Chapter Nine #2
“Not this one.” Hud’s hands tightened on the wheel. He thought about Rawley in that hospital bed, how close it had been, and felt the familiar burn of it settle in his chest. Harold White wasn’t getting a deal. Not from him.
They found the property thirty minutes later, a small house set back from the road in a quiet rural neighborhood. Hud looked it over as they climbed out.
“Let’s see what we’ve got.”
They walked up the path and Hud knocked. A man in his late fifties opened the door and went still when he saw the vests.
Hud held up his credentials. “Agent Hud Anderson, MDOL.” He introduced Creed and Luke. “We’re looking for Luther Conroy.”
“That’s me.” He stepped back. “Come in.”
They followed him inside until he waved them toward the sitting room. Hud stayed on his feet.
“Mr. Conroy, we’re trying to locate your cousin Harold White. Have you been in contact with him recently?”
Luther shook his head. “Not for a good while. He came through here about a year ago wanting money. Man owns a truck dealership and he’s asking me for money.” He said it like it still irritated him. “Said he was drowning in debt. I didn’t buy it. I knew he was into something.”
“He didn’t say what?”
“No. What was he doing?”
“Livestock theft. Cattle, primarily, across multiple counties.”
Luther exhaled. “Doesn’t surprise me. Harold burns through money faster than he makes it. Always has. No matter how much he’s got it’s never enough.”
“He got his son killed,” Hud said quietly.
Luther looked at him for a long moment, then sat down like the air had gone out of him. “I didn’t know that.” He shook his head. “Damn him.”
“What about your sons? Any chance they were involved?”
Luther looked up sharply. “No. Absolutely not. Both of them straightened out about two years ago. Married, working, taking care of their families. I’ll give you their addresses and you can talk to them yourself. I’ve got nothing to hide and neither do they.”
“We’d appreciate that.”
Luther wrote out the addresses and handed them over.
“We were told White had cousins here. Plural.”
“No. That’s not right, unless you’re counting my boys, but they’re not close to Harold.”
Hud thanked him and they left.
A little while later the three of them sat in Hud’s motel room, each with a sheet of paper, the case spread across the small table between them.
“After talking with them I don’t think Conroy’s boys were involved,” Creed said.
“Neither do I.” Hud tossed his copy onto the table. “Which puts us right back where we were. White and Fitch are still out there and if they make it across that border we’re going to have a hell of a time getting them back.”
“The tire shop angle keeps bothering me,” Luke said.
“Big Sky Tires closes up right in the middle of all this, along with the warehouse next door being cleared out. That’s not a coincidence.
The way I see it they were pulling the tires off the stolen rigs, storing them in the warehouse until they could be disposed of, then putting new ones on with a different tread pattern.
Three times over. And if White was losing money despite owning a Peterbilt dealership and two other properties, maybe he stopped at Conroy’s to feel him out.
See if he’d come in on it. White’s been at this a while, so it’s no stretch he was running the same operation last year. ”
“That’s my read too,” Hud said. “And whoever was working that tire shop had to be in on it. Nobody pulls perfectly good tires off a rig without asking questions unless they already know the answers. Rawley was looking into him when he got shot.”
Creed nodded. “We need to find him.”
“Which means a trip to Autumn Falls.” Hud pulled out his phone. “I need to call Dave first. It’s nearly four hours from here and I want his sign off before we change course.”
****
Blair stood in the exam room with her file open, asking questions and jotting down answers. She set it on the counter and lifted her stethoscope.
“I need to take your blood pressure, Ms. Barnes.”
“Then do it. I don’t have all day.”
Blair kept her expression neutral. Ms. Barnes was a character, rough edged and completely unbothered by what came out of her mouth. The first time Blair had met her she’d been caught off guard. Now she just appreciated the woman’s consistency.
“Yes, ma’am.” She wrapped the cuff around the woman’s arm and positioned the stethoscope. “Please don’t talk while I do this.”
“Are you telling me to shut up?”
Blair lowered the cuff and looked at her. “I’m telling you that talking during a blood pressure reading can affect the result. So please, Ms. Barnes. Just for a moment.”
The woman stared at her, then gave a short nod.
Blair got the reading, noted it on the chart and stepped back. “It’s good. I’ll send Dr. Workman in.”
“Are you married?”
Blair braced herself. “Divorced.”
“My niece, Sandy, married a good man. Took me a while to see it, but he grew on me.” She paused. “Still don’t like those tattoos though.”
“How many does he have?”
“Both arms, shoulder to wrist. I told him straight out I didn’t like them.” She cackled. “He didn’t seem to care one bit. That’s when I decided I liked him.”
Blair laughed. “I’ll get the doctor for you.”
She pulled the door closed, slid the file into the holder and went to find Dr. Workman. He looked up from his desk and rolled his eyes before she could say a word.
“She’s something,” Blair said.
“That’s being generous.” He pushed back from his chair. “Thanks, Blair.”
She walked to the front desk and checked the clock. Almost closing time, one patient left in the waiting room.
“Today flew,” she said.
Sara looked up. “I swear I blinked and it was noon. I blinked again and here we are.”
“I’m ready to go home and do absolutely nothing.”
“Same.” Sara started shutting down her computer. “Same.”
“Let’s get the last patient back and get out of here on time.” Blair picked up the file and called the name from the waiting room.
On the drive home her mind drifted to Hud. She wondered how the case was going, whether they’d found anything useful in Shelby. She knew enough about his work to know it wasn’t without risk, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that on top of everything else.
She didn’t know what to do about Saturday night. Part of her understood that he hadn’t lied to her. But understanding something and being okay with it were two different things. She wanted more than that. She’d thought maybe he did too.
Maybe she’d been wrong.
She turned into her driveway and sat for a moment with the engine running.
She was so drawn to him it was almost inconvenient.
The way he looked at her, the way he’d been with her, none of that had felt casual.
But if he wasn’t interested in anything real, then what was she doing?
She wasn’t built for something that went nowhere.
She’d been down that road before and she wasn’t going back.
“He should have told you from the start,” she said quietly to the windshield.
She shut off the engine and headed inside, dropping her purse on the hook by the door. Sneakers off, padding into the kitchen, opening the fridge out of habit, staring at nothing in particular, then closing it and opening the freezer instead. Microwave dinner. Sad, but it would do.
She got it going and headed upstairs to change, trading her scrubs for old leggings and a T-shirt that had seen better days. By the time she made it back down the microwave was beeping. She dumped the meal onto a plate, grabbed a fork and carried it to the living room.
She settled onto the sofa, tucked her feet under her and clicked on the TV. She ate without tasting much of it. Her mind kept drifting back to Hud no matter how many times she tried to pull it away.
****
Hud stared at his laptop screen without seeing a word of it.
His mind was on Blair. The look on her face when he said he wouldn’t stay kept coming back to him and he raked a hand through his hair.
He’d really screwed that up. He owed her an apology, but explaining why he’d left was a whole other problem.
“Hud.” Creed’s voice cut through.
“Yeah?”
“Where did you go just now?”
He didn’t want to lie. “Blair.”
“Who’s Blair?” Luke asked.
Hud walked them through it, from the first night at Dewey’s to the other night. When he finished Creed shook his head and Luke just stared at him.
“What?”
“Man, you really fucked that up,” Luke said. “You didn’t think to tell her you weren’t looking for anything serious?”
“No.” Hud leaned back. “I knew I liked her more than anyone I’d been out with in a long time, but I didn’t think—” He shook his head.
“You didn’t think she’d make you feel differently.” Creed smirked.
Hud looked at him for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah. That’s right.” He picked up his phone. “I need to apologize, but this case comes first.”
“Send her a text,” Luke said. “Let her know you want to talk when you’re back.”
Hud stared at the screen, took a breath and typed.
We need to talk when I get back.
He waited. The bubbles appeared and he held his breath.
I think you said all you needed to.
“Shit,” he muttered and typed back. No, I really didn’t. I’m sorry about the other night. I’d like to talk.
Let me know when you get back.
I will. Are we going to talk?
I’ll think about it, Hud. You hurt me.
I never meant to. I’d rather do this in person.
Get with me when you’re back.
I should be home Saturday.
Fine.
Hud stared at the screen, then set the phone down and shook his head.
“Trouble?” Creed said.
Hud handed him the phone. Creed read it and passed it to Luke.
Luke chuckled. “Don’t you love it when they say fine?”
“It’s never fine,” Creed said. “Wren and Abbie have both put me through that.”
“Bryce is good at it too,” Luke said. “My wife has it down to an art.”
Hud leaned back. “I’ll call her when I get home. Talk to her properly.” He picked up his phone again and called Dave, kept it brief, then looked at the other two. “He’s getting us a room in Autumn Falls for tomorrow night. We’ll need to check out early and head that way.”
“Alright.” Creed stood and stretched. “I’m beat. See you in the morning.”
“Same.” Luke headed for the door. “We’ll be at the truck, Hud.”
“See you then.”
He watched them go, then dropped onto the bed and clicked on the TV. It had been a long day and he was tired, but he already knew sleep wasn’t coming easy. Every time he closed his eyes he’d see Blair.
He’d made a mess of things. He just hoped he could fix it.
The following morning, they loaded their bags into the truck bed, and Hud pulled out of the parking lot. Four hours to Autumn Falls. He merged onto the highway, the landscape stretching out flat and quiet around them.
His phone buzzed through the speakers about an hour in and he hit the button on the steering wheel.
“What’s up, Dave?”
“The man running the tire shop is Tanner Whitman. Rawley tracked it down.” Dave gave them the address and Creed jotted it in his notebook. “I told that man to rest and stay out of this case.”
Creed and Luke laughed. They all knew Rawley wouldn’t stop until it was solved. That was just who he was.
“Alright, Dave. We’re on our way to Autumn Falls now.”
“Be careful out there. I got you rooms for two nights, then I want you back.”
“Yes, sir.” Hud hit the button to disconnect and the truck went quiet. Creed called Abbie to let her know he wouldn’t be home until Saturday and Luke sent a text to his wife. The miles rolled by and nobody felt much like talking, each of them turning things over in their own heads.
After a while Hud spotted a diner sign off the next exit and nodded toward it.
“Food?”
“Yeah,” they said together.
He took the exit.