Page 39 of Left Behind

“Oh, Johnny…why is all this horrible stuff happening to us? You got hurt. Billy was murdered, and here I am, in the same boat as you. What are we going to do?” she wailed.

“I have a little information that might help,” Tom said. “I know for a fact that Billy had a will. I know he owned that house and the property it sits on. And we all know he had money. I’m just throwing this out here now, but I’ll bet a month’s wages that you inherit everything, honey. Billy didn’t stop taking care of you after you grew up.”

“How do you know that?” Johnny asked.

Tom shrugged. “I grew up with Billy. I’ve arrested him more than once, but he never held it against me. Before Johnny came into the picture, Billy gave me a heads-up one night when I was taking him to booking and said that if anything ever happened to him, to make sure I told you to go to Williams and Williams, Attorneys at Law. They have a copy of his will and information Carey will need to know.”

“Oh my God,” Carey muttered. “I never thought… I never dreamed. I thought whatever he owned would just be confiscated.”

Tom shrugged. “He wasn’t being arrested. There were no warrants out on him. Technically, someone just walked into his house and shot him. That makes him a victim of a murder. He loved you, and you’re his heir. You and Johnny are going to be okay.”

***

Junior Henley was still in cleanup mode and had been checking every news outlet in the state for days, looking for any mention of a body being found on Pope Mountain. But when there was none, he called Gunny.

Gunny was lying on the sofa with an ice pack on his knee and frowned when he saw caller ID. He wanted to ignore it, but knew better than to skip the call.

“Yeah, what do you want?”

Junior didn’t mess around with niceties. “Why is there no mention of a woman’s body being found on that mountain?”

Gunny was immediately on the defense. “Because it may never be found? Because animals dragged it off? How do I know?”

“But there was a wrecked car, you dumbass. Authorities won’t quit looking until they find the driver.”

Gunny frowned. “I’m nobody’s dumbass, and if I am, what the hell does that say about you for hiring me? Even if I had removed the body, I couldn’t have gotten rid of the car. It was wrecked and in a torrential downpour. I did good to even find her afterward. She was hurt in the wreck. I shot her in the back and nearly got struck by lightning in the process. A damn tree was on fire in the rain when I booked it, and I was bleeding all over the place. Thank God for the rain. It washed it all away.”

Junior frowned. He understood the situation, but it didn’t make him feel any easier.

“Yeah, well, you better be right, because if any of this comes back on me, you’re gonna be the first to pay.”

“I did exactly what you sent me to do, with all the information you gave me. I went to deliver a message. Eggers is the one who freaked out on me. I shot in self-defense and, on my own, followed a witness in a fucking storm and took her out. You don’t blame me for this shit.”

“You don’t talk back to me, boy!” Junior shouted.

Gunny went silent.

“Did you hear me?” Junior asked.

“I’m nobody’s boy,” Gunny whispered.

When the line went dead in Henley’s ear, his skin crawled. He’d heard stories of what had happened to people who crossed that man, and he didn’t want to be on the receiving end of a grudge.

“Whatever,” he muttered, and went to look for his daddy. It was time to let him know what was going on. At least up to a point.

Moments later, Junior sauntered into the library. “Hey, Daddy?”

Carl Henley was in his favorite easy chair, typing out a text. There was a glass half-full of his best bourbon on the table beside him, and a half-smoked cigar smoldering in an ashtray. He looked up when Junior walked in.

“Yes?” Carl asked.

“I need to fill you in on some stuff. Remember when you told me to go talk to Billy Eggers about that new crew coming into your territory? Well, I sent Gunny to do it instead.”

Carl frowned. “But I told you to do it.”

“Well, I didn’t. I sent Gunny, and he and Eggers got into an argument. Gunny pulled a gun on him, just as a threat. Eggers grabbed at it. They were wrestling with it when it went off, and Eggers is dead.”

Carl shot up from the chair so fast that Junior jumped a good three feet back.

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