by Gen Griffin
“You don't ever have any faith in my dreams.” Ian headed for the porch and then turned around abruptly to face her. He stumbled slightly and for the briefest moment Katie thought he was going to fall back down the stairs. “Would being married to a landscaper embarrass you, Katie?”
“You're not a landscaper. You don't know anything about gardening or horticulture. You mow grass.”
“There you go again with your $3 words. Horticulture. Jeez. Lowery knows about gardening and all that stuff. He's done this for a few years.
“The only plant Lowery knows anything about is the one he rolls up and smokes in a blunt.” Katie crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head at her husband. “Try again.”
“Want to know what my favorite thing is about Lowery and Joe?” Ian asked, abruptly changing topics.
“Not really,” Katie said.
“They never look down on me. They don't say big words and then laugh when I don't understand what the fuck they're talking about. I roll up in my truck and they're like, cool man, you got a truck. Ain't like David, always crawling my ass to save up some money and trade the S-10 in on something that will be safer for you and Hannah Mae. I mean, we're in Possum Creek. We only have like, three fender benders a year. How much danger can y'all be in?” Ian held up his hand to stop her from answering him.
“Lowery ain't never down on me. He don't treat me like I'm dumb. He and Joe actually like me. They're not just tolerating me because I'm their buddy's cousin. I never feel like an awkward fourth wheel when I'm hanging out with them. They don't talk over my head. They don't make me feel shitty about myself or ask me why I don't get a better job. They don't laugh at me behind my back.”
“Ian, none of our friends laugh at you behind your back and no one treats you like you're dumb.”
“Yes, they do. If you haven't noticed it then maybe you ain't been paying enough attention to our so-called friends.” Ian turned his back on her and headed for the front door.
Katie didn't know what to say to that and she didn't try to follow him inside the house. Instead, she sat down on the porch steps and began to quietly pray that God would give her some kind of guidance. If God intended for couples to stay married all their natural lives, then maybe he could help her figure out how to save Ian from himself.
Chapter 23
“Mak just called. She says Meg's awake and she's going to be okay. Apparently the wound looked worse than it was.” Addison hung up his cell phone and set it on the corner of his desk. He had a thin file in his left hand.
“Good. I'm glad to hear that.” David was stretched out in the chair across from him. He had his boots propped on the edge of the thick wooden desk. “Kerry still sticking to his ghost story?”
“I reckon. He says he didn't see nothing and didn't hear nothing. His eye-witness account is completely worthless.”
“Shame none of the security cameras in here work,” Cal said. He'd spent the last hour changing out the locks on the doors at Frank Chasson's request.
“I don't think Uncle Frank ever thought we'd have a crime occur inside the main office.” Addy turned and studied the broken door that separated the jail from the main rooms. “Crazy shit.”
“Y'all don't think this really has anything to do with Curtis's death, do you?” Cal asked. He was lost in thought as he sat down in the chair next to David.
“I don't know,” Addison admitted. “I don't think Curtis has come back to haunt us in a literal sense, but I have to admit that the guy gave me the creeps when he was alive. I'm not a whole hell of a lot fonder of him now that he's dead. I was actually pretty relieved when I'd heard you shot him.”
“Either one of my best or one of my worst moments, depending on who you ask.” Cal shrugged his broad shoulders. “I don't like any of this. No one in their right mind would break into the sheriff's station. I can't think of any reason why anyone would want to hurt Meg.”
“I figure they wanted Kerry, not Meg.”
“If they wanted to hurt Kerry, why didn't they?” David asked. “They hit Meg hard enough to knock her out and give her a concussion.”
“My guess is that they couldn't get into the cell that Kerry was in,” Addison theorized. “Frank always hides the keys to the jail cells in really bizarre places. You wouldn't find them unless you knew where to look.”
“You can shoot someone through the bars of a jail cell,” David pointed out.
“What if you didn't want to shoot him?” Cal countered. “What if they were looking for-,” he hesitated, choosing his next word carefully, “-information?”
David sighed. He cast a sideways look from Cal to Addison and then back to Cal. “Look y'all, I'm not a coward. I've taken way more than my fair share of chances.”
“You've done a lot of stupid shit,” Cal cut in. “Do you have a point here? It's late and I'm tired.”
“Screw you, Walker.”
“In your dreams.”
“Only my nightmares.”
“Can y'all grow up for five minutes?” Addison pulled a cigarette out of his pocket. He proceeded to light it even though the sheriff's department had a strict no smoking policy.
“Did those words really just come out of your mouth?” David seemed more amused than annoyed. “You sound like Miss Loretta.”
Addy took a deep drag on the cigarette. “If you have a point to make then get on with it already.”
“Fine.” David pulled his feet down off of Addison's desk. “I vote we stay out of this one.”
“Huh?”
“What do you mean?” Cal asked.
“Look, you're getting married in two days and Gracie still hasn't got half the shit done for the wedding. Your house is barely ready for y'all to move in. My shop is completely fucking swamped with business ever since Jake Monell decided to go out of business and refer all his long term clients to me. Not that I don't appreciate the referral, but I'm fixing to have to put an advertisement in the paper for another full time mechanic. Not to mention that hunting season is fixing to start and Addy's still recovering from being shot.
“I'm fine. The doctors cleared me for duty weeks ago,” Addison said.
“Do you feel like being shot again?” David asked him.
“Hell no.” Addy cringed.
“Then why don't you just shut up and listen to what I'm trying to say?”
“I don't have to. I get what you're saying. You think we should sit down, shut up and do what we're told for once in our lives,” Cal guessed.
David smiled. “Someone is after Kerry. Not me. Not y'all. Not anyone who any of us love. Frank Chasson has told us to stay out of it. Why don't we do ourselves a favor and listen to the man?”
“What about Meg?” Addison asked. “They attacked her. We can't just let some lunatic run through our town attacking innocent people.”
“I think she got in their way,” David said. “My point is that, as of right now, we're not really a part of this mess and I'm not going looking for trouble. Enough of it finds me on its own.”
“You're really spooked, aren't you?” Addison asked.
“You want to hear me admit it?” David shrugged. “Fine. I admit it. I'm spooked. I may sleep with a loaded pistol under my pillow, but that doesn't mean I want to use it.”
“You better hope your don't ever piss off that gal you share a bed with as badly as you piss of everyone else. She might shoot your ass.” Frank Chasson came walking back through the main office with a sheepish looking Kerry in tow. Kerry's hair was wet from using the locker room shower and he was wearing a pale blue button down dress shirt that looked like it had just had the tags torn off and khakis.
“Nice outfit, Kerry. Business casual for a night that's more serial murderer chic,” Addison goaded.
Kerry's cheeks flushed angrily. “Silly me. I thought my spare work clothes should look professional. Not everyone keeps spare pajamas in their work lockers the way you do.”
“Is this your way of admitting that I'm right and you'
re wrong?” Addison sneered at Kerry. “Looks to me like you could use the jammies.”
“Stuff it, Malone.” Kerry scuffed one bare foot across the knobby carpeting. His toes were small, hairy and decided unattractive.
“No spare pair of dress loafers?”
“I had sneakers. You ruined them when you trapped that live possum in my gym bag a couple of months ago. He peed on all my stuff.”
“Sorry?” Addy didn't look remotely sorry as David choked back a soft laugh.
“Live possum?” Frank Chasson clucked his tongue at his nephew. “Something wrong with your sense of humor, boy.”
“It's called harassment. Or maybe bullying,” Kerry grumbled.
“Bullying is for little kids. Y'all are pushing 30.” Frank shoved David's booted feet off the top of the desk and then pulled up a chair next to him. He sat down heavily and the wood groaned.
“Addy is. I'm not even 25 yet.” Kerry attempted to smooth the wrinkles out of his shirt. He had massive dark circles under both eyes but the color in his face was starting to come back. “Shame he has the maturity level of a twelve year old.”
“Fifteen year old,” Addy argued. “Give me some credit.”
Kerry coughed. “You're smoking inside again. You know that's illegal.”
“Don't care.” Addison exhaled smoke in Kerry's face.
Kerry burst into a fit of coughing. Frank Chasson waited until he was done to speak. “Y'all about done yet?”
“Done with what?” Addison asked. He had the lit cigarette dangling from his lips.
“Running your yaps.” Frank made a point of eyeballing each of them individually for a moment.
“I wasn't even talking,” David pointed out. Cal kicked the side of David's chair. One of the legs buckled, dumping him onto the ground.
“Shit!” David rubbed his tailbone.
The sheriff sighed. “I should bill you for that chair. Office furniture don't come cheap.”
Cal rolled his eyes. “I'll just go down to the thrift store and pick you up a new one. Should be about $3, right?”
Kerry sighed loudly and then made a big show out of coughing again.
Addison looked him up and down regretfully as he put his cigarette out in a coffee cup that was on the corner of the desk. He'd smoked it down to the filter.
“Y'all done now?” The sheriff asked.
“Yeah. Maybe,” Cal said.
Addison nodded.
“Just give me a minute to kick Cal's ass.” David was rubbing his tailbone as he stood up and leaned against the side of the desk.
“Save it. You don't have it in you,” Cal chided him. “Though maybe it'll straighten your nose back out if I punch you with a left hook.”
David ran his fingertip regretfully down the bridge of his slight too long and decidedly crooked nose. “Please don't. That shit sucked bad enough the first time. Momma wants me to go have it fixed by a plastic surgeon before Trish and I get married. She's lost her damn mind.”
“The jail is unusable,” Frank cut into their conversation. “The boys from the Baker County Crime lab say they're going to be busy collecting evidence and running tests for at least the next 12 hours. The damage to the back wall is substantial. Looks like a bomb went off back there. Probably did. Pipe bomb, anyhow.”
“A bomb?”
Frank finally had everyone's full attention.
“That's what the crime lab fellers say,” he confirmed. “I'm going to have to get a contractor in tomorrow or the next day to have a look at the damage. Need to see what repairs will be needed to get the jail back up to code. Probably take the county commission two months to approve the funding for repairs.” He stroked his mustache. “Going to be a real pain in my ass. I can tell y'all that much.”
“Not really,” Addison disagreed. “We don't hardly ever use the jail for more than a couple of hours at a time. Just means we'll have to haul everyone straight over to Baker County until the repairs are done.”
“That'll work for most of our arrests,” Frank said. “Unfortunately it will make the next few days a little tricky.”
“How do you figure?” Addison asked.
David scowled. “He's talking about Kerry.”
“Oh. Hell.” Addison glared at Kerry and then shrugged. “Send him to general population in Baker County. It'll solve all our problems.”
“I thought about it,” Frank said. He was drumming his fingers against one thigh.
Kerry turned green. “You can't put me in the Baker County Jail. I'm a cop. I've arrested a lot of people-.”
“On bullshit charges,” David filled in.
“-I'd be killed,” Kerry finished.
“Like I said, problems solved,” Addison said.
“As tempting as it may be, I can't justify putting one of my deputies in the Baker County Jail. Especially when I'm pretty dang certain he's innocent.”
Addy sighed with disappointment. David muttered something under his breath that sounded like sucking mothertrucker.
“What are you going to do with me?” Kerry's eyes were wide as he watched the Sheriff.
“Well, I thought about bringing you home with me but that won't work for me. Maggie took out our guest bedroom and turned it into a nursery for the grandbaby. Besides, I've got some doctors tests to go to in the morning and I don't want to bring you along with me. Ain't no reason to have Kerry along as a witness for my first ever prostate exam.”
“And I thank you for that, sir.” Kerry rubbed his forehead and looked relieved.
“I would make him Sullivan's responsibility, but Sully's in Silver City tonight,” Frank continued. “Not that he could really investigate Kerry properly if he was dragging Kerry along with him everywhere he went.”
“Mooney isn't married.”
“I called Mooney. He told me I could go fuck myself.” Frank shook his head with disgust. “Lovell County has made Mooney a hell of an employment offer and he's thinking real hard about taking it. He told me that he'd have his resignation letter on my desk by morning if I dropped Kerry off at his place tonight.”
“You don't have any other officers,” Addison said.
“Only you.”
“Technically, I'm the Game Warden. I'm not actually one of your employees. You can't make me take him. Besides, I'm not even on duty again until Monday. I took the rest of my vacation days so that I could focus on Gracie's wedding without having to worry about being called in. The last person I want to spend Gracie's wedding weekend worried about is Kerry-.”
“I may be able to force your Momma to smile her way through your sister's wedding. I might even get Dale to walk Gracie down the aisle.”
Addison stopped mid-sentence.
“How?” Cal asked. His thick arms were crossed over his broad chest.
“Don't you worry about how. I have my ways.”
“Blackmail,” David theorized.
Frank smiled coolly.
“Gracie's really upset about her parents missing the wedding.” Cal chewed his lower lip thoughtfully. “I can't stand Jane May or Dale, but I'll babysit Kerry myself if you swear you can get them to the wedding. I only care about Gracie's happiness”
“You're not an officer of the law,” Frank told him.
“Deputize me.” Cal held up his right hand. He was fully prepared to start swearing his new oath of office.
“Kerry's being held on suspicion of murder, Cal. I can't leave him in the custody of the guy who shot and killed his accomplice less than six months ago.”
“Hey, I was cleared of any wrong doing. I was a hostage!” Kerry yelped indignantly.
“Bullshit,” David coughed.
“He buried me alive!”
“Just tying up his loose ends.” David met Kerry's eyes and held his gaze until Kerry looked away.
“Unless you have evidence against Kerry that I don't, he's been tentatively cleared of any voluntary involvement with Curtis's crimes this past summer.”
Cal and David exchanged a cons
piratorial look. They were both thinking about the pawn ticket that had been found in Kerry's house after Curtis's death. A pawn ticket that proved Kerry Longwood had been the one who sold the jewelry Curtis had stolen out of Trish's bedroom. The same jewelry that had been stolen from its rightful owner a decade or more earlier by David's father Ricky and Grover Shallowman.
“Y'all have something?” Frank hadn't fallen off the turnip truck yesterday.
“No sir,” David said quickly.
Cal shook his head. “Of course not. If we did, we would have turned it over to you.”
“Unless y'all had a reason not to,” Frank mused. “In which case, y'all would keep your mouths shut until it suited your purposes.”
Silence fell over the group. Kerry was staring at the wall to their left. Addison was closely inspecting the stitching on his boots. David stared defiantly at nothing in particular. He wasn't necessarily looking away from anything, but no one was looking at him either. That suited him just fine. Cal picked up Addison's pack of cigarettes, found the lighter and lit one. He took a deep drag and managed to avoid coughing.
Frank nodded to himself as the smell of burning nicotine filled the air. “Thought so.”
“You quit a year ago,” David reminded Cal.
Cal shrugged, took two more puffs of the cigarette and then passed it over to Addison still lit. “Craving hit me.”
“You just don't want my parents at your wedding.” Addison sucked on the end of the cigarette as the uncomfortable silence drug on for another minute.
“They're not my favorite people.” Cal held out his hand to take the cigarette back.
Addy passed it to him. “Gracie wants them at the wedding.”
“I know.”
“You can't stick me with Addison. He hates me.” Kerry looked pleadingly at the sheriff.
“You're not coming to see the proctologist with me,” Frank said drolly. “Either I sign you into Addison's custody for however long it takes Sully to clear your name or you go to general population.”
“I think Kerry will be fine in general population,” Addison said.
“I don't. How much do you love your baby sister?” Frank asked.