Full Circle

by Mariella Starr

  "I don't how long it's going to be this time, but I'm going to run roughshod over Aiden and the town council about hiring a new sheriff. I'm not going to let him get away with putting me off this time, and I'm going to be doing short days too. I've got a bunch of stuff I still want to get done around here."

  "I had a bunch of stuff I wanted to do, too," Jack muttered, giving a tug to her tucked-in shirt and sliding his hands up inside.

  Chapter 7

  Sheriff Raintree and Deputy Clay Tucker stepped inside Riley's Tavern in their official capacity. Josie looked to Riley Connors and around the room where Jeanine, one of the servers, was sweeping up broken glass and setting things right.

  "Damages," Josie asked.

  "About sixteen broken glasses," Riley answered.

  "Eighteen plus two pitchers," Jeanine corrected, walking past with a dustpan full of broken glass.

  Riley gave a nod. "If she pays for the damages and you get her out of here, it's a wash. I'm not letting her come back in my place again. This is about the fourth time—"

  "Sixth time," Jeanine corrected, coming back from the kitchen with a loaded tray.

  Riley grinned at his favorite waitress and sometimes sleeping partner, and returned his attention to the Sheriff. "Like I said, I'm banning Jolene from coming in. Some of the guys may appreciate two women rolling on the floor fighting, scratching and pulling hair, but it's not my thing and I'm not paying for the entertainment value. Lorrie's got her in the backroom. She was already about half lit when she showed up. I refused to serve her liquor, so I think she's been spiking her soda with booze that she brought in with her."

  "I can't check her purse without cause," Josie said.

  "Get her out of here and make her pay the damages," Riley said.

  Josie made a face. "Deputy Tucker, I'm going to let you handle this. I am not Jolene Watson's favorite person, and I don't want to set off another catfight. Explain to her she has to pay for the breakage, and she'll be real lucky if Shelley doesn't press charges. You'll have to confiscate her keys and drive her home. If she wants her car back, she'll have to pay for Riley's damages or I'll have it impounded."

  "Don't you want to—" Clay started to ask.

  "No, I don't," Josie cut him off. "I'm giving you the lead on this one. Do you have a problem with that, Deputy?"

  "No, ma'am." Clay shook his head and went off to do his duty.

  "She'll be all over him," Riley warned. "She's a crazy drunk!"

  "I'm trying to force the issue, trying to make Clay step up a little more as a back-up," Josie said quietly as Clay went into the other room. "Are you and Jeanine still coming over for steaks tomorrow afternoon?"

  "Yep. Jack has been bragging on the size of that grill for a week. We'll see if it and he live up to all the hype," Riley said, grinning.

  Deputy Clay Tucker brought Jolene Watson through the tavern with a firm grip on her arm while doing a lot of holding up and guiding as he tried to get her outside. Jolene did not go quietly. She was yelling that she did not start the fight and that Doug told her he was through with his wife. The deputy was trying to keep her quiet, but a drunk, incensed woman was a battle. Jolene pulled the deputy to a halt when she saw Josie standing at the bar. She tried to weave her way in Josie's direction.

  "Bitch! Slut! Cunt! You've been causing me trouble ever since you came back!" Jolene screamed before a shocked Deputy Tucker grabbed her again.

  "Sorry, Sheriff, but I'm not driving her home. I'm taking her to the office," Deputy Tucker said, hauling the drunken woman out with a stronger grip this time. "There isn't any call for her to say things like that, and she can sleep it off in a cell."

  "That went well!" Josie said, with a grin to Riley.

  "You could charge her for that," Riley said mildly. "Isn't that verbal assault on an officer of the law?"

  "True," Josie said, "but it wouldn't do any good. Jolene has been calling me names since the third grade. Some people never grow up. Tomorrow morning, she's going to have one hell of a headache, and she'll probably blame that on me, too. I'll see you tomorrow afternoon and don't forget to bring some of Sal's baked beans."

  The trip back to the sheriff's office was loud and R-rated. Jolene spent a good portion of time calling Josie names. On top of that she got sick in the backseat, which made both Josie and Clay cringe because they knew who had to clean up the mess.

  "To Jack's Monster Grill!" Jeanine toasted. Three beers and an iced tea clinked together as all four friends looked to the monstrous stainless-steel two-tank gas grill. It was big enough to cook food for twenty, but for this meal Jack had barbecued four short stacks of baby back ribs, a half dozen ears of corn and various other vegetables.

  "We're going to have to plan a bigger party," Josie complained. "This wasn't even a test for that beast."

  "Says you who didn't do the cooking," Jack teased.

  "I could cook on it," Josie said, sensing a challenge.

  "It's off limits," Jack proclaimed. "That grill is man territory. No females allowed."

  Jeanine laughed. "Hold him to that, girlfriend. You'll never have to cook again—it's the gift that keeps on giving. Now come on and give me the grand tour. I'm stuffed, and I need to move around a bit."

  Josie led Jeanine off to show her the progress on the upstairs rooms and the library. Jack tried to hand off another beer to Riley, but he shook his head.

  "I've had my limit," Riley said. "Occupational hazard. I keep strict tabs on myself. After my last tour, I almost went into the bottle for good. It screwed my head up for quite a while. Have you got yours screwed back on straight yet?"

  "Sometimes better than others," Jack admitted. "Josie helps. We both have our demons."

  "Buck got tipsy one night and spilled his guts," Riley admitted. "That's a tough break on him; she is not bending."

  "She spent a childhood believing he didn't care enough to find her. She's a tough sell. It's not my business and not my balls she wants to cut off, so I'm trying to stay out of it."

  "I looked her up, Josie I mean, on the Internet. Reading between the lines, it looked to me like they left her out there to fend for herself. So she got herself out of that mess the hard way, and the agency tried to mop up afterwards and cover their asses."

  "She doesn't give out too many details, but it was bad," Jack agreed. "She still has nightmares."

  "Don't we all," Riley said bluntly, while pouring himself and Jack another glass of tea.

  "Jack, there's plenty of room here," Josie said over breakfast. "Pick a room or several rooms and setup shop."

  "I know, but I need to do a lot of research and I need to give myself time to think it through." Jack picked up her hand and kissed her palm. "I'm not moving out, Josie. I'm only setting up an office. I was hoping we'd have more time together, but now that you're back wearing a badge, that's out for a while longer. I'll get the old house site cleaned up and bring in a temporary office trailer. Once the utilities are re-connected, I can take on-line classes and spend some time trying to design again. It's been a long time. Although I never lost the desire, I have lost the skills or at least the most current program skills."

  "I don't understand why you can't do that here," Josie said. "If you don't want to set up in the house, there's the entire second floor of the carriage house. That's over two thousand square feet. It's so big that Alex wants to turn it into a skate-boarding area."

  "Pride," Jack said simply. "I don't want people to get the idea that I'm living off you."

  "That's silly and chauvinistic!"

  Jack grinned. "I know. I also promised Alex I wouldn't mooch off you."

  "Machismo." She shook her head in disgust.

  "Right down to my toes and you love it," Jack said, pulling her into his lap. "Complaints?"

  "A few," Josie teased. "We can discuss them later. Is Jimmy sending a crew out to clean up your site?"

  "No, he said he was up to his eyeballs in work. I didn't want to put it off, so I called a company in Frankli
n. They'll meet me there this morning with several commercial dump trucks, an excavator and a small dozer. They haven't seen the site yet, but I sent them photos, and they estimated it would take less than a day. What's on your agenda today?"

  "Whatever comes up," Josie said and when he raised an eyebrow, she laughed and kissed him. "That too, macho-man—only much, much later!"

  Later, Josie thought, as Georgina called and told her to get out to the Rawlings' place pronto. Thinking Jack or one of the workers was hurt on the site, she broke every speed limit getting there.

  Parking behind the equipment, she saw Jack and another man standing at the edge of the yard. Workers were all gathered over by one of the barns.

  "What's going on?" Josie demanded walking over to Jack.

  "Josie, this is Glen Barlow from Barlow Excavation. Glen, this is Sheriff Josie Raintree," Jack made the introductions.

  "What's wrong?"

  "I hope you haven't eaten since breakfast," Jack said. He took her by the arm and led her over to a dump truck where an excavator had stopped with its bucket hovering over the truck. He pointed at the fill bucket, and Josie looked at it a minute before she realized what she was seeing.

  She swallowed hard. "Is that a... ."

  "Yeah, badly decomposed," Jack said. "As soon as we recognized it, we stopped."

  "Oh God, not another one," Josie exclaimed.

  "More than one," Jack said pointedly. "We walked back over to where the bucket picked up that load. Josie, it looks as if there might be more. I called Georgina to get you and I called Detective Webber. He's on his way. You two will have to decide what to do. We kept everyone away from the area and haven't touched anything."

  "Good," Josie whispered. "Oh God." She fumbled for her phone and called Detective Webber to tell him she was onsite. She went back to her car to get crime tape out of her trunk and realized the affected area was too extensive. The only thing she could do was contain the area, and Jack had already done that.

  "Tell the workers to stay exactly where they are and not move around until the state people get here," Josie ordered. "Detective Webber is calling the FBI Field Office in Oklahoma City. We can't touch anything until they get here."

  County, state and FBI personnel arrived en masse in unmarked vehicles, SUVs, vans and coroner body transports.

  Glen Barlow and Jack explained how they were there to clean up the site. Detective Webber explained about the body discovered after the fire. After that, they had little to do but stand back and let the state and federal experts assume responsibility for the crime site.

  The FBI took over the sheriff's office for their use. They transported the workers from the site by van to the sheriff's office for questioning before releasing them. They sequestered Georgina's dispatch station and instructed her not to give out any information to anyone. Within hours though, someone was leaking information. The press began to arrive and sniff around the perplexed citizenry of Rawlings.

  It was well after dark before the FBI Senior Agent and Team Leader, Bill Coulter, asked Jack and Josie to leave the site.

  "How many," Josie asked of the FBI Agent.

  He shook his head. "Go home, Sheriff Raintree. This case is under our jurisdiction, we'll contact you later."

  "Yes, I know," said Josie calmly, but firmly. "This is my town, Agent Coulter. You will keep me in the loop. I am ex-CIA, and I can handle it. Mr. Rawlings is a recently decommissioned Lieutenant Commander, Team Leader of a Navy SEAL unit. This is his property. Whatever you discover, I need to know. How many?"

  The FBI Agent stared at them for five long seconds taking their measure. "Follow me." He took them to where the excavator had found the first remains. He gingerly stepped around marked off areas, not daring to disturb the forensic experts sifting through dirt very much as archeologists did, with precise care and respect. "So far we've found four distinct sets of remains. They seem to be lined up in a row as if in a cemetery, buried about three feet beneath the surface."

  "This is where the side porch was located," said Jack, looking around. "This side yard slopes downward and the porch was built maybe five feet off the ground at the lowest point of the slope. I used to play under there when I was a little kid. My father would dump sand under the porch, so it was like a giant sandbox."

  One of the forensic experts was listening. "That would explain the high density of the sand here and would also explain those." He pointed to several large metal Tonka trucks and plastic Star Wars action figures.

  Jack nodded. "Yeah, I remember those from a long time ago."

  Agent Bill Coulter nodded, remembering his childhood favorites. "That's all I'm willing to say at the moment, Sheriff, Mr. Rawlings. Now I'm asking you to leave the site, return to your home. I've been informed that you two are an item. I'll find you when I need to talk to you again."

  "I have a town to protect," Josie interrupted. "I have to tell the mayor and town council what's going on even if I can't give them a complete report."

  "Keep a lid on as much as you can," Agent Coulter ordered. "No press conferences coming out of your office unless I authorize it."

  "Five bodies, Agent Coulter. Maybe more. You're not going to keep this quiet very long. Call me as soon as you know anything," Josie ordered. "I'll have my deputies work out of the town hall until further notice, but we can't move the dispatch station, so you'll have to work around it.

  Josie and Jack returned home, but did not attempt to go to bed because they knew they wouldn't sleep. The phones were eerily silent.

  Jack sat down on the couch and pulled Josie down beside him as they held each other in silence. Eventually, Jack fixed a pot of coffee and Josie turned on the news. So far, the regional stations were not broadcasting any information. Along about four in the morning, the Westminster chimes went off, and they opened the door to Jimmy Richards.

  "Is it true?" Jimmy demanded. "Has another body been found?"

  "Where did you hear that?" Josie demanded.

  "Mary Anne's Cousin Pat called her from Cedar Grove. Woke us up and said that another body, maybe more, was found," Jimmy exclaimed. "Is it true?"

  "I can't comment until the FBI gives me the all clear," Josie told her friend.

  Jimmy's eyes went big as he realized it was true.

  "Go on back home or to work, Jimmy. I can't talk to you about it," Josie said gently.

  "Yeah, well," stammered Jimmy. "Remember, I'm here if you need me, both of you."

  "Thanks," Jack said, shutting the door.

  "I'm going in," Josie said wearily. "I've got to find out what's happening. The Feds will cut me out of the loop if they can."

  "I'll come with you."

  She shook her head. "I'm the law, and they may not even let me in. You, they definitely won't, since it is your property. Remember the first-suspect rule. As the property owner, you will be the first suspect, so expect a lot more interrogations. Try to get some rest."

  He raised an eyebrow.

  "I know," Josie said as she burrowed into his chest for a few seconds of extra reassurance and her head came up. "You know what? If Agent Coulter wants to bypass the law in this town and play games, I can play, too. I want you to go to OC Trauma One. We're going to be swamped today deflecting the heat from the Feds. Someone representing us should be there for Charles, someone from Rawlings. He's one of us now. I know Georgina has contacted his family, and if it were under any other circumstances, I'd be there."

  Jack gave a nod. "All right, I'll represent. I will also sniff around and find out what I can. If Trauma One is like any other hospital I've ever been in or around, you can pretty much gauge what's going on by where they have him and what they're doing to him, and by sticking close enough to listen to the family, nurses, and attendants. I'll swing by and get Buck. He and Charles seemed to be getting buddy-buddy, and it will keep him out of your hair. Tell Agent Coulter I'm doing this under your orders. I don't want him to think I'm trying to skip out of town."

  "Good ideas all around," J
osie agreed. She kissed him, and he headed out.

  Josie's deputies, as well as Georgina, wandered in early, as she had. She didn't bother to ask if they had gotten any sleep, because they all looked as shocked and tired as she felt. The FBI and State officials set up shop in the sheriff's offices and refused entry to anyone except Georgina, and that was only because her dispatch area was cordoned off.

  Josie shifted her work over into several rooms in the town hall and dispatched her deputies to patrol the town, telling them to do their jobs the same as any other day, but to keep their eyes open and their mouths shut.

  It was mid-day when Agent Bill Coulter came into the temporary office Josie had set up in the town hall. He walked straight over to her and asked to see her in her office. Mayor Aiden Roland got to his feet, but Agent Coulter ignored him as he escorted Josie into the office and shut the door.

  "Where is Mr. Rawlings, Sheriff?" Agent Coulter demanded.

  "Jack is either still in Oklahoma City or on his way back by now."

  "He shouldn't have left town," Agent Coulter said.

  "I sent him as my representative along with Buck Marshall, my father, to Trauma One at OC Medical Center to check on Sheriff Charles Malone. He was hired to replace me, but was in a life-threatening car accident the day before yesterday. We stand by our own, Agent Coulter. Since I couldn't go myself or send any of my guys, I sent Jack and Buck to represent us. Do you want me to call him for his ETA?"

  "Please," Agent Coulter said, looking aggravated.

  Josie stepped through to another office, dialed Jack, and was back in less than a minute. "He should be pulling into town in about forty minutes. I told him to come directly here. Are you ready to give me some information or is this a scare tactic to drum up a suspect. If we have a serial killer running loose, it won't be Jack Rawlings. His whereabouts for the last two decades can be verified and time-stamped down to the last millisecond."

  "I know. I've already pulled a file on him. You too, for that matter," said Agent Coulter.