Don't Back Down, page 24
“It’s true. And before it was all over, they tricked him by talking too fast and he gave himself away. They kept asking him who paid him to do it, but he clammed up and asked for a lawyer, which just made him look guilty all over again! Why would Dewey go kill somebody for a laptop? We don’t even use computers. Not even to play games. I don’t understand!”
“I don’t know,” Rance said, then handed her the beer. “Here, you take it. I gotta go,” he added and then ran back to his patrol car, made a U-turn in the front yard, and spun out as he drove away.
Carly went back inside and started to put the beer in the refrigerator, then put the six-pack on the table and popped the top on one longneck and carried it to the living room. She needed something to calm her nerves, and this was as good as anything.
But Rance Woodley could have drowned himself in a barrel of beer and it wouldn’t have changed one facet of his shock. His thoughts were in free fall as he headed back to the sheriff’s office, and then halfway there made a split-second decision and took the road to Jubilee.
***
Cameron was outside caulking the last of the windowpanes and Rusty had been with him for the better part of an hour, nailing down the loose boards on the front porch in the places he’d marked with chalk.
She was on her hands and knees about to start a new nail, but as the hammer was coming down, the nail slipped out of her grip and she hammered her thumb instead.
“Oh, crap!” she cried, and grabbed her hand and squeezed it more, as if that would actually stop the pain. “Oh my God, that hurts.”
Cameron heard her cry out, saw what she’d done, and came running. Seconds later she was on her feet and in his arms.
“Oh, honey…sweetheart! I’m so sorry,” he said. “Let me see.”
The thumb was already swelling and turning purple around the nail bed. It was hard to tell who hurt more that it had happened, her or him, but seeing her little thumb already beginning to bruise broke his heart.
“That’s enough for you,” he said and took her inside, made an ice pack, and sat her down by the fire to ice her thumb.
Ghost was in the middle of both of them, trying to lick Rusty’s hand and whining a little in sympathy.
“Thank you, sweet boy,” Rusty said. “If love could cure, I’d already be fine.” She winced when Cameron put the cold pack in her lap. “Yikes. The cold hurts, too.”
“It will help with the swelling,” he said. “Can you wiggle the joint? If you think it’s broken, I can take you—”
“It’s not broken. Just flatter than it’s supposed to be,” she grumbled.
“My poor baby,” Cameron said. He kissed her thumb, and then kissed her. “I don’t have much left to do. I’ll finish up and be right back,” he said.
She sighed. “You don’t have to babysit me. I’m okay. Just not much of a handyman.”
He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand.
“Ghost seems ready to be the babysitter,” he said, eyeing how his dog had immediately plopped down at her feet. “And you make a damn fine figure of a woman, so I choose that over driving a nail straight any day.”
“Yes, well…”
“No arguments, and I’m doing all the cooking and cleaning up for the rest of the week, so there’s that,” he said, and went back outside.
Rusty looked down at Ghost. “Thank you for giving up time with your precious boy to spend it with me.”
Ghost’s ear twitched, but it appeared he had nothing more to add.
Rusty leaned back in the chair and tried to ignore the constant throb, but it seemed to be in rhythm to the rise and fall of Cameron’s hammer and really hard to ignore.
Finally, he’d finished and was looking down the length of the porch, checking to make sure he hadn’t missed any spots, when he heard a car turn off the road. He paused, listening, thinking maybe they’d just been turning around. But then he heard the sound of tires to gravel and knew someone was coming to his house.
He gathered up the bag of nails and the caulk gun and laid them on a little table near the door beside the hammer, then moved to the front steps to wait.
A little shock went through him when he saw it was a patrol car from the sheriff’s office, and when the driver parked and got out, he was even more surprised to see Rance Woodley.
He glanced toward the window and got a glimpse of Rusty making tracks out of the living room, and then turned back to his visitor.
“Morning, Sheriff.”
“Morning, Cameron. If you can spare the time, I really need to talk to you.”
“It’s a little cold out. Come inside,” Cameron said.
Rance took off his Stetson as he followed Pope into the house, then hesitated as the white dog suddenly loomed before him.
“Lie down, Ghost. Stay,” Cameron said.
Ghost dropped, but he never took his eyes off the stranger in his house.
“Have a seat,” Cameron said.
Rance dropped. “I’m too rattled to beat around the bush. I just found out the FBI arrested Dewey Zane this morning for that murder out at Barton’s campground. I don’t even know where to start, but it puts me in a bad light. I thought I should maybe talk to those federal agents, and thought you might be able to help, since you’d worked with them some. That Caldwell woman is gone, so I don’t know who to contact. Thought you could give me a name or a number to call.”
“Why does it put you in a bad light, and why do you need to call them?” Cameron asked.
Rance was shaking. “Dewey is a friend. We hunt and fish together. He and Carly have been to my house for meals. He doesn’t have a lot of skills, but he works hard at what he does. Hell, I even introduced him to my ex-wife about five or six years ago when she was still living in the area. She was bartending at Fuzzy Fridays, that bar at the crossroads just over the switchback on Pope Mountain. She helped get him a job there.”
Cameron didn’t know what to think, but he had a gut feeling they’d been chasing the wrong guy.
All of a sudden, Rusty walked into the room and Woodley jumped where he sat.
“Shit! Oh…’scuse my language. I didn’t know you were still around,” Rance said.
Rusty glanced at Cameron, knew exactly what he was thinking because she was of the same mind, then fixed Woodley with a look and started talking. She already knew the answer to what she was going to ask, but she wanted to see his reaction.
“You said your ex-wife got Dewey a job. What’s her name?”
“Melinda Sheets now, but she mostly goes by Lindy these days. We were living around Bowling Green when we divorced. She had a good job at the time, so she stayed in the area.”
“When was the last time you spoke with her?” Rusty asked.
Rance paused, frowning. “Maybe a year or so ago. I saw her in passing. Didn’t really stop to talk.”
“Is she still in the area?” Rusty asked.
“I have no idea,” Rance said. “After she quit Fuzzy Fridays, I kind of lost track of her.”
“I heard you mention Dewey Zane was your friend,” Rusty said.
Rance scrubbed his hands up and down his face as if trying to wipe away the shock of what he was still feeling.
“Yeah…hunting and fishing…that kind of thing. I tried to get Dewey on as janitor at the sheriff’s office, but the county commissioners didn’t go for it. He has worked at both of the big hotels in Jubilee before. Mostly day labor. He works for cleaning companies around town if they call him in. Mostly like mopping floors at cafés and the like after they close. But that was all before he went to work out at the campground full time.”
Rusty’s heart skipped. “Zane works for Jack Barton?”
“Yes, for the last three or so years. He also works an evening shift three nights a week at Fuzzy Fridays. God. I can’t believe this!”
“What’s his job out at the campground?” Rusty asked.
Rance shrugged. “I don’t really know. Repairing stuff. Getting the garbage from the tiny cabins and campsites and making sure it’s in the dumpster on pickup days…stuff like that. Sometimes he picks up supplies for Barton, but that’s when he goes out of town.”
“So, those trips… Exactly what does he pick up that Barton couldn’t have delivered?”
“Again, I don’t know. I guess I never really asked. Carly, his wife, might know more. Then again, maybe not. She kept crying to me this morning, asking me why Dewey would kill a man for a laptop, which is something they don’t even use. Whatever he was doing, he kept it to himself.”
Rusty’s thoughts were spinning. She was coming to the realization that all of this had been a horrible twist of fate, and Rance Woodley had nothing to do with any of it. Which meant the only person still alive and on the loose who they’d identified as being part of the gang was Lindy Sheets, and she was missing.
“Tell me about your ex-wife,” Rusty said.
Rance frowned. “Why?”
Now was where Rusty made the knee-jerk decision to share a piece of evidence, and she’d know by Woodley’s reaction whether he’d known it or not.
“Because she was Danny Biggers’s contact. She was the drop-off for the little girl Biggers snatched.”
Woodley reeled as if Rusty Caldwell had just punched him in the face, then turned white as a sheet. His eyes welled, and he began to shake.
“I don’t believe it.”
“Oh, we have proof. That phone you confiscated from Biggers. There were calls and texts to each other on it. She was also an old girlfriend of Biggers. She visited him in prison before the escape.”
“Uh…I’m gonna be sick,” Woodley whispered, and made a dash for the front door.
Cameron followed, watching as the man staggered to the edge of the porch and puked up his guts. When he finally backed away, wiping his brow and then his mouth, there were tears running down his face.
“Come inside,” Cameron said. “I’ll get you some water.”
Woodley stumbled back inside and fell into the chair where he’d been sitting. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.
Rusty sighed. There for a minute she thought he’d been having a heart attack. Nobody was that good of an actor.
Cameron brought him a glass of water, and Woodley took a few sips and set it aside.
“And here I thought I was gonna look bad being friends with a murderer. Fuck a duck, ma’am, but I’m just gonna come out and say it. You are looking at me as being part of this mess, aren’t you?”
“Now that you know why I asked about your ex-wife, tell me everything you know about her,” Rusty said.
“Is she missing?” Woodley asked.
She nodded.
He wiped his eyes. “She was a good girl. I can’t imagine what turned her. She’s from Michigan. Her dad is Canadian, from Ontario. Her mother’s from Detroit. We met in Detroit and got married there. She’s from good people. She—”
“Wait,” Rusty said. “You said her dad is Canadian? As in a Canadian citizen?”
Rance nodded. “Yeah. Actually, Melinda has dual citizenship. Something about where she was born, and to people who were citizens of different countries. I never do get that stuff straight.”
Rusty stood, her throbbing thumb forgotten.
“Lindy Sheets has dual citizenship?” she repeated.
He nodded.
“Are her parents still alive?” Rusty asked.
“They were last time I knew,” Rance said.
“Don’t move,” Rusty said, and handed Cameron her cell phone. “My thumb hurts too much to send a text. Would you please pull up Special Agent Howard’s number? I need to talk to him before this goes any further.”
Cameron slipped into his assistant role without blinking. “Yes, ma’am,” he said, and did as she’d asked.
Rusty took the phone and walked out of the room, waiting for Howard to answer.
“Morning, Caldwell. What’s up?”
“Rance Woodley is sitting in our living room as we speak. He came to ask Cameron how to contact the feds who just arrested Dewey Zane. He just found out about Zane’s arrest and is in shock. He said Zane was his friend. They hunted and fished together, and he feared his connection to Zane would fly back on his position as sheriff.”
There was a long pause, and then Howard cleared his throat. “Is he in on this call?”
“No. I’ve been asking him about his ex-wife, Lindy Sheets. I’ll give you the short version. He hasn’t seen her in over a year, but he introduced her to Dewey Zane some years ago. She helped Dewey get a job at a bar called Fuzzy Fridays. Woodley also told us Dewey has worked all over Jubilee, but currently has been working for Jack Barton’s campground every day, and three nights a week at Fuzzy Fridays. He said Dewey also makes some kind of trips out of town for Barton, but he doesn’t know what they entail. He asked us why we wanted to know about his ex-wife, and I told him she was Danny Biggers’s contact. At that point, I thought he was having a heart attack. He vomited off the front porch and is crying as we speak.”
“Well, shit,” Howard muttered.
“Exactly,” Rusty said. “But Woodley did give me a very important piece of information just now. His ex-wife holds dual citizenship. Canadian and U.S. status. I’m going to let him fill you in. Give me a sec to get back to the living room.”
Rusty came back into the room with her phone.
“I’m going to put this on speaker now. Sheriff Woodley, Special Agent Howard wants to ask you some questions.” Then she laid the phone down on the table between them and sat beside Cameron.
Woodley scooted closer to the phone.
“Sheriff Woodley, could you please tell me about your ex-wife having dual citizenship,” Howard asked.
“Yes, sir,” Woodley said. “Melinda was born in Ontario. Her father is a Canadian citizen. Her mother is a citizen of the United States. Her parents still live in Ontario. Their names are Clyde and Gladys Lehigh. He worked for the City of Windsor in their billing department and retired from that job.”
“Okay, got it,” Howard said. “Thank you for coming forward. This information is all useful to us, and I’ll ask you not to speak of it outside this circle.”
“Absolutely,” Rance said, choking back tears. “I have never been so shocked as I am sitting here right now. I will do anything you need. All you have to do is ask.”
“Well, if your ex-wife does happen to contact you, let us know. Otherwise, we’ve got this.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you for being so understanding. I’m available by cell phone if the need arises.”
Rusty took the phone off speaker.
“I’ll be in touch,” she told Howard, and ended the call.
Woodley stood. “If that’s all you need from me, I’ll be going,” he said.
Cameron eyed Woodley closely. “Are you fit to drive?”
“Yes. I’ll be okay. And I want to say right now to the both of you… It’s embarrassing to admit I am sometimes out of my depth in this job. I don’t understand the concept of clans. Of being so trusting and connected to each other like all of you people are on the mountain. And because I sometimes feel inadequate for this job, I overreact when it comes to defending myself, like I did at the campground. Thank you for helping me clear this with the feds.”
“I appreciate your honesty,” Rusty said.
Cameron walked him to the door, then stood in the doorway watching Woodley shuffle back to the patrol car and drive away.
“Well, that big bubble just popped in our faces, didn’t it?” Rusty said as Cameron shut the door.
“That’s for sure. What next?”
“Back to the drawing board. I’m going to go back over Emily Payne’s arrest statement and Jack Barton’s files. He has just become the daily special. It’s time to start digging deeper.”
“I suspect Dewey Zane is going to get grilled again, and this time when they throw out the name Jack Barton, it would be interesting to see his reaction,” Cameron said.
“Yes, I’m sure the guys are already all over the new info. But in the meantime, I’m here on the spot. It may be time to come out into the open again. It might be just what’s needed to shake things up.”
Cameron frowned. “Shaking things up can be dangerous.”
“But that’s how I roll,” Rusty said. “And I’m still a federal agent until this case is over.”
“Then what?” Cameron asked.
“Then I’m all yours. Body and soul for the rest of my life,” she said, and wrapped her arms around his neck.
He groaned as their lips met, and then lost himself in the kiss.
***
Boss didn’t know about Zane’s arrest.
And Carly Zane wasn’t telling people what happened, but she was weighing her options as to even staying in the area.
Dewey was still in shock that there had been a trail cam and that he’d been identified. He blamed Boss. He was supposed to know that shit ahead of time.
***
Later that morning, Jack Barton came back from Jubilee with a sack full of groceries and realized Dewey had never showed up for work. He called his cell, but got no answer. Disgusted, he grabbed a box of garbage bags and took off in the golf cart to make the rounds.
The air was cold and the garbage smelled. He was seeing Dewey’s job from a different angle and guessed he might need to raise his pay.
Chapter 16
That same morning, there was something of a to-do at the cell block where Danny Biggers was housed. The guard discovered Biggers’s body as he was making early-morning rounds. Biggers was flat on his back on the floor in the middle of the cell. No blood. No signs of having been in a fight. Just his arms outstretched on either side, and his feet crossed at the ankles, like Jesus nailed to the cross, staring sightlessly up at the light burning in the ceiling.
His body was quickly moved off the cell block, but not before everyone there knew that he’d died. The silence was telling. It had to be someone’s fault, but who?
