Too Tough To Tame: Red: Book 2 Read online

  “I’m afraid as bad as he is, John Savage is the least of our problems. He’ll get his just rewards in due time. I’ll make sure of that. As for all the other stuff… well, I’m afraid there are some bad days on the horizon.”

  “And your going away… exactly how is that going to help deal with whatever catastrophes are headed our way?”

  “It won’t, probably. But if nothing else I can clear my head. Be better prepared to deal with whatever comes our way.”

  “If you need some time away, go. Bonnie’s been pawing at the ground a lot lately. She’s itching to go on one of your long journeys. I can see it in her eyes.”

  “Will you be okay if I’m gone for a week or two?”

  Butch gave her a “duh” look.

  “Have I ever not been okay?”

  “We’ve never had a situation quite like this before.”

  “True. But it’s also true that every single bad situation we’ve been in before has eventually passed. This one will too, I suspect. Now go. I don’t like that you’ve been walking around in a zombie state, so tensed up that you jump every time somebody slams a door. Go and relax for a week or two. You’ll come back a new woman, and then we’ll talk more about the future and how to deal with it.”

  Since she was a teenager, Red would periodically disappear into the woods.

  She would take rudimentary gear: a bed roll, a rifle, a handgun and ammunition. Fishing gear and materials to snare small animals.

  And her Bible, for when she needed to communicate with her other Father.

  It wasn’t that she was anti-social during those times. She just felt a need to get away for a while. To leave her troubles and sorrows behind her, so she could be at one with nature and could get her bearings again.

  Butch understood, for he himself was that way. He himself would disappear for days at a time when Red was young, always leaving behind a note saying he had to “get his monkeys lined up again.”

  It was a curious phrase, and they’d laughed about it many times over the years.

  But those monkeys still became misaligned occasionally, for both of them.

  And they occasionally felt a need to get away.

  Sometimes Butch still took a break from it all.

  And sometimes it was Red. This time it was her turn, and as she galloped away with Bonnie toward her favorite isolated campsite, her mind raced about a thousand different things.

  The possibility of losing her father wasn’t one of them. Had it been, she never would have gone.

  Chapter 5

  John Savage grinned like a Cheshire cat.

  He was not an attractive man. His face was deeply furrowed and pockmarked. He was squat and portly and wheezed when he walked. He was the kind of man that young children instinctively looked at with a wary eye.

  In the same manner, perhaps, as they’d examine an ogre.

  The smile did nothing to complement the already ugly face, it being made through cracked, broken and rotting yellow teeth.

  There was something about the face that made even adults look away.

  Something evil.

  But Savage didn’t care very much about what others thought of him. Villains rarely did.

  Savage had just won a prize. A major prize that would make his future criminal endeavors infinitely easier.

  By a vote of three to zero, the Blanco City Council had just elected Savage as the town’s new police chief. The fourth member of the council, Savage himself, abstained from the vote. It just wouldn’t have been proper for him to vote for himself, he told the others.

  From here on out, no matter what he did, no matter what laws he broke, he was untouchable.

  It was a good day to be alive. At least for anyone in Blanco who was a crooked banker and whose name was Savage.

  He stood before the mayor, with the best “honest citizen” face he could muster.

  “Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, members of the council, for the confidence you have bestowed upon me today. I accept the appointment with the utmost of humility, and will do the job to the best of my abilities.”

  “Of course, we will have to work out the financial arrangements before we can officially present you with an offer,” the chief financial officer stated.

  Savage replied, “I understand. I’m confident we can come to amenable terms.”

  The fact was that Savage would have done the job for no money at all if he’d had to. Accepting the job at any salary would be a smart move, for it would render him virtually immune from prosecution for any of his crimes. If anyone dared file charges against him, he’d just decline to investigate and bury the complaint under the rug for a safe time. Then he’d simply make it disappear.

  But people as greedy as Savage seldom do anything for free. Even when it benefits them.

  In this case, he’d negotiate with the town council to give him several tracts of seemingly worthless land in lieu of a salary. The town would leap at the chance to get rid of the land, although they’d have no clue why Savage or anyone else would want it.

  Savage was banking on the lights coming back on someday. And he was banking on someone figuring out how to make the cars run again. And that gas and oil would once again become valuable. And that each and every property he owned within the city limits of Blanco would become valuable beyond belief.

  He didn’t know when that day would come. But every section of land he owned would be another oil lease. Another cash cow the oil companies would pay millions to drill on. He’d die a billionaire, possibly the richest man in Texas. And those who said he was ruthless and had no soul be damned. He’d get the last laugh. For only he knew about the oil beneath their feet.

  Another fact that would never see the light of day was that Savage really didn’t win the appointment to police chief.

  Well, he did in a truly technical sense. The mayor and the council did officially appoint him, and would officially swear him in a few days later after they agreed on how many tracts of land to give him.

  But actually, he bought their votes.

  At least, enough to secure the appointment.

  The nice thing about being the only banker in town, at least from John Savage’s perspective, was that virtually every one of Blanco’s residents was beholding to him in some fashion.

  It was a stroke of luck when the previous police chief had the courtesy to die just about the time Red and Butch Poston started asking questions about the deaths of her husband and son.

  There was a good chance they would ask the town of Blanco to investigate the explosion to determine whether it might be a double homicide.

  But they’d need a new police chief first.

  It was imperative to Savage that he be elected into that position.

  So he could opt not to investigate. Or, even better, would investigate the incident and determine there was no foul play involved.

  It was just one more thing on his long list of schemes to own the entire town outright, one piece of land at a time.

  Not to mention get away with murder.

  In Savage’s mind, his scheme would work because it was foolproof. He’d get the votes he needed because as a banker he held the paper on nearly all the town’s mortgages. There was a stipulation in each mortgage agreement that allowed him to make demands for an alternate form of payment in the event the dollar ever collapsed.

  No one who’d signed their mortgage papers ever thought it might happen, but the dollar did indeed cease to be of any value on the day the world went dark.

  And Savage’s demands for gold or silver payments in lieu of the dollar were unreasonable, for none of the residents had enough precious metals to make long term mortgage payments.

  Despite being unreasonable and perhaps unethical, they were, however, legal.

  Just before the city council’s vote, Savage had paid after-hours visits to all three of the other council members.

  He was civil. He didn’t want to be beaten or shot. But what he told them, in essence, wa
s either pay up in silver or gold, or give him their votes for police chief.

  They had no silver and gold. Or, at least not in the amounts he demanded.

  But they did indeed have votes to give him instead.

  Butch Poston stood in the back of the Town Council chambers when Savage made his speech accepting his appointment as police chief.

  Butch knew that the next phase of Savage’s plan was to absolve himself of all responsibility for Russell’s and Rusty’s deaths.

  But Butch had plans of his own.

  Chapter 6

  It had become a custom, of sorts, for the citizens of Blanco to gather in the town square each evening at five p.m.

  The main purpose was to fairly distribute the foodstuffs that volunteers on horseback brought back from their daily scrounging missions.

  But it was also a way for the good people of Blanco to share gossip, commiserate over the miserable conditions they all shared, and pray for the newly departed.

  Butch was approached by a good friend, Judge Dan Moore, who usually oversaw the proceedings.

  “I guess you heard that John Savage got himself elected police chief.”

  “I heard, Judge.”

  “Any idea why?”

  “I’ve got my suspicions, yes.”

  “But you’re not willing to share them?”

  “Not yet, no. I try not to tarnish a man’s name until I have good reason to. I wouldn’t want anyone to do that to me, and I shouldn’t do it to others.”

  “Even if the ‘others’ are men the likes of John Savage?”

  Butch looked at his friend. It was obvious he was digging for something. Or was trying to confirm something he himself suspected.

  “What are you driving at, Judge?”

  “I’ll tell you what, Butch. I understand your unwillingness to besmirch another man’s name. That’s an admirable trait. But I myself have no such morals to constrain me. I generally speak my mind. Sometimes I’m wrong and get egg on my face. Sometimes I have to go back and do some damage control or apologize for something I’ve said or done. But generally what I say turns out to be right in the end. So I tend to just let loose whenever I have something to put out there.”

  Butch smiled.

  “And sometimes, Judge, it takes you forever to say it.”

  “I’ll tell you what, Butch. I’ll just make some general comments, and you can nod your head if you agree with me. Fair enough?”

  “Sure, Judge. I’ll play your silly game. Go ahead.”

  “I think there was something fishy about Russell’s and little Rusty’s deaths. I’ve thought that from the beginning. An explosion out of the blue like that, in a house that was all electric, that had no gas lines, that had no stored fuel or gasoline, and just blows up. It seemed strange to me.”

  “I’ll agree with you on that.”

  “John Savage mentioned to me that it was a shame the house exploded and started the fire. And I asked him how he came to that conclusion. He said he put two and two together.

  “But Butch, I think he put two and two together and came up with seven. Fires start explosions sometimes, yes. When they find something flammable to ignite. And explosions sometimes cause fires, yes. But again, you’d have to have something to explode and something to detonate it. Between you and Red, you knew every inch of that house. What was in it. What it was made of. And if both of you swear there was nothing to cause that explosion to happen, then as far as I’m concerned it’s a fact.”

  “Okay. Again, Judge, I agree with you.”

  “When I heard that Savage volunteered to be the new police chief I wondered why. I mean, I was one of the first people to welcome him to town when he came in to be the new banker. I’ve known him that long. Now granted, we’re not cozy or close friends. But I’ve talked to him several times a week, at foreclosure proceedings, church socials and whatever. And not once has he ever expressed an interest in law enforcement or a concern about the lack of a police chief after our old friend died.”

  “Still agree with every word, Judge.”

  “So why now? Why all of a sudden is he so gung-ho about our needing a new police chief that he tries to get himself appointed into the position? He certainly doesn’t need the money. He’s already the richest man in town, by most folks’ accounts. And he certainly isn’t qualified for the job. I know because I asked him why in the world he thinks he’s capable of doing it.”

  “What did he say?”

  “He said he didn’t know beans about being a police chief. He said nobody else in town did either, and somebody obviously had to do the job. He said since nobody else was stepping up to the plate that he decided to. As part of his ‘civic duty,’ he said.”

  Butch laughed aloud.

  “Well, that much is crap for sure. There isn’t a civic bone in his body.”

  “Exactly. So why, then, would he undertake such an endeavor?”

  “I don’t know, Judge. There are some in the town who think he is doing it for the money. Or, at least, for the land he’s getting in lieu of the money…”

  “But you’re not buying that, are you?”

  “Not at all, Judge.”

  “So you, being a brilliant man like myself, have probably come to the same conclusion I have. That he heard the rumors the city council was going to try to find someone in the area… a professional law enforcement type, and would try to coerce them to move to Blanco to be our new police chief.”

  “Still with you, Judge.”

  “And if that happened, he assumed you’d ask the new police chief to formally investigate the explosion that killed your son-in-law and grandson.”

  “Damn, Judge, you’re good.”

  “Of course I am, son. I’ve been around a very long time and seen a lot of seedy characters. So you’ll probably agree with me that Savage took the offensive. Volunteered to be the police chief so he could squash your investigation. Keep someone else from discovering whatever role he might have played in it.”

  “Right again, Judge.”

  “Butch, I’ve known you a very long time. You’re not a man who sits on his hands. I know you’ve got a plan for dealing with this. I’d like to hear what it is.”

  “You’re right, Judge. I do have a plan. I was waiting for Red to go off to the woods again, so she’d be out of town for a few days and I wouldn’t have to worry about her. She’s always done that, or for many years, anyway. Any time the stress gets to her and she needs to regain her bearings.”

  “I know. Smart girl, that one.”

  “Well, she left yesterday. I know she can take care of herself in the woods. Better than she could here in town, if someone wanted to take out a potential witness with a long range rifle shot.”

  “Do you really think it might come to that, Butch?”

  “I don’t know, Judge. I hope not. And I really don’t think so. That would bring a lot of heat down on Savage and his cronies, and he can’t want that.”

  “But then again, if you’d asked me a month ago whether somebody would murder your son-in-law and grandson for no reason I’d have thought you were crazy.”

  “That’s just it, Judge. There’s got to be a reason. There just has to be. But for the life of me I can’t figure out what it is.”

  “So Red’s gone to the woods. Now what?”

  “She’ll be gone for a couple of weeks. I asked Clyde Hance to watch the hardware store for me so I could leave town for a few days and he’s been looking over my shoulder for the last couple of days to see how I do things. When he finishes asking me a thousand questions, I’ll leave the store in his hands and saddle a horse and ride into Austin.”

  “But Austin’s ninety miles away.”

  “Yep. But that’s where the Texas Ranger headquarters is.”

  A light came on in the old judge’s eyes and he finished Butch’s sentence for him.

  “And the Texas Rangers have the authority to come in here and conduct their own independent investigation.”

&nbs
p; “Exactly. Now, I figure I can cover twenty miles a day. I should be back in nine, maybe ten days. I’ll let them know what’s going on here, tell them my suspicions, and let them take it from there.”

  The pair tried to keep their voices down, but there were a lot of others milling about and a lot of crowd noise. So they had to raise their voices slightly occasionally to make themselves heard.

  And since there was a large crowd present, neither of them noticed that a tall thin man hovered close by, pretending to be involved in another conversation, while straining to hear each and every word they said.

  Sloan was one of Savage’s new henchmen. He’d come to town just a few days before and was staying in Mrs. Montgomery’s boarding house on the far edge of town. He said he was just a stranger, passing through on his long walk from Texas to New Mexico to join relatives there. It was a believable story, since with no working automobiles and horses in short supply, walking was now the most common way to get from point A to point B.

  Even when the two points were separated by hundreds of miles.

  Sloan walked into town with a limp, and told Mrs. Montgomery his blisters were so bad he couldn’t continue his trip without resting up and healing for a few days.

  The truth was, he wasn’t a stranger at all.

  At least not to John Savage.

  Chapter 7

  Sloan had gotten to know Savage when they served stints in a Texas prison together. Sloan for armed robbery, Savage for embezzlement.

  They’d become friends, of sorts, and had stayed in touch when they were paroled a few months apart.

  Savage eventually settled in Blanco, and Sloan ninety miles away in Austin.

  After the blackout happened and ninety miles of separation might as well have been a million, the two likely never would have laid eyes on one another again.

  Except that Sloan robbed the wrong guy, and a world of hurt was getting ready to rain down upon him.

  Sloan didn’t know that the wimpy teenaged boy he’d beaten up and then robbed of several gold coins was the disabled little brother of Manny Snow.