Chapter Eleven
Hud sighed as he pulled away from Burch’s residence. Fitch’s place had been cleaned out, not a stick of furniture left. Burch either wasn’t home or wasn’t answering. Either way, they had nothing, and the drive back to Clifton was a long one.
“What a way to spend a Sunday,” he said.
“I’d bet a year’s salary Fitch and White are together,” Creed said.
“Same. And I don’t think they’ve crossed yet. Something is keeping them here.” Hud tapped the wheel. “My money is on Burch. Maybe White is trying to convince her to go with him and she’s not ready.”
“And Fitch is stuck waiting while White works on her,” Luke said from the back.
“We may have just tipped them off going to her door.” Hud shook his head.
“Then let’s go back.” Creed turned in his seat. “We’re five minutes away. Try one more time.”
Hud pulled onto the berm and looked back at Luke. “What do you think?”
Luke didn’t hesitate. “She was home and didn’t answer. And if that’s true she knows what White was into. Why else would she hide?”
Hud swung the truck around.
When he pulled back up to the house, he sat for a moment studying it through the windshield, then stepped out. Creed and Luke stayed by the truck. Hud went up the porch steps and knocked hard.
“Debra Burch. We know you’re in there.” He glanced back at Creed and Luke and shrugged. They grinned. He turned back to the door. “We’re not going anywhere. We’ll stand here all day if we have to, and we can have a warrant here inside of an hour.”
He heard the lock turn and put his hand on his weapon, thumb on the snap.
The door opened.
Hud stared, then pulled his weapon.
Kevin Fitch stood in the doorway looking like he hadn’t slept in three days.
“Mr. Fitch.” Hud kept his voice level as he pointed his weapon at him, keeping his finger off the trigger. “Step outside with your hands where I can see them.”
“Please don’t shoot,” Fitch said, his voice unsteady.
“We won’t unless you give us a reason to. Where are White and Burch?”
“Gone.” Fitch stepped onto the porch, hands up. “White told me last night we were leaving first thing this morning. I told him I was done running.” He shook his head. “He threatened to kill me if I said a word. I believe him.”
“Why didn’t you answer when we came earlier?”
Fitch looked at him like the answer was obvious. “Three big MDOL agents pounding on the door? I was scared out of my mind.”
Creed made a sound that might have been a laugh.
“Where was he heading?”
“Canada.”
“He won’t make it.”
Fitch smiled thinly. “Try telling him that. I’m done running. I’ll tell you everything, but I want something in return.”
Hud glanced back at Creed and Luke. “He wants a deal.”
“Everybody wants a fucking deal,” Luke said.
Hud turned back to Fitch. “We can’t make deals. That’s not how this works. What we can do is tell the prosecutor you cooperated fully, and the rest is up to the judge.” He paused. “You’d better hope you don’t draw Judge Bowman.”
Fitch frowned. “Why?”
“His son was the agent who was shot.”
Fitch went pale. He swallowed hard. “I wasn’t there. I want you to know that. I don’t own a gun, never have. White came back that night and told me an agent had been killed. I was sick over it.”
“He wasn’t killed. He’s recovering.” Hud kept his eyes steady on him.
“But it doesn’t change what you are. An accessory.
You’ve been working alongside White for years, helping him defraud insurance companies while he stole cattle across this state.
An agent nearly died because of that operation. ” He paused. “Was the money worth it?”
Fitch looked at the porch floor. “No. I know I’m going to prison. I’ve known it for a while.” He looked up. “But I was not there the night that agent was shot. I swear to you.”
“How was White planning to cross into Canada?”
“Illegally, that’s all I know. But...” Fitch hesitated.
“But what?”
“The greedy bastard said he was going to do one more job first. Said he needed more money to disappear on.”
Hud went still. “Where?”
“I don’t know the details.”
Hud looked at Creed, then back at Fitch. “Call him. Tell him you changed your mind and you want in.”
Fitch blinked. “You want me to set him up.”
“I want you to make a phone call. Can you do that?”
Fitch thought for a moment, then nodded. “I’m just reaching for my phone.” He moved slowly, pulling it from his back pocket.
“Speaker,” Hud said.
Fitch put it on speaker and dialed. It rang twice.
“Fitch.” White’s voice came through hard and flat. “What the hell do you want, you fucking pussy.”
Fitch’s jaw tightened. “I changed my mind. I want in on the job. I need the money same as you.”
A pause. “Alright. I’m meeting Whittingham in an hour. He’s getting us a truck, knows someone he can borrow one from. We’re heading back to Clifton.”
Hud and Creed locked eyes.
“They wouldn’t expect that,” White continued, the satisfaction audible in his voice. “Eleven tomorrow night. There’s a ranch there, the Triple C. More cattle than they can count. Meet me at the third gate on the left. That’s where we’ll go in.” He gave the address. “Don’t be late.”
“I’ll be there. You know I can’t shoot though.”
“Don’t need you for that. Just want more eyes in case something goes sideways. You’ll get paid when it’s done, same as before.”
“Alright.” Fitch looked at Hud. “I’ll see you then.”
He hung up and sat down heavily on the porch step. “He will kill me if he finds out.”
“Then make sure he doesn’t.” Hud crouched down to his level. “When they start moving the cattle, you slip away. Don’t make it obvious; just drift back and get clear. I don’t want you in the crossfire.”
Fitch nodded slowly. “I just want out of all of this. And I’m asking you, please, don’t put me in the same facility as White.”
“Roby and Hill are in Deer Lodge. That’s where White is headed too. We’ll do what we can for you.” Hud stood. “You cooperated. That matters.”
Fitch looked up at him, tired in a way that went beyond just the last few days. “I’ve been done running for a while. I just didn’t know how to stop.”
Hud looked at him. “Did I hear that right? Whittingham?”
“Yes.”
“Carla Whittingham’s husband?”
“That’s right.”
Hud looked at Creed and Luke. “I knew she was holding something back.”
“She knows about all of it,” Fitch said. “Has from the beginning.”
“Son of a bitch,” Creed muttered.
“We’ll deal with them after we get White.” Hud was already thinking through the next twenty-four hours. “Right now, we need to get back to Clifton and set this up properly.” He looked down at Fitch. “As for you.”
Fitch looked up warily. “What about me?”
“You’re coming with us. I’m not letting you out of my sight until tomorrow night.”
“You’re not putting me in a cell?”
“Not yet. But you go where we go until this is done. Can you handle that?”
Fitch let out a long breath. “Do I have a choice?”
“No,” Hud said. “You really don’t.”
He pulled out his phone and dialed Dave. This couldn’t wait until Monday. They had less than twenty-four hours and a lot of moving pieces to get into place before eleven o’clock tomorrow night.
****
Monday dragged. Blair had barely slept and the hours at work felt twice as long as they should have.
She kept her phone face up on the counter all day and hated herself a little for it.
By the time the office closed she’d made up her mind.
If he couldn’t pick up the phone after everything that had happened between them, then she had her answer and she’d live with it.
She stopped at the diner for a to-go order and headed home.
When she turned onto her street and saw his truck in the driveway she slowed without meaning to. He was already getting out by the time she pulled alongside it and walked toward her as she stepped out.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi.” She looked at him for a moment. “What are you doing here?”
“Just got back. I wanted to talk. In person.”
She nodded. “Come inside.”
She didn’t wait for him, just unlocked the door and went in.
He followed. She hung her purse, kicked off her shoes, took her dinner to the kitchen and put it in the fridge.
When she turned around, he was standing in the doorway, and she felt the full weight of how much she’d missed him land on her all at once. She pushed it aside for now.
“Blair, when I left that night it wasn’t about you. I’ve never spent the night with anyone. Not once. Eli thinks it goes back to my mother leaving when I was young, and I think he’s right. In some part of my head, I’ve been waiting for women to leave, so I leave first.”
“Your brothers settled down just fine.”
“They were younger when she left. They don’t remember it the way I do. I was almost five. I understood enough to know she was gone and wasn’t coming back.” He leaned against the counter. “I know it sounds like an excuse.”
“I’m not your mother, Hud. I told you I don’t jump into bed with just anyone. I was with you because I wanted to be.” She shook her head. “Why would you think I’d leave?”
“It’s not—”
“Do not give me that it’s not you, it’s me bullshit.”
He closed his mouth.
“You should have been honest with me from the beginning. If all you wanted was something casual you should have said so. I am looking for something real and lasting, and I cannot build that with a man who won’t let me in.”
“I know. You’re right.” He pushed off the counter and crossed the kitchen to her, cupping her face in his hands.
“I do want something real with you. That’s what scared me.
I have never felt that way about anyone, not enough to take that step.
” He looked into her eyes. “I want to be with you, Blair. I’m asking you to be patient with me while I figure out how to do this.
I’m trying. I just need you to know that. ”
Her eyes filled despite her best effort to stop them.
“Hey.” His thumbs moved gently across her cheeks. “Don’t cry. I never want to be the reason you cry.” He searched her face. “I want to try, Blair. Really try. I’m going to show you that.”