Chapter 69
After Johnson killed Marco and Luke, Sean half expected the lawman to kill Roger, too, and Sean, for that matter, but Johnson seemed content with his current body count.
For now.
“Sheriff, what the hell did you just do?” Roger asked. “You know what his family is going to do when they find what we did?”
“We?” Johnson asked, and then he laughed, shaking his head.
“You really are an idiot, Roger. I have to tip my cap to you on that one. I knew it was a risk getting into business with you, but damn… You were more of a liability than I imagined.” He spread his arms wide and gestured around him.
“I mean, you’re out in the middle of nowhere.
No one within range for twenty miles in any direction, and you even have a secret underground stash house, and yet, somehow, against all odds, you blow our fucking cover. ”
“I’m sorry. I just thought?—”
“Enough!” Johnson shouted, and he aimed the gun at Roger’s head. “You keep it quiet, or I shut you up with a bullet.”
Sean remained calm, watching the deputies on either side of him, who still had both sets of hands on Sean’s shoulders, keeping him pinned to the floor. He looked at the front doors, waiting to see if the other deputies outside would join them. But they did not.
“Jesus, we’re all dead,” Roger said, and then he bowed his head and sobbed quietly for a few moments before he fell silent save for the occasional shudder.
“There,” Johnson said. “Some quiet. You’d think people would be smart enough to listen to the man with a gun in his hand.” Johnson shook his head and then turned to Sean. “How much do I need to catch you up on?”
“I think I can fill in the blanks,” Sean answered. “You get a cut from the drugs for turning the other way.”
“That’s right,” Johnson said. “I was creating a nice little retirement account for myself. Had plans to buy an island in the Caribbean. I’d even picked it out already.
Thought it’d be nice to spend my remaining years down there with a cold drink in my hand, trying to stay cool instead of freezing to death up here.
” He grimaced. “I never understood how people wanted to stay in their small towns. God, they’re so boring, so slow. ”
“Then why’d you stay, Johnson?” Sean asked. “If you’re such a thrill-seeker, why not move away?”
“Well, I suppose you could blame my inexperience for that,” Johnson said.
“It’s hard to yank up roots that are set deep.
But if I couldn’t get out of this county, I thought I might as well run it.
And you know as well as I do how powerful the sheriff’s offices are in these parts.
We are the law. People depend on us to keep the peace, make sure they’re safe.
Call me old-fashioned, but I like power.
” Johnson flashed another smile, exposing those sharp canines.
“So, what’s the plan?” Sean asked. “You’re going to kill all of us and then blame it on a mob deal gone wrong?”
“If only it were that simple,” Johnson answered, and then he shook his head, Sean’s pistol still in his hand. “I’ve been thinking about how to handle this since I got your call, Sean. And believe me, it’s put me in quite the predicament.”
“Sorry to cause so much trouble,” Sean said.
Johnson chuckled. “No, you’re not. But that doesn’t matter anymore.” He took a deep breath and then rolled his head on his shoulders, cracking his neck. “Killing everyone would bring too much attention. And I want the least amount of attention on me as possible.”
Sean realized that was why Johnson had already shipped everyone out of the hotel and back toward the sheriff’s station. “You’ll frame me,” Sean said. “Say I was the dirty cop.”
“Bingo.” Johnson made a finger gun with his left hand and then aimed it at Sean. “I mean, you kind of already helped me out with that after that bloody knife turned up in your room. Not sure who I have to thank for that, but I owe them one.”
“The girl’s still missing,” Sean said. “Even if you try to blame all of this on me, the FBI will still want to find her, close out their case file.”
“Yeah,” Johnson said, and then he pinched the bridge of his nose. “The Feds are a headache that just won’t go away.”
Sean tried to put himself in Johnson’s shoes, and then he thought of Jennie, who was now in Johnson’s custody.
“You’re going to blackmail me,” Sean said. “To get me to do what you want.”
Johnson dropped his hand from his nose and opened his eyes. “You’re a smart guy, Sean. Always have been.”
Sean tensed, and he felt the deputies holding him down continue to apply pressure.
“It would be cleaner for me if I had a living body to put the blame on,” Johnson said.
“Someone alive who confessed to all of this.
And because the investigation that follows will most likely reveal that the only way this drug running worked was with help from law enforcement, and considering that your county is right next door, I think it makes sense that you would be a prime suspect. Aside from me, that is.
“Of course, your girlfriend and that deputy of yours will deny it, but you’ll give such overwhelming evidence of your involvement that it will be undeniable by prosecutors,” Johnson said. “And in return for your…service, I’ll make sure that any interested parties don’t harm your girlfriend.”
Sean glanced over at the dead mobster, his gun the murder weapon. The addition of the bloody blade in Sean’s room also helped to make Johnson’s plan feasible. And, of course, Sean’s own testimony would push it over the top.
“So,” Johnson said, “those are my terms.” He shrugged.
“You could not take them, in which case, I’ll kill you, and most likely have to kill Jennie as well to make sure there is no follow-up.
It will create a bit more headache for me having you dead, but the ball is in your court, Sean. So, what do you say?”
Sean had always prided himself on thinking through problems clearly. But this was new territory for him. He had no doubt that any plan Johnson put forth, regardless of how Sean participated, would result in chaos.