With that said Floyd leaned back in his chair and seemed to be watching intently for Gil’s reaction. He wasn’t disappointed either.
Gil knew his face had lost all its color and his eyes must be bugging out. Floyd couldn’t have said anything that would have shocked him more than that.
“But who . . .? Why . . .?”
Floyd started laughing loudly and his laughter did nothing to calm Gil’s nerves. He felt as if he might fall apart any minute.
Just when Gil was about to demand to know what was so funny, Floyd wiped the mirth off his face and stared down at Gil again.
“Don’t ask me why but I don’t believe any of the apparently false evidence that’s been planted against you, so I won’t even go into any of that right now.”
He looked thoughtful for a moment. “Maybe it’s because my little cousin likes you so well. And believe me, that is some accomplishment for sure. She hasn’t let any man get within a mile of her for the last seven years.”
Gil recovered enough to agree with the big sheriff. “Yes, she told me about the attack.”
Floyd looked Gil straight in the eye for so long that he began to squirm in his seat.
“I guess you probably need to know something else if she didn’t tell you.” He ran his fingers through his short red hair. “We never caught the mangy varmint that did that to her either.”
When Gil didn’t, couldn’t say anything to that declaration, Floyd continued. “I wasn’t sheriff back then but I was a detective and I was on the case from the beginning. We never could get any evidence that would help us nail the perp.”
Gil recovered enough to ask, “Did you have any idea who it might have been?”
Floyd shook his head sadly. “Nothing. We thought at first that it had to be someone who’d been at the bar that night, but every single person who’d been there checked out. We finally had to pretty much go with the fact that it was probably someone who was just passing through and saw Jo walking home that night. I didn’t agree. I’ve always suspected that it was someone local. Can’t say why I do, call it a gut feeling, I guess.”
Gil was pondering all that Floyd had just said when the phone rang causing him to jump slightly. He didn’t listen in at first, then he heard Jo’s name.
“Yeah, Carla, I’ll come get you. I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes, okay?”
When he hung up, Gil said, “Was that Carla?”
Floyd gave him a look as if he wasn’t going to answer at first, then shrugged his shoulders, and said, “Yeah, it was her. Said Jo didn’t show to pick her up after school.”
He looked at his watch. “That was thirty minutes ago. I wonder where Jo is. It’s not like her to be late for anything.”
Gil was beginning to get an uneasy feeling in his stomach. “I tried to call her earlier and her cell phone went to voice mail and my aunt said she hadn’t come home from taking Carla to school yet. She did say that she was stopping by to talk to Sue Ann.”
Floyd picked up his phone again and dialed. “Sue Ann, have you seen Jo today?” He listened. “No. I just needed to talk to her. Thanks.”
When he hung up, he looked back at Gil and said, “She hasn’t been there all day. Call your place to see if she’s there now.”
When Gil did, his mother told him Jo still hadn’t come back there.
When Gil told Floyd that, he stood and said, “Come on. Let’s go get Carla and I’ll do some more checking on Jo while we go.”
Gil followed him out the door and through another door to the right just inside the hall. They were in a large room with a dozen computer desks placed in four rows, which filled the room. There wasn’t anyone at any of the desks even though they all looked occupied. Floyd went straight to the rear and out another door.
They were in a parking lot now surrounded by a tall chain link fence. Floyd’s Tahoe was parked by the door and they both hurried over to it and jumped in.
Gil couldn’t help but marvel at how his life had changed in such a short time. Not that long ago, Floyd had pulled him over in this vehicle. Now he was riding in it.
As Floyd was driving out the gate, he keyed his mike and told dispatch where he was going.
He turned briefly to Gil and said, “Was she driving that dinky little car of yours?”
“Yes she was.”
“What’s your license number?”
When he gave it to him, Floyd then pulled out his cell phone and punched one key. “Yeah, Linda, could you check if anything’s come in today on a white Ford Focus . . . YAH-457?”
While they waited, Floyd turned a corner and they were on the state highway heading through town to the south. He was startled when Floyd spoke again.
“Yeah, thanks Linda. I’ll be there in five.”
When he disconnected, he blew out a breath. “Your car was found stuck in a ditch between the high school and town. No sign of Jo.”
* * *
Jo awakened again with a start. She was so groggy at first that she didn’t know where she was. Her eyesight was blurry and when she tried to focus, she saw double. She shook her head to clear it but quickly realized her mistake. Her head started pounding and her vision worsened.
She closed her eyes and tried to lie still long enough to let things settle down inside her head.
When she opened her eyes again, she realized that her left eye was swollen. She waited as her vision began to clear some but not all the way. Where was she? What was she doing on the floor?
As her vision cleared a little more, she finally remembered where she was and why, then groaned. She wiggled her fingers on both hands checking for circulation. Not bad. The rope wasn’t even very tight. That might give her an advantage later.
She looked around her in the small shed Jake had imprisoned her in. As her inspection before had shown, she saw the boxes of bottles in a corner that took up one fourth of the room. When she slowly turned her gaze to the other side of the room, she saw a ladder-back chair that was missing two of the cross pieces on the back. There was nothing else in the room except a metal pole in the center, which she realized must be holding up the roof.
She tried to change her position to relieve the pain she was beginning to feel in her back. She didn’t think Jake had hit her there . . . yet. It must just be from lying on the floor with her hands tied behind her back.
Jake! She played back in her mind the limited conversations they’d had during this nightmare ordeal. Then she realized that she’d probably never talked to Jake before. Sure, she’d seen him in public some over the years and of course at some community events. But she’d never talked to him face to face before. Being a deacon in the Baptist church, she had certainly never seen him in her bar.
It had been seven long years since her attack, but suddenly it was coming back to her like it had just happened yesterday. She could still remember the cold gruff voice of her attacker as he had growled short commands at her. That voice! It was the same voice she’d heard this afternoon. It was Jake’s voice. Jake was the one who had attacked her seven years ago!
A cold sinking sensation began to take over and she knew that if she didn’t do something quickly it would lead to despair. She had to believe that Floyd and maybe even Gil would somehow rescue her. She had to believe that.
That was when she remembered something Eunice had told her just yesterday. ‘When you’re ready to give up, all you have to do is remember that God never does. He’s always there just waiting for you to ask Him for help.’
That not only brought her encouragement but she also realized what she needed to do right then.
She bowed her head and asked God in a very short, very simple prayer to help her. She couldn’t say how or why, but she suddenly felt good, like everything was going to work out after all.
She was still reeling from that shocking discovery when she heard the sounds of a quad coming into the clearing and stopping in front of the shed.
She thought about it quickly and decided that she didn’t wan
t Jake to know that she remembered that he was her attacker from seven years ago . . . yet.
When the door burst open, Jo tried to pretend that she’d been sleeping and was just waking up, still groggy.
Jake didn’t say anything. He just stood there for a long time staring down at her with a strange smile on his face. She didn’t realize he had a rifle in his hands until he leaned it against the wall and walked over to her. He squatted next to her, lifted her hair off her neck, and ran his fingers through it.
She tried not to react but continued to act groggy.
He walked around behind her and untied her hands. Then he dragged her to her feet then over to the chair and pushed her down in it. He quickly tied her right hand to the back of the chair. Once he finished, he went back outside and came back in quickly with a bag from a local fast-food restaurant.
He tossed it to her and said, “Eat.”
That was all he said as he continued to stand there staring at her while she tried to maneuver the bag and its contents with her left hand. How did he know she was right handed?
It was growing more frightening all the time, as she ate the hamburger with Jake just standing there staring at her.
Finally, after she had forced herself to eat even though she wasn’t really very hungry she looked up at him.
From the look he was still giving her, she decided that she had better do everything he told her to do, at least for a while.
She stuffed the hamburger wrapper into the bag and Jake took it from her hand. He stepped outside but was back inside quickly.
When he came in, he was carrying what looked like a rolled up baby bed mattress. When he tossed it on the floor near the pole in the middle of the room, it unrolled to reveal a blanket inside. Then he went around behind her and untied her hands.
She didn’t like the looks of this and started to struggle and he said, “You want me to knock you out again? I’m just going to tie you to the pole so you can sleep on that mattress.”
When he finished tying her to the pole with her hands in front of her this time, he grabbed his rifle and started out the door. But then stopped in the doorway and turned around to face her.
“I have to leave now but I’ll be back in the morning.” He smiled for the first time. “Then we can have our little fun without any interruptions this time.”
He started to leave again but stopped. “Have you figured it out yet?”
She tried to make him think she didn’t know what he was talking about. But when he kicked her foot lightly, she knew she had to say something. “What?”
He laughed long and loudly. “Yep, you’ve figured it out all right. I can tell by the way you’re looking at me. You liked it last time didn’t you?”
She shook her head violently causing her head to almost explode again and he laughed all the harder.
“Well, now that we’ve got that little mystery solved, I’ll see you in the morning . . . bright and early.”
With that, he slammed the door and she could hear the sounds of a padlock slipping into the clasp and locking. Then she heard the quad fire up and slowly fade away.
Chapter Sixteen
Gil hadn’t slept much at all last night. He was sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee at five o’clock when Carla came into the room and sat down across from him.
She looked at him with tears in her eyes. “Do you think Jo’s all right?” When he just frowned at her she said, “Where do you think she could be?”
“I wish I knew Carla. I wish I knew.”
She rubbed her eyes and looked into his. “You love her don’t you?”
He tried to smile in spite of it all. “Yes, Carla, I love your sister very much and I want to marry her.”
She didn’t say anything.
“Are you okay with that?”
She snorted. “If you’d asked me that question several weeks ago, I’d have said no way.” She almost grinned at him. “But now, yeah, I guess I’m okay with it. Don’t let this go to your head though, but I think I really like you now that I’ve gotten to know you.”
Gil grinned in spite of the situation. He was about to say something equally nice to her when the outside door opened and Floyd stepped in with his hat in his hands.
He didn’t look as if he’d slept either. In fact, as wrinkled as his uniform was, it looked as if he’d had it on all night.
“Got any more of that?” He pointed to Gil’s coffee cup.
Carla sprang out of her seat, pulled a cup out of the cabinet, and after filling it with coffee, handed it to Floyd who remained standing.
He just stood there drinking his coffee without saying another word until he finished it and handed the cup to Carla.
“Thanks kid.” He then turned to Gil and gave him a searching look. “How strong are your feelings for my little cousin, Preacher?”
That was twice in a matter of minutes that he’d been asked a form of that question and he heard Carla snicker nearby. But this time, Gil was sure that Floyd was testing him. So he chose his words carefully. “I love her more than I ever thought I could love a woman and I want to marry her.”
Floyd continued to stare at Gill for another full minute before nodding his head and saying, “Okay, I’m going to see just how much you do love her.” He put his hat back on and said, “Come with me if you think you’re man enough. I think I may have a lead on finding out where Jo is. But first, I’ve got to smoke out a skunk to get it.”
When Gil just stared back at him, Floyd said, “Are you coming or not?”
Gil shot to his feet thankful that he had dressed completely before coming downstairs. As he followed Floyd out the door, he called back to Carla. “Tell my mom and Eunice where I am will you Carla?”
As soon as they were in Floyd’s Tahoe, Gil said, “Where are we going?”
Floyd snorted. “I told you, we’re going to smoke out a polecat.”
The big sheriff didn’t seem to want to elaborate just then, so Gil continued to sit on the edge of his seat, anxious to find out.
He wasn’t too surprised, just a little disappointed, to see Floyd pull into the compound behind the sheriff’s office and park. He almost had to run to keep up with Floyd as he charged into the building.
Once inside the large room they’d been in the day before, Floyd made his way through a group of deputies to a room on the side. He paused in front of a door, pointed at another door, and said to Gil, “You can watch and hear if you go into that room.”
With that, Floyd went in and Betty’s husband, Hal, was suddenly standing next to Gil. He motioned for Gil to follow him into the room Floyd had indicated.
Once inside the room, Hal closed the door leaving them in a shadowy semi-darkness. He then pointed to what looked like a large rectangular window on the wall between them and the room Floyd went into.
“That’s a one-way mirror and we can see in there but they can’t see us.” He pointed at a speaker over the window. “We can hear what’s said in there through that speaker.”
When Gil nodded his understanding, Hal said, “Okay, get ready, the show’s about to start.”
He pointed at the other room where Floyd was now sitting at a small round table. A door at the other end of the room opened and a man that Gil had seen around town but didn’t know stepped in.
Hal noticed the puzzled look on Gil’s face and said, “That’s Earl Jordan, the other bar owner that we think’s been giving you such a hard time.”
Floyd told Earl to sit down and he acted like he wasn’t going to but then he did.
“Okay, Earl. We’ve got you good to go for Clyde’s murder. What do you have to say for yourself?”
Earl looked shocked and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Floyd laughed. “Sure you do Earl. We got your fingerprints off the baseball bat that killed him.”
Earl looked like he was going to faint now. “I want my lawyer.”
“Sure Earl but he ain’t going to help you a bit.
The only thing that’ll help you any is if you tell us where Mary Jo Early is.”
Earl threw his arms down on the table and dropped his head into them. When he spoke again, it was rather muffled. Gil had to strain to understand what he said.”
“I don’t have any idea where she is.”
Floyd snorted loudly. “Sure you do Earl. You’re not fooling me. This whole thing hasn’t been about that new preacher in town has it? It’s all been about Mary Jo all along hasn’t it, Earl?”
That brought Earl’s head up. “You promise to go easy on me?”
Floyd said, “I can’t promise you anything. Only the county attorney can do that.”
“I don’t know for sure, but I think Jake Hollis has her.”
After dropping that bomb, Earl sat straight up and said, “I want protection and I want a deal. I didn’t kill Clyde, but I was there when it happened.”
Floyd picked up the phone on the table. He didn’t dial but a phone on the wall beside Hal rang and he picked it up.
It was strange for Gil to hear both sides of the telephone conversation. Jake just said, “Get Robert on the line” and when Hal said okay, Floyd hung up.
Hal dialed a number and while he was waiting he said, “Robert Hallmark is the county attorney. Floyd’s going to get him to cut Earl a deal.”
* * *
It was the longest hour of Gil’s life while he waited with Floyd in his office for a call back from the Highway Patrol. Since Earl only knew that the still was on Jake’s property somewhere, Floyd had called the Highway Patrol and given them the location and approximate borders of Jake’s farm. That narrowed their search down significantly.
Gil had left briefly to change clothes. Now the two of them were sitting there waiting for word that the state helicopter had been able to locate the still from the air.
Floyd broke the prolonged silence. “Don’t worry Gil, those boys can find a tick on a deer’s belly in those woods. They’ll be able to give us the coordinates that will take us straight in to where that still is.”
No Easy Solution (Crowley County Series Book 1) Page 23
