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Killing Joe
Chapter 8
Cletus Baggs looked at the three men standing in front of him. Well, two men and a kid – looked about eighteen or nineteen years old.
"This is Fenton Hardy," one of the men, a lawman introduced, "and his son, Frank. I believe you've already met his other son – Joe. I'm Deputy Hilroy and we have some questions for you."
"Can't say I know no Joe Hardy," the arrested man said as he sat back in his chair and took a good long look at Joe's family. He was surprised to find that this was Joe's father and brother – the boy looked nothing like them. He scrutinized the brother a bit harder…well maybe he looked a bit like the kid, but not in an obvious way.
"That line's not going to fly," Hilroy said, "not only do we have surveillance footage of you with Joe at the bank machine, but you were carrying his driver's license in your pocket when you were picked up. Care to explain how you came to get that?"
"Sure," Cletus said, his dark eyes flitting from Fenton's to Frank's so he could see the impact of his words. "I took it off his dead body."
"His dead body?" the deputy scoffed, ignoring the sharp intake of breaths from the Hardys standing behind him. "And just who killed him Cletus?"
Without batting an eye, the kidnapper smirked, "Norton."
:O
"WHAT?" Norton's eyes actually bugged out on his cheeks as his voice rang with shock, "he said I did what?"
"He said that you killed Joe Hardy," Hilroy said, as the interrogation had moved to the room next door, where a white-faced Norton, finally clad in a spare set of shirt and pants, was almost hyperventilating.
"I – he…NO!"
"Norton, you're not making sense." If Frank didn't feel so heartsick that these yahoos might have actually killed his brother, he would have enjoyed the exaggerated behavior of the blond-haired kidnapper.
"He – no! Me?" Norton shook his head vehemently and then without warning, leaned forward and put his head between his legs. "I – I think I'm going to be s-sick!"
Deputy Hilroy shook his head. "Cut the crap, Norton. We know you were with Cletus when he shot those three people in the liquor store…in cold blood. So put away this sissy act and 'fess up – did you or did you not kill Joe Hardy?"
Norton raised his head and looked at each of the three men in the small room before his eyes caught and held the gaze of Fenton Hardy. He shook his head. "May God strike me down right where I sit – but I am telling you the truth. I never so much as laid a hand on that boy…" he looked at the lawman, "Now...Cletus! That's another story!"
:O
"Where is my son?" Fenton Hardy yelled as he grabbed Cletus Baggs by the shirt, dragged him out of the chair and slammed him against the wall. "I am sick and tired of this back and forth crap – now what the hell did you do with him?"
Cletus turned towards the deputy but Blake Hilroy just shrugged. "You didn't want to talk to me. Maybe Mr. Hardy will be able to persuade you where I can't."
"This isn't legal!" the killer protested, trying to shove Fenton away, but unable to break the hold of the more powerful man.
Hilroy came to stand behind Fenton; he looked at Cletus and spoke, his voice low and threatening: "I don't give two hoots about a cowardly, cold-blooded killer like you. He can slam your head through that wall for all I care – what I do care about is the whereabouts of his son. You tell me what you did with that boy or else I'm walking out of this room right now…and Hardy can do whatever the hell he wants with you. And that's a lot more mercy than you've ever shown anyone…." He paused and implored one final time, "Cletus, we're talking about a seventeen-year-old kid here – where is he?"
"I don't know!" the killer protested, looking at Fenton earnestly, "Honestly…I don't know. Look, the truck got stolen from us with the kid still in the back!"
"Stolen, what do you mean?" the investigator demanded, shaking the younger man for good measure.
"I mean what I said," Cletus asserted, finally shoving Fenton off him and making a vague attempt to straighten out his shirt. "We pulled over to help someone with a flat and they pulled a gun on us."
"They?" Deputy Hilroy asked, trading a concerned look with Frank who was standing by the door watching this play out, "Who were 'they'?"
"I dunno," Cletus admitted, paused and then added, "But they sure as hell were cute…"
ooooooOOOOOOoooooo
"Well, well, I think Christmas has come a little early this year," the dark haired girl said as she quickly appraised the blond prize lying bundled in the back of the truck.
Joe looked up at her and tried to say something but the rag muffled his voice. His head was still pounding but he felt a surge of hope that these girls might help him. But his hope was dwindling as they made no moves to release him.
The red-haired girl shook her head, her pretty face marred with a scowl. "I took those guys for being twisted, I just never realized just how twisted they were—" she paused and then added, "unless of course this sweet little package likes to play this way."
Joe managed to shake his head, closing his eyes as he did so. Damn, his head was pounding! He started when the rag was gently tugged out of his mouth, and opened his eyes to see the red-head crouched down and looking at him intently, flinching when her hand reached out and touched his tender jaw.
"H-help…me," he gasped, his voice raspy, his throat dry from thirst. He licked at his lip, sore from Cletus' backhand.
The girl looked up at her friend, an unasked question on her face. The brunette looked at Joe and hesitated. "I dunno, Betty-Ann—"
"He's hurting, April-May, those bastards roughed him up. Look at him!" the red-head implored, obviously the more tenderhearted of the two.
"I can see that," April-May admitted, "But Betty-Ann we don't have no time for trouble and look at him – he's got trouble just about tattooed to his forehead!"
"Please…" Joe tried again, his blue eyes eloquent and beseeching, "no trouble…just let me go."
The two girls, traded glances again and finally the brunette, April-May, sighed heavily and nodded. "Okay…I tell you what. We're going to untie you and let you out of the truck, but that's it. Then we're gone. You never saw us and you're responsible for whatever happens after that, got it?"
Gingerly, Joe nodded his head, relief sweeping over him that this whole mess was going to be finally over. He had no idea where he was, but anything was better than where he was now!
"Here," Betty-Ann said softly as she leaned over the teen, "let me get—" Suddenly her voice broke off and both girls whirled around as they heard a rapidly approaching vehicle.
"DAMN!" April-May yelled, "It's them! Get in the truck, Betty-Ann!"
Giving him one quick apologetic look, the red-head slammed the back door shut and hurried to the front passenger seat. Moments later the stolen truck was roaring away from the roadside as a loud boom of thunder echoed around them!
Within moments, as the truck raced down the dirt road with a small Chevy in hot pursuit, lightning flashed and the rain started; a few splatters at first but then it was pounding them in heavy sheets, obscuring visibility in the rapidly approaching darkness and making the gravel slippery under the heavy vehicle….
Joe could barely hear the girls yelling over the sound of the rain on the truck and the truck on the road. His heart pounded in his chest, as he could feel the vehicle swerving as they drove, accelerating madly. He had no idea what they were running from and didn't have the chance to ask.
Suddenly, he heard one of the girls scream! A horrible crunching sound! And then his stomach dropped as the truck was airborne for a few sickening moments before landing with a heavy splash!
Splash? Jerking his head up, Joe realized with mounting horror that the truck had gone off a bridge and they were now slowly sinking in the Sheila River!
ooooooOOOOOOoooooo
Frank and Fenton drove in silence. Ahead of them, Deputy Hilroy's jeep headlights cut through the heavy rain as they drove the dirt road between Sheila Falls and Sheila Flat. Cletus hadn't been any more help except to put them back on that road – it was the direction the girls had fled in – and having nothing else to go on, they retraced their steps.
Both were tired, exhausted emotionally and physically, but refused to give in. Joe was out there and they were determined to find him.
The deputy's wife had insisted on making them something to take with them to eat, but as Frank stared out the front windshield, the sandwich he had eaten sat heavily in his stomach and he now regretted having it. His worry – and frustration – were increasing with each passing hour. 'Where are you little brother?' he wondered as he sighed and rubbed his eyes, 'come on kiddo, give us something to go on here…' His thoughts were interrupted when the deputy's jeep in front of them slowed down and then stopped. Fenton did the same with the rented SUV.
As the teen watched, he saw Hilroy get out of his vehicle and trot towards them. The man didn't seem to notice the rain.
Fenton rolled down his window but before he could ask, the lawman said, "I just got a call. Your son's rental truck's been found—" He paused briefly. "he wasn't in it."
"Where is it?" the detective demanded, voicing the very question a breath from Frank's own lips.
Again the deputy hesitated. He looked at the Hardys regretfully. "I'm really sorry, Fenton...Frank. The truck went off Sheila Bridge…it's in the river."
Frank barely made it from the vehicle before his stomach rebelled…and the sandwich that had been sitting so heavily was no longer a problem at all.
