Chapter Two
Finally, Simon snorted and told him, “We have rights here too, you know. These bikers are holding my aunt against her will. We thought we might have had to break her out of there and we wanted to be ready for any situation.”
The Sheriff sighed hard and called out, “Miss Amy, can you come out here for a moment?”
Amy came outside to stand beside Asa.
“Are these bikers holding you against your will?” The Sheriff called out.
“I think you know better than that, Abe. I’m here at their request and I am under their protection,” Amy called back.
Simon turned on her and said, “You know damn well that ain’t true, Amy. They just want that money for themselves. They say they won’t hurt you but as soon as they get the money, they’ll leave you to rot and you know it.”
Amy just stared at him then she turned back to the Sheriff.
“I think you know the truth here, Abe. That treasure doesn’t belong to me or my family, if it exists at all.
It was taken from its original owners a very long time ago, or at least that’s what the rumors say.
But are the rumors really true or just a story?
A story that gets bigger every time it is told.
I doubt it really exists at all.” Amy paused then said, “Maybe this is the original fishing story about the one that got away. And that damn fish gets bigger every time someone retells it.”
Emma scoffed and argued, “But your own husband believed it was real. He stayed with an old woman like you because he believed the story was real enough.”
Amy shook her head. “Amos stayed here, that's true enough but he searched this mountain for forty years and never found anything. He set up ambushes that hurt people too, all because he thought the treasure was real. He got people killed and for what? Not a damn thing. But that wasn’t the only reason he stayed here. He was running a racket all his damn life. He’d let other people do his dirty work then when they were done, he’d step in with bogus paperwork, claiming what they found was his.
He was nothing but a con man and in the end, he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
So, he will not be joining us today as he will be spending the rest of his miserable life behind bars. ”
Simon narrowed his eyes and glared at Amy. “Tell me something old hag, is my other daughter here?”
Stepping over, Cheyenne reached out and slapped his face.
He staggered back while holding his cheek.
Cheyenne glared at him. “You speak to her with respect, you horrible little man.”
He snapped his gaze from her to the Sheriff. “Did you see that?”
The Sheriff had been grinning at Asa then he looked over at him. “See what?”
Simon narrowed his eyes at him then he looked back over at Amy. “Did Sophie come here to warn you we were on our way? She went missing yesterday.”
Amy just stared at him. “I wasn’t surprised at all to see you and yours at the gate this morning. You split from the family a long time ago. You had your reasons then and you should have just stayed away. But now it’s too late.”
“I won’t be arrested for something I didn’t do,” Simon insisted. “That was on Chester and Emma.”
Just then, Sophie came to the doorway and stared at her family outside the gates.
Simon growled when he saw his younger daughter standing beside Amy. “You little traitorous bitch. You brought us down.”
Sophie shook her head. “No Dad, you brought your own selves down. The Molotov’s were not the best idea and you know it. And Amy was right all along. Whether the treasure is here or not, it never belonged to this family.”
“I suppose your bastard whelp is here too, isn’t she?” Simon muttered. “Jolene, get your little ass out here.”
Jolene appeared at the door and her arms were crossed over her chest. “Yeah Grandpa, I’m here too.”
“You’re the devil’s own child. You know that, right?” Simon screamed at her. “I put your daddy in jail and you’re going to join him soon enough.”
“He only went to jail because you lied to the courts. My mother was eighteen when they were together, not sixteen like you claimed,” Jolene screamed right back.
“You put him in jail only because you forged my mother’s birth certificate.
He spent seven years in prison because you lied to the courts.
Then he walked away from both of us saying we were too much trouble. ”
“He was a deadbeat anyway. He never paid child support,” Simon shouted.
“That’s a damn lie.” Sophie defended him.
“He paid every month, for eighteen years just like the courts told him to. You made sure of that, didn’t you dad.
Yeah, he showed me the receipts. It all went into your bank account until three years ago when Jolene turned 18.
He paid and paid but you took it all. Every cent.
I never saw it, Jolene never saw it, you kept it all. ”
The Sheriff looked back and forth at them. Then he turned to look at her. “Can you prove it?”
Sophie nodded. “Yeah, I got the paperwork.”
The Sheriff turned to Simon and informed him, “Then Mr. Litchner, you are under arrest.”
“O-on what charges?” Simon sputtered.
“Fraud of child support rerouting and fraud for supplying forged paperwork to the courts on your own child. If she was eighteen and you lied and said she was sixteen then you sent a man to prison for nothing.” The Sheriff shook his head. “And now you’ve confessed in front of a lawman.”
Sophie turned to her sister, Emma. “And where is your daughter, Patsy? Did you bring her here with you?”
“I don’t have to tell you shit, sister. Where my daughter is, is none of your business.” Emma stared at her.
Just then, they all heard another vehicle coming up the driveway. It was the police van then it stopped and the drivers got out.
Suddenly, the backdoor of the RV opened and a young girl rushed out, she took one look at her family and tried running away. She disappeared into the wooded area.
One of the deputies ran after her.
Meanwhile, they had cuffed Chester and Emma. The deputy, Waylon assisted them both into the van.
Emma then spit on him.
Waylon gave her a disgusted look then he wiped the spit from his face and rubbed it back into her shirt.
Emma screamed, “That’s disgusting, you little worm!”
Waylon just glared at her and said, “So were you spitting on me for no reason. I’m just doing my job, ma’am.”
Then they approached Simon.
Simon snarled at the Sheriff and didn’t cooperate at all when he was told he was under arrest, he kept trying to move away from him.
“Sir, we can do this easy or we can do this hard. But either way, you are coming with me.”
“Like hell I am!” Simon screeched. “You don’t have a reason to arrest me and I refuse to accept your judgement.”
The Sheriff shook his head and motioned for his deputy to assist.
Simon backed away from them both again. “No, I don’t want this. You have no right to detain me. I’ve done nothing wrong!”
They reached for him.
Simon yelled, “No, leave me alone. You’re hurting me. I’m an old man and you boys are using brute force on the elderly!”
The Sheriff shook his head. “Hard way it is then.” He grabbed Simon’s arm and twisted it behind his back.
Simon screamed at him, “Police brutality!”
The group all shook their heads at the old man’s drama.