The Road to Wrinkle Ranch

by Nick Russell

  “I can do them right now if you’re not in a hurry."

  John Lee wasn’t in a hurry to get home because he knew that he was going to have to talk to Paw Paw, and that was just about the last thing he wanted to do right now.

  An hour later, Kimberly said, “Okay, here you go. According to this, Alice Shaw and Roger Bentley were in or near their offices all day long, including at the time of the accident, or whatever it was."

  "Well, it was worth a shot," he said.

  "Keep in mind, John Lee, I'm just running the numbers you gave me. It doesn’t mean either one of them had their cell phones with them all day."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Just for speculation, what if Bentley or Mrs. Shaw were involved? They might have left their phones at their office. Or they might have another phone that they carry when they're out and away. It’s hard to say."

  “Which means we don't know anything about them and where they were that day, doesn’t it?"

  Kimberly shook her head and said, "Sorry. We know where their phones were, but that doesn't mean they were there, too."

  ***

  He found himself dawdling, hanging around the sheriff's office longer than was necessary, talking to a couple of deputies as they came and went about their duties, staring at the map with the pushpins, and generally doing anything he could to avoid going home. Finally, D.W. saw him and asked, "What are you up to, John Lee?"

  "Not much," he said. “Just killing time."

  "Well, go kill it someplace else,” D.W. told him. “You’re off duty. You spend enough time workin’ as it is. A man’s entitled to a little bit of leisure time, too, ain’t he?"

  "I guess he is," John Lee said, though right that moment he would much rather be busy with official duties.

  ***

  John Lee had been conceived during a brief fling his mother had with a sailor from Pensacola during spring break, and though they had married, it did not last long. His mother, Lisa Marie, was a free spirit, always flitting from one adventure to the next, and having a toddler with her cramped her style. So she left John Lee with her parents to raise, and from that time on, she was only an occasional passing part of his life, popping into town for a few days or weeks, always promising that things were going to be different now, and before he knew it, she was gone again. He didn’t know when he stopped believing that she would ever really come back for good, but he was probably somewhere around nine or ten.

  Paw Paw and Mama Nell were not traditional grandparents by any means, but that didn't mean they didn't give him plenty of love when he was growing up. They might both be a little eccentric in their own ways, Mama Nell with her adoration of Elvis Presley, and Paw Paw sometimes acting like a rebel against the system. He couldn't remember ever being spanked, but the few times he got into trouble, at least the times they knew about, he always dreaded going home to face the music.

  Depending on the severity of his transgression and who was doling out the punishment, it might be anything from being grounded to his room for a day or two, to doing extra chores around the house and property. And because Paw Paw always had plenty of projects going on, even back during his working days, there were never any shortages of chores to be done. John Lee had spent way too many hours clearing brush and mowing grass and painting and scraping and things like that to ever want to get in trouble again if he could avoid it. Of course, being a kid, he never seemed to avoid it completely. But nothing back then compared to his dread of calling Paw Paw that evening.

  ***

  While John Lee was procrastinating about calling his grandfather, Maddy, Dixie, and Beth Ann were sharing a bottle of wine at Dixie's house. All three had had a couple of glasses and were relaxed and enjoying their girl time. Beth Ann gave Dixie a T-shirt that said You Are My Bestest Friend, Even When You're Being A Bitch, and all three women laughed outrageously when she put it on. Maddy handed her a small box and she opened it to see a set of pearl earrings.

  "Oh, Maddy, they're beautiful,” Dixie said, taking them out of the box. “I love them!"

  "I know you don’t wear much jewelry," Maddy said, “but I remember you saying pearls are your birthstone and hoped you might like them. "

  “Like them? I love them,” Dixie assured her, then said, “I guess I need to get my ears pierced again."

  “Your ears aren’t pierced?"

  “They were a long time ago," Dixie replied. "But I never wore earrings much and I let them close up. But for these, I can't wait to get them pierced again, because I want to wear these every day!"

  "What do you mean your ears closed up? That’s a thing?"

  "Yeah, Beth Ann. Didn’t you know that?”

  “I never heard of it. Mama had our ears pierced when we were little, and I can’t remember when I didn’t wear earrings. Let me see,” Beth Ann said, peering closely at her friend’s earlobes. “Well, I'll be darned.”

  “Just like I said, all closed up. You know what they say,” Dixie replied, “if you don't use it, you lose it.”

  Beth Ann shook her head and said, “When I get home tonight, I need to have me a long talk with my vagina!"

  All three women laughed outrageously, and then Dixie said. "Speaking of that, Maddy?"

  “What?”

  “Don’t play dumb with me. You know what I mean.”

  "What are you, the Mother Superior?"

  "No, I'm a reporter. I'm just naturally curious. It’s my job."

  "I’m not a reporter, but I want to know, too," Beth Ann said. “Come on, girlfriend, tell us all about it."

  “There's nothing to tell," Maddy said, shaking her head. “God, you two act like we're in high school."

  "Hey, we’re just looking out for your welfare," Dixie said, "it's bad enough that I’ve got to get my ears re-pierced. If you wait too long…"

  “Oh, stop it," Maddy said.

  "You know we’re not going to stop, so come on. We want to hear all the details."

  "There's nothing to say," Maddy said.

  “Nothing to say or nothing you will say?"

  "Nothing. We kissed and made out a little bit and that's it."

  "What are you waitin’ for? You know you both want to do it."

  "If you must know, Aunt Flo came to visit," Maddy said. “Believe me. I want to, but I have to wait for that to be over with."

  "When will that be?"

  “Seriously, Beth Ann? You want to know about my periods now?"

  "No, I want to know about you gettin’ laid. The period’s just the roadblock in the way of that happenin’ right now."

  "Don't you worry, Beth Ann," Dixie assured her friend. "As long as those two have been waiting to do it, all you’re going to need to do is wait until you feel the ground shaking under your feet and look up in the sky and see all the fireworks going off. When it happens, the whole damn county is going to know!"

  They laughed again, then Beth Ann started telling them a ribald tale of getting a hoop earring caught on her shirt as she was taking it off in the cab of Jerry Oldham’s pickup while they were parked in a lover’s lane back when she was in high school, and how Jerry was so eager to get to her boobs that she almost smothered herself with the shirt before she could get it over her head. Something niggled at Maddy’s mind, some snippet in their conversation that reminded her of something overlooked, but she couldn’t latch on to it. She took another sip of wine, pushing it to the background for now.

  Chapter 37

  They met on neutral ground, Paw Paw pulling his battered old Jeep Wagoneer in beside John Lee’s pickup in the dirt parking lot of a barbecue joint halfway between their homes. Paw Paw got out of the Jeep and into the passenger side of John Lee's truck.

  "How you doing, kid?"

  "Best I can, Paw Paw. Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner, but we had a disturbance we had to deal with, and we’re all wrapped up on this case."

  "No problem. I didn't figure you’d avoid me for too long."

  "I wasn't trying to avoid you, Paw
Paw. Though I will admit I wasn’t looking forward to this talk, either."

  They sat silently, looking out the windshield for a moment or two, and Paw Paw said, "He's my best friend, John Lee."

  "I know that, Paw Paw."

  “Not just a friend, John Lee. Billy and I, we go way back. There's a bond between us that words can't describe."

  "I get that, Paw Paw. I feel that way about some of the people I work with, too."

  "I'm not saying that what you do is different than what we went through together, John Lee, but it was, in some ways. Billy and me, we were stupid kids when we went over there. Young, dumb, and full of cum. Life changed real quick for both of us. Us and everybody else in our unit."

  “I understand that, Paw Paw. I do."

  “You know I got wounded over there, right? Stepped on a punji stick and the damn thing went through my leg."

  Paw Paw had never talked much about his military experience, if at all. And definitely nothing about his time in Vietnam. But John Lee had seen the ugly scar on the calf of his leg and knew where it came from.

  "Yeah, I know about that."

  “They were sharpened bamboo sticks covered in shit, so you were sure to get infected. They dug a hole two, maybe three, foot deep, and stuck ’em in there.”

  “I’ve read about them,” John Lee said. “I know what they are. Sounds gruesome.”

  “What you don't know is that when I was stuck on that damn thing and couldn't get away from it, the VC were waiting for anyone to come after me so they could shoot them. They could have finished me off, but I was just the bait to draw the others out in the open. And all the while, my leg was pumping out blood. It was Billy that ran out to get me, firing his M-16 with one hand and jerking me off of that damn stick with the other. John Lee, the bullets were buzzing around our heads like a bunch of wasps. You could feel the air as they went past, they were that close.”

  “It’s scary to even think about, Paw Paw.”

  “Sometimes I can still feel them going past me while I was stuck there and not able to get away,” the old man said. “Billy didn't have to do that, John Lee. Nobody would have blamed him for staying under cover. But he did it anyway. Once he pulled me off of that damn stick, I couldn't walk, and he dragged me back to cover. He took a bullet for it, too. Did you know that?"

  "No, Paw Paw, I didn’t know about that."

  “Well, it's not something we talk about very often. But the thing is, John Lee, that man was willing to lay down his life for me. He didn't have to come out there to save my sorry ass, but he did it. Nobody else tried, but Billy did. I wouldn't be here today if it wasn’t for him. And he damn near wasn't here today himself because of that."

  "He's a hell of a man," John Lee said. “He's always laughing and joking around and acting like a clown. It's hard for me to picture him in a situation like that. Hard for me to picture you in it, too, as far as that goes."

  “Some guys got into drugs when they came back. Or booze. All that ever did was give them more problems. And some never got back at all. I think Billy’s sense of humor is what saved him from that."

  "What saved you from it, Paw Paw?"

  His grandfather laughed and shook his head. “Your grandmother. When I came back, I spent the first year in and out of VA hospitals getting all kinds of therapy to get my leg put back together. I wasn’t a very nice guy back then. I was pissed off at the world. Then I got a job as a lineman because I couldn't stand the idea of being cooped up in a factory or office somewhere. The idiots at the VA said I could never do that kind of work and offered me a damn disability. I told them to stick that where the sun don’t shine. And I showed them, too. Hurt like hell sometimes, but I climbed those damn poles no matter what it took. Came down here from up north after a big storm when they needed people to help repair the power lines. Fell in love with this part of Florida and fell in love with Mama Nell, and I never went back to Pennsylvania."

  “Tell me about your Silver Star," John Lee said. “I knew why you got the Purple Heart, but not the Silver Star, Paw Paw."

  His grandfather shook his head and said, "Nobody needs to hear about that, John Lee."

  "I do. It's a part of your life that I don't know much about."

  His grandfather looked at him and said, "And that’s the way I want it. I know you've got some ghosts in your own life. You’ve had to do some killing. It’s not something you ever talk about, either."

  "Yeah, I get that."

  “About Billy, John Lee. I know what he's been doing is wrong. But the thing is, Billy isn’t doing it to hurt anybody. Really, I think it's as much the challenge as anything else. The dare. Just to see what he can get away with."

  “That doesn't make it legal or right, Paw Paw."

  “I know that. If it’s any comfort to you, he said he’s never so much as jaywalked here in Somerton County out of respect for you and your job, John Lee.”

  “He has kind of a twisted way of looking at things, doesn’t he?”

  “In his mind, it’s the honorable thing to do.”

  “It doesn’t matter if it’s here or somewhere else, if he keeps it up, he’ll get busted sooner or later. He can’t go on doing it forever."

  “Yeah, you're probably right."

  “What should I do, Paw Paw? I really don't know."

  "I don't know what to tell you, son. I can’t ask you to turn your head about this because that's not my place to do. And I’d never put you in that position. Hell, we shouldn’t be sitting here having this conversation right now."

  “I don't want to hurt Uncle Billy, Paw Paw. And I damn sure don't want to hurt you or have this come between us.”

  In a rare display of physical affection, the old man reached across the cab and put his arm around his grandson, pulling him close.

  “John Lee, there is nothing in the world that would ever come between us. I mean it. You're my grandson and I love you. Don't you ever think for a minute that anything would ever turn me away from you, okay?”

  John Lee nodded his head against his grandfather’s shoulder and Paw Paw released him. When John Lee set back up he noticed tears in the old man's eyes.

  “How's Billy's hand doing?"

  "It’s boogered up a bit," Paw Paw answered. "Nothing serious, but he's not worth tits on a boar right now as far as getting the brakes fixed on his RV."

  "Paw Paw, I've seen you change brakes on cars and pickups and all kinds of things," John Lee said. "You don’t need him to finish the job."

  The old man shook his head and said, "No, I don't. But when you get to be our age, it hurts when you see your friends driving away because you get to a point where you don't know when you'll see them again. Or if you ever will."

  "Uncle Billy seems like he's in good health."

  "As good health as a fat guy can be at his age," Paw Paw said and chuckled. “I don’t know of anything wrong with him physically except his hand. It’s just reality, John Lee. You know we all got to die someday. Billy, Mama Nell, me, we’re all working towards the short end now."

  John Lee didn't want to think about that, not for a minute. He could not picture life without his grandparents.

  "I love you, Paw Paw."

  “I love you, too," the old man said, slapping his knee. “Anyway, I better get home before Mama Nell falls in love with that old pirate and runs away with him. Truth be told, I'd probably miss her. I’m too damn old to start over again with a new woman, John Lee. You got to learn everything about her and get used to the smell of different farts. It’s just not worth it."

  John Lee laughed and Paw Paw started to open the truck’s door, then looked at him and said, "You're a good man, John Lee. I don't tell you that enough. You do what you’ve got to do. No matter what that is, I won’t fault you for it. You have to look at yourself in the mirror afterward.”

  Paw Paw got in his jeep and drove away, leaving John Lee sitting there. He still didn't know what to do.

  Chapter 38

  At the next morning’
s briefing, Chief Deputy Schroeder called the room to order, then asked Dan Lehman from the National Transportation Safety Board to share his investigation’s findings with the assembled deputies.

  Walking to the front of the room, Lehman said, “Good morning everybody. It's been a rough week for all of us, and I want to thank Deputies Mayhew and Stengel for your help in our investigation. And thank you, Sheriff Swindle and Chief Deputy Schroeder, for lending them to us and for your cooperation. Okay, here is what our findings are.”

  He pointed to a large photograph of the railroad crossing and said, “At approximately 11:45 a.m. on Monday, a red 2019 Corvette was stopped at the railroad crossing at Coburn Road. Video from the train shows it approaching the crossing, with the gates down and the Corvette waiting on the south side. At some point after the locomotive passed, a large vehicle with dual wheels began pushing the Corvette toward the tracks. Based on the tire marks on the pavement, it looks like the vehicle pushed the Corvette through the crossing arm and into the side of the train, where it was pulled into the wheels. The largest single parts of the car that we found were the engine and transmission, which were thrown to the side. In our opinion, this was not an accident, not somebody trying to beat the train across the track, which the video proves, but rather a purposeful act of violence perpetrated by persons or persons unknown."

  "Is that it? That's all you have?"

  "Yes, Deputy Portman. The NTSB's job is simply to determine how an accident occurred. And that's our finding. Our job is not to investigate the crime itself, or to try to discern who was behind the wheel of the vehicle that pushed the Corvette into the train. I'm afraid that's up to you folks."

  "Do we have any information about the vehicle itself? The one that pushed the car into the train?"

  "I'll get to that in a minute," Schroeder said. “But first, are there any other questions for Mr. Lehman? I know he's got to be on the road heading home, and we don't want to delay him any more than we have to."

  “Mr. Lehman, is there's some way that there might be cameras mounted further back on the trains besides just the locomotives because of incidents like this?"