Page 77 of River Strong

“I’m assuming you’ve never been arrested before,” Holden said. “That’s what I thought. They’re going to run your prints, your DNA...”

Pickett realized what Holden already had. “They’re going to find out that I changed my name.” He swore under his breath. It would make him look like he had something to hide.

“I’m assuming Oakley knows—” He stopped speaking as she walked into the dining room and there was a loud knock at the door. Holden put down his napkin and rose to get the door. “Have something to eat,” he said to Oakley on his way.

“Oakley knows what?” she said as she sat down next to him and took a piece of his bacon.

He was struck again by how beautiful she was. There was a glow to her this morning that melted his heart. “That Pickett Hanson is the name I had changed from my birth name.”

Behind them, Holden cleared his voice. “Sorry to interrupt, but these officers are insistent, Pickett. They have questions for both you and Ms. Stafford. My attorney will meet you at the sheriff’s office.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

DEPUTYTYDODSONhitched up his jeans, smiling broadly as he looked down at the sheriff in the hospital bed. “Norman Lees spilled his guts. It was something to see, but nothing like when we arrested CJ Stafford. He screamed, he threatened, he demanded and then he cried like a baby.” Clearly, the young, green deputy had enjoyed that the most.

Not that Stuart could blame him. The deputy wasn’t the only one who would enjoy seeing CJ get what he had coming to him. “Sounds like I missed a lot.”

“I called the state boys in like you said. I would imagine Norman will plead out. He has enough on CH4 that he’ll get a deal—not to mention what he has on CJ Stafford.”

“Make sure all of the documented evidence on your part and the other deputies is on my desk.”

Dodson nodded. “Wait until you hear Oakley Stafford’s part in all this,” the deputy was saying. “She remembered what she’d seen that day her brother shot her.” Dodson rocked back on his boot heels, grinning as he hooked his thumbs in his jeans pockets. “They weren’t just making meth at that old ranch. They were operating a human trafficking ring, using those women to cook the dope for them, then farming them out to other meth labs.”

Stuart rubbed a hand over his neck. He really had to get out of this hospital. “Oakley’s sure about that?”

“Norman backed up her story. He and his brothers were working with CJ on the whole deal,” the deputy said. “We got Stafford dead to rights and this time his mother won’t be getting him out. When her attorney refused to take his case, he had to go with the public defender the county assigned him. That’s when he really cried.” Dobson laughed, clearly delighted to see the cowboy brought down to size.

“Let’s not be too cheerful here, okay? Have you talked to Charlotte Stafford? Is she okay?”

“I didn’t speak with her personally, but the state boys told me that the big hotshot from the gas company isn’t filing a complaint, even though her daughter blew up his drilling equipment.”

“Really?” Charlotte had apparently backed her daughter. That surprised him since Oakley had gone against her mother and brother.

“The state boys talked to her. Doubt she’ll be charged for anything since Holden McKenna’s attorney was there when they brought her and Pickett Hanson in for questioning. She knew her brother was going to try to kill her. He thought he set her up, but maybe that’s what she was doing, blowing up that rig like she did.” Dodson shrugged. “You’d think CH4 would come after her. Destroyed one of their drilling rigs along with a lot of other equipment and a large truck. But they aren’t.”

It sounded as if CH4 wasn’t in a strong position to do much of anything, given that Frankie and Norman were employed by the gas company.

“Pickett Hanson was taken in for killing Frankie Lees, but it was in self-defense. He was released once they sorted out the name problem.”

“Name problem?”

“His real name is Archibald Vanderlin Westmoreland the fourth. He changed it to Pickett Hanson. Some fancy lawyer showed up with paperwork that detailed how Pickett had his name changed legally.”

Stuart was trying hard to take it all in. Frankie had tried to drown Oakley in the creek. Oakley had blown up the drilling rig and equipment. Pickett—not his birth name—had saved her after killing Frankie. Duffy McKenna had been duct taped in the back of Frankie’s truck, but helped once Pickett tossed him a knife and he cut himself free.

“Oakley and Pickett are the talk of the town. Word is that they stayed in a guest room at the McKenna Ranch. Holden took them in since both were soaking wet and suffering from hypothermia. Bet Charlotte Stafford is losing her mind.”

“Just another night in the Powder River Basin,” the sheriff said under his breath. “You should get back to Powder Crossing,” he told his deputy.

He couldn’t take too much of the young deputy. Dodson often jumped to conclusions without the facts, but what bothered the sheriff most was the pleasure the deputy took whenever one of the wealthy ranchers in the basin was brought to his knees.

Dodson needed to learn to hide his feelings better. Like Stuart had had to learn. He hated that he’d felt any pleasure at all in seeing CJ Stafford brought down. It made him feel small because of his resentment of what others had. It made him sick to his stomach because he didn’t want to be that man. He didn’t want to be an older version of Dodson and yet, he knew he was.

“Don’t worry. We’ve got everything under control,” the deputy assured him. “You just get better. Hell of a thing what that woman did to you. Hell of a thing.”

The sheriff pushed his call button the moment Dodson left.

He had to get out of there.

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