Chapter Twelve

Charlotte

“That ain’t no way to talk to an officer of the law.”

“I thought you got fired,” Amber said, her arms crossed as she sat on the couch beside Tamara.

The tension in the room was so thick you could slice it with a butter knife.

“I took a leave of absence,” Arnold said through gritted teeth. “That’s not the same thing. No one fired me. I’m the sheriff. It’s an elected position.”

“Yeah, about that,” Mr. Miller said. “If I recall correctly, the last three elections, the only person running was you. And before that, the last two people running against you mysteriously dropped out right before the election. I’ve been meaning to ask you about that.”

“I wouldn’t have the slightest idea why anyone would drop out of a race, Bill,” Arnold spat. “I’m sure they had their reasons.”

“Rumor was, the reason was you threatening them,” Mr. Miller said defiantly. “Which, after your behavior on my front lawn a few months ago, I absolutely believe.”

Arnold took a deep breath and let out an annoyed sigh.

“As I have stated repeatedly, that night has been misconstrued, and I have been cleared of any wrongdoing by the FBI.”

“I thought they just dropped the case,” Mr. Miller continued, needling Arn for all he was worth. “That doesn’t mean you got cleared; it just means they stopped pursuing it. For now.”

“It’s irrelevant,” Arn said, his eyes going back to Amber. “What’s relevant here is that I need to speak with Amber. Alone.”

“Absolutely not,” I said. “You have no authority to compel her to, nor does she have any reason to come with you.”

“Public intoxication,” Arn said.

“In my own house?” Amber shot back.

“While you were out,” he said. “I saw you stopping at the gas station just past Louisa county line. You seemed like you were having a lot of trouble with your balance.”

“Who cares?” Tamara interrupted. “She wasn’t driving. I was. And I am stone cold sober. You can check.”

“I didn’t say she was driving intoxicated,” Arnold said, frustration creeping deeper and deeper into his voice. “I said public intoxication. She was in public and intoxicated. I am doing a welfare check. As such, I need to speak with her without interference from the peanut gallery.”

“Get a warrant,” Mr. Miller said, standing laboriously from his chair. “Otherwise, get out of my house.”

“Amber,” Arnold said, ignoring him, “we can do this the easy way. You just need to come with me.”

“Where?” she asked.

“Amber, no,” I said.

“Just outside. For a minute. I just want to talk to you.”

“About what?” Amber asked. “About me marrying Luke? Because I’m going to marry him.”

“Amber, you are making a massive mistake,” he said. “You don’t know these people like I do. The Galloways are bad people. Bad.”

“Who was it that got investigated by the FBI again?” I interjected.

Arn turned toward me with an expression so full of rage that I actually backed up a step.

“Stay out of this, Charlotte,” he said. “You should just get on back to Oklahoma.”

“I don’t live in Oklahoma,” I said. “I live in Texas.”

“I don’t give a fuck where you live!”

Silence filled the room as Arnold sagged, knowing he’d let his temper out again in the worst possible situation.

“Amber, please, I just need to say my peace and then you can do what you will.”

“Over my dead body,” Tamara said.

“Don’t tempt me, Tamara,” a voice said from the door.

I turned to see Eugene Anderson standing in the doorway, another car now parked in the yard. I rolled my eyes. Of course, he wasn’t going to be alone. It was always about pressure with the Andersons. They set up the situations so that it was impossible to say no to them, and then when you complained, they were able to say that everything you did had been done willingly. I had experience with it. Bitter experience.

“Take a step in my house, Eugene, and I swear to God I will find a way to trespass you,” Mr. Miller said. “And you, Arn, I think I have given you enough of my time. You have no reason to be here other than my invitation, and I am officially revoking it right now. Unless you are prepared to put someone in handcuffs and charge them with something, then you need to get out.”

“What if I charged you with interference with an investigation, Bill?”

Mr. Miller’s jaw set, and he took a step closer to Arnold.

“Is that a threat, Arnold?”

“I’m just saying,” Arn said, predictably backing down a step. “Everybody in this room is under my jurisdiction. As sheriff, I am the law. So when I am investigating a serious situation, like a woman who may or may not have been inebriated in public and caused a nuisance, then I need cooperation, not resistance. And if I get resistance, I have legal remedies for it.”

“Try it,” Mr. Miller said. “Put me in handcuffs and see how fast I sue the county and get you and your whole crooked family out of Foley forever.”

Arn grinned.

“That’s an awful lot of confidence for a man with a heart condition,” he sneered. “Amber, I am going to go out in this front yard. And I am going to be there for a while. You can either sit here with your friends and look at the pretty blue lights shining through your living room, or you can come out and you and I can have a civil, adult conversation. Alone.”

Arn turned on his heel without waiting for a response and headed for the door. Eugene held it open for him and glared inside before following his brother down the steps. As soon as they were out of eyesight, Amber crumbled to the couch, tears welling up in her eyes. Tamara was on her feet, using her phone to make a call, and Mr. Miller was making his way to his daughter.

“That rat bastard,” Mr. Miller said. “He’s such a loser.”

“Yes, he is,” I said. “A loser with a badge. There’s nothing worse.”

“Luke?” Tamara said into her phone. “Luke, it’s Tamara. We have a problem. Arnold Anderson just showed up at the Millers’. He’s trying to get Amber outside to talk.”

“Oh God, he’s going to kill him,” Amber said.

“No, he won’t,” I said, not knowing if I was lying to myself or not. “He’s smarter than that.”

“You don’t understand,” Amber said. “Arnold and Luke both want to kill each other already. This is just going to set him off.”

“Well, maybe his brothers will hold him back,” I offered.

As if on cue, shouts were heard outside.

“Luke, is that you out there?” Tamara said on the phone, her eyes wide. She turned to me and shook her head no.

“Aw, hell,” Mrs. Miller said, looking out the window. “It’s Jesse. They’re going to kill each other on my front lawn.”

“Jesse?” I asked, my throat closing up and my skin flushing.

“Yup,” Mr. Miller said, joining his wife at the window. “Looks like Owen behind him.”

“That’s who’s shouting,” Mrs. Miller said. “It’s Owen trying to stop Jesse.”

I took off from where I was, bounding through the door and down the steps. Indeed, Jesse was coming up the driveway, Owen trying to pull him to the side and hold him off while Arn and Eugene advanced on them.

“You worthless piece of shit,” Jesse shouted. “You leave them alone, you hear me?”

“You want to talk about worthless?” Arnold argued. “You are the worthless one, Jesse. Look at your brothers. The whole group of you are worthless bums, but at least they aren’t long-haired pretty boys pretending to be a country star. How fucking pathetic.”

“Screw you, Arn,” Owen said. “You don’t know shit about shit. Get on out of here.”

“And you, you big, dumb oaf,” Arnold said. “How’s that dream career coming, huh? Oh, you thought I didn’t know, didn’t you? How’s it feel running around in your underwear?”

“What the hell is he talking about?” Jesse said.

“Just, nothing, just leave it be,” Owen said, then turned to Arn. “You keep your mouth shut, Arnold. Or else I swear I will shut it for you.”

“You threatening an officer?” Eugene thundered, stepping in front of his smaller brother. “You want to say that to me, big boy?”

“I’ll say it all damn day,” Owen said. “But you need to leave us be. And the Millers too.”

“Get out of here, Arnold,” Jesse said. “Now.”

“Jesse!”

His name came out of my mouth just as I saw him lunge, and it stopped him cold. He turned, and our eyes met for the first time in two years. Owen took the opportunity to move his brother out of harm’s way and drag him a little closer to the house, around the Andersons’ cars. Jesse put up a small fight, but then gave up when he realized he didn’t really have a choice in the matter, and he was being brought closer to me anyway.

“Charlotte,” he said.

“Come with me,” I said, reaching out my hand. He took it, and I yanked him, Owen letting go just as I did, and Jesse stumbled after me.

I didn’t know exactly where I was going, but I knew it had to be somewhere away. Away from the Andersons, away from Tamara and Owen and Amber. Away from the whole world. Somewhere it could be just me and him and I could calm him down.

“Where the hell are we going?” Jesse shouted as I pulled him behind a shed.

“Right here,” I said. “Jesse, you have to stop. It’s only going to make this situation worse.”

“I don’t care if it makes it worse. That dumbass deserves a fist to the jaw for having the damn gall to be here at all right now.”

“Jesse, please, you need to stop. You need to stop right now.”

“Why? What is it to you? Worst that’s going to happen to me is he’s going to throw me in jail and beat me up again. I’ll live.”

“Jesse, please,” I said.

“Charlotte, I have to…”

I cut him off by closing the space between us and smashing my lips into his. At first, he stood stock still, like I was kissing a brick wall, but then he softened, his arms wrapping around me and folding me into the kiss. When I pulled away, his eyes were distant and spacy.

“Now, shut up,” I said. “You and I need to talk, and we don’t need their bullshit in the middle.”