by Ami Diane
Flo flipped her off.
“There we go. That’ll make a great Christmas card.”
Chapman and Wink joined her. The sheriff appeared as close to frazzled as she’d ever seen him. In this case, it meant his features were hardened more than usual and his jaw ticked every few seconds like a metronome.
“What’d she do?” Ella jerked her thumb at the geriatric detainee behind her. “Matter of fact, what did all of them do?”
“After one too many drinks, they thought it’d be a good idea to run down Main Street without their clothes.”
A range of emotions and responses vied for priority in Ella’s mind. She eventually landed somewhere between shock and disgust.
She bent her ear forward. “I’m sorry, are you telling me they went streaking?”
“Not sure what that means, Ms. Barton.”
Wink shook her head. “They ran? Flo ran?”
Ella shot her a look. “That’s what you’re hung up on? I’m going to have nightmares for weeks just from that mental image alone.” She shook her head, watching Flo stagger around in the cell. “I guess we should probably get her back to the inn. So, how much is her bail?”
Chapman’s mustache bristled as he let out a breath. “Nothing. I just want her out of here. She keeps riling up the others. I’m nearly to the point of paying you to take her.”
After turning a skeleton key in the lock, the hinges on the ancient cell creaked as the sheriff tugged open the door. Ella grabbed one of Flo’s arms while Wink took the other. Together, they three-legged raced out of the station, thanking Chapman before leaving.
Outside, a pink sky stretched overhead, a beautiful scene that was at odds with the loud belch currently coming from Flo.
As they hobbled awkwardly along, Ella said, “I couldn’t help but notice that Pauline wasn’t in there.”
“I noticed too,” Wink said.
“Does that mean she didn’t show, Flo?”
“How’s that?” Flo burped again, causing Ella to have to wave away the stench.
“Good God, woman. How much did you drink?”
“We played a drinking game. It was Pauline’s idea, so I went with it. I got the information.” Her voice sounded surprisingly sober. The crazy woman glanced back over her shoulder. “Okay, I think we’re far enough away.”
She wrenched her arms free and straightened as if a magic sober fairy had cast her with a spell and she was no longer inebriated.
“Were you pretending to be drunk?” Ella stared open-mouthed at her.
“Gotta keep up appearances, you know. I got a reputation to protect.”
“What about the others?”
“They’re canned. And to answer your earlier question, Pauline didn’t come streaking with us.”
One by one, the lamp lights winked on, orbs throwing golden puddles onto the walk. Scratching her head at the crazy woman, Ella wondered if she’d ever get used to this town.
“So, you said you got the time of death from Pauline?”
“She said it was between noon and five on Friday.”
They’d reached the front of the inn. Next door, the lights for the diner were off, and the closed sign already turned. Horatio had been fast, probably eager to get home to his wife and son.
Wink lingered near her car. “So, he was killed during the day. El, do you remember what Six said he was doing during that time frame?”
Swallowing, she nodded slowly. “Picking apples.”
CHAPTER 20
AT THE REVELATION that Six had been doing something so benign as picking apples from another’s property, they’d made the quick decision to follow up on his alibi before it got much darker.
The trio grabbed a quick bite of food from the diner, largely consisting of cold sandwiches and milkshakes. Driving down Main Street in Wink’s four-door Oldsmobile, they left Keystone proper behind for fields of cows and orchards.
“You okay to do this?” Wink spared a glance from the road in Ella’s direction.
“Sure, why wouldn’t I be?”
“I just mean, maybe you should prepare yourself for the fact that Six is a killer.”
She already knew he was a killer, but that was in his past. Wink did have a point, though. All along, Ella had been operating under the assumption that the outlaw wasn’t involved. Even this outing was, in the back of her mind, a way to prove Six’s innocence in the matter.
She really believed he’d changed, or at the very least, was trying to be a better man. But what if he’d slipped up? What if his ghosts had gotten the better of him? He had appeared rather haunted at the Half Penny when last they spoke.
She watched Twin Hills slip past. “I’ll be fine.”
Soon, they passed Bradford Farms dairy before Wink turned onto a dusty road that twisted and turned through an apple orchard. From past forays, she remembered that Six’s homestead and property abutted the north edge of the orchard.
“Huh, I never noticed this road before.”
“I think Harold prefers it that way.” Wink rolled up her window to keep the dust from flying in.
Rows of trees stretched as far as Ella could see. The three of them were familiar with the orchard, having run through it a few months prior. Six had been chasing them on Duke, but that was after they’d trespassed on his property. So, they had it coming.
It struck her just how much her life had changed since those early days, and she wondered how much more change was yet to come. If she’d thought back then while sprinting for her life that she and the outlaw might one day be friends—or very near it—she would’ve checked herself in for a doctor’s visit.
Old gave way to new, and life found a way of marching on.
Pink sky peeked above the green canopy. A few rotten apples weighed down branches, leftovers from late summer weather, before the short burst of winter snow and the proceeding early summer-heat again. In Keystone, seasons were erratic at best, making her feel for the plant life.
She wondered why Six had wanted the soft apples since she couldn’t imagine them tasting that good. Before she knew it, the car slowed, the dirt road ending at a large cabin. Wink made a three-point turn that ended up being a six-point turn with Flo threatening to drive, all so she could face the car the direction they’d come.
The Oldsmobile rose as they got out.
“You planning a quick getaway?” Ella teased as she shut the door.
“One can never be too careful.” Wink had already mounted the worn steps, her tone serious.
Internal alarm bells went off after this comment. The alarm bells screamed even louder when she caught Flo reaching into her bag, clutching something.
“Anything you two want to fill me in on?” Ella whispered, joining Wink at the screen door which was really more of a decoration at this point. It hung at an odd angle, and the screen itself had been shredded by an animal too large to be either a cat or dog.
“Harold’s alright,” Wink said, her voice low as she rapped her knuckles on the door. “It’s Spot you gotta be careful of.”
“As in, See Spot Run? Fantastic. I was hoping for a normal conversation, but of course, that was too much to ask in this town.” She wondered what sort of dog would put these two thrill-seekers on edge.
A growl followed by a noise that sounded more like thunder than a bark rattled the door. A moment later, the door nearly burst out as something like a bus hit it.
Ella leaped back, her heart climbing her throat. She swore. “Is that a hellhound?” Another teeth-jarring rattle shook the door. “It sounds like a hellhound.”
“That’s Spot.” Flo had forgone all pretense and had whipped out a lime green gun, finger on the trigger.
A muffled voice hollered for Cujo to knock it off then told them, “Just a minute.”
For all the noise that followed the man could’ve been wrestling a bear. In fact, Ella was pretty sure that’s what was happening.
When the door finally opened, a familiar face peered out. A beer gut complete
with pasty hairy skin hung below a stained white shirt that was at least two sizes too small. It was the same man who’d come into the diner and told them about finding Darren’s body.
“Help you?” The confusion in his eyes cleared when he recognized Wink. The door creaked as he held it open, motioning them inside.
Ella could hear Spot behind another door just off the living room. It shook and rattled in much the same fashion as the front one had. Hesitating on the threshold, she stuck close to Flo, figuring the woman’s gun might be her best chance of survival. Worst case scenario, she could outrun the woman.
Wink swept a hand in Ella’s direction. “Harold, this is Ella. I believe you two met informally earlier today.”
They nodded at each other, and his eyes clicked with recognition. They slid down her body briefly before snapping back to her face.
“That’s right. You’re new.”
“New-ish.”
“You gotta beau?”
“Married, actually.” She managed to maintain a neutral expression, but only because she was still distracted by the battering ram at the door.
Wink came to her rescue. “She’s spoken for, Harold.” She settled onto the couch. “How’d your trees do during that winter storm a few months back? I was worried about all that snow.”
“I’ll know soon enough. Part of it’s already gone to mush. The snowpack insulated the ground a bit, though. It was the flooding I was concerned about. Looked like a lake from here to Main.”
After Flo sat on a chair with a busted leg, she positioned herself on the edge. Ella mimicked her stance on the twin chair opposite her, complete with its own busted leg.
Both Wink and Harold chatted idly about the weather and this year’s crop. Like an expert seamstress, Wink wove the conversation around to Darren Alexander, finally asking, “How’re you doing after finding Darren?”
He shook his head. “Such a shame. That man was what you might call an acquired taste, but who ain’t? He grew on a person, you know? Ain’t no way to go out, neither. Discarded in the field naked like some animal carcass.”
Ella leaned forward, less acutely aware of the animal currently trying to burrow through the door. “You insinuated he’d been hit over the head. Did you notice anything else?”
He shook his head. “To be honest, I wasn’t lookin’ too closely. Sorta turned my stomach. I just saw the blood, and that was enough. I ran all the way here and called the sheriff.”
“Six’s place was closer. You didn’t call from there?” She knew she’d said something foolish by the way all three faces turned and stared at her. “Let me guess. Six doesn’t have a phone?”
“They never ran lines to his place,” Harold explained.
She was sure that on at least two occasions, the outlaw had mentioned prank calling people. What phone had he used then?
“Speaking of Six,” Wink said, “did you happen to see him at all on Friday?”
“‘Course I did, more than I wanted to, I might add.”
“What do you mean?” Wink’s eyes flickered towards Ella before returning to the farmer.
“Well, I was driving into town before going to the field, see, and on my way, I caught sight of that horse of his. I parked and walked over. And you know what I saw? That good for nothing scoundrel was picking my produce.”
Ella assumed the scoundrel in question was Six and not Duke. “Do you know what time that was?”
“‘Bout two o’clock.”
“Did you happen to see him at any other time during the day?”
The man’s face darkened. “All day as a matter o’ fact. Except for when I walked the field to check on the other fellows and found Darren, that is.”
“All day?” Ella’s brow furrowed, and she was relieved to see that both Flo and Wink were just as confused as she was. With a great grunt, the man stood, tugged his shirt down in a losing battle, and motioned them to the back of the house.
Ella gave a wide birth to the door that had gone alarmingly silent within the last minute. For her, the mental image of the dog was like the one in The Sandlot, overgrown and grossly exaggerated by her imagination by now.
At the back of the house, Harold ripped open a door with deep gouges in it. He waddled down the steps and turned. With a sausage-sized finger, he pointed.
The trio filed outside to see what he was pointing at. At first, Ella thought he’d been egged, but upon closer inspection, she spotted bruised, spoiled apples littering the ground with nary an apple tree in sight in his back yard.
Only one word could describe what had happened. “Six?” she guessed aloud.
The farmer nodded, jerking his head at the fence and empty field behind him. Ella recognized the area from her scouting and town mapping excursions with Will. The town border was about a quarter of a mile away, and she could hear the ocean breaking from where they stood.
“That man’s land extends in a narrow tract behind my property. He stood right there at that there fence with the apples he picked from my orchard, and he pelted them against the side of my house for the better part of three hours.”
Ella swore under her breath. All hope she had been harboring that the cowboy had been planning to use the apples to make pie flew out the window. “For three hours?”
“It was off and on. He’d go, come back, and so forth.”
Flo began picking her teeth, bored, and watched a nearby bird peck at the dirt. Beside her, Wink scratched her head. “What was the longest period he was gone for?”
“‘Bout ten minutes or so, I reckon.”
“You’re very patient,” Ella said. His face reddened at the compliment.
“Wasn’t patient so much as waiting for the sheriff to answer the phone.”
Flo’s voice drifted their way as she inched closer to the fowl. “How come you didn’t just sick Spot on him?”
“I didn’t at first because I didn’t want to get in trouble for killing the man, you know? So, I showed him my shotgun, but that only made him draw his gun.”
Ella had no trouble picturing the scene.
“Then I got worried he’d shoot Spot.”
“Why was he throwing apples at your house in the first place?” she asked.
The man shrugged his generously-sized shoulders. “Why’s Six do anything? Why’s the sky blue?”
“Because the atmosphere scatters the sun’s rays, and the blue wavelength is shorter.”
He blinked, then his fingers found his protruding belly and scratched.
“Or so I’m told.” Ella cleared her throat. “Welp, I guess that answers our questions. Thank you for your time.”
Harold led them back through the house as a shortcut to Wink’s car. She had forgotten about the caged beast until she was all the way in the living room, and she only remembered because claws came ripping through the door a second after she passed.
The sound of wood cracking filled her ears. The door splintered, sending wooden shards flying past her.
“Spot, no!” Harold’s massive body barred the doorway. Part of the door was missing, and a furry paw the size of Ella’s face, claws extended, batted past the farmer.
She fell back in an attempt to evade the nasty-looking meat hooks. They created wind as they narrowly missed her face.
“What is that?!” she shrieked.
Harold yelled, “Run!”
CHAPTER 21
WINK WAS THE first out the door. A second later, the Oldsmobile roared to life. Scrabbling, Ella half-crawled, half-ran towards the open doorway. She passed Flo on her way. The woman had chosen that moment to stand her ground, facing the beast, weapon drawn.
“Flo, let’s go!” She grabbed the old woman’s arm, wrenching it towards the door with her.
The gun went off. Ella didn’t bother to look back. The log wall behind them splintered into thousands of pieces that showered around them.
They’d just leaped over the threshold when a feral, animalistic scream tore through the air. It sent shivers up Ella
’s spine and spurred her feet to pour on more heat.
Without bothering to open the passenger-side door on the car, she dove through the window.
“Go!” she yelled at Wink.
Behind them, Harold yelled for his pet to come back which could only mean one thing: the animal had gotten loose.
“What about Flo?” Wink began peeling out.
A thud hit the trunk as Flo joined them. Ella strained over her seat, trying to crawl the rest of the way into the vehicle. “She’s here. Go, go, go!”
Like a bank robber, Wink slammed her foot on the gas pedal. The tires spun in the dirt a moment before they found purchase. The back end fishtailed, causing the old woman who’d latched on top like a geriatric hood ornament to holler.
“Is Flo on the trunk?!” Wink twisted around.
“Eyes on the road!” Ella grabbed the wheel. Her legs wriggled wildly outside the window. “Just get us far enough away from that thing, then we’ll stop and let Flo in.”
Something ginormous and orangish brown bound through the trees, still visible in the failing light. Ella’s fingers dug into her seat as she scrambled the rest of the way inside.
“I see Spot running—hey, get it? See Spot Run.”
“Ella, focus!”
“Right, right.” She hollered out her window for Flo to hold on.
“What the hell else am I going to do, you nut?!” The woman’s legs flailed from side to side with each jostle of the car over the uneven road.
Ella’s frantic thoughts grasped one thing: thank God Flo had worn trousers today and not a dress.
“Did we lose him?” Wink yelled.
Looking out all of the windows, Ella opened her mouth to confirm that they had when she saw a streak of orangish tan a few rows away.
“No, step on it!”
The streak was gaining on them, moving closer. Gripping the hood of the car, Ella stuck her head out of the window as far as she dared.
“Are you able to throw me your purse?”
Flo didn’t have to respond, and it appeared she couldn’t. Her teeth were chattering from the rough road, her eyes laser-focused where her fingers gripped the vehicle.
