Next of Kin (20 page)

He heard both of the old truck’s doors open and close, but he didn’t look up. A gust of wind lifted the corner of the map. He let it catch just enough that the map almost took flight right in front of Coors Lite, who grabbed it out of midair.

“Son of a gun,” Moe said. “Good catch.”

Coors Lite eyed him curiously. “You ain’t from around here,” he said.

Twin sidled up on the other side of Moe. All of a sudden it occurred to Moe that he could also be viewed as a prime target to rob. It was time to be proactive, not wait and see what happened next.

“No, I’m not, but I’m damned tired of looking for places that aren’t on this map.”

“Whatcha’ lookin’ for?” Twin asked.

“Rebel Ridge.” Moe sensed the men looking at each other, but he kept his gaze on the map. “I’m on a deadline. No time to waste. I’ve got a hundred dollars for anyone who can tell me how to get there, and another hundred for directions to find any family related to Sam Venable.”

“Sam’s dead,” Coors Lite said.

“I know that,” Moe said.

He folded up the map and took a step back until he was looking at both men face-to-face. Their indecision was obvious. Their greed, coupled with their need for cash, was overriding whatever inhibitions they might have had about informing on one of their own to a stranger. He knew the moment they looked around to see who was watching that he had them.

Coors Lite swiped his nose with the back of his hand, then casually wiped his hand on the leg of his jeans. “Make it three hundred and I’ll lead you straight up the mountain they call Rebel Ridge. I ain’t gonna introduce you to none of the Venables, but I’ll give you a wave as we pass where one of them lives.”

“Who?” Moe asked.

“James Walker. But his wife’s a Venable. That’s the best I’ll do.”

Walker. The other family name! Moe felt as if he’d hit the jackpot. “That’ll do. You show me the place, and I’ll take it from there.” He pulled out four one-hundred-dollar bills and handed them over. “Gave you a little something extra to keep this between us,” he added.

Coors Lite grabbed the money, then headed for his truck, with Twin right behind them. Their need to drown their troubles had just been overridden by the sudden windfall. It was time to make tracks before someone saw them talking to the stranger and put two and two together later, when they started flashing money. Even though they didn’t know why the man was looking for Venables, if it turned out bad, they didn’t want to be named as the ones who’d ratted the family out.

Moe got back in the car and followed the twins nearly five miles out of town before the men took a sudden turn off the highway and up a tree-lined blacktop that was barely wide enough for two cars to meet and pass.

He kept an eye on the miles, hoping they weren’t driving him into some out-of-the-way place so they could jump him for the money he had left. But to his relief, just after they’d passed the sixth mile, Coors Lite stuck his arm out the window and waved and pointed, then sped off in a cloud of dust.

It was only after Moe braked that he noticed another road leading off into the woods, even narrower than the one he was on. He could just see the peak of a rooftop through the trees. He drove a little farther on until he found a spot to turn around, then headed back down the mountain. Earlier he’d noticed a cut in the undergrowth that might be wide enough to hide a car in and had marked the mileage in his mind. All he had to do was come back after dark, get to the Walker house on foot, plant tracking devices in the family cars and see where they went. It wasn’t much, but short of taking someone hostage and beating the information out of them, which wasn’t his style, there wasn’t anything more he could do.

James had finished his mail route before noon and had been working his tobacco patch all afternoon. He was bone-tired and dirty as he headed toward the house. He still had the cow to milk and the hogs to feed, and he’d promised Julie he would put the kids to bed so she could go to a baby shower at their church, which was only a couple of miles up the road from the house.

Less than a mile from home, his cell phone rang. When he saw it was Ryal, he pulled over onto the side of the road to answer.

“Hey, Ryal, how’s it going?”

“We’re okay. I was wondering if you had time to make a grocery run for us tomorrow. If you’re busy, I can leave Beth here with Quinn and do it myself.”

“No. I can do that,” James said, scrambling for a pen and some paper. “Tell me what you need.”

Ryal went down the list, then paused. “Are you going to shop in Boone’s Gap or Mount Sterling? You can’t always find everything in Boone’s Gap.”

“Probably Mount Sterling. Julie needs some stuff for the baby that we can’t get here.”

“Do you have enough money left from what I gave you? If you don’t, just say so and I’ll cull the list.”

“No, we’re good. I’ll bring it up tomorrow afternoon. Okay?”

“Yes, it’s definitely okay, and thank you.”

“Come on, Ryal. We’ve been through this already. No thanks necessary. Family is family.” Then he heard Ryal clear his throat. “What? What’s happening that I don’t know?”

“About that family thing, Beth and I are—”

James chuckled. “Well hell, brother. I already saw that coming. Besides, I married a Venable, too, you know. Even if she’s from Mount Sterling, she’s still kin to the rest of them. So tell me something I don’t know.”

“Quinn. All this preparation for a possible attack has put him right back into soldier mode. He isn’t sleeping on a regular basis. Some mornings I don’t see him at all. He’s pushing himself past the limit of his endurance and argues when I suggest he cut himself some slack.”

James’s smile died. He loved and worried about Quinn as much as the rest of the family, but because he was the closest in age to Quinn, he knew him better than most.

“There’s one thing we’ve always had to accept about Quinn that I think you’re forgetting. He doesn’t share his feelings. He doesn’t show weakness. He doesn’t quit. It’s part of why he was a good soldier. It’s also part of why he’s struggling with the trauma of what he’s seen. He’ll be all right in the long run, because he’s a strong man, and because he’s not alone. We won’t let him be.”

Part of Ryal’s worry lifted. “You’re right. I guess I’m feeling guilty because I’m the one who told Lou Venable we’d help, and I did that without thinking about Quinn first.”

“Shoot, Ryal. This is Beth, your Beth, we’re talking about. You were thinking with your heart, and that’s how a good man walks through life.”

Another weight lifted off Ryal’s shoulders. “Thank you, James. Sometimes I forget that you
are
more than the family clown.”

James grinned. “Anything else you need? Otherwise I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“No, that will do. See you soon.”

They hung up.

James put the car in gear and went home, while Ryal dropped his phone back in his pocket and headed into the house.

By the time it was dark, Moe was back up the mountain, his car concealed in the place he’d found earlier in the day, and on foot heading upward toward James Walker’s home. He was wearing a backpack and carrying a flashlight, although he was careful not to use it too often for fear someone would see the light in the darkness.

He was carrying a sack with five pounds of uncooked ground beef and a large branch he would use as a club, just in case he ran into one of the four-footed denizens who dwelled up here. He’d used Google to find the number of animals he could possibly encounter in this part of the state and was not all that thrilled with the options. He couldn’t decide which would be worse: cougars, wild hogs or skunks.

He’d heard dogs soon after he’d gotten out of the car and hoped he had enough meat to shift their attention from him to the food. He paused to listen and heard the sound of a car engine coming nearer. Someone was driving by out on the road. Even though he was several yards away in the deep woods, he stopped and crouched down, not wanting to get caught in the headlights. He waited until the car passed before he stood. Just as he started to take a step, he heard rustling in the leaves beneath his feet, flashed the light down and then stifled a scream as a snake slithered past.

“Son of a bitch,” he gasped, and then hastened his steps. The sooner he got this job done, the sooner he could get down off this godforsaken mountain.

A short time later he saw a light through the trees and knew he was near the house. He stopped to listen but heard nothing to tell him one way or another if the family owned dogs, but he was guessing they did. Kids and dogs seemed to be everywhere here.

He kept moving until he found himself standing in the tree line of the clearing surrounding the house. He could see lights on in the back of the house and only one vehicle—a dark, older-model truck parked near the porch. By accident he was upwind, but he didn’t see any dogs, though he knew that didn’t mean a thing. Readying the meat just in case, he slipped through the darkness.

As he got closer to the house, he could see movement back and forth behind the curtained windows in the rear, although the front of the property was dark and quiet. When he was within a few yards of the truck, he ran, then ducked down behind it and slipped off the backpack.

He’d packed what he needed in an exterior pocket for easy access and quickly pulled it out. In less than a minute he’d put a tracking device up underneath the back fender, and then a second one right beside it, just in case one became dislodged due to the rough roads.

Just as he was finishing up, he heard a dog begin baying from inside the house, so he grabbed up his backpack and ran for the trees. As soon as he hit the tree line, he dumped the meat and kept running. If they let the dog out, he was hoping it would follow his scent to the meat and then stop. That would give him enough time to get back to his car and get away.

When Julie was gone, James always let Big Red, the family dog, into the house to keep one of the kids occupied while he bathed the other, but also because they adored the old hound and were happiest if he was at their feet as they played.

He was helping his daughter out of the bathtub and drying her off when Big Red suddenly bounded up from the threshold where he’d been lying and let out a sharp bark. James frowned. He’d just put the baby down and hoped the noise wouldn’t get him to crying.

“Daddy, why is Big Red a’barkin’?”

“I don’t know, sugar. Probably some varmint prowling around outside. Hang on a minute while I let him out.”

He set her down on her feet and followed the dog through the house to the front door.

“What’s out there, Red? What do you hear?” he asked, as he reached for the knob.

The dog woofed softly, and when James opened the door, Red bounded outside as if he’d been catapulted.

James looked out into the darkness but didn’t see anything obvious. He shut the door and hurried back to the bathroom, where he’d left his daughter. Without giving the incident another thought, he put her to bed and then sat down on the side of the mattress and began reading her favorite story. This time he paid close attention to Beth’s illustrations, marveling that someone he knew was responsible for the charm of the hitchhiker ladybug and all her adventures.

The dog had immediately picked up Moe’s scent and shot off across the clearing, barking as he went.