‘‘BACK OFF, MISTER! GET BACK AWAY FROM THE BUILDINGS!’’ That was 884, on her car’s PA system.
‘‘Were they cops?’’ Again.
‘‘Yes!’’
‘‘Good!’’ With that, he turned and ran toward the house. I looked back over my shoulder, and could see the top of 884’s head as she knelt behind her car door. I called her on my walkie-talkie.
‘‘884?’’
‘‘Go.’’
‘‘Look just to your right… see my hand?’’ I held my right hand up, out of the deep grass. There was a pause, then…
‘‘Ten-four.’’
‘‘Okay, I’ll be coming your way, so don’t shoot.’’
‘‘Ten-four.’’
With that, I stooped and ran as fast as I could, expecting to feel a round slam into my back at any moment. None did. I was moving so fast, for me, that I went right past her car, and slipped in the wet dirt of the lane as I tried to stop. Not graceful, but I made it. When your weight slips up over 250 pounds, momentum can be a problem.
‘‘Hi.’’ 884 motioned me up toward her car door. I went, keeping remarkably low. She seemed a little cavalier about the whole thing, half standing. No shots had been fired since she arrived, so she was dealing with sort of an academic appreciation of the situation. But suddenly shots were being fired. Just as I got up to her door. One slapped the hood and went singing off into the cornfield to the left of the lane. Another hit the spotlight on the driver’s window post, and glass and bits of metal went all over us. I got a scratch in my right arm, and she got small bit of glass embedded in her forehead. She flinched just like I did, and instantly was settling in at my level.
‘‘Hi,’’ I said.
‘‘Is he pissed or what?’’
‘‘He seems pissed. Look, my sheriff is in the scrap-metal pile over to our right. Did you see it?’’
She nodded.
‘‘Our civil deputy is in the weeds to the left of the lane, just about the level of my car. He’s dead, I think.’’
She nodded again.
‘‘My sheriff is alive, but he’s been hit in the legs. I threw him my first-aid kit, and he got it all right, but his voice seems to be getting weaker.’’
‘‘Got it.’’
‘‘Look, I’m gonna have to go back up toward Lamar. Try to protect him until we can get him out.’’
‘‘Who’s the dude who went into the house?’’
I sighed. ‘‘I don’t know. It could be his kid. I think it’s the old man who’s doing the shooting, but I don’t even know that for sure.’’
‘‘Right.’’
‘‘We’re gonna need a little help.’’
‘‘Oh, yeah,’’ she said emphatically. ‘‘I’ve asked for a TAC team.’’
‘‘Swell. But doesn’t that have to come from a sergeant?’’
‘‘Yes, but they’re sending one.’’
‘‘From where?’’
‘‘Post sixteen.’’
‘‘That’ll take about an hour.’’ I started to move back around the rear of her car. ‘‘Look, when my people get here, let me know. I can’t see too well from up there. We’ll try to get Lamar out of there fast. Before they get anybody else.’’
She nodded. ‘‘I’ll tell ’em to get the team assembled and ready. That way, when the supervisor orders it, they can be here real fast.’’
I was beginning to like this 884.
I sort of duck-walked back to her and stuck out my hand. ‘‘Carl Houseman.’’
‘‘Diane Blakeslee.’’
‘‘Buy you a doughnut when we’re done.’’
‘‘Sold. Keep your ass down.’’
‘‘Yep. Tell our office what’s happening, will you?’’
‘‘Sure. I think an ambulance is almost here. What do you want to do with them?’’
‘‘Let me know when they get here, but don’t let ’em in until you clear it with me.’’
‘‘Okay.’’
I half crawled back to the rear of her car again, and then went thundering back toward my fence post. Stepped in a puddle, slipped, fell, got up, continued, got to the post, and no shots. Whew. After I got some breath back, I said, ‘‘Lamar,’’ in a loud voice.
‘‘What?’’ He did sound a little weaker, but still relatively healthy.
‘‘Cavalry’s on its way. Can you move at all?’’
He was quiet for a few seconds, and I thought that he hadn’t heard me. ‘‘Lamar?’’
‘‘Just give me a second.’’
I gave him about fifteen, and was just about to say something again when he spoke up.
‘‘Just a little. I backed up your way. You see me?’’
I peeked up. YES! By God I could. I could see about the lower half of him, between a crumpled sheet of rusted steel siding and a disorganized pile of twisted steel fence posts. But I wished I hadn’t a moment later, when I got a good look at his right leg. He had taken his belt and applied a tourniquet, but his foot was just about blown off. I could see what looked like bone sticking through his boot, and the whole thing was at a weird angle. There was a white bandage wrapped around his left leg, below the knee. Well, it had been a white bandage. It was now red and rust-colored. If I could get to him, I’d have to drag him. He’d never be able to move on his own. Damn.
Lamar has the constitution of a horse. He’s known for that. Otherwise, I think that he would have gone into shock long before I got there. He was going now, however. I could see his legs quivering. Now what? I didn’t know if he’d bleed to death first, or if the shock would get him. Either way, he had to come out of there, and had to do it now.
Just then, when I thought things were bleak before, I heard the rumble of thunder. I looked up, and the sky to the west was black, and threatening. Even as I looked, the wind came up, and little bits of dust and debris began blowing through the air. Rain. All I needed was fucking rain.
I picked up my walkie-talkie. ‘‘884?’’
‘‘Go ahead.’’
‘‘You got an ETA on that ambulance? I don’t want it to rain on him. Shock.’’
‘‘Stand by…’’ She paused for a few seconds. ‘‘About three or four minutes.’’
‘‘Okay.’’
I looked at the open trunk of my car. I thought about my emergency blanket, which was waterproof. I thought about my raincoat, which was too. Both in the trunk. Naturally. I could almost see my headstone: ‘‘Died trying to stay dry.’’
Resolved to get soaked, I forgot about the contents of my trunk, and tried to see if there was any movement in the shed. Nothing. I got 884 on the radio again.
‘‘See if they’re still in contact with the people in the house. Tell them we have an ambulance, and if anybody else is hurt, we’ll be glad to take them out with One.’’
‘‘Ten-four.’’
‘‘Then just tell them that a plainclothes officer is going to go to the sheriff with a blanket, and will stay with him until the ambulance gets here.’’
There was a pause. ‘‘You sure about that?’’
‘‘Nothin’ else to do.’’
‘‘Okay.’’
I waited about a minute. The door of the house opened, and the young man came out, this time with a rifle in his hand.
‘‘Just one,’’ he yelled. ‘‘Just for the ambulance.’’
‘‘Okay,’’ I yelled back. ‘‘Are you all right too?’’
Silence, as he stood there, looking generally toward me. Then: ‘‘Yeah!’’ Pouty. Like I shouldn’t have asked, shouldn’t have cared. Well, I didn’t. But he’d gone for it.
I got 884 on the radio again. ‘‘You hear that?’’
‘‘Yes. You believe it?’’
‘‘I think so. Might as well. Unless you can think of anything else?’’
No answer.
I stood up, very slowly. Leaving my rifle by the post. I was carrying a. 40 caliber S amp;W auto under my shirt, but forgot about it until I was halfway to my
car. Well, what the hell. If they were going to find that, they’d have to do it up close. I got to the trunk, got both the blanket and my raincoat, and walked slowly toward Lamar. I kept looking at the shed, but could see no movement, no silhouette, nothing. I was beginning to wonder if he was still in there.
When I got to Lamar, he was just about out. I knelt beside him.
‘‘Hi there.’’
He looked up, tried very hard to focus his eyes. ‘‘Yeah,’’ he said, weakly. His head went back down. I reached down and put my hand on his shoulder looking for the first-aid kit. It was a little further away, just past his head.
‘‘You’ll be fine. We’re getting you out of here real soon.’’ I ripped off the plastic cover of the emergency blanket, and the wind whipped it toward the shed. It snagged in the fence posts, then some old wire. It was a struggle, but I finally got it around him, just as big drops of rain splattered down.
I got 884 on my walkie. ‘‘I think you can send the EMTs in now. We’re lookin’ good.’’
I put on my raincoat, and looked back. There were about five cop cars sitting in the lane, and an ambulance was coming around them, lights flashing. Good. Very good. It was raining harder all the time, but we could handle that now. I watched the first two EMTs struggle in their bright yellow raincoats, leaning into the wind, as they came around the corner of their unit, and putting their heads down, they trotted through the rain. Brave people. When they got to us, I recognized them both. One owned a hardware store, and one was an electrician. In rural areas, they’re all volunteer EMTs.
‘‘Hi.’’ I gestured toward Lamar. ‘‘Gunshot, both legs, pretty bad. Shocky, he’s been out here for a while. The guy who did it is in that shed there. If he starts to shoot, just get out of here.’’
‘‘You got that right,’’ said the hardware man. They immediately began doing their EMT things, but keeping as low as they could. ‘‘Who bandaged his legs?’’ asked the electrician, looking at me accusingly.
‘‘He did.’’
‘‘Oh.’’
It began to rain harder.
The two ambulance people motioned, and two more EMTs came forward with a stretcher. It was becoming difficult to see the police line clearly, through the rain, and through the water running off my balding head. My coat didn’t have a hood, and I’d forgotten my hat.
‘‘I’ve got a dead officer over there,’’ I said, pointing. ‘‘I’m going over to him as soon as we get Lamar out. One of you want to come too?’’
‘‘I will.’’ She was one of the EMTs with the stretcher, and was a bank clerk. I knew her too. She looked like she was squatting down in a shower, with the rain running down her face. Or the sweat. It was ungodly hot under the raincoats.
‘‘Okay.’’
I put my hand on the lead EMT. ‘‘Look, as soon as you leave with him, I’m going to stand up and talk to one of the people in the buildings. I’m gonna tell him what I’m gonna do, and then I’m gonna do it. I’ll wait till you’re back under cover at the ambulance before I do it. But if I motion you back, we can pick up the dead officer, too. Okay?’’
‘‘Got it.’’
That’s what I did. As soon as I saw the three of them back at the ambulance, I stood up, and bent to tap the one left with me. We had remained in full view of the shed all the time, so there wasn’t any doubt who we were. ‘‘Here goes. Wait for my signal.’’ I hoped that the people back at the ambulance area could see us clearly.
I straightened up, and walked slowly toward the shed.
‘‘Stop right there, Carl.’’
It was old man Stritch himself in the shed. I could recognize his voice, especially when he said my name. He always had pronounced it like there was a u after the r. Good to know. He would pay, sooner or later.
‘‘I’ve got a dead officer over there, Herman. We’re going to remove him too.’’
‘‘Only if I say so.’’
‘‘I ever lie to you, Herman?’’
He thought. ‘‘No.’’
‘‘Then believe me now. We’re going to get him now, and if we don’t, there won’t be a living person on this farm in ten minutes. We don’t want that, but we’ll do it. And you know we can.’’
He thought again. I was right, at least about our being able to do it. Right at that moment anyway. As it turned out, it would be the last time for quite a while.
‘‘Go ahead.’’
‘‘The offer still stands, if you’ve got anybody hurt. We’ll get medical treatment for ’em. No strings.’’
‘‘We’re fine.’’
Shit.
I heard a beep, and I thought I heard him say, ‘‘Hello.’’ Phone in the shed. Neat. Lots of farmers had them in the barn, or the milk house. Why not a shed? It had just never occurred to me.
I turned and motioned to my EMT. She came directly to me, and together we went to Bud’s body.
He was crumpled up, but it looked like he’d been hit several times, at least once in the head. His handgun was still in its holster, the retaining strap still snapped. We bundled him up as best we could, and as I turned to signal the ambulance, it began to leave. I learned later that Lamar was beginning to ‘‘sour’’ on the EMTs; a term they use when they think they’re going to lose a patient. It only threw me for a second. Hell. Bud wasn’t going to need any treatment. I walked slowly back to the shed.
‘‘Herman!’’
‘‘What?’’
‘‘Herman, we’re going to have a couple of officers come in and help get Bud out. The EMTs have left in the ambulance, and we want Bud out now. Don’t shoot.’’
He didn’t say anything. I took that for assent. I was getting a little shocky myself, by this time, as the adrenaline was starting to wear off, and was getting an attitude.
I hollered toward the line of officers back in the lane, who were out of sight of the shed, but not the house. I told them to leave any long guns back there and to come on in and help us. Three of them came in, and together we wrapped Bud in a blanket and carried him back to the police lines. He was a heavy load, and with the plasticized blanket being wet, we nearly dropped him twice. I had a cramp in my carrying hand by the time we got to the cars.
I went back into the yard, at first just to get my car, but then saw my rifle near my hiding place. I couldn’t leave that. And it was getting soaked. I would have hoped that another officer would have retrieved it. No such luck. Then I decided I wanted to talk to Herman again. What the hell. I was on a roll.
‘‘Herman!’’ You asshole.
‘‘What?’’
‘‘I’m taking my car out. I want to talk to you. Give it up, Herman. We have enough people hurt now. Why don’t you just come on out?’’
‘‘Go to hell.’’
At that point, the door to the house opened, and the young man came out. He walked up to me. He was wearing a cammo raincoat with a hood, and he had put on fatigue pants and boots. The title of a movie came into my mind: A Soldier in the Rain. ‘‘Soldier’’ being the key word.
‘‘You better get out of here,’’ he said, stopping about twenty feet away.
I just looked at him. ‘‘I’m going over here, and I’m picking up my rifle, and putting it in my car.’’
‘‘Leave your rifle.’’
I was getting angry. ‘‘Listen, kid. One time. Don’t fuck with me. I said I’m getting the rifle, and that’s what I’m gonna do.’’
‘‘Dad’s got a bead on you, cop.’’
‘‘I’m sure he does. And I can kill you before the old fart gets off the first round.’’ Our eyes met. I shook my head in disgust, turned my back on him, walked to the post, and picked up my rifle. I was very, very careful to pick it up by the carrying handle on top. No point in pushing it too far.
As I got to my car, Junior spoke up again. ‘‘We’ll see you in the People’s Court!’’
‘‘Only for contempt, dickhead.’’
I got in my car and backed up the lane.
Fourteen
Any relief I felt about having gotten our people out of there lasted about five seconds after I got my car back to the top of the lane. As I was backing up, I thought about the People’s Court. I passed the sign, warning all to stay away. It was almost a billboard, being about eight feet by eight feet, white, with black lettering. Well maintained too. Stupid bastards. But to kill over an Original Notice? Hard to believe.
Several of the state TAC team officers had arrived, ready to go. They were being held back by the district lieutenant, who was waiting confirmation from the captain. Two of our people were there, Eddie and Tom Meierhoff. As I was mentally listing who else from our department might show up, it suddenly occurred to me that I had just been promoted. Lamar was out of it. Art was on vacation. I was senior officer, and de facto acting sheriff. Damn. Maybe I could find time to order cellular phones.
I talked to our people first, standing in a huddle under a tree. The wind had died down, and we just had a steady, heavy rain.
They wanted to know what had happened, and I really didn’t know. It was that simple. Just that two of our people were shot, and one was dead. That much I knew. As to why, I had a problem. As far as I could tell, it was over the service of an Original Notice. It did occur to me, however, that Deputy Johansen had just come back to work after taking a leave of absence after the killings in the park.
‘‘Ed, let the office know,’’ I said, ‘‘that Johansen is to be in charge at the office. Not up here. He doesn’t need another one of these.’’
‘‘Right.’’
That’s what I told the lieutenant as well when I sloshed over to him. Along with the fact that Herman was a little further to the right than most, and was heavily into organizations. And well armed, although I’m sure the lieutenant had figured that one out for himself.
I was tired, I was soaked, and I wanted a cigarette so bad I thought I’d kill for it. Did I mention that I quit smoking? After twenty-nine years of three packs a day? Did I?
Oh, well. At any rate, I have to take full responsibility for missing the obvious, and wasting time before it occurred to me to try to seal off the area around the farm, especially on the other side, toward the hill. In hilly country like this, it’s exceptional to be able to see your neighbor’s farm. You couldn’t see anything but Herman’s place from where we were, and I hadn’t known that the other farm run by the family was just over the hill to the northwest. By the time I found it out, when Eddie said something like ‘‘Do you know his son lives just over that hill?’’ Herman had apparently had two other sons join him and his wife on the home place. Also a daughter-in-law, who had come in with her husband, and brought her three-year-old daughter with her. We found that out when Sally started hearing voices in the background over the telephone, and asked.
Known Dead ch-2 Page 14
