Broken Road

by Addison Kline

  “Seriously? You guys are rooting on a bunch of other guys in spandex,” Shelly said, her comment laced with sarcasm.

  “Just enjoy the view,” Averi said as she popped a piece of a dinner roll in her mouth.

  Colt raised his eyebrow at Averi and shook his head with a smile.

  “Don’t worry baby, I’ll always love your ass more than all of the starting line-up of the Dallas Cowboys.”

  “Gee, thanks…” Colt said, making Randy gag.

  “Grow up, Randy!” Averi said laughing.

  The game was suddenly interrupted and a special news broadcast flashed across the screen.

  “Man, what the hell!” Tim complained, who was very much into the game.

  But when he saw his uncle on the screen dressed in his full police regalia, he held his further comments. A news reporter’s voice overtook the room as all eyes took in the broadcast.

  “This is a special news update… We are live at Police Headquarters where Captain Shawn Hall has called a press conference regarding the death of convicted criminal Thomas “Black Horse” McClain. In Early September, news released that while on his death bed after being severely burned in a house fire, someone had shot McClain pointe blank in the head. An investigation is underway and Captain Hall has been following the progress very closely. He should be joining us in a moment at the 8 P.M. hour. There he is… Let’s listen.”

  Shawn Hall walked through the double glass doors of Police Headquarters with a serious look upon his face. He was dressed in his Captain’s uniform that had gold insignia laced around the sleeves. His chest showcased his badge and his many stripes for his courage in the line of duty and his determination to protect the community from danger. The community of Oakeley, Texas had no idea how far their Captain would go to protect them. His collar brass shone brightly against the flashing bulbs of the cameras as he prepared to make his announcement. City officials lined up behind him, all wearing the same solemn look that the Police Captain wore.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen, good evening. I am Captain Shawn Hall with the Oakeley Police Department. As you know there has been a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Thomas “Black Horse” McClain and while that investigation is still underway, there are some details that I can share with you. The public outcry to determine who had managed to get into a hospital with a loaded gun, completely bypassing hospital security is heard loud and clear. All local hospitals have ramped up security measures. While it is still undetermined who the shooter is, it is important that you know that we take the safety and security of Oakeley very seriously. We are asking anyone with information to contact the Oakeley Police Department immediately. We have identified several persons of interest, however, it is important to note that they are not considered suspects at this time. Now, I’ll take a few questions...”

  The press went nuts, reporters shouted over one another, cameras flashed and journalists scrambled to get every word Captain Hall said on paper.

  “Harry from ABC…” Shawn said pointing to a seasoned reporter in the second row.

  “Are you prepared to release the names of the persons of interest?”

  “Good question. At this time, no. I believe it would be a hindrance to the investigation to release the names to the public just yet.”

  More shouting ensued. Shawn pointed to a tall blonde woman in the front row. She seemed to be the pushiest of all the reporters.

  “With all due respect, Captain…” she said in a snide voice. “Doesn’t the public have the right to know who you suspect?”

  “The persons of interest are not suspects, as I said before. They are individuals with inside information that could prove pivotal in the investigation.”

  The reporter tried to speak again but she was interrupted by Captain Hall.

  “Man in black in the third row…”

  “Are you investigating the security staff at the hospital where the murder occurred?”

  “We are investigating all possible leads.”

  The media continued shouting, trying to gain the attention of Captain Hall, but with a quick flick of his wrist, he waved them all off.

  “That’s all for now. The investigation is underway and the public’s full cooperation is required. Thank you.”

  All eyes were glued to the TV as Captain Shawn Hall walked off the scene. But as Colt took his eyes off the screen, something told him to look behind him. Jimmy was at the bar with a broad smile on his face and as Colt met his glance both Gunnar and Jimmy nodded and returned to their conversation with smug appearances casting from their faces.

  Colt and Randy’s eyes met and Randy loudly gulped down his worry. Suddenly, he was no longer hungry.

  ***

  Jimmy barged through the back door of his mother's double wide trailer with a determined look on his face. Mental illness combined with a coke addiction made for some very off kilter moods and Jimmy's moods were more unpredictable than the weather.

  "Oh, Jimmy... There you are..." Lily Hearns said to her son as she strolled over to him to dote on him.

  "Jimmy... I barely see you anymore."

  "I've been busy," he said in a gruff tone not bothering to look at his mother.

  "There is some mail here for you. I took the liberty..."

  "You opened my mail?!"

  "Well, yeah... Jimmy... I never see you and it looked important."

  "What is it?"

  "It's a letter. From your father’s…"

  "That's impossible, Ma. He's dead."

  "As if you had to remind me. It is in reference to the money he left behind. It looks like it was sent by a law office."

  "I know about the money. What I need to know about is the deed."

  "The deed?"

  "Yeah, the deed to the Steak House."

  "Oh, honey, he wouldn't have left you that."

  "And why not?!"

  "Because you're not one of those crazy bikers..."

  Jimmy was seething. "Who has the deed?!"

  "I don't know, but neither of us do. What's it matter anyway?"

  Jimmy pulled up his shirt sleeve to show his mother that he was indeed "one of those crazy bikers."

  "I don't believe it."

  "Now, tell me where the hell the deed is!" Jimmy yelled, his eyes bulging as he berated his poor mother.

  "Don’t speak to me like that! I didn’t take it from your father and I won’t take it from you! Get out. Get out of this house Jimmy! You promised! No son of mine..." Lily said, wandering off throwing Jimmy’s stuff at him.

  "So it was all well and good when you were sleeping with a Devil, but having one as a son just won't do?"

  "Don't you speak to me like that you ungrateful son of a -"

  "Exactly."

  "No son of mine will be a god damn Devil! Get out. Get your shit and get out! I tried protecting you from all this! He didn’t want us, you know!"

  Laughing at his mother, Jimmy grabbed his jacket and slammed the door behind him.

  Chapter Six

  “Oh, Barkley!” Averi called as she stepped over the threshold of her house.

  The pup scrambled over to her, wiggling its butt and tail and yapping cheerfully, clearly happy to see her. She scooped the dog up and flopped onto the couch. Shelly followed after her, her heels scraping against the hardwood floor. Randy and Colt were in the midst of a heavy, tension-laced conversation.

  Quietly, Tim approached them both, interrupting their conversation. “Take it outside, I don’t want the girls getting worried.”

  Listening to Tim, Randy and Colt grabbed a couple of cold beers from the cooler and headed out to the back yard. Tim grabbed the remote control off the coffee table and flicked on the flat screen TV that took up most of the wall.

  “Alright, ladies… What movie are we watching tonight?”

  “I hear they are having a good movie on the Women’s Drama Net-” Shelly began to say, but Averi cut her dead in her tracks.

  “Tim, if you turn
on that channel, I swear to God I will wake you up with a mega phone tomorrow morning.”

  “Because I really want to watch the Women’s Drama Network… That channel spews more nonsense than the tabloids at the supermarket.”

  “Hey! They have great movies!” Shelly insisted.

  “Oh, look! Red October! I love this movie,” Tim gushed as he flopped his huge frame onto the couch between Shelly and Averi, causing them both to bounce in their seats.

  “Oh, hell no!” Shelly griped. “I’m not watching this!”

  “Give me the remote. You two are a mess,” said Averi as she swiped the remote control from Tim’s hand.

  “There. Happy?”

  “Turner and Hooch! I love this movie,” Tim exclaimed.

  “Of all the movies on cable, you choose this?” Shelly asked with a disgusted look on her face.

  “What are you talking about? This movie rocks!” Averi insisted.

  Suddenly, Barkley began yapping again. He let out a playful growl at Shelly and yipped loudly.

  “See, even Barkley approves,” Averi said as she pet her furry friend on his head.

  As the movie began to play, Tim put his arms around both his girls, the one he intended to marry… one of these years, and his kid sister who was more like a mother to him. He really was just a big Teddy Bear.

  ***

  “We’ve got a problem,” Colt said, spewing tension like battery acid.

  “No shit.”

  “These persons of interest. That’s just code. It means they have suspects but they are not telling the public yet.”

  “Think they know?”

  “No, because Shawn wouldn’t be the one out there giving the press conference. That doesn’t mean that they won’t try to pin it on us.”

  “Let them try. We have alibis.”

  “And if they pull phone records?”

  “It just shows you were calling our uncle. We’re family. That’s nothing to go on.”

  “What about Chuck Spina?” Colt asked with a serious hilt to his voice and a dark edge to his glare.

  “What about him?”

  “He’s a Devil. He joined two years ago.”

  “Spina?! No!”

  “Yeah. Saw the tattoo myself. And he is one of the leads on the case, which is why your uncle is following the investigation so closely.”

  Suddenly, Colt’s cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He reached in, quick to answer it.

  “Yeah…” Colt said in a raspy bark.

  “I’m coming over. Is there somewhere we can talk? Privately?”

  “Yeah. Randy and I are in the backyard.”

  Colt ended the call and slid his phone back into his jean pocket.

  “He’s on his way.”

  ***

  “You’re positive that it was them?” Gunnar asked as he sucked on his cigarette and blew out a cloud of smoke.

  “Positive.”

  “How?”

  “I saw it happen.”

  Gunnar tilted his head and regarded Jimmy with a perplexed look.

  “He was killed in the hospital.”

  “Yeah, I was in there getting surgery for some of the burns I got from the fire.”

  Jimmy opened his coat to show Gunnar the burn marks that littered his neck, arms and chest.

  “Fuck, man…”

  “Yeah… The girl got it worse, but no one got as fucked up as Black Horse.”

  “Heard he was charred.”

  “You heard right. They moved me in the bed next to his while I was recovering from surgery.”

  “So who was the trigger man?”

  “This is the crazy part.”

  “It’s already nuts.”

  “The Captain is the one who did it.”

  Gunnar’s eyes turned dark.

  “The Devils are going to lose their minds.”

  “Good. Because we strike tomorrow night.”

  ***

  Shawn Hall tried to open the wooden gate that led to Colt and Averi’s backyard but it was locked. He tapped four times on the surface of the door with his knuckles.

  “Go let him in,” Colt said to Randy as he paced the backyard.

  Randy reluctantly did as he was told. He unlocked the gate with a click and nodded at his uncle.

  “Whatsamatter? Afraid someone is going to kidnap you?” Shawn said in a gruff, comedic tone.

  “Can’t be too careful, now days,” said Colt, holding his hand out for Shawn to shake.

  The men exchanged a firm handshake, their eyes locked in a non-verbal exchange. They both had concerns on their minds.

  “Can we talk here, or should we take a ride?”

  “Out here is good. It’s not like you have many neighbors.”

  “So what’s going on?” asked Colt as he pulled out a lawn chair and sat down.

  Randy grabbed a beer from the cooler and passed it to his uncle. Shawn was still dressed in his uniform. He removed his Captain hat and ran his fingers through his thinning salt and pepper hair. Colt and Randy looked at him waiting for what he needed to say. He had their full and undivided attention.

  “These persons of interest…”

  “Yeah…” Colt said impatiently, wondering why it was taking so long for Shawn to spit out what he needed to say.

  “Well, there is no easy way to say it. The persons of interest are you two. Let me be clear, to the public, its persons of interest… To insiders of the investigation, you are unreleased suspects.”

  “Great,” said Randy.

  “Well, we’re moving out of the county tonight.”

  “Exactly. I was able to hold them off until tomorrow. By the time they get here, you’ll be gone.”

  “Then what?”

  “It complicates things for the investigators, but to be quite clear, they aren’t my primary concern.”

  “Oh?”

  “Spina. He’s playing both sides. The Devils are rallying under Hearn’s command.”

  “I got that impression tonight at dinner.”

  “What happened?” Shawn asked.

  “Hearns, who, by the way, now calls himself McClain, was huddled up at the bar with Gunnar Rhoades.”

  “Shit.”

  “Yeah.”

  “So what do you want us to do?”

  “Get my niece and the baby the fuck out of here.”

  Chapter Seven

  Cheyenne pulled off her work clothes and swapped it out for a pair of heather gray yoga pants and a Dallas Cowboys t-shirt that used to belong to Randy. Sinking down onto her bed, she breathed out a sigh of frustration. Her cell phone sat idle, dark in the already dark room. What she wouldn’t give to see her phone light up with an incoming call from Randy. But as it was, it was another lonely night. A night of self-loathing. A night of what-if’s. After waiting by the phone for an hour, she gave up. With tears flooding from her eyes, she fought her demons. The urge to get high to drown out her need for Randy was overwhelming, but she refused to allow herself the release. Her addiction was half the problem. But she hadn’t used at all since that day. She hadn’t talked to Trent either. If only Randy knew the truth. The real, honest to God truth. Then he would be here. But first, she needed to have the opportunity to tell the truth for what it was.

  Picking up the phone again, desperately hoping that something came through and she had just not heard it, she was disappointed to see that no one had called or texted her. Tossing her phone on the bedside table, she rolled over and drowned herself in her tears.

  If only he knew…

  ***

  Randy sunk down into a lawn chair, letting the stress from the day melt off of him. So many thoughts were going through his head at once, but still, he couldn’t keep his mind off Cheyenne. His phone was dead from all the messages she had sent, and he had no desire to charge it just yet. Before he spoke to her, he needed to decide where he stood on the subject. The matter of “them.”

  He wanted nothing more than to pick up where they left off, but there was so
mething standing in the way. Distrust. Addiction. Lies. Betrayal. And one Trent Myers. She had looked good tonight, Randy thought. She looked healthy, if a bit unhappy. She didn’t look like she was using. He’d know if she was. The light in her eyes would fade. He hated to hate her. He hated to love her. He despised being away from her so long and ignoring her calls. The tough façade he put on for everyone else crumbled at night when all he wanted to do was tell her to come over and he could hold her close to him, while she told him about her day. But as it was, Randy couldn’t afford to get his heart broken again. She broke him. But no matter who he slept with, what girl he hooked up with at the bar, nothing compared to her. It was just empty exchanges, something to fill a void that would never be replinished. Not with Cheyenne.

  If only she knew…

  Chapter Eight

  Averi was awoken from a deep sleep by the sound of creaking floorboards in the living room below where she slept. Instinctively, she reached her arm out for Colt, but he wasn’t sleeping beside her. It was still dark out. She glanced at the alarm clock on her bed stand. It was 4:02 in the morning.

  “Jesus Christ,” Averi complained at the rude awakening.

  Sliding out of bed, she slipped her feet into a pair of white fuzzy bedroom slippers and pulled one of Colt’s oversized t-shirts over her nightgown. The t-shirt swam on her and looked more like a dress, but it covered her up. Slowly, she wandered down the hall listening to the voices echoing from the parlor. They sounded serious but not stressed. She recognized Colt and Randy’s voices, along with a few others. She wasn’t sure why she felt so nervous. Her stomach panged. She knew they would get an early start, but this was ridiculous.