Page 20 of Reckoning with the Cowboy
“You know he killed her.” His brother’s voice was a whisper as if afraid to say something they had suspected for years.
“Unfortunately, without a body we can’t even prove that she’s dead, let alone that he killed her,” Max said, sounding like the law enforcement officer he was.
Cordell didn’t bother to argue the point. They both knew Grimes had killed her. They’d both told the cop who’d come to the house not just their suspicions but how the man had abused her and them, as well. They’d both gotten beaten after the cops left for even suggesting Grimes could do such a thing.
“Either of you ever talk to the cops again, you’ll be finding yourself at the bottom of the stairs like your mother—or worse,” he’d said as he’d picked up the piece of rubber tubing he’d use to beat them and looked as if he just might go ahead and kill them.
When Max didn’t answer now, Cordell said, “I’ve often thought about finding those cops, you know?”
Max nodded. He did know. “We got away. There’s no looking back.” Those words had been a mantra he’d repeated those weeks they were on the run and even later when they’d settled in the boardinghouse in Dry Gulch.
Cordell scoffed. “Are you serious? We didn’t get away, because here we are. This sure as hell feels like looking back.”
Max couldn’t argue that. He recalled the one time he’d told anyone about his youth. It had been a man he’d befriended in the academy. “My so-called stepfather killed my mother and got away with it.”
“Didn’t you go to the cops?” his friend had asked innocently.
“My brother and I told the cops. They didn’t believe us. We also told them what the man was doing to us with the same results.”
“Wait. Are you saying you don’t trust the cops?” he’d laughed. “Then what are you doing becoming one?”
“I wanted to be a better lawman. If anyone came to me with the same kind of story, I would believe them. Or at least find out if it was true.”
“You’re an avenger,” his friend had said. “Good for you. But your stepfather got away with all of it? Didn’t you ever want to right that wrong?”
“You aren’t sure what you’re going to do when we come face-to-face with him again, are you,” Cordell said, dragging him from the memory.
Max didn’t answer. Instead, he thought about the night they’d finally run away, Grimes’s pickup’s headlights cutting a swatch of gold down the two-lane highway, the man’s body wrapped in a tarp in the bed behind them.
He’d been so sure that Grimes would never hurt anyone ever again. But he’d been wrong. He couldn’t repeat that mistake.
CHAPTER TEN
Josie fought sleep until she’d finally gotten up and gone downstairs and out on Clancy’s porch. The night was cold enough that she wished for one of her grandmother’s quilts. Wrapping up in the threadbare fabric always made her think of her grandmother tucking her into bed. She could have really used that feeling right now.
She looked out into the night. Town was so quiet that it unnerved her. She spent most of her nights out at the farm where it was always quiet. But not like this. The blackness she sensed hung on the horizon like an approaching thunderstorm. She wondered where Max and Cordell were and feared for their safety. The oblivion seemed to grow denser as shadows shifted before her eyes. He was coming. The man in the mug shot. He was on his way.
“What are you doing?” Goldie asked as she joined her on the porch, dragging a blanket behind her before curling up beside Josie and sharing the warmth.
“Couldn’t sleep.”
“Me, neither.” They sat in silence for a moment.
“How are you doing?” Josie asked.
“Confused, upset, worried. Do you know what’s going to happen?”
Josie shook her head. “I’ve never had Nana’s sight.”
Goldie looked toward the road. “Good, ’cause I was afraid that you could see into my mind like your grandmother could. She knew what I was up to.” She let out a chuckle. “True, I was always up to something.”
“She couldn’t see into your head,” Josie said with a laugh. “She just knew you, knew how you thought.”
“Maybe.” Goldie sounded skeptical even after all these years. “But once I knew that you might have some of her gift, I thought you knew everything about me and that I could never keep anything from you.”
“That’s good,” Josie joked. “Keep thinking that. I’ve got my sister buffaloed into believing it, as well.”
She could almost hear Goldie smile in the darkness. “I’m glad you can’t read my thoughts.”
