Chapter Fourteen
Ethan
It only took me a few minutes to ride out to the McAllister farm which was situated on the edge of town. Rick had said that one of the neighbors had reported shouting and what sounded like a heated fight.
This wasn’t the first time I’d had to go out to their place since I’d been elected sheriff the year before and I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be the last.
The McAllister brothers were bad news and were always getting themselves into trouble.
Once I’d been called out by Joey’s wife, Missy, who claimed that he’d attacked her, but she’d refused to press charges against him later. Another time the brothers had gotten into a fight with one another and beat themselves silly. I never knew what I was about to face when I turned up there and this time was no exception. Rick was out dealing with another call, but he’d promised to meet me at the farm as soon as he could.
It made sense to have backup when you were walking into the unknown, on this occasion, however, I hoped I’d be able to diffuse the situation before it went south and that backup was needed.
I parked my cruiser in the yard outside Billy and Joey’s farmhouse. The yard was a mess. Old, rusty machinery sat discarded and forgotten and there were three pickup trucks lined up next to each other, but only one of them had an engine. The others were empty shells that had probably once been used to harvest parts.
The large parcel of land had been a thriving farm once when old man McAllister had been alive, but after he died, Joey and Billy had run the place into the ground. They still owned all of the land, but they didn’t do anything with it. It was a crying shame. Their daddy would be turning in his grave if he could see what his sons had done with the place.
The farm had been his pride and joy.
I kept my hand on my belt, close to my gun as I jogged up the steps to the porch. I knocked, waited a moment then knocked again.
“Jesus, you’re a useless fucking bitch!” Joey shouted. “Get the fucking door!”
When the door finally swung open, Missy stood between its jambs, looking as vacant as ever.
“Hey Missy,” I greeted. “Joey around?”
“What you want me for?” he called out.
“What do you want him for?” Missy repeated.
“Just need a quick word with you, that’s all, Joey!” I called into the house. “We’ve had reports of a disturbance so I had to come and check it out.”
“People need to mind their own fucking business!” Joey returned.
“Get inside, bitch,” he ordered, shoving Missy aside.
My nostrils flared as anger bubbled up in my gut, but I couldn’t let myself get out of control. I needed Joey cooperative, not on the defensive.
“Hello sheriff,” he said, flashing a toothless grin.
I nodded. “Joey. Sorry for the interruption, but we got a call at the station so I had to come and check it out.”
Joey had a split lip and his left eye was swollen almost shut. It was turning an interesting shade of purple, confirming my suspicions that he and his brother had gotten into another fight. Joey spat a mouthful of phlegm onto the wooden porch and I fought the urge to curl my upper lip in disgust.
“Everything okay here?”
“Sure is,” he answered.
“Billy around?”
Joey crossed his arms over his chest. “What you want him for?”
I shrugged. “Just wanted to say hello.”
He cut a glance at the large outbuilding behind me that had once been used to store farm equipment, but now held God only knew what. The light was on inside the building and the door was ajar.
“Nope, he ain’t here.”
“You two haven’t been in another fight, have you?”
Joey glared at me. “None of your fucking business if we had. I told ya. He ain’t here.”
I nodded. “I see. Well, tell him I said hi.”
“Sure will, sheriff.”
I tipped my hat to him then backed away from the porch and jogged down the steps heading towards my cruiser. I needed to get a look inside that outbuilding. For all I knew, Billy could be dead in there, but Joey wasn’t going to take kindly to me nosing around his property.
“Say, you still got that old tractor, your daddy used to use?” I called over my shoulder.
I turned to see Joey narrowing his eyes. “Yeah, we still got it.”
“My daddy uses the same machine,” I said conversationally. “But it’s so ancient that parts are obsolete. “Don’t suppose you’d consider selling yours, would you?”
The toothless grin was back. “Depends how much your offering for it.”
“Oh, he’d give you a fair price,” I said. “As long as it’s worth it. What kind of condition is it in?”
“Hasn’t been used my old man bit it,” Joey said.
I could imagine.
“Yeah? That’s great. You mind if I take a look?”
I didn’t wait for a reply. I strode passed my cruiser and headed for the barn door.
“Uh, now’s not convenient!” Joey shouted. “Come back tomorrow.”
I ignored him.
He cursed.
“It’ll just take a minute!” I said, quickening my pace.
I reached the barn door and peered inside, expecting to see Billy sprawled out on the floor, instead, what I saw had me reaching for my gun.
The barn was filled to bursting with Steer head mounts, antlers, and two deer, both very much alive and one of which was a rare piebald. I spun around just in time to see Joey come running out of the house with a shotgun.
He pointed it at me and fired.
I dived for the ground behind my cruiser, but I was too late.
A white-hot burst of pain ripped through me, stealing all the air out of my lungs.