Chapter 39

I was sitting and looking out the window when Sandra came back into the room.

"Grandpa, do you have a small step ladder I can use to finish what I am doing in my room?"

"Let me look in the shed, sweetie. I will be right back."

I went to the garage, found a small step ladder and carried it back inside and gave it to her. She thanked me and headed back to her room. I was wondering what she needed that for when the phone rang again. I saw by the caller ID it was the State Police so I went ahead and answered it.

"Harry, this is Butch, and we have a small problem. Someone burned down the buildings and the house on the Peters' place last night. It's a total loss. We think it was because there was something hidden there that nobody wanted anyone to find. Do you have any suggestions as to what may have been hidden for them to do this?"

"I have a suggestion, Butch, have your people search for underground caves or basements under where the buildings stood. These wouldn't be harmed by the fires and they could return later to gather what they were trying to hide. I think maybe it might be more arms or something of this nature. If the buildings were burned, then they would be hidden until they went back to get them at a later date. Also, check for helicopter flights in and out of that area for the last several months."

"That's a damn good idea, Harry. I will get my people on it right away. You might have just hit upon the answer. I wonder how many other storage areas are in this county we haven't found yet?"

"I will have the County Inspectors start doing their jobs real soon, Butch. It's about time that all these old and unsafe buildings were torn down. The owners may not like it much, but there are county ordinances covering this type of thing. If the inspectors don't want to do their jobs, then we can always hire ones who will. Have they been able to identify the bodies found in the cavern yet?"

"The list you had was a big help, but there are still a few that they have no idea who they were. We are in the process of getting warrants for several of the cemeteries to exhume and see if there are bodies in the graves. Also the FBI turned over the data from Trent's computer to us to investigate, since it's in our jurisdiction. Harry, this will be a lot of work, but we at the State Troopers thank you for making us more visible with the public. By the way, we have a new Commander. He was a field Captain and knows his business. He says if you ever need anything for you to let him know, and you will have it without any argument. He also said to tell you if you have any beef with him to call him, and he will settle it between the two of you. He is like you, from the old school and is a no nonsense type of Commander."

"That's good, Butch, maybe the men will have a little more confidence in their leadership now. I will be at the motor pool all day tomorrow so if you need to reach me, you have my cell number. I am going to try to spend some time with my granddaughter so I won't be in to work for the next week or so."

"I forgot to congratulate you on finding her, Harry. I am very happy for the both of you. She looks like a little sweetie and I bet she keeps you on your toes. Harry, the Governor gave all the credit to you and us for saving those girls. The men and I thank you for including us, and the morale went up about ten fold when they heard all the news coverage. The air wing has already said you were the best, and if you needed any of them all you had to do was call."

"Tell them all I said they did a great job, Butch. I am going to go as I have some things to do around here before Mark and the girls get here. Keep me up to date will you?"

"You got it Harry."

I went out to the kitchen and was trying to decide what to fix for dinner when Sandra came in covered in paint splatters.

"What in the world happened to you? You look like you've been in a paint ball battle."

"I am doing my room like you said I could. Do you have any cold Pepsi? I need a cold drink. I still have about four hours of work to do before I am done. Grandpa, will you give me a hug?"

"You can have all the hugs you want anytime."

She came over to me and I took her in my arms and hugged her tight. She was trembling with emotion, but I never said anything because I figured if it was something she wanted to talk about she would tell me. I grabbed a Pepsi and gave it to her and she went back to whatever she was doing in her room. I had to admit my curiosity was aroused but I would wait for her to invite me to look.

I grabbed some more of those huge pork chops out of the freezer and put them on the counter to thaw. While they were doing that, I peeled potatoes and made stuffing to put in the pork chops when I baked them. I had just finished the stuffing when I heard a loud motor coming up the hill from the road.

I grabbed the pistol and stuffed it in my belt and went out to the front porch. I didn't know who was coming up the driveway but it wasn't someone I had invited. The vehicle that topped the hill was something out of a junkyard and an old collector car. It was an El Camino body mounted on a four-wheel drive chassis and it was loud enough to wake the dead. It was about four feet high with the lift kit and was all primer. Now who the hell was this, I wondered. I couldn't see the driver since the thing sat so high in the air. I sat in the chair and waited to see who it was. When it stopped next to my Jeep, it was about four feet higher than mine. It reminded me of one of the mud bog buggies I had seen racing in Florida. When the door opened I had the pistol next to my leg just in case whoever it was wasn't friendly.

When he climbed out and jumped to the ground I saw it was Andy and his passenger was, whom I took to be, his wife. They had to drop ladders in order to climb down, and I had to laugh at the sight of them carefully climbing out of the thing. It was a good thing Nina had jeans on or she would have had some skinned knees.

"Hey, Harry, I want to introduce you to my wife Nina. I figured we would stop by since I heard you were in hiding. We wanted to thank you for the courtesy you showed us while I was in the hospital. Nina really appreciated having you assign her a driver so she would be able to come and go as she needed to."

"Not to change the subject Andy but what the hell do you call that thing you are driving. It looks like something out of a horror movie."

Andy looked at me and then Nina busted up laughing at the look of chagrin on his face. Nina was still busting a gut when Andy started to explain, but was interrupted by Nina.

"Sheriff, he built this ugly thing in his spare time. I still haven't figured out what he is going to use it for but he just had to have it. I have to wear ear plugs to keep from going deaf when he starts it up. Maybe he would believe you if you told him he needed some kind of exhaust on it. He bragged it was so good at being off road, but it barely made it up your driveway."

I looked at her and then at Andy who was red as a beet and just lost it and within a few seconds Nina was laughing as hard as I was. Andy was scuffing his foot in the dust he was so embarrassed at us laughing at his toy. I finally decided to let him off the hook a little and Nina winked at me when I looked over at her.

"Andy you know she's right about the exhaust. If you weren't on private property right now, I would write you a ticket. That thing is a menace to all the wild life in the area. The deer will be hiding for a week after hearing that thing. You still haven't told me what the hell it is."

"Aw come on Harry, not you too. She gives me enough hassle over my baby. I wanted something I could get around with in the winter. It can go almost anywhere I want it to."

"If that's the case my dear husband, how come you had such a hard time getting up Harry's driveway in four wheel drive? I thought for a minute I was going to have to get out and push it over that last little tree root."