by C. J. Box
His neighbor inhaled to speak, but Joe shot his arm out and pointed his finger at him, gesturing for him to go back inside. Although he was clearly angry, Nedney tossed the match aside, turned on his heel, and scuttled into his house. Probably to call the police or start drafting covenants for the neighborhood forbidding residents from lurking around in the dark with shotguns, Joe thought. Joe hoped Nate was in position so whatever was going to happen would happen quickly and he could warn Nate to keep out of sight in case the police were coming.
He paused at the back gate and tried to see into the backyard through gaps in the wood slats. He got a glimpse of the two large cottonwood trunks, Lucy’s bike propped up against a planter, and a small swatch of the cracked concrete porch. He couldn’t see who had made the noise, but the hairs on the back of his neck were up and he was sure someone or something was back there.
Of course, he thought, it could be innocent. Possibly neighborhood kids playing around. Or an animal-a stray dog, a coyote down from the foothills, a badger looking for dog food to eat, even a deer or bear. A few years before, Joe had been called out to shoot tranquilizer darts at a mountain lion perched in the fork of a mountain ash tree. And there was the occasional moose, elk, antelope, wolverine.
Behind the fence in the backyard was an empty field dotted with sagebrush that smelled sweet in the late summer and perfumed the dry air. That was the way Nate had approached their house earlier and Joe peered through the gap in the fence to see if the back gate was open. It was. He knew Nate had closed it earlier, which eliminated the animal options and indicated someone was back there. Whether the intruder had slipped out while he and Nate armed up and sneaked around or was still there was yet to be determined.
Then Joe heard it, a rhythmic wheezing sound. Somebody breathing, but not easily. Whoever it was remained in the backyard, but Joe couldn’t get an angle through the fence to see him.
From the other side of the house came an eerie high-pitched call mimicking the sound of an angry hawk: skree-skree-skree-skree.
Joe quickly pushed through the gate and was startled when the hinges moaned angrily from lack of oil. He dashed through the opening into the backyard, putting distance between the open gate and himself in case whoever was back there had been as surprised by the rusty hinges as he’d been. There was only one human form he could see, and the man was standing in the muted light beneath the kitchen window with his back to Joe, looking in the direction of the hawk sound. The man was big and blocky, wearing a cowboy hat, an oversized canvas Carhartt ranch coat, and jeans. The left cuff was carelessly pulled outside a cowboy boot and bunched on the top of the boot. What looked like an M1911.45 ACP semiautomatic pistol was hanging down in his right hand along the hem of the ranch jacket.
Joe said, “Freeze where you stand or I’ll cut you in half with this shotgun.”
Joe recognized the hat, boots, and pistol. He raised his Maglite alongside the barrel of his shotgun after twisting it on so he could see clearly down the sights while aiming. The beam was choked down to the minimum size, and he trained it on the man’s head and shoulders.
He said, “Bud, is that you?”
Bud Longbrake, Missy’s ex-husband and Joe’s ex-father-in-law, stood like a bronze statue of a washed-up cowboy caught in a spotlight. Slowly, Bud turned his head a little so he could talk to Joe over his shoulder. “Hey, Joe. I didn’t know you were home.”
His voice was bass and resigned, and his words were slurred.
“I live here, Bud,” Joe said. “You know that. So what are you doing sneaking around in my backyard? Oh, and drop the Colt.”
Bud said, “If I drop it on the concrete, it might go off.”
“Then bend over and put it at your feet and kick it away, Bud.”
“Oh, all right.” It took him a moment to bend all the way over, and he grunted while he did it. He gave the weapon a kick with his boot. Joe thought Bud had gained quite a bit of weight since he’d last seen him, and his movements were stiff as if his joints hurt.
“Okay, turn around slowly,” Joe said. “Keep the palms of your hands up so I can see them.”
Bud did, and Joe put the beam of his flashlight on Bud’s face. He was shocked by what he saw. Bud’s eyes were rimmed with red and his cheeks were puffy and pale and spiderwebbed with thin blue veins. His nose was bulbous and looked as if it had been rubbed gray with woodstove ash. A three-day growth of beard sparkled like silver sequins in the beam of the flashlight.
“You look like hell, Bud,” Joe said, lowering the shotgun but keeping the flashlight on the old rancher.
Bud said, “You know, I feel like hell, too.” He swayed while he said it, as if he’d been hit with an ocean wave at knee level or he was doing some kind of lounge dance very poorly. His arms circled stiffly in their sockets, and he took a step forward to regain his balance. “Whoa,” he said.
“Sit down,” Joe said, propping his shotgun against Lucy’s bike. “Grab one of those lawn chairs.”
“I’ll do that,” Bud said, pulling a chair over and collapsing into it. The whoosh of his exhale floated in Joe’s direction, and the alcohol content was so high Joe was grateful he didn’t have a lighted cigarette. He hoped the chair wouldn’t collapse under the ex-rancher’s weight.
Nate remained hidden, and Joe purposefully didn’t look in his direction. Although Bud seemed completely harmless now, it was good to have Nate there monitoring the situation. It was preferable Bud didn’t know it.
Said Bud, “I heard this damned poem in the bar the other night I can’t get out of my head. It’s a Dr. Seuss poem. It goes:
I cannot see, I cannot pee
I cannot chew, I cannot screw
Oh my God, what can I do?
“Dr. Seuss, you say,” Joe said. “I doubt that.”
Bud continued, “. My body’s drooping, have trouble pooping
The Golden Years have come at last
The Golden Years can kiss my ass.”
With that, Bud paused and grinned a new jack-o’-lantern smile that was the result of missing teeth. One gone on top, two on the bottom.
“Are you through?”
“Yup,” Bud said. “There’s more, but I can’t remember the lines. So yeah, I’m through.” He said it while digging into his ranch coat and coming out with a tin of Copenhagen. Joe watched as he formed a huge wad with his thumb and two fingers and crammed the snuff into the right side of his lower lip in front of his teeth. The wad was so big it distorted his lower face.
“So what are you doing here?” Joe asked. “I don’t appreciate you sneaking around my house at night.”
“I’m sorry,” Bud said, shaking his head. “I really am.”
Joe couldn’t believe how this man had changed in just two years. Bud had been one of the best-liked and most influential ranch owners in Twelve Sleep County. He was generous and avuncular, served on boards and commissions, donated thousands to Saddlestring charities, and almost single-handedly kept the 4-H Club and rodeo arena afloat. He’d been a kind step-grandfather to Sheridan and Lucy, and he’d briefly employed Joe as foreman of the Longbrake Ranch when Joe had been fired from the Game and Fish Department. But here he was, broken and embarrassing. And armed.
He looked up, trying to focus. “Missy told me,” he said.
“Told you what?”
“Missy told me she’d hired that Nate Romanowski to put the hurt on me. To knock hell out of me and send me down the river in a pine box. I know what that character can do with that big cannon of his he carries around.”
Joe moaned.
“She said he was coming here, to this house, and he was going to kick the living crap out of me in front of my friends and buddies.”
“She said that, did she?”
Bud nodded. “She called me yesterday and told me that. She said she was giving me fair warning to get the hell out of town and stop bothering her. I thought about it some, I’ll admit. I couldn’t sleep at all last night, and I had a beer for breakfast to h
elp me decide what to do. I been on a tear ever since,” he said, tipping an imaginary glass of bourbon into his mouth. “Then I said to myself, the hell with it. I ain’t scared of no Nate Romanowski. I came here to get the drop on him and maybe bring this thing to a head.”
Joe sighed. He was as angry at Missy for inadvertently revealing Nate’s whereabouts as he was disappointed in what Bud had become. “It’s probably hard to sneak up on guys when you can hardly stand up.”
Bud nodded. “You’re telling me?”
“She’s a cancer,” Joe said. “Why do you still listen to her?”
“A cancer?” Bud said, sitting back and slapping his thighs with his big hands, “Cancer can be cured most of the time. No, she’s a damned witch! She’s an in-the-flesh witch! She put her spell on me for a while and she took everything I owned, and now she’s working on that guy, the Earl of Lexington. She’ll have everything he’s got soon, I’ll bet you money. I mean, if I still had some.”
Joe said, “I won’t take that bet.”
Bud laughed drily. “The only revenge I got is that the way things are going, I’m not sure I could have afforded to pay the taxes or comply with all the new regulations they’re putting on us out here. I’m glad somebody else has to deal with that shit. But I don’t like the idea of your friend coming after me, either.”
Joe said, “Bud, Nate’s not after you. That’s all in Missy’s imagination. Not that she hasn’t tried to hire him to intimidate you, but that’s not what Nate does.”
Bud said, “What does he do?”
Which momentarily left Joe at a loss for words.
The kitchen drapes parted, and Joe saw Marybeth look out. Her face fell when she saw Bud Longbrake and how he looked. Joe nodded to her and indicated that everything was fine. Before she let the curtains fall back into place, he could see her purse her lips and shake her head sadly.
“I asked what he did,” Bud repeated.
“I take drunk old ranchers home,” Nate said, stepping out from the shadows where he’d been hiding. His.454 was low at his side but not in the holster.
At the sound of Nate’s voice, Bud’s arm rose stiffly and he fluttered his hands and his boots kicked out in alarm.
“Calm down,” Nate said to Bud, putting a hand on his shoulder. “If I was going to kill you, you’d already be dead.”
Joe shrugged to Bud, as if to say, You know he’s right.
“Where’s your pickup, Bud?” Nate asked.
Bud gestured vaguely toward the sagebrush field in back of the house. “Out there somewhere,” he said.
“Why don’t we go find it?”
“Then what?” Bud asked.
“Then I’ll take you home. Are you still living in that apartment over the Western wear store on Main?”
Bud nodded.
“Then let’s go.”
Bud didn’t move.
Nate reached out and grasped Bud’s ear and twisted it. “I said, let’s go.”
Joe had seen Nate twist off enough ears. He said, “Nate. ”
But the pressure caused Bud to rise clumsily and stand up. Nate let go of Bud’s ear and Bud pawed at it with his free hand like a bear cub.
“Can I at least see the girls?” Bud asked Joe. “I miss them girls.”
“They’re in bed,” Joe fibbed. “It’s a school night, Bud.”
“I do miss them girls.”
“They miss you, too,” Joe said. “You were a good grandpa to them.”
“Until that witch screwed it all up.”
Joe nodded.
“You know the worse thing about her?” Bud said suddenly.
Joe braced himself.
“I still love her. I still goddamn love her, even after all she did to me.”
Joe said, “That is the worst thing, all right.”
“What about my Army Colt?” Bud asked Joe. “I like to have it within reach.”
“Go home, Bud. I’ll drop it by later.”
“Come on,” Nate said. “Can you find your keys?”
Bud clumsily started patting himself. In addition to his pickup keys, he located his can of Copenhagen and a warm bottle of beer. Bud twisted the cap off and took a long drink, and offered it to Joe and then Nate.
“No thanks, Bud,” Joe said.
As Nate guided Bud out the backyard toward the distant truck, Joe heard Bud say, “If you really want to kill me, I probably wouldn’t put up too much of a fight.”
“Shut up,” Nate responded.
Later, as Joe crawled into bed, Marybeth said, “It’s so sad what’s happened to Bud. I don’t know what’s going to become of him.”
He moved close to her and she turned away to her side. Their bodies fit so well together, he thought.
She said, “I keep expecting to get a call from the sheriff’s office asking us to come down and bail him out of jail. Or identify a body.” She didn’t sound sleepy.
He said, “Your mother’s body count is getting pretty high. How did you manage to turn out so well?”
“I guess I’m the black sheep of the family.”
Joe chuckled. “Yup. No one can accuse you of trading up.”
“Do you think he’ll come back? Bud, I mean?”
Joe pulled her closer. Her body felt warm and soft. He buried his face into her hair. “I doubt it. He knows now Nate’s not after him. And deep down, Bud’s a good man. He’ll wake up and be ashamed of himself for showing up here, I think.”
“Mmmm.”
“Marybeth,” he whispered into her ear, “I was wondering. ”
“Joe,” she said, cutting him off. “First, we need to talk.”
“About what?”
She took a deep soft breath and paused. “I can see the direction this is all headed. I could see it tonight when you and Nate got your guns and went outside. It was like your sails were full. I know it was me who called Nate for help, but at the time I wasn’t sure when I’d see you again, if at all.
“You’re thinking of going back up into those mountains, aren’t you? You want to find those brothers,” she said.
He closed his eyes, even though she wasn’t looking at his face. “No one believes me, honey.”
“I do.”
“I keep thinking about everything that happened-how they whipped me. I keep thinking about Terri Wade and. that other woman. Something was going on up there and I couldn’t see it at the time. I still can’t. But whatever it is, it’s still there. That the sheriff in Carbon County and all those DCI boys couldn’t find the Grim Brothers at all puzzles the heck out of me. That the FBI seems to be monitoring the situation makes no logical sense. And who is this Bobby McCue representing? There are a load of unanswered questions, starting with why the Grim Brothers are up there in the first place. Plus, there are lives at stake. Even though Terri Wade and the mystery woman seemed to be there willingly, I just don’t buy it. No woman would choose to be alone in the wilderness like that with those two brothers around. I think they’re being held, even if they didn’t act like it. Just walking away doesn’t feel right.”
She turned to face him. He could see the side of her face in the soft light of the moon outside. She still looked youthful, attractive, strong. He wanted her.
She said, “Be thankful you were able to walk away, Joe.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Maybe it was a blessing,” she said. “You may not be so lucky the next time.”
He said nothing for a long time. Then: “I’ll tell you something I have trouble putting into words. I’m scared to go back up there. I’ve been scared a lot in the past. But this one is different somehow. I don’t think I can beat them.”
She reached out and touched his cheek. She spoke softly, “Eventually, those brothers will get caught or turn themselves in. And who knows-maybe those women are up there on their own accord. Not all women have brains in their heads, Joe. Some are actually attracted by men like that, which sickens me. But for once, why not let the system work? You don’t need to be
the one driving it this time.”
She said, “For God’s sake, they aren’t even in your district anymore. You’ve been reassigned, so they’re someone else’s problem now. We both know the governor wants you to stay out of it. And the sheriff down there probably never wants to see you again. If you went after them, it would be purely personal, and that’s not good.”
“Still,” he said.
“Look,” she said, propping herself up on an elbow. His arm that had been draped over her fell away from her movement. “You’ve been gone a long time. You see the situation here. April is like a stick of dynamite walking around in a room filled with candles. She’s just going to go off if we aren’t there to help and guide her. Sheridan’s got a year left before she goes to college, Joe. To college! She’s in a situation right now where she goes to practice every night and that hysterical coach of hers mistreats her because she won’t suck up to him. She doesn’t say much about it. She’s miserable-but she won’t quit. Who does that remind you of?”
Joe grunted.
She said, “I don’t sleep well when any of my children are unhappy, even if I can’t do anything about it. And there’s Lucy. I don’t want her to think she’s been forgotten amidst all this drama.”
He reached out and stroked her naked shoulder.
“I’ve never asked this before,” she said, “But I’m asking now: promise me you won’t go after them.”
Joe sighed and rubbed his eyes hard.
“I know it’s against your nature,” she said. “I know you think your advantage is your inability to simply let things go. But something happened up there. They got into your head and under your skin and they stole a part of you. You can’t get it back, Joe. You’ve just got to heal. And you’ve got to be home to heal. Where I need you right now. I need some help here, Joe.”
He said, “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Okay,” he said. “I promise.”
He was shocked how relieved he was when he said it, how a tremendous downward pressure on him seemed to release and dissipate. He felt lighter and slightly ashamed of himself.
The truth was, he needed her permission not to go after the Grim Brothers. Because from what he’d experienced, they’d likely beat him again. And this time, he doubted they’d let the job go unfinished.