Chapter Thirty-Two

Anna looked at her watch again and back at the pale face of the man beside her. It seemed to her the few miles to Spencer County General Hospital took hours. At the hospital, emergency personnel swarmed around the injured men. She and Vince soon found themselves superfluous.

Anna said, "I'm calling Kathy. She can get in touch with her family and let them know her brother’s here."

The call completed, Anna sat in one of the lobby chairs to await her friend's arrival.

Within thirty minutes, the lobby filled with uniformed sheriff's deputies. The sheriff followed them. As usual, that odd Buel Watson was only a few steps behind the sheriff, his beady eyes glistening with excitement.

Excitement also lighted the sheriff’s porcine face. "Well, you folks found yourselves a heap of trouble this morning, didn't you? Can't thank you enough for risking your lives to bring these dangerous men in."

Vince and Anna exchanged glances before Vince spoke up. "Risking our lives? Dangerous men? What are you talking about, Gary Don?"

Anna had heard the use of his name instead of his title irked the sheriff. But the smile which left his eyes remained on his mouth.

"These two men are wanted for murder and involved in a drug ring. Surely you heard the bulletin on the radio about them?"

Kathy Dixon burst into the lobby. Evidently she heard the last of Gary Don's speech, because she interrupted before Vince or Anna had to respond. Hands on her hips and fire in her eyes, Kathy said, "Gary Don Clayton, have you gone crazy? You know very well my brother has never been involved in anything dishonest in his life."

The sheriff patted Kathy on the shoulder, "Now, now, little lady. I know you don't want to think anything bad of your big brother, but we got proof. I'm real sorry, but we got to put a guard on his door and place him under arrest."

By this time, all the adults of the Dixon family with their related Phifer family members had arrived and gathered around Kathy. Incredulous shock registered on each face followed by varying degrees of anger.

Lamar Dixon spoke for his family, "Gary Don, my son never did anything wrong."

Sheriff Clayton turned to the elder Dixon, a sober and sorrowful expression on his face. "It pains me real bad, Mr. Dixon, but facts are facts. I'm afraid y'all will have to wait until things are straightened out before you can see him. We'll let you know just how he's doing, though."

Vince stepped forward. "I'm Lincoln Dixon's counsel, Sheriff. I expect to talk with him as soon as he's conscious."

The sheriff scowled. "Well, now. Were you helpin' him to escape arrest, Bertolli? That makes you an accessory in my book."

Vince stepped forward to meet the challenge. "Watch your step, Clayton. If I were helping him escape, I wouldn't have brought him to the county hospital.” He took another step to peer up into the sheriff’s florid face. “The man's entitled to representation whenever you talk to him, and you’d better see he gets it."

Sheriff Gary Don Clayton scratched his several chins and stepped back. He regarded the attorney with speculative eyes. "Yeah, well, we'll let you know when he's gonna be questioned."

The doctor came out to speak with the family and advised them of the serious condition of both men. Eddy Wells bustled in at the end of the doctor's words and had to be updated by Vince. The two men strode to a far corner of the room to speak privately.

Anna drifted over to listen.

Eddy blamed himself for the situation. "If only I'd gone with him last night. I couldn't even keep Martinez at Papa Jacks."

Vince pulled Eddy further away from the others in the waiting room and Anna moved with them. In a hushed voice, Vince asked, "What do you mean?"

Eddy recounted the instructions of the evening before, then his surprise when he called Maggie the third time to find she had called the Sheriff. She told him of the Sheriff's promise to call him and Travis.

"And the Sheriff didn't call you?" When the young man shook his head, Vince asked, "This Martinez, is he a small Hispanic man with tattoos, and a gold tooth? Wearing a bright red western shirt when you saw him last night?"

"Yeah. How'd you know?" Eddy asked, surprise and suspicion in his eyes.

"That's the other guy with Link. We found them both unconscious in a clump of wild plum at my place on the Brazos this morning.”

"How'd they get there?" Eddy asked

"Don't know. Link had been beaten close to death by someone who meant business. He has a bullet hole in his right arm, but it looked superficial. It’s the battering that really put him out of commission. The other guy has a bullet in his shoulder, but no other marks on him."

Anna added, "He was in a bad way, though. He'd lost a lot of blood. Neither man could move without help."

Eddy scratched his head. "I don't understand any of this. I'd be willing to bet a year's salary Link is honest through and through--and just as sure Martinez is a crook."

With a glance over her shoulder, Anna said, "Kathy’s other sister Fran and her husband just came in.” She went to greet them and speak to Kathy, then came back. “Vince, I'm going to stay with Kathy and her family for a little while. They're moving to a waiting room upstairs, third floor. I'll get a briefing from you later."

Vince started to object, but knew he would be overruled. "All right, Anna." He turned to Eddy. "What about you? You working on this?"

"I have the weekend off, unless they pull everyone in on emergency overtime."

In his mind, Vince went over the information he had accumulated so far. "Who is this guy Travis?"

"According to Maggie, the note said to call this Travis at the DIA. She was terribly upset, so I think she means the DEA. She said the sheriff knows the man and promised to take care of it."

Vince looked at the sheriff strutting about. What a jackass. The man looked like a character from a grade B movie. "Sure. Just like he called you."

Eddy shook his head. "This had a real bad feeling, right from yesterday. Why was Link working without the sheriff's or Goddard's knowledge? Maybe the sheriff forgot to call me in his haste to get to the hospital."

"Yeah, right. Maybe." Vince doubted it.

"What if he never intended to call me?" Eddy looked horror struck. "What if he never called this Travis at DEA?"

Eddy clapped his Stetson on his head. "Maggie said the sheriff took the note Link left for me. I think I'll stroll over and see if I can get it from him."

Vince lengthened his stride to keep up with the lanky deputy. "I think I'll just go with you to see what that note says."

The two stood at the side of the crowd until the sheriff finished his announcement. "I understand Link left a note for me, sheriff. Maggie said you have it." Heads of news people swiveled to regard the Deputy.

"Sure thing, Wells." The Sheriff made a great show of patting his pockets before he brought forth an envelope. "Maggie Sparkman, Dixon's housekeeper, said she had instructions to see you got this. It's a photocopy, of course. Have to keep the original for evidence."

The mob crushed in around Eddy, each person hoping to get the first view of the note. Vince stood at one side, his bottom lip between his teeth.

"Read it out loud," someone shouted.

Eddy tucked the note into his pocket. "No, thanks, folks. It's personal."

Eddy motioned to Vince and the two of them went to join the Dixon family. In the elevator, Eddy opened the note and read it.

"Damned if I believe this." He handed the note to Vince. "What about you?"

Vince scanned the note and snorted in anger.

"If you are reading this, then I am either dead or wounded and close to death. I want to confess my guilt for dealing in drugs and for the death of agent Jenkins and Mitzi Dunaway. I hope my family and friends can forgive me. The death of my beloved wife has played heavily on my mind. I guess her death affected my judgement."

Vince returned the note. "Doesn't fit together, does it? Let's get his family to look at it."

When they got to the waiting room, Vince motioned to Gwen. "Check this and tell me if it's your brother's writing." Anna and Kathy joined them.

Gwen pointed to the paper. "It’s a bit like his writing, but it couldn't be. For one thing, see here where it says 'beloved wife?' He and his wife were close to divorce."

Gwen looked guilty, then shrugged. "I shouldn't have told that, but you get what I mean."

Eddy said, "And he always called this Mitzi by her maiden name, Morrison, not Dunaway, cause that's how he knew her in high school."

"So someone forged this to make him look guilty." Gwen's eyes narrowed in thought. "My first and last guess would be that big blob, Gary Don Clayton."

Lamar Dixon scanned the letter. “This isn’t Link’s writing or the way he phrases things. No way in hell has Link done what that blowhard sheriff accuses him of. I’m calling my brother Mick.”

“Say, that’s a good idea, Dad Dixon,” Forrest said. “Mick will be able to tell us how best to help Link from the law enforcement angle with Deputy Wells while Vince here handles the defense side.”

Fran and her husband came up to the group. Fran spoke to Vince and Eddy, "You know, Link had borrowed Rob's boat last night. He said he needed it to work on a case."

Rob added, "The boat was found this morning halfway to Granbury. Lucky for me it was rescued by an honest fisherman who looked in the glove box and found my insurance papers. Someone had cut the mooring rope."

"Could it have come untied accidentally?" Vince asked.

Rob shook his head. "Not a chance. Definitely a clean slice. Had to be intentional and with a very sharp knife."

"Glad you got your boat back, at least," Vince said.

"We found the pickup and trailer at Turtle Back Cove. That's where we usually launch when we go fishing." Rob said.

"Anything in the boat or pickup give any clues to what Link was up to?" Vince asked.

Rob shook his head. "A little fishing gear and some soggy paper bags in the boat. Odd thing was his rain slicker and his boots were still there.”

Vince said, “I can see him changing out of his boots if he went ashore, but can’t figure why he’d leave the slicker. It rained pretty hard last night.”

Rob shrugged. “I can’t figure it out. Guess I’m lucky the boat didn't sink in the storm."

"Yeah." Vince said, "But this whole situation leaves a lot of unanswered questions."

"We've got to do something to stop the sheriff telling everyone Link is guilty." Eddy's protests were cut short by Vince's hand on his arm.

"Let's go back to my place, Eddy. It'll be hours before Link recovers enough to talk to anyone. We need a good plan."