Chapter 7
Vivian noted the sirens were coming nearer by the minute. She looked at Wilden and asked, “Are we really ready for this?”
“Nope, absolutely not.” Then he smiled at her and added, “On the other hand, apparently our good deeds are continuing.”
She groaned. “Pretty soon everybody in town will know all about it.”
“Good,” he declared. “Maybe then these conmen will decide that stealing from these seniors is not what they should be doing.”
She sighed. “I don’t understand how anybody gets the impression that it’s even a thing at all,” she admitted.
“These guys are absolutely the worst for preying on those poor people.” Then she looked at the man on the ground and shook her head.
“Did you have anything to do with that other veteran who went missing?” But she got no answer, as Harley was still out of it.
She glared down at him but then started to get worried.
“Are you sure he’s okay? We don’t want you to get in trouble over this. ”
He shook his head and then patted her arm. “He pulled a weapon on us,” he reminded her. “We were totally within our rights to defend ourselves.”
“I know. I do know that,” she replied. “It’s just—”
“He’s fine, not dead. And, even if he wasn’t fine, he would be lying if he says I attacked him or some such thing,” he suggested, with a wave of his hand. “Don’t you worry about it. It’ll be fine.”
She frowned at his nonchalant attitude. “I hope so. I don’t want you getting in more trouble than necessary.”
He glanced at her and then chuckled. “I thought you were worried about him.”
“No, I’m worried about you,” she clarified, frustration in her tone. “Him? I don’t give a crap.”
The guy on the ground opened one eye. “Thanks a lot, lady.”
“Yeah. Right. Why should I care about you?” she asked, with a sniff.
“You’re just a user, the kind of person who likes to run over people without a care.
You steal from pensioners, for God’s sake, from people who went to war for your country so you didn’t have to, and look at you. Stealing from them too.”
“Spare me the bloody sermon, will you?”
She snorted. “Maybe that should be part of your punishment. Make you go to church or something.”
“Get a life,” he muttered. “They won’t even let me close to the church.”
“Every lost soul deserves a chance,” she stated. “At least I think they would look at you from that point of view. And maybe help you mend your evil ways.”
Wilden smiled at her. “That might be true,” he agreed, “but, in this case, this guy’s going to jail.”
“No, I’m not,” Cooper argued, turning to roll over and to sit up. “I’m not going to jail. I didn’t do nothing. It was Hookman. He’s the one who did all of this.”
“Yeah, right, Cooper,” Wilden quipped.
At the mention of his name, the man’s eyes shot up.
“Hookman’s dead, remember? And the cops are still looking for his killer. At the moment, you’re looking pretty good for it.”
Just then, the police vehicle had shut off its sirens, probably parking in the nearby lot, and Wilden and Vivian heard shouts.
Wilden called out, giving directions to where they were, and very quickly they were joined by two policemen and a police dog.
All five of the dogs created some chaos, until the humans got them under control.
The policemen looked down at all the dogs and asked, “What the hell’s going on here? ”
“Wait,” she snapped, turning to look at him. “You’re concerned about us having dogs? That’s what you’re worried about?” She could only imagine how that sounded, but she was mad.
The policeman glared at her, until he saw the man on the ground, and then he frowned. “Hey, that’s Cooper.”
“Yeah, that’s Harley Cooper,” she snapped, “the one who you told us had skipped town.”
“He did skip town, but I gather he’s back again,” he replied, rubbing his hands together, “and you’re not getting away this time, buddy.”
Cooper glared at him. “I didn’t do nothing.”
“You pulled a weapon on us,” Wilden declared.
“So, yeah, you sure did something. He was also involved in trying to steal money from Jackson Russell, and he admitted to having dumped him out here in the woods, leaving him helpless, while they were trying to figure out what to do. They were in cahoots with Hookman. Larry Hinkle was the other one, according to Jackson.”
“You mean, our wonderful upstanding citizen John Hookman?” The cop frowned at the man on the ground. “Jesus Christ, Coop. I can’t believe you got yourself involved with that shit. That’s pretty bad, man.”
Cooper glared at him and snapped, “You can get me out of that shit because none of it’s a big deal. I wasn’t really involved.”
“Yeah, you were,” Vivian snapped, “and you’ve been talking about it too, so don’t even try denying it.”
He shot daggers at her. “You need to shut up, lady.”
“Nope, I will not,” she declared. “Not until I know that you are locked up tight and paying the price for what you did to Jackson Russell.”
The cops lifted Cooper to his feet, and the one cop who had called him Coop—probably one of his family members—stood back, almost in shock.
“What are you doing standing there like an idiot, Jimmy? I didn’t do shit.”
Jimmy gave him a death stare. “Man, I can’t help you with this,” he told him. “If you talked to them like that and told them anything”—he shrugged—“only so much I can do, buddy.”
“And you’ve already done it apparently,” Vivian declared, turning to Cooper, then back to Jimmy. “As far as Cooper’s concerned, he’s getting a free pass because of you.”
Jimmy flushed. “That’s not happening. I can’t make that happen.”
“And yet you’ve been covering for him—until right now.”
“No, I haven’t,” he claimed. “I just … knew him in school, that’s all.” He looked over at his police partner, who stared at him in astonishment. “Paul, I swear. I haven’t been helping him.”
Paul seemed to be struggling to grasp it. “But you were keeping him abreast of what was happening and telling him what was going on in our investigation, weren’t you?”
“Not really,” Jimmy muttered. “It was public knowledge. I didn’t let him in on any secrets or anything.” But he was clearly uncomfortable at the scrutiny coming from his partner. He raised both hands in frustration.
Paul swore. “You better not have,” he snapped, his tone hard like rock. “You’re already in trouble yourself. One more mark against your record, and you’re out, and you know it. So, if you’ve been helping these guys at all in any way, it’s the end of the line.”
Jimmy protested, “I didn’t do shit. I don’t care what he says,” he said, turning to glare at Cooper. “He ain’t messing up my career.”
“Already done,” Vivian snapped, “because we heard a mouthful. So don’t you worry. It’ll happen now. As far as Coop’s concerned, he’s got cops in his back pocket, and he’ll walk on this, and no way any of us will stop it.”
Jimmy flushed and explained, “I’m a junior in this department. I don’t have that power. So, no matter what he told you, he’s full of shit.”
“We already know he’s full of shit,” Wilden interjected, “but I also know that he was involved with what happened to Jackson Russell and somebody else.”
“That’s his word against yours,” Paul stated, trying to get back to the point.
“And Cooper had a weapon.” He pointed to where it still sat in the brush. “We haven’t touched it, so be careful when you pick it up because I’m guessing one is in the chamber.”
Paul swore as he walked over, put on gloves, and picked it up gingerly, checked it, and then cleared the chamber. “What the hell is going on here, Cooper?”
Cooper didn’t say a word. He was obviously weighing his options because no way Jimmy would cut him any slack now.
“We’re hoping you’ll figure that out, Paul,” she declared, “because Jackson seems to think that these guys have a lot more going on than just fleecing our seniors, particularly our war vets. Yet the local authorities won’t do anything because Cooper and his other partner, Larry Hinkle, are such fine upstanding citizens,” she quipped in a mocking tone as she glared at Cooper.
Then she turned her gaze to the cop who’d been helping him.
“And, Jimmy, anybody who helps him is also a scumbag,” she declared, glaring at him.
Jimmy flushed. “I didn’t have nothing to do with it.”
“We’ll see about that,” she stated, “because Coop’s quite likely to send you to the cleaners too.
You know, if you can’t make good on your promises to protect him, then Cooper’s got no hope, and, if he’s got no hope, that’s when Cooper will get really mean, vindictive even, feeling as if he should tell the world about what you’ve done too. ”
Jimmy turned and glared at his friend, who didn’t even look at him. Cooper was obviously pissed off about something.
Vivian snorted. “See? Good old Coop’s already pissed off at you, Jimmy, because he’s expecting you to get him out of this, and the more you talk, the more we have for evidence against your actions.
” Jimmy spun and glared at her, and she snapped, “Or do you think this isn’t something that should go on your record? ”
Jimmy’s jaw was working now.
She continued. “According to your partner, Paul here, you’re already on a short leash. Care to share what that means, Jimmy?”
“I’m not sure what you are implying,” he began in a bitter tone. “Everything’s fine with me, and you got no call to be interfering in cop business.”