Blindside

by Catherine Coulter

  “When he caught his breath, he ducked behind a maple tree. I think he knew I didn’t want to shoot him, that I wanted to know who he was working for. Unfortunately, I got too close and he charged me. I heard Miles coming behind me, but I knew he wasn’t in time. I tried to aim for Clancy’s knee, but when he hit me, my SIG jerked up and I got him squarely in the chest. He just stood there, staring blankly at me, as if he couldn’t believe that I’d actually shot him. He tried to reach out for my gun, but I took a step back and he just collapsed. He was dead, Miles checked him, too, to make sure. It was an accident, really. I’m sorry, guys, I wanted him alive.”

  Sherlock said, “As I said before, I for one am vastly relieved that Clancy is dead. I don’t think he would ever have stopped. Now we need to find out who’s behind it.”

  Savich handed each of them a cup of tea. “This is excellent tea, Katie. I was prepared to make do with a tea bag.”

  “I’ve always loved Darjeeling,” she said. “My mom gave me my first cup when I was about ten years old. I’ve never looked back. Bless my mom, she replenished my stock just last week.”

  Mundane things, Sherlock thought, looking from Miles to Katie, to help them put some of this fear behind them. She thought of Sean, her own beautiful little boy, and shivered. Sometimes, the littlest things, silly things really, were just what you needed to remind you that life was coming back to normal, that life was usually just fine, thank you.

  Savich carefully rose and straightened his back as best he could. “Sherlock and I will be heading back to Mother’s Very Best now. If you guys need anything, call us. Otherwise we’ll see you here in the morning.”

  For the second time, Katie and Miles went to bed, Miles with Sam sprawled over his shoulder, Katie holding a sleepy Keely, who whispered, “I wanna sleep with you, Mama.”

  “I was just thinking the same thing, sweetie. You won’t hog the bed, will you?”

  Keely gave her a big grin. “I like to sleep sideways, Mama.”

  Katie was smiling until it hit her again. She’d shot two men in two days, shot them both dead. Odd how it all felt rather distant now. She no longer felt that debilitating shock that had slammed through her earlier. Now she felt strangely detached. Was it because she’d done something that made her not quite human? No, that was the wrong way to look at it. She set her jaw. She would face this, she would settle it in her mind, once and for all.

  21

  When Katie woke up early the following morning, Keely wasn’t in bed with her. She jumped out of bed and came to an abrupt halt just inside the living room. There, lying on their stomachs on a blanket, were Sam and Keely, watching cartoons, the sound turned down low.

  Katie looked down at her feet. For that panicked moment, she’d forgotten her sore feet. Then she thought of Miles. If he woke up he’d be wild with panic when he saw Sam was gone.

  She didn’t say anything, just ignored her throbbing feet, trotted to the guest bedroom, and stuck her head in. Miles was lying on his back, the covers pushed down to his waist, his chest bare. One arm was above his head, the other hand rested on his belly. His dark hair was standing on end, witness to an uneasy night, and his face was dark with stubble. He was sleeping deeply.

  She looked at the alarm clock on the bedside table and saw that it was only just after six o’clock. Let him sleep.

  She stood there a moment looking at Sam’s father, really looking at the man she’d come to trust and admire in just two days’ time, then grabbed a couple of blankets from her bedroom and went back into the living room.

  An old Road Runner cartoon was playing, but the kids weren’t watching it. They’d both fallen asleep. She turned off the TV.

  She pushed the kids apart, marveling at how utterly boneless they were, just like cats. They didn’t stir at all. She got down between them, and managed to get the three blankets over them. She put an arm around each child and drew them close. They snuggled in. She smiled as she closed her eyes, holding their small bodies close and safe.

  An hour later, Miles woke up, realized that Sam wasn’t there, and came running into the living room. There was the sheriff of Jessborough lying on her side, her hair out of its French braid, loose and long, draped over a sofa pillow. She was spooning Sam and Keely was spooning her, and all three of them were sound asleep.

  For a very long time Miles stood in the doorway, looking at them, then looking at the sheriff holding them, and knew to his gut that everything was changing. He’d felt frozen inside since Alicia’s death, but no longer. He turned and walked into the kitchen, made some coffee and pulled out his cell phone to call his sister-in-law, Ann Malcolm. He had called her Sunday morning, to reassure her that Sam was okay, but hadn’t had time to tell her much. He’d trusted Butch Ashburn to keep her informed. He wasn’t planning on telling her much this time either because there was no reason to upset her with it all. He didn’t want to be on the phone anyway. He wanted to be lying in that living room holding Sam.

  “Hey, Cracker, it’s me, Miles.”

  She yelled into his ear: “It’s seven o’clock on a bloody Monday morning! It’s about time you called again, you jerk!” Miles smiled and she was off.

  Miles held his cell phone a good two feet from his ear until he heard her running down. Then she started firing questions at him. He pictured her in his mind as they talked. She was wearing one of her gorgeous peignoir sets, no doubt—that’s what she called them, honest to God. Whereas her sister, his wife Alicia, who had always had both feet a bit off the ground and a song always on her lips, had worn flannel pajamas. Cracker was a part-time estate lawyer, with a big mouth and a sharp brain. She loved Sam, and that was the most important thing.

  “Yes,” he said, breaking in at last, “everything is okay now. I’m okay. Sam is okay. There’s lots to tell you, Cracker, but you’re going to have to wait for the unabridged version. Hey, do you know anyone in Jessborough, Tennessee?”

  “Me? I’ve never even heard of Jessborough, Tennessee. What’s going on, Miles?”

  “That’s another reason I called. I thought we’d be coming right back, but not just yet. Sam’s seeing a local shrink, and I think she’s really good. She came over last night after there was more violence.”

  Cracker nearly lost it. “Violence? What damned violence? Are you nuts, Miles? Bring him home!”

  When he could talk over her, and assure her again that they were safe, Miles said, “I’ll keep you posted. Please, Cracker, don’t worry. Now, I need you to work closely with the FBI—Agent Butch Ashburn was here but he wanted to get back, to get to the bottom of this.”

  “This sheriff . . . what’s her name?”

  “Katie Benedict. She’s good, Cracker, really good. She’s quick, has a solid center, and she’s got guts. She’s probably got lots more, but that’s a good start. Like I told you, she saved Sam.”

  “Is she like the woman sheriff in Mel Gibson’s movie Signs?”

  “Well, maybe, only younger. She’s really together, like that sheriff was.”

  “Okay, that’s great, but Miles, I want you to bring Sam home. I miss him, you know?”

  “I know. Sam is seeing a shrink this morning, so that’s one thing keeping us here. Plus the sheriff has a little girl, Keely. She and Sam are really tight. Dr. Raines believes Keely is very important to Sam right now. I’m not about to risk Sam’s progress by separating them. And the thing is, Sam’s probably just as safe here as he would be back home. So, for the next couple of days, I’m keeping him here in Jessborough. Have you thought of anything that could help?”

  “No, but the FBI are checking out all your employees, which takes a good long time. They’ve spoken to everyone—all the neighbors, all Sam’s teachers, even the postman. Give Sam a big kiss for me, Miles, and tell him I miss him like mad.”

  “I will. Take care. I’ll call if something happens. Hold down the fort. I’ll call Conrad at the office, make sure everything’s running smooth, so don’t worry about the business.”

&nbs
p; He got Conrad’s voice mail. When he slipped his cell back into his pocket, he looked up to see Katie standing in the kitchen doorway. She had socks on her feet and a loose shirt over jeans. She’d pulled her long hair back into a ponytail. She looked fresh and scrubbed. He himself wore socks to protect his Band-Aided feet, jeans from yesterday, and his shirt with two buttons buttoned. He smiled. It felt good.

  “Cracker?”

  “Yeah. She’s my sister-in-law—Alicia’s sister. She’s lived with us ever since Alicia died. She’s really Sam’s surrogate mother.”

  “Where’d she get the name Cracker?”

  “She nearly blew off my foot on the Fourth of July a couple of years back, got called Firecracker, and that came down to Cracker. She’s a brick. I trust her even though she’s a lawyer, only part-time since Alicia died. The kids still asleep?”

  “Yeah. I woke up, saw that Keely wasn’t with me in bed, and nearly had heart failure. I found them both in the living room sleeping. They must have been watching cartoons with almost no sound. I checked you, got some blankets, then went back to the living room. What would you like for breakfast, Miles?”

  “You checked me?”

  She nodded. “I knew if you woke up and Sam wasn’t there, you’d be scared, but you were sleeping so deeply I decided not to wake you. Now, what about food?”

  He remembered pushing the covers down, and he’d awakened with the covers down, which meant she’d probably seen him sprawled on his back, wearing only his boxer shorts. He hoped he hadn’t had a hard-on. Then he found himself wondering what she’d thought. No, that was nuts.

  “Food, Miles,” she said.

  He blinked. “You know, I haven’t thought about food for what is it, three days now, ever since Sam was taken. I’m starving.”

  “Good, then bacon and eggs it is. Crispy and scrambled?”

  22

  After Sam’s meeting with Dr. Raines, Miles still wasn’t sure what the best place was for Sam. What made it easier was that Sam didn’t want Keely out of his sight.

  Miles knew that Katie was as flummoxed as he was. He couldn’t move to Jessborough and he couldn’t very well take Keely back with him to Colfax, Virginia.

  Because Miles wasn’t about to let Sam out of his sight, that meant he also kept Keely with him, and that meant she was out of kindergarten for the moment, cleared by Katie with Keely’s teacher.

  Needless to say, Keely was pleased about this. Miles and the kids parted company from the other adults after lunch at Molly’s Diner on Main Street, after munching on the best meatloaf east of Knoxville.

  It was a beautiful day, sunny and clear, with a slight fall nip in the air. He took them to the small Jessborough park, located just a block from Main Street, bordered with trees so outrageously colorful you just stood there marveling at them. In the middle was a big swing set for the kids.

  Katie went to her office to brief Wade and all the deputies on the situation. She’d no sooner gotten into her office than Agent Glen Hodges appeared in the doorway. He had his arms crossed over his chest, shaking his head at her.

  She sat down behind her desk. “Good morning, Agent Hodges.”

  He gave her a small salute. “Hi, Sheriff. You’re amazing, absolutely amazing. You took out both bad guys.”

  “Yeah, well, I didn’t really want to, and you probably know Clancy practically admitted he was working for somebody else.”

  “We’ll find out who that somebody is,” he said. “I spoke with Butch Ashburn. He gave me a rundown. Now I’m thinking I should go interview the McCamys.”

  Katie smiled. “Admittedly, I’m just a backwoods sheriff, but Agent Sherlock and I have already been to see them. I’d appreciate it if you’d let us deal with the McCamys.”

  He wasn’t happy about that, but he nodded.

  “What I’d really like you to do is come along to the briefing I’m giving to my deputies.”

  He wasn’t happy about this either, but on the other hand, Katie wasn’t very happy with him. When he left for the department’s conference room, Katie called Wade in.

  Wade always walked like a guy on the prowl. He was two years older than Katie and he’d wanted very much to be elected sheriff, but the truth was, the powers in town owed a lot to the Benedict Pulp Mill, and so Katie was the one to get the nod. Wade had been a deputy to the old sheriff, a good old boy named Bud Owens who’d believed computers were for wussies. When he’d finally retired, he’d told everyone he wanted Wade. Unfortunately for him, Wade didn’t have Katie’s education, or her experience as a cop in a big city. Certainly her desire to be sheriff equaled or surpassed Wade’s. Her cop experience had been in Knoxville, for two years, and that’s where she’d met Carlo Silvestri, who turned her life upside down. For one year, her life had been one screaming crisis after another. Then Carlo’s father had come and they’d both left Knoxville.

  Katie had taken stock, realized she was a cop to her toes, and what she really wanted was to be sheriff of Jessborough. It was what she needed, too. She loved her work. It had helped her get through the worst of her father’s illness, the devastating and inevitable march of Alzheimer’s, which had turned him into an angry stranger before killing him.

  She watched Wade, her eyes half-closed. When she’d had enough of his fidgeting around, she said, “Well, Wade, would you like to continue working with Agent Hodges for as long as he remains here?”

  “Well, sure, I’d really like that, Katie.”

  “Thing is, I don’t really trust him to tell us stuff, to give us everything we need to know. Can I trust you to keep me filled in?”

  She saw it in his eyes. Wade wasn’t good at deception, not like she was. She was so good that when she was in Knoxville, they wanted to put her in undercover operations. She smiled at him and waited.

  He said, one eyelid twitching furiously, “Of course, Katie. After all, I work for the Jessborough Sheriff’s Department.”

  “Well, actually, Wade, you work for me. I am the Sheriff’s Department.”

  He flushed, blood rushing to his cheeks. He got all stiff, but he wasn’t stupid, and he knew he couldn’t cross her openly or she just might fire his ass.

  “Yeah, I work for you.”

  “Okay, you’re now my liaison with Agent Hodges.” She sat forward, her eyes hard on him. “Listen to me now, this is important. Don’t be impressed just because he tells you something. Make sure you know everything that’s going on, you got that?”

  After he’d assured her he understood, he sauntered out of her office, more enthusiasm in his step.

  Katie followed him after a minute. Conversation stopped when she came into the small room. She walked to the head of the table and stood behind a small lectern, her hands clasped in front of her. “There are just eight of us this morning. Nate and Jamie are at home recovering.” She looked around the conference at her seven deputies, all of them looking excited and important. She wished she had a basket of candy to hand out to them, they looked so much like school kids. Linnie, her dispatcher and assistant, had already handed out coffee.

  She introduced them to Agent Hodges, then went through events chronologically. It took her a good fifteen minutes. “Do you have anything to add, Agent Hodges?”

  He didn’t, though he wanted to. The problem was that Katie had been thorough, and thankfully, Agent Hodges had the grace to say, “No, you’ve covered things quite nicely, Sheriff.”

  “Okay, now here’s what we’re going to do. I found out that Hester Granby is the church secretary at the Sinful Children of God. I want Wade to get the names of the members from her. He’ll split them up and each of you will go interview as many church members as you can today. If you find out anything at all interesting about church operations or either of the McCamys, leave me a message on my voice mail. Don’t forget now, we have to be nice. Remember that we have no evidence to connect the McCamys to the kidnapping, it’s just that they’re our only lead. You already know some of their people, but the majority aren’t l
ocal. That should give you a head start at least.”

  Deputy Cole Osborne said, “Sheriff, how will we know if we find out anything significant?”

  “You’re smart enough. Listen carefully, anything you hear that might sound the least bit off, that’s what I want to know about.”

  After she’d dismissed them all, and said fond good-byes to Agent Hodges, she pulled Deputy Danny Peevley aside. He was the best-liked of all her deputies, just about magic with people. His mama would say that he could get an onion to peel off its own skin. “I have someone real special I want you to speak to, Danny. His name is Homer Bean and he lives in Elizabethton. He owns the Union 76 gas station. I saw Bea Hipple yesterday at the church and she called me, gave me Homer Bean’s name. She said she liked Homer, and he’d been unhappy with Reverend McCamy. That’s all she knew. Mr. Bean left the church about six months ago. Find out why, Danny. Find out what he thinks of Reverend McCamy.”

  Once Katie’s door closed, she sat down at her desk actually happy to have a chance to look at the three active cases Linnie had left for her to review. Three cases very nearly constituted a crime spree for Jessborough. One DUI—Timmy Engels was at this moment still sleeping off his drunk in the only cell that had a soft cushion. One assault case—Marvin Dickerson was in back in a cell for beating on his wife, Ellie. Katie would keep him locked up until Judge Denver saw him at an arraignment on Wednesday. And she would speak to his wife again, beg her to press charges. But she wouldn’t, she never did, so the best Katie could do was keep the bastard locked up as long as she could. And one last case: shoplifting—Ben Chivers, a kid whose parents were so poor, it broke Katie’s heart. And the fact that they were usually passed out at night after drinking themselves blind didn’t help matters. I made you give back that Snickers bar you stole, Ben; now what am I going to do with you? She closed her eyes and mulled that one over.