Heaven and Hell (Heaven and Hell #1)(87)
“We thought, what Kia’d been through, what you all had been through, what you all were facin’ considerin’ Coot was gone and the time had come to face it, not to mention what he left behind just knowin’ all he was up to with Vanessa, we wouldn’t add to that burden.”
“You wouldn’t add to that burden,” Dad whispered.
“Ford –” Ozzie started.
“Are you out of your ever-lovin’ mind?” Dad thundered at Ozzie and I watched Ozzie clench his teeth and he held Dad’s eyes but he didn’t answer.
Dad tore his gaze from Ozzie’s and shook his head, running his hand through his hair while doing it and muttering, “I don’t… I cannot believe this shit. I cannot believe this shit.”
“Right,” Sam put in, Dad’s eyes cut to him and Sam announced, “This is where we’re at now. The Sheriff’s talkative deputy gave me the head’s up three days ago.” Sam looked at Ozzie. “So you need to know there are four men in your town who’ll be visible watching Kia and her home. I’ll get you names and pictures so your men can identify them. They are carrying concealed and three of four of them have a license to do that in this state. I’ll ask you to look the other way with the one who doesn’t. I can assure you he’s trained and he knows what he’s doin’ or I wouldn’t have him on Kia. I’m also carryin’ concealed and I don’t have a license in Indiana either. I’ll have a weapon on me at all times and another one in Kia’s house and, since I couldn’t get home to North Carolina to get my own hardware, I do not hold permits for either. I’ll ask you to look the other way on that too. There are also two men hunting this guy at my request. They’ll need information which means I’ll need a full brief from you and I’ll need to talk to Vanessa Cloverfield. So as not to f**k your case against her, you’ll not have anything to do with that. But, she doesn’t talk to me; I’ll escalate my tactics to get her to talk to me. You’ll need to look the other way on that too.”
“Son, you cannot ask me to do that,” Ozzie replied then finished, “Any of that.”
“I just did and you’ll do it,” Sam returned and Ozzie’s face started to get red.
“Cooper, I understand –” Ozzie started but I felt Sam’s body get taut at my back and I braced because I knew, for whatever reason, he was done.
“No, Sheriff, you don’t understand. If you did, at the very least Ford would have been aware of this situation before Kia’s ass was on a plane. For three weeks, she was wandering Europe alone and unprotected. For a week and a half, she was with me and I had no clue. You do not know who this motherf*cker is therefore you do not know what resources he has available to him. She should never have been on that plane. In the months after you learned about this situation, she should have had more than the Sheriff Department’s protection but also the protection of her family and a security system installed in her house or, seein’ Ford’s reaction, her ass moved to this one and a system installed here. None of this happened. And months have passed and you have not found this guy. My experience, you haven’t found him yet means you got nothin’ on him and your leads have gone stone cold. So he’s not in the wind, he is the wind. And when that shit happens, your boys can be brilliant, but unless they’re trained to lock down that kind of target, they got no hope. They also got other shit to do. I do not. The hunters I called in on this do not. And the men at Kia’s back have one focus, Kia. I know you are not unaware of the last seven years of her life and what she’s been livin’ with behind closed doors at the hands of that piece of shit. Now he’s still controlling her life and he’s f**kin’ dead. I got the power and the means to make certain that shit stops and I’m gonna do it. And last, I’ll give you the head’s up that I do not make threats so take that into consideration when I say, I’m doin’ this and you do not wanna stand in my way.”
When Sam was done I was holding my breath, Ozzie was holding Sam’s gaze and Dad was staring at Sam like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny popped in to give him a brand-new hunting rifle and a year-round permit to shoot all things cute and furry and a basket as big as a house filled with chocolate. In other words, like he’d just hit the mother lode.
The silence stretched so before I passed out, I decided to start breathing again.
Finally, Ozzie spoke.
“I’ll admit those leads are cold, Cooper, but they’re cold for us, they’ll be cold for you.”
“First, what’s cold for you is not cold for my boys and second, I’ll ask, you sure you got all you could get from that piece of shit’s bitch?”
Clearly knowing who Sam was referring to, Ozzie answered, “Vanessa was very forthcoming as advised by her attorney. She’s arguing that it was all Cooter’s idea and she was along for the ride, without collusion but with a fair amount of coercion, so I suspect her attorney wants to show she’s been helpful in order for it to assist her case.”
“Interesting to see if the woman who pawned a bunch of shit and conned her husband who she drove to committing murder into getting a second mortgage to pay for a hit can convince a jury of that bullshit but I don’t care about that. I asked if you’re sure you got all you could get from her,” Sam returned.