In Plain Sight

The door was locked. He jerked on it and pushed it but it was solid.

“Just a minute,” Doris Scarlett said from inside.

He heard a bolt tumble and the door opened inward. Sheridan, Lucy, and Julie Scarlett were inside, behind Doris. Lucy ran across the floor and bear-hugged Joe around the waist.

Sheridan said, “Boy, are we glad to see you.”

Joe closed the door behind him and pulled both of his daughters to him.

Lucy said, “You’re really wet, Dad.”

Joe sat them down on a couch with Julie. He said, “Tell me what happened.”

Sheridan told the story about Bill Monroe taking over the bus, turning it around, and getting it stuck as they tried to cross the river. Monroe made them get out and wade to the shore, and they all walked through the mud to the ranch. When they got to the ranch yard, Wyatt came out of the cellar and yelled at Bill Monroe to go away. When he wouldn’t, Wyatt charged him and hit him in the head. Monroe ran, cursing, toward the house where Arlen now stood on the front porch. Monroe went inside and Arlen closed the door. Wyatt told Doris and the girls to go to his shack and lock the door and not let anyone in unless it was he.

That’s all they knew, and Joe was relieved. They hadn’t seen what happened inside.

“Have you seen Keeley since?” Joe asked, “I mean Bill Monroe,” he said, to avoid confusion.

“Keeley?” Sheridan asked. “Like April? The same name?”

“I’m afraid so.”

Sheridan and Lucy exchanged glances. “I told you his face was familiar. He has April’s eyes,” Sheridan said to Lucy, referring to her stepsister.

Joe shook his head, then looked at Julie who sat silent and alone at the end of the couch. She had no idea she’d lost her uncle and her father. Thank God her mother was there.

He stood.

“Keep the door locked, just like Uncle Wyatt told you. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Doris said, “Please be careful. Don’t let Bill Monroe find us.”

Her voice trembled as she said it, and Joe could see how terrified she was. “Can’t you stay with us?”

Joe considered it, but shook his head. He couldn’t assume Keeley had bled to death. And even if he had, Joe needed to see the body. “I need to be sure he can’t threaten anyone again,” he said.

“Then can we go home?” Lucy asked.

Joe didn’t ask which home she meant. “Yes,” he said.

ALL HIS THOUGHTS and feelings channeled into one: revenge.

Joe returned to the front porch of the house and studied the concrete. Although rain had washed most of it away, he could still see traces of blood. Nate must have missed it in his haste on the way in. He backed off the porch and looked around on the wet loam. A spot here, a splash there. Headed in the direction of the barn.

It was like following a wounded game animal, Joe thought. He looked not only for blood flecks but for churned up earth, footprints, places where Keeley had fallen as he staggered away.

There was a depression in the grass where Keeley must have collapsed, his shoulder punching a dent into the turf that was now filling with water and a swirl of blood.

Keeley hadn’t made it all the way inside the barn. He sat slumped against the outside door, next to a boat that was propped up against the wall. Joe guessed Keeley was going for the boat when he collapsed. Keeley’s legs were straight out in front of him. He held the stump of his left arm with his right hand, covering the socket tight with bone-white fingers. Still, blood pumped out between his joints with every weakening heartbeat. Joe couldn’t see a weapon on Keeley or near him as he approached. But Keeley watched Joe the whole time, his eyes sharp, his mouth twisted with hate.

“That Wyatt, he is the one I never thought about,” Keeley said. “He is one strong son-of-a-bitch.”

“Yup,” Joe said, remembering when Wyatt snapped the Flex-Cuffs.

Keeley looked up. His eyes were black and dead. “You destroyed my family. My brother, my sister-in-law, my baby girl.”

“What do you mean, your baby girl?”

“She was my daughter,” Keeley said, and his eyes flashed.

“You mean, you and Jeannie . . .”

“Damned right, me and Jeannie. Ote was gone a lot.”

“So that’s why you did all of this? To get back at me?”

Keeley nodded.

“I did all I could to save April,” Joe said, angry. “We loved her like our own.”

“Horseshit. Not like a father loves a daughter.”

Joe clenched his fists so hard his nails broke the skin on his palms. He wanted to hurl himself at Keeley and start swinging. Instead, he felt his right hand relax enough to undo the safety strap on his service weapon.

“What the hell would you know about being a father?” Joe said. “You were just the sperm donor.”

“Fuck you,” Keeley spat.

Joe stood over him, looking down, his fingers curling around the pistol grip. “Is there any point in talking to you? Telling you I had nothing to do with the death of your daughter or your brother?”

“I know what I know,” Keeley said. “You and Wacey Hedeman were involved in my brother getting killed. You were there when April was assassinated.”

Joe shook his head, speaking calmly. “You were the one who poisoned Wacey then too?”

“Yup.”