The Road to Wrinkle Ranch

by Nick Russell

  “What should we do?”

  "I don't know, but we need to get him out of there,” John Lee said. He took a few steps closer to the door and said, "Sonny, it's John Lee Quarrels. Are you okay?" Only silence answered him and he called out again, "Sonny, you need to come out with your hands up. Nobody wants to hurt you, but we need to make sure you're safe."

  "Go away, John Lee. Just go away."

  "We can’t do that, Sonny. You’re not in any trouble. We just want to make sure you're okay."

  "How can I be okay? How can I be okay with Audrey gone?"

  "Sonny, I know this is terrible. I really do. But I…"

  "You don't know anything, John Lee! Your wife’s not dead. And you don't have everybody in the county talking about how she was sleeping with someone behind your back, either!"

  "Sonny, whatever people are saying, that's just talk. You have to ignore it."

  "It's not just talk, John Lee. I guess I always knew something was going on. I was just too dumb and too stubborn to admit it to myself."

  "Sonny, whatever happened, whatever Audrey did, it doesn't matter right now. What matters is we need to get you out of there and get you some help, okay?"

  “Nothing’s ever gonna help me, John Lee. Just go away."

  "Sonny, I sure wish I could, but I can't. Do me a favor and come out, will you?"

  "Go away."

  John Lee sighed and looked at Maddy and then Samuel and said, "I guess somebody's got to go in there and try to talk some sense into him."

  "No, John Lee, don't even think about that," Maddy told him.

  "She's right, John Lee. That's not a good idea. As messed up as he is in his head right now, no telling what he might do."

  "He’s not coming out on his own and we don't have a SWAT team or anything like that, so I've got no choice." John Lee hadn't bothered with putting on a uniform, just jeans and a blue T-shirt that said Sheriff's Department on the back in yellow letters.

  He pulled his Glock from his belt and handed it to Maddy. She took it but shook her head and said, “Please don't do this, John Lee."

  "It's going to be okay, Maddy. He's not mad at me, he's just trying to deal with everything.”

  “You said yourself, he’s not in his right mind right now," Samuel said.

  "It's going to be all right,” he assured them, then called out, “Sonny, I'm coming in. Don’t shoot me, okay?"

  "Stay away, John Lee."

  "I wish I could, buddy, but I can't. If you won’t come out, I'm going to have to come in there. Which is it gonna be?"

  "Just go away. I can't deal with all this. Go away!"

  While they were talking, John Lee was moving closer to the door, and then he was at the entrance. “Sonny, I'm coming in now. I don't have a weapon on me, okay? I just want to talk to you."

  “There's nothing to talk about, John Lee."

  John Lee turned the doorknob and braced himself for what might come as he slowly opened the door, expecting to feel the impact of a shot at any second. Stepping through the doorway, he saw Sonny sitting on the hood of a blue 1969 Camaro with a white interior.

  "You okay, Sonny?" The man was holding a short-barreled shotgun, the muzzle under his chin and his finger inside the trigger guard.

  “I told you to go away."

  "I know you did," John Lee told him. “How about you take that gun down from where it's at before it goes off?"

  “It’s good where it is.”

  “Then at least take your finger off the trigger, okay?”

  “I loved her so much, John Lee."

  “I know you did, Sonny."

  “I bought this car for her the week we got married because she always wanted an old Camaro convertible. Paid $1500 for it and spent months working on it to give to her on our first anniversary. Rebuilt it from the ground up. She drove it three times. That was all."

  "It's a beautiful car, Sonny. You did a great job on it."

  "All those hours of sanding and painting and rebuilding, busting my knuckles wide open, and she drove it three times. I guess I should've known then that she was going to be hard to please."

  "Sonny, some people are like that. I was married to a woman like that. No matter what I did, she was never happy. We got divorced and she’s still not happy. I don't know what causes some women to be like that but it's just the way it is sometimes."

  "I never wanted this big place, John Lee. I was happy with that double wide mobile home we lived in when we first got married. But not Audrey, she always wanted more. I worked hard to give it to her, I really did."

  “I know you did, Sonny. You were a good husband to her."

  "But not good enough. If I was, she wouldn’t have been sleeping with Lonnie."

  "Sonny, I don't have any way to turn back time and make it all better, as much as I wish I could. But you know I've been through some hard times, and Maddy Westfall out there, she's been through a lot of hard times, you know that. But she's managed to pick up the pieces and go on with her life."

  "How am I supposed to go on after this? I don't even want to try."

  "But you have to try," John Lee told him. “You have to, Sonny."

  The man looked to the ceiling for a moment and then back down and said, "You best step outside, John Lee."

  “I'm not going anywhere until we walk out of here together, Sonny."

  “That ain’t going to happen. I'm sorry."

  “Sonny, don't do this. Please don't do this. I know how bad it is right now. But tomorrow's another day."

  “Not for me. There aren't any more tomorrows for me."

  “Please don't, Sonny. Please. Just put the gun down and lets you and me talk some more, okay?"

  “What is there to talk about?"

  "Anything, man. Fishing, cars. I know you’ve done some awesome restorations. That El Camino you rebuilt for Carl Witherspoon is winning trophies at car shows all over the state. And that Ford coupe you did for Frankie King, what was that, a ’34 or ’35?”

  “I don’t want to talk about cars.”

  “Okay, we won’t talk about cars. We can talk about anything in the world. Just talk to me. Will you do that, Sonny?"

  “You like this car, John Lee?"

  “Of course I do. It's beautiful."

  “No, it's just a car. Audrey was beautiful."

  "Sonny…"

  “If you want it, you can have it. Keys are in the ignition and title’s in the file cabinet in the bedroom Audrey used as an office in the house."

  "I don't want your car, Sonny."

  “It's not my car. It was Audrey’s."

  “You put a lot of work into it, Sonny. It looks like it just rolled off the showroom floor." John Lee didn't know why they were talking about cars, but if he kept the man from doing what he had come out there to do, he would talk to him about anything, all night long. But that wasn't going to happen.

  "I'm afraid you’ll have to clean it up a bit John Lee. I'm sorry."

  It seemed like slow-motion as John Lee saw his thumb push down the shotgun's trigger.

  "No, Sonny,” he screamed, leaping forward. But his voice was drowned out by the roar of the 12 gauge.

  Chapter 48

  It took hours to process the scene, and by daylight, John Lee felt like he was slogging through mud. Part of him was so exhausted that he could lay down right there in the dirt and sleep for days, and part of him knew that when he closed his eyes, he was going to see the same terrible sight of Sonny Rittenhouse blowing the top of his head off with a shotgun. He knew he would be seeing that for a lot of nights in his future.

  "You did all you could do, John Lee," D.W. said. “How many people would’ve gone in there with a crazy man with a shotgun in his hands."

  "He wasn't crazy, D.W. At least he wasn't until the last minute."

  “He was headed that way, son. Turns out he got canned from his job yesterday when he heard one of the workers at the dairy talkin’ about what a slut Audrey was. Sonny lit into him and damn near k
illed him. They say it took five guys to pull him off. He about beat him into pulp.”

  "What he's gone through would make a man crazy," Chief Deputy Schroeder said. “How you doing, John Lee?"

  "To be honest, Dick, I don't know. I keep thinking it's a nightmare that I can’t wake up from. But I know it's not. How's his mother doing?"

  "About how you'd expect," Maddy said. “I tried to get her to let us take her to the hospital but she wouldn't go. Dr. Naidenoff came over and gave her a sedative. She slept for a little bit. I don't know what to say. She's lost a lot in just a few days."

  "What can we do for her?"

  "There’s nothing anybody can do for her, John Lee. We can talk ’til we’re blue in the face, but nothing can change the facts."

  "I keep thinking if I could've just…"

  "Just what, John Lee? Jumped two dozen feet and grabbed the shotgun out of his hands before he could pull the trigger? Convince him to put it down?" D.W. shook his head, then said, "He did what he did because that's what he did, son. I know that don't make no sense, but things like this never do make any sense. Sometimes we just got to accept that it is what it is."

  “If I could've just…"

  "Stop thinkin’ that way, Deputy," D.W. said sternly, pointing his finger at John Lee. “You stop that right now! You didn't pull the trigger of that shotgun, Sonny Rittenhouse did. You got to face the fact that he was a walkin’ dead man from the minute his wife went under that train."

  "Why don’t you take John Lee home and let him get some sleep, Maddy? Plenty of time for reports and paperwork later on," Schroeder said.

  "Yeah, come on, John Lee. Let's get you home."

  He didn't want to leave but knew there was no reason to stay. They were just getting in his patrol car when there was a shout and a whistle from another of the pole barns on the property.

  "Hey, y'all need to see this," Deputy Bob Patterson said.

  They turned and followed D.W., Schroeder, and two other deputies into the building and stopped, everyone's mouth hanging open. “What the hell?"

  “I know," said Donnie Ray Mayhew. “And look at this,” he said pointing to the bumper of the retired milk truck that Sonny had been restoring to use in parades. “See here? Red paint."

  They studied the scrapes on the front bumper of the truck.

  "I’ll be damned," D.W. said. “Maybe that's why he shot himself. He couldn’t live with the guilt of what he done."

  “But how did he do it if he was on his milk route?”

  “I don’t know,” the sheriff said. “But he found a way somehow.”

  "Sonny didn't do nothin’!”

  They turned to look and Maddy asked, "Mrs. Rittenhouse, what are you doing out of bed?"

  "No," the woman said shaking her head. “No, you can't blame Sonny for what I did. He didn't know about it. I swear he didn't."

  “Miz Rittenhouse, you need to…"

  She shook her head and said, "You and me go back a long, long way, D.W. I voted for you in every election. But this is something I got to get out. I just wish I did it sooner. Maybe my boy might still be alive if I did."

  "Claudette, you…"

  She held up her hand to silence the sheriff and said, "Sonny was blind when it come to Audrey, but I never was. I loved her. Oh, I loved her just like she was my own daughter! But over time, as I saw how she kept puttin’ Sonny down, constantly breakin’ his heart, that love began to die. I tried to talk to her about it. Tried more than once. She just ignored me, told me I was imaginin’ things. Then one day when I was supposed to be at a meetin’ of the church choir, I realized I forgot my hymnal and came back to get it. That red sports car was parked next to Audrey’s car. I went in the house and found them right there in the bed she slept in with my son. She was doing’ things with that man that…” the woman shook her head. “That was it, I couldn't take no more."

  “What happened, Mrs. Rittenhouse?” Maddy asked softly.

  “Audrey screamed at me. Told me that what they were doin’ weren’t none of my business and she was goin’ to keep right on doin’ whatever she wanted to do. Told me that she was gettin’ a divorce from Sonny so her and Lonnie could be together.”

  Tears were running down her face and John Lee felt his heart breaking for her.

  “I started followin’ her. Followed her over to that housing development and I saw them there. Saw them more than once. Lord, I didn't know what to do. I was afraid if I told Sonny, somethin’ bad might happen. That he’d do somethin’ like he wound up doin’ last night. I figured maybe if Audrey was dead and it was an accident, he’d grieve for a spell but get over it. So I took that truck there and I parked down the road from that Wildflower place. And when they came out, I followed them. By then I knew their routine, how they’d leave Audrey’s car at that empty place and go there in his. I followed them up to the tracks and pushed them right into that train. And I don't regret it either! I know I should, and I know I'm goin’ to hell for what I did, but I don't regret it. They both deserved to be dead. But Lord forgive me, I didn't know it was goin’ to turn out this way. I thought Sonny would get over it and go on, thinkin’ she just died in an accident. I didn’t want the rest of it, what she was doin, to come out. I was wrong. So, so wrong!"

  Chapter 49

  48 hours after they got the phone call about Sonny Rittenhouse walking out of his home with a shotgun, John Lee and Maddy were back at his place, sitting on the couch together, Magic snoring softly on his dog bed on the other side of the room.

  "So Uncle Billy is gone?"

  “Oh yeah, he's gone," John Lee said.

  “How did you leave things with him?"

  "It turns out Uncle Billy's a pretty civic-minded guy. He donated a big fancy computer system and a top-of-the-line professional color printer to the high school graphics arts department, along with some good software. By the way, I'll need you to erase the hard drive on his computer. Can you do that?"

  "You know, John Lee, that's not going to stop him from buying more stuff and doing the same thing over again."

  "I can't stop him from doing that. But I figure that equipment he just donated to the school is worth $5,000, maybe $6,000. You might say that it's a self-imposed fine for what he’s done in the past. As for the future, I can't say."

  “You’re a good man, John Lee. Have I ever told you that?”

  "I think you mentioned it a time or two, but I'm not 100% sure I believe you," he told her.

  "Well, you are. And I want you to try to put what happened the other night out of your mind. I know it won’t be easy, but right now I need you to focus on something else. Can you do that for me?"

  “I can try."

  “Then put Magic outside. I need to change into something a little more comfortable."

  Their lovemaking was everything either one of them could have ever hoped for and more. Years of pent up passion and love were finally realized, and it was a long time before they finally fell asleep in each other's arms, but they did.

  Early morning sunlight was coming through the window when John Lee was awakened by the smell of coffee. He opened his eyes as Maddy crawled back into bed, pulling the sheet over herself.

  "I love you," Maddy said, kissing him.

  "I love you, too," he told her. Her negligee had been lost somewhere in the night and she was nude. John Lee started to pull back the sheet and she stopped him.

  “Don’t…”

  “It’s all right,” he told her. “Let me look at you.”

  Maddy reluctantly let go of the sheet but covered her breasts with her hands. He gently pulled them away. Maddy closed her eyes and asked, “Are you grossed out?”

  “Grossed out? By what?”

  “My scars.”

  He gently kissed one nipple and then the other before telling her what her doctor and her counselor, and both Beth Ann and Dixie had told her before. What she had never been able to believe. “You’re beautiful, Maddy. They’re just faint marks, and I couldn’t care le
ss. You’re beautiful and I love you.”

  She was quiet for a moment and asked hesitantly, “Will you kiss them again?”

  “Honey, I want to kiss them and every inch of you forever,” he told her, then proceeded to do just that.

  Eventually, she pulled his face to hers and they kissed, and then they kissed a second time, even longer. Hands began straying and Maddy's wandered down below his waist and he felt her cupping him in her hand. She looked at him with a devilish grin and said. "I'll be damned, I didn't rip them off after all."

  Turn The Page For A Sneak Peak At The Next

  John Lee Quarrels Mystery, Fresh Out Of Mojo

  Fresh Out Of Mojo

  Chapter 1

  Somerton, Florida police officer Kenny McKinney was bored. Bored to death. He was halfway through his midnight to 8 a.m. shift and there wasn't much going on. Then again, not much happened in Somerton anyway. Especially not on a hot summer night in the middle of July, when the humidity dampened parked cars and made a man’s clothes stick to him. And the damned ballistic vest Chief Bryant insisted all four of the small town’s officers wear while on duty only added to his discomfort.

  Most working people were at home and asleep by the time Kenny came on duty, and except for the usual bit of traffic when the bars closed at 2 a.m., there had not been much to see or do. He had pulled over Dennis Bowles for doing eleven miles over the speed limit coming through town, but Dennis was a good ol’ boy and they had gone to school together, so more than anything, Kenny just wanted somebody to talk to when he lit him up.

  They talked for a few minutes, just guys shooting the bull, but Dennis indicated he needed to get on home and Kenny sent him on his way without even a verbal warning. Hell, who was he going to have a wreck with this time of night?

  Pulling into the parking lot of Caleb Foster's muffler shop, Kenny parked and turned his lights off but left the engine running for the air conditioner. He opened his black plastic lunchbox and pulled out a sandwich in a Ziplock bag. What had Judy made for his lunch this time around? He hoped it was that potted meat stuff that she used sometimes, not peanut butter and jelly. Kenny liked peanut butter and jelly well enough, but after eating a sandwich he always felt like his breath smelled like a school kid whenever he had to talk to a citizen. Opening the bag, he pulled the bread apart and smiled. Deviled ham. Judy had done good!