Bloody Ties (Serenity's Plain Secrets Book 8)

by Karen Ann Hopkins

Ma swiveled on her seat. “Leave Serenity out of this, Moses,” Ma quietly demanded. It was the same tone that would have had me running out the door when I was a kid.

  Father snorted, refusing to look at her. I took the opportunity to attempt to talk to him.

  “Why are you taking this so personally? Joshua is a good man. He’s providing a service that the community needs.”

  “He’s gone English to be with that curly-haired trollop!”

  Ma stood up and gazed down at Father. “I will not listen to you talk such talk.” She pointed her finger at him. “You’d better spend this evening praying for forgiveness for your ill temper. Since I won’t be speaking to you, you’ll have more than enough time.”

  With her chin held high, Ma marched across the porch and into the house. The screen door slammed behind her.

  I was about to leave when Father spoke up again. “Maybe my words were too harsh. Joshua was supposed to become a minister and he has a fine family.” He toyed with the end of his beard, looking past me at Christina, who was now off the pony and leading him up to the stable. “Just like with you, an English woman ruined everything.”

  I slumped back against the railing. So the truth finally came out. I didn’t have a chance to respond when he began talking again.

  “I’m none too happy with my oldest grandchild. Sarah is impulsive and pigheaded. She reminds me of you as a teenager, and I worry that she might leave us too.” He abruptly stood, joining me at the railing. “Have you heard that she’s had a falling out with Matthew Troyer? Strange business there. Your sister is being secretive, but eventually it will all come out.”

  I inhaled deeply. Poor Rebecca. She was on the receiving end of Father’s foul temper as well. I thought quickly about what I should or shouldn’t say. “It’s never easy raising teenagers. You know that better than most. Rebecca is doing a good job. If she needs assistance, she’ll speak with Ma. Best you stay out of it.” Father grunted and I ignored him, looking straight ahead and plowing on. “As far as Joshua goes, he’s fallen in love with a lovely woman, who just happens to be one of my wife’s closest friends. There’s going to be a wedding soon enough, and then you won’t have anything more to complain about. Some things you can’t control.”

  “There’s nothing but trouble whenever one of us goes English and then returns. The same as my nephew. Zeke comes back and runs his pickup truck right over Lester and Mary Ester. They’re lucky to be alive. And I don’t appreciate him coming to my home, pestering me about things I know and care nothing about.”

  The last part instantly made me turn my head. “Zeke was here to see you?”

  “Yes, and it’s one issue of late that both Aaron and I agree on. Zeke might be my own flesh and blood, but that boy makes me uncomfortable. If it wasn’t for my brother, God rest his soul, I wouldn’t have opened my door for him.”

  “What did he want?” I realized I held my breath.

  “Mostly asking a lot of nosey questions about CJ West and her relationship with an officer on the police force.”

  “Did you tell him anything?”

  “I know very little about that woman, and nothing about her former boyfriend. Seems to me, Joshua would be interested, but your mother told me that their love affair was none of my concern.”

  I swallowed, trying to figure out why Zeke would be interested in CJ or Ryan. “Don’t you think it’s strange for Zeke to ask you about those particular Englishers?”

  “Why sure. That’s what I told him, and then I ended the conversation.”

  “I don’t understand why Zeke would bother you with such nonsense?” I said in a distracted sort of way.

  Father answered me quickly. “Somehow, he must have figured out that I was against Joshua remaining in the community after he went English. Because Aaron and I disagree on the matter, perhaps he thought I might be willing to share some information that he wanted. It’s a mystery to me.”

  “I have to talk to Serenity about this.” I stopped at the bottom of the steps and looked back at my father. “If Zeke comes around again, don’t let him in, and call me. There’s something going on with him, and I don’t believe he has a sound mind at the moment.”

  “No worries there. He left a couple of days ago. And I say good riddance.”

  If only Father was right. Something told me Zeke wasn’t too far away.

  24

  Serenity

  Standing with hands on my hips, I stared at the burnt field. It had taken a couple of days to gather the resources to come back up the gravel road to the Ogden property, and obviously, that was too long.

  “Dammit,” I muttered under my breath.

  “Are you sure it was poppies?” Ryan peeked around me at Jerome with a smirk on his face. “Certain wildflowers can look similar.”

  “Enough, Ryan,” I leveled a hard look at him and he dropped his gaze to the crisp dirt at his feet. “Daniel saw it as well. As much as I hate to think about it, my husband used to hang around with the Ogdens and that’s why he knew his way around these woods. He also confirmed that it was indeed a field of poppies.”

  Toby left our little group and walked out into the still smoldering ground. “Mr. Ogden must have known that Daniel and Jerome saw the field. He burnt his own crop, knowing we’d come back up here with an army.”

  I rubbed my forehead as I gazed around the clearing. Law officials from three counties and two agencies had readily accompanied us to issue the arrest warrant for the entire Ogden clan. For too long the family had gotten away with all kinds of illegal enterprises, and even suspected murder. The chance to finally slap handcuffs on the family’s patriarch was something no one wanted to miss out on. I had my own personal reasons for taking Ethan Ogden in. I hadn’t gone so far as to press charges for the attempted kidnapping of a sheriff and US Marshal, or shooting at my civilian husband. The list was a mile long of charges I could present to a judge. I also knew that a good lawyer would have gotten doable bail for Ethan and he would have been out within a week. If the charges stuck, none of them would keep him or any of his people locked up long enough to be worth it. A field full of poppies and heroin production was altogether different. Now that would have kept Ethan behind bars for a while.

  “We might still find some plants out there that didn’t burn,” Todd offered.

  Bobby chuckled at Todd’s optimism. “Looks like they were pretty thorough. We’ve scoured the area all morning, and so far, not so much as a red petal has been discovered.” He was still breathing hard from the walk up to the hidden hollow. I’d told him not to come, but he’d insisted. “It’s a shame, really. To come so close to nabbing the infamous Ethan Ogden, just to miss our shot.”

  I cocked my head and studied the coroner. “Sounds personal,” I commented.

  “It is. Back in the early eighties, Ethan Ogden was a younger man, but he was still making money the illegal way. My wife’s sister, Bea, overdosed on crack cocaine that she bought from non-other than Ogden. I’ve seen law officers, both good and bad, try to nail the Ogdens on one thing or another, and he always slipped through their fingers.”

  “They were probably in on it,” Ryan said. When all our eyes rested on him, he dragged his boot across the charred earth. “I mean, that’s how it works in Indy. Some law officers, even the higher ups, are skimming off the top of criminal activity. It’s not in their best interest to make arrests, so they conveniently bring weak cases against the people that they should be trying to put away for life. I’ve seen department heads look the other way because it benefited them personally to do so.”

  “That’s discouraging,” Jerome said.

  My gaze swept over to my newest recruit. He stood a few feet away from Todd, looking relaxed and thoughtful. He had an air of authority and experience that had caught my attention from day one. His handling of the rescue mission with Daniel was as professional as could be, under the circumstances
. I really didn’t know what to make of the young officer.

  My gaze fell on Todd, who was still scratching his buzzed head as he looked around. “Gather everyone up. We have nothing here.” I gestured for Ryan and Jerome to join him.

  After the three men had left, I gazed across the field at where the entire Ogden clan was gathered. The size of the group had grown since the menacing encounter the last time I came on their lands. Old people and a slew of children mixed right in with the scruffy men and fierce looking women. They had made no move to come closer, and I’m sure if I pulled out the binoculars, I’d see Ethan smirking at me.

  Toby returned to my side and Bobby stepped closer. “Anything new on our two latest victims?”

  Toby pushed his cowboy hat back a little, showing more of his tanned face. “I was going to tell you earlier, but it was a bit chaotic on our way up here.”

  I smiled weakly. Arranging for two dozen officers to hike through the woods, guided by Jerome’s vague memories had been a little rough. We’d got turned around several times, probably walked a couple of hilly miles more than we needed to, before we discovered the burnt field. And all the time, we were being watched by the Ogdens, as they dodged in an out of the trees and peeked out from the other side of boulders. It had been a tiring and unnerving march, to say the least.

  “Go on,” I urged.

  “As we thought, the men are teniente or lieutenants of a Mexican Cartel. Which one, we don’t know yet, but the Mexican driver’s license found on the one man indicates they might be from the Sinaloa Cartel, which is one of the most active cartels in Mexico.”

  I dropped my head back. “Well, we have an MS-13 member, that I’d bet money was offed by one of the Ogdens, an Italian mobster, and two Mexican cartel soldiers, all found shot in the head in Blood Rock.” I looked between Bobby and Toby. “What the hell is going on?”

  Bobby blew out a breath and pushed his spectacles up. “Sometimes the answer to the most difficult question is right under your nose.”

  “No more riddles. I got enough of them from Ethan Ogden.” I crossed my arms across my chest and stared at the older man. “If you have any clever ideas, now is the time to share.”

  “It’s a puzzle that I haven’t put together yet. For all the mayhem, there are patterns that are comforting. For instance, I have no doubt all the men are tied in some way. They are bad actors and I’d say they came here to do someone harm. That person got the better of them—all of them—indicating that whoever it is, is not only good with a gun, he’s very capable of staying one step ahead of his enemies.”

  “Is it over drugs, guns, trafficking? Why would people from three dangerous groups be looking for the same person?” I asked no one in particular.

  Toby spoke up. “Nowadays, these gangs are intertwined in many ways. They do business and network with each other. Often, the alliances are thin and based on mutual profit. Either our shooter did something to anger a lot of people or he took something from them.”

  “And we’re sure there’s only one shooter?” This time I focused on Bobby.

  “That’s my opinion. Forensics say the shots fired at Regio and the Cartel members were likely fired from the same weapon. Rivas was definitely taken down by a shotgun. I suppose one could argue that the two killers are working together, but since we’re fairly certain the Ogdens shot Rivas, it’s doubtful. The hill people are not team players.”

  “All we have are assumptions and the strange ramblings from the Ogden leader. None of that would hold up in court,” I admitted.

  The corner of Toby’s mouth rose. “And the Ogdens know it. It appears they’re aware of who the other killer is, even if they aren’t on the same side. It felt like Ethan tried to arrange a deal with you, Serenity, but there’s no way you could make promises to a killer.”

  “Naw. The only way that scenario would work is if we never came up with concrete evidence against any of the Ogdens. That’s the way it’s played out in the past, but like Ryan mentioned, unscrupulous law enforcement may have been protecting them all along. I know firsthand of a corrupt former Blood Rock Sheriff. My mind swept back to laying on the dirt floor in a dark barn with Tony Manning standing over me. I shivered and then closed my eyes. He had an arrangement with the Amish. Who’s to say he didn’t have one with the Ogdens back in the day too?

  “I hate to say it, but maybe we should call in the feds. We need help on this one,” I said.

  “The feds are already here—at least one of them.” Toby smiled at me, enjoying the shock I was sure was on my face.

  “Who?” I breathed, guessing the answer in advance.

  Toby licked his lips and glanced around. When he seemed comfortable that we wouldn’t be overheard, he leaned in and lowered his voice even more. “A year ago, I worked a case that took me into Phoenix. I got my guy and was finishing up the paperwork at the local precinct when the FBI arrived. There were two senior officers and one newbie in training. I only talked to the woman, and I’m not even sure if the other senior agent or the newbie noticed me—I’m suspecting they didn’t.” His smile deepened. “But I never forget a face.”

  “Jerome Wilson,” I whispered. Bobby heard me, but that didn’t matter. Other than the marshal, he and Todd were the only law officers I completely trusted.

  Toby slowly nodded.

  Bobby had a coughing fit. When he was able to talk, he mumbled, “I had no clue.” His gaze settled on me. “Why did you suspect him?”

  I took a deep breath. “I’ve worked with at least two dozen new recruits, and Jerome didn’t fit the mold. He was way too polished and steady, even though at times, I could tell he tried to look less sophisticated. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but he made me a little uneasy.”

  “I thought if you knew for sure who Agent Wilson was, you’d have mentioned it me. Since the feds didn’t give you the heads up, it means they don’t trust you with the information, Sheriff,” Toby said casually, while still using a quiet voice.

  Before Toby had brought it up, my mind had gone there. “So, the feds probably know who our killer is and they’re keeping it to themselves for some reason.”

  Bobby interjected. “Not necessarily. Wilson was sent here in advance to infiltrate the Blood Rock police department. He knows something, but not everything. If he did, he’d make an arrest.” He tilted his head. “How did you end up hiring him?”

  “Dumb luck, I guess. Wilson was the most qualified applicant—” I paused, shaking my head. “How could I be so stupid? I was originally given the go ahead to hire one recruit, but within a few days of Ryan coming on board, I got word from the state office that our budget had been increased and that we had to hire a second recruit as soon as possible or we might lose the funding to another county.”

  “Politics at work, right there,” Toby said.

  The corner of my forehead began to throb and a wave of exhaustion made me feel dizzy. I hadn’t gotten more than a few hours of sleep each night in over a week. My gaze found Jerome.

  I had an undercover agent in the department. Should I keep playing his game for a while longer, or do I confront him?

  Something told me to stay silent for now. Things were coming to a head real soon.

  25

  Daniel

  I shielded my eyes from the sun as I directed the truck pulling the trailer into the correct parking spot. The trailer was loaded high with lumber to begin building the buggy shop for Joshua and CJ. It was a mundane thing to do, but I was grateful for the simple task. Anything to get my mind off what was going on in Blood Rock was welcomed.

  “Go ahead and unload here, Jerry—thank you!” I shouted over to the driver. My work crew were just climbing out of their trucks, their hands full of coffee cups and brown paper bags with take-out breakfast from Nancy’s. It was just a little extra benefit of working for my construction company, and one of the reasons I didn’t lose many employees.<
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  Joshua’s little girls ran by me, holding kittens in their arms and giggling all the way to their house. I stopped and stared at them.

  “You and Serenity had better get busy.” Joshua stepped up behind me. I turned around to find him grinning broadly.

  “What—on children?” I didn’t know what to say.

  A look of disbelief passed over Joshua’s face. “Surely you want some of your own?”

  I sighed, shifting my gaze to the cows in the field. They munched happily on the grass, not paying any attention to my men’s loud conversations near the fence line. Farming was a good way of life.

  “I’ll be lucky to talk Serenity into having a little one.” I snorted, shaking my head at the thought. “Honestly, here lately, I’m wondering if it’s even a good idea.” When I glanced back at Joshua, his brow was furrowed. He listened closely to me. “My wife’s job keeps her busy, and it’s a dangerous profession. Just the other day, she faced another near-death moment, and I’m beginning to think having a child would be a mistake.”

  Joshua stood silently next to me for a long moment, then he cleared his throat. “Most people don’t know this, but when my wife died, we were having problems. Now that I’m with CJ, I realize that Miranda and I had very little in common, and there wasn’t much happiness in our marriage. But our union produced my three children, and I understand why the Lord joined Miranda and me for a short time—to bring John, Nora, and Sylvia into the world.” He hesitated, running his hand through his beard. “I don’t want to overstep our new friendship, but I’d like to offer a word of advice.” I nodded for him to continue. “A child is a blessing from God. Even if the sheriff doesn’t have very much time or something terrible happens to her someday, you’ll be there for the child, and I’m sure your family will be too. Don’t over think it. If it’s God’s will, it will come about. I’ve learned the best things in life aren’t planned.”