End of Innocence
Chapter 3
Cabin, Cimarron, Colorado, same night
He cut the engine well short of the cabin. Reese reached for his bag and pulled the tab at the top. The zipper slid open, softly, silently, and he felt for the holster inside. His Sig Sauer waited there, and Reese slipped it out in his hand. Checked it. Ready to go if he needed it.
The car door dinged twice before he could stop the noise. Reese took a breath, listening for footsteps coming his way.
Just the wind in the pines, sighing. Cold out there, the wind like a slap in the face.
He headed for the pines and the thick carpet of loam beneath them. Slid into the tree line. Forward. Stepping softly, feeling for branches that'd snap under his weight and give him away. Kept moving, silently.
The house was on his right as he approached.
Most of the windows were around to the sides and the back. Looked in at the front and the lamps glowed a yellow light out to the path. Nothing moving inside that he could see. Kept moving.
Now at the side of the house. Lights were off on this side. The rooms were dark in there. Kept moving to the corner at the back. Glanced along the porch and the yard back there. Nothing moving. The smell of wood smoke drifted down from the chimney. Hardwoods. Made the cold seem colder somehow. His chest squeezed a bit and his breath came a little faster, all his senses alert.
Just like before, at the house. Tried not to think about it. But it came, unwanted, anyway.
He remembered the house in New Rochelle. Upstairs, in her room, standing with her note in his hand.
Inside:
If you found this note, something's happened here.
I tried to wait. Maybe I shouldn't have called.
Just wanted to hear your voice again.
Know that I always loved you…
Jessie
He'd felt that hard squeeze around his heart, like a hand gripping him. And then the sound of the voice behind him. Hadn't even noticed the prickling on his neck. Missed it, standing there, reading her words.
Ol' Sam. Not so old then. Last man standing and he'd come to clean up after the miss on the corner. They'd got to Carter, but not to him. Came to finish the job, he'd said. It all flashed in his mind. Never should've said she deserved what she got.
The tie snapped on his wrists, the light on the bed snuffed and the cane was there in his hand – all, before the first flash from the gun.
So much blood…
Kept moving. In the back now, looking through the cabin to the front. No one moving inside. No sounds, except the wind in the trees. A deeper cold in the woods. Reese shivered.
Down to the last corner at the back, and he slipped from the woods to the corner. Nothing there on the side. So, he turned back to the porch. Bent low, passed the wood stacked on the deck back there. Then the door. Found his key.
Inside. Gun in his hand.
In his mind, he ran through the spots where someone could be. Stepped in, low, and swung in an arc with his gun. Nothing moved. No one there. Clear.
Next room. Clear.
A buzz startled him. Held for a moment, low.
Reese slipped his cell out of his pocket. A message from Chase at the bar:
Frgot to tl u: lft lites on n stv goin at cbn fr u. Swt drms. Hooyah…
Reese exhaled.
Lowered his gun and started to stand. Reese moved through the house, one room after the other, until he felt sure no one was there.
Went to the darkest part of the cabin at the back. Lowered himself to the floor with the walls there behind him. Breathing.
He sat the gun down at his side. Noticed his hand. A shiver going through.
And he remembered his words, to Finch, in the Library Office:
"I don't wanna do this anymore."