Pierce Read online

  Hedi shook her head. “How can you be so calm?”

  “Finally somebody’s asking questions that make sense,” Ross said. “Hasn’t it occurred to you that Jed’s got a death wish or something? The man’s berserk. We know that. It’s ridiculous. Jed will come back here, and he’ll kill us all.”

  “Yeah? So what will you do about it?” Hedi asked him. “Just what are you thinking will get you out of this? Because sure as hell nothing at the moment is coming to my mind.”

  “Somebody,” Ross said, “you and/or the sheriff, needs to arrest Jed. Just look at what he’s done.”

  “So now you’re talking about arresting him? Are you serious? How does that work?” she asked with a snort. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re as much a part of this as Jed and the Billy brothers are. And all of you will be indicted on as many charges as I can write down.”

  “I haven’t done any of this,” Ross protested.

  She shook her head and stepped forward, grabbed a piece of sandwich. The stomach acids were churning as she tried to figure a way out of this nightmare. As she watched, it seem like Pierce made some kind of a decision.

  He approached Salem and stopped just a couple feet away. She bounced to her feet and backed up, so she was just on the outside of the door. As he took another step closer, Salem growled, a sound deep in the back of her throat that evoked primitive feelings of fear inside Hedi.

  She took a step forward, but Salem didn’t even look at her. She wasn’t a threat compared to Pierce. And that was understandable. Pierce was in a class all his own. Hedi trusted him instinctively, and, because of that, she was fighting that same instinct. She knew better than to trust so easily. Just because he might have been one of those protector types didn’t mean he wouldn’t go off half-cocked on his own and do something that would cause this mess to blow up even more.

  Hell, he already had. Shooting Jed like he had just pushed those men. She knew it instinctively, and she knew Pierce knew it too, which was why he’d done it. She just didn’t know if his actions were based on a clear well-thought-out strategy, unlike Jed’s.

  As she watched, Pierce dropped to his knees in front of Salem, and the dog stopped growling. She looked more confused than anything. He didn’t reach out a hand; he just stared at her calmly, steadily. At this point she’d eaten from the dog food bowl he’d placed outside, plus eaten several treats he’d left her.

  “Are you sure she’s okay, that it’s safe to talk to her?”

  “Talk is cheap.” Pierce’s voice was calm, low. “And she already knows that words lie. It’s all about actions with Salem.”

  “That makes sense,” she admitted. “But do we really have time for this?”

  “Are you in a rush?” he asked. “I’m not planning on going anywhere. But, when it does come down to a fight, I’d like to know she’s on my side, not theirs.”

  Her breath caught in the back of her throat. She hadn’t even thought about that. She’d sent Stephen and Roy messages, hoping somebody was on their way out. Stephen sent back a quick message, saying he was manning the office.

  She hit Dial on the phone and called him. “What do you mean, you’re manning the office?” she said. “We have a hell of a situation developing here.”

  “Yeah, and that’s why I’m manning Central Station,” he said calmly. “No way I’m getting out in that shit.”

  She gasped in outrage. “Stephen, you’re a deputy. Get in the vehicle and come out here.”

  “Nope. You can have my badge before I’ll do that,” he said. “I promised my wife and girls I’d be going home to them, not that I’ll get shot by some crazy-ass nightmare called Jed. Once you said the Billy boys were there, I was out.”

  “Who are you waiting on to fix this then?” she yelled.

  “The law, that’s who,” Stephen said.

  “We are the law.” She wanted to scream in frustration, but this was the shit she dealt with all the time.

  Pierce raised an eyebrow, then just shook his head.

  “You have no idea how much we need you.”

  “Well, you’ll have to do without me,” Stephen said quietly. “You’ll probably have to do without everybody because the sheriff doesn’t think he’s got any part to play in this whole mess either.”

  “Don’t tell me that he’s still sitting there,” she said, dread in her voice. “Please tell me that he’s on his way to help calm Jed down.”

  “If he was coming, it would be to arrest Pierce, since he shot Jed without provocation.”

  “He had provocation,” she snapped. “Jed was trying to shoot him.”

  “Not what Jed told the sheriff.”

  She pinched the bridge of her nose and groaned. “This is just too unbelievable.”

  “Not my problem,” Stephen said. “As for Roy, he’s on the other end of town today. You’re on your own.”

  His tone was so cheerful, she wondered if he wasn’t waiting for her to get killed. “Is that you guys’ plan?” Her tone turned hard. “Leave me alone in the middle of violence so I get shot and so you don’t have to worry about having your job performance upstaged by a woman?”

  “If you get shot, it’s your fault,” Stephen said. “The sheriff told you not to go.”

  “No, he did not,” Hedi cried out. “He told me to handle it.”

  “Well, then handle it,” Stephen barked.

  He had such a feigned innocence that she finally realized he really didn’t give a shit. “I wonder how your wife will feel when she finds out you wouldn’t leave the office to help a fellow officer,” she snapped.

  “She’ll be delighted because at least she knows I’m coming home to her.” And just like that he hung up.

  She stared at her phone, her mind racing, wondering what the hell she was supposed to do now. And, if she called the sheriff’s office one county over, what would be the repercussions for her and her job?

  “Please don’t tell me that was the entire sheriff’s office?” Ross whined.

  “Might as well have been,” she said glumly. “This is beyond bad news.”

  “It doesn’t make a damn bit of difference to this shit going on down here.” Pierce looked at her. “But it makes a hell of a lot of difference to this town. How is it the sheriff is still in office? And, by the way, I taped that on my cell phone.”

  She looked at him in horror. “What will you do with it?”

  “I’ll send it to the big news station, so they can do an investigation on your lovely sheriff’s department, and the deputies who turn their back on fellow officers, and sheriffs who would rather stay in their office and spread lies and rumors,” he said. He was busy on his phone again.

  She stared in fascination as he hit a final button and then smiled at her.

  “There. I’ve sent it out. We’ll see how your sheriff feels in a little bit.”

  “Don’t tell me that you did that. Oh, my God! I’ll be in so much trouble,” she cried out.

  “You’re either in trouble, or you’ll be dead,” Ross said. He had come up at her side. “Honestly, I think that’s probably what should have happened a long time ago. This is bullshit. What kind of a sheriff is he?”

  “Considering you’re the one who put him in power,” Pierce said, “what do you think?”

  “He paid us,” Ross said suddenly. “We’re all broke. We didn’t care either way who was sheriff, so we accepted the money and voted for him.”

  Pierce slowly straightened and turned to look at him—his phone recording again. “Are you serious?”

  Ross nodded. “It wasn’t very much, so it didn’t really matter.”

  Hedi felt her stomach sink. “Any idea how many people accepted money to vote for him?”

  Ross shrugged. “I don’t know. I imagine at least a hundred of us. But maybe not. Some people would have done it for future favors—you know that.”

  “I do know that.” Her voice sounded harsh even to her ears. “I also know he broke a lot of laws doing that.”


  “I don’t think the law matters to your sheriff,” Pierce said thoughtfully. He once again sent off several texts.

  “Who are you contacting?” she asked, baffled. “Everything I say, you put into a memo and fire it off.”

  “We have a problem in this town, and somebody needs to clean it up. I just happen to be here.”

  “You’re hardly going to clean it up,” Ross said. “You’re just here for a night. A drifter doing nothing but causing shit.”

  “We’ll see about that,” Pierce said. He turned to look at the doorway.

  Her glance followed his.

  “Shit,” he said.

  And she realized Salem had disappeared with the raised voices.

  He stepped outside and looked around but saw no sign of her. “Damn, that’s a setback.”

  “Who knew Ross would let out a bombshell like that?” Hedi said.

  “Everybody knew it,” Ross said. “How else would the sheriff have gotten elected?”

  “But knowing something and having proof of it is a totally different thing.” Hedi rubbed her forehead. “This is just unbelievable.”

  “Yep, sure is,” Pierce said. “It’ll be on the news tonight though.” He motioned at the yard, completely unkempt, that hadn’t been mowed in ages. “Did you do any cleanup work around here?”

  Ross looked at him but didn’t answer.

  Pierce nodded. “I’ll go for a walk,” he said, looking back at Hedi. “I wouldn’t mind if there was a pot of coffee by the time I get back.” And with that, he stepped off the porch steps and headed toward the tree line, one hundred yards off. Inside was an anger rippling through him that he hadn’t felt in a long time. To think the sheriff had bought his votes, and his entire department had refused to help Hedi was unbelievable. Pierce didn’t need her help. He figured he could handle this just fine. But he also didn’t know exactly what he was up against. She did. He’d hate if anything happened to her though. He’d brought this to a head and didn’t want her to be a causality of this war.

  The fact that her department hadn’t come to back her up in any way was just ugly. And that Stephen guy had no business wearing a badge. Pierce would make sure the last thing he did before he left town was to take that badge off him and make sure he booted his ass out of the department. He didn’t know about the other guy, but, if he’d taken off in the opposite direction, that was what he’d get too. They were obviously the sheriff’s cronies. And how the hell had she gotten her job? He figured maybe the old deputies might have had a hand in it.

  As soon as he hit the tree area, he sat down on a log, closed his eyes and tried to calm down his inner center. He already knew he had to still his energy and thoughts in order to go on the hunt.

  Silence inside helped with silence outside.

  As he sat for a long moment, something cold pressed against his fingers. His breath caught, and he held it as he waited. The nudge became a little stronger. He opened his hand, and a muzzle was gently placed inside, not moving beyond anything other than his fingers. He stroked Salem’s nose and under her chin.

  Slowly he opened his eyes. There were a lot of shadows in the trees, and the sun, already clouded over, was starting to go down. Salem stood at his side, so silent, weary, and yet, so proud. He smiled at her and whispered, “Hello there, girl.” An ear twitched. “I’m so sorry for the last few months. We’ll make sure we get Pete back here.”

  Her ears twitched again, and she looked up at Pierce with huge chocolate-colored orbs that were wounded and full of distrust. She’d been hurt. She’d been beaten, and the people she’d always depended upon for her very living and her daily training had deserted her. Not by Pete’s own fault but by injuries that had sidelined him and, therefore, her.

  He blamed Ross for letting the situation go the way it had, but then Ross appeared to be so weak that it was no wonder he couldn’t deal with life. He didn’t have a clue how. Every decision he made was the easy one.

  Pierce’s phone rang. He pulled it out, still gently stroking Salem’s neck. He moved up to scratch behind her ear. “Hey, Pete. How are you doing?”

  “I don’t know what to say,” Pete said. “Sounds like hell is breaking loose down there.”

  “Before we get into it, say hi to Salem. She’s right here beside me. I’ve got the phone to her ear.”

  There were tears in Pete’s voice as he called out to Salem. “Hey, girl. I’m coming home soon.”

  Salem’s ears twitched, and she shook her head, looking down at the phone.

  “Keep talking,” Peirce encouraged. “She’s looking at you.”

  He let the two of them have a moment as Pete gently called to her, and Salem tried to figure out what was going on.

  “Any idea how quickly you can come home?” Pierce said.

  “The doc said I could probably come in a couple days.” There was shock in his voice. “I don’t know why I didn’t make this happen before.”

  “We can’t get everything modified by then, but I’m sure we can manage something.”

  “Did you really shoot Jed?” Pete said abruptly.

  “Who told you that?”

  “My brother called.”

  “That would have been a lovely phone call,” Pierce said, derision in his voice. “He’s quite the head case, that guy.”

  “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry. He is still my brother, but I really don’t want anything to do with him now that I know what he tried to take away from me.”

  “Everything,” Pierce said. “He tried to take everything away from you. Don’t you forget that. Not only did he try, he did for a while. You were stuck in rehab, while he lorded it over you. He considered this his home, spending your money.”

  “Yeah,” Pete said, his tone vibrating with anger. “I’m not likely to forget that.”

  “Why did he call you?” Pierce asked.

  “To give me an update on Jed. He said that you might get the house burned down.”

  “You got any insurance on this place?” Pierce asked.

  “I do,” he said, “but I don’t know about arson.”

  “Don’t you worry about it. As long as it’s insured for fire, it can be replaced. And I imagine fire is covered because it’s pretty standard coverage. I hope they don’t burn it down, but I don’t know what those Billy boys are like.”

  “Evil,” Pete said. “They’re bullies. They’re the evilest nastiness you’ve ever met.”

  “They’d have to be pretty bad then,” Pierce said, “because honestly, I’ve met some pretty bad men.”

  “These are right up there with the worst of them,” Pete said. “They’ll likely start along the fence line and try to burn it.”

  “Hmm. Interesting thought,” Pierce said. “Do you have any big equipment here?”

  “There’s a tractor. I was trying to get a couple acres into something growable, near the creek, some nearby water source. I was looking at maybe growing some barley or some grains. There’s a local distillery not too far away that was looking for some. I had a soil sample tested, and they said it was good for barley.”

  “Does the tractor have a blade attachment?”

  “There are attachments but not sure about a blade. Rakes for sure, rotors. Why?”

  “Because the best way to stop a fire is to build a firebreak,” Pierce said. “Is your entire property fenced?”

  “Yes, it is. There are a couple fences that start at the driveway. If you take sight of both the wooden fences on either side and follow them, you’ll see everything is enclosed. I’ve got these ten acres. That’s a lot of land for anybody to drop a match on. And they can just run up the driveway and torch the house itself.”

  Chapter 9

  Hedi put away the groceries, offered Ross another portion of a sub, which he took without gratitude and sat down at the table, chewing away morosely. She studied his face. “When did you last have a job?”

  He shot her a hard look. “I’m not totally useless, you know?”

  “I n
ever thought you were,” she said. “I can only see what you’ve done in this last little while though, so I’m looking to see another aspect to your personality.”

  “I worked at the mill for a few years. I worked in Fort Collins, but affording a home there was hard, so I came back to the mill. Then the mill shut down, and it seems like life from then on completely stopped.”

  She understood that, and it wasn’t the first time she’d heard such a story. “Have you tried for other work around town?”

  “Sure,” he said, “but it’s not like this small town can absorb so many of us when we’re laid off.”

  “No,” she said, “but a lot of people moved, and a lot of people commute.”

  “I didn’t do either,” he said. “My brother offered me a place. I knew he had been injured, and I thought he was coming back. I thought I was looking after it for him for a few months, and it gave me a place to land while I figured out what I would do. But then I got cozy, and I started to see myself doing this full-time, once I realized he wouldn’t get out of that place. Then it seemed like I could start over somewhere else if I could get together enough money.”

  “But who said he wouldn’t get out of there?” she asked, turning to look at him. “None of us ever heard Pete wouldn’t come back.”

  “I don’t know,” he said, “but the idea came from somewhere. I thought for sure it was from Pete.” He stared out the window. “What do you know about this Pierce guy?”

  “I know he’s more dangerous than Jed,” she said simply. “But I believe he’s honorable. He’s doing this to help Pete and to help Salem.”

  “Nobody does this shit to help a dog.”

  “I think you’re wrong. Like Pierce and Pete, that dog served our country, so he is trying to make sure she gets more than beaten and abused.”

  “Good luck to him then. That dog is a killer.”

  “If she is, it’s something you helped make her,” she snapped. Then she took a deep breath and asked, “What are your plans tonight?”

  He slid a look in her direction but stayed quiet and then shrugged. “I don’t know. If I wait until dark, I might be able to head back into town, drive away with my lights off. Maybe they’d let me go, and I’d be good. I won’t be coming back, that’s for sure.”