The Rented Mule (47 page)

The rain had let up by the time Cooper walked into the crowd of law enforcement and rescue crews gathered in the yard of the old mansion. Applause erupted, and the questions flew as he pushed his way through to the back of the
ambulance. Fortunately, the media was kept at a distance, for the time being.

When Cooper saw Kelly, tears welled in his eyes. He didn’t know what to say—too much needed saying. Kelly reached out for him, and they hugged the longest, tightest hug they had ever shared. Weeping openly, they clung to each other.

After several minutes, Cooper felt a hand on his back. He turned to see Millie. She had tears in her eyes and slightly nodded her head approvingly.

“I hope you got that devil that did all this to your family,” she said emphatically.

Cooper nodded. “He won’t be botherin’ us anymore.”

“That’s good, Cooper,” she said holding up her iron, “ ’cause I was gonna smite him.”

“Smite him?”

“Smite or smote, I gets confused. It’s what the Good Lord used to do in the Old Testament. But he ain’t much in da smitin’ bidness no more, which is just too bad if you axe me.”

“I tell you what,” Cooper said, “I feel like I’ve been smitten pretty good this last week,” he said, looking at Kelly who smiled.

An EMT forced Cooper to extend his arm, and he started unwrapping the bloody shirtsleeve bandage. His face showed concern about the wound as he began treating it.

Inside the next ambulance, Brooke was ecstatic to see Grayson. She hadn’t stopped holding him and didn’t plan to anytime soon. She was distraught that her own husband had been responsible for all this pain, anguish, and death. Deep down, however, she wasn’t very surprised.

Sticking his head inside Kelly’s ambulance, the sheriff smiled at the scene and said, “Okay, folks, here’s the plan.
The district attorney has gotten the governor’s approval to use a helicopter from the Alabama DPS Aviation Unit to get y’all to the hospital. It’ll also help y’all avoid the media circ—”

“I ain’t gettin’ in no helicopter,” Millie interrupted.

“That’s fine, ma’am. I promise we’ll get you home,” replied the sheriff.

“Can I have a minute alone with my wife first?” Cooper asked, his hand still being bandaged.

“Sure. As soon as they’re done here, get to the chopper. It’s about to land in the field behind the house,” the sheriff commanded, looking at the paramedic working on Cooper’s hand.

Before Kelly climbed out of the ambulance, Cooper touched her face and said, “I’ve made some serious mistakes. The biggest is havin’ my head so far up my ass I couldn’t see what’s truly important—what matters. This week’s shown me how much I love you and how badly I want us to have a great marriage. Baby, I know I’m broken, and I’ll do whatever’s needed to make this right. I love you so much! I’m so sorry. Can you forgive me?”

Kelly had huge tears rolling down her cheeks. She was almost too emotional to talk but managed, “No, honey, it’s me. It’s been me. There’s nothing to forgive. I love you, honey. I’m so sorry. I don’t care about the house or cars or anything but you and the kids. Please forgive me.”

They looked at each other—really looked for the first time in years and saw in each other the person they fell in love with years ago. They smiled, hugged, and cried some more.

“The other night, last Saturday night, I almost made a huge mistake but… but I didn’t. I couldn’t. I came close, but I realized that I still love you, and I could—”

“I know,” Kelly interrupted. “Don’t say anything. I know. Brooke told me all about it. How you didn’t show up.” Shaking her head, she continued, “It doesn’t matter. The important thing is we’re together now. Really together.”

Someone pounded on the side of the ambulance and hollered, “Chopper’s ready!”

“Let’s get the hell outta here,” Cooper said. He then noticed the digital clock in the ambulance and pointed it out to Kelly. It read 1:11 p.m. She smiled, her bottom lip quivering. He kissed her affectionately.

“Is he gonna be okay?” she asked the paramedic, looking at the fresh white bandages.

“He’ll live, but we need to get the wound flushed and better debrided,” she responded with a warm smile and then deposited her bloody surgical gloves into the biohazard waste receptacle.

With relieved expressions on their faces, Obermeyer, the district attorney, and the commander stood outside the helicopter’s rotor wash, watching the players in the week’s drama. As Kelly was helped into the helicopter, Obermeyer stared off into the night sky.

“What is it now, O?” the commander asked with a sigh.

“Well, ma’am… we’ve still got Sammy Davis Junior, Oprah Winfrey, and Larry King to deal with, and I’ve got this naggin’ feelin’ there’s something I’m missin’ or forgot.”

“Obermeyer, for goodness’s sake, please don’t tell us to stand by,” the commander said, smiling wryly.

The district attorney was listening and couldn’t help interjecting. “The way I see it, MPD’s best detective here just won a gun battle with the brains behind a kidnapping
that made national news and an established serial rapist… and he did it on his terms, by the book. Let’s be thankful for what we have now—what’s been accomplished here today. O can work on the rest of it tomorrow,” the DA proudly stated and placed supportive hands on each of their backs. “And why don’t y’all go meet with the press. You both deserve it.”

T
he medical techs carefully loaded Kelly into the helicopter and buckled her harness. Brooke and Grayson were already seated, holding each other’s hands. Cooper carried Dixie, who was quivering, and climbed into the seat next to Kelly. The rotor noise was so loud in the Bell 206L that he could barely hear what anyone was saying.

“I’m Joe Wilson. I’ll be flying y’all to the ER. Glad to have you aboard,” the helicopter pilot said, looking over his shoulder at the group.

“Hope you don’t mind having a dog on board,” Cooper asked as he put his good arm around Dixie, who was still shaking but calmed down some once the door was shut. Cooper wasn’t leaving Coosa County without her.

“No problem. Man’s best friend. If you don’t believe it, lock your wife and your dog in the trunk of your car, ride around for about an hour, and then see who’s the most excited to see you.”

“I’m bettin’ the dog!” Brooke said with a smile and a wink at the pilot that made everyone laugh.

“You got that right!” Joe Wilson responded and then gave the thumbs-up signal, saying, “Y’all ready?”

Everyone nodded or said, “Yes, sir!”

With all that had gone on in the last week, and having actually been locked in a trunk, Brooke smiled and chuckled with relief. The joke served to break the tension of the events for her. She looked across at Cooper who made eye contact. They knew what almost happened between them. Cooper’s thoughts drifted to all that Mark had said about Brooke, but looking at her, he was having a hard time believing that she was involved. Obviously, she said something comforting to Kelly, and that’s all he cared about at the moment. Brooke appeared to be genuinely happy for them. She kissed Grayson on the forehead and then reassuringly looked at Cooper, smiled and mouthed, “Thank you.” She began to cry.

Cooper nodded and squeezed Kelly tighter as Dixie licked his hand.

Obermeyer had given back Cooper’s cell phone before he climbed inside the helicopter so that he could call his family. It buzzed at the receipt of a text. It was from Gates. The text read: “great news don’t have to sell tower bookie n deep shit w feds will forgive debt if i help explain later”

Kelly noticed him reading the text and asked, “Everything okay?”

“Yes. Yes it is. Everything’s gonna be just fine.”

The helicopter slowly started its ascent. Cooper saw Kelly’s bottom lip quivering as she looked down at the antebellum house, the various pockets of people, the news vans, and the flashing lights of the medical and law enforcement vehicles. She held the duck band on her necklace with one hand and Cooper’s good hand with the other. She smiled when their eyes met as tears welled once again.

Once the helicopter reached a safe altitude, it banked hard to the south and accelerated. Instantly, the scenery changed. Cooper was leaving behind the past, racing toward his kids, waiting at the hospital, and an almost unspeakable gift—the opportunity to get right.

ONE YEAR LATER

C
larence “Mad Dog” Armstrong had vowed to never again work outside his area of expertise. That was until the oil spill in the Gulf. Soon after it happened, he bought two of the oldest trawlers on the coast and became an instant shrimper and eventually a spillionaire. It didn’t seem to matter that he had never dragged a net. The tag on his restored vintage, full-size Hummer read: THX BP. He and Jesse Ray were planning their next big job.

Jesse Ray made a small fortune helping Clarence with the spill boondoggle and planned to purchase a Radio Shack franchise. He continued working e-mail and Internet scams—his latest for bogus virus-protection upgrades. Chances are you’ve received an e-mail from him or have been redirected to one of his web pages when trying to visit one of your favorite Internet sites.

Jenny and Maynard dated for a few months, and then married in a simple ceremony. He hasn’t dressed like Larry King since the kidnapping job but is still addicted to teeth-whitening strips. The newlyweds recently closed on
a run-down twenty-acre horse farm in Okaloosa County, Florida. Jenny is happier than ever, busier than ever, but she often misses her partners in crime. Maynard is happy just to be with Jenny every day. To Jenny’s utter delight and amusement, he dresses like Tim McGraw.

Detective Obermeyer’s legend and career were cemented after solving the kidnapping and serial rapist cases. Actually, there were a number of inconsistencies and much confusion during the forensic examinations of the bodies and crime scene with respect to who actually shot whom. The Powers That Be decided that it was in everyone’s best interest to keep it all quiet. Obermeyer became the public beneficiary of the closed files. He continues to fight crime locally and occasionally teaches detail management courses at municipal police academies around the South. Frequently he pauses and “stands by” while he tries to determine who actually kidnapped Kelly Dixon. That mystery still bothers him.

As a condition of his plea agreement, Gates Ballenger checked into rehab. He was clean and sober for three months. Work became his new addiction, doing twelve-hour days securing and maintaining clients for the Tower Agency. He can be heard weekly, calling into the Paul Finebaum radio show, expressing his opinions on college football. His analyses are seldom accurate.

Mitchell Holmes was due in court for multiple counts of racketeering and money laundering. He was facing significant prison time if convicted. The odds, however, were better than even that he would get the minimum sentence since the judge hearing the case owed a favor to the elder Mr. Ballenger.

Brooke Layton was humiliated by her ex-husband and embarrassed at her own intentions. So as soon as she could,
she and Grayson moved to Tallahassee, Florida, where she works for a large graphic design firm. Grayson saw a counselor once a week for a couple of months and made remarkable progress. The neighborhood they moved into has three stocked lakes, so Grayson, accompanied by his new dog, Dixie Girl, fishes almost every day.

Millie and Haywood Brown sold the biggest part of the property to a conservation organization and retired. They kept enough money for them to live on comfortably, set up a trust fund for the children at their church, and gave the balance to the Southern Baptist Convention missionary fund. Unbeknownst to Cooper, Millie retained two hundred beautiful, wooded acres of her home place, with an excellent pond site, for him. The Browns planned to surprise Cooper and Kelly with the deed to it in five years, on the Dixons’ twentieth wedding anniversary.

Cooper and Kelly Dixon worked hard at their marriage and were both surprised at how easy it actually was once they both made the effort. They can be seen around Montgomery each Thursday evening on their date night. Kelly has been seen fishing with Cooper, and he was recently spotted under an umbrella at the beach with her, although he was nose deep reading
Gamekeepers
magazine. Their friends say that they look happier than ever.

Dixie never stowed away in the back of Cooper’s truck again. Nowadays she can be found lying on a therapeutic dog bed inside the comfort of the Dixon home.

Jubal Daniels inherited Don Daniels’s estate and Mark Wright’s by default. He kept the old home place but immediately sold all remaining assets. The bank went to a large, regional financial institution based in Louisiana. With several
National Geographic
magazines as travel guides, he purchased
a bus ticket to New Orleans for a seven-day paddle-wheeler cruise up the Mississippi River to St. Louis. He then hopped on Amtrak to see the giant Redwoods in California. He hasn’t been seen since.

I love the idea of engaging and entertaining readers enough that they keep turning pages past their bedtimes. That’s why I write, and I’m humbled when they take time to contact me or post a review on Amazon. It’s also equally humbling to have so many people promote my stories and do what they can to help advance my writing career—some barely know me; others go back many years. All are very much appreciated. Thank you!