poor schmuck scared out of his wits apologizing and swearing that it was a hunting accident. When you see my house, no bullet will reach there accidentally.”
“So why is he keeping you on if he suspects something?”
“No one else wants the job. He doesn’t have people breaking the door down, even though it was advertised for a long time.”
“And what makes you so sure he won’t hire someone else to finish the job?”
“Because even though that poor bastard was threatened to take that shot at me, I found him later and the message was sent out that I am not one to fuck with. I believe the sheriff would have a hard time finding someone else.”
“What did you do to the man?”
“You really don’t need to know the details, but I got a confession from him.”
“Are you telling me you took the law into your own hands and killed him?”
“A message had to go out, and it did.”
“If you got your confession, why didn’t you do something about it legally?”
“I was waiting for the chance when this thing with your family happened and that day at the hospital, I made myself a promise to protect you. I thought you would probably do some stupid shit and I wanted to be there to help you out. I will get that bastard sheriff one day, but my priorities have changed for the moment.”
“Why are you telling me all this detective?”
“Eudean.”
“OK, Eudean.”
“The idea is to make you believe that the sheriff is a dangerous man, and now that he suspects that you killed his nephew, he will stop at nothing to get you killed.”
“But he has no evidence that I had anything to do with it, thanks to you.”
“He doesn’t need any evidence, believe me.”
“I believe you, detective, Austin said, remembering the sheriff’s words.”
“You just are not going to call me by my first name, are you Hunter?”
“Not yet, detective. Maybe when I get to know you a little better.”
Rice dropped Austin at his house and drove off. Austin spent what was left of that night trying to process the information Detective Rice had divulged. He wondered if he could really trust him. He probably had just saved his life, not knowing it was not the first time. He did know he liked the man. Underneath all that ruggedness and toughness, there was a very caring person who was willing to put his life on the line to correct some wrongs.
Just as Austin fell asleep, he decided that even though he could trust this man, he had better be careful and let events dictate his actions.
Through all this, the airline Austin worked for sent him a message not to worry about coming back to work before he feels ready for it, and even though he had accumulated several vacation months and a lot of sick days, they refused to charge him any of it and kept him on the payroll.
Life had dealt him a few bad hands all through his life, but there was still a lot of good. Even though he didn’t feel like it was worth living, things kept on happening. He wondered how or why he survived his childhood until he met Megan. And when Marina decided to show up, he seemed to forget all the bad things. And when all this happened to his beloved family and he was about to give up again, things began to happen again. There were Megan’s parents, who now seemed to be clinging to him with all their might. Shirley, who was so concerned about his well- being, she keeps hiding her own demons. His neighbors, who keep trying to do things for him. And now this detective coming out of nowhere to be his guardian angel. It all somehow made him feel like he had to keep on going, not for his own sake but for theirs.
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