#25
Whomever shot Agent Wright was not found that day, nor the next. Townspeople went about their business, never exposing themselves to a window or open space from one place to another. Evie, Clora, Ev and Christy spent an enforced night in town, fussing greatly.
Benny dropped by the diner whenever he could, assuring himself that his people were OK. Where the blasted blazes Wayne had disappeared too, he didn't know, but he didn't have time to track the idiot down.
He talked to Clora about that fact, and they came to a half way agreement that Wayne had probably gone to the site where the cabin had burned. The area brought solace to the troubled man, why? Who knew, but as long as it worked it was a good thing.
Benny was far more circumspect with Grandma around, there was no smoochy kisses stolen on the sly, and Lainey missed them terribly. More than once Evie or Clora caught the brown haired woman gazing with adoration at their Benny. Worse yet, Benny had no shame in returning the moon-eyed stares.
Finally Evie said to Clora and Inga, "don't sit between them, it only makes it worse." Clora laughed out loud, the sound never phased or penetrated the love-sick aura surrounding the Sheriff and his lady.
"Good Grief," Clora exasperated with a snipe, "Those two are the most nauseating example of romance I have ever seen."
At that, Ev laughed heartily. "Just wait," he council ed with a huge grin. "Your time's coming."
"Oh, not like that!" Clora was positive she would have better control of her emotions. "That's disgusting," she waved her hand to encompass the goofy grinning Benny and the calf eyed Lainey. "She can't even make an intelligent sentence anymore." It was always Benny this, and Benny that. It was as if Lainey had no opinions of her own anymore.
Evie snorted a little. She knew if it was real, it started with the precise foolish behavior Ben and Lainey were exhibiting. She had prayed hard that if it was meant to be between Ben and Lainey, that it was blessed from the beginning. Evie had the feeling that it was right, just as she felt that it would be right for Clora and the handsome young Sargent.
The body the FBI agents had found was Inghram. He had been executed with a single bullet to the head. Inga had simply looked straight ahead when Benny brought her the news, shrugged and went to her room. Her eyes were red, but nobody caught her crying.
The helicopters took off under cover of night, returning the body of the top agent to the force headquarters. Ev took off the following night, sprinting out of town to Evie's to feed the dogs and do his own chores.
Cheryl wasn't happy that he had left Christy in town, but understood that he didn't want to place her in more danger. Christy was happy to play in the cafe with Will Jr., the two of them wily little critters with large imaginations. Willie was enough younger that he was the perfect age to be bossed around by the precocious Christy. He played dolls, because that's what she wanted to play.
The afternoon Willie found enough backbone to refuse to be dressed up, harmony was shattered. Christy cried for an hour, cause that clunky boy wouldn't play right. She was off boys for the whole rest of the day.
Will stopped by to have a cup of coffee and collect the sulking Willie. It took three cookies apiece, before the children would reconcile their differences and be friends. Will's eyes twinkled with humor as he gazed at his son. It was easy to see the youngster was the light of his life. Will and Cassy were expecting their second child in four months, and Cassy was busy streamlining the workload at the hardware store. She was indoctrinating a couple of part time helpers in the Cassy method of hardware sales that afternoon, so Will volunteered to go get Willie.
Evie was happy to get her hands on Will, she had many questions and she valued his opinions. "So Will, what's your take on all of this?" she broke the ice with the question they were all dying to know.
Will rubbed his chin and began. "Ben has set out several theories that I agree with. Our sniper has gone to great lengths to get the FBI up here, and Wright was obviously one of his marks. Now Inghram, and there's a piece of work from what Ben tells me about him and his misuse of his oath, and Wright have to be tied together in some way." he drained his coffee mug and set it on the table.
Willie wanted up, and Will placed him on his knee. " We have an unknown shooter; Pete is dead, Tammy McCann is dead, Kevin is dead, Wright is dead. The shooter has had ample opportunity to take any one of us out, but had specific targets. Darned if I know the connection, but it's there and we're working on it. I mean Ben is taking charge," he amended hastily.
Clora poked Ben to pay attention and take his focus off Lainey and give it to the topic of conversation. Benny jumped like he had been rapped in the nose. "Whadda you do that for?" he rubbed his arm, thinking that his sister was a mean witch.
"Sheriff," Clora said sarcastically, "how good of you to join us. We were listening to Will explain his ideas about the problems we have been having. We want to know if you agree or not."
Benny looked at Clora, 'that was a mean trick," he countered evenly. Clora had the grace to drop her eyes and mumble "sorry."
The back door opened and Wayne walked in, flopping down in the chair next to Benny. He was dirty, covered in scratches and looked exhausted. He was idling scratching at the back of his left hand, as he looked around at the assembled group. "Hi, is it OK if I have a cookie?"
Evie said "sure, coffee or a glass of water?" She looked around and everyone seemed to be holding their breath, on pins and needles as to Wayne's reply.
"Water, I can get it." he scooted the chair back as he prepared to get up.
"Sit down," Evie ordered. "Where the heck have you been, you scared us by taking off like that." only Grandma could get away with bossing Wayne.
Wayne was busy scratching his hand, and he looked up and smiled as he took a huge bite of cookie. "I had to take a walkabout. I needed to go to the cabin and I stopped in to talk to Sandy. I sure have been feeling weird lately." he finished with his mouthful.
"Wayne, I'd like to know if you knew Pete was your father?" Evie said seriously, it wasn't a request and Wayne knew an order when he heard one.
The room was hushed as all ears strained to hear what the new brother knew of his background.
"Actually, no. Not in the beginning. There used to be a man come visit us when I was a kid, and I never knew his name. Mother never said anything about him. He never came around after I got 7 or so. Then Ma got real sick and died. The black hearted bastard that was my mother's brother took me in and you all know the rest. It took me a long time to realize that the high school graduation picture that Grandma has on her wall was the man that had come to the house. He had a thick beard and unruly hair then, kinda like a religious zealot or something. A real scary looking dude," Wayne stuffed in another cookie and did another scratch on his hand.
"So, did Wright tell you guy's anything different than that?" Wayne was curious.
As Wayne scratched, Benny attention was riveted on the small raised bump that Wayne was worrying on the back of his hand. A idea clicked in his mind and he used his thumb to press slightly on the lump.
"Hey don't, that damm thing itches like crazy," Wayne protested, trying to move his hand away from Ben's touch.
Benny held tightly to the fold of skin pinched above his fingers, he flicked open his knife and did a swift cut, Blood spurted and a pale off white kernel that looked like a grain of rice or a mint fell in the cookie plate.