Part 3: They Called Me Weak, Like I'm Not Somebodies Daughter.
Echo sat in the passenger seat of Walt's Bronco in silence looking at the blood down the front of her brand new work shirt. "Don't worry, we have plenty at the office. They are actually pretty easy to get blood out of too, trust me. I'm not proud to know that, but it's useful knowledge." Echo looked over at him and gave him a polite smile.
As he pulled into The Red Pony, he reached in the back and handed her an old flannel he had thrown back there. "Here you go, that way you don't have to wear the bloody shirt into the bar." She took it from him and stepped from the car. Walt walked around the bronco to her side of the car to wait on her, and that's when he noticed her back.
She wore nothing but a black tank top underneath her work shirt, which revealed the scars. Big, thick scars that went in every direction across her back and ranged in size. Echo must have felt the stare, because as she shrugged the flannel over her arms, she looked at him. "It's not nice to stare, Longmire."
Walt's face went red as he quickly looked away and started walking with her towards the bar. Before they could get all the way in, his daughter Cady was on top of them. "Hi! You must be Echo, my dad has told me so much about you! I heard you knew Bryant, he was such an awesome man, I hated to hear of his passing. I would love to hear some stories about him sometime when you're not busy! Wait, what happened to your face? Dad, what happened today? Are you guys ok?"
Walt chuckled, "Listen Punk, I think this girl needs a couple drinks and something to eat. I'll tell you what happened later." Cady caught the hint that she was rambling, nodded to them and walked back to the bar. Walt and Echo sat down on the bar stools at the end of the bar.
A dark haired man, who Echo could tell was Native, walked up to them with a towel thrown over his shoulder. "Hello, you must be Echo. I'm Henry Standing Bear, I run this place, and you are always welcome." He shook her hand then turned to Walt, "I see you're already putting her to work. Beers? Tequila? Whiskey?"
"I'll have a beer and a shot of whiskey, what do you prefer?"
Echo smiled up at him, "Beer and tequila please."
Henry smiled back at her, "Absolutely, I'll be right back."
Walt turned in his stool to look at Echo, a shadow of a bruise was forming under the one eye, and her lip was still a little puffy, but other than that she looked pretty unharmed. "So what kind of name is Echo Aven, anyway?"
Echo started laughing, "Apparently the kind you get when you have hippies for parents."
Walt chuckled back, "Sounds like it, what were they like?"
Henry came and sat the shots and beers down and went back to drying the glasses in front of him. Echo turned her shot up and then leaned forward, "I wouldn't know. They died when I was young, I bounced around in foster care until I was 18."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Walt said as he took his shot, Henry listening to where this was headed had walked off to grab the bottles.
"Don't be. I was a terror of a child, so I was always told. After I graduated high school, I headed straight to the recruiter and enlisted. The Army took care of me for a long time." She said as she took the second shot that Henry had sat in front of her.
"Well kid, I guess you're stuck with me and Henry now." Echo looked at them both and started laughing.
"What in the world have I gotten myself into by coming here?"
"Oh you have no idea, Echo. Walt tends to find himself in the most precarious situations ever. He is an amazing sheriff, but as a man, has horrible luck."
The rest of the night spent with Walt and Henry made Echo feel like she belonged. The Army was the only place she had ever felt that way, and now that she didn't have that safety blanket anymore, this would have to do.
Walt dropped her off outside her cabin later that evening and waved her goodbye.
A couple of weeks went by with nothing crazy happening at work, mainly stolen checks, or bears tearing into smomeones trash. Ferg had become one of Echo's closest friends, she told him about living in Asheville, North Carolina. She told him some less traumatizing war stories, while he told her stories about his life as well.
One Friday, Walt walked into the office, "Guys, we have some trouble on the Rez, Mathias called for backup. Echo, have you been to the Rez yet?"
"No, sure haven't"
"Then suit up, it's time you get acquainted with Officer Mathias and the Cheyenne Reservation."
Vic started chuckling under her breath, "Oh, and Mathias is a real peach, let me tell ya."
"Echo, ride with me. It should only take two of us, I'll call in if we need you two." Vic and Ferg nodded and went back to looking at their computers, clearly not upset they weren't going to meet Mathias.
As they drove onto the Rez, it didn't take long to find the scene. There was a couple of officers vehicles parked in the middle of the road. Echo got out of the car with Walt and walked up to the guys standing there.
One with long black hair turned and looked her up and down, "So this is your new deputy, Longmire? Where did you find this one, boarding school?"
A couple of the officers behind him chuckled. Before Walt could answer, Echo did. "No, he got me right out of prison."
The laughter stopped, and the man eyed her skeptically, "Find this one from Philly too? All those northerners seem to have real smart mouths."
"No, Iraq." Echo answering his stare with her own. Walt was really impresed with how she seemed to have Mathias baffled. He'd never seen Mathias bite his own tongue.
"Well Mathias, this is Deputy Aven. Now that you've met, let's get to why we're here."
Mathias finally took his eyes from her and looked at Walt. "We found this car abandoned here. It's a rental. At first, it just looked like someone left it. Upon further inspection we found a trunk with a body in it." He walked over and held the trunk open for Walt and Echo to look into.
It was a white male, mid to late 50's, he was naked except for his underwear and socks. "Yeah, thats not good. That's Clarence Ours, one of the wealthiest in Wyoming. Why is he on your Rez dead?"
Mathias shrugged and let go of the trunk, "That's why I decided to call you in. Looks like it's not only my problem, but one from your side of the fence too."
Echo pulled on some gloves and started looking around in the trunk. "What are you doing? You shouldn't be touching anything until you know what you're doing. You've only been a deputy for a couple months, let the big boys handle it." A tall officer said to her as he nudged her away from the car.
"Buck, let her have a look. Can't hurt anything." Mathias shouted over from where he was talking to Walt.
Echo stepped back up to the car and shot Buck a dirty look before looking back into the trunk. "How long do you guys think until the little girl throws up?" Buck muttered to one of the other officers behind him. "I bet not even 5 minutes," one answered.
Echo didn't even bother to answer them, but instead focused on the work. Mathias watched her from where Walt and him were standing, intrigued by the redheaded deputy. He watched as she worked her way around the trunk, finally putting one knee on the bumper of the car and pushed herself deeper into it.
Mathias and Walt seen what was happening at the same time, but neither could react fast enough. While Echo had her butt sticking up in the air reaching for something in the trunk, Buck walked right up, reared back and slapped her on the ass as hard as he could. Catching Echo off guard, she lost her balance and fell headfirst into the trunk and landing on the dead body. Buck and the other officers were laughing as Walt and Mathias headed towards them, but then Echo came flying out of the trunk.
Taking two big steps, she threw her arm back and clocked Buck right in the mouth. Buck's head snapped back like a broken twig, then his hand immediately went to his bleeding mouth. Walt and Mathias stopped mid step and just stared."You can run that pretty mouth of yours all day long, I don't care, but if you ever put your hands on me again, I will make you cry."
Echo then turned and started walking towards them, "There's no blood in the trunk, Officer. Which means he wasn't murdered in there. The body was moved, and probably onto the Rez to keep it from getting out. However, there is skin under the victims nails, so he did try and put up a fight. You feel free to climb in there to get it from him, they'll probably like the looks of your ass too." She winked at him as she walked past and headed for Walt's car.
Walt just started laughing, "Well...I guess there you go, Mathias. Can't wait to watch you two work together in the future, this was fun." Walt tipped his hat to Mathias and headed off to his car too.