LYING COP

by Sandy Night

  Colt made it up to the porch, said something to his mother, and then turned to look at her and saw that she was not getting out of the truck. He lifted his chin in a questioning gesture.

  She broke eye contact and stared at the glove compartment. She’ll tell them she can’t walk and needs to stay in the truck until they get to the hospital at which point she can request a wheel chair.

  He knocked on the hood.

  She flinched.

  His hand flew up and beckoned her to come.

  Shaking her head, she said out loud, “I can’t walk.”

  He rounded the front end. His mother followed, talking. But Alaska couldn’t make out the words. And the woman kept glancing at her. She didn’t look happy.

  Colt opened the passenger door. The interior light came on with a soft glow. He stepped up to the seat. “What’s wrong?”

  “Foot hurts, can’t walk.”

  “Let me help you.” He touched her arm.

  “No, I can’t. My knee hurts on the other leg.” Alaska winced as she pulled her leg up. “See.” She griped her knee beneath the blood stained tear. “You go ahead and go inside and do what you got to do. I’ll stay here. I’m okay.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah, when we get to the hospital you can fetch me a wheelchair.”

  “Okay.” He leaned inside the truck and kissed her cheek. “I won’t be long.”

  Her foreboding fear eased into mild discomfort, making her feel much better. He would go inside, his mother would follow, and she’d be left alone.

  But instead of closing the passenger door for her, he skirted his mother and without as much as a backward glance, he went inside the cabin.

  His mother didn’t go after him. She stepped in front of the truck’s door handle.

  Oh shit. Alaska’s plan back-fired. Now she’s alone with her.

  If she had just gotten out of the truck, at least Colt would be there. But she really screwed up. She hooked her hair behind her ear.

  “I guess Colt was in too big of a hurry to introduce us. I’m his mother, Bunny.” The woman sounded nice. And she wasn’t spitting fire or shooting eye daggers. Her hand was out, inviting her to a handshake.

  She took her hand and was quick about it. “I’m Alaska.” She sensed a familiarity about Bunny. “Have you ever eaten at the Cliff Café? I’m the owner.”

  “Yes, I have, I recognize you. That’s such a lovely restaurant you have.” Bunny’s tone was sweet like she was talking to a kitten.

  “Why thank you.” Alaska grimaced as she stretched her leg back.

  “Are you hurt bad? What happened?”

  “I think I stepped on a nail, and I hurt my knee. Colt’s hurt too.”

  “Oh you poor dear, you must have had a really rough day, what with your brother escaping prison and everything.”

  Alaska nodded. “It was a good day too. My brother’s okay.”

  “Whose house is on fire? Someone you know? Colt said his dad was watching a house fire.”

  Oh Lordy, was she going to have to explain everything to her, right here, right now? “Yeah, I knew them,” she said, and then shut up. That was all the info she was going to offer.

  “Is that where you got hurt?”

  “My foot,” Alaska said, squirming in her seat a little bit. “I think my leg was asleep. It’s better now that I’ve moved it around. I think I can walk now. Do you think I could use your bathroom?”

  “Why sure, honey,” Bunny said, backing up. “Do you need help?”

  “I’ll be all right.” Alaska lowered herself out of the truck and schlepped to the cabin.

  She entered and caught a whiff of wood smoke still hanging in the air from an old stone fireplace. Colt stood in the big kitchen, lingering in front of the opened refrigerator. His back faced her. She headed toward him, her eyes adjusting to the bright light. And then she heard a brewing sound. The roasted aroma wafted to her. “Oh thank God, coffee.”

  He spun around, holding a head of lettuce and a jar of mustard. “Hey, you’re out of the truck.” He closed the refrigerator with his elbow.

  “Yeah, I have to use the bathroom.” She stopped by the table and clutched the top of a chair, shifting her weight onto the heel of her bare foot.

  “I would have of helped you,” he said sounding as if she had cheated him out of something.

  She shrugged. “I’m better now, just had to stretch a little bit. My leg was asleep.”

  Bunny came up beside her, gasped, and gave her sleeve a gentle tug. “You’ve got dirt caked all over you. And there’s blood on your pants.”

  Alaska glanced down at what was once a white blouse. “Yeah, I did get kind of dirty.”

  “And your poor foot, you can’t even where your shoe,” Bunny commented, angling her head to peer downward.

  “Oh its not that, I lost my shoe because my shoelaces were being used to tie someone up with, see.” She lifted her other foot, exposing the lace-less tennis shoe. “And then I stepped on a nail.”

  Bunny placed her hand on the back of her shoulder. “Colt, what on earth have you done to this poor girl?”

  He plopped the lettuce and mustard down next to what appeared to be deli meat on the counter. “What have I done to her?!” He chuckled and put his hands on his hips. “She’s a wild woman.”

  Alaska released the top of the chair. “Uh, where’s the bathroom?”

  “Right around the corner, honey, second room on the right, it’s the guest bedroom, use the bathroom in there.” Bunny gave her a caring pat on the arm. “And use anything you want to in there, make yourself at home.”

  Slog limping through the living room, Alaska listened to them.

  “Ma, where’s the cheese?”

  “I used it all to make Mexican chicken. I was hoping you’d be here for supper.”

  “Well, I’m here. Are there any leftovers?”

  “That big pan in the refrigerator, I’m surprised you didn’t see it.”

  “I was in a hurry, thought she was going to stay in the truck. I figured on bringing her a sandwich so I really didn’t look past the ham.”

  “Colt, go sit down, I’ll get it out and heat it up. You don’t look too well.”

  Alaska started down the hallway with their voices trailing.

  “Actually, I don’t feel too bad considering all I’ve been through. Look at all these scratches on my arms. And look at this.”

  Remembering how red Colt’s side was at the waterfall, Alaska cringed, imagining him raising his shirt up to show off his ribs. And how did he look now after the explosion?

  “Oh for heaven’s sakes!” His mother’s tone had a high pitch quality to it. “Do you need me to drive you two to the hospital?”

  “No, Ma. I’m fine, really. We’re also going down to the state police field office to give statements about what happened today.”

  “What happened?”

  Alaska stalled at the entrance to the second room. The door was open and it was dark in there. Well here it goes, his mother had been so kind to her but now, after she hears what all happened, she’s going to turn on her, just like her own mother did, and her horrible granny.

  And there was nothing she could about it. She wasn’t even going to worry about it. And as a matter of fact, she didn’t even want to hear it.

  She leaned against the door frame and felt around for a light switch, hearing Colt’s voice in the distant part of the cabin but not his words. She found it and flipped the overhead on.

  Guest bedroom? She almost laughed. Stuff jam packed the room to the extent she could hardly make out the bed. On it were mounds of blankets, bedspreads, bed linens, and a ton of pillows. Surrounding it were boxes and bulging black plastic bags, some open with clothes and hangers hanging out and others stacked on top of each other. There were vacuum cleaners, lamp shades, wall pictures, Styrofoam coolers, stuffed animals, and a folded up roll-a-way.

  She spotted a path to the bathroom and headed down it but paused by the dress
er to peek into two boxes sitting on top. One contained curling irons and hair dryers, and the other had cell phone chargers. Hmm…lost and found from the cabins? She proceeded on to the bathroom.

  And as she might have guessed, had stuff in there too.

  After tinkling, she peered at herself in the mirror. Good Lord– her hair looked like she just rolled out of bed and a faint layer of dirt snaked over her upper lip like a mustache on a kid. Oh that’s just great. She rubbed part of it off then swiped at a dark splotch on her forehead Ouch, that wasn’t dirt. The bump was a painful reminder of her getting clobbered by Haggard in Branson. A flash of the last thing she saw before passing out assaulted her minds eye, his ugly, twisted evil face. Bet he was hurting more now than she was, if he wasn’t dead.

  Rolling her shoulder, she twisted her arm behind her back to take care of an itch. The movement spread a burning sensation from the spot Tom had kicked her with his snake-skinned boot. She scratched and picked something off herself. It was a tick; its tiny legs were going ballistic from it being yanked off its host.

  Alaska flushed the bug down the toilet. She decided to take Bunny up on her offer and make herself at home, even though the woman was probably building up steam toward her right about now. That was even more reason to do it, make sure it got done.

  She flung her one shoe off, then gingerly slipped her jeans down to the floor and stepped out of them. After dropping the toilet seat down, she sat to inspect her injuries. A jagged cut ran diagonally across the top of her knee, not deep at all, but enough to have bled on her jeans and give her a shit-load of pain. And both her knees were red and terribly tender like overripe tomatoes.

  Grimacing, she brought her dirty foot up to rest on her leg, and then tilted the bottom toward her so she could take a look see, hoping that whatever it was she stepped on still wasn’t in there.

  Nothing but a deep hole beneath the second toe, probably a roofing nail got her. Yep, she’ll need a tetanus shot.

  The shower curtain whizzed as she swished it to the side, looked clean enough. She sat on the edge of the tub and turned the knob with the red dot. The water came out it in spurts at first but then ran smoothly. She stuck her hand underneath the stream, it was cold. While she waited for the hot to come through, she wondered what was going on with Tom. Did they find him and arrest him? Were they even looking for him at this point? Maybe they needed more information and proof of all the crap he’d done. He was probably still out there looking for her, to do her in. What was he planning to do to her? Rape her? Probably. Drag her ass back to that creepy little cabin and stuff her down that hole? Probably.

  If it wasn’t for Colt, no telling what would have happened to her.

  When the water ran hot enough, she yanked her hand back, adjusted the temperature and pulled the shower lever up.

  Multi-colored bottles of bath products crowded the short vanity. Most were half empty. Alaska picked out a lavender shampoo and a pink body-wash and set them on the edge of the tub. Then she took a couple of folded towels off a rack and laid them across the top of the toilet for easy reach. After slipping her blouse and panties off, she stepped into the tub.

  Rap-rap-rap. Someone knocked on the door.

  Crap! Maybe it was Bunny come to kick her out.

  The hot spray coming out of the shower head felt too good to be getting right back out, and she had to at least get them damn chiggers off her. She squirted body-wash on her legs and arm.

  Rap-rap-rap.

  Oh hell! Thinking she had locked the door, Alaska pulled the shower curtain back a bit and yelled with an edge of annoyance, “Who’s there?”

  “It’s me,” Colt answered, and then he opened the door and stuck his face inside the bathroom.

  “Oh good, come on in if you want to.”

  “I brought you some coffee.” He stepped inside the tiny room, holding a big green mug.

  She pulled the curtain up to cover her breast and stuck her arm out, hand open. “So is your mom getting mad at me?”

  He held the coffee mug up with both hands so she could grip the handle. “For what, taking a shower?”

  “Well, that too.” She took a firm grip of the cup’s handle. The coffee aroma met the bouquet fragrance of the body wash. “But because of all the crap you’d gone through, because of me.” She brought the mug to her lips, sipped, and thought it to be the best coffee she’d ever tasted.

  “Are you serious?” Squinting one eye, Colt raised a brow.

  “Yeah, I’m serious.”

  He chuckled. “Oh don’t worry about her; she’s used to it, look at my dad. And I have two brothers.” Muscles flexed as he crossed his arms and yanked his shirt up over his head. “We chase after bad guys all the time.” His side shone redder now than before. He unzipped his pants. “Is there room in there for me?”

  Alaska peered over the rim of the mug, watching him slip out of his jeans. “I suppose.” She giggled. “So you never did find your underwear.”

  “Nah, didn’t need them anyway.” He went to the other end of the tub, pulled the shower curtain aside, and stepped into the spray. After soaking his head he leaned out of the heavy stream and asked, “Shampoo?”

  “Here,” Alaska said, handing him the bottle.

  Leaning against the cool tile, she took big sips. Water went every which way, splashing on her. She was in heaven—hot coffee, hot shower, hot man. Her gaze skimmed his backside, from his flexing shoulder muscles to his pale baby-cakes butt. A faint tan line outlined what, man bikinis? Hmmm…tanning bed or did he laze around at an apartment pool during the summer months. She bet women ogled him. And hit on him with everything they got.

  Buckets of shampoo suds slid down his wet body. He raised one arm then the other under the shower of water before turning to face her. She bent over the edge of the tub and set her empty cup on the floor. Then she stood, griped his soft behind, and pressed his precious cargo against her.

  He kissed her. His lips and tongue were wet smoldering coals of a prelude to hot sex.

  Inhaling deeply, she raised her leg, heightening herself to meet him half-way.

  He pulled his mouth off hers.

  Her throbbing ached and her heart rate increased. Hot dog, she was getting it again. She expected him to position himself and stick it to her but he whizzed the shower curtain back, gave her fanny a love pat, and stepped out of the tub.

  “Where you going?” she asked between short breaths, thinking he wanted to do it out there, and that he would reach out for her.

  But instead, he picked up a towel off the toilet seat. “I have a phone call to make.”

  “Now?”

  Quickly drying himself off, he said, “After I find us some clothes to wear, so we don’t have to put our dirty ones back on.” He wrapped the towel around his waist and then he stepped in front of the sink. “I’ll see what my parents have.” He swiped a circle on the steam covered mirror and did a lizard bobble. “And there’s a bag of lost and found clothes my mom washed to take to the Mission. We can go through that.” He opened the bathroom door and out he went, closing it behind him.

  Oh hell. Alaska yanked the curtain closed and retrieved the bottle of shampoo that hardly weighed an ounce. No wonder there were so many suds, he used most of what was in there.

  Chapter 28

  After dressing in her own bra and panties, Alaska slipped into a pair of tan slacks Colt brought her from Bunny’s closet, they fit but rode way above her ankles like clam pants. And then she put on a pink shirt she pulled out of the big plastic bag headed for the donation facility. The house slippers she found fit comfortable enough. With her hair still wrapped in a towel, she limped down the short hallway, clutching the green mug. Her stomach rumbled from the aroma of baked food—Mexican chicken.

  Colt sat at the table wearing a black cap and holding a cordless phone to his ear. He winked at her as she approached.

  “Is there anymore coffee?” she asked Bunny, expecting the woman to scowl at her.

 
But she didn’t, instead she said, and very nicely too, “Yes there is. Here let me get it for you.” She took the mug out of her hand. “You go ahead and have a seat.”

  An oblong pan covered with aluminum foil sat in the middle of the table in between two large red plates. Alaska sat across from the handsome hunky cop from Little Rock. He spoke into the phone, “And his condition?” He pulled back the aluminum foil and motioned for her to go ahead and help herself.

  She picked up the serving spoon and ladled a big portion of cheesy chicken with corn chips onto her plate.

  “He wasn’t there?” Colt’s tone seemed a bit alarmed. Staring at her, his big eyes got even bigger. “So you don’t know where he is?”

  Bunny came up to the table and set Alaska’s coffee down. Then she continued to stand there, hands on hips. “Is that about your father?”

  He looked at his mother and shook his head. “Did you check the hospital? Good, that’s where we’re headed.” His gaze switched back to Alaska. “We have minor injuries.” Colt chuckled. “Uh, I could use some back-up, someone to go in with us.” He blinked a few times. “Okay, will do.” He tapped a button, put the phone on the table, and picked up the serving spoon.

  Alaska with fork in hand hadn’t yet taken a bite. “So what’d they say, who isn’t where?”

  “Esther Ketch is en-route to hospital, serious condition. No sign of Tom Ketch. And Haggard wasn’t at the scene of the roll-over. It was his vehicle all right but he apparently walked away or was picked up, maybe by Tom.”

  “Oh that’s just great.” Alaska jabbed at her food. “Maybe he got thrown in the bushes?”

  Colt shook his head. “They searched the area, he’s gone.” He shoveled a forkful into his mouth.

  “What’s all this going on?” Bunny asked. “I hope your father isn’t involved.”

  “No, Alaska and her brother had a run-in with meth cookers. And a deputy was involved.”

  Bunny snickered. “Oh drug people, they are troublesome.” She turned and walked away.

  Alaska’s mind churned as she ate. What would she do if she came face to face with dear Dougy boy, or Esther, in a little room or cubicle with no nurses or doctors around? Of course find an instrument for protection, a sharp one. And what other things do they have in hospitals? Yeah, needles, used hazardous ones too.