Give Em Pumpkin To Talk About (Pumpkin Patch Mysteries Book 1) (15 page)

“Whoever it was tried to kill you.” Her hands were freezing from the cold water. “Hold this. I’ll check on the other guy.”

“Be careful,” he whispered. “Just because he’s not moving doesn’t mean he’s not dangerous.”

She got up and found a rough piece of wood on the floor. She wasn’t sure if she could swing it hard enough to stop someone from killing her, but the man on the other side of the room was still not moving. The gun was between them. She could pick it up on the way.

Half crouching as she went toward him, her steps were light and careful. If he was unconscious, she didn’t want to wake him. If it was some gold hunter who thought he could take on Jack, he’d make mincemeat out of her.

“Sarah.” Jack’s tone was a warning.

She put her hand on the gun and picked it up. “I’ve got it. I’m not sure what to do with it. It’s so big.”

“You use it just like any other gun,” he recommended. “Bring it to me.”

“He’s right here. I might as well see who it is. I’ve got the gun. He doesn’t know I don’t know how to shoot it.”

“Except that you just told him.”

Sarah glanced back at Jack for an instant before moving toward the other man on the floor. She nudged him with the end of the rifle.

“Who is it?”

“I’m not sure. I think he’s badly hurt. But I can’t see his face.”

Jack got up slowly and put his hands against the other man’s throat. The dim light barely illuminated Leland Drake’s open eyes. “He’s gone.”

“Leland?” Sarah asked. “Why would he be out here?”

“Let me see that rifle.” He took it from her and examined it. “That’s what I thought.”

“What?”

“It’s a Ruger 357. Probably the same gun that killed George Burris.”

“So Leland killed George?”

“I seriously doubt it. But it looks like someone wants people to think I did.”

“That’s crazy! You—”

She’d barely spoken the words when a dozen sheriff’s deputies stormed in through the open barn door. Large flashlight beams played over Jack, Sarah, and Leland.

“Are you all right, Ms. Tucker?” one of the deputies asked.

Sarah recognized him from the investigation into George’s death. “I’m fine. I’m so glad you’re here. Leland Drake is dead.”

“We know,” he said. “We got a tip. Sheriff Morgan is on his way. Just come toward us. You’ll be okay.”

“But I—”

“Go on, Sarah,” Jack said.

She suddenly understood what the deputy was saying. “Oh. No—you have it wrong. Jack isn’t trying to hurt me. When I got here, he was unconscious too. I think Leland tried to kill him.”

“Please come this way, Ms. Tucker.” The deputy put out his hand to guide her but never lowered his gun from Jack’s face. “We’ll settle this when we know you’re safe.”

“It’s okay,” Jack said quietly. “Go with him. You’ll be fine.”

“They think you killed Leland,” she explained as though he was a child who didn’t understand. “You’re hurt. You need to go to the hospital.”

“I’m fine,” he said. “Please just go with him, and we’ll sort it out when the sheriff gets here.”

“All right.” She finally gave up and defiantly marched across the room to the line of deputies. “But if he dies, I’m going to bring a criminal lawsuit against all of you!”

Jack put down the rifle and held his hands in the air.

“Lie down on the floor,” the deputy ordered. “Put your hands behind your back.”

Sheriff Morgan seemed to come out of nowhere. “What a mess! What happened here?”

“What did your tipster tell you?” Jack responded as the deputy cuffed him.

“Someone called and said that he heard gunfire back here after seeing you and Leland arguing down by the road.” Sheriff Morgan put his hands on his narrow hips. “Is that true?”

“No, it’s not true,” Sarah said. “Leland attacked Jack. They were both out cold when I got here.”

“Except Leland is dead.” The sheriff crouched beside the man’s body.

“Jack needs an ambulance,” she repeated. “Look at his head.”

The sheriff glanced at the deep gash on Jack’s head as the deputy helped him to his feet.

“Yeah, I think that probably needs looking at. We’ll take care of it, Ms. Tucker. Don’t you worry.”

She got in front of the deputy who was starting to lead Jack out of the barn. “I am worried about it. Jack didn’t kill Leland. I can’t believe you think he did.”

Sheriff Morgan nodded. “Believe me, we’ll give him every benefit of the doubt, but right now I gotta tell you—it’s not looking good.”

“It’s okay,” Jack told her. “You have to let the process work. I shouldn’t have to tell you that.”

Sarah still wasn’t happy with the idea that they were arresting the wrong man. She walked out of the barn with them as they headed toward several cars—lights flashing—and put Jack in the backseat of one of them.

Kathy drove up, braking fast as she left her pickup in the street and ran to where Sarah was standing. “What happened? I heard on the police scanner that someone else was killed here.”

“Leland Drake,” Sarah told her. “And they’re arresting Jack for it.”

“What? Why?”

“We’re going to need a bail bondsman.”

“I know somebody. Ben has a brother that does that work. Want me to give him a call?”

“Yes, please. Tell him I’ll meet him at the county jail. Thanks, Kathy.”

Sarah ran to her car. Jack wasn’t staying in custody one minute longer than was necessary.

“Hey!” Kathy called. “You want me to go with you?”

“It’s okay. I know how to handle this.”

Thinking carefully about her next actions, Sarah drove quickly through the night back to her hotel room to change clothes and then on to get Jack out of jail.

She believed his story and knew she could help him. The situation was continuing to escalate, drawing her in deeper. First George’s death—now Leland’s. She wasn’t going to be able to sell the land on Monday, but she also couldn’t go home.

The sheriff’s office was next to the county jail. The office was busy, but the jail looked quiet and dark. Sarah walked up the sidewalk to the sheriff’s office, hoping Jack hadn’t been transferred next door as yet. The chances were good that it would take longer to process him. He might not get a bail hearing until the next day—unless she pushed the matter.

Sarah had done similar things for one of Clare’s sons who had a habit of getting into trouble. It was her job to make sure he was taken care of before the press figured out what was going on. The charges were never anything like murder. Once he’d taken someone’s car out joy riding, and another time he’d been caught trespassing at a new business in Richmond that he thought shouldn’t be there.

Of course Clare had a PR person who smoothed everything over as Sarah worked behind the scenes. She was on her own with Jack.

She asked for Sheriff Morgan at the front desk. The deputy went to get him. When the sheriff showed up, he ushered her back to a small office.

“What can I do for you, Ms. Tucker?”

“I want to speak to my client.” She had a white-knuckled death-grip on her handbag. This was personal. She didn’t want to let Jack down. But that made her nervous in a way that she never was when it was for someone else’s benefit.

“Why are you here? It hasn’t been that long that you thought Jack might’ve killed your grandparents and George. Now you’re all hopped up to get him out of jail. Why the turn around?”

“I don’t have to tell you that, Sheriff Morgan. Where’s Jack?”

“You don’t even know his last name, do you?”

Sarah raised her head and stuck out her chin defiantly. “I will as soon as you show me the arrest warrant.”

He shook his head. “All right. If you say he’s your client, he’s your client.”

She relaxed a little. “Let me ask you why you suddenly think Jack is guilty of killing someone. All this time you were sure he’d never do such a thing.”

 “I have to admit that I wouldn’t have thought it, but Jack might be getting desperate. First it was the treasure hunters, and now you’re selling the land for the Blue Way project. He’s seeing his home ripped away from him. He has nowhere to go and nothing to do. He might be willing to kill to prevent the sale from happening. I know he hired Trent to slow you down.”

“Seriously?” She stared at him. “If Jack wanted to keep anything from happening to the land, all he had to do was kill me. Why take the circle route when he could weed out the problem at the root?”

He sipped coffee from his cup. “Don’t think I haven’t asked myself the same question. Maybe he thought killing you would be too obvious. But if enough bad stuff happened surrounding the sale, you might go away and forget the place is here for another twenty years.”

“And what did the caller say who tipped you that Jack and Leland were fighting in the driveway?”

He got to his feet and towered over her. “I don’t have to share that information right now. That will be up to the DA. But when someone tells us two men are fighting, and we come out to find one man dead and the other standing over him with the murder weapon in his hands, that makes a compelling argument.”

 “You’re wrong,” she argued. “Where’s Jack?”

“You’re sure you want to go through with this?”

Sarah got to her feet and fixed him with one of her most intimidating stares. “Right now.”

Chapter Fifteen

The sheriff shrugged and told her to wait where she was. A few minutes later, Ron and the deputy who’d been at the barn, led Jack into the room and cuffed him to the table.

“I’m sorry about this,” Ron muttered. “I hope we can still have lunch.”

She told him that was fine, barely hearing what he said. When he was gone and the door had closed behind him, she faced her client across the table.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he said.

“Neither should you. Do you remember anything about what happened at the barn?”

“I don’t need a lawyer.”

“Too bad. You’ve already got one.” She repeated her question.

“I told you what I remember. I can handle this. Maybe you should talk to Mace. I think he has a few other buyers waiting in the wings. You don’t want to lose another day without a sale.”

“Why are you acting this way? These are serious charges, and for some reason, the sheriff isn’t on your side anymore. Let’s start from the beginning and figure out what really happened.”

He wouldn’t make eye contact. “You can’t help me.”

She wanted to grab him and shake him. “Yes, I can. I do things like this all the time. I’ll get you out on bond, and we can decide what to do from there.”

“No. Don’t do anything else that might come back on you.” Jack frowned. “I don’t need you. Go back to Richmond.”

“Why are you doing this? Let me help.”

“No.” He called for the deputy, who was standing outside the door. “I’m ready to go back.”

Sarah watched him leave. What was wrong with him? A sane person in his position should be thrilled to have representation. She walked out behind him and located the sheriff.

“You haven’t done anything for that gash in his head yet. I don’t know if he’s said something to you, but I plan to file a legal document that he was incapacitated and didn’t know what he was saying when you found him at the barn.”

Sheriff Morgan leaned back in his chair and chuckled. “Can’t take rejection, huh? Yeah. He told me he didn’t want to see you. I can’t think why. What have you two been doing out there that made you come in here guns blazing and Jack didn’t want to see your face?”

“Just take care of him,” she warned. “You know he’s not guilty of killing Leland.”

“Do I?”

“I think you do. I’ve listened to your impassioned ‘Jack is a good guy’ talks the last few days. I understand that you can’t ignore the evidence at this point, but we both know he didn’t do it.”

“You should go on back to your hotel and get some sleep. What were you doing out there anyway?”

“None of your business. I’ll be back in the morning.”

Sarah heard him laughing as she walked out the door.

Kathy was waiting outside with Ben and his brother. Sarah told the rough-looking bail bondsman what her limits were for cash bail and that she would put up her property, if necessary, to get Jack out of jail.

Ben’s brother had her sign some forms. She gave him her information, and he told her he’d be in touch as soon as he heard about the bond hearing.

“How’s Jack doing?” Kathy asked after Ben and his brother had left.

“You know any place around here to get a decent cup of coffee?” Sarah yawned. “I think it’s going to be a long night.”

The two women ended up at a diner not far from the sheriff’s office. There were several off-duty deputies enjoying homemade cinnamon rolls and coffee when they walked in. One of them was the deputy who’d arrested Jack. He nodded when he saw Sarah. She looked away.

The waitress put the women at a booth that faced the highway. They talked about what Sarah knew about Leland’s death and Jack’s arrest.

“Somebody is setting him up,” Kathy said after their coffee had arrived. She also asked for a piece of lemon meringue pie that had been in a glass case on the counter. “Are you sure you don’t want something to eat?”

“I can’t even think about eating right now.”

“Because it’s so early in the morning or because Jack is in trouble?”

“Both.” Sarah shook her head. “I barely know Jack. Like the sheriff said—I don’t even know his last name. I assume he has one.”

Kathy shrugged as she dug into her pie. “I’ve never heard it. Everybody calls him Jack. But I’m sure you’re right. I guess you’ll know everything about him if you bail him out. Are you really going to do it?”

“I can’t let him stay in there. Who knows when the trial will come up? He doesn’t want me to represent him, but I don’t care.”

“That’s just pride talking,” Kathy said. “He feels stupid that you have to help him. I think he likes being all secretive and everything. That’s why he had the beard and wears the old rags. Except with you—care to guess why he changed his appearance?”

“No.” Sarah sighed, thinking about the feelings that had brought her out in the middle of the night to talk to him. “He’s going to be my client. I’m only supposed to find ways to prove he’s innocent. Nothing else matters.”