Chapter 126: Chief With No Indians

The TV kids were surprised when Haymarket's chief of police pulled into the drive. Neither Martin nor I were, but we tried to pretend,

"Record every word and video every move that son of a bitch makes," I demanded.

"You two stay inside, we will take care of this," Martin said in agreement.

"So you staying or leaving?" I asked, when we were on the porch.

"I'm going to be here, till I'm gone," he replied. It was vague but I knew what he meant. He was in the shit as long as he was with us. No matter how he felt about it.

"So Officer, what brings you here?" I asked.

"Just wanted to ask a few questions," he suggested.

"Sure you can stand right there and ask." I said.

"What about those dogs over there?" he asked.

"What about them?" I answered his question with my own.

"You didn't have them the last time I visited. Do they bite."

"No idea, they wandered in this morning all hungry and shivering. We fed them and they found a place to curl up and get warm. I expect they will stay around until they get a better offer."

"So they don't belong to you?" he asked

"No and we don't belong to them. They seem to have just chosen to hang around a while. So if that's all you wanted to ask," I said.

"The dogs are not why I came. I want to know where you were at ten last night?" he asked.

"I was here at ten. Where were you Martin?' I asked.

"I was here as well. The other two were here I know." Martin said.

"Well Chief, it looks like we were all here," I said.

"So you don't know anything about a fire at the Atwood farm?" He asked. Before I could answer he added. "Can you shut those dogs up?" The dogs were making a hell of a racket but they were keeping their distance, so seemed pretty harmless.

"I don't think they will listen to me, since I just met them this morning but I will try." I turned to the Mutt and Jeff and said, "Hush up." They fell silent for some reason. I turned back to the cop. "I don't know a thing about any fire and neither does anyone else on this property. So is that all?" I asked.

"Maybe we should go downtown and talk about this in my office?" he suggested.

"We won't be doing that. See Chief you have no jurisdiction here, and you have none at the Atwood farm, so we won't be going anywhere with you. Now if you want to bring one of those nice GBI cops back, we can talk. I think they do have jurisdiction. If you have some other trumped up charge, you are going to need swat to arrest us, and then it's going to get sticky for you." I suggested.

"You aren't being very friendly," he said.

"We can bring you a cup of coffee, if you like, otherwise we are through here." I said.

"Well I guess you don't want to end this before it becomes a war?" he asked.

"End what?" I asked.

"That's what Blain Atwood wants to know. Exactly what is it you want?" he asked.

"You are one sad little man," Martin said. "A cop running errands for a coward and a bully." Martin said.

"This ain't about me," the Chief said. "It's about preventing more killings."

"So far the killings have been the other guys. I'm not sure there is anything we need to talk about," I admitted.

"Then I will tell Blain that," the Chief said.

"Yeah do that," Martin agreed.

After the chief left Martin turned to me and said, "I thought you wanted a sitdown with those guys."

"That struck me as hinky. I don't want to walk into a trap." I said.

"So next time they ask for a meet, we set the conditions?" Martin suggested.

"Exactly, if we are going to put our lives on the line, we are going to choose the place," I demanded. "And that's what I will say to Atwood or his lap dog."

"So any idea where?" Martin asked.

"That depends on you. Can you hit anything with a sniper rifle?" I asked.

"I do okay, What do you have in mind?"

"A meeting outdoors somewhere with you and my .22 magnum sniper rifle." It was the only plan I could come up with.

"I like it, but I have an M40A1 in the SUV. It might do a little better job." Martin suggested.

"Well, you are the expert," I said knowing his weapon was superior to mine in range and hitting power. Mine would do fine up to 300 yards, and would kill a man easily with a well placed round, but it had to be a well placed round.

"In that case let's go find a place. Every town has a park of some kind." Martin suggested. "The problem for us is that we have made such a big deal out of audio and video taping they will expect you to be wired."

"They are going to insist on searching me. I get that okay. I don't even mind. Mike has a Mic which I can shove up my ass. He swears it will work fine." I said it smiling.

"An ass microphone, what will they think of next." Martin asked smiling.

"Our next problem is how much do we tell the kids. They have to know about the meet, but how much about the plan?" I asked.

"It's your plan you decide. I'm just the trigger man here," Martin said smiling way to big.

"Well, we can't leave them alone and we can't all go together so how the hell are we going to scout out a place?" I asked it out loud to hear myself think as much as to ask for advice.

"Stash them somewhere safe and we go scouting," Martin suggested. It made perfect sense, if there were anyplace I felt that they would absolutely be safe.

"You tell me where you think would be safe?" I asked.

"Your plan," Martin said smiling again.

"Courthouse in the county seat," I suggested with a smile. Where that came from, I had no idea. "We just dump them and tell them to go watch a trial."