“He’s not in your tent?” asked Galen, then Bede added in a fake, shocked way that was obviously meant to be funny, “And it’s not visiting day!”
Galen and Bede and Toby all looked at Zeke, like they expected him to do something about it. The visitor guidelines were just that, guidelines. In the beginning, as with most rules, they were strictly enforced, but now everyone seemed much less stringent about it.
“I’ll go check it out,” said Zeke.
Maybe Cal went to get some privacy, or maybe Cal was going to borrow the truck without asking. Except that wasn’t like Cal, and besides, Zeke couldn’t hear the rumble of a truck’s engine. He did hear voices, shouting, echoes of anger coming through the trees.
None of this prepared him for the sight of Cal and another man, grappling like a pair of wrestlers. The only difference was, Cal had been hit in the face.
His nose was bleeding. His eyes were wide, and he had that same shocked, shook expression as he’d had the day, weeks ago, when he’d arrived in the valley.
The other man was Preston. Zeke recognized him from the single black-and-white photo in Cal’s file. And he was acting like he’d acted when Cal had been behind bars, behaving badly enough for some guard to have been moved to make notes about each visit.
Just as Zeke opened his mouth to shout at them to stop, Preston shoved Cal. Cal, off balance, went sprawling, hard, to the ground.
Zele was between them in an instant, facing Preston with Cal behind him. He didn’t need to threaten because Preston hopped back, a shocked look on his face as if astonished that someone would come between them.
“This is none of your business.” Preston stuck his chin out, blonde curls dancing, eyes blazing. They were blue, like Cal’s were, but there was nothing but hate and anger in them. “You need to step back, mister.”
“You have no business being here,” said Zeke. Normally he stayed away from fights, but he wouldn’t hesitate to step into this one. “You’ve got no call to be treating Cal like this.”
“Got nocall?” asked Preston, mocking him. “I have every right to be here. I even talked to Maddy. Any day is visiting day.”
“Visiting days are Sundays,” said Zeke, not backing up an inch, not lowering his voice. “If you’re going to come on a different day to visit Cal? You need to go through me.”
“Who the fuck are you?” Preston’s eyes glowed as though he’d landed a victory.
“I’m Cal’s team lead,” said Zeke.
Behind him, he could hear Cal getting to his feet, the shuddery sighing sound as Cal took a breath. He wanted to check on Cal, but he had a feeling that if he turned his back on Preston, Preston would get the drop on him.
“I’m his team lead and I say what goes for men on my team. Which means no visitors except on Sundays.”
It seemed a foolish hill to take a stand on when he said it out loud like that. Who cared when the men in Farthingdale Valley had visitors, as long as it didn’t interfere with the work being done?
But Preston was his own situation, a whirlwind of meanness. Cal didn’t deserve to have to deal with this on his own, but that was precisely what he’d done. Slunk off to the parking lot to confront this man of all men.
“You okay, Cal?” asked Zeke over his shoulder.
“Y-yes,” said Cal.
Cal might be okay physically, enough to stand and answer, but Preston’s presence could not be a welcome one. Zeke needed to send Preston on his way and get Cal some ice or whatever he needed for wherever Preston had struck him.
“You need to get lost before I call the sheriff.” Zeke jerked his thumb in the direction of the switchback road that would take Preston up and out of the valley.
“You can’t make me leave.” Preston crossed his arms over his chest, focused on Zeke, and not on Cal’s labored breathing behind Zeke. It was quite obvious he didn’t actually care at all about Cal.
“I sure can,” said Zeke. “And you can test that, if you like.”
From behind them came footsteps out of the woods. The footsteps most likely belonged to Galen, Bede, Toby, and Owen, on their way to get in the truck for some errand or other.
Preston glanced at the group and, with a huff, uncrossed his arms, stalked to his fancy car—a really fancy two seater BMW convertible.
Right before he yanked open the driver’s door, he turned to Cal and, with a snarl, said, “I’ll be back for you, fuckhead.”
Tamping down his anger, Zeke turned to the approaching men, expecting a slew of questions, but Galen only asked, “Everything all right?”
Galen and his crew came to a halt as they watched the BMW race out of the parking lot, spitting gravel and sliding around the first hairpin of the road out of the valley.
