Chapter 8: Truth and Tears

Sam, Stan, Silvia, Scott and Angie had been sitting at the Café planning the big wedding. For Silvia, a wedding meant a church, fancy dresses for the bridesmaids and tuxes for the men. Listening to Scott and Angie talking about contacting Tom Masters, the head of the Gorsedd, to perform the ceremony, and making sure the grove was cleared of broken limbs and readied for the big day, Silvia looked from one of her friends to the other and then back to Stan. It occurred to her that she and Stan had never talked about religion and she wondered if he was a Druid as well. When a pause in the conversation came up she asked, "Are all of you Druids?"

Stan had an idea what she was worried about, "I'm not." And then after lengthy pause he finished with, "Not yet anyway." Then he smiled at Silvia.

Angie had seen the look of distress on Silvia's face when she turned to give Stan one of those looks. She quickly winked at Scott and Sam, "Scott, what do you think about having the wedding skyclad?"

Scott was expecting her to say something but definitely not that and the result was him almost spraying iced tea all over the table. Instead he inhaled the mouthful of tea causing him to choke and sputter. Angie was slapping him on the back fretting over him as he slowly regained his composure. He had almost recovered when Silvia asked, "What's skyclad?"

The table erupted into laughter from everyone except Silvia; she was looking from one person to the next still not understanding what was so funny. Stan was watching her, knowing that the humor would be wearing thin very fast he leaned over and spoke where only she could hear it, "It means in the nude."

Her eyes became the size of saucers, and once again she looked around the table, "You're joking right?" She was hoping Stan was pulling her leg.

Angie reached across the table and took Silvia's hand, "It's all right; I was just joking." The table erupted again when Silvia sighed in relief.

They had worked out the details of the wedding. Sam and Angie worked the early supper run and had just served the last customer before the grill was to be shut down when in walked Sheriff Dallas Jackson and Texas Ranger Jack Rimes. They walked directly to the table where the five friends were sitting.

Sam got up, "Do you two want something to eat? Cookie was about to close down the grill." They looked at each other and nodded; Sam looked at the Sheriff and asked, "The usual? And what about you Jack?"

"How about a chicken fried steak and gravy." Jack smiled and walked over to the table where Scott and Angie sat. He asked Scott and Angie if he and Dallas could speak them in private. Silvia and Stan decided this was a good time to go check on her mother and they left to do so.

As Jack sat down he said, "It's been a busy day." Before Scott or Angie could speak Jack began to tell them of the events of the last few hours. By the time he had explained how her step mother had died Angie was awash in feelings but none of those feeling included sorrow. She was still deep in thought when Jack asked her what she wanted to do with the ranch. It took several minutes before Scott answered for her and started explaining that there was a hidden vault and that it might contain the answers to many questions.

"Then we need to be there as soon as we can," Jack announced to the table.

Angie had been deep in thought when he said it but she remembered she had to run the Café tomorrow and was about to say so when Sam set the two Chicken Frieds on the table. She reached down and touched Angie's hand and their eyes met, "It's all right, I called and cancelled, you go and take care of your business. This all needs to be out of the way before the wedding." Angie stood and embraced Sam. They held each other for several minutes then they went back into the office area where they could exchange some therapeutic tears. While Scott watched Dallas and Jack finish eating, they discussed plans for the next day.

4:00 a.m. Sanderson, Texas

The Beech King Air circled the small airport, laughingly referred to by the locals as Sanderson International after the Feds forced a plane full of illegal drugs to land there ten years ago. For the most part Federal and State law enforcement and an occasional hunter flying in for a weekend hunting trip were the only ones who used it now and it was indeed a law enforcement plane that landed and taxied up to the three vehicles waiting there.

Texas Ranger Jack Rimes, Terrill County Sheriff Dallas Jackson, Scott Miles and Angiline Bell waited for the plane to come to a stop and the door to open. The early morning air was quite cool and Scott held Angie close to his side. The plane stopped and eventually the door opened; Angie looked up at Scott her eyes asking a question that she couldn't put words to. Scott smiled, leaned down and kissed her, gently reassuring her that everything would be all right.

The four of them boarded the twin engine plane and as Scott and Angie strapped in Jack went to talk to the pilot. In a few minutes he returned, "He said it would take us about an hour to get there so just sit back and relax."

Scott started to chuckle. Angie gave him a questioning look; Jack and Dallas were staring at him as well. "Jack, I don't suppose there's a cold drink back there is there?" Scott asked motioning towards the small refrigerator at the back of the plane, his laughter steadily growing. Jack opened the small refrigerator and took out soft drink and handed to Scott who was almost beside himself laughing. He took the drink and said, "Jack, you are the ugliest stewardess I have ever seen." Scott had barely got all the words out before completely succumbing to laughter but now he had the company of Angie and Dallas.

Dallas interrupted his howls and leg slapping to add, "Do you think one of those little dresses would help?" The laughter was so loud now the pilot turned and asked what was so funny. By the time Angie and Dallas explained what had been said, the pilot had tears running down his face.

Jack in the mean time was just shaking his head, "Damn you Scott, I'll never live this down." A small chuckle erupted then another, "Shit, I'll be getting little wings and airplanes till I retire." With that he broke into guffaws. The laughter seemed to shorten the flight and even after they landed they were having trouble suppressing it.

Darcy Middleton sat in the passenger seat of the Suburban waiting at the Motley County airport. She couldn't help but wonder how this was going to turn out. Looking over at the vehicles driver she let out a small sigh.

Will Turner heard the sigh and turned to Darcy, "Are you all right?"

Darcy held up her hand hoping to stop him from thanking her for saving his life for the thousandth time. "Will! It's okay, I'm just nervous about meeting the girl. I'm not sure how she feels about me killing her stepmother."

Will gave Darcy smile and a nod of the head to let her know he understood, "Maybe we'll find out what all this is about, I mean the warrant was for attempted murder after all, that doesn't sound like mother of the year material to me."

Whatever Darcy was going to say in reply was lost as the King Air touched down. "Well here they are, we'll know something pretty quick now," Will stated as he started the Suburban and drove over to meet the plane.

After parking, Will and Darcy got out and started walking towards the plane, the door of the plane opened and the petite Angie stepped out of the plane. The first thing Darcy saw was Angie wiping tears from her eyes and her heart fell, "Oh God! She's crying." Darcy turned away trying to get a grip on her emotions, "Will, I can't do this."

Will had just put his hand on Darcy's shoulder to comfort her when two more men stepped out of the plane and both of them were laughing and wiping tears from their eyes, "Darcy, those aren't tears of sorrow, they're laughing about something." The next one out of the plane was Jack Rimes, Will had met the Texas Ranger before and he too was laughing and shaking his head.

Will and Darcy walked over to meet the people they were to drive to the ranch. Jack Rimes introduced himself and Angie, Scott, and Dallas. After a short walk to the Suburban they loaded up and started the drive.

The trip to the ranch was a case of twenty questions for Will and Darcy as Jack quizzed them over the shooting and what they had found at the ranch. Jack had read the crime scene report that the Motley County Sheriff's office had faxed to him, but the report didn't elaborate on the shots that killed Sue Bell. Will made sure that Jack, or anybody else that asked, knew that Darcy was a very good shot and had saved his life. Darcy for her part was just embarrassed by all the attention and was still uneasy about talking in front of the girl about killing her step-mother.

The trip to the ranch passed quickly enough. When they got there Angie had Will drive straight to the barn. In the barn Angie walked over to a door that led into the tack room. Once inside the tack room, she reached to the backside of a saddle stand and unlatched the hidden catch. Once it was released she tipped the saddle rack over and let it lay in the floor, Angie moved another saddle rack to the middle of the room, and said "I need a pencil."