A Grant County Collection (14 page)

'You don't have a police force, it's only the sheriff's office?'

Nell took a bite of egg. 'You know how small this town is? If we had both, there wouldn't be anybody left to work at the gas station.' She stood up. 'Juice?'

'I'm fine.'

Nell got two glasses out of the cabinet and put them on the table. 'Mind you, if Jeffrey was around, Hoss would have retired years ago.'

'Why is that?'

She poured the juice. 'Heir apparent. Robert's father was half useless, but better half useless than being stuck with Jimmy Tolliver. That man was a monster. Jeffrey won't talk about it, but that scar under his shoulder came from his daddy.'

Sara had seen the scar, but not wanting to open a conversation about scars, she had never asked about it. Now she asked, 'How?'

Nell sat back down. 'I was standing right there,' she said, taking a bite of pancake. Sara waited while she chewed, wishing for once that Nell would get on with it. Finally, she swallowed. 'May said something smart-ass and Jimmy just laid into her. I mean like a fury. I've never seen anything like it. Never hope to see it again, knock wood.' She rapped her knuckles on the table.

Sara swallowed, though she had nothing in her mouth. 'He hit her?'

'Oh, hon, he hit her all the time. It was like she was his own private punching bag. Jeffrey, too, when he was home. Not that he was home much. He spent most of his time out by the quarry, trying to get away from it. He'd just sit out there and read until the sun went down. Sometimes he'd sleep out there unless Hoss found him, then he'd make Jeffrey sleep at the station.' She drank some juice. 'Anyway, this one time I was there, they were hauling off on each other and Jeffrey tried to step in between them. Jimmy backhanded the shit out of him and Jeffrey went flying – and I do mean flying – across the room. Cut his back open on the stovetop. This was back when they had those knobs with the sharp metal edges, not like now where it's all just buttons and dials.'

After a while, Sara said, 'I didn't know.' She tried to imagine what it must have been like for Jeffrey growing up in that kind of environment and could not. Like most pediatricians, she had seen her share of abused children. Nothing made her more angry than a cowardly adult who took out his or her frustrations on a child. As far as Sara was concerned, they should all be left to rot in jail.

'Takes a hell of a lot to get Jeffrey angry,' Nell continued. 'I guess that's a good thing, though maybe not. You've got to wonder about him holding that in all the time. He hates to argue. Always has. You know he had an academic scholarship to Auburn?'

'Jeffrey?' Sara asked, trying to absorb this new information.

'Part of it was football, but they don't give you a full ride to warm the bench.' She gave a surprised laugh, as if she could not believe what had just come from her mouth. 'Don't ever tell Possum I said that, but it's the God's truth. The minute Jeffrey got to Auburn, he hated football. He would have quit the team if Hoss'd let him.'

'What did Hoss have to do with it?'

Nell put down her fork. 'You know why Jeffrey's called Slick?'

'I can take a wild guess.'

She snorted a laugh. 'Yeah, he's slick, I'll give him that, but the name came because no matter what kind of trouble he got into, he was real slick at getting out.'

'What kind of trouble?'

'Oh, not anything big when you consider what kids get up to today. Stealing things from the five-and-dime, borrowing his mama's car while she was passed out on the couch. The same kinds of things his daddy probably did when he was that age. We're talking ten or twelve. You gonna finish that?' Sara shook her head and Nell reached over with her fork and took the last bite of pancake. 'Jeffrey'd probably be where his daddy is if Hoss hadn't come along.'

'What did Hoss do?'

'Made him cut the grass at the jail instead of spending a couple of nights locked up in it. Sometimes, he'd take Jeffrey back in the cells and make him talk to some of the guys who were hard cases. Basically, he scared the shit out of him. Robert, too, but he didn't need as much scaring. He's always been more of a follower, and with Jeffrey straightened out, you got Robert, too.'

'It's a good thing Hoss came along.'

'Sometimes I wonder,' Nell said, sitting back with her coffee. 'Jeffrey's got a tender heart. I guess you noticed.'

Sara did not answer, though she wondered if Nell had an accurate picture of him. A lot could happen in six years. A lot could happen in one night.

'I always saw him ending up teaching, maybe coaching football at the high school. After Jimmy went up for life, he changed. Maybe Jeffrey thought joining the force and being a cop would make up for the fact that his daddy was a criminal. Maybe he thought it'd make Hoss happy.'

'Did it?'

Nell pushed away her plate. 'Like you wouldn't believe.'

Sara saw Jeffrey walk by the kitchen window and she stood from the table, telling Nell, 'I should get dressed.'

Jeffrey opened the back door. He seemed surprised to find Nell and Sara eating breakfast.

Sara said, 'I was just going to get changed.'

He gave her a quick glance, saying, 'You look fine,' even though she was still in the pajamas she had been wearing when she ran out of his mother's house last night.

Nell asked, 'How's Jessie and them?'

'Like you'd think.' He indicated their cleaned plates. 'That smells good.'

'I didn't marry Possum to cook for you,' she said, standing up. 'There's plenty of batter left in the bowl and the eggs shouldn't be too cold. I've gotta go check-see if those stupid dogs have knocked over their water bowls yet.'

Nell took all the conversation with her when she left the room. Not knowing what else to do, Sara sat back down at the table. She felt like the pancakes she had eaten were expanding in her stomach. The coffee left in her cup was lukewarm, but she managed to swallow it.

Jeffrey chewed a piece of bacon as he poured himself a cup of coffee. He put the pot on the warmer, then took it out again, holding it up to see if Sara wanted more. She shook her head no, and he put it back, eating another piece of bacon as he stared at the kitchen faucet.

Sara took up her fork and traced it around the syrup in her plate, wondering what, if anything, to say. Really, the burden to speak was on him. She put down the fork and crossed her arms, staring at Jeffrey, waiting.

He cleared his throat before asking, 'What are you going to say today?'

'What do you want me to say?' she asked. 'Or are you going to threaten me again?'

'I shouldn't have done that.'

'No, you shouldn't have,' she told him, her anger coming back in sharp focus. 'I'll tell you this right now, between the way your mother talked to me last night and your threats, I could leave right now and never look back.'

He looked down at the floor, and she could feel his shame without seeing it. His voice caught as he tried to speak, and he cleared his throat before he could manage, 'I've never hit a woman in my life.'

Sara waited.

'I'd cut off my own hands before I did anything like that,' he told her, his jaw working as he obviously tried to fight the emotions welling up inside. 'I watched my daddy beat my mama every day of my life. Sometimes she pissed him off, sometimes he did it just because he could.' He kept his face turned away from her. 'I know you don't have any reason to believe me, but I would never hurt you.'

When Sara did not answer, he asked, 'What did my mother say to you last night?'

Sara was too embarrassed to repeat it. 'It doesn't matter.'

'It does,' he said. 'I'm sorry. I'm sorry I brought you here to this . . . this place.' He chanced a look at her, and she could see his eyes were bloodshot. 'I just wanted you to see . . .' He stopped. 'Hell, I don't know what I wanted you to see. Who I really am, I guess. Maybe you're seeing that now. Maybe this is who I really am.'

She felt sorry for him, and then she felt stupid for doing so.

He pulled out the chair Nell had vacated, dragging it a few feet from the table before he sat. 'Bobby wouldn't talk to me this morning.'

Sara waited for the rest.

'I walked in the room and he was getting dressed to go home.' Jeffrey paused, and she sensed rather than saw his feelings of helplessness. 'I told him we needed to talk and he just said no. Just like that, "No," like he has something to hide.'

'Maybe he does.'

He tapped his fingers on the table.

'Was Jessie with him?'

'No. She wasn't even awake yet when I dropped by the house to check on her.'

Sara chewed her lip, debating whether or not to tell him what she had seen.

'Go ahead,' he said. 'Go ahead and say whatever it is that I'm not seeing.' He slammed his palm against the table, frustrated. 'Jesus, I'm not doing this on purpose, Sara. No matter how many years have passed, he's still my best friend. It's not exactly easy for me to be a cop right now.'

Sara took a deep, calming breath. She had flinched when he hit the table, and her first response had been to get up and leave. Just because he came from a violent family did not mean Jeffrey was a violent man, but she could not help but see him differently now. His broad shoulders and well-muscled body, which she had once found so attractive, only served to remind her of how much stronger than her he was.

He must have sensed this, because he moderated his tone. 'Please don't look at me like that.'

'I just –'

When she said nothing, he prompted, 'What?'

Sara tucked her chin into her chest, not ready to have this conversation. She directed him back toward the problem at hand, saying, 'I want to see Robert's gunshot wound again.'

'Why?'

'I'm not sure, but . . .' she began, but even as she said it, she
was
sure. 'There was a sear mark at the bottom of the wound.'

'You're not sure?'

'I don't want to be, but I am.'

He gave a humorless laugh. 'He kept covering it with his hand.'

'He used the shirt to stanch the blood.'

'Did he let you see the shirt?'

She shook her head. If the gun had been held at contact range, the sear mark as well as soot would be on the shirt.

He said, 'They probably threw it away at the hospital.'

'Or he did.'

'Or he did,' Jeffrey conceded. He shook his head again. 'If he'd talk to me, try to explain what'd happened . . .'

'What are we going to do?'

He kept shaking his head. 'Why won't he talk to me?'

Sara did not volunteer the obvious answer.

He said, 'Luke Swan could have been going for him. His body was only a few feet away.'

'Probably three or four feet.'

'Robert pushed him,' Jeffrey said. 'Swan would have been crouched or on his knees.'

'Could have been.'

She could hear the strain in his voice as he tried to explain it all away. 'Swan could have heard Robert getting his gun. He moved toward him. Maybe he held his gun up and in front of him.' Jeffrey illustrated, holding out his hand, his fingers in the shape of a gun. 'He shot Robert, then Robert shot him.'

Sara tried to see the holes in his theory. 'It's possible.'

His relief was palpable. 'Let's see what the autopsy says, okay? We'll just keep this to ourselves until then. The autopsy will show what happened.'

'Did you ask if I could sit in?'

'Hoss wants you to do the exam.'

'All right.'

'Sara . . .'

'I'm already packed,' she said, standing. 'As soon as it's finished, I want to leave.' Then, to make herself clear, she said, 'I want to go home.'

1:32
P.M.

The ringing telephone grated like nails on a blackboard. Sara's hearing started to play tricks on her, the ringing fading in and out like a retreating police car. To pass the time, she would count the seconds between rings, sometimes losing count, sometimes sure that it had stopped, only to hear the startling bell again. And it was a bell, not the usual computer-generated bleep from the digital phones. The black telephone was so old Sara was surprised that it did not have a rotary dial. It didn't have any sleek lines or shiny buttons. Between cell phones and cordless phones and the digitization of noise, she had almost forgotten what a real telephone sounded like.

She used the back of her hand to wipe sweat off her lip. The heat from outside had started encroaching on the poorly ventilated squad room from the moment the power was cut. Now, over an hour later, the air was heavy, almost suffocating. To make matters worse, the bodies scattered around the room were starting to smell.

Brad's uniform shirt and pants were off, stuffed into the air-conditioning grates by Smith, probably to block prying eyes on the part of the police. Brad sat in his white boxer shorts and black socks, his embarrassment long past. Smith trusted Brad for some reason and he was the only one of them allowed any sort of freedom. Sara had sneaked him Jeffrey's wallet while he was taking the girls to the bathroom. She had no idea where he had hidden it. Her only hope was that he had done it well.

Stress had finally drained two of the remaining little girls, and they both slept with their heads in Brad's lap. Marla sat at a distance from the group, her mouth open, staring blankly at the floor. Sara was terrified the older woman would have another fit and tell Smith Jeffrey's true identity. She realized with cold clarity that if a choice had to be made, she would do whatever she needed to do to protect Jeffrey.

She leaned her head against the wall, allowing herself to look at Smith. He was pacing again, muttering under his breath. He had taken off his coat and she could see that every inch of his body was built, the muscles of his arms and shoulders bulging under his short-sleeved T-shirt. A huge blue tattoo of an eagle covered his right bicep, and on every second pass he took across the room Sara tried to decipher the words underneath to no avail.

Like his accomplice, he wore thick nighttime camouflage pants with his combat boots. The Kevlar vest must have felt like a straitjacket in this heat, but he kept it strapped tightly to his chest. Animal aggression sweated from Smith's every pore, but it was the second shooter, the quiet one, who scared Sara most. He was the one who followed orders, who did whatever he was told to do, whether it was to shoot at small children or blow a hole through a police officer's head. This personality type was hardly uncommon among young men – the military actively recruited for it – but adding Smith to the mixture made him even more volatile. If something happened to Smith, the second shooter was a wild card. Cut off the head of the scorpion and the tail could still sting.

Jeffrey stirred in Sara's lap, and she put her hand on his good shoulder to still him, saying, 'It's all right.'

He rubbed his eyes like a sleepy child. A fold in the material of her dress had creased his face, and she wanted nothing more than to kiss the line away.

'What time is it?'

She looked at her watch. 'Half past one,' she told him, stroking his hair off his forehead. 'Do you remember where we are?'

He took a deep breath, then let it go. 'I was dreaming about the first time I really made love to my wife.'

Sara pressed her lips together. She wanted so much to be back in that place that tears came to her eyes.

He continued, 'We were in the house where I grew up, on the floor in my room . . .'

'Shh,' she shushed, not wanting him to say too much.

He understood, but he closed his eyes for a moment like he did not want to let the memory go. When he opened his eyes again, Sara could tell how much pain he was in. Still, he did not complain about his wounds. Instead, he told her, 'Goddamn phone is driving me crazy.'

'I know,' she said, illogically wishing they would just unplug it if they were not going to answer. She waited for the next ring to finish before asking, 'Are you in much pain?'

He shook his head no, but she knew he was lying. Sweat poured off his body, and not just from the heat. The wound had clotted, but the blood could be pooling on the inside. His arm was cold to the touch, the pulse still thready. She guessed the bullet was between a torn artery and a nerve. Whenever Jeffrey moved, the nerve pinched, causing shooting pains that must be unbearable. Any movement also brought the risk of dislodging the bullet. Because the wound was so high up, she could not apply a tourniquet. The only thing keeping him from bleeding out was the pressure from the bullet. If he didn't get help soon, Sara did not know how much longer he could hold on.

'I was thinking,' she said, her voice barely more than a whisper, 'how much you . . .' She looked at Smith, but he was talking to his accomplice. 'How much has changed,' she said. He was so different from the man she had first fallen in love with, yet so much about him was the same. Time had done nothing but smooth his character, polishing it like a stone.

'Where are they?' he asked, trying to sit up.

She pressed gently on his shoulder and he stayed where he was. The fact that he had so little fight in him was alarming. 'They're in the front,' she said. 'They have Allison.'

'Ruth Lippman's daughter?' he asked, managing to raise his head. She let him see the girl before gently pushing him back down. Allison sat on the front counter, her legs dangling in the air. There was a long gash down the front of her shin where she'd slid down the sidewalk after attempting a particularly silly stunt on her bicycle last week. Sara had put in two sutures and extracted a promise in exchange for a lollipop that the little girl would be more careful the next time.

Smith had stopped pacing and was standing beside Allison, his shotgun in the crook of his arm. On the other side of the girl stood the second shooter, his rifle resting on the counter, still pointing toward the front door. Smith watched them carefully, and Sara knew that he could hear everything they said.

She told Jeffrey, 'I'm worried about your arm.'

'It's okay,' he said, trying to sit up again.

'Don't,' she told him, then, 'Please. You shouldn't move any more than you have to.'

Jeffrey must have heard the concern in her voice because he stopped struggling.

He asked, 'Have they said what they want?'

She shook her head, trying not to make eye contact with Smith. Sara had worked in pediatrics most of her life. Even though Smith was not a child, he had all the markings of a twenty-something-year-old who had not quite grown up. She knew how aggressive young men could behave when they were challenged, especially if there was someone around to impress. She did not want to get shot in a case of one-up between Smith and his friend.

Jeffrey shifted to get more comfortable, and she prayed he wouldn't do any more damage to his arm. He lowered his voice, asking, 'One of them seemed to know you. Do you recognize him?'

She shook her head again, wishing to God she could tell him she knew exactly who the two shooters were and why they were here. She had moved back to Grant from Atlanta almost fifteen years ago, and would surely remember Smith if he had been a patient. Then, if Smith was a patient she could not recall, why was he here to kill Jeffrey? Or was he here on orders from his friend? Sara craned her neck, trying to get a better look at the second man. His ball cap was pulled low to hide his face, but the flash of sunlight coming in from the partially open front door showed Sara his eyes. They were empty, like a stagnant pool of water.

Sara realized Smith was watching her stare at his buddy, and she forced herself to smile at Allison. The little girl was slumped against the back of the counter with her skirt bunched up around her knees. Tears streamed down her face. Ruth Lippman had been Sara's tenth-grade English teacher. The woman was a perfect combination of tough and challenging, and Sara had loved her for it.

'He doesn't have much of an accent,' Jeffrey said, and he was right. There was a definite Southern twang when Smith let his temper get out of control, but for the most part, he spoke in the flat, unaccented English of a military brat. Or, maybe Sara was just making that fit the mold. For all she knew, he could be a wanna-be, someone whose father had been career military, but whose own criminal record or psychological profile had washed him out of the military before he even made it to his first week of boot camp.

Jeffrey closed his eyes.

'Why don't you try to sleep?'

'I shouldn't,' he said, but his eyelids fluttered and stilled.

Sara looked up at Smith, who had taken all this in with a watchful eye. She tried to keep her voice strong, but couldn't suppress the tremor in her voice. 'He needs medical attention. Please let him leave.'

Smith twisted his lips to the side as if he was actually considering her request. Beside him, the second shooter shifted. He said something under his breath and Smith walked over to the phone and picked it up mid-ring.

He said, 'We'll trade the old lady for sandwiches and bottled water. None of it better be fucked with. We can test it.' He listened to the response, his head to the side. 'No, I don't think so.' There was another pause, and Smith turned around, facing Allison. He held the phone in front of her face and Sara sensed he was smiling at her. She willed the girl not to trust him, but she saw Allison smile back just before Smith pinched her leg. Allison screamed, and Smith put the phone back to his ear.

He gave a steely laugh. 'That's right, lady. We're gonna hold on to the kids.' He turned back around, his eyes scanning the remaining hostages. 'We want some beer, too.'

His partner's head jerked around, and Sara got the impression that Smith had deviated from the script. So, she thought, maybe Smith wasn't completely in charge of this after all.

Smarting from the reprimand, Smith took his anger out on the person at the other end of the phone. 'One hour, bitch. You take any longer than that, the body count's gonna get a lot higher.'