“All right, Colt, let’s start from the top. What happened, and what were you doing in the barn?” The officer sounded tired. He didn’t look like much—slight in build, a faint hint of mustache stubble on his face, and delicate fingers.
“I was in the main house.”
The officer interjected. “What time was this?”
My mind was like scrambled eggs, my shoulders were starting to knot up like boulders from tension, and my hands shook with anger. “I don’t know exactly. Around five or six, I guess. I heard a shot ring out in the barn. I went to see what was going on because my horses started to call out and sound distressed.”
“Okay, so you went to check what was happening. Describe the scene,” the officer said calmly.
“I went in there and heard my horse screaming, and this guy, Hosea, was in there, and said he came to kill me. That I owed him. I don’t owe him shit.”
“Wait. How did you know the guy’s name?”
“Because he told me.”
“Did he tell you why he’d come to kill you?” The officer leaned forward in interest. I might have given him an opening, which I shouldn’t have.
“No, he didn’t. He was just there.” I clenched my jaw, my teeth grinding together from the bullshit questions I was enduring. It was a little white lie. I knew exactly why he was there.
“You were a part of the Outlaw Souls, is that right?” This officer was good. He was leading somewhere.
“I’m not saying anything without my lawyer present. That’s what I know. I’m going to call him now, and you can’t hold me here.” I knew better than to incriminate myself. It was going to be a long haul. I had a lot of calls to make, the way I saw it.
The officer gave me a silent stare. “All right, Colt. Don’t go anywhere. We are definitely going to need to speak to you again. You better get your lawyer.”
That night, I went home, thinking of all the things I wanted to build. I finally had a chance at life and something to live for, and it was all about to be taken away. Safe to say I had some dark nights after that. My mother tried to talk to me, but I didn’t want to speak. I went through the motions in getting Bella ready for school the next day.
The police forensics came along with the vet. My Palomino survived, but he would now have a lame leg, and nobody would be able to ride him. He would be put out to pasture to graze.
I waited with bated breath for the call to be taken in.
One day passed, and then another with no call. I engaged in endless talks with my lawyer about how it might go. I agonized with myself about calling Amber. We hadn’t spoken in a few days. I wanted to speak to her, but I didn’t want her to be implicated. The love I possessed for her made my stomach ache. I couldn’t lose her.
The day of reckoning did finally arrive. I was called back to the Merced police station. My lawyer, this time, was present. He was good, and I trusted him to help me. White walls surrounded me in the meeting room. My lawyer was dressed in a gray suit and was extremely corporate. I was dressed casually and saw no reason to act as if I was guilty. The officer had yet to arrive, and my nerves were so twitchy I wanted to jump out of my skin.
“Colt, let me do all the talking.”
“Okay,” I said quietly. My life was in this man’s hands. I had no other choice in my mind. I wasn’t a praying man, but I’d put my hands together on this day and asked for forgiveness for all my sins. It might have been a little too late for that.
The same officer that had sat across from me for the first round of questioning was the one across from me now. The officer came in and sat down. Today he seemed to be a little more upbeat.
“Thanks for being here, gentlemen,” he said and gestured to the chair in front of him. A water jug was present on the table along with a tape recorder once again.
“Colt, you’re a lucky man. I’m not one for delaying something if I don’t need to. All charges against you have been dropped.”
My lawyer looked at me with a wide-open grin, and I sat still in amazement. How the hell did they not link me to the Las Balas member?
“Good. My client and I are extremely pleased with the result.”
I wanted to ask why, but I knew that would lead to suspicion. I had an inkling of what happened. I nodded, giving the officer a blank face. “Am I free to go now?”
“Yes, you are. We don’t need anything else from you.”
The officer stood up from his chair. It took me a little while longer to come to my senses. As he opened the door to walk out, he turned to me with a pensive look. “I recommend you keep as far away as you can from any of your old affiliations. You don’t want anything coming to bite you in the ass.”
“Understood,” I replied solemnly. I planned to be nowhere near any of them. Now it was time to go get my girl back if she would still have me.
“Colt, congratulations on getting out of that one. It was a pure case of self-defense. They had no evidence against you. He threatened to shoot you. You had a right to draw your weapon on your own property, and he shot your livestock.”
