“Now what?”
C.J.’s question echoed in my head as I stood next to Wyatt in my driveway, my hands shoved in the pockets of my jeans while I stared at the range of mountains surrounding the valley. Those looming peaks had smothered me as a child, a barrier preventing me from escaping to the wider world. Adventure and opportunity waited beyond them, at least it seemed like it until I left home. Once the military was done with me and I returned to Millerton, though, I began to see those barriers as keeping the bad out and our valley safe.
Like I had, Jessica left our safe haven as a teenager. Rather than being repelled by the bad in the world, though, she wallowed in it until it killed her. Bringing Wyatt back to live with us had protected the boy from some of the bad in the world and allowed him to become a decent young man. We were safe until evil, unfortunately, had slipped back into Miller County with Noah. I made the mistake of following his trail back across those ranges and brought the bad back to us again.
I needed a way to chase it away permanently. Returning the money that night would have worked, but now I was empty-handed. I could see only one path forward. To miss the meeting in Coogan’s Cove would only invite the villainy to stay in our peaceful valley. To go without the money would probably result in disaster, but what choice did I have? It was the only option. “I go to Coogan’s Cove. I tell the tattooed man the truth.”
C.J. replied, “The truth never entertained anyone. I’d rather make up a good lie.”
“You’re the storyteller. If you have a suggestion that might work, I’m all ears.”
He kicked the gravel in the driveway with the toe of his boot. “I’m working on it.”
“When he realizes I don’t have his money, he won’t care about any story. The only chance I have is to convince him we’ll pay it back.”
Wyatt leaned against the car. “Then you can’t go empty-handed. You’ve got to give him something.”
I reached into my front pocket and pulled out a money clip. I counted the attached bills and announced, “I’ve got forty-three dollars. Probably have as much in change in a Mason jar in the house.” I scratched the side of my head. “Got a couple of hundred in my rainy-day fund stuck inside Shelby’s old Bible too.”
C.J. dug into his overalls and extracted a well-worn leather wallet as thick as his hands. Papers overflowed from the sides. From hundreds of viewings over the years, I knew the plastic sleeves contained well-worn photographs of fish, trophy deer, and Wanda. He might talk as if those three held an equal place with him, but the wallet flopped open on its own to Wanda photos. His fingers pushed aside the receipts and notes and counted the bills. “Twenty-seven dollars, but it’s all yours. We can stop by my house too. I’ve got a few hundred dollars in an old coffee can in my kitchen.”
Wyatt slung his arm over my shoulders. “I don’t hide my money in coffee cans or books, so I’ll go to the ATM in town. Take out whatever they allow. If we pile everything together, maybe we have a grand or two to offer him tonight.”
I looked down at my feet. “I can add another four.” My throat felt thick as I confessed what I had done with the money for the nursing home. Their response surprised me because I expected shock or even anger. Spending that money for Shelby’s comfort felt like using it for myself, but they didn’t see it that way. Wyatt’s eyes even teared up as he said, “We’ll get her a TV when this is done, Grandpa.”
C.J. asked, “Do you think it’ll be enough to convince him to wait another day?”
“Who knows? I’ll do what I can.”
“We… We’ll do what we can,” Wyatt said.
“No. Me alone.” I stepped back, creating space between us. “I can’t put the two of you at any more risk.”
“He might kill you,” C.J. said.
My knees weakened to hear my fears said out loud. “Better than him killing all three of us.”
Wyatt shook his head. “He wouldn’t do that.”
“I thought you said he would kill for this kind of money.”
“Of course he would.” He looked up and smiled. “But he knows he can’t kill us all.”
I ran my fingers through my hair as I tried to figure out his logic. “Why not? What stops him?”
The grin on his face widened. “You’ve got to think like he thinks. What’s his biggest fear?”
“Same as ours. Some weirdo called Rudy the Roach might kill him.”
“Exactly. If he kills us, he signs his own death warrant. Think about it. Is Reverend Brawley going to give the tattooed man the money? Would the sheriff? If he kills us, he has to explain to Rudy that he killed the last chance to get the money back.”
I nodded slowly, processing the logic. “But once he has the money, what stops him from killing us then?”
“Nothing, except I don’t think that’s who he is.”
“He killed Noah.”
“Are you sure? Maybe he just said that. Like I said earlier, things like that make you fear him more.” Wyatt looked wistfully to the west, in the direction of Knoxville. “I think it takes a lot out of a man to murder. He’s trying to escape, and I can’t imagine what killing three people would do to him. Once he has the money, we don’t matter anymore.”
I walked across the lawn and sat in a chair under the shade tree. Belle rested her head in my lap. I dutifully scratched behind her ears. “Say you’re right. Why don’t I go alone? Doesn’t it accomplish the same thing?”
Wyatt settled into the grass beside me and crossed his legs. “He’s already proven he can lose his temper and hurt you, right? And if he does, he still has us to come after. But if we’re all three there, he can’t. It makes it all or nothing, and he can’t play that game.”
He was right, as a group we were all safer, but was that worth the risk to Wyatt and my best friend? “I don’t like it.”
“There’s nothing to like about it, Grandpa, but here’s the deal. I do know these types of people. I know what they care about. The money. That’s it. We go see him tonight. We tell him exactly what’s going on. He’ll be mad, but my bet is he goes back home because he doesn’t really have any other choice.”
“Why wouldn’t he stay?”
“Right now, Rudy trusts him.” Wyatt shrugged. “Well, trusts him as much as he trusts anyone. But if he’s gone overnight, away from his family, maybe Rudy starts wondering why he’s disappearing so much. Figures out there’s missing money. The tattooed man has to keep up appearances, so he’s got to go home. He can always come back if we don’t show, and we all know it.”
“He’s going to believe we’ll get the money in the morning, drive to Knoxville, and deliver it right to him?”
“I think he will. He won’t like it, but he’d rather do that than risk going to jail on a murder charge or get killed by Rudy the Roach.”
“How can you be sure?”
“I can’t, of course, but what’s one day more or less? As long as his boss doesn’t find out, he’ll end up okay. When we give him the money tomorrow, it’s all over.”
I looked across the field and sighed. After thinking for several minutes, I nodded and stood. As I reached into my pocket for my keys, Wyatt grabbed my arm. “Where are you going?”
“To have dinner with your grandmother. I never miss. And I’m certainly not going to skip tonight just in case it’s the last time I ever see her.”