Page 59

CHAPTER 59

REDLEY

I break the tree line and hit the main road filled with an ambition I’ve never had before. When I left the first time, I was devastated and tempted by the devil. I was running away from my problems, not toward something. This time feels different, though. Yes, I am running away from Wolf again, but this time. it’s not a question or a what-if. I know I love him, and I can’t keep doing that. I can’t imagine what kind of woman I’ll turn into standing at his side, but I don’t think I’m ready to see.

Everything I own or stole from the outpost is already in my truck, but I don’t have money, and I’ll need gas to get out of town. Wolf didn’t kill the owner of the diesel station, which if he’s going to kill people, can’t it be deaths that help me for a change? A jolt of guilt pulses through me. I shouldn’t be thinking things like that, but damn if it isn’t true.

There’s only one person in this town I know for sure has any money, and I’m not trading a full-blown diamond for a tank of gas.

I pull up outside his office, which shares the parking lot with the post office. The town is really quiet today. It's not that it’s ever too busy, but the silence is overbearing, especially after the excitement of the news crew. The truck stops in front of the building, the door stands open, and a light shines from deep inside.

I open my truck door, grab my shotgun off the seat, and then hop down, boots crunching across the gravel. Since the door stands open, the bell doesn’t ring when I walk in, so Doc doesn’t notice me right away. I’m not too surprised to find him with boxes in front of him, flying around the office with his things like he can’t get out of town fast enough. I wonder if our conversation had anything to do with that.

I watch him under the light of his shop, wondering exactly who he is to Wolf. It doesn’t really matter, though. Wolf is the only one in their family who won’t die by my hand. His yellow eyes flash, and I shake my head at myself for not having realized sooner. That’s what you get for having tunnel vision. I’ve watched enough, and it’s time to put an end to this and get the hell out of town.

“Doc,” I say, raising the gun. “Where’re you headed?”

He stops in his tracks, looking up at me with a kind of hunger I’ve seen a time or two now. Just like that, he shows me his true face for the first time in my life. I knew there was something about him I didn’t like, something that stank, but now that he’s dropped the act, it’s clear what stunk was the bullshit he’s constantly covered in. I wonder if he’s been a part of the killings all along or maybe just when he was younger.

“Not headed anywhere, Redley. Just doing some spring cleaning,” he says, so obviously full of shit I’m not sure why he’s trying anymore.

“You know, Doc. I’ve never known your real name, not even your last name. What is it?”

He clears his throat before he says, “Don’t have one. It’s just Doc to you.”

“Where did you learn how to be a doctor, Doc. You’re from Grimm Groves, aren’t you? Never seen a medical school around here.”

He sneers at me. “Some people are poor. Some people leave for an education.”

“No, not everyone is poor, and I’m sure not.” I pull the diamond out of my pocket and hold it up for him to see. “I know almost everything.”

“I highly doubt that,” he answers.

He’s not a doctor. He’s not here to help anyone.

“Are you the one cashing all the checks for the electric bills? You ran these lines out here yourself, didn’t you? Stealing from my family all those years wasn’t enough?”

He looks up at me, surprised, a laugh in his throat.

“You really figured that out? Maybe you’re not more tits than brains after all, but as a matter of fact, no, stealing from you wasn’t enough. My nephew likes to spend money. Doesn’t matter, though, because I’m leaving. I’ll find someone new to steal from,” he assures me as he closes his case and slaps the top.

“You think so?” I ask with a little lilt to my voice. “You think you’re going somewhere with my money?”

“I suppose I am,” he says as he spares me one glance like he thinks I wouldn’t dare actually shoot him. Have none of these stupid fuckers figured out yet that the only one of them I’m weak for is Wolf?

If I’ve learned one thing from all of this, it’s don’t point a gun at someone you don’t really want to kill, and that’s not a mistake I plan to make with Doc whatever his name is. With the shotgun resting smoothly on my shoulder and my trigger finger sure, I shoot. The butt sits solidly against my shoulder, my aim is true, and I blow the old bastard’s fucking head off before he can give me any more of his bullshit.

I wait for my gun to stop smoking and then for what’s left of him to slide slowly down the wall and hit the floor. Only then, I walk over to his corpse and take a closer look at my handiwork. The intense pleasure I got with Wolf’s father was a more thrilling experience, but this isn’t bad. I’m starting to get just a little too much of a taste for killing, and that’s just another reason to leave Grimm Groves. I take one last look at him before I spit on his corpse.

“Rot in hell,” I tell him before I finally return the favor to the Badgleys and rob them back.

I look through the shit he was packing up and steal everything worth my time, but most interestingly, I find ten thousand dollars of cash wrapped up in little bundles of five hundred dollars. I whistle long and low through my teeth, then I walk out of there with a bag full of money and opium and a fine blood spray all over me.

All I need to do is sell these drugs and this miserable fucking land, and I’ll be set for life. No one ever needs to know about the diamonds. Wolf can keep stealing them from someone else for all I care. I am done.