Page 3 of The Outsider

“I saw them. Across the river. Fishing.”

“Sounds like we have a poacher.”

“Well. That too.”

“You don’t think it was one of the ranch hands?”

“It was a kid, I think. I mean, had to have been. Skinny. Not very tall. Hard to tell, though. Giant baggy sweatshirt and dirty pants. It didn’t look like one of the ranch hands.”

“And you’re going to say that this is lawman intuition?” Justice asked.

His brother was such a smart-ass.

“Yes,” he said. “Because I’ve seen things. You just get used to evaluating people.”

The truth was, there wasn’t a whole lot of crime in the area. It was patrolled primarily by state police, and there was a small outpost, and a few officers. But it was all the same crime you found anywhere else, and most especially in areas where there was poverty. Shoplifting, drugs, domestic violence. When life got hard, people got desperate. And he’d seen a lot of that. The person across the river had a desperate look about them. The way that they had clung to the fish...

The thing was, he was kind of tired of arresting the same people. That was what happened in an area like this. Every so often there were people who passed through, new kinds of trouble, but that was temporary. A lot of it was the same person driving without a license. Their sixth DUI that year. The same violent husband who you saw, but could never hold, because his wife would change her story the next day and refuse to press charges.

The same kids drinking. The same drug users. And back out on the street the next day. And around and around it went.

If he had gotten into law enforcement to solve anyone’s problems but his own he would’ve been very discouraged by now. But luckily, he had just enough of his dad’s narcissism that his primary goal had been to make the community associate his family name with something different. Now at least Officer King was associated with the family name. So, there was that.

Justice’s best friend, Rue, came into the room. “What’s all this?” Rue asked, hands planted on her hips. Daughtry noticed a ring flashing on Rue’s left hand and made a mental note to ask Justice about that.

“Daughtry thinks that there is a squatter and fish poacher out on the ranch.”

“Oh,” said Rue, frowning. “That’s scary.”

“It’s not scary,” said Daughtry. “It’s a half-pint trout poacher. There’s nothing scary about that. But I promise I’ll go out first thing tomorrow morning and have a look.”

“Ah,” Rue said. “The big scary man that carries a gun for a living doesn’t think it’s scary, so what does a woman know about safety?”

“It isn’t scary,” said Daughtry. “Because I think it’s like a fourteen-year-old kid. I only saw them from a distance but they were small.”

“Well, what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to do what any decent human being should do. I’m going to see if they need help.”

Bix stirred when she heard the sound of footsteps near the cabin. She froze. This was what she had been afraid of. The man was back.

She hadn’t left any sign outside that would indicate there was a person in the cabin, but he was only a hundred yards or so away.

That would definitely clue the person into the fact that someone was nearby. Or at least, had been.

He already knows that. Because he saw you. So just don’t panic about it.

Panicking didn’t help anything.

She just hoped he didn’t find the van and have it towed. That would be a disaster.

Him finding the still wouldn’t be ideal either.

Moving as silently as possible, Bix crept up to the window, and peered just above the ledge. She could see movement outside, but the glass was so dirty it was impossible to make anything out clearly. The good news was that meant it was difficult for anyone out there to tell what was happening inside.

But just in case, she opened up the crawl space hatch, and slipped down inside, closing it behind her. She had stashed all her stuff down in there earlier except for her blanket. The door to the cabin opened, and she heard heavy footsteps above her. She quit breathing.

Maybe this was better. Yeah. Maybe it was better. Because he would check all around here, and he wouldn’t see her. So, he would let it go.

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