Chapter 10

When the sheriff arrived Mary was still shaking from reaction. He showed some common sense by parking his car behind the house away from the direction that the shots had come from.

"What's this about shots being fired?" the sheriff asked as he came in.

"Somebody tried to kill us!" Mary shouted.

"Aren't you exaggerating a bit there? It probably was a poacher shooting at something in the distance."

I showed him my shirt with the torn sleeve where the bullet had gone through. "One shot I could see, sheriff, but there were over five shots fired and we were under the yard lights. The SOB was shooting at one of us."

The sheriff gave us a disbelieving look. "You have any reason to suspect that someone is out to harm either one of you?"

I shook my head, "I'm a retired peace officer but I was in Texas. I can't think of anyone who has a big enough grudge to come out here to shoot me." I looked at Mary.

"I was a social worker for child welfare. I took some kids away and sent some people to jail with my testimony."

"Can you think of any of the people you sent to jail who might have gotten out recently?"

"I think they're still in jail, but I don't know for sure."

After getting the information about where we worked and when, the sheriff gave us both a serious look. "I'm not going to go looking for someone in the dark without knowing more about where he could be. We'll make a search tomorrow morning and try to find something. Until then I want you to stay indoors away from any windows. As soon as it's light enough to see we'll make sure it's safe and let you know."

I could understand his reasoning although I didn't like it, but Mary exploded, "What do you mean; you'll look tomorrow! Somebody is out there shooting at us! You expect us to just stay indoors until daybreak!"

"Mary that shot could have come from almost anywhere. Until they can determine from which direction and angle they're not going to be able to search that much area at night. Going out looking in the dark and through thick brush will just get someone hurt."

Mary glared at me. "I'm not spending another minute in this house with my nephews until you catch the person shooting at me.
"Mary, how am I supposed to find him in the dark? As soon as it's light I'll look around."

"That's not good enough!" She looked at me, "Take me to town with the boys. I'm staying at the hotel until you find out what's going on."

"Mary!" I protested.

Mary started sobbing, "David, I love you but I'm scared. Just take me to town!"

Reluctantly I had Steve bring the boys over. They were more excited than anything else until they saw how upset their aunt was. Mike was young enough that he just held on to Mary while she cried.

Steven had to have it explained to him. When I finished the explanation, he looked at the sheriff and glared, "You made my aunt cry! I hate you!"

"Steven! That's enough! Apologize to the sheriff! He had nothing to do with this!" I scolded him.

The sheriff just got down on his knees and looked Steven in the eyes, "I don't want your aunt to cry anymore than you do son, but there isn't anything I can do right now. As soon as it's light I promise that I'll be looking for whoever made your aunt cry."

Steven hid behind me when the sheriff spoke to him, "You promise?"

"I promise."

Steven looked dubious about the statement but answered, "OK".

I looked at Shannon and Linda, "Girls could you go into town with Mary and the boys for a few days? I'll pick you up as soon as we made sure everything is safe."

Both objected wanting to stay here, but I insisted and with unhappy faces they departed with the others. There sheriff escorted them to the main road and they were soon out of sight. Steve and I waited for daylight.

In the morning the sheriff and an evidence man from the state police arrived and began to look for bullet holes and slugs. After guesstimating the direction the shots were fired from we and the sheriff made a search of the area. It took us about three hours before Steve found where the person had been at. It didn't tell me that much after looking at the spot but the others told me it looked like I had been right. It looked like the person had been there several times and had cut vegetation to give himself a better sight picture of the lit yard. Several items were found that the sheriff told me might have some evidence on them to identify the person after processing. I knew that evidence took time to process and it would be several days before they had anything at all unlike the shows on TV.

"David, I checked with the police department in San Antonio and they agreed that none of the cases you worked would bring anyone out here to take revenge on you. We're working on Mary's background right now, as some of the people who went to jail as a result of her testimony in a couple of cases have been released."

I was concerned that I had fouled up somewhere and someone from the slavery ring in Kansas was involved, but as much as I worried about it I couldn't mention it to the sheriff. I glanced at Steve and saw him open his mouth then close it again when I didn't say anything.