Complicated Read online

  You’ll see last night you made the biggest fuckin’ mistake in your goddamned life.

  He forced his mind to Tawnee Dare and he wanted to doubt the truth of Lou’s words.

  But, damn it, since he threw back the first half of his beer after he got back to his apartment, that being after laying into Greta, he’d felt that doubt start nagging.

  It didn’t matter.

  He had a killer to find and the woman he’d been seeing had direct ties to the only known criminal in the county.

  So yeah.

  It didn’t matter.

  The hell of it was he could tell himself that.

  But that drag in his gut wouldn’t stop nagging.

  “Boss.”

  Hix looked up from his computer with the picture of the sketch the artist had drawn of a man who looked like a lot of men but with a goodly number of lines on his face and long hair.

  It wasn’t much. Then again a convenience store clerk in a large-ish town saw his fair share of people, so it was better than nothing.

  Which meant it was something.

  And now Hal was at his door.

  “Yeah?”

  “Gemini Jones here to see you.”

  Goddamn it.

  Greta.

  “He says he might have something on the Calloway case,” Hal continued.

  Surprised, Hix looked to the windows, saw Jones standing by Hal’s desk, then he looked back to Hal.

  “Would you bring him back?”

  “Sure thing,” Hal said, disappeared from his door and Hix closed the email on his computer, minimized everything he had opened, got up and had just flipped the whiteboard when Hal brought Gemini in.

  “Thanks, Hal,” he said and went to Gemini, hand out. “Gemini.”

  “Hix, or do I call you Sheriff now?” he asked on an upturn of his lips and a firm shake of Hix’s hand.

  “Hix is good.”

  The man was in trousers and a dress shirt, no tie, but looking dapper, which was his way even out of the Dew Drop and in rural Nebraska.

  They let go but Hix kept his hand up and motioned to the chairs. “Have a seat.”

  Gemini moved to a chair. Hix moved behind his desk.

  He sat, Gemini was already folded in.

  “You want some coffee?” Hix offered. “Or you wanna just share why you’re here?”

  “I know we’re both busy so let’s just get to it, yes?”

  Hix nodded.

  Gemini got to it.

  “I know a young woman who had cause to drive through Grant County Monday evening on the way to see her momma in McCook.”

  Hix felt his neck grow tight.

  Gemini kept talking.

  “Now, you see, her momma read the Guide’s website when word started getting out and mentioned what she read around her daughter. Her daughter then mentioned something to her momma. And they immediately realized their moral dilemma.”

  “Gemini, please just give it to me straight,” Hix requested, speaking evenly and trying to hold on to his patience.

  “All right, Hix, you see, the dilemma is, this girl, she’s out on parole and that parole is contingent on a variety of things, including her not leaving her local area, which happens to be in Kansas. So if she comes forward sharing what she saw, she might do damage to all that good behavior she showed. And since she’s trying to find her way to a righteous path that would be a shame.”

  “If she witnessed Nathan Calloway having his life ended in a violent way and she’s sitting on that—” Hix started.

  Gemini shook his head. “No. But she did see a man in a white truck pull over for a man who was walking along 56. She says that man didn’t look all that good, drifter, vagabond. She’d had that truck trailing her for several miles after it had pulled out from a ranch behind her. The man on the road saw the oncoming cars, lifted his arm to flag them down, she drove by. She saw in her rearview the truck slowed and stopped.”

  Christ.

  They had a witness.

  “She needs to make a statement and she needs to look at a sketch.”

  “Hix—”

  “I’ll personally talk to her parole officer if you can assure me she’s here only to see her mother.”

  “Her momma’s got diabetes, had a spell. She’s okay now but it’s been a while since they’ve seen each other and she felt it worth the risk to make a visit. So yes, Hix, I can assure you she’s here to see her mother.” He lifted both hands and dropped them. “She’s a good kid. She makes stupid decisions and spends time with people who aren’t worthy of it. But she’s trying to get smart about that and she’s had a helluva lesson to teach her that’s the way to go. She does right, comes forward, it bites her in the ass, this could be a catalyst for very bad things.”

  “I’ll print out the sketch we have. Give it to you. If it looks like who she saw flagged Calloway down, please just confirm that to me. But if she’s willing to come in and make a statement, I’ll do everything in my power to see she doesn’t get hooked back into the system. I’ll even drive down there and talk to her parole officer myself. And if she can improve on this sketch, I’ll buy her mother flowers.”

  Gemini smiled. “I’ll take the sketch.”

  Hix turned to his computer and set it to printing.

  As it did that, he looked back to Gemini. “She said Calloway pulled over, was it, in her estimation, a Good Samaritan-type of thing?”

  Gemini nodded.

  “This man on the road, was he alone?” Hix pressed.

  Gemini nodded again. “Alone. Tall. Brawny. Dirty clothes. Haggard. Sunburned. Leathery. Carrying a canvas duffle on his back. She says she wouldn’t have pulled over, but she also says, at the time she passed them, she thought God was good, making men like the man in that truck who had the kindness to do it.”

  At his words, Hix couldn’t stop himself from lifting his arms, putting his elbows to the edge of his desk, linking his fingers and resting his forehead to them, such was the weight of that statement not coming true.

  “I know,” Gemini said quietly. “Tests your faith, shit like this. Putting that young man there. Putting my girl in a bad position. How an act of kindness that leads to an act of what might be desperation or even insanity could tear like a tidal wave through so many lives.”

  Hix lifted his forehead, put his chin to his hands and gave him an understatement.

  “Yeah.” He sat back and rested his arms to the arms of his chair. “She give you more?”

  Gemini shook his head but said, “Just what he was wearing. Jeans, beat-up canvas jacket, even though it was hot outside, long, brown hair.”

  And they had their suspect.

  They just had to find the fucker.

  He turned to the printer on the credenza behind him, nabbed the sketch and got up, walking it around the desk to where Gemini had also left his seat and was standing.

  He handed him the sketch. “I hope she does the right thing and I’ll again give you my promise I’ll do right by her if she does.”

  “Charity’s a good kid, she’ll do right,” Gemini replied, dropping a name and doing it on purpose.

  She’d be coming in.

  Hix wanted to howl with relief.

  “If she doesn’t,” Gemini kept on, “she’ll have to break more laws getting away from her momma who’ll tan her ass.”

  And that was the rest.

  Her mother had already solved this dilemma. Charity had always been coming in. Gemini had just showed first to broker the deal to make it safe for her to do it.

  Hix gave him a small grin, this time, the way Gemini did it and why, not bothered in the slightest he’d been played.

  Gemini lifted the sketch. “I’ll be in touch.”

  Hix tagged a card from the holder on the outer edge of his desk and gave it to Gemini. “My card. Call direct.”

  Gemini lifted the card too, smiled and walked out.

  He’d barely touched the front door to push outside before Hal and Donna were in his of
fice.

  “What was that?” Donna asked.

  “Possible eye witness who saw Calloway pull over for a drifter with long, brown hair.”

  “Fuck yes,” Hal hissed enthusiastically.

  “The sketch sucks, but the minute Larry comes back with it and scans it so we got a decent copy of it, I want it out on the wire. We might be able to sharpen up some of the rough edges soon, this witness comes forward. Pray for that,” Hix told them.

  “We’ll be all over that,” Donna returned.

  “Need you two on the line with homeless shelters in Omaha, Lincoln, bigger cities. I’ll email the description. We have hair, face, now clothes. And he was carrying a big duffle. Convenience store guy said our guy could be anywhere between forty and sixty. I get now why he gave that range, seein’ as Gemini’s witness says he was leathery, haggard. Wanna know if any shelters have any regulars who went walkabout and haven’t been seen in a while.”

  “All over that too,” Hal stated and walked out.

  “We gonna get him?” Donna asked.

  “He’s had days to get away and the wheels to do it and only got a couple hundred miles. Convenience clerk says he’s twitchy. Witness says he was a man she wouldn’t stop for, but at the time she saw Calloway do it, she was glad God made a man who would. Even so, somehow the man had a gun and the cognizance to wipe down that truck. Regardless, I figure we got someone who’s not firing on all cylinders in a way it’s more than he’d put two bullets in a man. That could work in our favor. That could screw us totally.”

  She nodded. “I’ll get on those shelters.”

  Hix nodded back, rounded his desk and got instantly pissed.

  And he did that because his first thought was that they were closing in on him, so Hix was in a much better place than he was yesterday or the day before and definitely the day before that.

  And he couldn’t share it with Greta.

  “You know how they’re gonna play this, Bryce.”

  It was late afternoon and he had Bryce McCall and his two parents in his office, Bryce in one chair, his mother in the other, his dad standing behind his son’s chair.

  They’d brought him in.

  “It was stupid, I know,” the fourteen-year-old mumbled. “Mom and Dad already laid into me.”

  “I’m sure they did,” Hix said. “And most folk would listen to reason. The Mortimers won’t.”

  Bryce ducked his head, scooted a foot on the floor and muttered under his breath, “She shot my dog.”

  “She did.”

  Bryce lifted his gaze to Hix’s.

  Hix held it and carried on.

  “So, in light of the fact that I think this town has been reminded in an ugly way about what’s important, if you write a letter apologizing to them, I’ll take it out to them and then share I won’t be taking this further. If you apologize, I’m satisfied you saw the error of your ways and feel remorse. This is not to say I condone what you did or vandalism in any form, Bryce,” he warned, waited for the kid’s nod then kept going. “However, considering the extremity of the extenuating circumstances, although your response was not right or even justified, it was understandable.”

  “Yeah,” the kid whispered. “And I’m, like, totally grounded so I’m already kinda in jail.”

  Hix bit back a smile and continued, “They can, of course, push it. That’s their prerogative. But they’ll have to do it in civil court. I won’t be pushing anything. If they have an issue with that, they can vote for my opponent in the next election.”

  Bryce grinned. “Too bad I won’t be old enough to vote then.”

  “Yeah, kid. Too bad,” Hix murmured.

  The door opened and Larry swung his upper body in, hand on the handle.

  “Sorry, Sheriff . . . folks, wouldn’t interrupt but gotta say,” his gaze leveled on Hix, “Kavanagh Becker is here to see you.”

  Hix turned his head to look out the window and he saw Becker and one of his goons studying the mural of the sheriff shield painted over a depiction of Nebraska pastureland at the side of reception.

  Hix felt his lips thin and he lifted his chin to Larry. “Thanks, Larry.”

  “Not a problem.” Larry’s gaze went through the room, he murmured, “Again, sorry,” and backed out of the door, closing it behind him.

  “I think we’re done anyway,” Hix said, rising and moving around his desk.

  He shook Bryce’s hand. He had to hold firm and lock arms to share he couldn’t accept the hug his beaming mother seemed intent on giving him when he shook hers. And he felt his shoulder nearly get dislocated when Bryce’s father pumped his arm then knew he’d have a bruise after the man clapped him on the back.

  He walked them to the door then he looked through the windows and gave Larry the high sign.

  He was only five feet in and facing the door, arms crossed on his chest, when Becker came through.

  “You don’t have to close the door, Larry, he’s not staying long,” he said to his deputy.

  “Right, boss,” Larry replied and disappeared.

  “You have one minute,” Hix told Becker, who’d stopped only a few steps in because that was as far as he could get or was welcome.

  “It would seem, perhaps, things didn’t go as I’d intended during your visit yesterday.”

  When he stopped talking, Hix prompted, “You have fifty seconds.”

  “Drake,” Becker bit off.

  “Forty-five seconds.”

  “It was just a joke,” Becker shared. “Tawnee and her daughter play it that way. Getting one up on each other. She wasn’t actually threatening you. But she does worry about her daughter. Apparently Greta’s last man ended things with her in a way Tawnee didn’t like. It might not be the usual way a mother would deal with her daughter finding another man and sharing her concerns with that new man that she was keeping her eye on shit, but Tawnee’s not your usual woman.”

  Hix felt something unpleasant slither through his gut at learning Greta’s last man ended things in a way a woman like Tawnee Dare wouldn’t like, but he wasn’t going to discuss that with Kavanagh Becker.

  “Greta and her mother close?” Hix asked.

  “They’re mother and daughter.”

  “That’s not really an answer,” Hix pointed out. “You met Greta?”

  Becker stared him in the eyes. “No. Seen her. Got the best of her momma. You probably get me, if she gave more talent than just looks to her girl. Learned a long time ago, you can tag the pretty, young ones, but you also gotta expend the effort to train ’em, seein’ as they got no earthly clue how to use their mouths.”

  Hix’s stomach turned.

  “Okay, we’re done,” Hix declared, moving toward him to show him out.

  “Drake, you don’t want this deal we got to fall apart,” Becker warned.

  And there was the reason for the visit.

  Hix stopped and asked, “I don’t?”

  “Don’t be stupid,” Becker snapped.

  “Not me who hauled the sheriff’s ass all the way out to his place just to play a joke. I’m investigating a murder, Kavanagh, but even if I wasn’t, I would hope you’d treat my time as more valuable than that.”

  Becker tried a winning smile. “You know how it is, first blush of finding a woman who gives a really great blowjob.”

  Now he was going to vomit.

  “Now we’re done,” he stated and moved to stand by his door and hold his arm out of it.

  Becker moved to stand in front of him. “It would be a shame, somethin’ like this messed with a good thing.”

  “Far’s I can see, the only one who’s got it good is you,” Hix remarked, dropping his arm.

  “Now, I obviously wouldn’t know anything about it but I do live in this county and I’m very aware of the incredible job you do keeping illegal substances at a minimum. Probably wouldn’t buy you good returns in the next election, such things flooded our towns.”

  “Nope. Probably wouldn’t. Then again, I sent people who pushe
d them to the Nebraska State Penitentiary, that might make me real popular.”

  They had a preposterous staring contest that Becker lost, stating, “It appears we’re at a stalemate.”

  “Nope again, ’cause if you don’t get your ass out of my station, it’ll be in a cell. Told you twice we’re done. Now I’ll make it clear. We’re done. You remain, you’re trespassing. And, well, not sure how much of a crime that is, might have to look a few up more to see how long I can detain you, but I wouldn’t mind havin’ you as a guest if I get to see you in our accommodation.”

  “Don’t be a fool,” Becker hissed.

  “Not me standin’ there when the sheriff asked me to get the fuck out.”

  Becker glared at him then moved only to be yet another person to stop in his door and have something else to say.

  “One last thing, you should talk to Greta. Tawnee’s beside herself. Appears Greta didn’t think the joke was funny either and cut her momma out. She was a might hysterical when she was relating things to me but it would seem she’s made some other bad choices in regards to her daughter in the past and this was the last straw for Greta. Tawnee doesn’t have much family. She needs her girl.” He assumed an expression of contrition. “She can be a wild one and she got a wild hair. It wasn’t the right thing to do, Hixon, and she sees that now. If she didn’t think it’d make things worse between her and Greta, she’d be here herself. But askin’ you, man of a Dare woman to man of a Dare woman, Greta’s the only kid Tawnee’s got, and Tawnee’s Greta’s only momma. We fucked up. Don’t let Greta take that too far, and just sayin’, Hixon, don’t let Greta take that too far. For her and her momma and shakin’ up the way other things should be.”

  Hixon had no reply and Becker didn’t wait for one.

  He took off.

  Appears Greta didn’t think the joke was funny either and cut her momma out.

  She’s made some other bad choices in regards to her daughter . . . this was the last straw for Greta.

  He’d experienced just that the day before with Hope.

  Right before he lost his shit on Greta.

  What were the straws that came before?

  He had no idea.

  He hadn’t asked.

  He hadn’t even known she had a mother in town.