Chapter 13 Colton
Colton
The house buzzed like Colton had never seen before. Probably was like this when his daddy had tried to rob the bank and had holed up there with his hostages. Zach had his back to the wall with arms wrapped around his knees. Christ, he looked so young.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Would you think I’m a big baby if I said I was scared?”
Shit, what kind of an asshole would he be if he got onto Zach for that? He was a goddamn white hat. “Nope.” He put a hand on Zach’s knee. “Killing is scary shit.”
“I knew Grandpa wasn’t an angel, but I didn’t know he was mixed up with anything like this.”
Colton adjusted his belt so he could sit on the floor next to Zach.
“Hey, honey. Breathe. Things will be okay. We’ll get this sorted, and you’ll be fine.
” He tried to sound confident, but it was at least half-faked.
Murders weren’t unheard of in Whitebark, but it wasn’t like it was an everyday goddamn occurrence.
Jesus, he was just hoping to hook up with a pretty fiddle player and share happy mutual orgasms. Now he had a murder, this guy that may or may not have been super ill-used, weird-assed money shit, and no hard-ons in sight.
“Really?” Zach stared at him like he’d said ice was hot. “Fine? I have no family, no home, no job, and people are getting killed for something my grandfather did, but no one knows what that is. That isn’t my definition of ‘fine’.”
All of that was true, but it was also in the past. “No one’s going to let you be homeless and on your own. We’ll figure this out, okay?”
“Why?” Zach asked. “Why are you so nice to me? I deceived you, almost got you beaten up or worse, and dragged your family into this mess. You should throw me out on my ass and threaten to shoot me if you ever see me again.”
There was a lot to unpack in that near-hysterical rant. He put his hand on Zach’s leg. “Breathe. Just breathe.” He waited for some of the tension to leave Zach’s body. “Did you lie about wanting to go on a date?”
“That’s the only thing I wanted.” He snorted. “And the only thing that didn’t happen.”
The fact Zach felt guilty about that proved he wasn’t a bad person, but Colton wasn’t sure how to make him believe it.
“Yes, they’re here with me.” Ted’s voice reminded Colton the family was all within earshot. “No, we’re good. I got a couple dozen trained men and women I can deputize in a minute. We’ll handle it.”
If Uncle Ted was talking about mobilizing the part-timers, shit had really hit the fan. When his uncle glanced at him, Colton realized his hand was still on Zach’s knee. He patted it once and pulled back. Not that the sheriff didn’t know the truth, but he was, in theory, basically still at work.
“Right. Keep me posted.” Ted hung up the phone and motioned everyone to come sit at the big table.
“DCI updated me on the investigation. Apparently, when Ulmstead got back to the fairgrounds, folks heard a big old screaming match. Two voices in particular were loudest. Ulmstead’s and the oldest brother….” Ted focused on Zach.
“Kellan’s the oldest.”
“Kellan, right.” Ted nodded to Zach. “Few minutes later they heard a gunshot. All them boys came tearing out of the tent, loaded up Ulmstead’s car, and took off like a bat out of hell.”
“Classy,” Colton muttered under his breath.
“Oh, you got no idea. They’re armed, on the loose, and pretty pissed off.” Ted shook his head. “Lord have mercy.”
“Them boys had a right to be mad at Stephen,” Maddie said. “And you should assume they are more than just armed. Jeb kept quite a few guns around. Stephen took them before he died.”
“Why were they mad at him?” Zach asked. “They were all in this together. Whatever they were doing.”
Maddie stared at her tea for a few seconds. “After you left, I learned a few things I didn’t know. Stephen borrowed money from that POS in the suit. He came to collect. Seems Stephen anticipated getting his hands on Jeb’s money.”
“So they killed Grandpa?” Zach’s voice cracked and his body shook.
Christ almighty. Colton thought his people were convoluted. Who the fuck were they exactly? The murdering, money-laundering, friggin’ bluegrass dickheads from who-the-fuck-knew-where?
“I can’t say for sure, but it seems so,” Maddie said.
Zach trembled, and Colton figured he was one step away from a total breakdown. He put an arm around Zach, work be damned. “Breathe. Remember? I got you.”
Colton glanced up and everyone was staring at him. He resisted the urge to pull his arm back. This wasn’t sexual in the slightest. The kid just learned someone killed his only family.
“Now we know why Stephen Ulmstead wanted that bank account from Zach.” Ted said. “But why did the brothers kill him?”
“I think I can answer that.” Maddie turned to Zach. “After you got out, I overheard things. The guy in the suit sells handsome young men to rich buyers. Stephen was planning to give you to him to pay off his debt.”
Colton's stomach dropped to his balls. “Sell? Like sex traffic?”
“That’s what I got from all the yelling. Stephen was in a bad way. Zach got away, he didn’t have the money, so the bastard gave him Bradley instead.”
“‘Gave him’?” Ted asked. “You mean Ulmstead sold him?”
“I don’t have the particulars.” She seemed more unsettled than he’s seen her so far. “Bradley came back when Stephen was talking to you. He didn’t look good, and he wouldn’t talk to anyone but Kellan. I didn’t hear what they said, but when it was over, Kellan and Rocky looked fit to kill.”
And they had. It seemed to Colton like she could’ve told him this when they were talking at the station. “You knew Stephen planned to pimp Zach to pay for his debt, gave the guy his son, and you didn’t think to tell me that when we spoke?”
“First, you didn’t ask,” Maddie said, and Colton could hear the asshole again in her voice. “Second, I didn’t fully trust you. You all but arrested me this morning with no explanation, and I hadn’t seen Zach. I wasn’t volunteering anything until I knew he was safe. By that point, Stephen was dead.”
“Who’s dead?” Momma walked in, hair freshly colored, nails and toes bright pink, and a Walmart bag in her hand. She swept her gaze around the room. “I get my hair done and pick up a few things for you, and the entire world goes to hell.”
Momma always made everything about her.
She also had the shittiest timing.