Jeff Carson: Foreign Deceit

“Hey Willy! How you doin’?”

“Good. Hi Dave,” he said. “ What are you doing here?”

“I came to mooch your food and talk to your dad.”

“Hey Davey.” Brooke entered the kitchen and squeezed his arm. “What’s up?”

“Not much. Hey.” Wolf gave her a hug.

A two kid hurricane blew into the kitchen straight into them.

“Kids! Chill out!” Brooke stumbled sideways.

“Hey Dave!”

“Hey Dave!”

“Hey Joey, hey Brian.”

They sat down at the large kitchen table and dug into their plates. Wolf put on an act of normalcy the best he could. He always enjoyed spending time with their family, but as always, it was also a painful reminder of the alternate reality he was so close to having, but didn’t.

“What’s up Dave?” Brooke studied him. “I hear Sarah’s back?”

“Ah, yeah. She is. I’ll let Nate tell you all about it a little later.” He turned to the kids, “You guys like being back in school?”

“Nooooooooo!” They all answered at the same time.

“Whoa! Easy! What? Isn’t it fun? All I hear from Jack is how fun it is. He says that he and Brian here have a blast — studying hard, doing all their homework, never talking in class, being model students for everyone else.”

Brian was blushing and forking his eggs with concentration. “Jack did not say that.”

Wolf looked to the ceiling with a dumb look. “Oh, yeah. Wait… nobody said that. Ever.”

The kids laughed loud and Wolf gave a knowing look to Nate. Brooke shot him a scolding glance.

When they finished, Nate set down his napkin, stood up and looked at Wolf. “Hey let’s head outside.”

Wolf said his goodbyes and stay-out-of-troubles, and they went to the dirt driveway. Wolf reached into his truck and put in a pinch of snuff in his lip. Nate snapped his fingers and Wolf threw the can his way without looking. He caught it and turned his back to the house, taking a pinch.

Birds chirped and a lone crow cawed in the trees somewhere in the distance, beyond the blinding mist that hung feet from the ground.

Wolf exhaled hard. “John’s dead.”

“What?” Nate stepped forward and hugged him before an answer came. Wolf just stood with his arms limp at his sides for a few seconds, then returned the hug. He shuddered a few times with deep sobs, letting all his emotion out in a five second burst. He peeled away from Nate and composed himself with a steely determination.

“What happened?” Nate was wide eyed.

“We got a call yesterday from Italy telling us they found his body. He had apparently hanged himself in his apartment.”

“Jesus…buddy, I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, we’re pretty shaken up. I just wanted to ask you a few favors in the next week or so.”

“Of course. Whatever you need.”

“I’m leaving town today, heading over to Italy. The thing is, as you know, Sarah is back on the scene as of a few days ago. She’s at Jack’s grandparents. Keep an eye on Jack. When he’s over here with Brian, ask him how things are going.” Wolf spit onto the gravel driveway. “There’s a guy hanging out over there. In fact, just keep an eye on things over there first hand, please. There’s no reason to think this time in rehab would be any different from before, and who knows what kind of guy this is hanging out with her.”

“I’ll kill anyone who lays a finger on your boy.” Nate’s chin was out, looking Wolf in the eye.

“All right.” Wolf returned the steely look, then broke into a smile. “Easy Turbo…just beat the living piss out of him if need be. No sense making my job any harder. I don’t want to be pretending I don’t know there are dead bodies in your back yard.” He laughed hard, a flood of emotions pouring out again. “Also, keep an eye on my mom too if you wouldn’t mind. I’ve left a note for Gary, too. But, he could be angry with me about something that happened yesterday.”

Nate furrowed his brow. “What do you mean? What happened yesterday?”

“I had to head-butt Derek in the nose. And then some.”

“Huh.” Nate’s expression was dead pan. “Okay. Yeah, that might be strange. But I’m sure he deserved it, right?”

“Yeah. He deserved it.” Wolf shook his head. “In fact, be careful around that guy.”

Nate furrowed his brow and nodded his head.

Wolf got in his truck and rolled down the window, “Thanks man. I’ll be in touch. You ever been to Italy?”

“Yeah one summer in college.”

“Any tips?”

“Ummmm, yeah, the Peroni beer is good? The pizza is good? What are you doing? Are you going to bring him back? Get all his stuff?”

“Yep.” Wolf looked out into the thinning mist. “And to find whoever killed my brother.”

Wolf drove back into town from Nate’s, straight into the low morning sun on the dusty road. His breathe skipped as he thought about his next and final stop — the station.

He parked in the south station lot and went through the front entrance.

Vickie sat still behind the reception glass looking down at an open file. She raised her eyebrows over her red plastic frames and smirked. “Sergeant Wolf. You have been a naughty boy I hear.” Her voice was conspiratorial.

Wolf rolled his eyes and scanned his card to enter.

The loud chatter in the Squad Room was snuffed to silence with the clack of the door shutting behind him. Every officer in the room looked in his direction, then awkwardly to files, or computer screens, or a dirty fingernail.

Wolf stood still and scanned the room. With relief, he didn’t see Connell. He would be just fine if he didn’t see him all morning.

Sheriff Burton looked up disappointedly, then stood from his desk and looked out the window of his small office. “I don’t know what the hell happened between you two yesterday, and I don’t think I want to know. But keep yourself under control. Play nice with Derek if you see him this morning. In fact, you need to play nice for the rest of your career here, alright?”

Whether or not that was an admission that Wolf had the job, he still couldn’t tell.

Burton plopped back in the seat.

Wolf knew the Sheriff’s old bones were ready to call it quits. He didn’t need any of this so late in the game. Wolf felt a twang of shame.

Sheriff Burton held out his hands. “Well? You wanna tell me what happened?” He leaned forward on his elbows with wide eyes.

Wolf looked behind the Sheriff, out the window at the Rocky Peaks Ski Resort in the distance. He focused back on Burton, and shook his head.

Burton sat back, wheezing through his walrus mustache and crossed his legs. A faint satisfaction gleaned in his eyes. “I hope this little scuffle between you two doesn’t hurt your chances with the town council.”

“Me neither sir.” A heavy silence sat between them for a beat.

“And now you have to go?”

“I need to go over there to get John.”

Burton put his elbows back on the desk and buried his face in his hands for a second. “I was so sorry to hear about your brother son.” He had a look of deep sorrow. “If you need anything, keep in touch. I don’t see how my old ass could help, but if you need anything, just holler. I’ll try to keep you in good standing with the town council while you are gone, but…it would be much easier if you were here.”

“I know sir. But something isn’t right about his death. I don’t think my brother killed himself. Or if he did, I need to be the one who tells myself he did. Not a stranger halfway around the world. I can’t take anyone’s word on something this big.”

Burton stared back blinking. “Keep out of trouble.”

“I will. Thank you sir.”