Hal ran a hand over his smooth head. “Yeah, afraid so. I was in Crystal’s office just now when it came in.”
“It says here that Matt Hennesey has cancer and had been transferred to the Springfield medical facility from Leavenworth and he broke out of there yesterday.”
He looked up at Hal who had a worried look on his face. “That means that he could be here already.”
Hal frowned and said, “I took the liberty of calling that facility in Springfield before you called me in. They said that Hennesey was given six months to live and that was three months ago.”
He shook his head and stood to pace around the large office. “That means that whether he meant it or not at the trial, now that he’s going to die anyway, he’s for sure going to come looking for you.”
Floyd ran his fingers through his bristly hair. “Yeah. That’s what I figured too. But what can we do? I won’t go into hiding until this joker dies from the cancer.”
They suddenly looked at each other with pained expressions on their faces and Floyd said, “Penny!”
Hal shook his head. “Yeah, if he gets wind of her, he’ll go after her first. That snake is just that mean.”
Floyd punched the intercom button and said, “Crystal, can you get me the principal at Wilson Elementary on the phone please?”
In a couple of minutes, she buzzed him and he picked up the phone. After he finished telling the principal he needed to come get Penny, he hung up and looked at Hal.
Hal said, “What are you going to do?
“I guess I’ll keep her here at the office all day until I go home and take her with me then.” He pounded his fist down on the desk. “I don’t know what else to do.”
Shortly after lunch, Floyd was sitting at his desk trying to work his way through all the major reports of the weekend. They’d had a burglary Saturday night and as he had feared, several accidents with injuries last night in the snow. Thankfully, there hadn’t been any fatalities.
He heard a sound and looked up to see Penny standing in the doorway. “Come on in Penny. What can I do for you?”
She slowly approached his desk and stood beside his desk chair. “How long am I going to be doing my schoolwork here?”
Floyd shook his head. “I’m not sure Penny. Like I told you this morning, there’s a bad guy out there who wants to hurt me and I’m afraid he’ll hurt you first if he gets the chance. And I don’t know how long it’ll take us to catch him.”
He reached out an open palm and she placed her hand in it. “I’m sorry that you can’t go to school for a while, but I’ve just found you and I don’t want to lose you.”
She seemed surprised at that. “You mean you like me?”
He laughed. “Yes, Penny. How could I not like you? You’re so much like me that it’s scary.”
She giggled as she went back into Crystal’s office where they’d set up a card table for her to work at.
He’d just looked back down at the burglary report when Bev at the front desk called on the intercom. “Sheriff, Sue Ann Vickers is out here demanding to talk to you. Should I send her back?”
He smiled and said, “Sure Bev.”
He was surprised that Sue Ann would be coming here to see him. He didn’t think she’d ever been in his office before.
* * *
Sue Ann had had a busy morning, which included the fact that a new stylist had started today. Now she finally had the empty chair in her shop filled. They had been working side by side long enough now that when the noon rush was over, she felt confident enough to leave the shop the way she used to do before her last girl had quit.
But where could she go? She used to go to The Early Bird Bar and Grill to talk to Jo but she couldn’t do that anymore. Not only had the bar burned to the ground and a convenience store had replaced it, but Jo was a preacher’s wife now. Good grief. She couldn’t keep up with all the changes in this normally sleepy little town.
She was just starting to leave the shop when she overheard the woman Bobbie was working on say, “It’s all over the news. They say that the man swore he’d get even with Sheriff McCracken when he got out.”
Sue Ann turned to the woman and said, “Who is that?”
The woman seemed to puff up in importance the way some people do when they realize that they know something that others want to know. “Why it’s that nasty man who was selling all those drugs five or six years ago. His name is Henley or Hensey or something like that.”
“Matt Hennessey?”
“Yes, that’s the one.”
Sue Ann raced out the back door to her car as the frustrated woman was trying to tell her more. She’d heard enough. She had to see Floyd right away.
When she pulled into the sheriff’s office parking lot, she had the sudden hope that she hadn’t run any red lights on the way over there.
She stepped up to the reception window where Bev Meyers was sitting. She knew Bev well. Bev had been a couple of years ahead of her in school and always had her hair done at Sue Ann’s shop.
“Hi Bev. Is Floyd here? I need to see him right away.”
“Sure let me check.”
She couldn’t hear what Bev said on the phone but the rather large woman smiled down at her and pointed to a door to Sue Ann’s right, which started buzzing.
“You’ll see his office at the end of the hallway once you get inside.”
When she passed through Crystal’s office, her fears were confirmed when she saw Penny sitting at a card table set up to one side of the room. It looked like she was doing her schoolwork.
She said, “Hi Penny” as she continued on to Floyd’s office.
Penny looked up with a grin and said, “Hi Sue Ann. I’m doing my schoolwork here now.”
She stopped in the doorway of Floyd’s office. She realized she’d never been inside the building before and was somewhat surprised to see the inside of his office. She remembered Gil telling her that Floyd had a desk that was so high that most people sitting in one of the visitor chairs could barely see over it to where Floyd was sitting. So she decided that she wasn’t going to sit down.
She put her hands on the front edge of his desk, leaned over toward him, and glared at him. “When were you going to tell me?”
He tried to smile at her but her glare wiped the smile right off his face. “Now Sue Ann calm down a bit. I take it you heard about Hennesey?”
“Yes I did. Floyd, that man swore he’d kill you when he got out.”
“Yes, Sue Ann, I know that and we’re doing everything we possibly can to keep him from doing that or hurting anyone else.” He motioned to the next office. “That’s why I have Penny here with me. I don’t want him finding out about her and going after her too.”
There was a small seating area to her left that she hadn’t noticed when she’d stormed in. It had four armchairs around a coffee table. Floyd stood and placing his hand on her back guided her over there. Then they sat down in facing armchairs.
Floyd grinned at her and said, “Do I take this as an indication that you care enough about me to worry just a little bit?”
She reached across the coffee table and smacked him on the knee. “Floyd Ray McCracken, you know better than that. You know I’ve always cared about you. It’s just that you were always too mean and ornery for me to get close to until now.”
His grin was starting to irritate her. “Can’t you take this seriously? Floyd, that man wants to kill you! What part of that don’t you understand?”
Sue Ann had her back to the door and was surprised when Floyd held up a hand to her and said, “Come on in Penny. You may as well be in on this discussion. Most of it affects you too.”
She turned and saw Penny who came in and sat in a chair that was between her and Floyd.
Just then, Hal Lewis entered the room, went straight to Floyd, and handed him a sheet of paper. After Floyd read it, their eyes met and Floyd nodded to Hal who then left the room.
Floyd then looked at Penny and said, “I think
you might better leave the room for a few minutes while I tell Sue Ann about the guy who wants to hurt me.”
Penny was shaking her head the whole time Floyd was talking and when he finished she leaned forward, placed her hands on her hips, and said, “You’re not getting rid of me. I know what’s going on here. I heard some of the deputies talking about that man. I know he wants to kill you. Well, I’m staying. Where do you think I’ve lived all my life before I came here?”
Sue Ann gave Floyd a blank look but before he could explain, Penny looked at her and said, “The part of KC I lived in there were people getting killed all the time. I’m used to it.”
Floyd groaned and when Sue Ann looked at him, he just shrugged his shoulders.
“Okay Penny you can stay.” He shook the paper in his hand. “This says that Hennesey has an inoperable brain tumor that could kill him any time now.”
When he stopped and looked at Sue Ann, Penny glared at him and said, “I want to hear all of it.”
“Okay. He escaped from the Federal Medical Facility in Springfield yesterday by killing a guard and wearing his uniform out the gate.” He let that sink in then said, “They’re sure that he was headed this way. They talked to his cellmate at Leavenworth who said that the guy was constantly bragging about how he was going to kill me when he got out.”
Sue Ann glared at him and said, “So what are you going to do about it? You can’t just sit around and wait for him to sneak up on you.”
When he didn’t answer quick enough for her, she said, “At least you’d better not.”
He shook his head. “No, every deputy in the county is on hyper alert watching for the guy. Any strange vehicle is being stopped and checked out. And the Highway Patrol has a roadblock set up on the state road between here and Springfield.”
Sue Ann snorted. “Isn’t that kind of like closing the barn door after the horse already bolted? He’s probably already been in the area all morning.”
He nodded. “You’re probably right.”
Sue Ann just crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. When Penny joined Sue Ann in glaring at him he said, “Other than that, I’m going to have to be very careful what I do and how I do it especially any time I’m out in the public.”
* * *
Floyd and Penny made it home to their small apartment without incident. As soon as they did though, Floyd thought about his scheduled date with Sue Ann. Then he thought about the fact that he could be placing her in danger just by her being seen with him.
He quickly called her but she would have nothing of it.
“Floyd I want this last date without the kids. You know that Hennesey probably won’t attack you in public that way.”
Even though he secretly agreed with her, he wasn’t about to let her know it.
“Okay, Sue Ann, I just wanted to give you the chance to make the decision. I don’t want you to be able to say that I’m forcing things on you the way I used to do.”
She laughed and they hung up so they could both get ready.
As soon as he was ready, he took Penny down to Mrs. Whitaker’s apartment.
On the way, Penny looked up at him and said, “I really like that house we looked at yesterday.”
He smiled down at his daughter. “Yes, Penny, I did too. And I’m glad that the owners accepted our offer.” When she gave him a puzzled look, he said, “That means that in less than a month we’ll be living in that house.”
She clapped her hands and said, “Wow, can you believe that? No more dinky apartments! I’m going to live in a real house, a big house.”
Floyd hurt for his little girl. He was sure she hadn’t had that good of a life before she came to live with him. But he rejoiced in the fact that she seemed to be happy now living with him. And he also vowed that she would have as good a life from here on as he could possibly give her.
He could just imagine her and Andy playing in the huge backyard at the new house. It even had a new looking jungle gym, complete with a playhouse on top. And although the master bedroom was huge, the other three bedrooms were all large too. It had a large living room and a large family room. It was just perfect for his extended family. Was he actually thinking about adding two more to that family?
When he picked up Sue Ann, she was not as bubbly as she’d been lately. He knew the reason for it too. It was like a dark cloud was hanging over all of them right now. And until they could catch Hennesey, it would only get worse.
Floyd took her to a local barbeque restaurant hoping that the noisy, cheerful atmosphere would lift Sue Ann’s spirits but it didn’t seem to be working.
They both tried to enjoy themselves and tried to make sure the other one did as well but it just wasn’t happening. He looked at Sue Ann and realized she was miserable.
“I’m sorry Sue Ann. I sure didn’t plan for this sort of thing to happen. But it is part of my job which is also a part of who I am now.”
She looked across the table at him and tried to smile. “That’s okay Floyd. I’m trying to take all of that in but I’m just not used to it.”
He frowned. “Sue Ann, I would understand if you didn’t want to see me anymore because of my job. Being in law enforcement is never easy for those close to the person.
She slammed her palm down on the table causing the silverware to rattle in their plates. “Now Floyd McCracken, you’re not going to get rid of me that easy. It’s taken us too long to get to this point, and I’m not about to walk away the first time something comes up. I just have to adjust to all this, that’s all. I know this is who you are now and I wouldn’t be sitting here right now if I didn’t like that person.”
While he was still trying to recover from her startling declaration, she said, “And I still want to be with you. Is that clear?”
He was grinning by the time she finished. “It came across loud and clear and I couldn’t be any happier.”
A man clearing his throat nearby brought them both back to their surroundings. Floyd looked up to find that new high school teacher, Mike Bates, standing there. Floyd didn’t like the guy because he had gone out with Sue Ann a couple of times last fall. That was before she found out that his divorce wasn’t final yet. As far as Floyd knew, she hadn’t seen the jerk since.
Both of them just stared up at him and he said, “It’s good to see the two of you.” He smiled. “Do I take this to mean that you’ve stopped fighting and realized you belong together? I think you two fit together rather well.”
Floyd wasn’t quite sure where the guy was coming from so he stood. Bates was almost as tall as Floyd with brown hair and eyes. But Floyd knew he still outweighed him by at least twenty pounds.
Bates stuck out his hand to shake Floyd’s and before he could respond, Sue Ann quickly called out, “Easy Floyd.”
Floyd knew immediately what she meant. The first time he’d shaken the guy’s hand, he’d tried to crush it. So he very carefully shook the proffered hand.
To his surprise, there was a small piece of paper in the guy’s hand and when they let go, it was now in Floyd’s hand. He quickly stuck that hand into his jeans pocket to leave it there. There was no way this jerk could be the undercover DEA agent, could he?
Bates left quickly after that and Floyd turned to Sue Ann who said, “I wonder what that was all about. I haven’t even seen him in months.”
Floyd grinned and said, “I certainly don’t need his blessings to see you. Your mama is the only one who might have anything to say about that and I know she likes me.” He thought for a moment. “And I even think Andy does too now that I took him for a ride in my patrol vehicle.”
They both laughed at that, but they also knew that to try to stretch the evening out any longer would be no good. So Floyd took her home.
As soon as he pulled away from Sue Ann’s house, he pulled around the corner and stopped. Pulling the piece of paper out of his pocket, he turned on the dome light.
It was a piece torn off a computer printout. It said, “POV midnight behi
nd stadium alone.”
Well Floyd sure was surprised. He’d never have guessed that wimpy teacher of being an undercover DEA agent. But as he thought about it though, those guys had to be good at not looking like an agent or they’d never make it undercover.
To make a midnight meeting, Floyd made arrangements with Mrs. Whitaker for Penny to spend the night with her.
Penny had complained all the way down to Mrs. Whitaker’s apartment but she stopped as soon as the older lady opened the door and pulled her into a hug.
Floyd spent the rest of the evening going over some files that he’d brought home. Rob had given him everything they had on the new drug ring.
He looked over everything that had happened for the past six months looking for any kind of a pattern and came up with nothing.
He was discouraged when he put them away and prepared to meet Bates.
* * *
Floyd was parked behind the high school bleachers in his Cherokee at midnight. As he sat there, he had to credit the guy with choosing an ideal meeting place. There was a small woods behind the bleachers that could be reached by a dirt road that came off the state highway on the other side. He knew that Bates would park his vehicle over there and walk through the woods to where Floyd was parked. He had to admit that it was pretty good planning. Maybe this guy knew what he was doing after all.
Floyd didn’t have long to wait. As he watched, a dark figure emerged from the woods and quickly made his way to the Cherokee. Floyd powered the passenger side window down and Bates stuck his head in. “Dome light off?”
“Always.”
He then opened the door and slid in showing Floyd his badge. He slid down in his seat to where his head was slightly below window level then said, “Drive through town slowly and then back out to here.”
Floyd did as directed. At first, he was still having trouble accepting this guy as a Fed. And if he was honest with himself, he didn’t like taking orders from him, or anyone else for that matter. But, after all, what the guy said was simply good procedure.
A Better Solution (Crowley County Series Book 2) Page 10
