“Like you said, I’m betting that they’re used to getting their way, and when you told them no, they resorted to violence.”He kissed the area close to her stitches and told her that he loved her.“I’m going to take you home, and you’re going to nap on the couch until it’s bedtime.Tomorrow you’re off, and while I’m gone, I want you to make sure you rest as much as you can so that you’re well rested when I get home.I might want to make love to you again.”
“You always want to make love.I wonder how I keep up.”They both laughed, and she decided that she’d had enough being pissed off at McGee.He wasn’t her problem anymore, and she didn’t want to have to deal with him anymore.If he needed help from her, which she didn’t see him asking for, she was going to tell him to fuck off.It was the least she could do to him after the way that he treated her today.The little pisser.
True to his word, Wylie pampered her every bit as much as she needed.He not only massaged her feet for her, but he also made sure she had a cup of hot cocoa so that she could enjoy her nap.Cocoa always put her to sleep, and now was no different.As soon as she closed her eyes, she was out.
Waking up at ten, she wondered how she was ever going to get to sleep tonight.But as usual, she was fighting sleep even as she laid in bed waiting for Wylie to join her.As soon as he wrapped herup in his arms, she decided that there wasn’t a better place to be than where she was right now.But when she saw the lights go out, she thought of the man who had hit her.
“He really didn’t care that I was a woman getting off work.”Wylie told her that his type of people rarely cared about anything but their own wants and needs.“I get that, but he actually hit me like I was his child or something.I wonder if they have any kids?I’m betting that they have very little to do with them.I’d certainly not.”
“You never know.It could have been a one-time thing with him being cranky about his poor feet.I’m not taking his side in this, but he might have figured that he was in a tourist town and that rules didn’t apply to him.I’ve seen that happen before.”She looked at him in the dark room.She asked him when.“Once when I was in town with Kinsey, we were loading up some feed for the chickens when this man came up to us and asked us about what sort of farm animals we had on our farm.Being nice, we told him, but didn’t stop what we were doing.The man said, not asked, but told us that we were to allow his kids to come out to the farm and pet our animals.Like that would be something that we’d do.”
“What happened?You didn’t take him up on his so generous offer, did you?”He laughed and told her no, that they’d not.Then he told her what had happened.“They called the police on you?What a shitty thing to do.I’m hoping that whoever was in charge told them no as well.”
“He couldn’t believe that they thought that was something we should have been arrested for.I think it was the guy before you, old man Hamilton.He just stared at them for so long that I was sure that he was having a stroke or something.Anyway, he just walked away without even bothering to talk to the man.To this day, I think about that and wonder what would have happened if someone else had been in charge.We never took them out to the farm, nor did his kids get to pet any animals either.I can’t believe that they thought it would be all right with us that they petted the cows.Damn it, but people are strange.”
She snuggled down under the covers with Wylie and closed her eyes.She was really tired even though she’d had a nice nap.Tomorrow was going to be the first day of the rest of her life without working as a chief, and she was looking forward to it more than she might have thought about this morning.Wylie was right; people were strange.
Chapter 9
“Were you a part of this?”Hailey shook her head no, but didn’t put her hands down.She liked every part of her body without holes in it.And the police were just itching to plug a few holes into someone.“Well, someone was in on it, and I want answers.Who started this and why?”
“I came into this just about the time you did, sir.”He snorted at her, an honest-to-goodness snort, and moved away.She’d not been kidding.She was coming into the building when about fifty police officers came into the room right behind her, shoving her ahead all the way.If there had been anyone shooting at them, she would have been first in line to have a bullet in her head.
They were all dressed in dark uniforms with helmets on, as well as gloves.She wondered briefly if the gloves were bulletproof, but didn’t want to seem like she was too interested in their clothing, for she might end up dead like the man lying beside her.The police hadn’t shot him, but he was dead for sure.
There was a woman across from her who was winking and tilting her head like she knew something.Ignoring her as best she could, Hailey looked around the room that once held a nice kitchen.She didn’t know what had gone on before she’d gotten here, but something big had gone down, and she was in the dark as to what.She had a feeling that winker knew, but she wasn’t going to ask her.She just needed to get out of here before anything else happened.
The officer who had told her to kneel down and shut up stood in front of her.His gun was laying across his chest, and he was holding it like he was ready to use it.He asked her name.Clearing her throat twice, she was finally able to squeak it out.
“Hailey Sheppard.I work here.”He nodded once and moved on.Kicking the dead man, she wondered if he was trying to get his name, too.“That’s Jamie Sheppard.No relation.He works…worked here too.We did the dishes together.”
“Why’s he dead?”She thought he was asking her for the cause of death, and she told him someone had shot him in the head.“I know that, dumbass.I was wondering why someone killed the dishwasher.And how did you make it out if he was bent on killing everyone in the place.”
“I just got here.Just as you people were coming in, you shoved me on down the hall and past the time clock so that I couldn’t clock in.”She looked up at the man.“I don’t have a clue what’s going on right now other than the place I work looks like a bloodbath.”
“You just keep your mouth shut, and you might make it to the time clock.Though I doubt anyone will care that you’ve been late today.”She could see that.Her boss was sitting in his office chair with his head blown off.The only reason she knew it was him was because he always wore a lot of gold chains, and the headless man had several on that looked like something he wore.It was making her sort of sick to see all this blood, but she was going to hang on to her breakfast if it was the last thing she did today.“When they ask for information, you tell them to come and look for Chief of Police McGee.”
“And who would that be?”He pointed to himself, and she could see that he was pissed off that she hadn’t known who he was.“I’ll tell them.Do you suppose they’ll care?”
“They’d better.”She’d make sure they knew who to look for when they started asking her questions, but she didn’t know what good it would do.She didn’t much care for the Chief, but she’d do as she was told.When he moved on, she finally sat down on her feet.Sitting up the way that she’d been was hurting her toes and knees.And with her hands up and over her head like they were, she was beginning to cramp up in the worst sort of ways.
She sat there stretching as best she could without causing anyone to look in her direction.Winker was still at it, and she finally turned around to see if there was someone behind her that she was trying to get the attention of.Nope.Just her.Or Jamie.But he wasn’t getting it either.
Hailey thought about what Jamie had told her a few months ago.About the restaurant that they both were working for.He’d been here for about five years, and she’d been here for about three.It was coming up on her anniversary in a few weeks.He said that he thought the place was going to go up in a blaze of glory soon.She didn’t know what that meant, nor did she care, but it looked to her like someone had tried to do what he’d predicted.
There were two more bodies that she could see.One was the hostess, and the other had been Mary Sue, one of the waitresses.She couldn’t see what had killed them, but they were dead as Jamie because she’d seen all the blood.
Then there was Winker.She didn’t know where she worked, but she did have on one of the uniforms of the people who worked in the kitchen.Her hair was stringy, and her face looked like she’d taken some kind of scrub brush to it, but other than that, she looked all right.She looked like she’d not had a proper bath in about a year.Plus, she was super skinny, like food was way down on her list of things to partake in.The man McGee came back.
“You can let her go.”He pointed his gun at her, and she looked at the man with him.“She doesn’t know anything, and I don’t like the way she keeps looking around.Take her up front and get her particulars so we can contact her when we need something.”
She assumed that her particulars were her home address and phone number.She’d give that to him, but she wasn’t going to be staying here for long.Jamie had told her that when the place went up, to find a place to hide until it was over.While she didn’t have a clue what he’d been talking about, she was going to run for cover as soon as she was out of here.Things that he’d told her were coming out, and she wanted nothing to do with the place.
When she was allowed to stand, she had to hold onto the table behind her for several minutes.She’d been sitting in that position for about twenty or so minutes, and she hurt from it.Hailey was used to being on her feet all day, but this had been something different.
Hailey was also used to disappearing.When she was a child, it was what she did the best when there was trouble in the house.Not only could she disappear in the house, but she could not see her parents for weeks before she let them see her.They didn’t seem to mind, however, and she was fine with that too.Then, as she got older, she was even better at getting lost, so that when people came around to her family home, they would sometimes be surprised that they even had a child.Hailey liked that most of all.
After giving them her address and phone number, she was allowed to leave.Going out of the big building, she took out her cell phone, took out the SIM card, and busted the phone.As she walked past her car, she got two bags out of her trunk and kept walking toward the line of trees that was behind the restaurant.If anyone had been watching, they’d think she’d been swallowed up by the trees.
