“If anyone knew about this, they’d shut him down. He’s not going through social services or the tribal agencies. I’m sorry to say that some people on the rez don’t want to see young people succeed and get out. They make it hard for kids to get away.” He moved to usher me out, looking at the road and rubbing his fingers together.
My skepticism must have shown, because even though I hadn’t said anything, Pete rushed on. “I know Lee comes off gruff and uncaring. But I’ve known him almost my whole life. You won’t find anyone kinder or more generous. And loyal. By God, Lee would do anything for a friend. Lee is the salt of the earth.”
No matter what Pete said, I’d caught Barnett lying to me. That killed my trust. “I’m not sure about this Underground Railroad or whatever he’s got happening here.”
Pete spoke about loyalty and family and the closeness between him and Barnett. What lengths would Pete go to protect Barnett?
I let my attention wander over the room. From the window looking out on the thick clouds to the reds and oranges of the poppies decorating the bedspread. Did Barnett really choose the red, yellow, and orange striped area rug covering the fake wood floor? I couldn’t imagine he had that kind of whimsy in him.
A wood floor? In a pole barn? Even one converted would probably still have a poured concrete floor. I studied the rug, noting a small bulge toward one edge.
I looked away, afraid Pete had noticed my scrutiny. But he was staring out the window at the house. He jumped when I spoke. “Thanks for bringing me out here. It explains a lot. I guess Barnett isn’t such a bad guy after all.”
Pete put his arm around me and steered us out of the room, clicking the door closed behind us. I was eager to get out of there as quickly as possible, and I stepped away from him and led the way to the Bronco.
Small talk on the way back to Dry Creek turned easy when I asked about his kids. Pete galloped off about Rusty’s new roping mare and Becca’s barrel horse and how the high school rodeo team needed a new coach. Silently, I urged him to exceed his strict sixty-five miles an hour, but my powers of suggestion didn’t penetrate his enthusiasm for his kids’ activities.
He dropped me at my car, and before I climbed out, he put a hand on my arm. “Please keep me posted on Kyle’s condition. Tammy and I will go to the hospital when he comes to. Take him flowers and see if he needs anything. I don’t suppose he’s got any family to help him out.”
I nodded, too distracted to say much. “Thanks, Pete.”
I climbed into my car and started the engine and waited for Pete to head back to Chester County. He sat in his Bronco with the engine running, maybe waiting for me to take off. I gave it another few seconds, and when he didn’t go, I put my car into gear and turned right, toward Hodgekiss.
When I was out of sight of Frankie’s, I took a quick detour around the back of the boarded-up craft store. Two men dozing on the concrete step didn’t look up as I executed a U-turn and stayed half-hidden behind the building. Ten long, painful minutes later, Pete cruised past on his way out of town.
I gave it another five minutes, then I pulled out, heading east. Back to Barnett’s, hoping his court appearance would be a long one.
29
I sprayed gravel as I slammed on the brakes and jetted from the cruiser to the door of the bunkhouse. With swift movements, I jerked the striped rug from the center of the room, revealing what I’d suspected.
A trapdoor. Just as I’d seen on a thousand TV shows. This one was marked by crudely cut boards and latched, but not locked. Barnett would have no reason to lock anything around here. It’s unlikely anyone, not even the Schwann’s man, who delivered frozen food to remote ranches, would come snooping at his place. No one lived close enough to hear a scream.
I flipped the latch and jerked on the door. It didn’t weigh much, and when I opened it, light streamed into the hole. A set of steep stone steps descended into a shallow room with wooden shelves. A storage cellar. Most of the older ranches had something like this to keep canned goods and root vegetables. I leaned over, sure this one held more than summer’s harvest.
Although the daylight illuminated most of the cellar, my eyes didn’t adjust quickly enough to identify the shadows. Before I could make out details, a lump rose from the corner of the cellar and burst toward me.
It knocked into me, and I fell back with an “umph.”
The kid scrambled over the top of me, making a run for the door. I reached up and caught his ankle, and he crashed to the floor, crying out.
He fought like a tiger cub, kicking and writhing, making it nearly impossible to keep my hold and to get purchase on my knees. I threw myself on top of him, pinning him under me while I struggled to grab his wrists.
I finally looked at his face. “Alex!”
He didn’t stop fighting. “Lemme go.”
We wrestled for a second. “Knock it off or I’ll put the cuffs on you.”
His fear was so real I could touch it. His voice cracked. “What do you want from me?”
I panted from the struggle. “Why are you here?”
His heavy breathing sounded like a steam engine. His words were meant to be tough, but they came out squeaky. “You and Barnett gonna kill me like you did Darrel?”
I sat back, staying alert in case he bolted. “I’ve got nothing to do with Barnett. Did he kidnap you? How long have you been here?”
He panted, eyes still wild and searching the room. “Last night. He found me after Frankie’s. Brought me here.”
Whether Pete believed his lies about Barnett’s goodness, the truth was here before me. “Did he say why?”
Alex calmed a little, maybe starting to understand I wasn’t going to hurt him. “He wants Shelly. Said if I took him to her, he’d let me go.”
I knew it. With her beauty and exotic Native American mystique, I’d bet she’d bring a lot on the market. “Where is she?”
Alex’s mouth clamped shut, and he focused on the corner of the room.
I stood up, positioning myself between Alex and the door so he couldn’t make a run for it. “I’m trying to help Shelly. Shut Barnett down.”
Alex sat up but didn’t say anything.
I leaned closer to him. “Barnett nearly killed Kyle last night.”
Alex jerked as if struck by a snake. “No. Is he? Is Kyle…?”
“He’s in a coma at the hospital, but he’ll be okay.” Kyle might or might not be okay, but Alex didn’t need to know that. I barked my words so Alex would focus. “Barnett might have killed Darrel. Now he’s after Shelly. You need to trust me.”
Alex switched from scared to belligerent in a blink. “Trust. That’s the white man’s line.”
With effort, I kept my voice low and calm. “We don’t have time for this BS. Help me find Shelly. That’ll give us the proof we need to lock Barnett up.”
He lifted his chin. “Shelly don’t need your help.”
“Where is she?” How long would court last? Was Barnett on his way home now?
“She’s safe.”
I ground my molars. “How safe can she be if she’s hiding from Barnett and from the preppers?”
He looked confused. “Preppers?”
I wasn’t getting anywhere with this kid. “The Olson Ranch.”
He shrugged as if he had no idea.
We needed to get out of here before Barnett returned. With clenched teeth, I said, “Hidden Valley Ranch.”
He opened his eyes wider. “You know about them?”
“I think they’re in this with Barnett.”
He might as well have called me a moron. “They don’t know nothing about this shit. It’s Barnett, all the way from the beginning.”
“What are you talking about?”
He shut up again.
I grabbed the front of his T-shirt and jerked him toward the bed, pushing him to sit. I stood above him. “You know something, and if you want to save your sister’s life and find out who tried to kill Kyle, you’d better tell me.”
“I know who went after Kyle. Same as who killed Darrel. I just don’t know why.”
He stopped and I waited. When he didn’t pick up again, I pulled out my cuffs. Whether he talked or not, we couldn’t hang out here any longer. “Guess you can sit in jail until you feel more chatty.”
He glared at me.
I lunged at Alex, had his arms behind his back and cuffed before he had time to swing. I’d learned the skill at the police academy and practiced it on brothers, sisters, nephew, and nieces. It was my best real sheriff move.
I pulled him up and jerked him toward the door. “Might have to keep you locked up awhile. Won’t matter because no one knows where you are.”
He pulled back. “You can’t do that. I’m a minor.”
I opened the door and leaned on him to push him into the drizzle. “Gosh. I hadn’t thought of that.”
I opened the back door of my cruiser and placed a hand on the back of his head. “In you go.”
He resisted. “Okay. Okay.”
I applied a little more pressure to his head. “Okay, what?”
He raised his voice. “I heard Ma and Shelly fighting about a month ago.”
I quit pushing, even though I wanted to throw him in the car and peel out before Barnett showed up. I held him close to the door. “What were they fighting about?”
He didn’t look at me. “I didn’t hear the start. They were yelling and crying, all that drama shit. Then Ma said something about Kyle’s dad and how bad sheriffs were, and staying away from the law. It’s the kind of crap she’s said forever. But I never heard her say anything about Kyle’s dad before. She hates cops, and that’s why she hates Kyle.”
I backed up a step and nodded for him to continue, one ear on his speech and the other listening for Barnett’s Bronco.
He scowled and went on. “Then she says Darrel was gonna make the sheriff pay for what he done. Ma and Shelly raised hell fighting and stuff, but what I got was that Darrel knew something and he was gonna use it to get Ma what she deserved.”
“Do you know what or who Darrel found?”
Alex shook his head. “No. But I figured Shelly would because she’s smart. After that, she got all weird. Hardly home. Secret as hell. Ma wouldn’t talk to her.”
“What happened a couple of nights ago? The night of the sweat?”
Guilt splashed suddenly across his face, like the squalls that had washed over the Sandhills. “Shelly was done with school and gonna go to college or leave home no matter what. She knew something about a sheriff, and I figured that was worth some money. So I sent a text to Barnett and told him I knew what happened and to give me five thousand dollars and I wouldn’t say nothing.”
I nearly choked. “You tried to blackmail Barnett?”
“Yeah. And next thing I know, Shelly’s gone. Then Kyle wants to meet. And Barnett grabs me, throws me into a spider hole with a bag of peanut butter sandwiches and a case of juice boxes.”
I needed to find Shelly. She held the key to Barnett’s secret.
Max. Scared and lying. He knew something. Maybe he was hiding Shelly. Or something.
I unlocked Alex’s cuffs. “Get in the car.”
He backed away. “No way.”
“I can lock you in the back seat, or you can grow up and sit in front with me.”
We had a couple-second stare down. “Do you really want to hang around here and wait for Barnett to get back?”
Alex dragged his feet getting into the front seat, and when I slid behind the wheel, he said, “Where are you taking me?”
I hurried out of the ranch yard and to the highway. “Your cousin Gordon.”
He crossed his arms. “Another apple.”
Good thing I’d developed teenager tolerance from being part of such a big family. “When Kyle recovers, he’ll be able to tell us what happened.”
Alex sneered. “Kyle’s like Superman. Dude won’t die.”
I fought a battle to keep my mouth shut and lost. “Kyle loves you.”
Alex scoffed. “He doesn’t know anything about me or my life.”
“He’s done everything he can to help you. Try to get you off the reservation.”
“Yeah, take me away from my culture. My people.”
I squeezed the wheel and frustration tightened my chest. “You could do worse.”
“Says the rich white bitch. You ain’t had some cop pick you up and give you shit because you’re Lakota. You ain’t had grocery store clerks do everything but spit on you because you got food stamps. You got no idea what it’s like to be Indian.”
“Right. I don’t. But that’s no reason for you to push away Kyle’s help. Why not try to make your life better?”
“Better according to Kyle? To you?”
I opened my mouth, but his words popped it closed again. He was right. Better to me meant getting an education. So he could get a good job off the reservation. So he could live in a nice house, eat big meals, take dive vacations. I glanced at him. “What kind of future do you want?”
Hope lit his eyes for the first time since I’d met him. “Like my ancestors. Right? They knew the land. They hunted and lived free. Didn’t need money. Or government housing. No diplomas and jobs. Just living. Real life.”
I thought about that. “You know that’s impossible.”
He folded his arms. “It’s not impossible, man.”
Time to be real, even if it was ugly. “Your ancestors weren’t relegated to some seriously questionable lands. They could follow buffalo and elk herds. The world is different for you. There are fences. The prairie is settled. The buffalo are gone.”
Alex’s passion frothed. “You don’t understand. You got your paycheck and your big house and car. I got nothing and not going to. What I got is screwed.”
I nodded. “Yeah. You’re right. It’s easier for me. It’s always going to be easier for me. I can be sorry about it, but I can’t change it. Living in poverty to spite me is just stupid.”
He rolled his eyes.
“Kyle has a good life.”
Alex’s eyes, so much like Kyle’s, drilled me. “And he still has to put up with bullshit from the white world.”
Whatever else, Alex was teenager through and through. So, because it was something Mom repeated to me often when I was a teen, I recited from her code of living, The Desiderata, “Everywhere the world is full of treachery and broken dreams. But don’t let it blind you…”
We debated, with less animosity, all the way to The Stop in Sand Gap.
Alex didn’t put up any ruckus when I escorted him to the back room. Kyle’s cousin Kim made it clear I wasn’t welcome. She smacked her bat into her hand and curled her lip at me when I passed in front of the cash register. I gave her a friendly hello, because, as Dad says, there’s never any reason to be rude.
Gordon walked me out. “Tha’s two of the four Red Owls safe and soun’. You got someone keepin’ an eye on Kyle up there in that hospital?”
Worry throttled my innards. “My Aunt Tutti has Rottweiler in her blood. If someone comes sniffing around who doesn’t belong, she’s got sharp teeth.”
He raised an eyebrow as if that didn’t account for much in his view. “Bes’ you can do is fin’ Shelly. Rita isn’t in good shape, and Alex is gonna need someone to look after him.”
If I did find Shelly and get this mess straightened out, I didn’t think I’d urge her to take on parenting her younger brother. But that was an issue for another day, another caretaker. For now, finding Shelly topped my list, and there was only one place she could be.
I checked my gun to make sure it was loaded and turned south.
30
Kyle’s swathed head filled my mind, and my pulse raced. With determination, I raced down the highway. I pulled out my phone and punched in Ted’s number.
I explained my encounter with Alex and Max and laid it all out for him. “I’m nearly there now. You need to get here so we can protect Kyle and arrest Barnett.”
Ted sounded too
relaxed. “You’re wrong. There’s no way Barnett would kill anyone.”
Arguing with Ted was taking up too much time today. “Fine. I’ll call Milo or Pete. Maybe I am wrong. But I’m not going to give Barnett the benefit of the doubt and maybe lose Kyle.”
He did not yawn, did he? “You’re overreacting.”
I shot back my response before thinking, the way you can with someone you’d been married to for eight years. “And you’re a pig-headed blowhard, jerk in the mud.”
“Jerk in the mud?”
“I’m mad.” I sucked in a few breaths. “Are you going to back me up, or should I call someone else?”
He sounded entertained. Damn him. “I’m halfway there now. But we’re going to talk first, arrest later.”
I’d grown up with compromise. However, you’d think once I was the lone law enforcement officer in my county, I could make the rules. “Get here fast.”
I cut another lock off the gates into the Olson Ranch. Now it was just getting irritating. This time, when I topped the hill heading down to the headquarters, there was no activity. One pickup was parked outside the main house. The hen house door stood ajar, and the birds pecked happily in their yard.
I pulled up in front of Marty and Rhonda’s house, a chill crawling up my spine and tugging the hairs on my neck. The basement windows were propped open, but sand hadn’t been dug back far from them. Another goose-drowner would create a beach in the basement again. The cistern still rested on the hill. Most Sandhillers I knew wouldn’t have done such a half-assed job. Out here, you couldn’t rely on someone else to finish a chore or clean up after you.
More than the sorry state of repairs, the headquarters felt ominous, like a weight hung overhead, waiting to fall. Fear billowed in the air as menacing as if rain clouds still hovered.
I pushed my car door open and sat a moment. My good sense screamed at me to stay put. But a meadowlark trilled and blackbirds chirped in response. The hens clucked. A slight breeze whispered across my cheeks, and the sun twinkled with spring seduction. Maybe I’d let my imagination run rampant.
Bitter Rain (Kate Fox Book 3) Page 25
