by Jessi Gage
As a kid, I’d spent hours upon hours exploring the trails that led to different points around the dump. I used to love to pretend I was a gymnast and do amateur balance beam routines on fallen logs. I’d loved to huddle down amidst lush growths of ferns and pretend I lived in a big, beautiful house filled with green, leafy plants instead of in a mobile home. I would build forts by stacking fallen limbs and twigs around a formation of boulders near the stone wall that separated our property from the dump.
I’d known better than to trespass on the private property the county leased to house the landfill, so I’d never scaled the fence into the dump itself. But I knew the trails and the dirt access road they led to like the back of my hand. The familiar pine-needle-covered ground cushioned my feet as I sailed through trees and jumped the occasional rotted log. The scent of moss and frosty leaves brought a welcome chill to my lungs as I pushed myself. When I hit the access road, I lengthened my stride and settled in to a pace I could sustain for at least two circles around the dump.
If I was lucky, I would outrun my desire for a particular hot cop who needed me like he needed a sticky trigger on his police-issue revolver.
Chapter 9
I got back from running to find Cole nose to nose with Tooley in the driveway. Cole had changed into cargo pants and his parka. His Oakleys clung to the collar of the Henley peeking from underneath. His fists were clenched, one of them choking the life out of a white take-out bag. I recognized the red logo for Lucky Dragon, the Chinese place Dad had liked in Plaistow.
Cole had brought me a late lunch, even though I’d let him off the hook earlier. My heart melted a little bit.
Tooley was still in his pants and dress shirt from the funeral, but he’d traded out the suit jacket for a camouflage hunting jacket. The men glowered at each other from between Cole’s truck and a sparkly, tan Escalade that had to belong to Tooley. They must not have heard me approach, because neither man looked my way.
“She just saw Gripper put in a vault until the ground thaws,” Cole growled. “You can’t give her a day—a single day to make peace with the fact?”
“She doesn’t care about Gripper,” Tooley spat. He pointed down the driveway. “She drove out of here the second she finished high school and never looked back. She doesn’t deserve his business. He left it to me, goddammit. I earned it being his friend the last fifteen years, lifting him in and out of bed the last few weeks, driving him to appointments, wiping his goddamned ass, for chrissake. What did she ever do besides break his heart?”
I gasped.
Both men swiveled their heads to look at me.
Cole closed his eyes and dropped his head back, a gesture that said clear as day that he wished I hadn’t heard what Tooley had just said.
Tooley’s eyes bugged out. “Mandy. Honey, I didn’t see you there.” He clapped a hand behind his neck. “Honey, I didn’t mean anything by that. That wasn’t directed at you.”
“Don’t hurt yourself backpedaling. And don’t call me honey.” I walked around Cole’s truck to join the conversation. It seemed natural to sidle up to my new best friend and face Tooley as allies.
“I can guess what you’re doing here.” I gestured at the bag in Cole’s hand then gave Tooley my attention. “But what are you doing here? What’s this about Dad’s business?”
“Hon—Mandy, your dad and I were tight. Like brothers. You know that, right?” Tooley was blinking too frequently. “I hate to be the one to tell you this, but your dad promised me the gun business. I checked with Waverly, and apparently, your dad never told him about the will, but I was there when he printed it out and signed it. He had two witnesses—not me—sign it too. They’ll back me on this.”
Cole snorted as Tooley continued.
“That’s why I came—to locate the will and give it to Waverly so he can execute your dad’s wishes.” He had the decency to look embarrassed after he raised his bushy eyebrows to emphasize “dad’s wishes.” As if I’d contemplate screwing him out of whatever Dad had promised him.
I opened my mouth to tell him to go on up, find the document and get out of my hair so I could have a shower and then some Chinese food with Officer Oakley. I didn’t get the chance.
“Get. The fuck. Gone.” Cole’s voice rose so the last word echoed off the garage. “This is not the time, Tooley, and you damn well know it.”
Tooley spread his hands. “Now, Cole, I get that you’re being protective, here. It’s good you’re looking out for Gripper’s girl. I’m not trying to add to Mandy’s grief. I just want to get that document so we can all move forward the way Gripper wanted, with no misunderstandings. It would be cruel of me to wait on this and let Mandy think she’ll inherit more than her due.”
“Jeez, Cole, just let him—”
He cut a look at me that made my mouth snap shut. The look said, I’m handling this.
I folded my arms over my chest. My arm pressed my Luger, which nestled comfortably beneath my breasts. I considered waving it around and telling both men to take a hike. Unfortunately, now that I’d scented fried rice and red cooked pork, I didn’t think I had the will power to shoo Cole away. Also, he’d earned my trust today. He’d known better than me what to do for Dad’s funeral because he’d known Dad better than me. Maybe he knew better in this situation too. I decided to follow his lead.
“Won’t even take me sixty seconds,” Tooley said to me. “Just get me the keys, and I’ll go up and find what I need.”
“The hell you will.” Cole stepped between me and Tooley. “I could make you leave, you know,” he said quietly. Inclining his head to me, he said, “Mandy, you want him here?”
“No,” I said. I knew where he was going with this.
“Hear that? You’re officially trespassing. I know you haven’t worked law enforcement for a few years, but surely you remember the law. Or do you only remember the parts you find convenient?”
Silence.
Tooley’s face turned purple. “It wasn’t enough for you to get me fired from Newburgh PD? Now you’re pulling rank on me, Mr. High-and-Mighty State Trooper Plankitt?” His jowls wobbled with his voice.
“I didn’t get you fired. You managed that all on your own.”
“Nah. Naaahhh.” He shook his head, lips folded in, eyes wild. “It was you.” Now he was nodding. Certain as a conspiracy theorist. “You and her.” He pointed at me.
Huh? What did I do?
“This was going on even then, wasn’t it? I knew it. I knew you had a thing for her. You overgrown perv. The way your eyes would follow her sassy ass in those miniskirts. You were buddy-buddy with Gripper and all the while you were boinking his daughter behind his back.”
Cue the needle-scratch sound effect. What on Earth was he talking about? Me and Cole? Seeing each other like that when I was in high school? We weren’t even seeing each other like that now.
“That’s why you broke my nose the night I hauled her in for getting herself drunk as a skunk and sharing STDs with half of Newburgh’s underage crowd.”
Cole shoved the bag of food at me and curled his fist in the front of Tooley’s hunting jacket. He backed him up against the Escalade. “I am this close to losing it, Tooley. Do you want to see me lose it?” Body like a wire about to snap, voice like a calm ocean. Cole was, in a word, terrifying.
“You can’t do anything to me. You don’t have just cause. Get your hands off me, Officer Plankitt.” Tooley grabbed Cole’s arm but couldn’t budge it. “Or I swear to Christ I’ll expose you. Tit for tat. Oh, how I would love to expose you. You want to lose your cushy place on the state force for screwing a minor way back when? That what you want?”
My heart pounded. Tooley was throwing out some bizarre and completely unfounded accusations, but I was stuck on something else he’d said. Cole had broken Tooley’s nose that night?
Cole twisted Tooley’s collar, tightening it like a noose. He jerked him forward and banged him against the SUV. “You. Gone. Now.”
Why was Cole so upset when Tooley’s claims obviously weren’t true? More importantly, why hadn’t he denied them?
“Stop. Both of you. Please. Just go, Tooley. You can call Max and figure this out with him.”
While I made my plea, Cole yanked open the door to the Escalade and shoved Tooley in.
“The will—”
Cole slammed the door.
“I’ll look for it,” I said, loud enough Tooley could hear me through the glass.
Yeah, right, said the look on his face.
Cole stood feet spread, arms folded. “Start the car,” he growled.
Tooley shook his head. He put his cell phone to his ear.
Cole muttered a curse. “What, are you calling the cops on me, old man?”
Tooley put his window down. “I’m not going anywhere. Now that you know about the will, soon as I’m out of here, you’ll go look for it and destroy it just to spite me. Or she will.” His eyes cut to me.
“What did I ever do to you?” I didn’t wait for him to answer. “How can you think I’d tamper with a legal document? Dad’s estate isn’t even worth much. You’re getting worked up over nothing.”
“You’d like me to believe that, wouldn’t you? No. Your dad’s business was doing good. Know how I know? ’Cause I was here, helping him balance his books, bringing guns in the door, spotting him a loan when he needed the new lathe. I’ve been here, Mandy. Right here. Where have you been?”
Ouch.
“I’m not going anywhere until an impartial third party goes up in the shop and looks for that will.” He put up his window and folded his arms to match Cole’s stance as much as he could, considering he was sitting behind a steering wheel.
A standoff.
“Go inside,” Cole said, not looking at me. “Call Max.” His shoulders made a rigid line. The skin at the back of his neck was so red it was practically glowing.
I found Tooley’s accusations shocking and embarrassing. Judging by Cole’s coloring, he was feeling pretty shocked and embarrassed too. Tooley had accused him of a despicable crime when Cole had never been anything but proper around me when I was younger, barring the occasional F-bomb and dirty joke traded with my dad. To his credit, he probably hadn’t been aware of me half the time. Anything untoward I’d overheard was my own fault for basking in Cole’s presence when I should have been mooning over guys my own age.
“Why, so you won’t have any witnesses?” I asked in an attempt to lighten the mood.
If Cole’s complete lack of reaction was any indication, my joke had fallen flat.
“Just kidding,” I said. Idiot. Way to joke about murder with a man of the law.
Humor hadn’t worked. But I had to do something. Watching Cole suffer was like a splinter that needed to be pulled—impossible to ignore. “Hey, what Tooley said, he was out of line. Like way out.”
Cole cocked his head, not quite looking at me, but at least acknowledging that I’d spoken.
“Whatever, right?” I said, keeping my voice low enough that Tooley wouldn’t be able to hear. “He’s just mad. And being a huge jerk. He’s trying to hurt us both.” What I couldn’t figure out was why. He was acting like a man with a grudge. If Cole really had gotten Tooley fired, I could buy that as rationale for payback. But what was his beef with me?
Cole met my eyes. Jeepers. He could grind gravel between his teeth, he was so tense. “Go inside. Call Max.” His voice was crazy soft considering the neon blue laser beams shooting through me.
“Aye aye, Captain,” I said, breathless. I took the Lucky Dragon bag inside and spooned the food into baking dishes while I waited for Max to pick up.
“Problems at the ranch,” I told him when he answered. “Tooley’s here wanting to go up in the shop to look for a will he says Dad signed in his presence. He talk to you about this?”
Max groaned. “He said something about it at the funeral. Wait. He’s there now? You didn’t let him up, did you?”
“No. He’s in the driveway. Cole’s keeping an eye on him.”
“Good. The shop’s off limits to anyone and everyone until Glasby closes it down. FTA regulations, yada yada yada.” Max had hired Harold Glasby, another lawyer, to close down the business side of Dad’s estate. I didn’t know the guy, but Cole had approved of him, so I figured Dad’s business was in good hands.
I covered the baking dishes with foil. “Yeah, well, Tooley says he won’t leave until someone goes up there to look for the will.”
“You’re kidding, right? Please say you’re kidding. It’s Christmas Eve.”
“Want me to call the, uh, cops?”
A heavy sigh. “No. And don’t let Officer Plankitt do anything he’ll get in trouble for. I’ll be over. Give me twenty minutes.”
“Sorry.”
“Not your fault. I’m going to give Tooley a piece of my mind when I get there.”
“Don’t be too hard on him. He’s being nasty, but I get that he just lost his friend.”
“Mandy, you just lost your father. For a grown man to act like this much of a selfish child on the day of Gripper’s funeral and for you to stick up for him, even a little—that’s so backwards it’s not even funny. You sit tight. I’ll be there.” Click.
I turned the oven on warm, set the grub inside and went out to tell Cole Max was on his way.
He grunted in response. My Oakley-wearing caveman.
Time for a shower. Maybe by the time I got out, Max would be here, Tooley would have his precious will in hand, and Cole and I could have a peaceful meal together.
A girl could wish for a Christmas miracle.
* * * *
No one could find the will.
After my shower, I’d gone up to the shop to find Cole, Tooley, and Tooley’s pal Gonzo pawing through Dad’s stuff. Max played chaperone to make sure no one stole a gun or whipped a forged will out of a vest pocket. Gonzo, a heavy-set, bearded biker, had also been friends with my dad and had supposedly been one of the witnesses to sign off on the will naming Tooley as beneficiary to the business. The other had been Brock, who had also been a good friend of Dad’s and owned the property next door that the county leased for the dump.
I’d noticed Gonzo and Brock at the funeral, but other than Brock shaking my hand in the reception line, I hadn’t spoken to either of them. Gonzo hadn’t bothered approaching me at all. In fact, there had been quite a few of my dad’s friends who hadn’t approached me, most of them Newburgh cops. Some of them made eye contact, though, and the scowling looks they gave me had seemed out of proportion to the reputation I had in this town. Maybe they were mad at me for not helping Dad when he’d been sick. I wished someone would give them the memo that Dad hadn’t told me he was sick. At least Tooley was the only one to confront me at the funeral. I bet more of them might have said something to me if Cole hadn’t been hovering.
He was hovering now too. When I arrived up in the shop, he gave up the search and came to stand near me and Max while Tooley helped himself to the gun safe. Tooley worked the combination and opened the door like he’d done it a dozen times before.
Cole whispered in my ear, “You know he had the combination?”
I shook my head.
Max was watching us. He sidled over. “When Gripper got sick, I suggested he share the combination with someone. He’d refused to write it down, but he promised me he’d make sure Randall knew it.”
Offense flared and fizzled in my gut. Dad had always been highly protective of his combos and passwords. He’d made me memorize the combo for the house safe because we used it for both our personal records and I occasionally had need of it. But he’d never shared the combination to the shop safe with me. It hurt that he’d shared it with Tooley. But then he would have, wouldn’t he, if he’d been planning to leave the business to him?
Tooley gave up on the safe, not finding anything but guns and ammo inside. He and Gonzo parked their butts in front of the computer. I felt a
mild sense of violation as Tooley entered the password without missing a beat and they began searching Dad’s files. I didn’t care how close Dad and Tooley had been, it felt like an invasion of his privacy for someone to be combing through his business records and personal documents.
I laid a hand on Max’s arm. “I don’t like them being on Dad’s computer.”
He nodded, and said, “I’m calling it, gentlemen. We’ve given it a good hour. It’s Christmas Eve. Let’s let Mandy have some peace tonight.”
“Here it is!” Tooley jumped up and pointed at the screen. “Told you, goddammit. Here it is. Thought I was BS-ing you, huh? Well here’s the will. I told you he named me.” He proceeded to read the line in the will where Dad had bequeathed the business to him, pumping his fist in victory as he finished.
My heart sank to know Dad really had left the only thing he’d had of value to someone other than me, but it’s not like I deserved it. If it felt like a betrayal, that was only because my expectations had been faulty.
“Doesn’t matter,” Cole said. “To enter probate, you need a physical copy with signatures. You know the New Hampshire law as well as I do, Tooley. A last will and testament is considered revoked by the testator if it’s last seen in the testator’s possession and can’t be found after his death.”
Tooley threw his hands in the air as he rose from the computer. He came at Max with his arms spread, imploring. “My hand to God, I watched Gripper print out his Last Will and Testament right there at his desk. He signed it. Brock signed it. Gonzo signed it. Tell them.” He motioned to his buddy.
Gonzo nodded. He looked me right in the eye and said, “The man does not lie. I put my John Hancock on it just a few weeks ago. Watched Gripper file it right there in that drawer.”
“Be that as it may,” Max said, palms up. “It’s gone now. Cole is correct. The law interprets a missing will to mean the testator himself must have destroyed it. The only way the digital copy means anything at all is if the physical copy with signatures is present but damaged such that it cannot be read.”