Page 85 of Small Town Hunter

She takes my hand and puts it to her cheek. I feel her tears but I don’t see them. It can’t end like this. All my life I’ve been the strongest, the baddest motherfucker in the room. The killer. I’ve been through war, damn it. I’ve killed and wrangled men with my bare hands. It can’t end like this, with the woman I love torn from me by some sick fuck I could have handled easy.

And Ruby. My daughter…My sister…

“Tell…Jess…” I mumble to Trina. Blindly I sag against her.

“There you are,” says the Reverend.

In the distance I hear a woman’s voice cry out like an avenging angel, “NOT ANOTHER STEP!”

The last thing I hear before I fade is Trina’s gasp. “Mamie!”

TWELVE

TRINA

“It’s alright, Trina. You can come out,” Mamie calls.

I cling tighter to Crash, aware that his blood is soaking through my sleeve. He’s completely lost consciousness. “I’m not leaving him here, Mamie.”

“Who is that man?”

“He’s the man who helped me. His name is Crash.”

“He’s a criminal,” snarls the Reverend. “A pervert and a deviant, who led your granddaughter astray from her holy duties to me.”

“I’ll need you to shut the hell up,” Mamie snaps, drawing herself up. “Let my granddaughter talk! Trina, I don’t know that man and I don’t know what’s going on, but you need to get out of that cell immediately, do you hear me? I have people who can protect you from this bastard, don’t worry.”

“I am the Reverend of this town, jezebel! You have no authority here!”

“You must not know who the hell I am,” Mamie retorts, whipping something out of her purse. “My father was Sheriff here for thirty years. He built this town when it was nothing but sticks and dirt. If I have to kill every son of a bitch in thisbuilding to get my granddaughter, I will. Don’t fucking play with me!”

“I wouldn’t play with her,” advises Crocodile.

I must be seeing things. Mamie is holding agun.

“That goes for you too, Trina!” Mamie hollers, stabbing the weapon at the Reverend, who looks ready to pull a Crash and lunge for it. “Get your butt out of that cell right now!”

“I’m sorry, Mamie, but I’m not going anywhere until I know someone will get this man help,” I say very firmly.

“You wouldn’t shoot me,” the Reverend sneers.

Mamie shoots him.

The Reverend collapses with a howl and the jailer leaps back against the wall. I scream and clap a hand over my ringing ears, hunching over Crash’s unconscious body as if we’re next.

“You,” Mamie says to the jailer. “Didn’t you just see that man attack me?”

The jailer’s mouth opens and closes like a trout’s.

“Didn’t you?” Mamie presses.

“I saw it,” says Crocodile.

“Ah, Ma’am…that’s theReverend…I…”

Mamie’s eyes go stone cold.

“I guess I did,” says the jailer miserably.

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