The Only Solution (Crowley County Series Book 3)

by T. E. Killian

  She started to tell them that there weren’t any men in her life and she wanted to keep it that way but Lucy piped in with, “I think Mommy likes Mike.”

  Great! Where did that come from? That was all she needed. Just another example of how observant four-year-olds can be especially when you don’t want them to be.

  But she definitely didn’t want to tell them about Mike. One look at her dad and she realized she wasn’t going to get around telling them about him.

  “And just who is this Mike?”

  He asked Daisy but Lucy answered for her. “He’s a nice man who got hurted by a bad man and now he’s in a chair with wheels on it. I like him a lot. He let me watch his TV.”

  Daisy knew she was done for now. Her dad narrowed his eyes and said, “Would you care to elaborate on what your daughter just said?”

  She took a deep breath and said, “Last year, Mike was working at the high school as a history teacher but he was actually an undercover DEA agent.”

  Her mother interrupted with, “Oh dear!”

  Her dad’s frown deepened and he motioned for her to continue.

  “Back in January, a man the sheriff of this county had put in prison broke out and kidnapped his daughter then lured him out into the woods and was going to kill him when Mike got in the way. He shot it out with the escapee and a bullet went through the gap in his bulletproof vest and lodged against his spine.”

  When no one said anything, she continued. “The other man died in prison recently from a brain tumor but Mike is still paralyzed from the waist down.”

  Connie jumped up, looked down at her husband, and said, “We have to meet this man, Frank. I just know that these feelings I’m getting are centered on him.”

  Daisy leaned back in her chair. She now realized that it was going to take a long time to get rid of them this time.

  * * *

  Mike and Jason had just made it back to Mike’s house and were still sitting in the driveway when Floyd drove up next to them. He jumped out of his Tahoe and came around to Mike’s side of the vehicle, pulled the wheelchair out of the back seat/cage, and then opened Mike’s door. The big man lifted Mike’s one hundred and ninety pounds easily and sat him in the chair. Then he pushed Mike up to the door.

  Jason went ahead to open the door but Sarah must have been watching as the door opened wide and she stepped back for them all to enter.

  Floyd kept pushing Mike on into the family room and didn't ask before picking him up again and sitting him in his recliner. Mike knew the big guy wanted to talk to him but probably wanted to wait until his mother left the room.

  Floyd and Jason were still standing when Sarah cleared her throat, put her hands on her hips, glared at Floyd, and said, “I’m staying so you might as well start talking Floyd.”

  With that, she marched over to the sofa and sat down still glaring at all three men.

  Floyd tossed his hat onto an end table and began to laugh that loud deep laugh of his. “Well, Sarah, I guess I might as well. I’m beginning to think I’d rather go up against Hollis than you.”

  He turned to Mike with a laugh and said, “I can see where you get your toughness Bates . . . and your stubbornness.”

  They all laughed as they seated themselves in a circle and waited for Floyd to begin.

  He looked at each one and cleared his throat loudly before speaking. “Well, Mike, I hate to have to tell you this, but Hollis is still making threats about you.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me.”

  “No. It doesn’t really surprise me either. But what he’s saying does bother me though.”

  He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “He’s saying he’s going to come in here and get you when you least expect it.”

  Sarah’s gasp was the only sound in the room for a long moment. Then Mike, still staring at Floyd, said, “What can we do to prepare for it?”

  In answer, Floyd turned to Jason and said, “Can you spend the nights here for a while? Hopefully no more than a few nights.”

  Jason leaned forward in his chair and didn’t hesitate. “Sure. I can go get my stuff right now and be back in less than an hour.”

  Floyd turned back to Mike and then looked at Sarah too. “That okay with the two of you?”

  Mike looked over at his mom. She had a grim, determined look on her face and he knew her answer without asking. He turned back to Floyd and said, “Sure. I can’t stay awake 24/7. So it’ll be good to have the extra eyes and ears.”

  Floyd blew out the breath he’d been holding as he’d waited for their answer. “Well, that won’t be all we’ll do. I’ll have someone patrolling the area at all times but it’ll be good to have someone else inside the house.”

  What he didn’t say was that it would be good to have another gun in the house too. Mike knew that Floyd trusted Jason as much or more than any of his other deputies. So he felt good about Jason staying there.

  They all four spent the next thirty minutes planning things then Jason left to get what he’d need to stay there.

  Floyd had stood and was about to leave when the doorbell rang and Sarah went to get it.

  When she came back into the room a few minutes later, Mike was surprised to see one of his students from last year Carla Early with a small redheaded woman he knew was her sister Jo. He used to go into Jo’s bar before it burned down last year.

  Floyd jumped up and with a big grin on his face embraced both of them. Then he stepped back and looked at Jo. “Where’s my newest little cousin?”

  Jo giggled and said, “Gil and Betty are fighting over him at the church office.”

  Floyd laughed then turned to Mike. “Have you met my little cousins Mike?”

  “Well, yes, I know Carla best since she was in one of my classes last year.”

  Before he could say anything else, Floyd said, “What brings you two over here today?”

  Mike started to get angry with Floyd for asking the question he should have been asking. But then, he realized that was just Floyd. He was always in charge of every situation. So he let it ride.

  Jo looked at Carla and nodded her head as if encouraging her to speak. The young girl blushed and said, “Mr. Farley said he asked you to come back and teach your old classes.”

  Mike didn’t say anything. He just nodded and she continued, “I’ve talked to a lot of the other kids at school and we all want you to come back as soon as you can.”

  Mike knew Carla had had a crush on him when he first started teaching there and wondered if that was still true.

  As if she’d read his mind, she blushed again and said, “Don’t worry. I'm over that silly thing I had about you last year. I just want you to come back because you’re the best history teacher I’ve ever had and everyone else says the same thing.”

  Mike had to fight to keep from getting emotional. Where did that come from? Regardless, he couldn’t let that happen especially in front of the all of them.

  He pointed at his wheelchair in the corner where Floyd had pushed it before. “Even if I get the feeling back in my legs, it’ll be quite a while before I can get around without that thing.”

  She smiled and said, “That doesn’t matter. You can teach from a wheelchair. Miss Fuller has for years.”

  He decided that argument wasn't worth pursuing. Then he realized that he didn’t really want to argue about it anymore. He now knew without a doubt that he did want to go back to teaching. But another thought just hit him. Would he bring danger to the high school if he went back before they put Hollis in jail?

  He turned to Floyd and said, “What do you think? Do you think I might be placing the school in danger if I go back now?”

  Floyd scratched his head and seemed to be thinking for a minute before he answered. “No, I don’t rightly think so. That weasel Hollis will only strike at night and even then when he doesn’t think anyone else is around.”

  That settled it then. Mike turned back to Carla and said, “You can tell Mr. Farley that as soon as I get t
he feeling back in my legs I’ll start back. And according to my doctor, that should be soon.”

  With that, Jo clapped her hands together and said, “Oh Mike that’s wonderful.”

  Soon everybody was gone except for Jason. Since Floyd didn’t want anyone to know Jason was there, another deputy had dropped him off in his own personal car. Jason had gone into Mike’s third bedroom to settle in.

  Mike sat there thinking. He was beginning to wonder where all this was going and if it would ever stop. How would it all play out? He knew that in the eleven years he’d been with the DEA he had to have made at least a few more enemies like Hollis.

  * * *

  Daisy and her mom had passed a relatively calm afternoon. They were able to catch up on things especially during Lucy’s nap. But her dad had been gone for most of the afternoon and he wouldn’t tell her where he’d been. All he would say was that she would find out later.

  As soon as he came back, he announced that they were taking her and Lucy out to eat at the local steakhouse. Normally, she loved to go there, but not tonight. She wasn’t looking forward to it because she knew her dad was up to something. And it was ruining her evening trying to figure out what it was.

  But Lucy was a different story. She loved her grandparents and any time she could spend with them really pumped her up.

  Daisy was almost steaming by the time they all left the home at five-thirty to go to the steakhouse. She asked her dad again where he’d spent the afternoon but he still wouldn’t tell her. He just kept saying that she would find out soon enough.

  It didn’t take much imagination to figure it out though. She had a sneaking suspicion that he’d gone straight to Floyd’s office to talk to him about the situation with Mike. Just thinking about the possibility of that made her angry all over again.

  When they arrived at the restaurant, Daisy half expected to see Floyd there. But then she realized that neither one of them would ever talk about something like this in a public place.

  A few minutes after they were seated at their table, she was somewhat surprised to see her dad pick up his menu, glance at it then place it back on the table quickly. Something was definitely up here. He was notorious for scrutinizing the menu forever before finally deciding on what he wanted to eat.

  As she watched him, she noticed that he looked nervous. Nervous? Her dad? That really concerned her, since she couldn’t remember him ever showing this much nervousness.

  He looked directly at her and said, “How well do you know this Mike that Lucy mentioned earlier?”

  She knew she had to answer carefully but she also knew she couldn’t leave anything out. Her dad was too shrewd of an interviewer. He would catch anything like that.

  “I don’t know him very well. Last winter one of my residents, you remember Bert?” He nodded and she continued. “Well, Bert is the type of person that people who don’t know him think he isn’t aware of what’s going on around him. But they’re wrong. He may not be able to read or write but he has a good memory for some things especially conversations that he overhears.”

  She paused to see if she could judge his reaction so far. When he didn’t say anything, she went on. “Bert heard a conversation between this drug dealer and one of his suppliers and he told Mike who had befriended him earlier. Then after that, Bert would tell Mike everything he heard around town.”

  Frank kept staring at her so she said, “That’s about all. Recently, Bert wanted to go see Mike so I took him. That’s really all there is to it.”

  Now she knew what the topic of conversation for the rest of the evening was going to be. She might as well brace herself for she could feel one of his famous inquisitions coming. She could tell that both he and her mom were just itching to ask her more about her relationship with Mike. Well, there wasn’t one but convincing them of that might not be so easy to do.

  But she was wrong. In fact, after that one question, her dad had not mentioned anything about her situation here or Mike. As they were leaving, she was surprised to realize that she had actually enjoyed the meal in spite of the tension that was still there just below the surface.

  She should have known it was too good to be true though. When they approached her parents’ large rental car in the restaurant parking lot, her mom opened a back door and climbed in with Lucy thus giving Daisy the front passenger seat. That was a little suspicious.

  But then when her dad parked in the small lot behind the home, he left the motor running, turned to her and said, “I would like for you to go somewhere with me for a little while Kitten.”

  She knew she was in trouble now. He usually only called her that when he wanted something.

  “Your mother will see to getting Lucy to bed and stay with her until we get back.”

  What could she say? What else could she do? She leaned over the seat to give Lucy a kiss and said, “You be a good girl for Grandma and go to bed when she says okay?”

  Lucy giggled and said, “I will Mommy.”

  With that, they went inside leaving Daisy with her dad. She didn’t know whether she wanted to scream or hit him. But since she’d never done either one in his presence except when she was smaller than Lucy, she just sat there staring at him waiting for him to tell her what was going on.

  He didn’t say anything then. He just drove the car to the edge of the parking lot but didn’t pull out into the street.

  He sat there staring straight ahead for a moment before he finally turned to face her and said, “Okay, we can do this the easy way and you can tell me how to get to this Mike Bates’ house.” He paused and held up his cell phone. “Or we can do it the hard way and I can call the sheriff and get him to direct me.”

  She knew she had no other choice so she guided him to Mike’s house. But when they arrived, she jumped out of the car ahead of him and rushed to the door which opened immediately with Floyd standing there grinning at her.

  She’d never wanted to hit anyone as badly as she wanted to hit that big redheaded sheriff right then. He seemed to be enjoying this. Well, she certainly wasn’t.

  She went on in and her dad followed her. Floyd then led them into Mike’s family room where he was sitting in his recliner waiting for them.

  When Floyd introduced Daisy’s dad to Mike as Captain Young, she wanted to throw something at her dad. She was thirty-three years old. When were her parents ever going to stop trying to run her life for her? Having a police detective for a father had certainly had its drawbacks.

  She sat back and waited for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. It didn’t take long. Her dad looked at her then at Mike and said, “Mike, I understand that you’ve got a fairly bad boy threatening you claiming that he’s going to cause you some trouble.”

  Mike didn’t answer at first. He just looked back at Frank. Then he laughed and that was the first time Daisy had heard him laugh like that.

  Mike wiped the smile off his face and stared straight at Frank. “You’re good. I’ll give you that. I’ll bet you could get anything you wanted out of anybody when you had them one on one.”

  Frank smiled and shook his head. “I’ve put all that behind me now that I’m retired.”

  Mike snorted and slapped his leg with his palm. “That’s not something you can give up. Either it’s in you forever or it was never there in the first place.”

  He looked around the room and his eyes fell on Daisy’s face briefly before he turned back to Frank. She was surprised at what she saw in that brief connection. There had been some kind of emotion there but she couldn’t quite decide what it was.

  She had to shake herself mentally to catch what Mike was saying next.

  “I’ve just begun to realize in the past week or so that there are many aspects of my former life that I can never just turn off or walk away from.” He snorted. “And guys like Hollis just happen to fall into that category.”

  No one said anything as Daisy could plainly see that Mike was struggling desperately to put more of his thoughts into words.


  He took his eyes off Frank and looked straight at Daisy again when he said, “It almost scares the life out of me to think that innocent people around me might suffer or be in danger because of the things I’ve done in the past.”

  Since he was still looking straight at her, Daisy tried to smile and said, “You make it sound as if you were one of the bad guys Mike when you were really one of the good ones.”

  Mike chuckled and said, “I didn’t always feel like one of the good guys. At different times when I was undercover, I at least had to look the other way when I saw some crimes committed. Department policy was that undercover agents were to keep trying to get the big guys no matter what. We weren’t supposed to be too concerned about anything the little guys might do.”

  He sipped from a glass that looked like it contained water. “Of course, there was supposed to be a limit even to that. If the little guys did something really bad, we had to do something about it. At least I did. I’m not sure all the other agents felt the same way I did on that particular point.”

  Daisy realized that she was seeing a different side of Mike tonight. She could tell that he regretted some of the things he’d done before, even though he did them in the search of justice.

  She was also feeling something that she hadn’t felt in a long time. More accurately, she hadn’t allowed herself to feel much of anything for three years now. And she didn’t know what to do about all those feelings that were now rushing in past her carefully constructed defenses.

  * * *

  Mike was glad when Floyd and Frank began talking about how policies were so drastically different among the various agencies. And they were especially different since one was federal, one big city P.D. and the other small county sheriff’s office. It was seldom that they communicated with each other and when they did, not much was ever accomplished. He certainly hoped that this time would be different.

  He needed this time to think. He wanted to organize his thoughts. In fact, he had to decide exactly what he wanted to say and what he didn’t want to say in front of Daisy and his mom who for sure wouldn’t leave the room now.