He rolled the window down. "Hey, sorry to bother you," said Fink. "I was just thinking. And sometimes, ya know, when you're thinking, you come up with questions, and I thought I might as well ask them now. Ya know?"
Clark nodded. Fink seemed rushed and nervous, two things that weren't apart of the deputy that Clark had seen working in the office for the past few days. Fink always seemed sure of himself and generally like a good guy. "What's up deputy?" Clark replied.
"So, apparently you didn't kill Ricky. Is that right?"
"Yes sir, I did not kill Ricky," responded Clark. Where was this questioning going?
"But you did turn him in and get him fired from Holliday Ranch?" asked Fink.
"Yes, I did do that."
"So what you're technically telling me. Is that. He got killed, by this town. Someone in this town killed him. Because you ratted on my Uncle Ricky," said Fink.
Clark's eyes widened. Ricky was Fink's Uncle. Honey had warned him about Ricky's friends, but he had no idea that Ricky had family, let alone family in the area, let alone family in law enforcement. "I didn't know he was your uncle," Clark whispered.
"Yeah," said Fink, taking out his sidearm and cocking it. He flexed his arm a little bit, trying to loosen the muscles so they wouldn't hurt from the recoil. "He was my uncle. Ricky had a lot of friends out here. A lot of family too. Not as wealthy or well off as the Hollidays. But see, we all respected the Hollidays. They did good work for everyone. But then a fuckin' new guy comes into town and just fucks everything up."
Clark thought about racing off, but where would he go? Could he seek refuge with Lilith? Would that just make matters worse.
"Look Clark, you're a good guy. But out here. Family matters most. Because that's all we got. And you got my Uncle killed," said Fink, taking aim with his gun.
He pulled the trigger and Clark shook in his seat, the bullet ripping through his gut, a searing pain tearing through this abdomen. His hands went for the bullet's entry point as blood started seeping out. He looked up at Fink. "I didn't mean anything by any of it," he muttered, his eyes losing focus.
"Yeah," said Fink. "Nobody ever means anything by anything, do they? Gotta watch what you do out here. Could get ya killed."
Fink holstered his sidearm and walked back to his cruiser, hopped in, and revved off, leaving Clark's truck idling in the middle of the road.
Clark saw Fink’s taillights, just a blur in his vision, as he keeled over and passed out, sagging against the seat belt, the blood loss besting him.
To Be Continued!
Please join us again on January 12, 2017 for Part 4 of the Holliday Series! I’d like to wish all my readers Happy Holidays and a wonderful New Year!
Home Everlasting (Holliday Book 3) Page 10