I watch her leave but she's torn about not being able to reach me, it'll take more than a smile and doughnuts to get to me now. I watch her close the cell door and lock it, I shake my head about it and she looks at me funny before walking out of sight. I guess it's another hour when Sheriff John comes back and there is a new voice with him talking very fast and panicked.
"No Sheriff you aren't understanding me, let the young man go right now and his legal counsel won't bring up your deputies on charges," the voice says talking about me and I snicker, Mr. Delauter caught wind of my situation without a call.
"We're holding him for his own safety, it was the Burk's boy who was screwing around with him last night and had he used that gun he'd be in worse trouble than he is now," I hear the Sheriff reply but he gets cut off.
"What we are looking at are dismissal level offenses by a legal team that will not stop till they have enough of this office's blood sweat and tears on their hands that the next five sheriffs will remember this young man's name. I'm telling you that if you don't release him and let him call off his council you will not have to worry about an election you'll have to worry about whether or not you can retire," the man says again before it sounds like he's being ushered out.
"That's good and well and I'll take it under advisement Mr. Adams," I hear the sheriff say before I hear a door close," My god that man reminds me of a little dog yapping about everything."
I hear some laughter and they talk for a minute or two when Connie the deputy comes back and motions me out of the cell after opening it. I get led past the deputies' desks and into what I can only presume is the Sheriff's office where he's sitting with Nathaniel in one chair and I'm being asked to sit in the other.
"I was hoping you'd be in a better mood to talk this morning but from what my deputies tell me you're still looking for a fight after yesterday evening. Would you please sit down," Sheriff John asks.
"No, I want my personal items so I can get about my business and put this town behind me as quickly as possible," I state standing my ground.
"Well we're still looking into the matter of your bike. We haven't gotten around to the Burj residence yet but we'll check there before the end of the day," the sheriff informs me and I'm pissed.
"By the end of the day? He's had it since early evening yesterday and you are going to his home sometime today? Are you always this fucking lazy or is it just because I'm not one of the local populous," I ask pissed off.
"Calm down and that means now," John barks and I bark back.
"Or fucking what? Really I want to hear this, you'll do what to me illegally," I ask with a lot of heat.
"We have deputies looking into it now but I think you need more time to cool off. Connie puts him back in the holding cell till he cools off," Sheriff John orders and I get walked back and the door is closed behind me.
"Hey listen, it's a pretty noticeable bike and we've got people looking for it now. We'll find it and you'll be on your way soon enough," Connie tells me as I move to sit back in my new room.
"Pardon me if I don't put a lot of faith in you or your boss and coworkers," I tell her and proceed to close my eyes.
I'm hungry and into a cold rage as the hours pass and finally I hear my door being worked on and a husky built white deputy with a familiar blonde waitress in her work clothes opens the door and she tells him that she'll be fine but he looks at me nervously. Trudy has a plate in her hands and a sorrowful look on her face.
"Hey there, figured you could use a friendly face," Trudy says sitting down on the cot next to me.
"I could but I guess that happens after I leave town because all I see here are people screwing with me," I reply coldly.
"Well I brought you a burger and fries from the restaurant, Nathaniel is upset over driving away a paying customer. He's a nice boss and a good man," She says, pulling the cover off the plate and handing it to me.
"So why are you here anyway," I ask, doubting any sincerity with the offering of food.
"Mending fences and giving the police information about a missing motorcycle," Trudy tells me and I perk up," yeah Alvin Burke thought it was funny you got in trouble and was shooting his mouth off to his buddies this morning."
"Well at least someone knows what the hell they're doing in this town," I reply, finally eating.
It's a good burger and fries and Trudy is doing a wonderful job going into that motherly nurturing mode that some women get, it actually helps calm me down. We hear a commotion and see the guy who took my seat last night, Alvin Burk, being brought to the other holding cell in handcuffs while a voice from the other room starts to argue with the Sheriff in the main area with the deputy desks. The husky deputy, Wright is his name thanks to Trudy leads us out of the cell and I see an older gentleman and a woman discussing why he's being charged if he returned the bike. I figure that's the Burks and while the man is not remotely familiar the woman is ringing an alarm bell and Connie pulls me aside and I go through processing. I get all my goods back in place and when I'm handed my pistol I load and sight check it before putting on my holster and tucking it away properly.
"Where did you learn how to do that," Wright asks perplexed.
"What how to handle a firearm or how to deal with interrogation," I replied, smirking.
"The thing with the pistol, my daddy said he saw military guys and Special Forces guys do that when they check their weapons," He tells me and I get a look from Connie now.
"That would be my Dad, he taught me to use the handgun first and my hands second," I tell them and Connie scoffs a little.
"Why's that," she asks plainly.
"Because the gun is quick and painless, my hands are not," I tell her with cold confidence.
Both deputies look at me a little stunned, a teenage male with training and skill, not what they're used to around here. I finish signing the paperwork and watch as Mr. Burke heads into the office with the Sheriff to argue his son's case. I am led out by Deputy Morgan aka Connie and find my bike outside in their parking lot a little worse for wear, I'm just glad I left my saddle bags in my room. I say goodbye to Trudy who is headed back to work before returning to my room only to be greeted at the door by the woman who checked me in yesterday.
"The Sheriff called and let me know that you'd be back Mr. Donnelly, your personal belongings are right where you left them in your room tonight. If you'll be having dinner with the rest of us it'll be in the main room at six," the nice older woman tells me and I nod in response before heading to my room.
It's been almost a day since my kicking and I held it together pretty good in the sheriff's office but now in private I get to check myself. I pull my shirt off and gingerly and note the bruises, fucking cowboy boots and their pointed toes. I have a couple deep spot bruises about the size of a quarter where the toes hit me but other than that I can move mostly and breathe which is good. My spot I got punched in is tender but healing pretty damn good since I took no first aid offered. I shower and change clothes, basically new jeans and a very unfriendly t-shirt before calling my girls. I get Kori on the line again and she is laughing about how Mr. Delauter called them and let them know that he wouldn't stand for the small town bullshit and that he put the fear of god into their DA. We talk lightly and I let them know that tomorrow. We end our call happily and I call Mr. Delauter next, and he is ready to get some people fired and jailed but I ask him, and I don't know why, to let him relax on getting people fired. He promises to keep a close ear if I'm charged with anything he plans to send some legal people to handle it. I end that call before heading down to dinner a little early. Not a lot of people dining in but it's good food and I get to sit by myself and eat; amazingly nobody stares at me like I just grew a horn out of my forehead. I retire to my room for the night and rest since tomorrow I start hunting.