“Jesus, no,” Sonny pleads. “Don’t do it!”
Sonny screams, but I lose the sound when the door behind me flies open and bangs against the cinder-block wall. When I turn, I see John Kaiser staring wide-eyed at us with a combination of amazement and disgust.
“Have you lost your fucking minds?” he asks.
Nobody answers.
“Let go of him, Garrity,” Kaiser orders.
Walt doesn’t move.
With calm deliberation, Kaiser draws a pistol from an ankle holster and aims it at Walt’s head. “Step away, Captain. Anybody reaches for a weapon, I’ll fire. Does anybody doubt that?”
“Do what he says, Walt,” I say softly. “Walker, you too.”
“Hey, I’m done,” Dennis says, dropping his hands from Sonny’s waist.
After a tense few seconds, I hear the slap of wet cloth on Sonny’s head as Walt drops the noose.
“Everybody out in the hall,” Kaiser says, backing out of the doorway. “Now.”
We step into the hallway, but Kaiser doesn’t stay with us. Instead, he moves into the utility room and closes the door. I hear muffled voices inside.
“We done stepped in the shit now,” Walker says. “If only he’d waited another minute before busting in there. Goddamn it.”
“If we wait here, Kaiser might arrest us,” I think aloud. “We know where Dad is. We’d better get going.”
“It’s his word against ours,” Dennis snaps. “He can’t arrest us. This is my department.”
“Don’t kid yourself. He’ll do it. Normally, he’d call in the state police, but Kaiser’s not about to do that. Forrest and Ozan might show up in response. But it doesn’t matter. Walt, you’ve definitely got to get out of here. You’re wanted for murdering a cop. I’ll call you as soon as I’m outside.”
Walt nods, then trots up the hall and disappears around the corner.
“I guess we’re standing our ground?” I ask Walker.
As the doorknob of the utility room rattles, I whirl, and the sheriff jams something into my back pocket.
Kaiser steps out of the room and glares at Dennis. “Sheriff, I’m taking custody of all your prisoners until such time as the governor can make a determination about your fitness to continue in office. You will either confine yourself to your office or go home for the day. I suggest the latter.”
“You’ve got no authority over me,” Walker says. “It’s your word against mine, and unless you call the state police, you can’t do a thing. And you don’t want to call them.”
An odd smile touches Kaiser’s lips. “Sheriff, a wanted cop killer just fled the premises and you made no attempt to arrest him. That’s dereliction of duty. You may have noticed that Forrest Knox is not here to challenge federal authority today. I suggest you take a page from his book.”
Without waiting for Walker to respond, Kaiser turns to me and says, “You’re done here, Penn. Go home to your daughter.”
“John, they’ve—”
“I don’t care what they’ve done! You can’t torture people. You know that. This is a perfect illustration of how unhinged your father’s situation has made you. Don’t make me jail you, Penn. Go home.”
“I didn’t see any cop killer in here,” Sheriff Dennis says.
“Louisiana,” Kaiser mutters. “I guess it never changes after all. Get out of my sight, both of you.”
WALT, SHERIFF DENNIS, AND I huddle between a CPSO inmate van and a mobile crime-lab trailer. Sheriff Dennis is burning with rage and frustration, but Walt looks ready to roll.
“I’ve got Dr. Elliott’s truck and plenty of guns,” he says. “Let’s go get Tom.”
“Did you get the phone I put in your pocket?” Dennis asks me.
Reaching into my back pocket, I pull out a StarTac cash phone. “Whose is this?”
“I took it off Deputy Hunt this morning. I think he was using it to talk to Knox’s people. I’m thinking it might be a line to Forrest himself.”
“Did you try any of the numbers in it?”
“There’s only one. Nobody answered.”
“Where’s Deputy Hunt now?”
“I had my nephew lock him up at the gun range. I wasn’t sure how I wanted to handle him.”
“Go get him. Take him somewhere that no one could possibly find him. If Forrest knows he’s been taken, he’s already got men trying to kill him. We may need Hunt before we’re finished.”
“Don’t you want me to come to Thornfield’s cabin with you?”
“Walt and I can handle it.”
Walker hesitates, then nods. “If that’s how you want to play it, okay. Call me if you need me. And be careful.”
As the sheriff trots away, Walt starts toward Drew’s truck.
“I’m going to take my car,” I call to him. “You’re still a fugitive, and depending on what Kaiser has done about our little hanging party, you may need to rabbit one more time.”
“Okay.”
Adrenaline flushes through me as I sprint for my Audi.
“THIS THING’S GOING OFF the rails,” Forrest said, pulling his coat around him as the wind over the deck picked up. “I can feel it.”
“What you want to do, boss?” Ozan asked.
Forrest shook his head and wished he had a cigarette. He couldn’t move any faster than he was already. He’d hoped to reassure Snake by phone—and also to ask for a proof of life on Dr. Cage—but when the mole offered Snake a cell phone, Snake’s only answer had been to point at his watch. Forrest understood that message well enough. But now that so much time had passed, he was starting to worry that his worst fear was true.
“I think Dr. Cage is dead, Alphonse. There’s no other reason for Snake to put off talking to me like this. Not that I can see, anyway. And if Dr. Cage is dead . . . there’s no deal to be made with Penn Cage. Not one that’ll hold, anyway.”
Ozan pulled his hands from his pockets and rubbed them together in the wind. “I reckon not.”