Forever My Hero, page 10
“Here you go, cowboy, and since you said you were taking this to Alice, give her my best.”
“Yes, ma’am, I will. Say, I couldn’t help but overhear the conversation you were having with that couple you just seated. Who is he? I don’t believe I’ve seen him around.”
“Oh, that’s Big Tom Rankin and his lady friend, Ethel Shook.”
“I heard you talking about the son’s injuries. Sounds miserable. When did that happen?”
“Oh, just two or three days ago, I guess,” she said.
“Then he’s a long ways from healing. Takes a long time to heal up feet. Guess I’d better be going before all this good stuff gets cold.”
Dan left the café, thinking about what he’d overheard. He’d pass it on to the chief later. Right now, he had his first official date with Miss Alice and couldn’t wait to get there.
* * *
Alice removed the plastic bag from her hand and managed to set the table and make a fresh pitcher of sweet tea and set it in the refrigerator to cool while she was waiting for Dan. When she finally heard a knock at the door, she had to resist the urge to run.
For pity’s sake, Alice! You’re thirty-four years old. Act like the grown woman you are.
She turned the dead bolt, and when she opened the door, Dan had a smile on his face and a sack in each hand.
“Umm, that smells good already. Come in,” she said.
He followed her to the kitchen. “Okay if I take the stuff out right here at the table?”
“Of course,” she said, but when she went to get the pitcher of tea from the refrigerator, he was right behind her. He reached over her shoulder and took it from the shelf and set it on the counter.
“Where are your drinking glasses?” he asked.
“Oh, I have a couple already iced and chilling in the freezer.”
He opened the freezer door, got the glasses, and filled them with tea before taking them to the table, then began taking the food out of the sacks.
“Two bowls of chili. Corn bread on the side, and two pieces of Mercy Pittman’s coconut cream pie. It’s my favorite. Hope it’s okay with you.”
Alice sighed. She couldn’t remember a time quite this special. “Everything is perfect,” she said, and dropped into her chair. “Sit. Eat it while it’s hot.”
“You need a little scoot forward. Hang on,” he said, and pushed her and the chair closer to the table, then took his seat. He put a bowl of chili on her plate and opened the foil-wrapped corn bread. “Want butter or anything on it?” he asked.
“No, but it’s in the refrigerator door if you do,” Alice said.
“Nope. I’m a purist,” he said, then reached for her uninjured hand. “Thank you for humoring me. I realized a bit late that this was presumptuous. Forgive me?”
It was the warmth and the strength of his hand that touched her heart. “Don’t be silly. There’s nothing to forgive. If I didn’t want to be doing this, all I would have had to say was no.”
Dan looked long and hard into her eyes and then realized he was staring. “I’m not going to apologize for staring. It’s hard to look away from a beautiful woman,” he said softly, then pointed at the chili. “Want cheese on that? She sent some.”
Alice shivered. “Thank you, and no cheese.”
He grinned. “I just realized what I said. I called you beautiful and then asked if you wanted cheese on that, as if my attempt at a compliment wasn’t cheesy enough. I’m a little out of practice here.”
She laughed, and again, his heart skipped. That laugh of hers… If he could just bottle that joy. Instead, he reached for a piece of corn bread and crumbled part of it on his chili.
Alice did the same. Her first bite was the perfect temperature and a little bit spicy, and the corn bread was perfect.
“Goodness…that Mercy Pittman is quite a baker. This is delicious.”
“Yes, it is,” Dan said, and the tension eased between them as the meal began.
By the time they got to the pie, Alice was stuffed. “It was the second piece of corn bread. I have to save my pie for later.”
“I’m eating mine. Want the first bite?”
“Oh, I’m—”
Dan got a clean fork and then cut off the first bite and held it toward her. “Open wide,” he said.
She took the bite, rolling her eyes in appreciation.
“Thank you, and oh my Lord, but that’s good.”
Dan took the next bite and put it in his mouth, well aware they’d just shared a fork. “Ummm, just like the last piece I ate,” he said.
She grinned and then got up and brought the tea pitcher to the table and refilled her glass, and then topped his off, too, before she sat back down. “This was fun and so good. Thank you for thinking of me.”
“I’ve been doing a lot of that lately,” he said, and kept eating pie without watching for her reaction.
If Dan Amos had a fault, it was that when he saw something he wanted, he wasn’t bashful about asking for it, and today he had wanted her company. And it didn’t hurt to tell her how happy she’d made him by agreeing.
A short while later, he had her kitchen cleaned up and was getting ready to leave. Alice walked him to the door, and when he turned around, he put his hands on her shoulders, leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.
“Thanks for the company. Maybe we can do this again sometime, and include the kids?”
“They would love that,” she said.
“Would you love it, too?” he asked.
“Probably, and you don’t ever quit, do you?” she said.
“Not until somebody makes me. Get some rest.”
He waved as he drove away.
Alice waited until he was completely out of sight before she touched the place on her cheek where he’d kissed her, then closed the door and danced all the way across the living room floor.
* * *
Dan was still smiling as he headed back to town. Before he started anything else, he needed to pass on what he’d heard Big Tom Rankin say. He drove by the middle school on his way to the police station and thought of Charlie Conroy doing a damn good job of being a man. When he got to Main Street, he turned right and drove straight to the station, grabbed his Stetson as he got out, then put it on and went in.
The dispatcher was eating his sandwich at the desk between answering calls, and he swallowed his bite and quickly wiped his mouth as Dan entered the building. “Afternoon, Mr. Amos. How can I help you?”
“Call me Dan. I wanted to see the chief for a few minutes. Is he in?”
“Yes, sir. Have a seat, and I’ll tell him you’re here.”
Dan took off his hat as he sat down, listening as the dispatcher buzzed the chief’s office, then gave him the message. Moments later, Lon Pittman appeared in the doorway.
“Afternoon, Dan. You needed to see me?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s go to my office,” Lon said, and then motioned toward a chair for Dan as he resumed his seat behind his desk. “So, what’s up?” he asked.
Dan began to relay the conversation as he’d heard it and ended with one last comment.
“I’m sure it would be simple enough for you to get dates and timelines of when Albert Rankin was taken to the ER, and if it was on the same day Elliot went to the lake. It may not amount to anything, but it is quite a coincidence if it doesn’t,” he said. “But then there’s the lack of motive. Has County found anything out there that would lead to a reason for the assault?”
“Nothing they’ve shared with me, although I heard Sheriff Ryman just had surgery for a blockage in his carotid artery,” Lon said. “But I appreciate this info and will run down the dates before I share this with County. If they jibe, then this may be the break we need.”
“Well then, I’ll be getting back to work and leave you to yours,” Dan said.
Lon walked him up the hall, waved as he went out the door, and then pointed at Avery. “I’ll be out for a bit. If you need me, try the police radio first and then my cell.”
“Will do, Chief,” Avery said, and then reached for the phone to answer a call as Lon went back to his office to get his things.
* * *
Back at the Rankin homestead, Junior was doing twice the work every day to pick up the slack from Albert’s absence, but he never complained. Even when Big Tom began spending less time with Ethel to get home and help out, Junior would just wave him off.
“I got this, Dad. You can help most by taking care of Albert and doing some of the house chores.”
“Sure thing, Son!” Big Tom said. “I’m not much of a cook, but I’m real good at sweeping and mopping. And I’ll handle laundry, too.”
Initially, Albert’s pain sidetracked his concern about being found out, but after a couple of days his feet were feeling better, and as long as he didn’t put pressure on them, he was fine. He had a borrowed wheelchair and enough upper body strength to get himself in and out of it and handle whatever else he needed to do. But most of the day he spent flat on his back, and the better he felt, the more his worries returned.
* * *
It was now several days since Elliot Graham had been found at Gray Goose Lake. Sheriff Ryman was still in the hospital, recovering from his surgery, when his deputy sheriff, Hunt Terrell, freed up enough officers working other cases around the county to create two investigative teams. And this morning, he’d sent them to Gray Goose Lake outside of Blessings. The teams would search the entire circumference of the lake and hopefully come up with answers or information that would help further this case of attempted murder.
Millie Powers, the woman who’d found Elliot’s car, saw all the cars from the county sheriff’s department driving past her house and guessed it had something to do with the attack on Elliot Graham. She didn’t know what they were going to do, but she had a lakeside view, so she got herself a glass of sweet tea and her binoculars and went out on her back deck to watch.
She wasn’t there long before at least a half-dozen officers came out of the woods in front of her house, walking along the lakeshore. Once they passed her house, they fanned out into the woods beyond.
She waved as they passed, and then took herself a big drink of the cold tea and took a gander through the binoculars, watching until they walked out of sight. It was the most excitement she’d had in years.
Meanwhile, out in the woods, the two search teams were being led by Officers Butler and Treat, the two men who’d been on hand when Elliot Graham was airlifted to Blessings Hospital.
They’d seen the brutal wound on the back of the old man’s head and would be delighted to find the man responsible and put him behind bars.
The lake was large, but the job had been cut in half by having two teams. And it just so happened that one of the men on Officer Butler’s team walked up on the first grow patches the Rankin brothers had planted. He stopped immediately and radioed the searchers. It didn’t take long for all twelve of them to congregate, and then even less time to find the second grow patch.
But they’d been under orders to keep info off their radios, so it was Officer Butler who made the call to County.
When the deputy sheriff saw his incoming call was from one of the searchers, he answered quickly. “Sheriff’s office. Hunt Terrell speaking.”
“This is Officer Butler. We’ve located two large grow patches of marijuana on the opposite side of the lake from where Graham’s body was found. Can’t say this has anything to do with what happened to him, but I’d be willing to guess it’s part of the story.”
“Good work!” Terrell said. “Get pictures. Look for anything that could tell us who is tending them, and put up trail cameras. When they come back to harvest, at least we’ll know who it belongs to.”
“Yes, sir,” Butler said. He disconnected, then turned around. “Who has the trail cams?”
A couple of officers held up their hands. “We do.”
“Then distribute what you have. Let’s get these up and get out of here. If we’re lucky, we’ll get an ID.”
Within the hour, they had all of the motion-activated trail cameras set up and ready. Then they walked back to where their patrol cars were parked and left as quickly as they’d come.
Millie Powers was talking to a friend when she saw them leaving and proceeded to tell her what she’d seen. It didn’t take long for word to spread that the law had been out at Gray Goose Lake.
Chapter 8
Oscar Langston had never planned on selling drugs in his midfifties, but he’d never expected to be unemployed for so damn long, either.
Four years ago, he went to work at the oil refinery like always, and by the end of the day, he and everyone on his shift were given a pink slip with a final paycheck. It was five days after his fiftieth birthday. There had been no prior warning. All thirty-four of the men were in shock, and then they found out they were being replaced by machines, which was a double slap in the face.
He had never dreamed he wouldn’t be able to find another job in a timely fashion, but it had happened. After his unemployment benefits ran out, his brother-in-law approached him with a business opportunity. At first he was indignant, then four months later he was reluctant, and two more months after that he said yes, and the rest was history.
Now, it was his normal routine. No big deal. Just business. And right now, his business demanded more weed, which meant setting up delivery dates with his suppliers. He hadn’t been in contact with the Rankin brothers since Junior told him they were quitting, but he was guessing their other grow patch should be about ready to harvest, and he wanted it. He was at his desk, so he scanned his contact list for Junior Rankin’s number and gave him a call.
* * *
Junior had Albert up and in his wheelchair, sitting at the kitchen table while he put their breakfast on the table. They were listening to an update on Tropical Storm Fanny with some trepidation as Junior sat down to eat.
Albert frowned. “What do you think, Junior? If it stays on the course it’s on now, it’ll hit Savannah, which is as good as in our lap.”
“I know,” Junior said. “We’ll have time enough with the warnings to get the herd up to the barn, but there’s loose tin on the roof right now, and I reckon I’d better get that fixed.”
Albert nodded. “I wish I could help you.”
“I know, but I’ll get started on it this afternoon, and then we won’t have to worry about it later,” Junior said. He reached for a piece of toast and buttered it, then began eating the scrambled eggs and sausage that he’d made.
Albert was reaching for a second piece of toast when Junior’s phone rang. It was on the table to the left of the butter dish, and when Junior saw the caller ID, he frowned.
“It’s Oscar,” he muttered.
“I thought you already called him,” Albert said.
“I did,” he muttered, then answered. “Hello.”
“Hey, Junior, it’s Oscar. How’s that second patch coming along? I’m hoping you had a change of heart.”
“Don’t know. We quit the business, remember. I reckon it’s still there. However, my guess is the county law found it after they found the old man.”
Oscar’s eyes narrowed. “Out of curiosity, what made you decide to quit?”
“What made me quit? Letting you talk me into killing a man is what made me quit. I don’t much like myself anymore, and that’s on me. But don’t call us again. You hear?” And then he hung up before giving Oscar the opportunity to argue the point.
Albert eyed his brother’s expression. He couldn’t read him anymore, and it made him sad.
Albert sighed, and Junior heard it. “Don’t worry, little brother. I got your back. If anything ever comes to light that pins all this on us, I’m taking the fall. You don’t know anything about it. You play dumb and stay that way. There will never be proof you were there.”
Albert’s eyes filled with tears. “I don’t know if I can do that,” he said.
Junior slammed his hand down on the table, rattling the ice in the glasses. “You damn sure have to…for Daddy. For the family name, do you hear me?”
Albert shuddered. “I hear you, Junior.”
But Junior wasn’t satisfied. “Do you promise? Do you swear on our sweet mama’s grave?”
Albert choked on a sob. “Yes! Hell, yes, I promise. I swear.”
“Okay, then,” Junior said. “Now…we’re not gonna let that asshole ruin breakfast. Dig in.”
“Yes, sir,” Albert said. He picked up his napkin, wiped his eyes, and scooped up a bite and stuffed it in his mouth, determined to swallow it even if it gagged him.
As for Oscar, he shrugged it off and made another call. Growers were a dime a dozen. They came and they went, and some went to prison. All he had to do was make a few calls, and he’d be good to go.
* * *
The ensuing days passed fast until it was the morning of Patty’s leaf-gathering trip at the Leggitt farm. Charlie made her lunch and packed it in her lunch box, adding a bottle of water today since she wouldn’t have access to buying milk in the lunchroom.
The day was gray and overcast, so Alice dressed her in blue jeans, a long-sleeved pullover, and a lightweight jacket, and then Charlie put Patty’s hair in a ponytail.
Alice watched him patiently brushing and smoothing the hair, despite Patty’s squirming and complaining. His face was a study in calm and concentration, and she noticed as he was twisting the band how big his hands were getting. He was going to have long fingers like his grandfather. He already had his height.
“There now,” Charlie said.
“Did he do it right, Mama?” Patty asked.
“Of course he did it right,” Alice said. “Now tell him thank you.”
Patty grinned. “Thank you, Charlie.”
He tweaked her nose. “You’re welcome. Now sit down with Mama and wait for me to feed Booger before we leave for school.”
