driven him back and he’d sent Orylnne home for the day, told her as little about what had happened as he could, though he knew she’d find out the details soon enough. He was worried about Gerald, didn’t see any way out of things getting out of hand as soon as the word got out.
He had been on the laptop chatting with a couple of the guys from the veterans group. They were trying to schedule a time when they could all meet for their next reforestation project. Kyle had already set the seedlings aside in the greenhouse, ready to be loaded up and driven to the new site up on Buckhorn Ridge, but they needed to meet once to go over the map and settle all the particulars. They were working out the best time the next morning when he glimpsed something coming through that dark, the shafts of car headlights climbing the drive. He wasn’t expecting anybody, so he went back to his bedroom to get the .380 from his bedside table, tucked it into the back of his waistband and stepped out to see who had come up this far into the country unannounced.
He had to put his hand across his face as the vehicle swung its lights around. After the truck parked the lights stayed on for a minute before they cut. The big diesel engine ceased its chatter. As soon as the door cracked open and the driver hove himself out, Kyle knew who it was.
“I think I’ve had about enough good news from you today,” Kyle said.
“Boy, it’s only getting started,” Holston said as he came up the steps, his breath coming like it cost more than he was willing to invest. “You mind if we go in and sit by the fire? Any kind of cold is tough on these arthritic bones, and it sure can’t be doing your bare feet any good.”
Kyle looked down, only then realized he’d come out without his shoes.
“Yeah, come on. Just so you know, I’m armed,” he said, turned and lifted his shirttail to expose the handgun grip at the small of his back.
Holston grinned, lifted his jacket to reveal his Colt. He said, “Don’t worry. I’m comfortable with a man who supports the Second Amendment.”
Kyle showed him to the front room and told him to have a seat if he wanted it. The sheriff backed up to the wood stove and spread his hands out behind him like he was trying to catch a gust of wind, said he was all right to stand for a while.
“Want something to drink? I can put on some water for coffee or tea. There’s a couple of beers in there too if you’re off the clock.”
“What kind of beer you got?”
“Yee-haws. Porters.”
“That’s okay. I’m a Bud man. That hippie shit does something to my stomach.”
Kyle let the fridge door shut.
“Well, now that we’ve pretended we can get along for half a minute, you want to tell me what’s got you up here? I would have figured you’ve had enough to gloat about for one day without driving to the back of beyond for just a little more.”
Holston shook his head like he was trying to get something inside his brain to come loose.
“Charming. A real country gentleman, my mama would have called you, Pettus. A real country gentleman. But I’ve come out here on what I’d like to call a mission of mutual advantage. How surprised would you be if I told you that Gerald Pickens isn’t sitting in county detention? How surprised would you be to hear that he’s sitting out there in my pickup as we live and breathe?”
“I’d say you’d developed a heart or a brain tumor, one.”
“Maybe. But it’s the truth regardless. I was closing up the last of the paperwork when Gavin Noon, the man who owns the property across the road from Pickens, came down and said he thought there was no good reason to throw an old fool in the jail for just being an old fool. Said he didn’t want the community to have an idea of him and his people as adversarial to the better desires of the county. I told him I thought that was a mighty philosophical way of looking at things, taken all in all. A little sweet talk with a DA who’s already covered up prosecuting pillheads all over Kingdom Come, and you’d be surprised what you can get to happen.”
“So you struck a deal with a Nazi? That’s pretty Christian of you.”
“Yeah, well. Sometimes the law ain’t pretty in all of its fine print.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you’ve brought him up here. I only sit down next to the man every month at the courthouse. I’ve got about as much use for him as you do.”
Holston passed a hand over his skull, stood there trying to collect himself. A man come to the end of all best intentions.
“I’m going to tell you right now, Pettus,” Holston said. “Don’t you look this kindness in the face and call it anything else. I’m trying to help you and him both, you stubborn ass. That man could very well end up the majority of his days left on this earth in a damn cage if you don’t help him. Now I need you to take him in for a little bit. Not too long. Maybe a week or two. Time enough to give things a chance to cool off. It’s a goddamn good thing he’s as good a shot as he is. If he’d slipped up and killed one of those boys this would be done before it even got started. You play your cards right, you might even be able to keep him on the commission.”
“Babysit him, huh? What’s he say to that idea?”
“He’s not too fond of it, if you want to know the truth. He said he couldn’t much stand the sight of you and that the only thing that redeemed you as far as he could tell was your politics. Then I told him that a man often hated most what he most resembled. He pretty much shut up after that.”
Kyle shook his head, went over to the coatrack, pulled on his boots and his hunting jacket.
“Come on, dammit,” he said. “Help me convince the old bastard to see to his own best interest.”
Holston smiled, said. “See, there’s that country gentlemen I was talking about. I think the school teachers call it noblesse oblige.”
“Fuck you.”
“Well, no thank you, but I appreciate the offer. I surely do.”
HE PUT Gerald in the front bedroom just down the hall from where he slept. The old man still wore his clothes from that morning and had nothing else to change into.
“Hell, it’s fine,” he said. “Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve slept in my clothes. If it gets bad I can always strip down to my skivvies.”
Kyle was about to show him the closet where he had some old sweatpants that might have fit, but Gerald waved him away, told him to get on and let him have a bit of earned peace. Just as Kyle stepped out the door slammed shut. A second later the bolt shot home.
Kyle went back to his bedroom and went through some pictures of Laura and him he kept in a password-protected folder on his phone. They were all self-shot, high angled and tight, context excluded from the frame. He wanted to call her, but he knew to text first. That was one of the foundations of their agreement. To never put her in a compromised position. He sent a brief message and waited for an answer in the otherwise dark room.
In a few minues: SORRY CANT TONIGHT. WILL SEE YOU TOMORROW THOUGH.;)
He placed the phone on its charger face down on the nightstand, tried to put it out of his head. After a few minutes he knew he wouldn’t be able
