Ken Douglas - Ragged Man

“ That man would move heaven and earth for J.P. He’ll hold the boat.”

“ And have him send the crew away. Just him and you on the boat. Nobody else. Will he do it?”

“ He’ll do it.”

“ Good. Now I need your car.”

“ I figured you would,” she said, getting out.

He got out too, met her halfway to the driver’s side and they embraced.

“ Be careful,” she said.

He kissed her briefly on the lips, “I’ll be careful.” He broke the embrace, climbed into the car and drove off. He saw her walking down the pier toward the boat in the rearview and smiled as she held her arm up high and waved. She knew he was looking.

He drove half a block down the street, then pulled over and parked. Making sure that nobody was looking, he fished into the bag and withdrew the thirty-eight. A quick inspection told him that Judy had reloaded. Then a strong feeling attacked, like an inner voice, and it was telling him that he needed a bigger gun.

He put the revolver back into the overnight bag, checked the rearview to make sure he was still unobserved, got out of the car and started down Seaview Avenue toward Jaspinder Singh’s Mini Market and Bait Shop.

So many questions. Why had his friends been murdered? Why had J.P. been kidnapped? How had he gotten away? What had he done to cause it all? And now, why had Judy kissed him like that, running her tongue along his scar and why had she called him Flash? He decided to put it all out of his mind and focus on the one thing he could do, and that was find the man who was responsible, and stop him.

“ Rick Gordon, I am truly glad to see you,” Jaspinder Singh said, the golden bells announcing Rick’s arrival as he entered the bait and convenience store.

“ I’m in a little trouble and I need a favor.”

“ The sheriff has been telling me about your troubles. They are really looking for you. But I am believing none of it.”

“ I was hoping I could count on you.”

“ If you could be counting on nobody else on this God-forsaken planet, you could be counting on me.”

“ You know why they’re looking for me?”

“ They think you are a murderer.”

“ I think the real murderer killed Ann and he’s going to come after me sometime today.”

“ How can I be helping?”

“ Six months ago you had a very big gun behind your cash register. Do you still have it?

Jaspinder Singh reached down to the shelf under the register and brought out an automatic pistol. He laid it on the counter in front of Rick.

“ Yeah, that’s a big gun.” Rick said.

“ It’s a Para Ordinance forty-five automatic, made in Canada. It carries five more rounds than the Colt, thirteen in the magazine, one in the chamber. It is fully loaded with Starfire PMC Eldorado hollow points for maximum penetration and expansion. They will stop anything short of an elephant.”

“ You keep a round chambered?”

“ And the safety off. When I am wanting to use it, I am wanting it ready. Take it.” He pushed the gun toward Rick.

Rick took it, clicked on the safety and shoved the gun between his Levi’s and his skin. His loose shirt easily concealed the weapon. Then he reached into his back pocket and withdrew the other packet of bills. “There’s ten thousand dollars here, if anything happens to me, I want you to use it to get Judy Donovan and J.P. as far away from here as possible.”

“ You are afraid that they will wind up like Mr. Donovan and his family?”

“ Yes.”

“ I will do as you ask.” Singh took the money.

“ Thank you, Mr. Singh.”

“ Good luck, Rick.” in their relationship, both professional and personal, it was the first time he had addressed him by his first name. “Oh, yes, this might be helping.” Singh reached back to the shelf under the register. “You might be needing an extra magazine.”

Rick took it and slipped it into the bag, then he stuck his hand out and Jaspinder Singh shook it.

“ If you don’t hear from me by this evening, get them out of town tomorrow.” Then he turned and opened the door, setting off the three golden bells as he left.

On his way back to the car, Rick cleared his mind of everything, but the moment. The sun was rising, changing from orange to yellow, and brightening the day. The soft breeze carrying the scent of the sea came in from the ocean and the gentle sound of lapping waves competed with the occasional passing car. Any other time he would have taken in the air and enjoyed the morning to its fullest, but today he tried to clear even the sunrise and ocean air from his mind.

And, as he forced everything out, he felt one thought sticking and he concentrated on it till it screamed and he knew where the big man was. He had come to Tampico to humiliate him one last time, before sticking in the knife, and the best place to find him was at home. The man with the gravel voice was most likely sitting in his living room, waiting to jump him as soon as he walked in the front door.

But before confronting the killer, he wanted to go up to Prospector’s Donkey Road and make sure J.P. was okay.

Five minutes later, he turned from Mountain Sea onto the dirt track, slowing the car when he left the pavement. He drove up and parked behind one of the two police cars and felt a pang in his chest when he saw they were both empty. There was no sign of the deputies or of J.P. He feared the worst.

With the forty-five auto in hand, he got out of Judy’s new SUV and started toward the path. He clicked the safety off and kept his finger on the trigger. He couldn’t help feeling like he was walking into an ambush.

He heard a rustling in the brush off to his left and stopped, pointing the gun in the general direction of the sound.

“ J.P., Lincoln, Jesse!” he called out. The rustling stopped. “It’s Rick Gordon.” He waited for a long twenty seconds and getting no answer, continued on toward Lover’s Hideaway.

A low growl stopped him in his tracks. He crouched low and waited. There was something out there. His mind raced back to the day Judy had been chased by the bear and how J.P. had insisted that he’d fired the revolver at the Ghost Dog, not a bear.

He waited a few more seconds and hearing no further sound, got up and continued. Then he tripped over something. He threw his hands out in front of himself to break his fall. He hit hard, twisting his arm, spraining his wrist and losing the pistol.

“ Damn!” He turned and started to get up and came face to face with Lincoln Hewett’s bloody head. “Shit!” He scrambled back.

The horrible head, eyes screaming wide, stared into the sky with an unfathomable fear frozen onto its face, daring Rick to go further, but he no choice, he had to know what had happened to J.P.

He looked around for the gun, trying not to look at Lincoln’s staring eyes. He couldn’t find it. He stepped back and saw why. It was lying next to the dead deputy’s head, with blood on the grip. When he dropped the gun it must have landed on the head and bounced off. He grit his teeth, picked it up, wiped the blood off on his Levi’s.

He was stepping around the head when he heard the low growl. Something was on the path behind him. He turned and pointed the gun down the path, but there was nothing there except silence.

He turned back toward Lover’s Hideaway, moving as quickly as possible, rapid heartbeat, tense nerves and clammy skin betraying his fear. When he plunged into the clearing, his horror at the bloody sight sent him reeling backwards and he had to fight to keep from running away.

He turned away from Lincoln’s headless body. He didn’t need to inspect it to know he had been maimed and killed by a big animal. He picked up a khaki shirt and dropped it. He saw Jesse Terrenova’s automatic and picked it up. It was empty. He tossed it aside, and with pain in his heart, he saw J.P.’s Levi’s and the striped shirt that he’d been wearing yesterday.