Chapter 99

After our bike ride to breakfast on Friday, we went back to working inside the houses till time for the big breakup, as I thought of it. Sterlin headed for the Vet and Steve headed off to the factory. I checked all the gauges Hannah had installed in the houses. I could tell the temperature in each of the houses as well as the humidity.

After I assured myself that the environment was within limits, I began pulling weeds. It was hard for me to believe that we had weeds growing inside the green houses, but they showed up every few days, not a lot, of course but some. With that in mind, whenever I had a few minutes I walked the houses and pulled the new weeds. It also gave me a chance to inspect the plants. At the same time I looked over the beds for animal poop.

For the very first time I found rabbit pellets and three of our youngest plants with missing leaves. It was no big thing that one or two leaves were gone. The real problem was that whatever caused the loss would be back until it was stopped.

I had a box of mouse traps just for such an event. I figured it was time to put them out and see how many of his little friends were going to come to the next party. Just in case, I also set the rabbit snare by the one small hole I found in the wall. The rabbit snare was just a loop of soft pliable wire formed to a loop. The loop would close over the rabbit's neck and strangle him as he tried to free himself. We would most likely have to repair the damage to the wall where the entry hole was located. That I knew was just the cost of doing business. When I was satisfied that I had done all I could, I left on my trip to Walmart for something to wear to the memorial on Sunday.

I had a feeling that Bart would be driving back with me on Monday. Since he most likely would leave Rita to attend to Sylvia's affairs. I would enjoy the company on the long drive home. I had hoped that Sterlin would make it back with the dog before I left for the Walmart store, but alas he didn't. I decided to make no purchases for the dog without checking with Sterlin. I decided that a few cans of dog food were a safe enough purchase, so I added them to the list.

My plan was to buy something in black for the service. I decided to stay in character as the pot farmer so I bought a pair of fitted black jeans, a black tee shirt and a black faux leather jacket. The outfit cost me right at $100, which I put on my personal debit card. Until further developments all purchases, no matter how small, went on the debit cards. I was not going to part with any more cash until the shit shook out. If I had to have something for the company, it would go through the company credit card. Anything else went through the debit card. I decided to always put the maximum cash withdrawal on the card whenever I made a purchase as well.

When I got back to the compound, there was a loopy Rottweiler looking at me curiously. "Well dog how you doing, is Sterlin taking good care of you?" I asked it. Curiously enough he didn't answer. I got back in the truck to blow my horn.

Sterlin came around my cabin carrying a leather lead. He went inside the no man's land between the fences. When inside, he approached the dog. He spoke calmly but firmly to that big ass dog. "Down," he said.

The dog reluctantly turned away from me. The dog had never barked, but he had given me a menacing growl as a warning. That stopped when Sterlin put the lead on him. Sterlin walked him through another fence then closed the previously open gate. The gate had been open giving the dog access to the no man's land all around the perimeter.

"He is still getting used to the place. He didn't know who you were, but he will learn," Sterlin replied. "He is still a little frightened after that beating he took from his last owner."

"Speaking of that did you go back and release the owner from the cage yet?" I asked.

"It's only been a day. He isn't hungry enough yet," he said.

"Get in the truck, we are going to go make sure he didn't die on us. If he did we are going to dispose of the body," I said.

Sterlin got into the truck with nothing but the dog leash in his hand. I considered that a good sign. "You aren't going to like what you see," Sterlin almost whispered to me.

"If there are other dogs they need to eat. I'm not going to let them starve," I said.

"Yeah, I was thinking that as well," Sterlin said. Then he gave me directions down what were no more than paths through the swampy area. The cage, where I found the old man, was inside a shed. It was made of chain link fence with a top on it. The posts were attached to a concrete slab. It's where he trained the dogs to fight. Blood and shit covered the floor. I could only imagine the horrors that took place in that box.

The old man was cowering in a corner. He was covered in blood and dog feces. Fortunately not all of it was from the dogs. One of his eyes was badly swollen shut and some of his ear was missing. That particular wound still oozed blood.

"Sterlin did you beat the shit out of him then threw him in this cage to bleed out?" I asked.

"Yes ma'am I did," he said as a reproach to me.

"Good work," I said. "Go ahead and kill him. A few weeks in the swamp with the gators, he will never be found.

"Please no," he begged.

"You know what PETA is?" I asked.

"No," the old man whined.

"Well I am going to give you a choice. You either surrender these dogs to the shelter and confess to dog fighting right this fucking minute, or we are going for a walk in the swamp. The three of us are going in, but we won't all be coming back. Do you understand?" I asked.

"I ain't going to do no fucking time. I'd rather die," he said.

"Good for you, I do respect a man with convictions. Open the gate Sterlin and bring him along," I demanded. He tried several times to change his mind, but I had stopped listening.

"See if he has a cell phone," I said to Sterlin. Sterlin shook his head. "Where's your phone?"

"In the house," he said.

Sterlin went into the house can came out with the phone. We walked behind his compound deep into the swamp. When we arrived at a branch of the Alabama River I removed a wooden number two black pencil from my cargo pants pocket. I always carried two of them just in case I broke one on the ribs. "You got any idea what a dog feels when he dies?" I asked.

"Please no," the man said. He was old overweight and scared to death. He also reeked of dried blood and dog shit.

"I don't know either, but I bet he is so full of adrenaline that he doesn't feel anything. It's too bad that he can't tell us. You are going to die right now, so tell me how you feel about that."

"You are going to kill me over a couple of dogs?" he whined.

"Looks like," I said as I forced the number two pencil into his brain through his ear. He fell to his knees with the pencil still sticking out of his ear. Sterlin and I waited a few minutes for him to stop twitching, then I removed the pencil.

"Can you help me throw his sorry ass into the swamp?" I asked.

"Yes, I will gladly help with that," Sterlin said.

"Nobody else needs to know about this, right?" I said.

"About what?" Sterlin asked.

"Okay, lets get his phone and then drive to that boat landing on the main Alabama River. The one near the Fishermen's Guest House."

When we got there I said to Sterlin, "Dial 911 and say Help. Nothing more," I said. "But leave the line open and try to sound scared." One minute after Sterlin tried his acting debut the phone went into the river.

"You gave them enough time to get his name, but not the location of the phone. The river was just in case they could find out our location, right?" Sterlin guessed.

"Beats me, the Sheriff is going to find the dogs," I said. "Is that man in the diner going to remember you?"

"Just have to wait and see," Sterlin said.

"If they ask you, the man was alive when you left him. They are going to establish the time of death as a day later. So you should be able to fly with it. You and I were out to lunch, so lets go to lunch at the diner."

The Lunch Lady Special was a tuna fish salad sandwich and chicken veggie soup. It was all good, but best of all was the iced tea. Sterlin, I noted like all the Swamp Dog people, had nerves of steel in public. He talked and made jokes with me over lunch. We wanted them to remember us and I am pretty sure they would.

I had no idea what he would do when alone. It really didn't matter I had my own demons to slay.

"And you do it so well," Liam said.

"The world is a better place today," I whispered.

"What?" Sterlin asked.

"Nothing, just thinking out loud," I said.

When we got back to the compound, I found a rabbit in the snare. "Damn that was quick. Let's get rid of the body and patch that hole in the greenhouse wall."

"I think the dog would like that rabbit. We know it is healthy meat," Sterlin said.

"Do it then," I said.

Sterlin stayed with the dog while I went into town again. "What the hell is this I hear about you and Sterlin going to lunch and not stopping here?" Steve said.

"It was business. Everybody doesn't need to be involved in everything," I said. "So did you get your delivery made?"

"Yes and now Sadie's nephew needs some help with the final run of the week," he said.

"Tell me what to do," I demanded.

Later that night we were all gathered around the picnic table outside the cabin. It seemed as though Sterlin liked to grill out. That suited me just fine and I know it did Steve as well. I was able to combine shredded lettuce with some other things to make a salad. So we had a salad and a very large hamburger steak with Italian bread. Hell Sterlin even grilled a couple of beefsteak tomatoes. When the meal ended I took the extra burger and went to the fence. I unlocked the gate and passed the burger inside. The dog stopped growling long enough to eat.

"When you cook at night, cook one extra for the dog," I said.

"I was going to anyway," Sterlin said. "I always slipped my dogs food from the mess hall. Fuck a bunch of Vets. If it's good enough for me, it's good enough for the dogs."

"Here, here," I said raising the beer can.

We were all up at 5 AM again the next morning. Breakfast at the Dairy Queen was a somber affair that morning. "Did you know her well?" Steve asked.

"Not really. She saved my ass from the Federal Police," I said. "After that I worked for her."

"She saved me from a life on the streets. After I mustered out of the Rangers I drifted," Steve said. "I was just about to turn to drugs when I remembered the man who met the plane when I got home. He said he could arrange a soft landing, if I needed it. Well I needed it. He was a recruiter for Swamp Dog.