“Sorry about your suit,” Sully said as he and Addison climbed back into the cab of Addison's new Dodge.
“It's alright, I reckon.” Addison didn't want to think about the effect of swamp water on a linen suit. Or on the upholstery of his brand new truck, for that matter.
“I'm glad you were about to figure out where I went off the road,” Sully said.
“It wasn't that hard to figure out,” Addison admitted reluctantly. The truth was that he had intended not to find Kerry. His intention had been to play stupid and drive around the swamp in circles until the sun went down and Kerry's chances of surviving his latest brush with disaster dropped down into the negatives.
The thing was, Sully's description of where he had been and the turns he had made was pretty good for someone who hadn't grown up in Possum Creek. He'd known the names of the bayous he'd passed and where most of the trails went. Addison didn't mind playing a little dumb, but by the time Sully had finished his crazy story about being run off the road, nearly drowning and then watching his suspect get eaten by a gator, Addison had known exactly where to find the Jeep.
They'd arrived at the Jeep to find Kerry still handcuffed to the roll bars and barely breathing. One of the more adventurous EMT drivers had agreed bring the county's new 4x4 ambulance down the trail and had made it to the creek right about the same time as Addison finally succeed in cutting the handcuffs off of Kerry's wrist with a massive pair of wire cutters that he normally used for chopping through the fences of illegal hunting leases. He'd tried to use the key first, but the locking mechanism had apparently been damaged in the wreck.
“Do you think he's going to make it?” Sully's eyes were tired as they followed the ambulance out of the woods.
“I don't know.” Addison was smoking in the truck again, but Sully had surprised him by not griping about it.
“He said he couldn't move his legs when we were in the water. He couldn't hold his own head above water when I was trying to get the Jeep turned over.”
“Sounds like a spine injury.” Addison focused on weaving the Dodge through a particularly narrow bit of trail. Fish and Game truck or not, he really didn't want to scratch the hell out of the paint just yet.
“That's what I'm thinking. God, I feel like shit.” Sully covered his face with his own hands. “This is all my fuck up.”
“Don't beat yourself up,” Addy said. “Kerry has a lot of enemies. He's narrowly dodged the death-by-criminal bullet twice in the last year. His luck was bound to run out.”
“He's not going to die because of his luck. He's going to die because I got pissed off with him and lost my temper,” Sully said unexpectedly.
“What do you mean?”
“I handcuffed to the roll bars because I was tired and annoyed that he wouldn't just tell me the truth about what the person chasing him was after. I didn't think he was dangerous or that he would run. I was just pissed and wanted to make his life uncomfortable for a few hours.”
“Legally, you did the right thing by keeping him in restraints.”
“He got hurt because my personal vehicle was rolled off the road and he couldn't get loose of it,” Sully said. “I was thrown clear of the Jeep. I wound up in the water about ten feet away. Kerry got pinned underneath the damn thing.” He was scowling at the road ahead of them.
“Sully, you're being too hard on yourself. A lot of people die from being thrown from vehicles. Would you still be beating yourself up if he'd been thrown out of the Jeep, broken his neck and died?”
Sully paused as if the thought hadn't occurred to him before. “I don't know.”
Addison figured the answer spoke for itself. They rode in silence for several minutes.
“I never did get an ID on the guy who ran me off the road,” Sully said. “And I don't think we're going to find any remains by the time you get around to trying to hunt down that gator.”
Addison made a face at Sully. “Let's just figure he probably left his prints in the car. I'm missing my sister's wedding reception right now. I'd like to try to change clothes and get back to the party before the night is over. Just be happy that you solved the case.”
“I didn't solve the case,” Sully pointed out.
“You don't think the man who died in the swamp today was responsible for murdering that woman whose head was in Kerry's trunk?” Addison asked.
“I do,” Sully admitted. “But I still don't know why he did it, or what jewelry he was looking for. Kerry wouldn't tell me and now, well, it could be too late for him to open up to me.”
“Take a little advice from me,” Addison said. “Sometimes it doesn't matter why the person did what they did. It just matters that you stopped the bad guy before anyone else got hurt. In this case, he got eaten by a gator. Think of it as nature cleaning up its own mess.”
Sully shook his head at Addison. “Tate warned me about this town. He said that nothing every plays out the way you think it should. Nothing. I didn't believe him until I stood on the side of the swamp and straight up watched an alligator eat my fleeing suspect. That doesn't happen in other towns.”
Addy couldn't help laughing. “It's alright. Just think of how much money that gator saved the tax payers in court costs and attorneys fees.”
Sully did a double take and then started laughing. “Man, you are fucked up. Is that how you cope with working in law enforcement in this county?”
“Maybe,” Addison admitted. “That and I've got good friends.”
“I could use a few more friends around here,” Sully said unexpectedly. “Tate's a great brother, but he's kind of a stick in the mud when it comes to going out and doing things.”
“We'll have to hang out sometime,” Addison told him. “You like seafood and tequila?”
“Yes on both counts.”
“I know a good bar. Cheap liquor. Lots of pretty women with loose morals.”
“Sounds like just the kind of night I need after this last week,” Sully said.