P Deutermann - Spider mountain

“You write up something to send in?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“I did,” she said. “Between naps. It’s over there in that pile of stuff. You mail yours?”

“FedEx overnight to the Stick People down in Charlotte,” I said. “Baby here thinks it’s actually going to stir up some shit.”

“Like the subtle message you sent along with Bigger John this morning did?” she said.

“Somebody get upset?”

“Sheriff Hayes has apparently disappeared.”

“Disappeared?”

“Deputy John came back by this afternoon. Said Hayes left his badge and a letter of resignation on his desk, citing personal reasons.”

“Did Deputy John confirm he’d given him my message?”

“He did. Said the sheriff got a funny look on his face, closed his door, and made a long phone call. Then he came out, told his secretary he had an urgent meeting, took his cruiser out of the sheriff’s office lot, and drove away. She didn’t find the resignation letter for another hour, by which time he was long gone. No sign of him since. No radio contact. No nothing. And he kept his weapon.”

“And what was this little love note you sent the sheriff?” Baby asked. I’d neglected to tell him that part earlier, and when he heard it, he whistled. “That old boy may be sucking on his Glock as we speak,” he said.

“If he’s been involved in a scheme to sterilize young girls and then sell them to Arab potentates, that’s the least he could do,” I said.

“Or,” Carrie said, “that really was an argument we were watching, and now Hayes has gone to settle something with Mingo.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. He may have been operating under the assumption that impoverished young women in Robbins County were getting abortions and Mingo was the gatekeeper, using a moonlighter at the Carrigan County hospital. Once you told your story about seeing Grinny handing over a child, and then talking about kids and airports, well, that may have been an epiphany for Mr. Do-nothing Hayes.”

“That would explain the way he turned as hostile as he did,” I said. “Up to that point it was him and us against the face of evil in Robbins County. Then all of sudden it was Get out of my county.”

“Whatever, they can’t find him, and they’re worried.”

“Did you tell John that you were coming here?” I asked.

She said no. “I told him I was checking out this afternoon and let him draw his own conclusions. He does have my cell number. Oh, and he said that Laurie May had been moved before her boys went to war and the Creighs burned her cabin down. One of the other brothers came and got her. She’s alive and well over in Tennessee at his place. There were two old dogs that did not get out.”

“You know what?” Baby said, getting up. “You guys are starting to scare me. I’m going to go back to the relative safety of chasing down homicidal druggies.”

“Okay if we camp out here for a while?” Carrie asked him.

“Oh, hell, yes,” he said. “We’re not using it, and after what I’ve heard tonight, none of us peace-loving narcs are going to get anywhere near this or the neighboring county. If the Park Service rumbles it, you’re on your own, though.”

“Can you help with that report I sent in to the Bureau?” I asked. “Like maybe call someone down there, tell them to be looking for it?”

He nodded. “Yeah, sure,” he said. “I can give the ASAC a heads-up. But he’ll invite me to butt-outsky, and for once, I’m going to oblige with a smile. You two really ought to take a vacation and wait for the heavies to get into this.”

We both looked at him and he shook his head, knowing that probably wasn’t going to happen. “All right, at least keep your cell phones on, then,” he said, as he slipped into his windbreaker and headed for the door. He stopped before opening it. “No way I can talk you out of this crusade?” he said. “Either of you?”

“They’re selling children, for Chrissakes,” Carrie said.

He looked like he was going to argue with her, but then waved and left.

Carried stared at the closed front door. “What’s the matter with that guy?” she asked in visible exasperation.

“Baby doesn’t think very highly of the people up here,” I said. “He acts like this isn’t the worst thing he’s seen some of these people do.”

She sat down and rubbed her head. “That getting better?” I asked.

“It’s itching,” she said. “That’s supposed to be a sign of healing. I think this scotch is helping a lot.”

“Better go easy,” I said. “Remember your seven days of pills.”

“You just don’t want to share,” she said.

“That, too,” I said. “Let’s see if this fireplace works. Maybe fool around a little?”

She gave me one of those you-gotta-be-shitting-me looks. I’d seen those before. I grinned at her. I went to get some firewood and water the shepherds. At least the cabin could be warm.

I got a fire going. It really wasn’t all that cold outside, but the fire was nice, just the same. I pulled up a chair and sat down, ready to just watch the fire burn. Carrie was doing something behind me, so I sort of zoned out.

Then she handed me a wee dram and sat down on the floor, her shoulders between my legs. She rested her head back on my lap. The ugly scar was right there, but somehow, it seemed like an intimacy I wasn’t supposed to see. I put my hands on her temples and pressed gently in a massaging circle. She made an appreciative noise.

That’s how we fell asleep. It wasn’t about sex. It was all about being close, sharing affection, trust, togetherness against the night outside and the terrible world of the mountain Creighs. I was disappointed with Baby Greenberg. All he could offer was a repeat of the Greek chorus we’d been hearing from everyone else: Go away.

We spent the next morning going through her version of the report to make sure it generally correlated with what I had said. We didn’t want them to be identical, but we didn’t want to leave any big discrepancies through which work-averse civil serpents could slither out, either. We kicked around several ideas for going after Grinny Creigh amp; Co., but none of them sounded like a winner. Just after noon, however, Carrie got a call on her cell from Bigger John. It seemed that Sheriff Hayes had contacted him and wanted a meet with Carrie at the Hayes family home place up in the mountains above Marionburg. She said she’d do it as long as both John and Luke came along. John relayed that stipulation, and Hayes apparently agreed to that. She said she’d meet John in town at four that afternoon.

I asked her if she wanted me to come along, too. She did, but not actually with her and the two deputies. “How’s about you play backup?” she said. “Follow us up there but stay out of sight. If we get into trouble, you ride to the rescue and cover yourself in glory.”

“You don’t mean try to tail you on a mountain road, do you?” I asked. I still remembered her version of a casual night drive in the mountains.

“No; you drive too slow. I’ll tell the brothers Big that you’ll be in the back-field. I trust them. I’ll keep you advised of what we’re doing and where we are, and maybe you can even get a tactical observation spot on us when we meet with Hayes.”

“Hopefully it’s just Hayes,” I said.

“Either way, it would be good to know you’re out there, and Hayes, of course, doesn’t have to know you’re there unless things get tense.”

“You know, you don’t really have the authority to deal with Hayes,” I said. “I mean, suppose he cops to being involved in this kid thing-it’s not like you can bring him in, or make any promises.”