Page 61 of Wild Card
“On suspicion of murder, sir. We had an anonymous tip this morning; ended up finding Kaleb Kingston’s body in a shallow grave down by the old railway line. This is the gold watch you got for your thirtieth birthday, isn’t it?” Sheriff Underwood pulls an evidence bag from his pocket and holds it up in front of him. “I remember chipping in twenty dollars for the collection Margaret did,” he laughs to himself,
“That's mine, but… it doesn’t prove anything.” Brett shakes his head, starting to look worried.
“It does when we found it right where the body was buried; add that to the fact that the last two calls made to Kaleb before he died came from you, I’d say we had enough evidence to make an arrest,” he informs him.
“No, I didn’t do it. It was them. They killed Kaleb; they buried him. I know they did.”
“Take him to the station,” the sheriff tells his men, before looking to Grizz.
“Jameson called, said you boys would have the evidence handled, but hell, that was fast work.” He lowers his voice and looks impressed.
“Oh, that. I buried that with the kid two weeks ago. Smelled somethin’ was off and wanted to make some assurances,” Grizz informs him. “I thought I’d lost my touch, ain’t stolen a watch in years.” He smirks to himself.
“I hear you're running things from now on.” Sheriff fixes his hat to block out the sun.
“Looks that way.” I still can’t decide if Grizz is happy about Jameson's decision to make him prez, but he’s proven his loyalty to me by what he just did, so he’s got mine.
“How d’ya know Brett would be here?” I step forward and ask.
“He called in a report of an assault ten minutes before we got here,” Sheriff tells me, shaking his head and laughing at the prick as he gets manhandled into one of the cars.
“I knew it.” I shake my head and move to the window where he’s being detained in the back.
“Looks like you're going away for a long time, Brett. I’ll be waitin’ for ya to come out.” I smile at the prick before I go and stand beside Grizz again.
“I’ve spoken to Jameson, and the club is gonna deal with Byron in our own way,” Grizz assures Sheriff Underwood. “Believe me, it’ll be a better punishment than you could serve.”
“What if Brett rats?” I ask; I’ll bet the slimeball will squeak the second they get him in an interview room.
“Don’t you worry, Jameson’s fixed up a deal for me to offer him. If he’s got any sense, he’ll take it.”
“And if he doesn't?" Grizz asks.
“Then my bets are on him not making it to court.” Sheriff Underwood sniggers. “You have a good day now, and try to stay out of trouble. I’ve done far too much work for one day.” He looks over to Ruby, who's clinging to Earl by the clubhouse doors..
“Lookin’ beautiful, Ruby,” he calls out to her with a wide smile on his face.
“Thanks, Sheriff.” She dries her eyes and puts on a smile for him, and when he gets in his car and drives away, Earl leads Ruby inside while Grizz steps in front of me and stops me from going in after ’em.
“I don’t like this,” he tells me in that low, grouchy voice of his.
“Oh, come on. I might grow on ya.” I shrug.
“This ain’t a fuckin’ joke, Wild Card. You ever call me Pops again, I’ll feed you your own testicles.”
“And risk the chance of no grandchildren?” I shake my head at him sarcastically.
“Be fuckin’ serious for once in your god damn life. Now this all out, I don’t want her to regret who she’s got for a father. I wanna be part of her life, which means she has my sole protection. If you break her heart, I’ll?—”
“Save your speech, Prez. That ain’t gonna happen. I love her and I mean that. I’d die before letting anyone hurt her.” I let him see that I am serious. Ruby has changed my whole life; she’s got me wanting things I never thought I’d want.
“Yeah, well, you better mean that.” He drops the fingers he’s pointing at me and starts heading inside.
“Guess this means I’ll be gettin’ a yay from you when I ask to patch in here permanently.” I slap him on the back as we walk in through the door. “Wouldn’t wanna break your little girl’s heart now, would ya?”
Grizz turns his head and snarls at me. “Just go be with her; she looks like she needs you,” he orders, and I happily obey.
Hack returns, pissed off that he lost Byron on the freeway, and I hate having to leave Ruby while Grizz takes his first meeting as president and fills the boys in on what's been happening. It’s a relief for me and Hack to learn that Grizz’s little investigation proved no one else here was involved in Byron’s enterprise. Looks like our old president was finding a way to make his own money, and we got enough evidence on Mayor Porter and his son to ensure they both stay silent.
