covers kicked down around his feet. Zack pulled the blanket up and covered his four year old. He bent down and kissed him on the forehead before leaving the room.
At the other end of the hallway was the master bedroom. He walked up and leaned his head into the room.
The dark silhouette of his wife Kate sat up in bed and looked at him. She flipped on the side table lamp.
“Who was on the phone?”
“Work. There have been some murders. I have to go.”
She sat there looking at him for a long fifteen seconds. Finally, she said, “Better get going.” She flipped off the light, laid down, and rolled away from him.
“I’ll… I’ll call.”
He turned and walked down the hallway.
Chapter 1
The previous morning
He pulled up the collar of his work shirt and shivered. He should have put on a jacket before going behind the service station for a smoke. Damn days were getting colder. He wished he could move somewhere warmer.
“Get your lazy ass back to work!”
Lee turned just as his boss spit a brown glob of chewing tobacco on the dirty blacktop.
“I didn’t have to hire a convict, ya know. And I don’t expect you to take a damn smoke break every hour.”
“I’m comin’.”
“You got two oil changes and a set of tires waiting. If you want to keep this job, don’t let shit stack up! Let’s go!” He turned and went around the corner of the building. “Damn convicts.”
“Yeah, like I want to keep this shitty job anyway,” called Lee. He walked around to the front, but instead of entering the garage, he continued past the building, beyond the gas pumps, to the phone booth, and stepped inside. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a piece of paper, slipped a quarter in the slot, and dialed.
The phone rang once, twice and then, “Hello?”
“It’s me.” Lee looked back at his boss who was staring at him through the glass window of the office, his face turning red.
“I decided to take the job.”
“Okay. Any questions?”
“It’s twenty grand. Right? I need five thousand up front. The rest when I deliver the girl.”
“Agreed.”
The mystery man told him where he’d find an envelope with the down payment. Once he took the money, they had a contract. No backing out.
Lee hung up the phone and walked toward the front glass door of the station. When he entered, his boss was standing there staring at him, looking like he would explode.
“Take your piece of crap job and shove it up your dirty ass.” Lee removed his clip-on name tag and threw it on the floor at his feet. He turned and walked out.
“I’m calling your PO. You’re going back to prison!” He followed Lee outside while yelling at him. “You better not walk away. Get back to work!”
Lee opened his truck door and climbed inside. He looked back at his ex-boss, whose arms flailed in anger as he continued to yell out threats. Lee spat out the window and pulled away.
Chapter 2
Later that day
What have I gotten myself into?
Zack stood in the empty hallway of the high school which was lit at the far end by the late afternoon sunlight angling through the windows, bouncing off the shiny tile floor and student lockers. He paced one way, then the other. Finally, he took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He opened the auditorium door and entered.
Only a few people in the crowd began to clap at first. Then as the others saw him, the clapping and cheering filled the room as he approached the stage.
He looked out into the crowd and saw most of the townspeople and many others from around the county who had supported him and had come to celebrate his victory. Zack thought about that day six years earlier when he left the expressway, looking for gas and food. Less than six months later he had married Kate, Michaeltown’s most eligible bachelorette. Now, he found himself about to become County Sheriff.
He was amazed at all that had happened in such a short time. But, he also wondered if the responsibility he was about to accept was what he really wanted. After his first few years of working at the local factory, with a pregnant wife to take care of, he had gone to the community college. He’d been unsure of what to study, but he knew that only having a high school diploma would limit his opportunities. Thinking back, he remembered sitting in a Wednesday night English 101 class when he saw the brochure pinned to the bulletin board. That night he decided to major in Criminal Justice. Then his Associate degree had led to his job as a deputy on the County Police force.
Kentucky Murders: A Small Town Murder Mystery Page 15