Due Process (Joe Dillard #9)(32)

“I promised Caroline I’d try to remain civil, but I swear to God if you deny it again I’m going to slap you in the mouth.”

He stood immediately.

“You can’t threaten me like that,” he said.

“I can do more than threaten you. I look at this as defense of another. I think I’d be well within my rights to beat you within an inch of your life and there isn’t a jury in the world that would convict me. Hell, with the connections I’ve made over the years around here, I wouldn’t even get charged, not after the DA sees this video and I tell my good friend the sheriff what’s been going on around here. Do you have any idea how much pain you caused Caroline when you stole her eighties?”

“I didn’t steal anything,” he said. “And you can take your threats and your ugly-assed wife and go straight to hell. I’ll never set foot in this house again.”

That did it. I snapped.

“You’re right about that,” I said.

I was out of my chair and within striking range in less than a second. I punched him squarely in the nose so hard that blood immediately spurted into the air and he wound up on his back on the kitchen floor.

“Get up, you miserable bastard,” I said, reaching down to pull him off the floor. “Get up and get out of here before I kill you with my bare hands.”

I pulled him up and dragged him toward the front door. He was bleeding like a stuck hog on the tile and hardwood floor and mumbling that he was going to sue me and have me arrested. When I got to the door, I opened it with my left hand. Then I took a handful of his shirt at the back of his neck in my left hand and grabbed his pants at his lower back with my other hand. I picked him up off the ground and slung him off the front porch. He landed in the grass with a thud.

“You’ll be arrested by late this afternoon,” I said. “Your job will be gone before you get out of the driveway. And you can kiss your nursing license goodbye. Now get off of my property before I decide I need to beat on you some more.”

He managed to climb to his feet and staggered off toward his car with his hands over his nose.

I turned around to see Caroline standing just inside the door.

“You promised,” she said.

“Did you hear what he said?”

“Yes.”

“Then you understand. There’s no way he talks about you that way and walks out without bleeding.”

“He’s a junkie, Joe. He’s in denial. He needs help.”

“Junkies don’t want help. They’re beyond help. Besides, he just got some help. Maybe that’ll wake him up a little.”

“Are you still going to have him arrested?”

“You’re damned right I am. If I don’t, he’ll just go steal from somebody else.”

Caroline sighed and said, “I guess you’re right.” She turned and walked back toward the bedroom and I went to the kitchen and picked up my cell phone. I dialed Leon Bates’s number.

“Brother Joe Dillard,” Leon said when he answered. “What’s going on today?”

“Hey Leon,” I said. “How are you?”

“Better than I deserve, brother. Better than I deserve.”

“I’m sorry to bother you with this, Leon, but I have a little problem.”

“Always at your service, you know that.”

“I need someone arrested as soon as you can get to it. He’s Caroline’s home health care nurse. Guy named Tracey Rowland. He’s been stealing her pain medication. I have him on video doing it. We just caught him. As a matter of fact, he just left our house.”

“What kind of shape was he in?” Leon said. He knew me well.

“Not great. He may have a deviated septum. He was bleeding quite a bit.”

“He should be more careful,” Leon said. “Watch where he’s going. What’d he trip over?”

“Something in the kitchen.”

“Say he just left there? What company does he work for?”

“It’s called ‘LifeCare.’”

“Do you have an address and phone number for him?”

“Phone number, no address.”

“Not a problem. We’ll find him. I’ll send one of my investigators over to take a report and get a copy of that video. I’d do it myself but I have to meet with the county budget committee today. Gotta do a little politicking to make sure we get our fair share.”

“I appreciate it, Leon. Listen, I talked to Erlene last Friday and she told me you guys split up.”

“Yeah, it just wasn’t going to work out in the long run. We’re still buddies, though. No hard feelings on either side. She knows I’d still do anything for her.”

“Good. Glad to hear that.”

“What about that mess over at ETSU?” Leon said. “Are you going to get caught up in that?”

“I might. That’s what I was talking to Erlene about.”

“She help you out?”

“Yeah, but I got the feeling she was holding some things back.”

“Well, brother, there’s one thing I learned about her for sure. She’s sweet as she can be, but there’s a dark side to her. You never know what’s going through that woman’s mind.”