by Jeff Carson
He finished the rest of his plate in two bites and scooted it toward her.
“Another order coming right up.” She sang the words and swayed her slender hips towards the kitchen.
Rachette turned his head and watched her go, then turned to Wolf with raised eyebrows. “She is into you.”
Wolf stared at Rachette expectantly.
Rachette leaned forward on his elbows. “Oh, yeah. So that was Baine. They found Gary’s father this morning.”
“And?”
“Apparently he was heaped on the floor with a broken neck, his walker upside down next to him. Strangled. Gary’s fingerprints on his neck.”
Wolf shook his head and gazed out the window.
The sun flashed and dimmed behind low clouds as they marched across the sky above town. The window next to the booth shook with a low rumble, and outside pines bowed back and forth with bouncing limbs. A fierce wind of a fall cold front was tormenting the valley, and Wolf hoped it was decent enough weather for his brother’s funeral tomorrow, but it wasn’t looking good. Given the nature of the day, he guessed it really didn’t matter. It would be a shitty day any way you cut it.
Rachette cleared his throat, gently pulling Wolf out of his thoughts. “So, what are we going to do with the family?”
Wolf shook his head. “I don’t know. We’ll have to speak to Martin when he gets a little stronger. He’ll know what to do.”
Wolf thumbed the empty spot on his pinkie finger and stared out the window.
Rachette sighed and cleared his throat again. “Your dad was killed by the Connells, wasn’t he?”
Wolf nodded slowly. “For sixteen years I thought that ring I was wearing was a connection to my Navajo heritage, not a dead man’s matching wedding band.” He shook his head and stared at the swaying trees. “The Connells must have freaked out the first time they saw me wearing it.”
Rachette focused on the table and shook his head. “So, how did your father die all those years ago? What was the official story?”
“It was unsolved. A shooting with no evidence to go on. Just a traffic stop that went horribly wrong. There were no official suspects. No knowledge of the vehicle he pulled over. Nothing. Two .22’s were found lodged in his head, no bullet casings found at the scene, and that’s it.
“He was shot the day after the Connells buried the car in Cave Creek Canyon. He must have been investigating that slide…maybe even found the ring there. Or who knows. The point is he got too close. And the Connells killed him to keep their secret safe.”
“What about Burton? You think he was in on it the whole time? And that’s how he became Sheriff all those years ago? By having a hand in your dad’s death?”
Wolf shook his head. “I don’t think he’s that type of man. He was too good a Sheriff. I’ve seen him do too many good things in my day.” He took another sip of coffee. “But I’ll be checking.”
Rachette squirmed, propped his elbows on the table and buried his face in his hands.
“What?”
“You have no clue how close I was to not coming down to the construction site. I had no clue what was going on. I was beginning to think that Young didn’t exist.” He held up his hands. “I really thought you went off the deep end for a while there.” He stared Wolf in the eye. “I’m sorry.”
Wolf laughed and shook his head. “You’re forgiven.”
The waitress came with another plate and swiveled it in front of Wolf.
He sat up straight and thanked her with a smile, then watched her blush as she tucked her hair behind her ear and walked away.
“I told you.” Rachette whispered.
Wolf dug into his plate. “Drink your coffee.”
He inhaled half of the food, then set down his fork, now thinking he might have made a mistake ordering the third plate.
Rachette sat back. “So the Connells tried to buy the property from the Navajo family all those years ago. And?” He rolled his hand to Wolf.
“Maybe they tried to buy it. Maybe they just walked into their house, put a gun to their heads and made them sign. Who knows?
“But they got the property and covered their bases, leaving a convoluted paper trail so no one would find out it was the mining company behind the purchase. And they made the price high enough that it would be believable that the family just up and disappeared. With over a million bucks, a lot of people would just up and leave to go start a new life.”
Rachette narrowed his eyes. “Then they shoot the family, and bury them into the side of the mountain?”
Wolf stared into nothing, remembering his conversation with Martin. “There was a big storm with a lot of rain that day they disappeared. The Connells shot them, then put the family in one of those caves, then set a blast, making it look like the storm set off a big landslide. The landslide was a big deal, I remember now. It was right around my dad’s death. When he died, I had scoured the papers on the day of my father’s death, for any clues…anything about the man who’d shot him. I remember that landslide was in the papers. But the news of it had taken a back seat to my father’s death.” Wolf stared out the window.
“Why wouldn’t they put them in the mine? Get rid of the bodies there?” Rachette shook his head.
Wolf shrugged. “Not sure. There must have been some deterrent.”
“So your father had to have known the truth about that slide, and was killed by the Connells because of it,” Rachette said quietly.
Wolf nodded. “And that kept them in the clear for sixteen years, until the Cave Creek Canyon highway expansion project sprang up. They knew the bodies would be uncovered, and I would be right there pulling them out – right there seeing that identical ring to the one I would be wearing on my finger.”
“And you’d put it all together soon after.” Rachette scrunched his face. “But why the hell didn’t they just kill you? What was with that whole offering you a job thing?”
Wolf shook his head and thought about the pained look on Gary’s face before Rachette shot him. “I think Gary really did think of me as the son he never had. And he probably felt guilt over killing my father or something. Probably trying to pay some karmic debt with me.” Wolf shrugged. “I don’t know. He let me stay on that ranch for years without me paying a cent.
“Offering me that job, he probably figured he could kill two birds with one stone – pay me massive amounts of money to feel better about himself, and get me out of the picture at the same time.”
Rachette shook his head and looked out the window, which was now vibrating with the wind. “And put Sheriff Derek Connell in office, with his new right-hand man, Vickers.”
Wolf caught the waitress’s eye and waved for the check.
She came over, dropped the check and pulled the plate away.
Wolf smiled, avoiding eye contact as she left. “Thanks.” It didn’t matter that a beautiful woman was coming on to him, he couldn’t stop thinking about Sarah.
Rachette seemed to read his mind. “How’s Mark doing?”
“He’s conscious. He’ll make a full recovery.”
Rachette nodded and palmed the table. “And finally.”
Wolf raised his eyes.
“You going to be Sheriff of this frickin’ town or what?” Rachette slid out of the booth sideways.
Chapter 44
Wolf found himself grateful for the wind and rain outside on the day of his brother’s funeral. He didn’t need the visual of his brother being lowered next to his father anyway. So they held the service inside, and in the end, Harold Smyser would make sure the burial was done properly.
Wolf and his mother stood ten feet inside the Chapel door giving hugs, handshakes, and solemn looks to a dwindling line of quiet family and friends of John Wolf. An icy breeze fluttered against them as another guest left out into the fall storm.
He noticed Sarah lingering at the back of the line with folded arms, nodding people to cut in front of her, and wiping her red nose. Jack stood next to her, staring at Wolf
with sad eyes. Wolf gave his son a quick wink and a reassuring smile.
Margaret Hitchens gripped Wolf’s arms. “I’m so grateful you’re okay, David. And I’m so sorry for what I allowed to happen with the Town Council vote.” She glared hard in his eyes, then nodded quickly. “We’ll be appointing the right man for Sheriff on Monday.”
She reached up, kissed him on the cheek, and left.
Wolf opened the umbrella into the wind, blocking out the stinging drizzle and held out a hand to Sarah.
“Jack, give us a few minutes, okay?” Sarah said, grabbing Wolf’s arm and tucking herself close.
Jack raised his eyebrows and looked at them with a gut-wrenching hopeful look. They walked down the chapel steps towards the whipping blue tarp that covered his brother’s grave.
“How is Mark doing?” He gave her a sidelong glance, trying to sound sincere.
She nodded with a sigh, keeping her eyes on the ground. “He’s doing great. He’s sleeping a lot, but I’ve also been talking to him. He wakes up for a couple hours each day now.”
“That’s good, Sarah.” Wolf gripped the umbrella with two hands as another gust hit.
Sarah squeezed the inside of his arm and shivered.
He looked at her from the corner of his eye. “What’s going on, Sarah?”
She stared forward and took a deep breath, like she was psyching herself up. “I want to tell you about what happened. About how…everything fell apart. About everything. It can’t wait any longer. And I’m so sorry I’m telling you today, on this day.” She looked to the graves of his brother and father, and her lips quivered as tears streamed down her face. She stopped and let go of his arm, and wiped her cheeks with both hands.
He stopped and turned to block the wind. “Just tell me.”
She exhaled, then turned and looked up at him with her sky blue eyes. “When you went into the Army, after your dad died, I was pregnant.”
Wolf stared at her dumbly. “What? I don’t understan—“
“Just let me talk, okay?”
Wolf nodded, “Okay. Okay.”
She steeled her expression and spoke methodically. “And I had a miscarriage.”
Wolf nodded again, and waited for her to continue speaking. With every moment she didn’t continue speaking, Wolf felt his skin flush hotter and hotter.
“I don’t understand,” he said. “I...why didn’t you tell me? This was why you became hooked on drugs? Why we broke up? I don’t understand.”
“No, David, you don’t understand,” she looked at Wolf with a pleading expression.
“Then tell me.” Wolf regretted his harsh tone immediately.
Her glare turned hard for an instant, then softened as she took another deep breath. “You came home two days after it happened. You came home from a mission. It was around my birthday. Do you remember? I was sick that week, and I didn’t want to…you know, get intimate.”
Wolf did remember. “Yes. You were sick,” he said quietly. “I had no idea.”
“I hadn’t even told you about how I was pregnant, yet. I hadn’t even told my mom, and I was going to surprise you. I was going to surprise you when you came home,” her face stretched into a pained smile.
Wolf stepped forward to hold her, to comfort her.
She held up her hands. “Please, no. David, we have to talk about all of this. I have to get everything out.”
He stopped and nodded dumbly.
“That week was when it all started. I had been so…stressed out and just, freaked out about being pregnant, but I didn’t want to talk to you about it over the phone, from thousands of miles away. I knew you were coming home, and so I waited. And then it happened, just before you...” She broke into new tears. “I thought I caused it. I thought I had caused it because I was so—“
Wolf stepped forward and hugged her. “No you didn’t. Are you kidding me? These things happen, Sarah. They happen to a lot of couples. It wasn’t your fault. It happens.”
She buried her face in Wolf’s jacket and cried.
Wolf stroked her shoulder and stared into the sideways drizzle. Then he closed his eyes and relished the feeling of having Sarah close to him, of her finally opening up and letting her feelings show, for giving him a chance to comfort her, and giving him a chance to understand. There was such a rush of endorphins flowing through him that he was suddenly gripped with shame. He had just heard the most terrible news of his life, and yet he hadn’t felt this…good in years. This alive. This relieved.
She pulled back and wiped her eyes.
Wolf watched her as she pulled out a tissue and gently blew her nose, turning away to hide the act, and he thought that only she could make expelling mucus look cute.
“I was hooked on the pain killers after that week for over six months. Then I just stopped. And then three years later, we got married, and I got pregnant with Jack. And then something snapped inside after we had him.” She snorted. “I just, kept thinking about the first baby, and how I screwed it all up.”
Wolf started for her again, and stopped when she held up her hands.
“And I think there was partly some post-partum depression, but, I started taking the pain killers again. And then I started drinking. Then I took more painkillers, and drank more. I don’t even remember that time. Don’t remember being a mother.” She shook her head. “I was a terrible mother. And one day, I was living with my parents, and they were taking care of Jack. And you were gone.”
Wolf felt another wave of shame.
“And I was just so depressed. So I…” She shrugged and flipped her hand. “Just kept going. Then they took over completely with Jack, and tried to help me, but at that point, I’d gone overboard, as you know.”
Wolf took a deep breath. He did know. He remembered the physical and mental transformation she’d gone through while he was in the Army. It was startling to come home to a completely different person, one that was the complete opposite of the one he’d loved. It was one of the reasons, the many complicated reasons, he’d gotten out and started a new life at home in the department.
She stared at the ground for a while and looked up at Wolf with a determined look. “I’m through punishing myself.” Her voice was resolute through clenched teeth. “I’m through punishing myself. And I’m through punishing everybody.”
Wolf smiled gently and nodded. A gust of wind battered the umbrella and an icy spray of rain sucked the back of his suit pants to his legs.
Sarah stood silently, shifting her weight, like she had something else to say. She turned her head at the approach of pattering footfalls, it was Jack running toward them.
Sarah turned to Wolf. “David. Mark has asked me to move in with him.” She looked up at him and crossed her arms against the cold.
Wolf raised his brow, “Ah.” It was all he could think to say.
“And I’ve said yes.”
Wolf felt the entire planet spin underneath him. “What?”
The thumping footfalls were on them now, and Jack slammed against Wolf’s side, clutching him in a hug. “Geez, it’s freezing!” He kept his latch tight, burrowing the side of his face into Wolf’s chest.
“What are you guys talking about?” Jack asked, looking between them.
Wolf watched Sarah look into the drizzle behind them. He pulled his arm out from Jack’s clutches and patted his back. “Your mom was just leaving, buddy. I’ll see you later.”
Sarah silently beckoned Jack, who huddled against her as they walked away.
Chapter 45
Monday — 10:21 am
Wolf walked out of the half-standing ranch house at the sound of approaching tires. A spotless black Audi, shining in the morning sun, rolled to a stop. Margaret Hitchens climbed out and walked fast around the rear bumper. She held a packet of fluttering papers in her hand between thumb and forefinger.
“Whatcha doing?” she asked.
Wolf walked to his SUV and threw a duffle bag in the back seat. “Hi, Margaret. How are you?”
She smiled, put the papers behind her back, and loped forward with long strides. “Where the hell were you this morning?”
He shrugged. “Sleeping. I had a lot to catch up on.”
She shook her head and raised her eyebrows. “Have you heard?”
“No,” he lied. He’d already gotten a few harassing phone calls.
She stepped forward and held out her hand. “Congratulations.” Her eyes twinkled. “Sheriff Wolf.”
He smiled without any teeth and shook her hand. “Thanks, Margaret.”
She smirked. “You have already heard.” She looked around, making a sour face at the pile of charred rubble that used to be the kitchen, then the duffle bag on the seat. “Again. David. Whatcha doing?”
He shut the SUV door. “Moving out. Actually, I’m going to need your help finding some places for rent.”
“Yeah. That’s kind of why I’m here. I want you to see something.” She pulled the packet of paper in front of her and held it out.
Wolf took it.
A hyphenated-name of a law firm was printed in the top left of the front page, and the heading said, Revocable Transfer on Death Deed.
Wolf gave it back and walked towards the barn. “Just tell me. I’d rather save myself the embarrassment.”
She slapped the papers on her leg and walked after him. “It shows the property we are standing on right now transferrable to one David Wolf, in the event of Gary Connell’s death.”
Wolf stopped and turned.
She held out the papers again.
Wolf walked slowly back and snatched the packet from her hand. It looked legitimate enough.
He gave her a sly squint. “How did you get this?”
She shrugged and sniffed. “What can I say? I have my sources.”
“Huh.”
She nodded. “Yeah.”
Wolf’s face scrunched and he looked again. “This just doesn’t make any sense.”
Or maybe it did.
