Chapter 18
Everyone from the installation crew was gone when she returned to the office.
“They’re done,” Kelly said from behind Mrs. Truman at the reception desk. “How was lunch?”
She opened the gate and entered the common area. “How would Kate know I was coming?”
“Harry probably called ahead. How was the beef dip?”
Joan looked down at her uniform to see if she had spilled anything on it. “Delicious.”
“Then that was it.” Kelly left Mrs. Truman to cover reception and came over to her. “Harry and Kate conspired to give you a great first lunch at the pub. Harry used to go there every day he was on the job unless he was out of town. He didn’t get that stomach from just eating donuts.”
While Kelly’s explanation was probably accurate, even a simple conspiracy to make her a special lunch seemed too much like other people making plans for her. Colleagues at the FBI had watched out for her, especially after Miranda, James and Michael were gone. She’d hated it then, too.
Why hire her if they thought she needed that much control externally applied? If they thought she wasn’t qualified for the job, they should have hired someone else. If they thought they’d just hired a puppet, they were in for one nasty kick up the ass.
“Where is our fulltime support staff person?”
“Janine phoned in sick.” Kelly chuckled. “She was determined to be here to meet you your first day, but she’s been down with the flu.”
“And what does Janine do here when she doesn’t have the flu?” Her jaw reminded her not to speak with it clenched.
Kelly was clearly taken aback by her tone and seemed to want to ask her if something was wrong. Instead, she said, “Janine Becker is your administrative assistant, our records clerk, bookkeeper, and evidence locker guru. She’s been here for seven years. I think she’s about your age. If you need to know how much money we have left in the budget, Janine will know it to the penny. If you need something found, Janine will get if for you.”
“How is she feeling?”
“She promises to be in by Wednesday.”
“Tell her only to come back once she’s sure she’s better.” It wasn’t like she had any cases to work on; Madsen had taken them all. “What does Amelia do besides reception?”
“She is the fastest typist the world has ever seen. Most of our forms are on the system now, but if you ever need something entered on the computer and printed up fast, Amelia can do it. When you’re ready to go with that workforce report, Amelia can do the final copy for you. That’s assuming Janine doesn’t snatch it away first.”
“Good to know.”
Back in her office, she spent the afternoon trying to find anything on Wiley or Nguyen that Madsen might have accidentally left behind. She found no trace of the two cases, no preliminary report on Wiley’s Ponzi scheme, not even the missing person report that had to have been registered for Nguyen. Had Madsen confided anything about Wiley or Nguyen to Amelia or Janine? That wasn’t likely if Kelly knew nothing, as she claimed.
And how could Kate know nothing about Wiley if he had owned the restaurant attached to her pub?
She abandoned her search to continue checking out the new procedures required to access what law enforcement resources she could. Most of the FBI, ATF and DEA stuff was readily available. DHS offered some access, but kept most of their stuff out of reach, as did the CIA. All law enforcement departments across the nation were accessible. If she needed any sensitive stuff from the FBI, Colin Foster could still get most of it for her.
At two o’clock and again at three o’clock, she called Shana. The two o’clock report confirmed that the third bedroom had been painted with its first coat, as had the upstairs hallway. All cupboards in the kitchen had been cleaned and self-adhesive shelf covers had been installed because, as Shana put it: like, eeuw. The three o’clock call woke Shana up and resulted in some incoherent babble from her daughter about aliens crawling around in the basement installing the new warp drive core that would power their flat panel multiplex emitter.
“I’ll bring home supper,” she said to her barely conscious daughter and hung up.
Kelly came in at five o’clock. “Amelia’s gone home, ma’am. I was going to pop out for some supper if that’s all right?”
“I’ll hold the fort.” She glanced into the empty office through the clear pane of glass. “You’re here until eight?”
“Twelve hour shifts, yes. Four days on, three days off unless there’s a call or need for more. On call twenty-four-seven. Rob and Jacob take the weekends most of the time.”
“When we get the two fulltime deputies, we’ll set up a different schedule. Where are they today?”
“Fishing, they go fishing every chance they get.”
“What are their prospects for becoming the two new fulltime deputies?”
“They’ll be ready about the time we get a call from down below asking for a new furnace.”
“Speaking of which, who’s good in Dominion for a new furnace and hot water tank?”
“Fraser Heating and Plumbing. Stewart Fraser and his son, Theo, are as good as they come. Lowe’s has good stuff, too, but those two put in a new furnace and hot water tank in my parents’ house at a very good price. It’s saved them hundreds of dollars per year. And I promise I don’t get any kickback from them.”
The phone rang.
“I’ll get it.” She picked up the phone. “Sheriff McGowan.”
Kate Eiger said, “You better get over here, Joan. It looks like we may have a brawl on our hands.”
“On my way.” She put down the phone. “Your dinner will have to wait. We have a brawl at Kate’s pub.”
Kelly’s face turned red. “Again? Damn them.” She saluted. “Permission to bust some heads, ma’am.”
“We better see what’s going on first.”
“I know what’s going on.”
“Then sure, why not? Shall we go?”
“Don’t you want your hat, ma’am?”
“Between you and me, I’ll never wear one of those.”
Susan was waiting outside the door when they arrived. “It’s the twins.”
“When isn’t it the twins?” Kelly went in first.
She let Susan precede her into the pub. Susan then quickly ducked away.
Kate saw the two of them and came over. Near the bar, the two men with the rifles at the gate Friday, as massive and tattooed as she remembered them, were glowering at another man.
“That’s Bobby and Billy Cotton.” She pointed each one out.
“We’ve met.”
“The other one is Craig Harding.”
“It’s about the traps again, isn’t it?” Kelly said.
“And poaching. Craig’s people brought in a wounded elk yesterday. It had been shot three times.”
Craig Harding was not a small man at 6’2” and about 220 pounds, but he didn’t compare to the Cotton twins.
“Is that the Craig Harding who played quarterback at Oregon State?”
“The same.” Kelly was an even brighter red than she was at the office. “He left for the army. He’s a veterinarian now.”
Kate said, “He was trying to talk to them about the elk and the illegal traps his people keep finding.”
“He doesn’t usually lose it.”
“A student got snagged by a wire Saturday. He needed thirty-two stitches.” Kate wiped her hands. “I’m sure if you two just talk—”
Bobby charged Harding.
“Shit.” Kelly charged for the two men.
Despite Bobby’s larger size, Harding sidestepped the lunge, grabbed his arm and flipped him onto his back. Billy came to his brother’s aid, but Kelly intercepted him and tripped him. He landed on his face beside Bobby.
“Stay down, both of you,” Kelly hollered at them as she shoved Harding up against the bar hard enough to send two glasses of beer crashing to the floor and spraying the Cotton brothers.
Kate said,
“Just talk to them, Joan. I’m sure—”
“You called me, now let me do my job.”
She went to the Cotton twins and got them up. Kelly put handcuffs on them, experience having taught her to bring two pair with her. She handcuffed Harding.
The twins didn’t like being handcuffed in front of the other customers. They particularly didn’t like being handcuffed by a woman.
Harding said, “Pleased to meet you, Sheriff. I’m Dr. Craig Harding.” His dark-brown hair was parted on the left. His grey-blue eyes sparkled with mischief.
She gave him a moment to declare that he, too, had some input in hiring her, but he said nothing else.
She sure as hell wasn’t going to get anything out of the twins. “What’s this all about?”
“Ask them. I just had a few questions about illegal trapping and hunting. I wanted their professional advice on how to go about catching the culprits. In my opinion, they overreacted.”
Neither twin said anything when she again gave them a chance to respond, though both of them appeared ready to kill Harding and anyone who stood in their way. They might even be strong enough to break free of their handcuffs if they wanted to.
Harding said, “They are men of few words, Sheriff. I’m not sure how many they actually know: stop, sit, stay.”
“Pissing contests from grown men, just what I need.”
She took hold of Harding, Kelly took hold of the twins and they paraded the trio out past the pub patrons. Some were shocked, perhaps even frightened, others took great delight in the spectacle before them. The DGN would be buzzing tonight.
They marched the handcuffed men back to the office. She placed them in cells across from each other.
“Let them have their phone calls,” she said to Kelly.
She returned to her office and checked for any previous charges against the three men. Just as the twins’ records came up, she noticed the icon at the bottom of the screen that indicated emails were waiting for her. She opened the email from Colin Foster:
Hi Joan:
There’s nothing more on the Crowley farm case at the moment. I hope everything is going smoothly. I looked into those cases you asked about. The FBI has no interest in the Nguyen case. We consider it a local matter. Maybe Madsen just wants to do right by him.
There is no indication that Wiley and Nguyen are linked. Wiley is FBI jurisdiction because of the nature and scope of his crime. Still can’t find the billions he stole. There’s still a flag about national security concerns and orders to report any findings to FBI, CIA and DHS.
Just FYI: There is no record of anyone at the FBI requesting Madsen to work the Wiley case. Keep in touch. CF.
Kelly entered her office. “The twins have had their calls. Colter is on his way to post bail. Harding hasn’t called anyone yet. He wants to talk to you first.”
“Tell him I’ll be right there.” She picked up the phone. “Go get your dinner.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She called Shana.
“I’ve cleaned all the bathrooms,” Shana said when she answered.
“Thanks, sweetheart. I’m afraid I’ll be a bit late.”
“I got a burger an hour ago.”
“Good. Can I bring home anything special for you?”
“A double-espresso latte with whole milk, thick on the whipped cream and hold the chocolate sprinkles. No, on second thought, give me the chocolate sprinkles, too.”
“I’ll bring home a piece of black forest cake.”
“That will do.”
She hung up and realized she was smiling at the phone as if Shana was there with her. Her smile ended when she got up to go find out what the renowned veterinarian with mischief in his eyes had to say for himself.