The Territory A Novel - By Tricia Fields Page 0,105
doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter! The owner of those guns is dead! You don’t mess with people like that.”
“I was going to get us out of this hellhole. I could have made enough money to move us anywhere.”
Pegasus leaned across him and took both grenades out of his hands. “I love you, Kenny. I love you for trying. But you have to stop now. It’s over.”
* * *
Otto finally reached Josie on her cell phone on his way out to the campsite. Josie had Kenny handcuffed and was leading him to her jeep. Otto arrived as she reached the road. She loaded Kenny in the back of his jeep, and he transported Winning to the Arroyo County Jail. It was after three in the morning before he was booked and sitting in an interrogation room. Josie sat across the metal table from Kenny and slid him a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Otto set a cup of instant coffee in front of him and stood in the back of the room. Kenny still wore just a ripped black T-shirt and jeans. He lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply.
After the preliminary information, Josie asked him to explain in detail how he came up with Red’s guns. Kenny had lost the angry martyr persona and looked as if he were coming down off a three-day high. His eyes remained bloodshot and unfocused, his words slightly slurred.
“Not much detail to give. I found Red dead on my couch. I figured somebody was going to get the guns, may as well be me. He probably stole the guns to begin with. Turnabout.”
“You found Red’s body and didn’t bother to report it?”
He shrugged.
“You left a dead body in the trailer while your sister lay in the bedroom sleeping?”
He shrugged again. “The guy was dead. Wasn’t like he was going to get up and do something to her. I could tell he was dead, so I left to think. That’s when I decided to go back to Red’s and load the guns in my camper. It was already parked behind Red’s place. Why not take something bad and turn it? I rented the storage unit later that day. Check the records.”
Josie already knew the records Cammie gave her verified his story.
“Why use Paul Fallow’s name?”
“Because Paul Fallow is an ass. He’s an arrogant jerk who deserves whatever he gets.”
“Did you change the front page in Red’s policy manual? Did you take your name off the list to keep us from viewing you as a suspect?”
He lifted a shoulder and sipped at the coffee.
“What makes the most sense to me,” Josie said, “is that you shot Red for the guns and then stole them. You took your name out of the manual and added Fallow’s name to the rental information to throw suspicion away from you.”
“Why would I shoot Red, and then drag his bloody body into my own trailer?”
“Maybe you stuck him on the couch to get the body hidden while you ransacked his house.”
“This is stupid. I want a lawyer.”
* * *
After finishing the paperwork with the intake officer, Josie found Otto looking out the door into the lobby area at the front of the jail.
“What’s up?” she asked.
He turned to face Josie, and she couldn’t read his expression. He looked lost. “It’s my wife. Delores is sitting on the bench with Pegasus Winning. She has a box of Kleenex in one hand and the girl’s hand in her other. I’m quite sure my wife has just invited the girl to stay at our house.”
Josie smiled and patted Otto on the back. “You’re a lucky man. Actually, she’s pretty lucky, too.”
“Oh, no. I’m not in the same league as that woman.” He shook his head as if trying to puzzle out how he had ever married a woman that good.
They watched for a few minutes until Pegasus stood, hugged Delores, and left the building by herself. Josie followed Otto into the waiting room.
“Wouldn’t come home with you?” Otto asked his tearful wife.
“I tried. She said she might come to church with us on Sunday. I said we’d be by her house to pick her up at a quarter to ten.”
Josie smiled and hoped Delores’s optimism paid off.
Otto tried to shoo his wife out the door. “Let’s go home. You did what you could.”
Delores ignored Otto and turned to Josie. “What is it with you young women? Is it such a crime to let someone help you every once in a while?”