Shallow Creek

by Alistair McIntyre

  Brendan followed Grant out through the door and watched him unlock a shiny new red Chevy pickup, sporting all the bells and whistles. Brendan’s own truck wasn’t anything to sneeze at, but it still looked cheap by comparison.

  “I’ll see you around,” Grant said as he climbed up into the cab. “Don’t be a stranger.”

  And with that, his brother drove off into the night. Brendan got into his own truck and wondered why everyone kept saying that, and why neither brother had mentioned either of the eight-hundred-pound gorillas in the room.

  Chapter 25

  “Brendan, I really can’t talk right now.”

  “You say that a lot.”

  “I’m really, really busy,” Marcus insisted. “Unlike you, I’ve got a real job to do.”

  It was early on Monday morning, and in fairness, most regular people were working right now.

  “You’ve been dodging me for days. Come on, tell me what’s going on.”

  Brendan sat on Grant’s old bed, phone tucked uncomfortably between his shoulder and cheek while he pulled on his socks and running shoes. Right when Marcus started to talk, Brendan leaned too far forward and the phone slipped right out from its precarious perch. He quickly gathered it up.

  “What did you say, Marcus?”

  “I said I’ll lose my job if the sheriff finds out I helped you the other night,” he whispered quickly. “I’m already on thin ice with Sheriff Troy as it is.”

  Brendan considered this for a moment.

  “Does that mean you didn’t tell the DEA about my little side investigation?”

  “Hell no, I didn’t. Are you crazy? That would be the end of my short-lived career here, man.”

  “You know those same guys that kicked my ass in that warehouse jumped me and Michelle behind Trish’s?”

  “First off, what the hell were you doing with Michelle behind Trish’s and—”

  “How about we focus on the part where known drug dealers assaulted two innocent civilians?” Brendan snapped. “Are you like this with all your victims?”

  “Shut up, man. Let me think.”

  Brendan hunted for a clean shirt, but had to settle for an almost clean one. It was definitely time to commandeer the laundry room.

  “Okay,” Marcus said finally. Trucks were roaring by in the background, so Marcus must’ve stepped out of his office. “Are you sure it was the same guys?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure. And I’m sure they’ve got some interesting scars to prove they were properly introduced to my hand-to-hand skills.”

  “So you took them out this time?”

  “You know it.”

  “And Michelle’s fine?”

  “Yes, we’re both fine,” Brendan said, tiring of this back and forth.

  “Okay, good. Just let me handle this, alright?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Just keep your nose out of this. This is police business.”

  “What are you going to do, man?”

  “Trust me on this, and stay out of it.”

  Before Brendan could argue further, Marcus ended the call.

  Chapter 26

  The shower felt good after his morning run at the same park he’d ran with Marcus at before. The same two ladies had been there, but Brendan’s mind was way off in the clouds and he hadn’t engaged them, even when one tried to talk to him. He’d had enough trouble with married women recently, and he definitely didn’t need more.

  Despite it all, the storm had passed over without so much as a drop of rain. Nobody knew anything, and nobody was saying anything. The only negative consequence of the whole ordeal was that Michelle acted like she despised him. Or at least, that’s how he interpreted her aggression after dinner last night. Since she was the married one in the affair, that probably meant she took on the lion’s share of the guilt and remorse. She had a family to protect after all.

  Brendan guessed he did, too. He didn’t agree with his parents’ views on life really, and their obsession with reputation and such, but he didn’t want to be the one dragging the Rhodes name through the muck again. It wasn’t fair to them that their kids turned out to be such screw-ups. The biggest laugh of all was that Grant now appeared to be the most stable one of the three. Who’d have guessed that ten years ago?

  When he was done cleaning up and dressing, he grabbed his phone. Scrolling through the phonebook for someone to talk to, he settled on one person he hadn’t upset yet. She answered on the third ring.

  “Hey, Kim. It’s Brendan.”

  “Oh, how’s it going?”

  “Not bad,” he said, wondering what to say next. “Uh, you working today?”

  “No, I’ve got the day off.” She didn’t sound suspicious. Actually, if anything, she’d perked up a bit.

  “You want to take a drive out into the country, maybe take a hike through the wastelands of Texas?” he asked as smoothly as he could.

  She laughed. That was always a good sign. “Sure thing. Are you going to come pick me up?”

  “I’ll be there ASAP.” When he was done silently pumping his fist in the air, he quickly added, “Unless you need more time to get ready.”

  “No, no. I’ve been up for a while,” she said even quicker. “Let’s get going.”

  Everything else was pretty sucky, but on the drive to Kim’s mom’s house, Brendan felt some honest-to-God happiness forming. This diversion was exactly what the doctor ordered.

  As soon as he turned his pickup into her driveway, Kim shot out of her door and descended the stairs dragging a giant backpack behind her. He started to get out to offer his gentlemanly assistance, but she waved him off. Kim opened the passenger side door, tossed the pack into the backseat, and jumped up next to him.

  Kim wore actual hiking boots, as opposed to cowboy boots, and had donned blue jeans for their trip. He was impressed. The girl knew what she was doing. Brendan checked out his very self-assured companion until she looked his way.

  “Come on. Let’s get on the road.”

  And that he did, without any argument. They’d already made the short trip out to the state highway before she ran a hand over the top of the dashboard.

  “You keep a clean truck.”

  “That’s right,” he said. “She’s my baby.”

  “There aren’t even wrappers in the door pockets or anything.”

  “I know. That’s one thing that drives me crazy.”

  Kim produced an umbrella from under the seat.

  “Didn’t figure you for the kind of guy who used one of these,” she said, fidgeting with the release. “You’re probably not going to need it out here any time soon.”

  He snatched the umbrella from her and slid it into the empty pocket in his door.

  “Yeah, but I’m sure a pretty lady like yourself would appreciate me having one around on the off-chance you need it.”

  “Aw, I didn’t figure you as the chivalrous type either.”

  “You’ll learn a lot hanging with me.”

  “Oh yes, because you’re so old and wise.” She cut him a sideways glance. Then she acted the part of closely examining his face. “Well, I’ll give you ‘old’ and we can work on the wise part.”

  “Ha, thanks for nothing.”

  They continued on in this manner for over an hour, until the perfectly flat highway morphed into the merest suggestion of elevation. Now Kim was digging through his mostly empty glovebox and yammering on about how ridiculous it was that all he kept in there was a copy of his insurance card and some Tums. Brendan tried to stay focused on her, but a black Dodge truck had populated his rearview mirror for the last ten miles.

  “Is something wrong?” Kim asked.

  “No.” He tore his eyes away from the Dodge’s reflection. “Why?”

  “Because you keep spacing out on me.” Kim put a hand on his forearm, which rested on the wide center console between them. “Do you have PTSD?”

  “What? No. Don’t worry about it.”

  Her eyes stayed locked onto h
im for a few moments before she pulled her hand off his arm. She reached into the backseat and forced the oversized backpack through the gap between the front seats. Now holding the monstrosity in her lap, she started unzipping random pockets and milling around inside it.

  “You heading out on safari?”

  “Very funny.” She produced a thermally insulated lunchbox and unzipped it, revealing a series of plastic baggies inside.

  “Drugs? You shouldn’t have.”

  Kim slapped his arm. “No, dummy. It’s just lunch.”

  She held up one of the baggies and Brendan could see a lovely ham sandwich sealed up safe and sound. Maybe he should’ve considered bringing some nourishment along for such an extended trip, but the thought hadn’t really crossed his mind while he was rushing out of his parents’ house. All he had was the one water bottle resting under his armrest.

  “Good thing I’m not Jewish. Thanks for thinking ahead.”

  The signs for the state park appeared closer and closer together on the roadside. Brendan’s mirror still showed the mysterious black truck, but now he was seriously doubting himself. Could he just be paranoid? This was the main highway that led to a large portion of the state, and there weren’t that many stops along the way, so it shouldn’t be that unusual for two vehicles to travel vast distances with different destinations in mind.

  An arrow etched into a short stone wall commanded Brendan to turn right into the park. As he did, he caught a glimpse of the Dodge slowing down in his rearview, but then the truck shot off down the highway. It could’ve been some kind of optical illusion to do with turning and looking backwards at the same time, or something.

  Whatever, the truck was gone now.

  Brendan killed his truck’s engine in the vacant parking lot and grabbed Kim’s pack off her lap. When she gave him a look of surprise, he smiled. “Chivalrous, right? Come on, I’m not getting the door for you. Let’s go.”

  Chapter 27

  “What really happened that night, back in high school?” Kim asked.

  “Which night is that?”

  “The one where you drove your brother’s truck under-aged.”

  Brendan kicked a stone and watched it skitter off the path and into the short bushes.

  “Why do you care? You were, what, sixth grade when that happened? Michelle wasn’t even in high school yet.”

  “Didn’t mean to pour salt in the wound. Sorry.”

  Neither spoke again for a solid five minutes as they hiked the open trail. That amount of time typically flew by, but these minutes dragged on awkwardly until Brendan couldn’t hack it anymore.

  “We should get to know each other a little better before raking up that mess,” he said. Kim’s serious expression loosened at this. “What do you do for work? I never asked you when you said you worked a late shift the other day.”

  “I’m the receptionist at the hospital.” She shielded her eyes against the sun and stared intently at a stand of small trees off in the distance. “It’s not glamorous, but it’s pretty much my job to lose, so I’ll stick with it.”

  “You probably see some interesting patients roll through there.”

  “Ugh, you would not believe the messes that end up there. Recently it’s been a whole bunch of serious burn cases. Most of the time they arrive with the EMTs, so they get rushed right past me, but a couple of smoldering arms have come my way.”

  “Sounds nasty.” Brendan knew all too well the disgusting scent of burned flesh and hair.

  “It’s totally gross, and usually it’s hands, chest, or face, or a combo of the three, so it’s kind of hard to miss.”

  “Ever have to deal with people you know? Shallow Creek ain’t a big place.”

  “Yeah, not that long ago it was my ex in there with a bad burn on his neck.” Kim wasn’t too impressed with this guy from the shift in her tone. “He made up some story about a firework accident, but I overheard Dr. Channing telling Chloe, one of the nurses, that most of these burn victims have been cooking meth in their trailers.”

  “That doesn’t sound smart.” At least now Brendan didn’t need to worry about the ex-boyfriend throwing a wrench in the works if he and Kim ever had a thing. The guy sounded like he possessed all the brains of a doorknob.

  “It’s not safe either,” Kim pointed out. “For anyone. I mean, they do this in trailers right next to their neighbors. You could be watching TV when suddenly the place next door explodes and sets your house on fire. Brice actually lives right near Michelle, but I never talked to her about it.”

  “Brice? That your old flame?”

  “Yup. Long gone and so long.” She waved into the distance for effect. “Thank the Lord.”

  “Sounds like a genius to me, cooking homemade meth.”

  She nodded.

  “I Googled it after I heard the doctor talking about it. They stick it all in an empty two-liter bottle of Coke, then microwave it, and then shake it, or something like that. The damn things explode more often than not, giving them really bad burns.”

  “So you think this is happening a lot around town?”

  “Seems like it, judging on how many idiots immolate themselves.”

  Kim suddenly cut up a side trail that eventually led up to a slightly elevated plateau. To some people, this part of Texas looked desolate, but the mix of colors and textures took Brendan’s breath away. The sun drew out all the hidden pigments of the exposed rock formations, revealing a majestic view that so few cared to see firsthand.

  “You still running your little investigation?” she asked him before prompting him to slide the backpack off his shoulders.

  “Yeah, trying to.”

  Kim opened up the pack on the ground and started pulling things out. She unfolded a plaid blanket and laid it out for them to sit on while she unpacked their lunch.

  “Brice ran around with Scott, my cousin,” she said while handing him a sandwich. “I figured you might want to know that.”

  “Interesting.”

  “And my cousin Dave ODed about a year ago. That was Scott’s younger brother.”

  Brendan left his sandwich untouched.

  “Kim, you don’t have to share all this personal stuff if you don’t want to.”

  “No, it’s fine.” The breeze caught some of her hair and dragged it across her face. She automatically tucked the wayward strands back behind her ears. “If you can do something to fix all of this, I want to help.”

  “You’ve already been a big help.”

  “Have you spoken to Casey again about all of this?”

  “No.”

  “You guys seem to be working on the same thing. She thinks her sister was killed by one of the gang dealing the meth.”

  “Did she tell you that?”

  “Yeah,” Kim said. “You should talk to her.”

  Brendan mulled that over. “What do you really know about her?”

  Kim shrugged. “Not much really. I met her almost a month ago. We hung out a few times. She didn’t really know anyone around town and she’s really nice, so I didn’t mind hanging out.” When Brendan didn’t ask a follow-up, Kim smiled and punched him in the arm. “Why are you asking? Do you like her?”

  “No, nothing like that,” Brendan said, not wanting to admit to Kim that he plain didn’t trust Casey.

  “You can tell me if you do.”

  “I don’t.”

  She nodded and they both nibbled at their food, soaking in the sights peacefully, or so Brendan thought. Kim put her half-eaten sandwich down, but kept looking away as she talked.

  “Michelle and I haven’t spoken much since her drug problems back in the day.”

  “Kim, really, you don’t have to—”

  “But I want to,” she said forcefully, now staring him right in the face. “I want to tell you, because I want to get to know you. I want to ask you questions and have you feel comfortable enough with me to answer them. You seem like a really good guy, and I know Michelle has always thought the world of you.” />
  He and Michelle’s deviant relationship was one topic that Brendan didn’t think he’d ever be comfortable sharing with Kim. He didn’t have much time to consider the various consequences involved before Kim launched into the whole story.

  “Michelle was driving me to a bar. I wasn’t old enough, but she told me she knew the bouncer and it wouldn’t be a problem. I was eighteen, still in school. Impressionable. Stupid. The usual bad teenage combination. My night out with my older sister was going great until she pulled into this dingy trailer park that doesn’t even exist anymore. It was called Pine Oaks, or something stupid like that. Back then there were rumors around high school that the Torres Cartel operated out of that neighborhood. I was freaked out, so I asked her what she was doing, but she told me not to worry about it; she was just going to score us some coke so we could have more fun.”

  Brendan put a hand on her knee when tears formed in her eyes. She shifted around to sit right next to him, so he instinctively put an arm around her and drew her close. Kim rested her head on his shoulder as she fought off the strong emotions trying to escape.

  “She parked her car in between two houses, in the shadows, so that no one would see us, she said. Her dealer and his buddy grabbed her and dragged her towards their house. She screamed and I jumped out of the car screaming, too, but no one paid any attention. In that kind of neighborhood, this crap happens a lot, I guess. One of the guys grabbed me, too, and bent me over my sister’s car.”

  Kim paused and stroked away a few renegade tears.

  “He started pulling on my pants, pulled them so hard that the button on the fly popped right off. His hand was everywhere, and I hated it so fucking much, but I just couldn’t get free. I could feel him pressing against me, but I couldn’t think of how to get away. When he fumbled with my zipper, I heard a thump and felt the bastard fall away.”

  She pulled back from Brendan and looked at him.

  “It was Grant. Grant was standing over the man, holding a bloodied baseball bat. He roared like an animal and pummeled the guy messing with Michelle. He could’ve stopped at that point, but he didn’t. He battered the shit out of those assholes, and you know what? I didn’t even care. Grant put us in the backseat of Michelle’s car and drove us to the park, where we sat and talked things over for a while before he drove us home.”