by Jeff Carson
When no return call from Cheryl came, he went back inside. The automatic doors slid open and a warm blast of hospital-scented air hit him.
“Any luck?” Scotty unfolded his arms and stood at attention.
“No. Not yet.”
“Huh. Wonder what she’s doing? Must be sleeping,” Scotty said.
Wolf nodded.
Jesse’s lips smacked but his hair held still.
“Sleeping,” Scotty said.
“Thanks for watching him.”
“Sure. No problem. Just let me know if you need me again. I’m going to make the rounds, you can—”
Wolf held up a finger, because his cell phone was vibrating in his pocket. He pulled it out and read the name—Cheryl Burton.
“It’s her,” he said. “Do you mind watching him a little longer?”
A hint of disappointment flashed across Scotty’s eyes, but he smiled and nodded. “Yeah, sure. No problem.”
Wolf put the phone to his ear and headed back outside. Strange that relief flooded him, given the conversation he was about to have, but he didn’t have a good history with hospitals.
“Hey, Cheryl.”
“Hey.” She cleared her throat, sounding like she’d just woken up. “What’s going on? Hal’s in the hospital?”
“Yes.”
She spoke to somebody in the room with her. “He’s in the hospital…I don’t know…okay…sorry, you there?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s wrong with him?”
“Doctor says he was dangerously anemic—not enough oxygen in his blood. Said he had high blood pressure…and some other things. They’re doing tests right now. I haven’t gotten the latest update.”
“They’ll just say the same things they always say. And he has pills for all that. Let me guess, he wasn’t taking them and he was drunk as a skunk.”
“Something like that.”
“Why were you guys out hiking around?”
Wolf let silence take over for a bit. “Where are you, Cheryl?”
“At my sister’s.”
“Ohio?”
“Yes.”
“Visiting?”
“Living. Been here for three months.”
“How did I not know about that? You go to the bathroom in Rocky Points, people know about it.”
She didn’t answer. Burton could be a good hermit, and he was the best poker player Wolf had ever known. That probably had a lot to do with it.
“What’s happening between you two?” Wolf asked, aware he was no therapist and had probably just overstepped his bounds.
“His drinking. His lifestyle. Everything. I told him I wasn’t going to sit there and watch him kill himself, and I meant it. So I left. Period.”
Wolf watched the steady rain and the webs of lightning crawling across the sky. He remembered his open hand connecting with Jack’s face over a year ago. He still felt the sting in his palm, and the shame that followed.
“I understand.”
“I know you do, Dave. I told him to talk to you. Everyone saw how you turned yourself around, and I wanted him to do the same. You know? He needed to cut it out. One drink became half the bottle. The he started never even coming to bed at night. I’d wake up and find him passed out on the couch, the TV still on. I told him to talk to you.”
Wolf closed his eyes and rubbed a hand over the closely shorn hair under his ball cap. He’d become the Rocky Points poster boy for sobriety, although he had no desire to fulfill the role. Something about the public collapse on the mountain coupled with the decision to quit drinking made a good story, if not in the newspapers, then in coffee shop lines around town.
“—told him never again. So, here I am.”
Wolf snapped back to the conversation. “I understand.”
She sobbed and sniffed. Blew her nose. “I guess I’ll head back. What are they going to do with him?”
He thought of the state of the house they’d left. For his friend passed out in the hospital bed, and for her sanity, he wanted to get back to Rocky Points and clean the place before she saw it. But what was the point? The truth was the truth. To mask it would only do more damage.
“I’ll bring him up to Rocky Points tomorrow,” he said. “Whenever they get him out.”
“What were you guys doing out hiking?”
He considered his answer. “I’ll let him explain that later.”
“Sounds cryptic.”
“We were helping out your nephew, Jesse.”
“Jesse?” She all but grunted the word. “Helping? What happened to him?”
“I’ll have to let Hal explain.”
“Was it something terrible? What did he do?”
Wolf narrowed his eyes. “What makes you think he did something terrible?”
“I don’t know. The kid’s one of those survivalist-militia-types. Has a YouTube channel that will make your blood curdle. I made the mistake of watching one of the videos he posted on Facebook once. And then there’s the incident back in middle school.”
“What incident back in middle school?”
“He tried to stab a teacher for giving him detention.”
Wolf turned to the glass and looked at Jesse again. The kid was staring up at Scotty’s moving lips with glazed-over eyes.
“Hal said he was troubled growing up. That definitely sounds a bit more than troubled.”
She snorted. “He was messed up.”
“Did he use a knife?” Wolf asked.
“I’m not sure. I think it was something from the classroom.”
Wolf contemplated the difference between bringing a knife to school and using it on a teacher versus picking up a sharp pencil in a fit of rage. “Hal said he used to go camping or something with him.”
“Yeah,” she said. “He did.”
“But then he stopped?”
“That’s right.”
“I’m getting the sense Hal is beating himself up for not being there.”
“Jesse was too much for him to take on.” She sighed. “For us to take on. Hal’s always beaten himself up about that kid. My goodness. No wonder he’s in the hospital. What did Jesse do?”
“He’s in some trouble in Ridgway.”
“Did he hurt somebody?”
“Maybe. We don’t know.”
The cellular connection hissed. Her phone made a scratching sound.
“I’ll pack up now and drive back. Dave, thank you. Thank you so much. I’m glad he’s with you right now.”
“Yeah. No problem. I’ll stick with him until we see you back in Rocky Points. And relax, please. He’s in good hands now. Don’t drive tonight. Get some rest and leave in the morning.”
“Rest. Yeah, right.”
“I’ll keep you posted.”
They said their goodbyes and he pocketed the phone. When he turned back to the window both Jesse and Scotty were looking at him.
He went back inside, and Scotty met him halfway. “Everything okay?”
Wolf nodded. “Thanks, Scotty. I appreciate the help.”
“No sweat. You let me know if you need anything more.” He left without giving any contact info should the need arise, but Wolf figured the man had done enough.
Wolf sat down, feeling relief in his lower back as the plastic chair squeaked under his weight.
“Thought that guy would never leave,” Jesse said under his breath.
Wolf watched Scotty get a cup of coffee from a vending machine and disappear through a set of double doors.
He stood, went to the machine himself and filled a cup with the weak-looking brew. When he came back, he sat across the aisle from Jesse and studied the kid.
“How old are you?”
Jesse said nothing and looked like he was ready to keep his mouth shut for the rest of the night.
Wolf reached in his pocket and pulled out the piece of gum he’d confiscated from Jesse. “Want this?”
Jesse shook his head.
Wolf put it back in his pocket.
<
br /> “Twenty-two,” Jesse said. “I’m twenty-two.”
Wolf sipped. “So why are you running from the cops?”
Jesse locked his tired, blue eyes on Wolf’s. “I didn’t kill that guy.”
“Right. And you didn’t hurt your buddy Carl.”
“Kyle.”
“Right. Even though you got in a fight with him over you having an affair with his girlfriend. And now he just happens to be missing and there’s blood at his house.”
Wolf sipped his coffee, feeling the immediate kick of caffeine, but it was a drop in the gas tank compared to what he needed.
“I had nothing to do with whatever’s going on with Kyle.”
“Okay, fine. You didn’t. But you hear how it all sounds, right?”
Jesse stared at the floor.
“What about this other guy?” Wolf asked. “Alexander Guild.”
Jesse said nothing.
“Some rich guy up there in Ridgway?” Wolf asked. “That’s how the papers are painting it.”
Jesse shrugged, and when a tear rolled down his cheek, he squirmed in his seat, trying with all his might to wipe it away with his shoulder. Due to the handcuffs, it wasn’t working.
Wolf studied him, wondering why showing that weakness was such a punishable offense.
“It’s all right,” he said.
Jesse stood and walked to the end of the row, sat down, and pressed his head against the glass. Now that his face was hidden, Jesse let the waterworks loose. Sounds of uncontrollable sobbing echoed in the empty waiting room, wracking his shoulders.
The nurse behind the desk looked up at Wolf. He frowned slightly and walked to the nurse’s station.
“How’s it going?” the nurse asked.
“Not too bad. Could be better.” He plucked a wad of tissues from the box and walked over to Jesse.
“Don’t make me regret this. Or you will.” Wolf reached down and uncuffed Jesse, then handed him some tissues.
He sat opposite Jesse, ignoring the now-alarmed look on the nurse’s face in the corner of his eye.
Jesse sat up straight. He wiped his nose, then looked at Wolf through red-rimmed eyes. His one bad eye was brick-red.
“Thanks.”
Wolf tossed him the open handcuffs. “Put them on in front.”
Jesse obeyed, and Wolf cinched them tight when he was done.
“Did you know Alexander Guild?”
Jesse looked past him.
Just then, red and blue strobes reflected off the windows and Jesse’s blanched face, and Wolf didn’t have to turn around to know the Ouray County cavalry had arrived.
Chapter 10
“You’re Detective Wolf, I take it?” A deputy flicked his eyes between Wolf and Jesse. He wore a black jacket with a name strip that read Sobeck.
“Hi.” Wolf shook the man’s sturdy grip.
“I’m Deputy Sobeck, this is Deputy Triplett.”
Sobeck was average height and muscular. His hair, eyebrows and eyelashes were a powdery blond.
Triplett extended a large hand that gripped like a wounded squid. He was taller by a couple of inches than Wolf’s six-foot three, but looked like he still had his awkward teenage physique and hadn’t quite filled out yet.
“Jesse.” Deputy Triplett shook his head and winged out his long arms, hands on hips. “The hell you doing running, man?”
Triplett took off Wolf’s cuffs and returned them, then pulled Jesse’s hands behind his back with ample force and cuffed him using his own.
A man strode in through the front door wearing jeans and a tucked- in button-up shirt. He had gray hair cut tidily at the edges. He was short and thin, with a thick gray mustache beneath a chiseled nose and hard blue eyes.
Wolf recognized him from years ago, though Wolf had trouble placing exactly where they’d last seen each other. “Sheriff Roll.”
Sheriff Lance Roll nodded and took Wolf’s hand in an iron grip. “Detective Wolf. Been a while.”
Wolf nodded, matching the shake with equal force.
Roll kept his grip on Wolf. “Crested Butte. Rocky Mountain LEO conference.”
“Good memory.” When Wolf pulled his hand away their hands all but snapped apart.
Roll jutted a thumb over his shoulder. “Get him out of here.”
With a nod, the two deputies led Jesse out to an Ouray County Sheriff’s Department SUV parked under the awning.
“Oh, yeah,” Wolf said. “I have this.” He unzipped his inside pocket and handed over Jesse’s phone, the battery, two pieces of gum, and a wallet. “Here’s what I found on him.”
“Battery’s out of the phone,” Roll said.
“He seems concerned about tracking,” Wolf said.
“That’s Jesse Burton for you. Bastard’s untrackable. And it doesn’t help when we have other agencies hiding his whereabouts.”
Wolf ignored the comment. “I have a Kimber 1911 nine-millimeter I took off him in the back of my cruiser.”
“Lead the way. Sobeck! Bag this stuff, please.”
Wolf walked through the doors and to Deputy Sobeck’s vehicle, where Roll dropped the evidence into a plastic bag.
“Let’s go,” the sheriff said.
Wolf led Roll through the steady drizzle to the parking lot. He opened the rear door of his SUV and handed over the gun.
Roll opened another evidence bag and Wolf dropped it inside. After sealing the top and studying the weapon, Roll’s eyes slid up. “So. You care to tell me what the hell is going on here, detective?”
Wolf looked back at the hospital. Deputy Sobeck and Triplett stood near their vehicles, watching them. Jesse was already inside the car.
“I’m not following, sir,” Wolf said.
“Don’t bullshit me. I spoke with Sheriff MacLean this afternoon, he even mentioned you by name, telling me you had checked with your former sheriff Hal Burton and had learned Jesse was not there, and that Burton hadn’t heard anything.”
“That’s right.”
Roll’s eyes popped open. “So, you were lying. You knew exactly where Jesse Burton was while I had my entire department, and then some, looking for that kid.”
“Correct.”
Roll stared at him. He cupped a hand over his mouth and turned around. When he turned around, he looked at him hard. “Okay, tell me what’s going on. Tell me straight.”
“Sheriff Burton got a message from Jesse. Jesse seemed to think some people were after him—specifically, Kyle Farmer’s family. He says Jeb, or Jed, Farmer called him and threatened him.”
“Jed,” Roll said. “Did he tell you what happened to Kyle?”
Wolf shook his head. “He doesn’t seem to know. Or, at least that’s what he told us. He said he knew from Jed Farmer that something had happened to Kyle, and he knew you guys were coming after him for it.”
Roll narrowed his eyes. “All right, he texts Burton and says he’s in trouble. You guys come down to get him rather than call us.”
“We thought it best to come get him ourselves and deliver him.”
“You mean Burton thought it was best for you guys to come get him,” Roll said.
“We meant no foul play, sir. If it weren’t for Sheriff Burton’s health emergency, we would have been hand-delivering the kid to you hours ago. It wasn’t our intention to string you guys along.”
Roll lifted his chin, managing to look down his nose at Wolf despite his height. “What exactly did this message say?”
“It’s on Burton’s phone. But it was something along the lines of ‘Uncle Hal, please come help me. I’m in trouble. They think I killed that guy Alexander Guild, but I didn’t. Now this guy Kyle’s family is after me and I’m scared. Come help.’”
Roll nodded. “We’ll need that text. Just in case Jesse disabled his phone.”
“I’ll forward it to you at the earliest.”
Roll read off his phone number and Wolf put it in his phone. “And I need a full, official report from you two.”
Wolf nodded. �
��We’ll stop by on the way home. You’re still in downtown Ouray, right?”
“Yeah. But we’ve set up a headquarters in Ridgway, in the Marshal’s Office. You know it?”
“I have my cell phone. I’ll figure it out.”
“We’ll be there at eight a.m. for a status meeting, but then I have no idea where I’ll be pulled to with this case. If you’re later, there’s a receptionist who knows how to get hold of me.” Roll stared at him. “I’ve read about your exploits over the last year, Wolf.”
Wolf said nothing.
“This stunt you’ve pulled today is mighty ballsy. I could make it my business to make it bad for your career.”
“Understood, sir.”
“But I know you were most likely acting out of loyalty for Burton. And I respect that.” Roll leaned sideways and looked past him. “I’m not gonna press the issue. I have too much bullshit to wade through as it is right now.”
“I appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome.” Roll stared hard at him. “How’s he doing, anyway?”
“He seems to be stable.”
“What was it? Heart attack?”
“No, but it could have been, had we gotten here any later.”
Roll put a hand on his own chest. “I’ve had a bypass myself. Not fun.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
Roll sucked in a breath and looked into the countryside next to them. The lights of Cortez were few and far between, and a half moon had poked out from behind the breaking clouds.
The sheriff’s head turned toward him, his eyes landing on him heavily. “You stop by on the way back to Rocky Points and give me Burton’s phone, along with two official reports, or you’re in for another long year, Detective Wolf.”
The man could have walked away right there, but he stood, waiting for an answer, which Wolf put as a tick in the plus column for the man.
“You have my word,” he said.
Roll nodded, then slapped Wolf on the shoulder on the way past. “Let’s go!”
The sheriff walked fast back to the building. They climbed into their vehicles and drove away at speed, their wheels hissing behind revving engines.
Still standing in the parking lot, Wolf’s eyes rose to the upper floors of the hospital and caught the sight of Burton staring back at him from a lit window.
