“Liar!” roared Dean, composure slipping. “I wouldn’t believe a damn coon if it told me the grass was green. You expect me to believe-”
“Enough,” Steel cut in coldly. “What did your daughter say? What did she tell you?”
“She didn’t have to tell me nothin’. I saw him drop her home, that night. Kissing her, feelin’ her. No way a daughter of mine would do such a thing unless he forced her, and that’s the God-blamed truth.”
Daniel shook his head in disbelief. His eyes were sparking. He wanted to snatch the gun from Steel’s hands and empty it into Dean Murphy’s stomach. “You were gonna kill my brother.”
“Nothing the brat didn’t deserve,” said Joe. “And as for you...you’re gonna have a tough time getting into college from the Virginia State prison.”
“You think you’re making any arrests today?” Steel said. The depths of this man’s arrogance would shock a politician.
“You’re holding two officers of the law at gunpoint,” Joe said, puffing out his chest. “I don’t see how either of you walk out of this. You can’t kill us and you can’t set us free. So what’s it gonna be, cowboy?”
“I can kill you, actually,” said Steel. His voice was flat and hard. “Very, very easily.”
“Steel, he’s right,” said Daniel miserably. “We have to let them go.”
“Hold the gun, Daniel.” He handed the revolver to the boy.
“What? Why-”
In one fluid motion, Steel launched himself at Joe Snell. They were almost of a height, but Steel had almost fifty pounds on him, and all the fury of the last six months pent up behind his fists. Joe had clearly not been expecting an attack; he went down like a sack of corn. As Dean Murphy watched, astounded, Steel rolled and got the other man under his hips, straddling him. Then it was just a matter of strength. He had plenty of that. It was too easy. He let himself sink into the rage, his muscles moving with years’ worth of memory. He thought of Travis, of Drew, and of sweet, angelic Aja. This sick beast had violated her, had fathered a child on her. He was beyond forgiveness. Steel was avenging her.
His fists sailed through the air like hammers, pounding Joe Snell’s face beyond recognition. There was silence in the forest, just the moans of Joe, the grunting of Steel Gray, and the sick sound of slapping flesh.
“Stop,” Daniel said weakly. “Mr. Gray! Steel! Stop it! Stop it!”
Steel pulled away and got to his feet. The skin on his knuckles was torn. But Joe’s face had taken the real damage. Pieces of his teeth were embedded in Steel’s fists. He hardly felt it. He stood over the man like an angel of death, his hair floating around his face like a golden halo. Daniel couldn’t see his expression.
“We need to get back,” Daniel whispered. The man Rick was starting to wake up again.
“You’re right,” panted Steel. “Let’s go.”
He turned to Dean Murphy. The man raised his hands in surrender. The look on Steel’s face was terrifying, but his tone was soft. He had just thought of something.
“P-please,” Dean stammered.
“Did you kill that Mexican boy?”
“W-what?”
“The boy they found six years ago, in the Washitaw. Wrapped in the barbed wire. Was it you?”
Dean’s eyes rolled around. Looking for backup that wasn’t there, would never come. Steel’s lip curled. If he had to take a guess, he figured this man was the kind of bully that never fought his battles alone.
“Answer honestly,” said Steel.
“I didn’t kill him,” Dean croaked. “But I drove the car.”
Steel nodded. “Why?”
“Is that what this is about?” Dean said incredulously, his voice trembling. “Some kid?”
“Answer me,” Steel grated.
“He said something we didn’t like. Needed...to teach him a lesson.”
“I see.”
“Let’s go,” Daniel urged.
“Your careers are finished,” Steel promised. Joe Snell was still conscious; he gave the message to the both of them. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with. If you come near Aja or any of the Robinson boys again, it’ll be your ass in the fire.”
“Alright,” Dean Murphy breathed.
“And just know,” Steel said coldly, “I don’t leave loose ends.”
He picked up the rifle that the man had dropped, and unloaded all the bullets in Daniel’s shirt. Then the two of them made to leave. Joe was finally sitting up, a line of red drool trailing from his mouth. His jaw was distended, hanging grotesquely to his chest. Wonder if we look alike now, Steel thought viciously. He walked up to the man, who backed away.
“One more thing. Aja owes you nothing. You’re gonna forget about asking her for money. You’ll never call or speak to her again. Hear me?”
His eyes brimming with hate, Joe Snell nodded.
They made to leave. “Take care of that man,” Steel said to Dean, jutting his chin toward Rick. “I think that has to amputate.”
***
Steel and Daniel hung back in the woods. Steel called Aja while they waited for Dean, Joe and Rick to limp out towards the brown truck.
“Babe,” he said when she answered. He could practically feel her sigh of relief. “Yes. I’m alright. Daniel is with me. He’s alright too. How’s Travis?”
“They just sent him into surgery,” Aja said. “I didn’t know what to tell them. They keep asking me about it. They want to call the police. What do I do?”
Steel thought about it. “Would the police help?”
“No. No, I don’t think so.”
“Say it was a hunting accident.”
“You sure? What if they don’t believe me?”
“Come pick us up. We’re waiting for them to leave. We’re still in the forest.”
“Are you sure?”
“We’ll go straight back to the hospital, Aja. There’s nothing we can do for Travis except pray.”
“I’m coming.”
***
They waited for Aja quietly, hidden by the broad trees that skirted the edge of the road. They saw the three men- Rick being supported by Dean, Joe walking drunkenly, holding his jaw- clamber into the truck. Steel guessed they were going to the hospital too. He didn’t want Aja there alone when they arrived.
“I can’t believe this,” said Daniel. “I can’t believe all this happened.”
“You alright?” Steel asked, eyeing him.
“I’ve got a headache.”
“How’s your nose?”
“Better. I thought it was broken. But it’s not.”
“I guess that won’t be the last we’ll hear of Sheriff Joe,” said Steel grimly. “Somethin’ tells me that man doesn’t know when to quit.”
“He’s been doing this for years,” said Daniel. “It got worse when you arrived.” He furrowed his brow, as if working up the courage to ask something.
“Spit it out,” Steel said. “I’m getting constipated just looking at you.”
“Is it true what he said? He’s Drew’s dad?”
“You didn’t know?”
“I knew he wasn’t my real brother, obviously,” said Daniel. He squinted into the distance; Steel realized this was the first time he’d seen the kid without his usual wire-frame glasses. “I remember when Aja got pregnant. It was a whole big secret. Ma didn’t let her out of the house, not once. Something about the shame of it all. Aja even stopped goin’ to school.”
“Nobody guessed?” asked Steel. Daniel’s face was blank, but Steel could tell the memory was painful. Daniel shook his head. “She delivered Drew in the house, too. Mama just called a lady over from Washitaw to help deliver him- some old white lady- and that was that. She made us all promise to treat him like our brother. And we never talked about it again. After a while, I kinda forgot about it.”
“Drew’s eyes-”
“Yeah. I mean, I had my own ideas, about who his dad was,” said Daniel, waving his hand dismissively. “But you know. It doesn’t matter a
nyhow. Shucks, I’m not sure who my dad is. Grandpa’s more a dad to all of us anyway.” His voice hardened, but tears sprang to his eyes. He brushed them away furiously. “He’s still my brother.”
Steel hadn’t considered it before, but if Joe Snell was truly Drew’s father, he and the kid were distantly related.
“I’m going to college,” Daniel said finally. He still couldn’t get the tremor out off his voice, but talking about familiar subjects seemed to reassure him. “I’m takin’ the SATs in August, over in Washitaw. Spanish, Math, Physics. I’m applying to Columbia.”
Steel’s eyebrows raised. “Why not go all the way? Get Harvard and Yale too. Or Stanford. I hear Cali’s nice.” He smiled, remembering when Jerry had called the Golden State a “bed of sin.”
Daniel looked at him in surprise. “You’re not gonna tell me it’s a bad idea? That I should wait?”
It was Steel’s turn to be surprised. “Why the hell would I? You got brains, kid. Wait in this town? After everything that happened?”
Daniel drew a shaky breath. He wanted to rewind the day and do it all over. He should have never have gone to Fell’s Point with Travis. But the kid had insisted. He was supposed to meet Susie Murphy again. They were supposed to have been back home by five, eating Aja’s delicious cooking, joking with each other, laughing…
“We’re gonna be in trouble, Mr. Gray,” he said. He wished he could have some of Travis’s gumption. He wished his stomach would stop bubbling with anxiety. He wished he knew for sure whether Travis was okay.
“No, we aren’t,” Steel promised him.
“How do you know?”
Steel pulled out a recording device from his pocket. It was shiny and chrome, a new model of some equipment Daniel had never seen before. Military issue, he guessed. Steel turned it over in his palms. He rewound some of the audio; Joe Snell’s voice came out clear as crystal. Clearer than crystal. Daniel’s mouth hung agape. Steel snapped the audio off.
“I even have Dean Murphy’s confession. I don’t think these bastards are gonna talk, but anything like this gets out, it’ll sink their careers. Maybe land them in prison, but that’s a little optimistic. At the very least it’ll keep ‘em quiet, while we figure out our next move.”
“My God,” said Daniel, looking at Steel Gray with a new kind of respect. The man really did think of everything.
“Call it double-double insurance.”
***
Aja finally came, driving Steel’s pickup truck. She had been terrified the whole way to the hospital, for Travis’s safety, and because getting pulled over by the police would have been a wrap for them all. She didn’t have her license.
On the way there, the thought of the woman who had led them to her brothers’s whereabouts kept pressing on her mind. Where had Aja met her before? And why did she seem to know so much? Lastly, Aja recalled what the woman had said, in her grating, rusty voice. Whatever you’re looking for, girlie, it’s not in the Tucker house.
Of course, she had to be talking about the Will. The Will of Fiona Tucker. That made two clues she’d been given by crazy old ladies, Aja thought wryly, remembering the message in Fiona Tucker’s scrapbook. Both of them cryptic. Cryptic, yet so obvious. Look to His cradle. Not in the house. Whose cradle? If not the house, where? Aja couldn’t remember seeing any cradles in the Tucker house, or outside it. But she also couldn’t help feeling like the answer was looking her dead in the face.
She should tell Steel. Steel would help her. He’d help her look, or at least figure it out.
When she came screeching to a halt in front of the forest path, she almost jumped out of her skin at the sight of Steel and Daniel emerging from the treeline. They climbed into the car. Daniel had dried blood all over his shirt, and Steel’s knuckles were torn and swollen. He’d need medical attention so they didn’t get swollen.
“What did you do to them?” She asked quietly.
“Did anyone see you drive here?” Steel hedged. “I dunno. No, I don’t think so.”
She turned in the driver’s seat to look at Daniel. He was quiet, looking out the window. “Travis is gonna be alright, Dan.”
“Okay.”
“We’ll get you new glasses.”
“Okay.”
Aja’s eyes filled with tears. All she wanted was a normal life with her little brothers. A normal, peaceful life. Boyd was beautiful. But the Robinsons were no longer welcome here- maybe they had never been welcome. Aja knew in her heart that they all had to leave, and leave soon. She brushed her tears away. Crying wouldn’t solve anything. She’d talk to the boys when Travis was out of the hospital. Grandpa Buck, too. Aja didn’t know how she’d get the money to move the family and pay for Daniel’s testing and application fees. But she’d make it work. She always did.
“Do you want me to drive?” Steel asked her softly.
“No. I mean- yes. Yeah.” They got out and switched places. They drove straight to the Robinson’s place, dropped Daniel, then headed to the hospital. Steel saw no sign of Joe Snell or his boys. Maybe they’d gone to the Wilminac Hospital. Maybe they hadn’t gone to a hospital at all.
He put his arms around Aja as they sat in the waiting room. “I’m here,” he promised her. “No matter what.”
“I know,” she whispered. “I know.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
***
Aja woke up in the middle of the night. She was in her own bed- alone. Steel had taken to sleeping over, but the last couple of days he’d been absent from Tucker Ranch, and he hadn’t told her why. She woke up expecting to feel his strong arms around her. But she was alone.
Her eyes took some time to adjust to the darkness. This was her room, her house. The boys were sleeping downstairs- except Travis, who was still laid up in the hospital. Grandpa Buck was in his bedroom down the hall; she could hear his deep, sonorous snores.
Aja eyed the clock on her dresser. 5:13 AM.
She moved as if in a trance. She put on a sweater, loose cotton pants, and her tennis shoes. She hadn’t thrown them away, though Steel had told her to. The toe of one was still stained with blood.
Aja walked down the stairs, her brown hand feeling the grainy banister. She felt like she was floating on a dream. Look to the Cradle. Not in the house. The cradle...the cradle…
The facts were plain. They had no money anymore. Aja had slaved and pinched and saved for months-years. But Travis’s hospital visit and surgery cost thousands of dollars. Money that was supposed to go towards Daniel’s school, towards getting them the hell out of Boyd. Aja would have to mortgage the house to pay it off. And then she’d be trapped here for good.
The thoughts came to her in rapid succession but she felt no anxiety, no worry. She simply let them pass through her. Something inside Aja told her everything would be alright.
Her feet carried her out the door and over the porch. She was walking to Steel’s house. She wondered if he’d be there. Would he be asleep? Or would he be awake, like she was, wandering over the pastures like a ghost?
The thought of ghosts reminded Aja of the strange woman that had led them to her brothers. Lyn Thompson. The woman Steel had told her he found sitting on his property on the Fourth of July. When Aja had helped her into Steel’s truck that fateful day, the woman’s skin had been papery, dry and warm. Not ghostly at all. But she seemed to know things, and to Aja she had appeared horribly familiar. She realized the woman just reminded her of Fiona Tucker.
What you’re looking for isn’t in the house.
Aja dared not to dream anymore. It was a foolish family legend that her Grandfather had fed them. He should have known better. He shouldn’t have filled her head with fantasies of riches, riches that she hadn’t earned. Riches that didn’t belong to her.
But Aja had nothing left but hope. Even Steel couldn’t help her now, though he was always pressing her to let him pay off her debt to Joe Snell. How much money did Steel Gray have, for him to be throwing it at her li
ke that?
Aja knew now that she’d have to swallow her pride and accept his help. She couldn’t afford a debt to Joe Snell and a hospital bill like the one poor Travis was racking up during his stay at the Sacred Heart Hospital in Washitaw.
What you’re looking for isn’t in the house. She had to hope. The lady Fiona Tucker- who, when Aja was a young girl, would always send her Grandfather over with candy for Aja and her mother- had to have left them something. Grandpa Buck had been so sure of it. He wouldn’t lie to Aja.
“Find the diary,” he’d told her. “You find the diary, you get the Will.”
Ride A Cowboy: Romance Novel Page 13
