Page 36 of Hallow’s Eve
Thorn let him go and backed away, his gun still on him. I waited for him to go but the man didn’t budge.
“My mother’s back in Arkansas.” Fighting Cock garbled out.
“What are you talking about dad?”
“Your brother picked your Gran up this afternoon, right after you left for work. I suspect they’re back home by now.”
The fucker just told us his son had been here too. That he had a son. I gave Thorn a sideways glance.
Eve asked him, “What did you plan to do with me?”
He kicked the gravel. “Ford feller was supposed to deliver you to me this morning at the border, so you wouldn’t be no trouble when we got your Gran. So, you’d come home, finally. When he didn’t, I came to get you myself.”
“You pay him?”
“Yeah, in cash. Check his pockets. You can keep it. Think of it as an engagement present.” The man looked me in the eyes. “I expect you to make her an honest woman.”
“Dad,” Eve complained.
“I will,” I promised him.
Thorn reached down and pulled an envelope out of Ford’s jacket and handed it to me. I tucked it inside of my cut.
Her father complained.
“I’ll give it to her once it’s safe,” I reassured him. With a dead body on her lawn the last thing Eve needed was a bloody envelope full of cash.
Thorn and I kept our guns drawn, but we let them say their goodbyes.
“Where’s Gran?” Eve asked her dad.
“She’s going to the old folks home back home. I’ve sold her house and furniture to pay for it. Everything’s out except your belongings. Buyers will be here next week. You’ll have to give them the keys. I suspect you have somewhere to go.”
“I have an apartment,” Eve said. “Now get, before they change their minds.”
Her father hung his head and turned to walk away. Thorn and I kept our guns up until he raced away on his motorcycle. We had a mess to clean up again, two dead bodies because Thorn had killed Jasper right before Ford shot Donette. And since Ford had killed Grady, we couldn’t just take him to Delbert’s farm. The police were already at Bootsies investigating Grady’s murder. Eve agreed to use Ford’s truck to drive Donette to the hospital to get the bullet out of her shoulder. Ford had exchanged Delbert’s ride for his own once in Nashville. We’d have to retrieve the farmer’s truck, too.
Thorn and I dragged Jasper’s lifeless body from the cab to situate him beside Ford on the driveway. Thorn then helped Donette into the passenger side of the truck as I went to Eve on the driver’s side. Her window rolled down.
“Am I missing anything? I don’t have to worry about someone else taking you from me.”
“I don’t think so,” Eve replied, drying her eyes.
Thorn added, “Jasper killed Sadist. He confessed before he tried to knife me.”
I handed Eve Thorn’s gun and took mine back. “You shot them when Ford shot Donette. We were never here.”
“Right.” Eve nodded her head. I was glad she didn’t argue. “My dad was never here either. Oh, what about big Earl. I guess Ford killed him, too?”
“We’ll let the cops figure it out.” I instructed Eve to call the police once she got to the nearest hospital in Gallatin. She had her cell phone now. She told me how Ford nabbed her right after she got it from the breakroom. We exchanged numbers.
Thorn and I did our best to erase any trace of us or Fighting Cock being at Eve’s house before we left. Eve would have to talk to the police. They’d be out here for the bodies, so I couldn’t stick around or pick her up from the hospital like I wanted to. The ride back to Nashville was excruciating. I worried for Eve, afraid her father would turn around and come back to get her. Or that somehow, Kingpin had been watching me and planned to have our boys snatch her.
Walking into the throne room for my phone, erased my fears. Everyone had left, except my President curled up on the floor asleep with Memphis and Junebug at his sides. I’d have to tell him what happened tomorrow. I retrieved my clothes, belt, boots and Eve’s shoes. I checked to make sure my wallet and phone were in my jeans. They were. Up in my room, Thorn snored as I put Eve’s number in my phone. I sent her a text. “What’s up?” I fell asleep waiting for a reply.
A chime on my phone woke me. It was two p.m. Eve had sent a text back finally. It simply read, “Donette’s dead.”
“Fuck.”
