Just Down the Road

by Jodi Thomas

  “Three guys, I think,” Noah answered, without taking his eyes off Tinch. “Two were big men dressed in dark shirts and pants. The third was smaller.” All he’d seen was a flash of the men running for the van. “They’re driving a gray van.”

  “Make and model?” the deputy shouted.

  “I don’t know.”

  “License plate?”

  Noah shook his head. He’d walked into a crime and hadn’t noticed the basics.

  The doctor glanced up from her work to Noah and seemed to sense his panic. “You saved his life. If you hadn’t gotten here first, he would have already been dead by the time we arrived.”

  Noah couldn’t speak. He just nodded and moved out of the way. Two more cars pulled up, his sister’s jeep and a highway patrolman’s cruiser.

  Thirty seconds later his sister stepped onto the porch, with the deputy filling her in with details as if he considered himself a newscaster. While she let the deputy finish, she put her arm around Noah’s waist. She might be the county sheriff, but she was his big sister first. “You all right?” she finally whispered when the report was over.

  Noah nodded.

  “I need to ask you a few questions. What did you see? Who did you see? Remember every detail you can.”

  Noah pulled himself together, knowing exactly what he had to do. “I was just out driving. When I passed his place, I heard a shot. No, more like a blast. I turned around and decided to head in. When I was almost to the house, a gray van ran me off the road. Then I was here trying to help Tinch.” Noah had a feeling he’d be asked the same questions again and again, but he doubted he’d remember more.

  She smiled at him, but her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “Did you see the boy?”

  Noah shook his head, remembering the kid Tinch had with him at the vet’s place in Bailee.

  The doctor broke into their conversation. “The boy’s safe. He called me from Tinch’s cell and told me there had been shots. I told him to stay where he was until he knew it was safe.” She pointed with her head toward the Rogers farm. “The phone went dead, but I’m thinking he’s probably at my place.”

  “I’ll check on him,” Alex offered.

  An ounce of worry faded from the doctor’s eyes. “Right now we’ve got to get Tinch to the hospital. We’ll have him ready to go in three minutes. He’ll need to lie flat and we don’t have time to wait for an ambulance. Noah, can you drive him in the back of your pickup? It’ll be open to the air, but probably less painful on him than trying to fold him into a car.”

  Noah nodded, suddenly relieved to have something to do. “I’ll grab a mattress and more blankets.”

  By the time they loaded Tinch, another highway patrol arrived and the place was starting to look like what it was, a crime scene. One of the men noticed glass and chips of paint in the yard where the van must have parked. Alex lowered her phone as she looked at a broken taillight in the dirt. Then she put the phone to her ear and announced, “The men left here in a gray van that was sprayed with a shotgun. Taillights and windows may be out.”

  “And it’s leaking fuel,” the deputy said, touching a small pool of dark liquid in the dirt. “These guys aren’t going far tonight.”

  Alex followed Noah to the driver’s side of his truck as one of the patrolmen helped Addison and Georgia in on either side of Tinch. “Get him there fast,” Alex shouted. “I’m going after the boy—make sure he’s safe.”

  Noah nodded and opened his door. He was in, with the engine started, when he noticed Jamie hiding in the floorboard of the passenger seat. Before Noah could call back his sister, he felt a small hand tug on his pant leg.

  “I’m going too,” the boy whispered. “Don’t tell or they’ll try to stop me. I got to go with Tinch, or the men will come back and kill me.”

  Noah had no idea what was going on, but he threw the truck in gear without a word. If someone was after the boy, he’d probably be safer right where he was than anywhere, and he could waste no time in making a decision. Tinch’s life depended on it. He’d call his sister as soon as he could. Right now he had to drive.

  One of the deputies led the way toward town as Noah pulled a Colt from the glove compartment. With both Tinch and the kid traveling with him, if anyone stopped Noah, they’d be facing a gun.

  They were out on the main road with Dr. Spencer and Nurse Veasey riding in the back with Tinch before Noah glanced down at the kid again.

  Big eyes stared up at him. “Is my uncle still alive?”

  “He’s alive and we’re doing all we can to keep it that way. Dr. Spencer will pull him through this. She’s a good doctor.”

  The tiny boy didn’t look like he had shoulders big enough to take all the weight that seemed to be resting on them. “If he dies, it’s all my fault.”

  “No …”

  “Yes it is.” Jamie gulped down tears. “I know where my mother hid what those men are looking for. It’s a black bag just like the pirates hid money in on Treasure Island. I saw it deep down between the boards when I squeezed into the space to hide. I’m the reason they came to the ranch. My momma showed me how to pull a board off this place under the table at our trailer. She said I could hide there if anyone came asking questions. When I heard the men banging on the door, I wiggled down so low in that space they wouldn’t have seen me even if they’d pulled the board loose.”

  “What’s in the bag?”

  “I don’t know, but she said it might be our way out.”

  “Out of what?” Noah asked.

  Little shoulders shrugged. “I don’t know. For as long as I can remember, my momma said when she was real sick that she wanted out. She told me never, never to tell anyone about the bag so she’d have her way out when she needed it.”

  Noah watched the road as he asked calmly, “Where’s the bag now, Jamie?”

  “I left it when the sheriff took me. She told me my momma was dead, so I didn’t think she’d need the way out anymore.”

  “You did right,” Noah said, hoping to make the boy feel better. “The men hurt your uncle because they are bad men, not because of anything you did. I want you to know that, and I think your uncle would want you to understand that too.”

  Jamie hugged his knees to his chin. “All right,” he said, but Noah sensed the kid didn’t believe him.

  Trying to think, Noah stared straight ahead. After a long minute of silence, he said, “Why don’t you climb up beside me, Jamie, and watch for the hospital. I don’t want to miss it this time of night.”

  “No,” Jamie answered. “If those bad men see me, they’ll kill you too.”

  Noah didn’t argue. The boy might be right.

  When they pulled up to the emergency entrance to the hospital, the staff was waiting for them. Noah just watched as the team moved in and, within seconds, transported Tinch inside.

  Noah swung the pickup toward the back of the hospital and into the parking lot marked for employees. “You want to go in with your uncle?”

  Jamie looked up from the floorboard. “You think they will let me in?”

  “No, but I know the back way. Spent some time here once.”

  Jamie crawled up. “He’s in there all alone? It’s scary being alone. I want to be with him. Could you take me to him? My uncle says you got guts. He says you don’t fear nothing.”

  “I don’t know about that. If I were looking for a hero, your uncle would be first on my list.” Noah had pieced together what must have happened at the Turner place. Tinch had stood alone and sent the boy to safety.

  Jamie nodded. “He’s a knight sent to protect me, I think. Only right now, I got to protect him.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Noah answered. “I’ll help.”

  Noah smiled, thinking maybe someday he might be lucky enough to have a son who cared a fraction as much about him. “Climb on my back, kid, and I’ll sneak you in.”

  Once the boy was hanging on tightly, Noah moved through the darkness to the back door of the hospital. No one came in th
at way except employees and the funeral home guys. The door should have been locked, but he wasn’t surprised to find it cracked open an inch. The smell of smoke lingered around the entrance, a ghost of break times recently spent.

  Noah moved silently through the hallways and stairwells to the waiting area for the operating rooms.

  As he let the boy down on one of the chairs, he whispered, “They’ll bring him out those doors after they get the bullet out. All we have to do is follow to see what room they take him to.”

  “You won’t leave me, will you?”

  “No way, buddy, but if you don’t mind I’ll call my sister and tell her you’re safe. She’s a sheriff, you know. It’s her job to worry about folks, and right now I’m guessing she’s about to go nuts worrying about you.”

  Jamie agreed.

  Noah made the call, then bought the kid a soda and crackers from the vending machines. From the shadows of the waiting room they watched nurses come and go. “You know, Jamie, you could go home with me. We could stay at my folks’ house. It’s not far from here.”

  “No.” Jamie curled up into a ball. “I’m gonna sleep here.”

  Noah had a feeling if he tried to change the boy’s mind, he’d have a fight on his hands. He laid his arm over Jamie’s shoulders and stretched out his long legs clad in jeans so covered in dried blood they could have stood on their own. He couldn’t worry about how he looked now, so he might as well get some sleep too. They wouldn’t be getting any news on Tinch Turner for a few hours.

  Before Noah could get to sleep, Alex appeared in the doorway.

  She motioned him to the hallway where they could talk and not wake Jamie. “You shouldn’t have brought him here.”

  He could see the anger in her eyes and figured she was right, but she hadn’t seen Jamie curled up on the floorboard of his pickup. She hadn’t seen the fear or the determination in the kid’s eyes. The kid had been shoved around all his life, and now the one person he cared about was dying. All he wanted was to be close to Tinch.

  “Sue me,” Noah whispered, refusing to defend himself.

  Alex frowned at him like she’d done all his life. No matter how old he got or what he accomplished, he’d always be her dumb little brother.

  “You know, they’ll probably come here to look for the kid. Those guys don’t seem to operate according to any form of common sense. I wouldn’t put it past them to show up at such a public place.”

  “So stay around, Sheriff, and do your job. Catch them.”

  “I plan to.” She looked at the bulky windbreaker he wore. “You armed, Noah? Because if you are, I should tell you it’s illegal to have a weapon in here.”

  Noah met his sister’s gaze. “You want me to admit to a crime or lie?”

  Alex straightened and reached in her pocket. “Raise your right hand.” She pulled out a badge. “I’m deputizing you. If you’re going to be the boy’s guardian, you might as well be legal.”

  “How do you know I won’t do something stupid?” Noah took the badge and slipped it into his shirt pocket.

  “I don’t know. You’ve been doing stupid things all your life. Maybe I’m just playing the odds that it’s got to be about time you did something right.” She glanced in at Jamie curled on the chair sound asleep. “I’ll put a guard downstairs where he can see both the elevator and the front door, but no matter what happens, don’t leave the boy anywhere.”

  “I wasn’t planning on it.”

  For once she looked like she believed him. “Want to tell me why you were driving down the back roads at four in the morning?”

  “Reagan said she thought she was being followed. When she picked me up earlier, I had the same feeling, but it was raining so hard I couldn’t make out what or who was following me. When Gentry told me you guys were circling Tinch’s house, I thought somehow the two might be related.”

  Alex frowned. “Tinch Turner and Reagan Truman have little in common. I’m surprised they even know each other. I can’t think of any reason the drug dealers might put the two together.”

  Noah closed his eyes and swore. When he faced his sister, he had to force the words out. “Their connection could be me. Tinch and I swapped trucks the day I left last week.”

  Alex pulled out her cell. “We need to check this out. If Memphis followed Tinch to the Truman farm when he returned your truck, Reagan could be in danger.”

  Noah didn’t care what time it was, he needed to talk to Reagan.

  Her cell rang once, twice, three times. No answer. He hung up and tried the house phone.

  Deep down he knew where she was. He’d seen her moving among the shadows of the orchard a dozen times as if a piece of her soul lay hidden there among the low branches and exposed roots.

  Noah looked at Jamie. Part of him wanted to believe the boy was safe here. A half dozen people could keep an eye on him. Drug dealers weren’t likely to storm a hospital. Alex had told him she would place a guard downstairs.

  He gripped the phone in his hand, wishing Reagan would pick up on the other end. All she had to do was tell him she was fine. She’d be careful. She’d be on guard.

  No one answered. He thought of all the times she’d called him and he hadn’t taken the time to answer.

  Noah had to do something. He had to act, but he couldn’t leave Jamie.

  He stared at Jamie as he disconnected her number and dialed another.

  A half dozen rings later, Big answered the phone. “This better be important or you’re a dead man, Noah McAllen.” He sounded half asleep and furious. Which in Noah’s observation was pretty much normal for Big.

  “Rea may be in trouble. How fast can you get over there?”

  Big didn’t hesitate. “I’m on my way. Hang on.”

  Noah heard banging around and, a minute later, the sound of Big’s pickup being fired up.

  “Did you sleep in your clothes?” Noah shouted. “Or are you driving over there naked?”

  “None of your damn business, McAllen.” Big was wide awake now and, from the sound of it, moving fast. “Fill me in. I’ll be there in three minutes.”

  Noah told Big all he knew, then hung up. He knew the phone wouldn’t leave his hand until Big called back that all was safe.

  While he waited, he told Alex all that Jamie had said about his mother’s “way out” bag. They agreed it had to be drugs or cash, but there was nothing anyone could do about it now. Every lawman in the county was busy tracking the men who’d shot Tinch. If Memphis and his thugs hadn’t found it hidden between the boards and the deputies hadn’t discovered it, the bag was probably safe for a few more hours.

  Noah sat down, staring at the phone, wishing it would ring. If anything, anything, happened to Reagan he’d blame himself. A dozen should haves came to mind, but finally all he knew was that he couldn’t make it if she wasn’t all right.

  Chapter 41

  TRUMAN FARM

  REAGAN TURNED HER COLLAR UP AGAINST THE WIND and moved silently among the trees. In a few weeks the last of the leaves would be gone and they’d be no more than the skeletal remains of an orchard until spring. Her uncle had always frowned at the land in winter, but in many ways it was her favorite time.

  There was an honesty about the orchard in dormant months. No pretense, no shadows over shadows until no one could tell where one tree ended and another began. She wished people were as easy to read in the goodness they carried as trees were. If a branch was rotten, it was easy to tell, but people could be decayed to the core and no one would know until it was too late.

  When she’d been growing up, moving from one foster home to another, she’d been wrong more often than right about people. Some had sugar coating only a quarter of an inch deep, and others seemed gruff, but cared. She remembered liking Uncle Jeremiah, not because he was nice to her at first, but simply because he didn’t hit her or call her names.

  She felt close to him here, even closer than if she’d been at the cemetery. He’d put his sweat and blood into this farm. Maybe
a part of him and all the Trumans who lived before were still here watching over her.

  Standing on the edge of the orchard, Reagan waited for the sunrise. She liked seeing first light spread across her land. It warmed her as it warmed the earth.

  Car lights moved slowly down the road and hesitated at the entrance to her place, where newly planted evergreens rose barely as high as the car hood.

  She’d learned the sounds of both Noah’s and Big’s trucks. Jeremiah could close his eyes and name any visitor stopping by. If they’d driven onto his land once, he knew the sound of their engine.

  Maybe she’d inherited his talent, she laughed.

  Only, this car clanked and chugged like an old piece of junk that hadn’t seen a tune-up or good gas in years. When it reached the end of the line of evergreens, Reagan saw the shape. A van, big and square, built like a tank.

  A couple of carpenters were still installing some equipment in the barn, but they never came before nine.

  An uneasiness settled around Reagan, and she moved backward into the trees as if they were silently pulling her into their folds.

  The sky was still more black than gray when she heard a car door. It hadn’t been slammed, but closed carefully so as not to make too much noise, but the sound carried the few hundred yards on the wind.

  She made out the outlines of two men, both big and rounded. They walked to the porch and stood waiting while a third man, smaller in stature, joined them. All three looked up at her window and waited as if they expected her to appear or at least turn on a light.

  When one pointed to the screen door, she realized she hadn’t closed the door or latched the front screen before she left. The house was wide open. Everything she owned was there for the taking, and it seemed obvious that these men were up to no good. Suddenly, the silent morning was shattered by Old Dog bolting out, knocking the screen door back with a pop. He barked once at the three men, then growled. All three men took a step backward.

  Usually, Old Dog never barked. He knew everyone who came to visit. But he didn’t know these men and he planned to protect the house. He jumped at the closest man with the energy of a pup.