“She’s fucking living here.” Jeb spoke quietly again and narrowed his gaze. “What does she do?”
Butch didn’t know which was harder to take: the yelling or that damned cold, superior tone. He dropped an arm over his eyes wanting to ignore both. “She’s an architect. That Cicada building is hers.”
Jeb kicked his brother’s leg, his tone softening with disbelief. “Shit. You really are the biggest idiot on the planet. Does Mom know?”
Something in that little kick was the Jeb he grew up with, the one he missed. “No. And no one knows she’s staying here.”
Jeb laughed sardonically. “Clyde, after last night, everyone knows she’s living here.”
“Son of a bitch. Sometimes I hate small towns. This is going to be one hell of a long day.”
“Tell me about it. I’m meeting the boys back out here this morning. I’m hoping the daylight will tell us more than the night did. Do you have any coffee?”
Butch rolled and came to his feet. “If we’re lucky.” He hoped Katie had left him a pot of her special brew. Maybe after a cup or ten, he’d feel human again. Mostly full, the pot of coffee felt warm to the touch. Butch poured two cups and heated them to scalding in the microwave.
Jeb sipped, nodded. “This is good coffee. Better than you ever made. That’s what? Nutmeg?”
“No idea.” Butch settled against the counter and nursed his own. Jeb looked so tall and sure standing in the kitchen of their childhood home. He’d been up later than the rest of them, yet here he was, back at it without a word of complaint. “How do you do this job, Jeb? How can you look at that…this…what people do to each other day in and day out?”
Jeb shrugged it off. “If I didn’t do it, somebody’s going to think it’s all right to come into our town and hurt our family, our friends. Somebody has to draw the line. Somebody has to say, ‘Not on my watch.’”
“What are you going to do for Angie?”
Jeb’s face changed, hardening again into that familiar stranger. “I’m going to do my job. I’m going to find the son-of-a-bitch who hurt her and lock them away in a small room where the sun doesn’t shine for a hell of a long time.”
Butch noted the set in Jeb’s jaw, and his admiration for his brother grew.
“I need to ask you some questions. You want to do this now?”
Butch’s eyes widened, and he had to force his hands to relax. “Yeah, let’s get this done.”
“Sit down.” Jeb pulled a notebook from his pocket and sat at the kitchen table. “When was the last time you saw her?”
Butch took the chair across from Jeb. “I told you that last night.”
“I know, but tell it to me again, and don’t leave anything out.”
Butch nodded and gulped the coffee. “Sunday night, Katie and I went up to the Sly Dog again after we moved her things into her room. Trudy, Hyde, and a few of the others were there, Angie included.” Butch walked Jeb through the night, focusing on Angie.
“What time did you leave?”
“We didn’t stay long, maybe a little before nine. Katie had to work yesterday. Do you know that woman woke me up at half past six in the morning? Who gets up that time of day?”
Jeb rolled his eyes. “Was Angie still at the bar when you left?”
“Yeah. She was. I’m certain.”
“Did you give her money?”
Butch shook his head, his gaze on his coffee. “Not much. I gave her a little and told her it was the last. I did it, Jeb. I told her I was cutting her off.”
“What did she do?”
“Nothing. She didn’t get a chance. I saw Katie ready to leave, so I made my excuses.”
“Were you serious? About cutting her off?”
Butch pressed his lips together tightly. He had been serious about ending the support, but he hadn’t told Finch when he talked to him after the piano delivery. He didn’t want to look at the ‘why’ too hard, afraid of what he might see. “Yes. I was going to cut the amount of the checks over a few months.”
“You didn’t see her after the Sly Dog? Yesterday?”
“No. I didn’t see her, talk to her, or think about her until last night in the town square when you asked whether I’d seen her.”
Jeb fell back into his chair. “When was the last time you were back by the pond?”
“Sunday afternoon. I took Katie for a ride on the tractor. We went to the pond, but we weren’t over by the drain pipe. Before then, it was about a week. I’d been making the rounds to see what needs to be done.”
Jeb leaned forward. “You planning on staying?”
“I can’t say I really have plans. Right now, I’m not planning to leave.”
“Dad and Mama like having you close. I like having you around where I can keep my eye on you.”
Butch gave him a weak smile. “Do you ever feel like you don’t belong anywhere? When I’m here, as comfortable as it is with you and Dad and Mama, I’m not part of this anymore. I don’t know the stories, I’m not part of the memories, and I feel like I’m missing out on the rest of the world. When I’m out there and playing, I feel alive. But then I go home to a cold hotel room, and I’m alone. I still don’t know the stories, I’m still not part of the memories.”
Jeb took in a deep breath and released it slowly. “Everything I’ve ever believed in is right here. I want you to stay. I miss my brother.”
There was a loud rap on the back door. “You in there, Sheriff?”
Jeb climbed to his feet. “I’m here, Duncan. Go on back, I’ll be right behind you,” he called out. “What are you doing today, Butch?”
“Working. The music’s pulling at me. I’ll also go see Angie’s mother, I expect.”
Kate leaned over her foreman’s shoulder, checking the line on the concrete form as he worked. “It’s off. It can’t be off.”
“The line is fine. You’re off. Don’t you have something better to do than annoy me?” Dave Waters was as much her uncle as he was her foreman, but that only went so far during the working day.
Kate’s phone rang. Paula had better not be calling about somebody else crying on her shoulder. Some days it felt like she ran a daycare instead of a construction site. “What?” Kate barked loudly.
“Sheriff McCormick is here to see you.”
“Who?”
A baritone came through the phone. “Katie, it’s Jeb. I need to talk to you.”
Her voice pitched up an octave. “Does it have to be now? I’m in the middle of something.” She scowled as the men began to frame a critical wall.
“Yeah, it has to be now.”
“Five minutes,” she said and then spoke again to Waters. “Measure it again. If it’s not right, I’m gonna plant my boot squarely on your ass.”
“Three minutes,” Jeb said in her ear.
“I said five. Give me back to Paula. Paula? Give the sheriff some coffee, and make him comfortable. If he starts touching things, use the wooden spoon.”
“Four minutes.” Kate thundered into her office. “We split the difference.”
Jeb crouched at the scale model, staring into the little windows.
“Impressed?”
Jeb wore his emotionless mask, but Kate heard the kid-like wonder in his voice. “Hell yeah. I can even see into the rooms. There are little people in there.”
“If you like that, you’re going to love it when we’re done.” She waited quietly while Paula brought her a fresh cup of coffee.
Jeb took a sip from his own cup. “You make damned good coffee. I believe this is the same brand you have at my brother’s house.”
“Family recipe. It’s a feature on all Riley projects.” Kate gestured to an empty chair. “I think we’re about done with the requisite small talk. I hope you’ve had a more productive day than I’ve had.”
Jeb sighed. “Between the tractor and the clearing you did, any physical evidence is gone.”
Kate stilled. She’d had a hard morning on the job. Two hours of haunted sleep made focus
ing a Herculean effort. She’d been worn down when she walked in to talk to Jeb, and now any remaining blood quickly drained from her face. “I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t.”
Jeb pulled his notebook out. “The sign on the trailer says Riley. Architects and Engineers. That you?”
“I’m one of the architects. The lead one.”
“What about the other name on the trailer. Riley Brothers General Contractors?”
“The family business. It’s run by my father and uncle, supports my cousins. I’m wearing both hats right now.”
“How long have you been in our neck of the woods?”
“Three months. My foreman, Dave Waters, and I came down after the New Year. We hired men, set things up, and broke ground a few weeks later.”
Jeb didn’t react as he made notes. “You took the tractor out yesterday?”
“To clear the trees. Butch wouldn’t take any money for letting me stay at his house, so I insisted on working off my room and board in chores.”
Jeb leaned back, rocking the chair on two legs. “How did you meet Butch?” Jeb let the chair fall back to four legs. He seemed to relax a degree, taking notes as she told her story. “Did you do any other chores?”
“Butch was working by the road to hang your grandfather’s sign. I stopped for directions. Things didn’t work out, and I ended up back where I started but with a shredded tire. Butch let me stay. I wouldn’t call it a chore, but as a thank you, I fixed the tractor. A big-assed wrench was gumming up the works. After that, I snatched Butch’s to-do list. The stream was the first thing I tackled.”
“Tell me about Sunday night at the Sly Dog.”
Kate told Jeb how Angie cornered Butch and how she had distracted him by making faces. “A while later, she followed me into the ladies’ room.”
Jeb held his hand up. “How do you know she followed you?”
“She didn’t use the bathroom. She didn’t have her purse, fix her makeup, or brush her hair. I came out of a stall, and she came at me. She surprised the hell out of me. I’ve hung out in some rough places but never had anyone put their hands on me the way she did. Trudy came in as Angie poked me in the tit while saying I should stay out of the way. Trudy stepped in before I could do anything. I thought there was going to be a fight, but Angie used the first excuse to leave.”
“Did you know Butch gave Angie money?”
Kate’s phone rang. She silenced it without looking at it. “No. When I came out of the bathroom with Trudy, I went outside for some fresh air. Butch came out a few minutes later. I’d had enough, and he brought me back to the house.”
“You didn’t tell Butch what happened. Why?”
Kate leaned forward, her blue eyes honest and open. “It was just so weird. I had only known Butch for two days. I’d already pushed my luck by letting him know what I thought about foster care for snakes. I know it’s none of my business, but stupid is stupid. There’re plenty of legit environmental causes if he really wants to get involved.”
Jeb pursed his lips and closed his eyes. “So you went back to the house, and…?”
“I organized my things, and I was in bed by ten.”
“And my brother?”
“I heard him playing the guitar in his studio room. He was still playing when I fell asleep.”
Jeb nodded. “All right, then. Tell me about last night.” He held up his hand when she started to protest. “Tell me again. Everything. Details, like did you notice any fresh tracks?”
It took Kate another half hour to walk through those two hours before the previous night’s sunset. “I don’t know what caught my attention. Dusk can play tricks on your eyes, you know? I was so afraid, I didn’t think clearly.”
A fist pounded on the door, and Kate jumped and knocked over her coffee cup. She was grateful to see she had drunk every last drop, although she didn’t remember it.
“What the hell? A closed door means I’m busy,” Kate yelled.
Paula’s voice filtered through the thin door. “Waters called. Those boys did it again. He needs you out there. Now.”
She tossed Jeb a hard hat. “Come on. Maybe I can make use of you.”
Jeb caught the hat and followed her out to the site. After a few minutes’ walk, Waters stalked toward them, his fists clenched tight.
“Sheriff Jeb McCormick, my foreman, Dave Waters. What’s the problem, Dave?”
Dave shook Jeb’s hand, then cut Kate a look. “One of those kids dumped again.”
“Damn it. Those lazy dumbasses. The stream that cuts through here is a big fishing stream.”
Jeb scowled at her. “I’ve fished in it all my life.”
“Cicada made it very clear that they have no interest in impacting the stream. I support their approach, philosophically and ethically, and made it a feature of the campus. If that weren’t enough, it’s illegal to dump, but some people don’t buy into pollution and the problems it causes. We’re fighting hundreds of years of bad habits.”
They quickly covered the quarter mile to the stream. Jeb pulled up short when he saw the five “kids,” as Waters called them. Those kids were young men from the county, each barely twenty years old, sitting on a downed tree looking guilty as charged.
One of the men recognized Jeb and bounded up. “Sheriff—”
“Shut up,” Kate snapped. “This is my job site, and you will address me, do you understand?” She paused long enough for the “yes ma’ams” to be muttered. “What about Waters’s direction that there would be no dumping from this job into the water didn’t you understand? Look at that mess. What’s downstream of here?”
“Painted Rock,” one of them answered.
“You fish there?” Kate demanded.
They all nodded.
“Do you want to eat a fish that swam through and breathed that milky crap you dumped?”
“No ma’am,” they muttered.
“Goddamn it. I’ve had it.”
“Kate,” Waters interrupted. “They’ve all got good hands and strong backs—”
“But rocks in their heads,” she finished for him.
“Still, I can get a lot more done with them than without them.”
Kate wanted to boot them all off the job, not just for what they did, but because she hadn’t slept, and her stomach kept rolling when she thought about what happened last night.
But Waters wanted them. He’d taught Kate everything she knew about being on-site. He had pushed her until there were no soft curves left; he had to, or she would have gotten eaten alive. For that, and so much more, she respected him. So he would have his way.
Kate stood in a broad stance with her hands on her hips and looked down at the men. “You want them, fine; you can have them. But get that stream cleaned up, now. And the next time you pull something like this on my job, I’m personally hauling your sorry asses over to the EPA. Got it?”
“Yes ma’am,” they muttered and looked to Jeb.
“Don’t look at me. I fish out of this stream, too. I’ll haul you in and let the EPA make the drive over. And I don’t even want to think about what your mamas will do to you.”
The men cringed again. Kate turned to leave, hopeful she wouldn’t have this problem again. As she walked away, Waters walked with her.
“You were right,” Waters said. “It was off by two inches. Always said you had the best eye I’d ever seen.”
“I don’t know why you doubted me. I learned from the best.” Kate glanced over Waters’s shoulder. “I’m serious about the dumping, Dave. I can get you new men.”
“I know you can, grasshopper, but I’ll take the devil I know. They’ll stay in line. I’ll have to remember to call their mothers. Never used that one before.”
“You’re going to keep them on?” Jeb asked, keeping pace.
“What Waters wants, Waters gets. He’s the best there is for a reason. Do you have any more questions?”
Jeb caught her arm to bring her to a stop. “Where were you yesterday until you met up wit
h my brother?”
“Butch dropped me here just before seven in the morning. I didn’t get a chance to breathe before the middle of the afternoon. I left around four-thirty, determined to move back out of his house.”
Jeb’s head jerked up. “Why?”
“I didn’t know who he was.” She shrugged off the embarrassment she had told herself she was over. “He didn’t tell me the whole story. Paula recognized him along with a few of the guys. Makes sense now. I felt foolish. They’re all asking me questions about him, and I’m blabbering on about how he helped me out and how I hoped he made it big someday, because he was really good.”
“Why did you stay?”
Kate slapped her hands on her dusty jeans and frowned. “Because I like his house. Because I hated the motel. Because he bought me ice cream. Because I like him. Because he asked me to stay.”
Jeb studied her face.
Kate firmed her mouth. “You don’t trust me.”
“No, ma’am, I don’t. Butch has done a good thing with his music, but it brings out all kinds. People relate to his music, and think they know him. He’s soft hearted, too soft for his own good.”
“And you’re going to protect him.”
Jeb nodded. “He is my little brother.”
Kate lifted her chin defiantly. “I don’t want anything from him. I don’t need anything from him.”
“He’s not staying, you know. He’s just visiting before his tour starts. He lives in California.” Jeb removed the hard hat and put his own back in place. “Let me know if you have any more trouble with those ‘kids.’”
Kate nodded and turned her back on him, leaving him to find his own way out as she climbed into the trailer. She still had hours of work ahead of her and a splitting headache. “I need more coffee, Paula.”
“Is everything all right?”
“God only knows. I need to get through some of this paperwork. Only let the important calls through, please.”
“Butch McCormick?” Paula asked with a grin.
“Sure.” Why not? Jeb told her Butch wasn’t staying to run her off. What Jeb didn’t think about was she wasn’t staying either. In less than a year, this project would be done, and she would be off to the next. That would be then. This was now.
Lost in Tennessee Page 9
