A Killing in the Valley (28 page)

Gingerly, they helped the man with the broken leg onto a kitchen chair. “We need water,” Steven said. “We haven’t had any for over a day.”

Sophia, rubbing sleep from her eyes, drifted into the kitchen. She looked at the unknown man and woman, then at Steven. “Where were you?” she asked. “You had everyone scared stiff. Especially your grandmother.”

Steven tried to smile, but he couldn’t pull it off. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you after the paramedics come. Right now, I just want a drink of water.”

The ambulance was there in less than half an hour. “You’re lucky you’re alive, man,” the lead paramedic told the injured man, who had lapsed into semiconsciousness. “Whoever splinted your leg and stopped the bleeding saved your hide.”

“Him,” the woman told them, pointing a dirty, shaking finger at Steven. There was a slender gold wedding band on her ring finger. “Our savior.” She reached out and grabbed Steven’s hand. She held it tightly, like it was a life preserver.

“You know your stuff,” the paramedic complimented Steven.

“I did what I could,” Steven said wearily. His modesty was real; Kate could hear the lack of ego in his voice. Her attitude toward him was turning 180 degrees, yet again.

The paramedics strapped the injured man to a board and carried him out to their ambulance. Steven and the woman trailed them. The female paramedic jumped into the driver’s seat. The other two loaded the injured man into the back.

“Either of you coming?” the lead paramedic asked. “You can ride in back with him.”

“Me,” the woman said.

“Good idea. You need to see a doctor, too.” He looked Steven over. “What about you?”

“I’m all right,” Steven said, declining the offer. “I need to stay here.”

“Suit yourself. If you feel bad later,” the paramedic cautioned, “call up right away. That’s why we’re here.” He stuck out his hand. “If you ever want a job doing this, get in touch. We can always use good people.”

“Thanks,” Steven answered. “I appreciate that.”

The paramedics climbed into the back of the ambulance. The woman hugged Steven. “Thank you,” she said softly. “You’ll be here?”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he told her.

“I’ll come see you. Maybe tomorrow. If that’s all right.”

“Sure.” He gently disengaged from her. “You need to go.”

She nodded. Then she leaned forward on her toes and kissed him on the mouth.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she promised.

“See you.”

She got into the back. One of the paramedics closed the door. They drove off.

Kate, Sophia, and Juanita had been watching from the kitchen doorway. Steven came into the house. “I’m bushed,” he said. “And I need a shower.”

Sophia was standing next to him. “What happened?” she asked.

“I’ll tell you after my shower.” He crossed the room to the refrigerator and opened it. “I know I’m not allowed to drink, but is anyone going to bust me if I have a beer?” he asked, staring at Kate.

No one answered; they didn’t have to. He took out a Sierra Nevada, twisted the cap off, and swallowed half of it down in one long gulp. Then he walked out, heading for the bathroom.

Juanita collapsed into a chair. “Thank God,” she said. “Thank God.”

This is going to be some story, Kate thought, with the smallest trace of cynicism. And when that woman comes back to see him, she’s going to fuck the marrow out of him, married or not.

Six o’clock. Still dark out, but dawn was coming. Kate dialed Luke’s home number. He answered on the first ring.

“Sorry if I woke you, but I had to,” she told him unapologetically.

“I was up,” he said. ““What’s going on?”

“Hold onto your hat. Steven McCoy turned up.”

“Whoa!”
His voice boomed into her ear. “How about that! Where are you?”

“At the ranch. I came out last night, so Juanita wouldn’t be alone.”

“That was kind of you.”

“It was necessary.”

“Well, good for you, either way. So he came back on his own? When?”

“About an hour and a half ago. And yes, it was voluntary.”

“That’s a relief,” Luke said. “This would have been an absolute disaster.”

“I know. It’s been a long night here.”

“So where was he?” Luke asked impatiently.

Kate could feel his antsiness over the line. There was a certain delicious perversion at hearing it, because he was almost never ruffled. “What did he say?” Luke peppered her.

“Easy, boy. He’s taking a shower. When he comes out he’s going to tell us everything.” She smiled to herself. “He’s going to be a hero.”

“You’re shitting me!” This was getting crazier and crazier. “Why?”

“I won’t know until I hear it from him,” she said. “But I know enough to feel it could be a real boost for us.”

“I’ll be there in forty-five minutes,” Luke said. “Wait for me, so we can hear it together.”

“Okay, but hurry up. I have Sophia with me, and I need to get her back so she can go to school.” Before she hung up, she also told him, “If his story is half as interesting as I think it’s going to be, you’re going to carpet-bomb the papers and TV. This could be quite a coup for us.”

Steven, refreshed from his shower and a breakfast of his grandmother’s blueberry pancakes and scrambled eggs, got comfortable on one of the living room couches. He finished his coffee, put the cup down, and told his story:

After we beat back the fire at the old house, I came back here. Grandma and Keith were still at the old house. I was on this super-energy high from what we had done, but I was bone-tired, too, so I thought I’d take a nap. I was about to lie down when I remembered this couple me and Keith had met a couple of days before the fire started, up at the northeast section of the ranch. They were camping in the Los Padres National Forest, where it butts up against our boundary line. They asked if they could camp on the property for a few days. There’s a meadow up there that’s the perfect campsite.

If it was up to me, I would have let them. They were experienced campers, so I knew they’d be careful about fire and hauling their shit out. But Keith wouldn’t, because nobody can be on the property, it’s ranch policy. You let one person do it, then where do you draw the line? Which I can understand, especially after what I’m going through now.

So they thanked us and said “Sure, no big deal,” but I knew as soon as me and Keith left they would come over onto the property. I would if I was them, it’s a real nice spot, and they would have figured we wouldn’t be back for a few days, so why not?

Anyway, now I was back here, and I realized that if they had camped there, they might have been in the path of the fire. Which freaked me out, thinking they could be trapped up there. So without thinking, I jumped into grandma’s ATV and took off. I figured they would either have gotten out ahead of the fire
—
that’s what I was hoping I would find, nothing
—
or they would need help getting out. Either way, I assumed I’d be there and back in four or five hours.

Well, I found them. They hadn’t been able to get out because Al
—
that’s the guy
—
had fallen the day before and broken his leg.

Their cell phone battery had run down, so they couldn’t call for help. Then the fire started, and their exit was cut off. They were able to retreat back into a section of the forest the fire had passed by, which was the only saving grace about their situation.

But they were stuck, because they couldn’t hardly move, with his leg as bad as it was. He wanted her to leave him and try to hike out to get help, but she was afraid to leave him by himself, and she didn’t know what direction to go in, she was afraid she would wander around and get lost. So when I showed up it was like a gift from God. That’s how Willa
—
that’s the woman’s name
—
described it. She told me I was a gift from God. Which made me feel good, but I had to get them out to really qualify.

The first thing I did was tourniquet his leg to slow down the bleeding, and then I splinted it the best I could. That took a couple of hours. He was in awful pain, and I didn’t have anything to give him for it. But I managed to patch him up good enough so he could be moved. We got loaded up, and we were about to leave.

And that’s when we really got screwed. The wind shifted and blew the fire back into the path I had taken to get there. Which was the only way to drive out. So we were trapped.

It was surreal, like a cosmic joke, except there was nothing funny about it. The fire was blocking our way out, but in the other direction, it was clear. I could see all the way down to a road, maybe ten miles away. If Al could have walked, we could have been out of there in seven or eight hours. But because he couldn’t, we were stuck. So we had to wait where we were until the fire burned out. I kept thinking a fire crew would come to put it out, but no one did. I guess they knew the fire would burn itself out and that there wasn’t any danger to people. They couldn’t have thought anyone was up there.

The last day was especially hard. We had no food, and then we ran out of water. It was hot, and Al was getting worse, he was hallucinating some of the time. It was almost to the point where me and Willa were either going to have to leave him and hike out
a
nd hope he’d survive until we could get help back to him, or I’d have to chance driving back down and trying to break through the fire. Which I didn’t think would work.

Then yesterday afternoon the wind changed again. I could see the fire was dying where we needed to go. I kept watching, hoping the wind wouldn’t turn back again. Finally, we got lucky
—
it didn’t. By about ten, I could see that it had burned out. So Willa and I strapped Al onto the back of the Honda, and came down. I was still afraid we might hit a place where we couldn’t get through, but we made it.

Steven sat back. He was tired, and he was drained from reliving his ordeal.

“That is so incredible!” Sophia blurted out.

Juanita was crying softly. She covered her face with her hands. Kate put a comforting arm around her.

Luke looked at Steven in open admiration. “That woman was right,” he said. “You were a real gift to them.”

Steven shrugged. “I did what I could. Anyone would have.”

“I disagree, but we don’t need to argue about that,” Luke said. “Let me ask you, though—how were you able to splint this fellow, stop his bleeding, keep him alive?”

“I’m pre-med, and I’ve been an assistant paramedic in Tucson for the past two summers,” Steven said. “So I know that kind of emergency care.”

A piece of Steven’s story jogged Luke’s brain. “You said their cell phone wasn’t working, but why didn’t you call for help?” he asked. “Didn’t you have your cell phone with you?”

“I’m not allowed to have it. It’s a condition of my bail. You should know that,” he reminded Luke. “You signed off on it. Besides, I would have been screwed if I had called in.”

“Why?” Kate asked.

“Because I was off the ranch. Which is another restriction—I can’t leave this place.” He ran his hands through his long hair. “To be honest, I was torn about hoping someone would find us,” he admitted. “I was worried about Al, but if we had been rescued they would have found out I was in violation. So in a perverse way I was glad I didn’t have a phone, because I would have had to give myself up. I’m happy I helped them out, but I’m no angel. I sure as hell don’t want to go back to jail.”

Everyone stared at him. The idea that he would have been sent back to jail for risking his life to rescue these people chilled them.

Steven stretched and yawned. “I’m beat. I need to get some sleep.”

“You deserve it,” Juanita said. “And you are an angel,” she said protectively. “You would have given yourself up, I know that about you.”

“I don’t know,” he answered. “But it doesn’t matter.”

Juanita couldn’t let this lie. She turned to Luke. “They wouldn’t have revoked Steven’s bail for that, would they?” she asked in disbelief. “For rescuing those people?”

“I would like to say of course not, but they might have,” Luke answered. “There’s a lot of passion about this case. Luckily, we don’t have to worry about that now. I’m going to call the D.A.’s office and let them know you’re here, that they can call or come see you to verify that.” He stood up and shook Steven’s hand. “You did good, man. You deserve an attaboy.”

Kate and Sophia also got up. “We’re leaving, too” Kate said. “Congratulations, Steven.”

“Thanks.” He glanced at Sophia, who was trying to avoid looking directly at him. “What about you?” he asked her in a teasing tone of voice. “Aren’t you going to tell me what a great guy I am, too?”

She blushed. “You are.” She turned to her mother. “I’ll wait at the car.” She rushed out. Steven watched her go, a bemused smile on his face.

Kate watched their interplay with mixed emotions. She was less fearful about Steven than she had been, and more convinced (although there was still doubt) that he hadn’t killed Maria Estrada. But even if he was totally exonerated, would she want her daughter to get involved with him? Sophia was still a girl. This was a man, in every sense of the word.

If it came up, she’d deal with it. She hoped it wouldn’t.

Steven had a question for Luke. “I’m not allowed to have visitors, but Willa wants to see me tomorrow. Will she be allowed to?”

Luke thought about the proper response. “There’s nothing that says she can’t come see your grandmother. If you happen to be here, that’s how it goes. I would prefer not to know,” he added.

Steven winked at him, “You won’t.” He stretched once more, and left the room.

Kate and Luke walked outside. Sophia was waiting by Kate’s car. “Pretty heavy stuff,” Kate commented. “Are you going to use it?”

“Does a bear shit in the woods?” He smiled wolfishly. “This ranch is going to be crawling with the press by tonight.”

Kate smiled back. “One for our side. Nice, for a change.”

“Too bad the trial isn’t in a week,” he said. “We’d have great momentum. This is going to help, although I don’t think any of it is going to be allowed in at trial. Still, it’s better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.” He opened the door to his car. “I’ll have to find jurors with long memories.”