Bennett remained by his car as Jake and Bear crossed the clearing and got back in the truck. Bear started it up and rolled back out the drive toward Poor Boy Road.
“I saw the baggie of Devil Ice you raised up,” Jake said. “Better to let him lead you to Willie than to bust him for it.”
“He’s the last lead we got. Besides, Langston would kill him like his brother if I put him in a jail cell.”
“So, are we going to follow him?”
“Nope. Stashed a GPS tracker under his seat. He went to the trailer for a reason. My guess is he’s picking up something for Willie. He’ll mill around town for a bit to make sure we’re not following him, but he’ll find Willie eventually.”
“You’re smarter than you look, you know?”
Bear grinned. “Don’t tell anyone.”
#
At high noon, Willie knocked on the door to Halle’s room, still unsure what to tell her. He waited for an answer that didn’t come and went in. Halle lay on the bed, facing away from the door. She looked so helpless. He could just crawl into bed with her and hold her, stroke that beautiful head and tell her everything would be okay. Then, she turned to look at him, and the fear in her eyes blew the fantasy away.
“We got a problem, Halle,” he said.
“He’s not going to let me leave, is he?”
Willie wanted to wipe away her pain. Just grab her hand and run like the wind, take her to safety, be her hero. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry you’re caught up in this.”
“But you said you have a plan. You said you were going to get me out of this.”
“I was gonna take you with me, but Shane said that ain’t going to happen. God help me, I’m supposed to kill you.”
Halle pushed away and rammed into the backboard of the bed. She braced herself with her muscular legs and held out a long, rusty nail between her fingers. Willie jumped back.
“Where’d you get that?”
“Never mind where,” she said, voice wavering. “You get the hell away from me or I swear…I’ll gouge your eyes out.”
Willie held out his hands, eyes darting to the door. “Halle, please…”
“You let me go!” she screamed, tears rolling down her cheeks. “You let me go.”
Willie’s heart pounded; his stomach rolled and shoulders tensed. All the wrong turns he’d made, his stupid, wasteful life in pursuit of money, dealing poison to his friends and neighbors, cutting the legs off his future before he’d even given them a chance to take him anywhere. He traveled down a dead-end road to nowhere. The last twelve hours proved he’d rather be homeless than make another dime through Shane. He’d rather die than let anything happen to this innocent girl he loved.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Halle,” he said in a low voice. “I’m going to find a way to get you out of here, but you have to trust me.” He reached for the nail shaking in her clenched hands, her breathing heavy and desperate. He slowly moved his hand forward, maintaining reassuring eye contact to show her he cared. It worked. She handed it over.
“Why in the hell should I trust you?” she whispered.
“Because he wants you dead by nightfall and I’m the only one who can save you.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Seconds after they pulled back on to Poor Boy, Jake’s cell buzzed. Janey.
“Hey,” he answered. “You still at Hospice?”
Janey’s breath hitched over the phone. “It’s time, Jake. I need you here.”
“You sure? Thought we had a day.”
“Doctor said he’s almost gone,” she said. She went through a bout of sniffles and sobs. “I can’t do this by myself. Can you come?”
“I’m on my way,” he said. “Hang in there.” He pressed the cell to his mouth.
“It’s time, huh?” Bear said as they rolled past Turkey Creek Cemetery. Jake looked back, catching a glimpse of his mother and brother’s tombstones. Wouldn’t be long until Stony would be lying next to them.
“What are the odds we’d be driving by there when I get the call?” Jake turned to Bear, shaking his head. Bear glanced over, but said nothing. “Can you take me to my truck? It’s parked at Maggie’s. I’ll hook up with you as soon as I can.”
“No problem. I’ll keep an eye on Bennett and buzz you if he makes a move. I think we may have a couple hours until he tries to get to Willie. He’ll be too worried I’m tailing him.”
Bear parked under the large oak out front of Maggie's. Maggie emerged from the front door to greet him with a hug and an expectant stare.
“Anything?” she asked.
“Nothing on Halle. Janey called. Stony’s close to going out and I’m heading up there.”
“You want me to go with you? I’m going to go crazy if I sit in this house doing nothing.”
“You sure?”
“I keep wandering the halls, staring at pictures, looking through her closet, wondering if I’m ever going to see her again. I have to get out of here. Let me come with you, okay?”
Jake nodded. “Yeah, I’d like that a lot, Mags.”
A minute later they sped toward Sedalia, leaving Bear behind to track Bennett.
Thirty minutes later, Jake pushed through the double doors of Hospice House with Maggie at his side, the drone of the early afternoon trucks rolling along Highway 65 replaced with piped-in soothing music. He stopped, his skin crawling the closer they got to the room.
“You don’t need to be here,” he said. “Hell, I shouldn’t be here. We should be out there looking for Halle.”
Maggie put her cool hand in his and pulled him toward Stony’s room. “Bear’s on the case. He’ll call you if something breaks. Come on.”
Seconds later, they stood at Stony’s room. Jake reached for the handle, but left his hand hanging in mid-air. Did he really have to do this?
Maggie put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m right here. You need to do this.”
He opened the door. Janey sat in a chair facing the bed, holding Stony’s fingers in one hand and a wadded up tissue in the other. She looked up when Jake entered, Maggie stopping at the door.
“I think this is it,” Janey said, getting up. She wrapped Jake with her scrawny arms, heaved a few sobs and pulled back. She tried to wipe her tears from Jake’s shirt. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Jake said. “What did the doc say?”
Janey moved to the foot of the bed. “Not much. That it wouldn’t be long now.”
“Stony say anything?”
“No. He’s pretty drugged up. They’re just trying to make sure he’s comfortable at this point.”
They spent the next couple of hours waiting, a few snippets of awkward conversation mixed in, but mostly silence. They munched on sandwiches brought in by volunteers, while nurses slinked in and out to check Stony’s vitals. Jake checked in with Bear periodically, but Bennett hadn’t made a move. Jumbled emotions pounded him. A thousand memories spinning around in a whirlwind. When he had a bead on them, he spoke.
“Can you give me a minute alone with him?”
Janey nodded, gave Maggie a quick hug and stepped outside.
“I’ll be outside with Janey if you need me,” Maggie said.
“No, stay. Please,” Jake said. He needed her there.
Jake lowered himself in the chair stationed by the bed. Stony’s cheeks were drawn, like he sucked them in. His mouth hung open and drew in labored gasps under closed, puffy eyes. Maggie rested her hands on Jake’s shoulders. How should he begin? The words caught in his throat. He took a deep breath.
“I don’t know what to say to you, Stony,” Jake said at last. “I haven’t said more than a handful of words to you in sixteen years. I sit here and look at you and all I feel is the fucking pain you’ve caused.”
Maggie’s hands tightened on his shoulders. Then she stroked his head and neck. The coolness of her soothing touch helped fight the anger like water on fire. Stony’s ring hummed from Jake’s front pocket.
“I haven’t been a good pe
rson,” he continued. “I’ve…hurt people using the tricks I learned from you. I sometimes lay awake at night and try to think back…try to figure out what I did to make you hate me so much. I’ve been running from your ghost for years even though you’re not dead yet. I’ve been running from myself because of the man I was turning into. And I’m tired of running. I’m tired of hating you. I want to forgive you, but I don’t know if I can.”
Stony’s eyes scrunched as if a wave of pain swept through his frail body. After a moment, dirty brown eyes creeped open and fixed on the popcorn ceiling before sweeping to Jake’s face.
“Nicky,” Stony whispered. “Oh my God, Nicky. It’s you.”
Stony’s hand trembled upward from the bed, searching. Jake sat still as a stone until Maggie knelt by the chair, took Jake’s hand and placed it in his father’s outstretched palm. The old man’s weak fingers closed around it.
“Nicky,” Stony repeated. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay, Pop,” Jake said. “It’s almost over.”
“Tell Jake…tell Jake I’m sorry. I’m so damn sorry for what I did. So sorry.”
Stony’s voice trailed away and his eyes closed again. His breath hitched once, twice, and stopped. Jake waited for his chest to rise again, but it never did. A single tear rolled from the corner of Stony’s eye and dropped on the white pillow. He was gone—now nothing but a shell. Tell Jake I’m sorry. Jake always wondered if Stony remembered what he did, if he even regretted it. Now Jake knew, but did the deathbed confession change anything? He pulled his hand back and stood. Maggie enveloped him in her arms.
“I’m sorry,” she said. Jake kissed her forehead and opened the door. Janey leaned against the window in the hall, eyes cast wide like a miracle recovery was even a possibility. The somber expression on his face killed the idea and she began to cry. She'd wanted nothing more than to be there when Stony died and Jake robbed her of that. But he couldn’t take on any more guilt. Instead, he hugged her tight.
“It’s over, Janey,” he said. She sobbed into his chest for a moment and pulled back. She reached up and stroked his stubbled cheek then went back into the room. Maggie hugged her and Jake’s cell phone vibrated.
“How’s Stony?” Bear asked.
“He’s gone.”
“Damn, Jake. I’m sorry. You okay?”
“I don’t know,” Jake said. “I suppose so.”
“Look, I know my timing sucks, but Bennett is going to be on the move soon. He’s been cooling his heels at the Turn It Loose for the last couple hours, but he’s going to be hooking up with Willie soon and I know that little fucker has Halle. This might be our last shot.”
“Who else is joining the cavalry?”
“Just you and me, partner. Somebody got the shank inside that killed Howie. Somebody has been feeding info to Langston. I don’t know who I can trust in my department.”
“Where do you want to meet?”
“Call me when you get close. We’ll see where that little bastard is by then.”
Jake hung up. Maggie waited in the hall.
“Bear?” she asked. “What did he say?”
“We might have a lead on Halle, but I gotta get back to Warsaw. I’ll explain on the way.”
He started walking then stopped. He should go back in the room and tell Janey he was leaving. But he didn’t have time to explain everything. Instead, he grabbed Maggie, and they strode through Hospice House and into the late afternoon heat. As they headed south on Highway 65, the sun began its descent in the west and Jake had a sinking feeling their time ran short.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Jake drove on to Maggie’s drive and found Bear waiting for him. On the way, Maggie took the news about Willie, Shane and the death of Howie Skaggs better than he expected, considering known drug dealers and murderers had their daughter. Maybe the fact that Jake and Bear had a lead through Bennett helped her maintain her composure.
“Let’s take your truck,” Bear said. “They’ll spot mine a mile away.”
Bear slung a rifle case in the back along with a large, blue duffel bag. He hoisted his large frame into the passenger seat while Jake said goodbye to Maggie. He cupped her face in his hands, bending down so their foreheads touched.
She rose on her toes to kiss him. “Find her. Find her and bring her home.”
Jake climbed into the truck and peered over Bear’s shoulder, studying his partner’s smartphone. A map of the area displayed on the screen along with a blue dot moving along the marked red line of the road in jerky spurts.
“How much does one of those GPS trackers cost?” Jake asked.
“Couple hundred bucks for a good one. Software is free. I can run it on my laptop or on my phone.”
“Got many of them deployed amongst your shithead clientele?”
“A few.” Bear grinned. “But it ain’t exactly what you’d call legal. But, I’m fightin’ a war down here, and all’s fair in love and war.” He pointed to the dot on the screen. “Bennett left the Turn It Loose. He’s headed this way.”
They rolled down the driveway and stopped fifty feet back from Poor Boy Road. As Bear continued tracking the smartphone, Jake reached under the seat and pulled out the Glock. Bear raised his bushy eyebrows, but said nothing. Some serious shit could erupt before the night was through and he needed to come clean with Bear. He checked his loaded gun and set it on the seat.
“A few things you probably oughtta know,” Jake said. “Keats put me on a contract to take down Shane Langston.”
Bear’s neck should have snapped given the speed he whipped his head around. “What?”
“Yeah, I told him I wanted out of the life. He knew I was coming here to see to the end of Stony and he came up with this brilliant idea to have me take out a potential rival. Shane’s angling to step into the trade in Kansas City. Keats doesn’t want that to happen.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”
“Because you’re a cop for one, and I didn’t think you’d take well to my mission of killing the drug lord you’ve been looking to take down for the last several years. And two…I don’t think I can do it. I may be a miserable leg breaker, but I’m not a murderer.”
Bennett’s Mazda sped past them along Poor Boy Road. Bear watched the smartphone for a few seconds before waving his hand forward for Jake to follow. Jake let off the brake.
“Stay back out of his rearview mirror,” he said. “Damn, Jake. You can’t whack this guy.”
“I know. Taking Shane out is the only way Keats is going to let me go. Said if I don’t, I’m the one who’s going down for the dirt nap.”
“How long did he give you?”
Jake checked the clock on the dash. “I’ve gotta call him in about four hours or he sends in a band of his merry goons.”
“That ain’t good.”
Jake followed Bennett’s car through the rises and falls of Poor Boy Road, past the Turkey Creek Cemetery. At Highway M, Bennett swerved north and Jake trailed behind, catching glimpses of his dusty tail lights.
“But I had another idea,” Jake said. “Maybe I don’t have to kill him. Maybe I have to help you take him out. Whether he’s six feet under or in prison, it counts the same.”
“That’s true,” Bear said. “I like the idea a hell of a lot better than trying to clear you of a murder rap. I wouldn’t cry any tears over Langston eating a bullet, but I’d rather see the shitbird rot in jail for a while.”
“Second thing, I’m the one who made the anonymous call about the warehouse.” Might as well come clean.
Bear blew out. “And how did that come about?”
Jake told him about tracking Langston through the car dealership which gave him the address of the warehouse and the call to his hacker friend which tied it to Langston.
“Marion Holdings?” Bear said. “We heard whispers of that but could never track down anything definitive. Not sure how the hell you got what we couldn’t with one phone call.”
“It’s all abou
t knowing the right people.”
“I was kidding before about hiring you. Maybe I should reconsider. You’re Sherlock Holmes.”
Open farm land on either side gave way to large clumps of towering trees as they neared the water. The road bent to the east and single family homes popped up. Bear kept his eye on the tracker.
“Stop,” Bear said.
Jake hit the brakes past a gray farmhouse. A pit bull the size of a small horse eyed them suspiciously. The dog’s ripped muscles tensed and he looked like he could snap the rope tying him to a nearby tree.
“What’s Bennett doing?” Jake asked.
“Beats me. Stopped a hundred yards ahead. You’ve been a busy beaver, my friend. You got any other giant atom bombs you need to drop?”
“Yeah. Halle’s my daughter.”
Bear’s jaw hung open. “Are you shittin’ me?”
“Nope. Maggie told me last night.”
“How in the hell did that happen?”
Jake narrowed his eyes. “You really need to have the birds and the bees talk? I know you aren’t the sharpest crayon in the box, Bear, but I shouldn’t have to explain it to you. Guess our last night together before I bailed town did the trick.”
“Well, I’ll be damned. I guess it makes sense, though.”
“How so?”
“Kid’s stubborn as a mule. If that ain’t you, I don’t know what is. Good thing she got her mother’s looks.”
Jake grinned, but the spinning calendar of all the time he’d missed forced the smile to fade. “I wish I’d known. I’d have been there for her.”
“Let’s get her out of this mess and you can do that.” Bear pulled up his smartphone again. Bennett was on the move. He motioned for Jake to move forward.
Jake glanced to a paved drive twenty yards from the pavement marked by a fence post with a blue ribbon. A large security gate with a stand-alone keypad box in front closed in an arc, blocking the path. A man climbed back inside a black SUV hidden away behind a tree on the opposite side of the gate.
Poor Boy Road (Jake Caldwell #1) Page 20