Return To Paradise (Paradise Park Book 2)

by Carolina Mac

  The Sheriff chuckled. “And where would this expert be right now, little lady?” His top lip curled up and revealed a row of crooked yellow teeth.

  “He’s in the hospital. He was shot.”

  “Shot?” The Sheriff huffed out a chuckle. “Who in hell shot our lab expert?”

  Grace stomped over to the table. “Sheriff, Rob is seriously wounded, and I’ll thank you not to make light of his condition. If you continue in this vein, I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

  The sheriff held up a hand and said, “Whoa back, there girlie. I was just funning y’all. Don’t go getting all riled up.”

  “Maybe you should go look at the site, Sheriff,” said Anson, “while we’ve still got some daylight. You take him, partner, I’ll wait until Grace can bring the dog.”

  Grace was close to striking the fat sheriff by the time Valdez whisked him and his deputy out the door. While Mr. Steele and Tommy chatted to Anson, she made a casserole for dinner and shoved it into the fridge. If she was going to continue feeding this many people, she’d need more groceries.

  “Nice of you to let us stay here, Grace,” said Anson. “We don’t get too much home cooking.” He gave her a wide smile.

  “I like to cook, and Robbie likes to eat.”

  “I think I heard your son call you,” said Mr. Steele Senior. He stroked Ted’s big head as he finished his coffee.

  AGENT PRESCOTT CARRIED JOEY and trotted alongside Grace as she tried to keep up to Ted. The big Red Bone had spent a few minutes with Darlene’s shirt—the one Mr. Steele Senior had brought with him from Mineral Wells. Grace was hoping for a small miracle, as were the two Steele men.

  “This bridge is narrow, Grace, watch your step,” hollered Anson, as he crossed cautiously with Joey in his arms.

  “Swimming,” said Joey, pointing down at the swirling water.

  Anson chuckled. “That’s what we don’t want to do.

  “Ted went swimming,” said Joey.

  “Yeah, we’ll let Ted do it. The water looks cold.” He called back over his shoulder, “You okay, Mr. Steele?”

  Tommy was helping his father navigate the narrow bridge. With no handrails, Mr. Steele Senior seemed a little unsteady on his feet. “Uh huh. I’m okay. Just winded.”

  On the other side of the bank, Anson stopped and waited for the Steeles to catch up. “Which way from here, Grace? Do you know?”

  “That way.” Grace pointed to her left. Ted was already going in that direction without any prompting. “Ted knows, he was there several times with Rob.”

  Anson nodded. “He seems to know.”

  The Sheriff, his deputy and Agent Valdez were inside the building talking when the rest caught up. Grace watched the Sheriff like a hawk and tried to read his body language. He seemed relaxed and comfortable, like this wasn’t a strange, new or threatening place for him. He was either well aware of the drug operation right under his nose, or he was covering up something else.

  She didn’t like Sheriff Wyatt or his attitude, and couldn’t help stirring the pot. “Sheriff, will the crime scene unit be processing Sid’s trailer soon?”

  He waved a fleshy arm. “Guess so, when they get to it. They’re overloaded right now for a small team.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Sheriff, said Anson, “My own crew will be arriving shortly from our field office in San Antonio. They’ll pitch in and pick up the slack.”

  Grace watched closely and saw anger register on the Sheriff’s pudgy face. “Uh huh. Nice of them to give us a hand.”

  Anson gave Grace a nod and pressed the sheriff harder. “I need to interview Deputy Kuchma, Sheriff, and fill in a few gaps in my report. Could you give me his home address?”

  The Sheriff shook his nearly balding head. “Don’t bother Kuchma. He’s on vacay, like I told y’all. Went fishing.”

  Anson cast a glance at Valdez and Valdez rolled his dark eyes. “I’ll get his address from the registry,” said Anson. “Don’t bother yourself, Sheriff.”

  Looking about ready to explode, Sheriff Wyatt turned on the heel of his mud encrusted boot. “I best be going.” He beckoned to his deputy. “Keep me in the loop.”

  Anson nodded, a look of cold steel in his eyes.

  After the sheriff and his deputy were gone, Tommy said, “Something weird about that Sheriff, Agent Prescott. I don’t know him, but I don’t think I’d trust him.”

  “We’re conducting our own investigation, Mr. Steele. No more chances for the locals.”

  “Okay, good,” said Tommy. “I’d feel a helluva lot better if that man wasn’t in charge.” He inhaled a big breath and went outside. “Let’s see what Ted can do.”

  Outside the building, Grace took Joey’s hand so he couldn’t wander off into the thick copses of trees surrounding them.

  Valdez picked up Ted’s leash and stroked his big head. To Grace: “Do you think the dog would work for me? Mind if I try him?”

  “Sure, go ahead,” said Grace. “But be careful, he’s strong, and once he’s on a scent, he pulls hard.”

  Valdez took Ted away from everyone and gave him the scent of Darlene’s shirt again. Mr. Steele Senior looked on with tears in his eyes and Grace’s heart ached for him.

  Although Rob wasn’t talking about it, he and Ted had found Darlene’s badge, and Rob wasn’t optimistic. Had Rob told Anson about the badge? If not, he had a reason for keeping it quiet, and she wasn’t going to be the one to do it.

  Anson stood at the lip of the four-wheeler path with the trees pulled back for Valdez, thinking that Ted would take off in that direction. Ted’s nose was close to the ground as he circled twice then veered off into a thick clump of trees to the left of the dirt-track path.

  Unprepared to duck into an opening barely three feet high, Valdez let out a holler and tried to keep branches from hitting him in the face. “Hold on, Ted. This is heavy going here.” He scrambled after the dog trying to hold the leash.

  “Don’t go in there, Grace,” said Anson, “You’ll get all scratched up.”

  She nodded. “Joey can’t go in there. You go, I’ll wait here.”

  “I’m following the dog,” said young Tommy taking off into the trees. “Wait there, Daddy,” he called over his shoulder as he crashed along behind Valdez. “Be right back.”

  Mr. Steele Senior watched his son disappear into the forest, then turned to Grace and asked, “Do you think she’s dead, Grace?”

  Grace’s eyes welled up. “I hope not, Mr. Steele. I’m hoping they’ve taken her somewhere and she’s still alive.”

  He nodded, a resigned look in his eyes. “That’s not what I believe, after this long, but it’s what I’m hoping. I won’t give up hope.”

  Joey played in the dirt outside the shed while they waited for the men to come back. “We should have brought a truck for you to play with, sweetie,” said Grace as she knelt beside him. “All you have are a few sticks.”

  “I miss Daddy,” said Joey. “He plays trucks with me.”

  “Me too,” said Grace. “As soon as we’re done here, we’ll go see Daddy at the hospital.”

  Almost a half hour passed before a lot of crashing, swearing and barking signaled the return of the men. The look on Anson’s face, as he led the way out of the wilderness, told the story. The news wasn’t good.

  Tommy Junior brought up the rear, trudging along behind Valdez and Ted. Grace could see something big in his hand.

  Anson walked right up to Mr. Steele Senior and laid it down. “We found a boot, sir, and your son has identified it as belonging to your daughter.”

  Mr. Steele gripped his chest and staggered backwards into the wall of the building, his face wracked with pain.

  Anson reached out a hand to steady him. “Hang on, sir. Let’s get you back to the trailer. Perhaps you need a doctor.”

  Breathless, Mr. Steele whispered, “My angina.”

  BACK IN THE trailer on the other side of the Guadaloupe, Grace made coffee and the agents answered Tommy’s questions as best the
y could. The information and evidence they had gathered against the bikers amounted to virtually nothing so far.

  Mr. Steele rested on the sofa, listening to the conversation and insisting he didn’t need to see a doctor.

  “Should we drag the river?” asked Tommy. “Her boot was on the bank, not far from the water.”

  “The current was swift and the water shallow where we found the boot,” said Anson. “Not much point.”

  “I want to talk to this Deputy Kuchma,” said Tommy, “Rob thinks Kuchma is up to his ass in this thing and knows every move the bikers make.”

  “We want to talk to him too,” said Anson, “I should have his address on my phone by now. I requested it a couple of hours ago.” He checked his cell and nodded. “Uh huh. An address in Dry Springs.”

  “Let’s go.” Tom Junior jumped to his feet. “I’ll check into a motel in town, and Dad can rest.”

  “You can’t be present when we question him,” said Anson. “You’ll have to wait at your motel.”

  “Yeah, whatever,” said Tommy. “Time is running out for Darlene, and I can’t just sit here on my ass and do nothing.”

  “I’ll get Joey ready,” said Grace. “I’m driving down to San Antonio to the hospital.”

  ROB’S DARK EYES glared at the nurse standing close to the bed. “What do you mean, I can’t go home?”

  “You have an infection in the wound, and your doctor isn’t signing you out until tomorrow at the earliest.”

  “My wife is coming to get me,” he pointed to Grace as she came through the door with Joey in tow, “She’s here now.”

  “Doesn’t matter if Santa Claus is here in his sleigh,” barked the nurse. She pointed an accusatory finger at Rob. “You’ve got another twelve hours of meds coming your way before you leave that bed.”

  Rob was set to release a volley of cursing, but saw Joey grinning at him and thought better of it.

  “I missed you, Daddy. We came to take you home.”

  Rob blew out a breath. “Tell me about it.”

  Grace sat in the visitor’s chair and pulled Joey onto her lap. “Did I hear the nurse correctly? You have infection and they won’t let you go?”

  “At least tomorrow before the doc comes back and takes another look at it,” said Rob. “If I don’t bust out of here sooner.”

  Grace patted his tattooed arm. “Take it easy, baby. Not much you can do anyway. I’ll tell you everything that happened today.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  ROB’S MEDS WERE increased to combat the infection, and he slept through the night like a dead man. His head ached and he felt groggy and disoriented when he woke.

  Can’t wait for the doc to get here and tell me I can go.

  He picked at his breakfast, wishing for pancakes like Grace made him. The coffee was strong and cold and undrinkable. He slugged down the orange juice and figured he’d die before he had his first smoke of the day.

  The doctor showed up around a quarter to nine. The nurse came into the room with him and removed the bandages. The doc stared at the mess that used to be his leg. He barked out a few words at the nurse and left.

  “Is it okay?” asked Rob. “I couldn’t tell if he was happy the way it looked or if he was mad as hell.”

  “As soon as I cover it in a different antiseptic cream and rebandage it, you can leave.” She held up a finger, “But only if you have help. You’ll be on crutches for a couple of weeks at least.”

  “I have a wife,” said Rob. “She’ll help me.”

  The nurse started on his leg and it hurt like hell, but he never made a single sound. When she finished, she helped him get dressed. Now all he had to do was wait.

  He stared at the door of his room waiting for Grace to appear. “What’s taking her so fuckin long?” he mumbled to himself. “If I don’t get out of here for a smoke, I’m gonna smash that fuckin red beeping machine into a thousand pieces.”

  A different nurse dressed in a pink smock pushed a wheelchair through the door and smiled at him. “Almost time to go, Mr. Eastman.”

  Fuck, everybody in the whole fuckin world was calling him by his real name. Grace must have used it on the records.

  He only had a couple of seconds to worry about it before Grace was in his room, kissing him and making him forget about all the bad shit in his stupid, wasted life.

  An orderly followed Grace in, lowered the side of the bed, and assisted Rob into the chair. He let out a loud grunt as his leg touched down.

  “Can I ride on there too, Daddy?” asked Joey.

  “Sure. But you can only sit on Daddy’s good leg. Not the one with the bandage.”

  Joey nodded and carefully climbed aboard.

  Grace walked alongside the chair to the elevator and then to the front door. “The truck is at the curb.” She lifted Joey off Rob’s knee and handed him the crutches. “Stay there until I get Joey into his seat and I’ll help you.”

  Of course, already forgetting what the nurse had told him, Rob didn’t wait. He struggled out of the chair, tried to stand on his own and situate the crutches under his arms. He succeeded in hitting the bandaged leg against the side of the chair and almost bit his tongue off trying not to scream in pain.

  Grace said nothing. She slipped her arm around his waist to support him, straightened the crutches and once Rob was balanced, she opened the passenger door and helped him up onto the sidestep.

  “I should have rented a Toyota,” she giggled.

  Rob nodded and couldn’t manage even a tiny grin.

  “Things will get better, baby,” she whispered. She closed the door and ran around to the driver’s side.

  ROB SMOKED with the window down most of the way home and his two-day nicotine fit was somewhat appeased by the time they reached the park.

  “Look at all the trucks, Mommy,” said Joey.

  “Yep, the crime scene unit is here from the city,” said Grace. “Things will get moving now.”

  “Did your buddy call in his own troops?” asked Rob.

  Grace turned her head and the violet eyes shot daggers at him across the console.

  Without prompting, Rob rephrased the question. “Did Agent Prescott call for help?”

  “He did, after we met the Dry Springs sheriff. After talking to Sheriff Wyatt, Anson realized he was useless to us.”

  “Think he’s as dirty as Kuchma?”

  “I do. I watched him in the lab across the river, and I think he’d been there before. He was no stranger to the concept or to the building.”

  Rob risked another look of disdain from his wife. “And you know that just from looking at him?”

  Grace smiled. “Pretty much. Yep.”

  If he didn’t shut up and smooth things over with Grace soon, he’d be past the point of fixing things.

  Rob pushed the door handle down and wondered how in hell he’d get down from Grace’s lifted truck without falling flat on his stupid face.

  What are you trying to do? Wreck your marriage and ruin your life all in one day?

  The door of the trailer opened, and Tommy Steele came out on the run. “Hey, buddy, need a hand down? Your wife drives one mean machine.”

  Rob ginned. “Yeah, she sure does.” He gave Tommy his hand and managed to scramble onto solid ground with only a few lasers of pain shooting from his leg to his brain. He stood on one leg like a brain-dead flamingo until Grace handed him the crutches. “Thanks, baby.”

  She unbuckled Joey and took him out of the back seat. “How’s your dad this morning, Tommy?”

  “He’s feeling better. He’s inside. Hope you don’t mind.”

  “Not at all. I was worried. He was pretty pale when he left here yesterday.”

  Grace went inside with Joey, and Rob sat down on the step. He pulled out his smokes and lit one up.

  Tommy sat down beside him. “Tell me everything that happened since the minute you and Dar left Mineral Wells. And don’t leave anything out.”

  AFTER LUNCH, while Joey was down for his n
ap, Grace retreated to her tiny office—supposedly a third bedroom, but not much more than a closet—and began searching the ‘Kuchma’ name in Dry Springs County. Her gut feeling led her to believe that Deputy Kuchma was the key to the whole drug ring. The bikers couldn’t operate without his protection, and to Grace’s way of thinking, Kuchma had to be calling the shots. How Sheriff Wyatt fit into the scheme of things, she wasn’t sure. Maybe the bikers were paying him to look the other way.

  Using all the researching skills she had learned as an author and a crime writer, after a half hour of trying to connect ancestry and grandparents she came up with a farm in the Kuchma name. According to Google Earth map, it wasn’t more than a couple miles away—possibly the property Rob had seen at the end of the dirt track. She printed off all her findings, highlighted the connecting laneway, and went to find Anson.

  Rob and Tommy remained on the front step of the trailer watching the activity next door. Grace tried to squeeze past them with the print-outs and Rob grabbed her wrist. “What have you got there, baby?”

  “Information on the Kuchma property that Anson will want to see.”

  “Can we see it too?”

  “Sure you can, but first I want to let him know what I found.”

  “Oh, I get it,” said Rob, “he comes before me. A flash of heat shot up his neck and he spit out words without thinking. “What the hell was going on while I was in the hospital?”

  Grace whacked Rob across the head with the papers, and pushed him aside. “Get out of my way.”

  Tommy grinned and pointed at Rob. “You handled that like a pro, you asshole.”

  Rob stood up and grabbed for the crutches. “I’m in such a foul, fuckin place, I’m gonna kill somebody.”

  When I left prison, all I wanted was down time with my wife. Am I ever gonna get any alone time?

  Propelled by her annoyance with Rob, Grace stomped up to the door of Sid’s trailer. A DEA officer met her at the door and wouldn’t let her pass. “Could I see Agent Prescott, please. I need to speak to him right away.”

  “Hang on, Miss. I’ll get him.”