Overkill(96)

She peered around the sheriff in order to keep Zach in sight. He was still on the phone, pinching the bridge of his nose as he concentrated on what he was being told. When the sheriff turned to see what she was looking at, she said, “He had an emergency call.”

“Morris told me.”

The paramedic was swabbing her knee with antiseptic that stung. “Do you need oxygen?” the young woman asked.

“No. I’ll catch my breath in a minute or two.”

Her blood pressure was taken. When satisfied that she wasn’t suffering from anything except fatigue, the young woman left her alone with Sheriff Meeker. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Ms. Lennon,” he said. “All good. I regret we’re meeting under these circumstances.”

She nodded absently, her attention focused on Zach, who was now walking toward them. Looking at Kate, he gave a solemn shake of his head. “The infection has ramped up. Doug wants to keep her on the antibiotics. Wait and see. Maybe increase the dosage. Dr. Gilbreath needed my input.”

Kate reached for his hand. “What did you tell her?”

“To hold steady until I can get down there. I need to go first thing tomorrow.”

The sheriff said, “If that’s the case, I’ll free you up from here as soon as I can. Morris briefed me on what you told him happened. Crime scene unit is still in there conducting their investigation. They’ll be questioning y’all separately.” He looked down at their clasped hands. “I’m sure you appreciate why procedure is important, Ms. Lennon.”

“Of course.”

“Using their driver’s licenses, we identified the casualties as Theodore Simpson and Calvin Parsons. Whose twenty-two pistol?”

“Parsons brought it,” Zach said.

“Figured it belonged to one of them. I sort of pieced together why they wouldn’t take kindly to you,” he said to Kate. “But Morris said you told him they’d come up here to confess.”

“To perjury. They lied at Eban Clarke’s trial. Since then, both had undergone a change of heart.”

“Clarke killed them before they could recant their story.”

Answering with a soft yes, Kate hugged her elbows and glanced toward the house. “Are they still in there?”

“The coroner is examining the one,” Meeker said. “The other, we got down the mountain as quickly as we could. Still don’t know if he’ll make it. It’ll be touch and go.”





Neither Bing nor Melinda had said much during the long drive from Atlanta. Bing had to concentrate on navigating, while she sat tensely in the passenger seat, staring through the windshield as though the force of her will would get them to their destination faster.

Bing couldn’t wait to be at the end of this trip. On the other hand, he didn’t know what was awaiting them. His conjectures on what they might find made his palms damp and his stomach queasy. He repeatedly told himself not to imagine the worst. Nevertheless, that’s what he was imagining.

They had just reached the outskirts of town when his phone rang. He plucked it out of the cup holder where it had been charging. When he saw the unfamiliar number in the readout, he grumbled, “Don’t those damn telemarketers ever sleep?”

“Maybe you should answer,” Melinda said.

He harrumphed but clicked on. “Who’s this?”

“Me.”

“Zach!” Bing swiveled his head toward Melinda, who was biting her lip and looking at him with expectation. “Whose phone is this?” Bing asked.

“Are you still with Melinda?”

“Yeah, yeah, she’s right here beside me.”

“You need to drive her up here. Leave right now. Don’t pack, don’t do anything. Come immediately.”

“We’re already here.”

“What?”

“We couldn’t reach y’all. Sid Clarke showed up at her place and—”

“Sid Clarke?”

“Long story. We’ll tell you when we get there.”

“You can’t get to the house. They’ve got the road blocked.”

“Who’s they?”

“Take Melinda to the county hospital. Cal’s been shot, but he’s still alive.”





Chapter 39





The fog lifted, leaving only tendrils that looked like wraiths moving through the forest. The improving atmosphere made the recovery of Eban Clarke’s body easier. Once it was pulled from the crevasse, it was evacuated off the mountain by helicopter.

Zach and Kate were separately questioned by Sheriff Meeker’s homicide investigators. Their accounts matched to the letter, but they talked their throats raw before being given clearance to leave.

The sky had turned predawn gray by the time they wound their way down the mountain in her SUV and drove to the county hospital where, for hours, Cal Parsons had been stubbornly refusing to die.

Sheriff Meeker had provided Zach with a burner phone, so, throughout the wee hours, he and Bing had been in periodic contact. Their conversations had been brief, but each had kept the other abreast of developments. The most recent had been that Cal had survived the intricate abdominal surgery.

Now as Zach and Kate stepped off the elevator on the surgical floor, they found Bing and Melinda seated in side-by-side chairs in a compact waiting area. Both looked ravaged by exhaustion and mental anguish. Bing was patting her back and holding her hand, but he stood when he saw Zach and Kate.