Page 7

L ater that day, somewhere around two o’clock, with the heat from the sun beating hard on his head, Timber heard the dogs and commotion followed by a vehicle arriving.

He swore because for him to get company twice in one day meant that something was going on, and he didn’t like anything about it.

He watched as a sheriff’s car drove in slow and steady, before coming to a stop at the edge of the driveway onto the property.

Then again, Timber had a lot of equipment and building materials sitting everywhere, so coming any closer could have potentially been a problem.

Two men got out and walked toward him. He reached for the rag and wiped his face, taking off the sweat, as he dropped his hammer and strolled over to meet them.

As he got closer to the one, Timber stopped and stared.

The other man looked at him in shock, before a big grin crossed his face. “Jesus Christ, Timber ?”

Timber nodded and reached out a hand. “Richard, we meet up again.”

That wasn’t enough for Richard, who wrapped him up in a great big bear hug, chortling in sheer delight.

The other deputy just looked on.

When the reunion hug was over, Richard stepped back, looked over at his partner, and announced, “This is Timber Woodland. I served with him overseas.”

The other deputy appeared to be surprised. Pointing at Timber, he asked Richard, “So you know him?”

“I do know him,” Richard stated, “and he’s one hell of a good man too.”

Timber smiled at him. “It’s good to see you, Richard.”

Richard laughed. “It’s more than good to see you, good God,” he declared, staring at him.

“It’s absolutely unbelievable, mate. It’s been what, four or five years?

I heard you got blown up.” Timber, wearing shorts, gave him half a smile and pointed at his exposed legs.

Richard’s expression shifted as he took in the prosthetic.

He shook his head. “I’m sorry, man. I didn’t know. ”

“Doesn’t matter.” Timber shrugged. “I’m on the other side of it now.”

Richard smiled and nodded. “That’s what I would expect from you. Nothing ever knocked you down and kept you down for long.”

“It knocked me down pretty hard,” Timber admitted, “but it’ll take an awful lot more than that to keep me down.”

“Yeah, that’s the truth.”

Timber smiled, then asked him, “And what the hell are you doing out here anyway?”

At that, the other man stepped up. “We heard some complaints.”

Timber chuckled. “Oh, yeah? What kind of complaints and from whom?”

“We’re not sure how valid the complaints are,” Richard interjected. “So, let’s just have a nice quiet conversation.” Richard turned to face his partner, who snorted.

Timber asked, “Are you’re talking about that kid and his cronies who were out here yesterday?”

Richard stared at him. “Yeah, what do you know about that?”

“I know that they were hunting on my posted land,” he stated, “and you know how I feel about that.”

Richard nodded. “Of course, but they say it’s not your land and that you chased them off with gunfire, and you shot at one of them.”

He smirked. “Yeah, after one of them pointed their rifle at me and cocked the thing. You know full well that if I’d been trying to hit him, I would have. I can’t believe he went whining to you about me, when he was the one breaking more than one law.”

Richard winced, and the other man glared at him. “What the hell does that mean?” the other man asked Timber.

“It means that this is my land. You no doubt saw all the No Hunting/Trespassing signs on your way here. You can check on the proper sale with Andy, and, chances are, you’ve already done just that.

So I’m not sure what you’re even doing here right now, unless”—his gaze hardened, as he turned to look at Richard—“unless you guys are in cahoots with some club I’ve not yet earned a membership in. ”

“It’s not that we’re in cahoots with anything,” the other guy said, “but we have to check out every complaint.”

“That’s fine. You check out every complaint,” Timber replied. “Did you not get my phone call yesterday, reporting the incident?” Timber paused for an answer that he never got. “ Right , so I should go into town and put in a complaint of my own.”

“For what?” the other man asked.

Timber just stared at him for a long moment, then deliberately ignored him and turned to Richard. “Because those three men were hunting on my property, trespassing, and they shot a pregnant deer and left it wandering around with an arrow in her shoulder.”

Richard winced again.

Nobody who’d served in the military would understand more than Richard would just what that would do to an animal.

“That was really shitty,” Richard muttered.

“Not only really shitty but, when I told them to get off my land, they got very aggressive and told me that it wasn’t my land and that they had every right to hunt here.”

“And do they?” the other man asked him.

Timber faced him with a scowl. “You’re more than welcome to talk to Andy, which I already did last night, and, in fact, he was out here this morning.

The truth of the matter is that he never gave them permission, even when he did still own the property.

Andy gave the one kid’s father some leeway many years ago, when the family was short on food, and allowed him to come and take out a young buck.

That was a long time ago, and nobody ever gave any of these three idiots permission to hunt here, much less to shoot a pregnant doe. ”

“And how would you know she was pregnant?” the other man mocked.

Richard turned on him angrily, as Timber stared the other guy down and snapped, “Because I watched her give birth this morning. And I’ve got the photos to prove it.

” When Richard looked at his sad excuse of a partner in delight, Timber nodded.

“It seemed the rough first aid of yesterday that I gave her may have done her some good, and she came through the night strong enough to have her fawn, at least.”

“You were always a hell of a field medic,” Richard muttered.

“Yeah, well, it’s not exactly something I thought I would need down here already, but obviously I do,” Timber noted.

“I think that’s a skill you’ll always need,” Richard muttered. “And, even if you don’t, it’s always a good one to have,” he pointed out.

“I agree,” Timber replied, “but I won’t be here taking arrows out of animals from punk-ass kids who don’t know the meaning of trespassing.”

Richard repeated, “And Andy told you that they hadn’t been given permission by him either?”

“That’s what Andy told me,” Timber confirmed, still ignoring the other deputy.

His name tag read Foster, but the way he acted, he was a loose cannon on the wrong side of the law, so was to be watched.

“Andy also talked to the one guy’s mother, who was hoping I would go easy on him next time I saw him. ”

At that, the other deputy turned and asked plainly, “Did you threaten him?”

“Threaten him?” Timber repeated. “What are you, related in some way?” Foster flushed and Timber nodded. “Interesting to send some relative of the kids out here,” he noted, frowning at Richard.

“We’re incredibly short-staffed,” Richard explained.

“Honest to God, if I’d known you were here, I would have been more than pushy about getting you to come onboard.

” When Timber just stared at him, Richard shrugged.

“I know who you are inside and out,” he shared.

“So believe me, if you want a job, I’m pretty sure I can get you in. ”

At that, Foster snorted.

Timber turned to him. “And yet you’re the kind of guy who doesn’t want me onboard, even though you don’t know me, and why is that?”

Foster snapped, “Because Richard can’t say that about you because you couldn’t pass the physical.”

At that, Richard turned on him and said, “Hey, that was uncalled for.”

“He won’t, will he?” Foster repeated.

“Aren’t you about forty pounds overweight, Deputy Foster?” Timber asked, pointing to the rather hefty midsection he sported. “I highly doubt you would pass a physical either, and, in fact, I kind of like my chances.”

As Richard just smiled, Foster glared at Timber. “Yeah, that sounds like you, taking a cheap shot below the belt.”

“What do you expect me to do with those idiot kids?” Timber asked, still and calm.

“I was in the right to order this punk kid and his two buddies off my land when he came in here, trespassing and hunting on my property, which as you saw was clearly posted. I doubt any of them even have a valid hunting license, but I guess that doesn’t really mean anything to you, Deputy Foster, does it?

” Timber asked, his gaze not leaving the other man.

“It does mean something,” Richard interjected. “Obviously in small towns, everybody is heavily connected, so it’s easy to ruffle feathers and all that.”

“Ruffled feathers are one thing,” Timber clarified. “Shooting animals for fun… on my posted property is a completely different thing.”

“I agree with you there.” Richard looked at his partner and asked plainly, “And what are your thoughts on it now?”

“I think we have to confirm his story. We’ve got two people saying very different things.”

“Yeah, we’re saying very different things,” Timber confirmed, staring at him. “And yet it doesn’t matter to you who’s in the right here because you’ll make sure it’s not me.”

“I didn’t say that,” Foster declared.

“No, but you implied it.” Timber stared at him with a hard look. “I don’t threaten easily,” he said, looking from one deputy to the other. “So, I’m not sure what your purpose was in coming here, but I’ve got to tell you. If those kids come back again, they will see the wrong end of my rifle.”

“Hey, hey, hey, no threats, man, that won’t help,” Richard stated.

“You’re not the one who spent a lot of time with an innocent animal that was suffering so badly that she let me pull an arrow out of her shoulder, scrub it clean, and stitch it back up, were you?”

“Right,” Richard muttered. “And, if that’s what those kids were doing, then obviously that’s got to stop.”

“But we don’t have any proof that that’s what he was doing,” Deputy Foster pointed out. “And we don’t know this character.” He pointed at Timber.

“That’s not true,” Richard snapped. “I do know Timber. I didn’t know it was him when we came out here, but now that I know who we’re dealing with, I definitely hold the story those kids told us in question.”

His partner frowned at him. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, seriously,” Richard stated, with a hard look.

“You don’t understand what it’s like out there overseas and what we go through in the military.

You get to know the true mettle of a man when you walk a mile in his shoes.

And believe me that I’ve walked in Timber’s shoes, and he’s walked in mine,” Richard declared, his tone hard.

“No way he would have done something like what that one kid described.”

“You haven’t seen him in how long, and he’s crippled now,” Foster added, his tone almost mocking as he looked at Timber. “You don’t really know who he is at all.”

Richard’s face turned dark red, as he asked Foster, “ Deputy Foster , did you just call him a cripple again ?”

He flushed. “I don’t know what you expect me to say.”

“I expect you to be decent and respectful. That’s what I expect,” Richard snapped at his partner. “And I think you may be forgetting who you’re talking to, Deputy Foster .”

As the other man flushed, Timber watched the play-by-play curiously. He figured Richard was pulling rank, making Richard the Chief Deputy. Timber tried to hide his smirk.

Richard turned back to Timber. “Look, if he comes back, just chase him off and let us know, will you?”

Timber didn’t say anything.

Richard hesitated and added, “Please, Timber, don’t shoot the kid if you don’t have to.”

Timber shrugged. “Don’t need to shoot him at all if he doesn’t come back. So, if he comes back, you know the rules as well as I do.”

Richard nodded and sighed. “I do. Anyway, it would be nice to catch up one day.” He looked around as he walked to his car and then back at him. “Do you ever come into town?”

“Sure. I go in for supplies.” As Timber walked with them, the sunlight hit his prosthetic leg, illuminating it.

Richard noted it and shook his head. “Damn, that’s a mighty-fine leg.”

“Yeah, and a mighty-fine artist designed it for me.”

He stopped and asked, “Kat?”

“Absolutely,” Timber agreed, with a smile. “I worked for Kat and Badger for a good… I don’t know. Ten months? I still go in and help every once in a while,” he murmured.

“Help them with what?” Richard asked curiously.

“Building, trades, whatever, you know?”

“I do know.” Richard smiled. “It’s a hell of a good group there.” He turned and looked at his partner, who was looking a little less antagonistic. “You know Kat and Badger as well as I do.”

He nodded. “I do.” He turned to face Timber. “Do you think they’ll vouch for you?”

“They don’t need to, since I can vouch for myself, but, yeah, I’m sure they would.”

Foster frowned at that, since it was obviously not the answer or the turn in circumstances he wanted to hear. “I guess we need to go back and talk to those kids again then.”

Timber didn’t say anything, but he nodded and waited as they got in their car. When they were gone, Timber turned and looked around at his place and groaned. “Of course that’s the kind of shit I’ll have to deal with now.”

And, with a headshake, he got back to work.