by Carolina Mac
“He might. I’ve never seen Ted swim, but I guess he can.”
“All dogs can swim,” said Kiley, “’cept those big old bulldogs—think those guys sink like a rock.”
Grace smiled.
When they finished their drinks, Kiley stood up. “Hey kids, want to go to the river?”
“Can I put my feet in, Mommy?” Asked Merrilee.
“Sure, long as you hold my hand.”
It took them five minutes trudging along a narrow trail through the bush. The path was hard-packed and worn down to the dirt. “Looks like this path is used a lot,” said Grace.
“Uh huh.” Kiley pointed and through the trees Grace could see the river. She could also hear it now that they were closer, gurgling and splashing over rocks as the water rushed along.
“Oh, it’s pretty back here.”
“There’s a sandy spot a little more to the right,” said Kiley. “The kids will be able to sit down.” Kiley led the way and she was right. A lovely little bit of flat sand under the trees.
Grace sat Joey on the sand and took off his runners and his socks. “Want to put your feet in the water, honey?”
He shook his head.
“Okay, you just watch, Merrilee.”
With Kiley holding her hand, Merrilee walked to the edge of the sand and stepped into the water up to her little ankles. She gave a little squeal. “Oh, it’s cold.” Kiley laughed as she toddled back and forth, splashing and giggling.
Grace thought she saw movement on the other side of the river. She squinted and saw a man running through the trees towards what looked like a metal building. Her heart skipped a beat when she thought she recognized him. Was it Sid, or was she just afraid it might be Sid?
“What’s that building over there?” she asked Kiley.
Kiley shrugged. “None of my business. Sky said so.”
“Is Sky your husband?”
“Boyfriend, that’s all. Hope not for too long.”
“You’re not happy with him?”
Kiley’s demeanor changed at the mention of her better half and Grace clued in. Sky was a subject to avoid.
Kiley tugged Merrilee out of the water and put her shoes on. “We better go back. Sky will be home wantin’ his lunch.”
And Kiley was right. A black Harley was parked in the drive when they got back from the river and a big biker, Grace guessed he was over forty, sat in the lounge chair drinking a beer. His arms were inked, shoulder to wrist, and a jagged scar split the left side of his face.
“Where the hell you been, Kiley? My dinner ain’t made.”
“Sorry,” said Kiley, “I’ll get right to it.” She gave Grace a hesitant wave and took Merrilee into the trailer.
TED GROWLED LONG and low at Sky and pulled on the leash. Grace tugged him away and pointed them in the direction of their own trailer. Joey was tired and was toddling at a snail’s pace. As they got to Mike’s trailer, Grace thought she’d say hi and thank him for helping her with Sid. She walked up onto his deck and knocked on the door, but there was no answer. “Maybe he went out,” she said to Joey. “Let’s go home.’
Grace locked herself in the trailer and made lunch. All she could think about was the building in the woods and Sid. Had the police let Sid out so soon? Maybe he had a good lawyer. Would he be on her doorstep mad as hell that she had called the cops?
Jeeze, she didn’t want to think about it.
“Did you like that lemonade Kiley gave you?”
Joey took a bite of his peanut butter sandwich and nodded.
“I’ll make you some.”
The trailer was heating up. It must be in the nineties outside. Texas was hot. Rob would hate it.
How long will it be before he gets out? I should get Jerry to check with the prison.
Grace searched for her phone again and couldn’t find it.
Has to be in the truck.
She washed Joey’s hands and face and put him down for a nap. He was tired from the heat and from all the walking.
With Ted by her side, she headed for the truck. She pressed the key fob and the alarm made a weird sound. Prickles ran up the back of her neck and she wanted to run back to the trailer. Instead, she opened the driver’s door and searched for her phone. There it was in the cup holder. She leaned in, stretched her arm across the seat and grabbed for it. A sharp metallic odor hit her in the face.
What’s that smell?
Grace opened the back door of the cab, not wanting to look and barely able to breathe. Her worst fears were realized when she saw him lying there. A tiny mewling sound escaped from her throat as she backed away, repelled and sickened.
She pressed the number Deputy Kuchma had given her for emergencies and he answered on the first ring. “Yes, Ms. Chandler. Help you?”
“Yes, please help me,” she sobbed. Then dizziness filled her brain.
GRACE OPENED HER eyes and she was staring up into the brown eyes of Deputy Kuchma.
“I’m going to help you get into your trailer now, Ms. Chandler. I’m guessing that your little boy is in there by himself, and you should go in. I’ll take care of everything out here. Thank you for calling me right away.”
Tears overflowed from her eyes and she couldn’t stop them. “Mike was so nice. The only friend I had in this place.”
“Yes, ma’am. We’ll find whoever did this. Don’t you worry.” He slipped a strong arm around Grace’s waist and almost carried her up the three steps and into the trailer. “I’m sure you already have your suspicions.”
“It was Sid,” she whispered. “I made him mad, and look what he did to get even.”
“Not your fault, ma’am. You can’t look at it that way.” He pointed, “You best lie down. I’ll come in if I need you. We’ll get your statement later.”
Maybe I was wrong about Kuchma. He’s being so nice.
Grace went into Joey’s room with Ted and they lay down on the little cot beside Joey’s crib. She pulled a blanket over both of them, hugged Ted tightly, and sobbed until she fell asleep.
ROB CHECKED OUT of the Super Eight and hopped on his Sportster. He had tried in vain to convince Darlene to go home and stop following him, and she was having none of it. She argued that because she had come this far and cleaned up after him twice—keeping him out of both incidents—so he could continue to search for his wife and son, she was entitled to see the search through to its conclusion.
Twenty minutes north of the city, Rob saw the sign for Dry Springs. Route eighty-seven didn’t run through the town. Dry Springs was a couple miles off the highway. Rob flicked on his blinker and glanced in the mirror hoping the orange Jeep had disappeared. But no. Darlene was right on his tail and the Jeep was blinking to turn right. Fuck.
She’s like a rash in the groin I can’t get rid of.
The main street of the town was depressing. Old buildings, a couple looking like perfect backdrops for an old western. A few stores appeared to be open—dry cleaners, package store, barber—but many of the others with the front windows boarded up or papered over.
Rob parked his bike in an empty diagonal spot and scoped out the choices. The pizza place would know where the trailer park was if they made deliveries. The door was closed, keeping the cool air inside. Texas was a hot son of a bitch. That’s one thing Rob had learned. He stomped inside without bothering to wait for Darlene.
Guy behind the counter with a white hat and apron on and a ball of dough in his hand looked up when he heard the door. “Help you?”
“Yeah, hope you can. Could you give me directions to the trailer park?”
“Which one?”
“One close to town, I guess,” said Rob.
Never thought there’d be more than one.
“There’s one farther up the highway called… umm… Cozy Acres, or something like that, then there’s the one on the Guadalupe River where the murder was.”
“Murder?” Rob’s heart pumped out a rush of blood so fast, he grabbed for the corner of the counter to remain
upright.
The phone rang and the pizza guy waved him off.
Darlene had caught up and heard the last part of the conversation. “Let’s hit the Sheriff’s Office. I can get directions to that park easy enough.”
“Think so?” asked Rob.
Darlene narrowed her eyes and took a closer look at Rob. “Shit, man. You’re fuckin pale.”
“I feel pale and I’m this far from puking on your boots.” Rob held up two fingers pressed together as he blasted out the door into the heat of the street.
Darlene accosted an old guy on the sidewalk outside the pizza store and asked him where the Sheriff’s office was. He mumbled directions and waved his arm. “Follow me,” she hollered to Rob, and jumped in her Jeep.
The Sheriff hung out in the back of the town hall, two blocks away from the main street. Rob leaned on his ride and smoked while Deputy Darlene was inside the station getting the skinny on the trailer park and the murder.
If this has anything to do with Grace, I don’t think I can handle it.
He had fired up his third smoke when Darlene appeared. She strutted out of the building, looking like she had it all by the tail.
“What are you looking so fuckin happy about?”
“Respect. They gave me respect in there.”
“Great. Besides you getting pumped up by wannabee cops in Butt-crack, Texas, did they give you anything we can use?”
Darlene ignored Rob and headed for her Jeep. “Not many details, but I know how to get there. The lead on the investigation is on the scene. Let’s go.”
“Did they tell you who got murdered?” Rob’s chest hurt he held his breath for so long.
“A guy named Mike something. It wasn’t a woman, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Rob clenched a fist and held it up, “Of course that’s what I’m asking, you, dumb bitch. My wife could have been killed and I’m waiting out here frying in the fuckin heat, while you fuck around with the locals, getting respect. I should fuckin level you.”
Darlene grinned. “Wouldn’t be a fair fight, Robbie. You could never take me.” She pointed, “Get on your bike.”
ROB REVVED UP his Harley and followed the Jeep out of town on a county road that had more twists and turns than a Stephen King novel. Rob had never read a Stephen King novel because he couldn’t read, but Grace said that to him once, and he remembered it.
Twenty minutes later the terrain shifted and they were in heavily treed hill country.
Darlene slowed and steered the Jeep between two rusty gateposts. Evergreen trees and sumacs left untrimmed made the entrance to the park nearly invisible. A small hand-painted sign on the right read ‘North River Park.’
Farther into the park, the trees thinned out and the road widened slightly. Rob could see rows of mobile homes. Not many—not even half as many as Paradise. He zoomed past the Jeep and took the first road on the right, figuring he was the one who could spot Grace’s truck.
And as he came around the first bend in the road Grace’s huge truck was right in front of him. His heart almost jumped out of his chest when he saw the yellow tape surrounding the big diesel, and cops swarming all over it.
Rob veered onto Grace’s lawn—the only spot available with her truck and the taped perimeter taking up almost all of her frontage. Not taking the time to dick around with the kickstand, he lay his bike down gently and ran up to the door, uncontrollable tears almost blinding him. He ran inside and called out, “Grace, where are you?”
He heard her scream out his name and then she was running towards him. He caught her in his arms and held on tight. He would never let her go again. “Baby, baby, are you okay?” he whispered. “I love you so much.”
Ted jumped and barked and tried to lick Rob’s face. “Hey, boy, I missed you.” Rob stroked Ted’s long ears.
Deputy Kuchma hustled from the kitchen to the front entrance to see what was going on. He arrived just as Darlene pushed in the door behind Rob.
When Rob released his grip on Grace, she introduced Kuchma.
Rob turned, pointed and introduced both of them to Darlene. “This is Deputy Darlene Steele, she’s been helping me locate my wife.”
Kuchma raised an eyebrow. “Ms. Chandler is your wife?”
Rob stood with a protective arm around Grace. “Yes, sir, she is.”
“Well, I’ll let you get on with this little reunion right after I get your wife’s statement. We were just going to begin, when you arrived.”
“Sure, okay,” said Rob. “I’d like to hear what happened myself.”
“There’s coffee in the kitchen.” Grace reached for Rob’s hand and he felt her fear.
Bad shit is happening here. Grace never freaks out.
Grace herded everyone towards the kitchen table. “Let’s get it done before Joey gets up from his nap.”
“Can I take a peek at him?” asked Rob.
Grace smiled. “Of course, you can. He’s your son.”
More tears burned behind Rob’s eyes and he fought for control. “I’m a mess,” he whispered to Grace as they walked towards Joey’s bedroom. “I need you so bad.”
Rob stood at the foot of Joey’s bed with Grace in his arms and knew he was home. Didn’t matter if it was Texas or Alaska or anywhere in between.
“Everything will be okay now that you’re home,” Grace whispered. “I love you, Robbie.”
ROB WIPED HIS eyes with his shirttail before he followed Grace back to the kitchen where the sheriff’s deputy was waiting to take her statement. What the hell had happened here? Someone was dead, but why was Grace involved? She’d just moved here and couldn’t know anybody yet.
Rob sat next to her at the table and held her hand after she’d filled everyone’s mugs with coffee.
Kuchma’s curiosity got the best of him and he voiced the obvious question, “Where were you, Rob?”
“I was in Canada at Grace’s brother’s house helping him with a few things.”
Darlene rolled her blue eyes and for once was silent.
Kuchma accepted the explanation, turned on the tape recorder and fed in the date and Grace’s name.
Grace started by saying, “Y’all know everything that happened with Sid yesterday—that’s in my other statement, so I’ll just start with this morning.”
Rob could barely restrain himself from shouting out questions about what the hell had happened the day before. The police had been called two fuckin days in a row.
Who was behind whatever was going on? He’d find out and kill the fucker. Who was this Sid? Was he coming on to Grace?
Grace described her walk around the park, the time she spent with Kiley and how they took the kids to the river. “When I was sitting on the river bank with Joey, I could see the building on the other side and I saw a man running towards it. It gave me a shiver because I thought it looked like Sid.”
“What time was that, Ms. Chandler?”
“Must have been after eleven—between eleven and eleven thirty. What time did I call you, Deputy? That was when I got home from the walk.”
Kuchma checked his notes and said, “You called my cell at twelve ten. I presume you fainted at that point, and I found you on the driveway beside the truck.”
“Uh huh. That’s what happened.”
“What was the TOD on the victim?” asked Darlene in her official voice.
Kuchma glared across the table at Darlene. “I don’t think that’s been established yet.”
“What time did Sid make bail?” asked Grace.
Kuchma checked his book. “He was arraigned at ten a.m. and a friend put up the bond.”
Grace raised an eyebrow. “Who was the friend?”
“Sky Brady.”
Grace nodded. “I bet that’s how Sid got back to the park. Sky was at his trailer waiting for Kiley to make his lunch when we came back from the river.”
“Interesting,” said Kuchma with a weird expression on his face. “You know Sky Brady?”
“No, I don’t k
now him, but I saw him. I also saw the bruises all over Kiley, the young girl he lives with.”
Kuchma shook his head. “I’ll check and see if we’ve been called to any domestics at his trailer.”
“Do you have this Sid guy in custody?” asked Rob.
“We have a bulletin out for him as a person of interest. He needs to be brought in for questioning. His bike is still chained to the tree next door. He can’t be too far.”
“Has the building on the other side of the river been searched?” asked Grace. “That’s where he was headed when I last saw him—if that was him.”
“The person that was killed,” said Rob, trying to figure it out, “why would this Sid guy want to kill him and put him in Grace’s truck?”
“Yesterday, when I had trouble with Sid, Mike ran over from next door and helped me. He called the police and stayed with me, until Deputy Kuchma arrived with his partner.” Grace’s eyes welled up and a tear trickled. “It’s because of me, that Mike is dead. And he was such a nice person.”
“Now, Ms. Chandler, we went over that,” said Kuchma. “You can’t take on the guilt for what a cold-blooded murderer did. None of this was your fault.” He stood up and gathered up his notes. “I’ve got to go back to the office. I’ll find out who owns the property on the other side of the river and talk to the sheriff about getting a search warrant. As soon as we have one shred of evidence against Sid we’ll be able to get a warrant for his trailer. In the meantime, I’m hoping the forensic team will come up with something useful from their search of Mike’s trailer.
“What about Grace’s truck?” asked Darlene. “Can you place this Sid guy in the truck?”
Kuchma screwed up his face. “That’s a problem area, because he was in the truck the day before when he helped Miss Grace with her flat tire.”
Rob raised an eyebrow but kept quiet.
“Mike said Sid probably slashed that tire himself, so he could worm his way into my trailer,” said Grace. “He told me about the last couple who lived here and said that was Sid’s style.”
“Mike could have been right about that,” said Kuchma. “All these bikers are pretty handy with a knife.”