Page 28 of The Earl's Wrangler
“Colton Weaver, the man you beat the crap out of yesterday.”He seemed more than a little pleased at the idea, now that he had all the facts.“I don’t want you making a habit of it, but you sure you wouldn’t like to be a deputy?”Damn, what a difference a day made.“He wants to see both of you, actually.I think he realizes that his charges aren’t going away and that he’s in deep legal shit, especially once I was able to get his criminal history.He’s wanted in Arizona as well as Nevada, so he’s pretty much up a creek, no paddle.”
“Do we have to?”Sawyer asked.
Randall moved closer, slipping an arm around Sawyer’s waist.He glanced at the sheriff, who tensed but said nothing.“No, you don’t.Neither of us owes him anything.He came here, caused mischief, and was most likely intent on giving us a demonstration, based on the gasoline you found.That kind of person is owed nothing.”
“True,” the sheriff agreed with him.“But he may have something to tell you.I don’t know, but it isn’t going to hurt to talk to him.He won’t be in the same area as you and isn’t going to leave his cell.I’ll have a deputy with you, standing nearby, so if he tries anything, we can handle it.”
Sawyer turned to him, and Randall met his worried gaze.“You don’t need to, but I think I will.I want to hear what he has to say for himself, and I want him to know that he got the tar beat out of him by a gay man.Let him stew on that.”
“Do we have to see him alone?”Sawyer asked.
“Nope.”
Sawyer nodded.“Okay.I’ll see what he wants, but whatever it is, this is not privileged information.I want cameras, and I want it recorded.If he admits to anything, then amend the charges.”
“Agreed,” the sheriff told him.“Let’s go and get his over with.”
Sawyer sighed.“All right.We’ll follow you into town.”He wiped his hands and left the barn.
“Aren’t you going to change your boots?”Randall asked.
“Nah.They’re covered in manure.I think that’s appropriate.”He left, and Randall followed him out and climbed into the truck.
The sheriff drove like a bat out of hell, and they kept right up with him until they pulled into the lot and parked next to his patrol car.They followed him inside and through a series of locked doors to the cells.A deputy unlocked one of them and followed them inside.The bruiser paced the neighboring cell like a caged animal.
He stopped, approaching the bars, but said nothing at first.“You wanted to talk to us.”The snarl was almost silent, but there.“Say what you want to say or we’re leaving,” Randall told him.They weren’t going to waste time with this guy.Still he stared that them as if trying to intimidate them, but it wasn’t going to work.“Fine.”
“It isn’t going to work, you know,” the bruiser finally said.“Keeping me here.It isn’t going to stop anything.They’ll just send someone else.”
Randall rolled his eyes.“And you’re telling us this out of the goodness of your heart?Who are they?Some nameless presence that controls everything?I don’t believe in crap like that.”He glanced at Sawyer, who seemed content to let him do the talking.“I know you want something, and we have nothing to give you.Your employer can get you all the fancy lawyers they want, but you’re going to be tried from state to state, and I doubt you’ll see the light of day until you’re old and gray.”
Sawyer moved closer.“What is it you want?”Randall crossed his arms over his chest while Sawyer spoke more gently.“I know you were doing a job for someone else.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Maybe not.But you wanted to talk to me, and I’m here.You specifically asked, and I came, so what is it you wanted to say?This is the only chance you’re going to get.”
The bruiser shifted his weight slightly, not moving his gaze from Sawyer.But he went quiet like he was thinking about what he wanted to do.“Then let’s go,” Randall snapped and began herding Sawyer toward the door.“We’ve wasted enough time with him.”He’d gladly play the hardass if it got them some results.
“Your father owes some really nasty people a lot of money, and they aren’t going to stop trying to collect it.”
Sawyer shrugged.“Then they can have him.I don’t care.He was a shit father, and I don’t owe him a single thing.So you tell your people when they show up that if they were counting on me paying his debt, they’re barking up the wrong tree.I don’t have that kind of money, and in case you haven’t seen it, the local sheriff and his deputies as well as half the town are behind us.There is nothing secret here.He can try to send someone else like you, but we’ll form a fucking army and hunt them down.”Sawyer was magnificent.
“You think so?Mr.Calderone isn’t someone to mess with,” the bruiser spat, and then almost gasped when he realized he’d let a name slip.
Randall didn’t react to it.“If all you have are threats and attempts to scare us, you are really stupid.We don’t care.”He drew closer but stayed out of reach in case he tried something.“You took a swing at me, and I took you down to the ground.It wasn’t that hard.So anyone else he sends will end up the same way.We gay people learned a long time ago how to fight our own battles, and one way or another, we win them.”He turned away, taking Sawyer’s hand.“Come on.It’s time to go.All we’re getting is the same regurgitated crap.”He nodded to the deputy, who opened the door, and they stepped out and left the cell area of the building.
“Well, that was useless,” Sawyer said.
“No, it wasn’t,” Randall said as the sheriff come over.“We got a name.I don’t think he meant to say it, but we got Calderone out of him.Does that mean anything to you?”he asked.Both the sheriff and the deputy shook their heads.
“Then get on whatever database of bad guys you have and see what you can find.I bet I could find out things by googling him.”It seemed Randall was taking a page from Mrs.J.“See what you can find, please.”
“We will,” the sheriff told him gruffly.
“Thank you.”It seemed that Randall didn’t care if he goaded the sheriff into doing his job or not, just as long as he did what he wanted.“We appreciate all your help,” he added with those butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-his-mouth manners.
“Can we head back to the ranch now?”Sawyer asked.The sheriff nodded and then asked one of the deputies to see them out.
