Big Mountain Daddy

by B. B. Hamel

  I do know the ones. That’s this area’s infamous trailer park, the place that kids talk about with awe. It’s where all the bad people live, but really it’s just like any other trailer park. It’s funny how ideas can grow so big in the minds of kids.

  “Are you sure you don’t know anything about him?” I press a little harder. “Anything at all?”

  She sighs. “What can I say, honey? Other than that dinner with the girl, he barely talked to me.” She suddenly makes a face and cocks her head. “Actually, he did say something that night.”

  I lean forward in my chair. “What?”

  “When he asked me for money, he said something about having a big job soon with a friend of his, a guy I might remember.” She blinks, and looks at me. “Could that be Jaxson?”

  I frown. “Maybe. What kind of job?”

  “He just made it seem like he’d be able to pay me back as soon as the job was over. And the girl said that ‘J’ was going to take care of them. Whatever that means.”

  I finger my can of Coke, staring at the tabletop. Kristi talked about a “J,” could that be Jaxson? And this job Atticus was talking about, could it have been with Jaxson?

  It’s flimsy, and I probably would have overlooked it entirely if Jaxson hadn’t pulled that shit last night. He was clearly trying to scare us away. I assumed that was just because we were sniffing around the Niners, and he didn’t like that.

  But maybe it’s personal for him. Maybe he had some job with Kristi and Atticus, and the job went wrong. That could be why Kristi ran off to her mom’s.

  I stand up suddenly. “Thanks, mom.”

  She looks surprised. “That’s it?”

  “Sorry, I gotta go.”

  “Some kid you are.”

  I go over and kiss her cheek. “At least I’m not asking for money.”

  She makes a face. “Yeah, you got that going for you.”

  “I’ll see you later.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  I grab my purse and hurry back outside and down to my car. I get my phone out and call Wyatt. He answers on the second ring.

  “Can we meet up?” I say to him.

  “Hello to you too,” he answers. “Yeah, we can meet up. I knew you couldn’t stay away.”

  “Cut it out, I’m serious. My mom said something just now.”

  “What is it?” he asks.

  “I’ll tell you in person. Meet me at the Great American, okay?”

  “Okay,” he says. “When?”

  “Right now. Ten minutes.”

  “See you there.”

  I hang up my phone and start my engine. I’m not sure if what I’m thinking makes any sense, so I have to run it by Wyatt. He’ll know what to make of this, if anything.

  But I can see this. I can see how this might make sense. I drive fast, heart beating hard, nerves running all along my skin.

  10

  Wyatt

  “Absolutely not.” I shake my head, not even considering it. “No way.”

  “Come on, Wyatt, Just listen.” Cora pleads with me.

  “Listen, you saw what happened last night. You were right there.”

  She rolls her eyes. “I know.”

  “So how do you think this is a good idea?” I ask.

  She takes a deep breath and lets it out, hesitating a second. I take a look around the room. The Great American is crowded for a Sunday morning. The coffee’s hot, though, and Cora’s looking at me with that concerned expression. Like she thinks I’m an idiot for being cautious or something.

  “Atticus went to my mom’s like a month before he was killed,” she tells me finally. “She says he was looking for money, like usual, but he said something strange.”

  That gets my attention. “What did he say?”

  “He said that he had a job coming, and that he could pay her back once it worked out. His girlfriend was there, too.”

  “Kristi?” I cock my head, eyes narrowing.

  “Bingo. And she mentioned someone named ‘J’ taking care of them.”

  I sigh. I don’t like where this is going, not at all. “And you think that’s Jaxson.” It’s a huge assumption based off of the memory of her drunk mother and an offhand comment by an addict.

  “Exactly,” she says. “What if this job has something to do with what happened?”

  “It’s a stretch,” I say seriously. “A really big one.”

  “You saw the way Kristi was acting. And Jaxson threatening us like that?” She shakes her head, blowing on her coffee to cool it down slightly. “Come on, Wyatt. It doesn’t get more suspicious.”

  “I can’t deny that,” I admit. I was thinking the same thing. “But you want to stroll right into the lion’s den.”

  “It’s his parents’ trailer,” she says. “What’s he going to do, murder us in front of them?”

  I grin. “Sure, maybe. You know how those trailer park people can be.” She rolls her eyes at that and gives me a look. She didn’t like that joke. “Anyway, how do you even know that he still lives with his parents?”

  “Facebook. He doesn’t say it, but I’ve seen a bunch of pictures lately taken at a trailer. I’d bet anything that’s his parents’ place.”

  “It’s a stretch,” I say again, but this time I’m starting to consider it, despite myself. If he really is living with his parents, then it would be somewhat safe to show up there, though I don’t know how it’ll make him react. “A really big stretch. You want to take a big risk based entirely on a guess.”

  “Yeah, I do,” she says earnestly. She leans forward and locks eyes with me. “Because you’re leaving soon, and this may be the best lead I get before you go. So I might as well chase this now, with you here to protect me, instead of doing it after you leave.”

  I stare at her for a second, slightly annoyed. She smiles sweetly at me, batting her eyelashes, which just makes me groan. “You’re blackmailing me, you know,” I say.

  “I know,” she answers, grinning.

  “I knew you were trouble.”

  “So you’ll do it.”

  “We’re eating breakfast first,” I say, flagging down the waitress.

  I know I don’t have any other choice. She’s going to do this idiotic thing no matter what, and she’s right, I am leaving soon.

  The thought isn’t comforting, not at all. I don’t want to leave her, not when I’ve dragged her deeper into this. Jaxson saw us together, they’re staking out her house, and who knows what else. She’s in danger, and I’m going to abandon her, go back to my own life, and try to forget all about this.

  I doubt I can, which means I don’t know what the fuck I’m going to do.

  For now though, we’re going to Jaxson’s house, the guy that threatened us. It’s totally stupid and irresponsible and yet I can’t say no to her, and that’s maybe the most dangerous part of this whole thing.

  We stop in front of the trailer and I kill the engine. “Listen to me. I have one rule.”

  She looks at me with that cute, innocent stare, really playing it up. “Yes, sir?”

  I roll my eyes. “Just listen, okay? If I tell you to run the fuck away, you run away. If I tell you to dive onto the ground and scream, you do it. Okay?”

  “I’ll do what you say, I promise.”

  “Good.” I pop open the glovebox and pull out my gun. She gapes at it as I check the slide and inspect the magazine. “You ready?”

  I don’t say anything about the gun. I can tell it makes Cora uncomfortable based on the way she keeps looking away from it. “Let’s go,” I say.

  We climb out of the car and I slip the gun into my waistband. We walk up to the front of the trailer and I knock this time, taking the lead.

  An older woman answers the door. She’s older than my mom, wrinkled with frizzy, untamed hair and golden brown skin like she spends hours in a tanning bed.

  “Who are you?” she croaks.

  “Ma’am, I’m Wyatt, friend of Jaxson’s.”

  She stares at me for a
second. “You don’t look like his friend.”

  I grin. “Thank you.”

  She sighs and turn away from the door. “Jaxson!” she screams. “Friends are here!”

  “What the fuck, ma?” he shouts back. She slowly walks back into the trailer. I catch a glimpse of a cigarette in the ash tray, a game show on TV, and a cat prowling along the floor. Jaxson comes around the corner.

  “Who the fuck is—” He stops when he spots me and Cora.

  He glances at his mother and back to us. I can tell he’s trying to decide what he wants to do in this situation. He’s not wearing a shirt, just a pair of baggy jeans. He hesitates a second, wondering if he should turn back, but I shake my head subtly. I don’t want him going into that room again and coming back out with a gun.

  He sets his jaw and comes to the door. “The fuck you want, Wyatt?”

  “Can we talk?” I ask him.

  He shrugs. “I’m listening.”

  I stare him down. “Outside.”

  He glances back. “Ma, I’ll be out front.” He opens the door and steps out. He pulls it shut behind him and walks out toward the street.

  We follow him. He doesn’t bother looking at Cora. He crosses his arms and turns on me.

  “This was a big fucking mistake, Wyatt,” he says, showing his teeth.

  “Relax,” I say. “We’re not here to stir shit.”

  “You’re not?” he asks. “You here to talk about the old days?”

  “Sure,” I say. “Why not?”

  He laughs and eyes me. “Fuck you, Wyatt. You were always such a boring kiss ass, you know that?”

  My eye twitches but I keep it together. “Do you know Atticus’s ex?” I ask him suddenly.

  “Kristi?” he says, and then instantly I can tell he regrets that response.

  I smile at him. “Yeah, that’s the one.”

  He clearly didn’t mean to give that up. “What about her?” he asks.

  “She’s been pretty hard to track down,” I say, glancing at Cora. She keeps her face straight, not giving anything away.

  “Yeah, why you lookin’ for her?”

  “You know why, Jaxson. She might know something.”

  He shakes his head, grinning. “You still don’t get it?”

  “I guess not. Explain it to me.”

  “Atticus is a fucking nothing,” he says. “A little fucking worm that got stomped on. You fucking think anyone cares about him?”

  “Kristi might,” I say.

  “Kristi don’t give a fuck about him, nobody does.” He looks at Cora. “Sorry, kid, but it’s the fucking truth. Your brother was scum, pure and simple.”

  “What do you think you are?” Cora snaps at him.

  He grins at her. “Got a mouth on this one,” he says.

  “Jaxson,” I say, pulling his attention back to me. “Where’s Kristi?”

  “Dunno. With her mom, I bet.”

  I nod at that. So the guy knows Kristi, and knows her well enough to guess right. Either that, or he actually does fucking know where she is right now.

  Still, this means he knows her, and probably pretty well.

  “Were you close with Atticus before he died?” I ask him, changing the subject.

  “The guy hung around me and my boys, but no, fuck him,” Jaxson says. “And fuck you too, Wyatt. I’m not talking to you.”

  “Why not?” I ask him.

  Jaxson must suddenly realize that he has no reason to answer my questions. “Because fuck you, that’s why. You come here again, I will go back for that gun and murder you dumb ass. You get me?”

  “You shouldn’t toss around threats, Jaxson,” I say. “I’ve been nice.”

  “Fuck your nice, bitch.” He turns to Cora. “And you, well, you better stay safe, yeah?”

  He cackles and heads back to the trailer. We stand and watch him go. I cross my arms and only relax when he’s finally inside.

  I grab Cora’s arm and pull her back to the car. We get inside as fast as we can and we pull out of there quick.

  “Nothing,” she says softly. “We got nothing. Why were you asking him about Kristi? We already saw her.”

  I turn to her and grin. “Think about it,” I say.

  She screws up her face. “Don’t be an ass.”

  “I just showed that your theory might actually be right.”

  She chews her lip a second, and I see it suddenly click. “He knows her,” she says. “He knows her well enough to guess where she is, or he actually does know.”

  I grin huge. “Either way, that means that they both could be involved in this. And that ‘J’ your mom mentioned might actually be Jaxson.”

  “Damn,” she says softly, laughing. “That’s devious.”

  “It’s about the best we could hope for,” I admit. “More than he wanted to give us, at least.”

  “What now?” she asks.

  I shake my head. “Now, we keep working the case.”

  She grins at me and we drive in silence. My mind’s working on a ton of levels, but most of me is thinking about how beautiful Cora looks when she smiles, and how easily she’s taking to this investigation stuff. She’s smart as a whip and sexy on top of it.

  I should be able to say no to her. But my god, I really can’t. I just want more.

  But that threat Jaxson threw at her still lingers in my mind, and I’m torn all over again.

  11

  Cora

  When I’m back home alone in my apartment, I can’t help but think one thing: he’s going to leave me soon.

  I know it’s irrational. That’s part of the deal. Wyatt has his own life back in the city, he couldn’t just put everything on hold and just live out of that motel. It’s costing him money, time, effort, and I can’t repay him for any of that.

  Still… I had hoped he’d stay. We’re getting somewhere already, and he’s only been here a few days. I feel like we’ve done more investigating together than the whole Mason police department has since Atticus died. We’re actually making inroads, getting things done.

  When he’s gone, I don’t know what I’ll do. I can’t keep poking around the Niners, although obviously they know what happened to Atticus. The look on Jaxson’s face when we confronted him was pure anger and hatred, and the only thing holding him back was Wyatt. If I try to keep investigating Jaxson without him, well, I’m pretty sure I’ll end up like Atticus.

  I pour myself a glass of wine. I sit down cross-legged on the couch and sip it before opening my laptop. I scroll through Facebook, idly looking at profiles, not really thinking about what I’m seeing.

  I find myself on Wyatt’s page, pulled like a magnet. He barely ever uses it, but there are pictures there. He has friends, family, a whole life in Chicago, and some stupid part of me thought that he might want to put all that aside and help me.

  No, that’s not true. I sigh and glance at the time. It’s a little after midnight, and I know I need to get to sleep.

  I want him to stay because I want him. I can barely admit that fact to myself, so I don’t know why he could possibly leave his whole life aside somehow. I can’t even tell him how I feel, that I want something with him more than just a professional relationship.

  I want his hands on my body. I want his lips against my neck. I want to moan his name as he presses me up against a wall and pins me there.

  I have so much guilt about this. I should be thinking more about Atticus and less about having sex with Wyatt, but I can’t help myself. Ever since I saw him back at the funeral, standing there and looking so stoic and handsome, I knew I had to talk to him again. I have so many memories with him, but they all pale in comparison to the intense desire that’s rolling around in my gut every time I see him.

  I finish my glass of wine, rinse it out, and put it in the dishwasher. I stretch a little, resigning myself to sleep, when my phone starts to ring.

  I give a little jump and my eyes go wide. It has to be him, calling to say he wants to see me. It’s irrational, I know, bu
t it’s the reason I’ve been staying up so late. I keep thinking he’ll call.

  I run over to my phone, grab it, and answer without looking at the screen. “Hello?”

  “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

  I pause, taken aback. The voice is definitely not Wyatt’s, and the tone… this person is angry.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Listen, you little cunt. You think you can solve your brother’s murder?”

  “Who is this?” I ask, suddenly afraid.

  “Stupid bitch.” The man laughs. I think it might be Jaxson, but no, the voice isn’t right. “I know where you live. I was in your trash, remember?”

  A chill runs down my spine. I glance around the room and walk over to my blinds. I peer outside, but it’s quiet and empty. “What do you want?”

  “I want you to back off,” he says. “Tell your little boyfriend to fuck off back to Chicago.”

  “Who is this?” I ask. “Why are you so afraid?”

  “Stupid fucking bitch,” he spits. “You want to die next?”

  “Did you kill my brother?” I ask softly.

  “No, but I know who did. And I’ll send him to fuck your ass with a gun before killing you. Back off, stupid bitch, or we’ll kill you and your whole goddamn family.”

  He hangs up the phone. I stand there, staring at the screen for a second, before slowly sinking down into a nearby chair.

  The guy’s words keep ringing in my ears. He knows who killed my brother, and I might be next.

  Me and my whole family, which is really just my mother at this point.

  All because of what I’ve done. I pushed too hard, investigated too much. Wyatt’s leaving, and once he’s gone, I’ll have nobody to watch out for me.

  I’m going to get killed. The realization hits me fast and hard, makes the breath seep from my lungs, leaving me gasping for air. I realize that I’m having a panic attack, but that doesn’t matter. My heart is hammering, my ears are ringing, and I can’t breathe.

  I stumble into the bathroom. I splash cold water on my face before curling up on my bed in the fetal position, terror ringing through me. Slowly, my breathing becomes normal again, and I can actually think.