Shine (Kentucky Outlaw Book 1) (17 page)

Her voice broke on that last sentence and she let go of all the pain and anger she’d been holding on to.
 
The tears came freely and Ethan put his arms around her.
 
He wanted to help her, but he didn’t know how.
 
He’d never been very good about being there for people, so he just held her as tight as he could as she wrapped her arms around him and cried into his chest.

She felt embarrassed about crying in front of him like that.
 
The world turns a little gray and she collapsed into the arms of some guy, of a Dalton, of all people.
 
But when she let Ethan go and looked up into his face, she didn’t feel so bad.
 
His eyes were kind and his mouth was soft.
 
He wasn’t judging her or treating her like some damsel in distress, he was just there for her.
 
She realized that no one had really been there for her through this whole experience, and how much she had really needed the support.

“I’m sorry,” she said, wiping her eyes.

“Don’t be,” he said, so quietly she barely heard him.
 

“You’re the first person I’ve told all of that to, now you know all my secrets.”
 
He tried to run his fingers through her hair, but she sidestepped him.
 
“OK, I bared my soul. Now it’s your turn.”

“Your family and mine aren’t that different after all.
 
The Butlers have decided to throw in with Zeke.”

He told her the whole story, how the Daltons were going legal and they needed the Butlers’ money.
 
That there would be just one more run to make and then his days as a criminal would be over.

“That’s good right?
 
No more running from the police, a chance to really make something of yourself in the community.”

“I guess.”

“You don’t sound happy about it,” she said.

As Ethan took another swallow from the jar, Julie noticed that most of the shine was gone, which wasn’t surprising, given the way she felt.
 
Her head was warm with the amber liquid and she leaned back against the car to make sure she didn’t tip over.

“I never thought of myself as a criminal, I always thought I was an outlaw,” he said.
 
“Maybe there‘s not much difference between the two, but to me a criminal breaks laws for selfish reasons.
 
An outlaw is a hero, someone who helps the people, even if that means running afoul of the establishment.
 
I been a bootlegger since I was old enough to say the word.
 
If I’m not that, what’ll I be?”

He drove her home.
 
All the cars were gone from the house, the party was over.
 
She climbed back into the window, careful not to fall in her condition, but once she got back inside, she realized was starving and so she snuck down into the kitchen for a late snack.
 
Her father and brother were sitting at the table waiting for her.
 
Again.

“Sit,” her father commanded.
 
“Do I even want to know where you’ve been?
 
Jesus H. Christ, girl.
 
What in the hell has gotten into your head?
 
You leave in the middle of a campaign party?
 
A party for a very important friend of mine?
 
I’ve got half a mind to tan your hide.”

“I’m twenty-three, Daddy.
 
We’re a little past that,” she said.

“You best mind that sass.
 
You are my daughter and until you are off and married you’ll do exactly as I say.”
 
He was as mad as she’d ever seen him.
 
“Do I need remind you of the plans this family has?
 
Well, do I?”

“No, Daddy,” she said.

“Is that liquor I smell on your breath?”

She looked her father in the eye and said, “Yes, Daddy.
 
I am twenty-three years old and I’ve been drinking.
 
I wasn’t driving so it was entirely legal.”

“The only law you need to worry about is mine, and no daughter of mine is going out carousing all goddamn night.”

“Jesus Christ, I was just talking to Ethan, not running a goddamn brothel.”
 
The words came out of her mouth before she could catch them, but once they were out in the open she found didn’t care.
 
She was tired of lying.

“Ethan Dalton?” said Austin.
 
“That boy is the prime suspect in an attack on the police.”

“Do you have any proof?” asked Julie, the anger clear in her voice.

Austin leaned across the table and said, “If I had any proof, his worthless ass would be sitting in a cell and I guarantee he’d die in there.”

“Austin, I wish you was half a smart as you think you are.”
 
Julie leaned right back at him, showing that she wasn’t going to pushed around.

“That’s enough,” Walter said.
 
“Julie Mae, get on to bed.
 
I don’t want to hear another word from your mouth for the rest of the night.
 
I have never been more disappointed in you than I am right now.
 
Thank Christ Almighty that your mother has gone to bed.”

There was real anger in her father’s face, and she was too tired and drunk to talk to them anyway.
 
She headed upstairs and kicked off her boots, threw her jacket and jeans on the floor, and flung open the window.
 
The cold night air felt good on her skin as she stood there in her t-shirt and underwear.
 
She wished she were still on top of that hill with Ethan.
 
Everything had been more peaceful up there, and she had felt very comfortable around him, more comfortable than she had ever felt with Nick.

As her thoughts turned to Ethan, she thought about what he had said about his family going legal.
 
She saw how lost he felt and she had a suspicion it wasn’t a new feeling for him.
 
All that time spent away, was he just searching for something?
 
If he was she didn’t think he had ever found it.
 
Julie wanted to reach out to him, to comfort him the way he had her.
 
She could have told him that he was more than just a bootlegger, but she hadn’t done that, she’d said nothing.
 
What was wrong with her?
 
She couldn’t open herself up even a little bit.
 
She knew then what she had suspected for a long time.
 
She really was broken.

***

When the morning light stabbed Julie’s eyes, all she wanted to do was drink a gallon of water and fall back asleep.
 
Then she heard her father’s voice downstairs.
 
She couldn’t make out what he was saying, but it was enough to remind her of the night before.
 

With her eyes like sandpaper and her mouth completely dry she showered quickly, found some clean clothes, and was out the window again.
 
Julie thought she might just petition her daddy to get some stairs installed, then decided she wasn’t going to be living in that house long enough for that anyway.
 
Last night proved that it was far beyond time to get her own place.
 
There’d be a fight of course, as the thought of moving out before marriage was unthinkable to her family.
 
Even Austin still lived under their roof and he was a cop, not to mention a man, but she was done with anyone telling her how to live her life.
 
In that moment she felt closer to Ethan than ever.

Her car started on the second try and she was at the Butler house five minutes later.
 
She hated the thought of what she had to do, but there was no going back.
 
She walked up to the door and rang the bell.
 
Nick’s mother, Daisy, answered the door.
 
She was an older lady, but a lot of the beauty from her younger days remained. Unfortunately, she wore so much makeup that she seemed older instead of younger. Julie wondered if she’d fall into the same trap at that age.

Daisy had obviously been crying, but she looked very happy to see Julie.
 
She invited Julie in immediately and gave her a big hug.

“My dear, dear Julie.
 
Come on in, please.
 
Have a seat.
 
Do you want some tea, or coffee?”

Julie just asked for a large glass of water, and the two of them headed into the kitchen.
 
They sat at the table next to a large window that let in the morning sun.

“How’re you doing?” Daisy asked.

“I should be asking you that question.”

“I have good times and bad.
 
It’s a little worse in the morning because I’m here all by myself, and there’s so much here to remind me of him.”

Julie looked around and saw all the pictures of Nick hanging on the walls , photos of him as a child,
 
as the strong young man Julie had fallen in love with, but none, thankfully, from the time she wasn’t able to stand him.

“We all miss him,” said Julie.
 

Daisy went into the hall closet and found a box, sitting it on the table.
 
“These are just a few things of his that I thought you should have.
 
There’s his college sweatshirt, the letters you wrote him while you were in Europe that summer, things like that.”

“Thank you,” Julie said, hoping she sounded sincere.
 
“I just have one more favor to ask.
 
Do you have his phone anywhere around here?”

“Yes, it’s in with the stuff the police gave us.
 
Why do you need it?”

“I think there’s a picture of us on it I’d really like to have.”

Daisy brought out the phone and handed it to Julie. She scrolled through his calendar and found the date she was looking for.
 
Sure enough, on the night Nick died had a meeting listed with Avon Traxler.

 
Driving away from the Butler house, the box in the passenger seat next to her, she wondered what she was going to do with it.
 
Throwing it away seemed terrible, even for her, but there was no way it could stay in her life.

Traxler’s Bar was closed when she got there, it seemed even professional drinkers had to take time off everyday. She sat wondering what her next move should be.
 
If Traxler really was Nick’s killer she’d need to be careful, but she needed more evidence before going to Ethan, and there was no way in hell she was going to the police.
 
Not just because Austin represented everything she hated in that moment, but she was a reporter, damn it, and if the cops could read about it in the paper along with everyone else.

She didn’t want anyone to see her car in the bar’s parking lot so she parked around the corner and walked to the back.
 
The door was locked and she couldn’t see anyone when she peered through the dirty windows.
 
She headed around the back and saw a freestanding garage.
 
The big door in front was locked as well, but around the side a small door hadn’t latched properly when it shut.
 

Inside the garage Julie realized how reckless she was being.
 
She didn’t know what she was looking for, and if anyone caught her there weren’t many places she could hide.
 
The garage was a large open structure with a second level that was just a balcony around the inside.
 
Along one wall were jugs of shine, the most recent delivery from the Daltons, Julie guessed.
 
About half the jugs were empty, apparently Dalton shine sold quickly.
 

There were windows along the second level but they didn’t let much light in.
 
She found a switch along a wooden support beam, but when she flicked it no lights came on.
 
She flipped it back and still nothing happened.
 
She followed some wires running from the switch, going up and across the support beam, going past the lights and into corner of the garage.
 
She stood on an old crate and where the wall met the underside of the balcony she saw a small microphone.
 
Following the wires around to the other side of the garage she found another microphone.
 

Why would Traxler wire his garage for sound?
 
Julie couldn’t say she was an expert in criminal activity, but it seemed like recording yourself was a bad idea.
 
She kept following the wires, looking for the recording device.
 
She heard the door open behind her and whipped around.

Avon Traxler stood in the doorway, wild-eyed.
 
His hair was free of his ponytail stood on end all over his head.
 
“What the fuck are you doing here?”