The Guilty

Chapter 37

Reel strode forward.

“Jessica, what the hell are you doing here?” Robie exclaimed.

“Blue Man called me back from assignment. Sent a jet to bring me directly here. Said you needed some backup over a family matter. Since I could easily relate to that, here I am.”

“When did you get here?’

“Early this morning. I picked up your trail at the house where you’re staying. Been following you ever since.”

“I didn’t see you.”

She cracked a smile. “Would you expect to?”

“But why didn’t you tell me you were here?”

“Blue Man told me to cover your six. Showing myself might have made that difficult. But with what happened tonight, I had no choice.”

“Well, it would’ve gotten a little hairy without you here.”

“Hey! Could you guys catch up later?”

They looked down at Sara, who was still crouched on the ground. There was a small pool of sick next to her where she’d thrown up.

“I’m bleedin’, okay?” she snapped. “I need medical attention. Now!”

Reel said, “I don’t know, Robie. She was going to let these guys kill you for some quick cash. What say we just pop her right now and leave her for the gators? I saw one on the riverbank over there. Big sucker. Probably swallow her whole.”

Sara stood and backed up against the tree. “You…you can’t do that.”

“Why not?” said Reel. “You were going to help murder my friend here. Why should you get to live?” She looked over at the body of the man who had held the gun on Sara. “He didn’t.”

“But I’m just a kid,” whined Sara.

“No, you’re an adult. You made choices. Really shitty ones.” She looked at Robie. “What do you say? One right between the eyes, like her buddy over there.”

Sara dropped to her knees again. “Omigod, omigod.”

“As much as I like the idea, I think we just need to call it in,” said Robie, hiding his smile.

Sara looked up. “So you’re not going to kill me?”

Reel said, “He’s not. I haven’t made up my mind yet.”

Sara collapsed flat to the ground. “Omigod, omigod!”

In a low voice Reel said, “Shit, I’d like to shoot her just to shut her up.”

Taggert showed up a half hour later. She was not in uniform and her hair was full of cowlicks, but she had her gun out. When she reached the clearing and saw them, she said, “What in the hell is goin’ on, Robie?”

Before he could answer she saw the dead body. “Holy shit! Who’s he?”

“He’s the dead guy,” replied Reel. “At least one of them.”

Taggert scowled and said, “And who are you?”

Robie answered. “She’s a friend of mine who came to my aid. Without her Sara and I would be dead.”

Sara pointed at Reel and cried out, “That bitch said she was goin’ to kill me.”

Taggert looked from Reel to Sara and then back at Reel.

Reel said, “She lured Robie here so these guys could kill him.”

“Did not!” screamed Sara. “He…he arranged to meet me here for sex. He was payin’ me for it! The sick bastard.”

“Then exactly how do you explain the dead guy?” said Reel.

“He…he was here to rob us,” said Sara lamely. “While we were doin’ it. Scared me to death. I was all naked and all.”

“So if we examine you, we’ll find traces of…Robie here on your body?” asked Taggert.

Sara looked doubtful. “Um, well we hadn’t gotten to that part yet. We were just kissin’.”

“But you just said you were doin’ it and you were all naked when this guy came to rob you in his suit and tie in the middle of the woods,” Taggert pointed out.

“Oh, right, well, I mean—”

Taggert had obviously had enough. “Just sit your butt on the dirt and shut the hell up,” she barked. “Before I arrest you for obstruction of justice and wastin’ police time. But mostly for bein’ a dumb shit.”

Sara sank to the ground, her face in a childish pout.

Taggert turned to Robie. “Okay, talk to me.”

He took five minutes to explain it all. They walked around the area and found six more bodies. All men, all in suits, all with guns.

Robie said, “I killed three of them. Reel here got the other four, including the guy over there who was going to shoot Sara. Whoever was left beat a fast retreat.”

“And you think they’re with the Rebel Yell?”

“I don’t know, but they were the same guys that were at Pete Clancy’s that night.”

Taggert gave him a triumphant look. “So you were in the middle of that.”

“Yeah, I was. I saved Pete’s butt. They were going to kill him.”

“You should have told me,” she said crossly.

“I did tell the FBI.”

“FBI!”

“In the form of Special Agent Wurtzburger from Jackson. They’re in town. Didn’t you know?”

“No, I didn’t know. Why are they here?”

“I imagine they’re here investigating the Rebel Yell for various and sundry infractions of federal law.”

Taggert scratched her head and placed her hand on the butt of her service weapon, which hung in its holster. She looked over at Sara. “And I see you’re head over heels involved in this crap.”

“Please don’t tell my dad. Please!”

“If you think that’s all you have to worry about, missy, you’re even dumber than I think you are,” snapped Taggert.

She gazed at Reel and the rifle she still held. “And where did you come in from?”

“I can’t say.”

“Why not?”

“It’s a secret.”

“You shot all them men, in the dark?”

“I was up a tree. Gave me a nice line of sight. Like picking off tenpins all lined up in a row.”

Taggert looked at Robie. “And you slit one guy’s throat and broke another one’s neck? And they were both armed?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Who the hell are you people!” exclaimed a clearly exasperated Taggert.

“Just concerned citizens standing our ground,” said Reel. “You folks have that law down here, right?”

“I’m going to have to call the sheriff, get some deputies down here to secure this scene then process it, and then y’all are goin’ to have to make statements ’bout all this.” She gazed at Sara. “Includin’ you.”

“But my daddy!”

“I don’t give a damn ’bout your daddy, okay? This here is a crime scene and things are gonna be done in a professional manner. You understand me?”

Sara finally nodded, though she looked like she wanted to grab a gun and shoot herself.

Taggert stared at Robie and Reel. “Now if you two have a problem with that, I’m just gonna have to arrest you and take you in.”

Reel looked at Taggert like she might just shoot her instead. The deputy seemed to realize this, because she turned to Robie and said quickly, “It’s my job, okay?”

Robie nodded. “I know it is. And we’ll cooperate.”

“To the extent we can,” interjected Reel.

Taggert started to say something but then just shook her head and pulled out her phone.

As she walked away to talk in private, Reel said in a voice only Robie could hear, “Blue Man filled me in some, but there’s still a lot I don’t know.”

“You’ll know it all, Jess, before the night is out.” He paused. “It sure is good to see you. I have some things I want to talk to you about.”

“Blue Man mentioned that, too.”

“Did he tell you everything about…that?”

“I think he preferred that you told me, in your own way.”

Robie looked relieved.

“So how has it been, coming home?” asked Reel.

“You remember how it was for you?” he replied.

“That bad, huh?”

“That bad,” said Robie.

He put out a hand and gripped her rock-hard shoulder. “Thanks, Jess. You saved my butt tonight.”

“This doesn’t come close to making us even,” she said. “Not that anything will.”

“I just know that I’m really glad you’re here.”

“Where else would I be, Robie?”

“Are you two like, datin’?”

They looked down to see Sara staring at them in mild disgust.

“What if we are?” said Reel.

“Well, aren’t you two kind’a old to be doin’ that?”

Reel raised her rifle. “Keep it up, Sara, and you won’t get close to our advanced age.”

Sara hugged herself tight and started whimpering, “Omigod, omigod.”