The Wild Hog Murders (29 page)

The hog could move, though. It pawed the ground and glared at Andy with beady black eyes.

Andy still didn’t move. Rhodes didn’t think that would save him. Being motionless hadn’t saved Rhodes a few years before when he’d been the victim of an enraged hog.

It worked for Andy, however. The hog watched him for a full minute without moving. Then it turned and headed back in Rhodes’s direction. Rhodes moved behind a tree and stood as motionless as he could. The hog took no notice of him.

When Rhodes was sure the hog was gone, he rounded the tree, expecting to see Andy still lying there, but Andy was gone.

The pistol was gone, too.

Chapter 27

Rhodes wasn’t resentful that Andy’s playing possum had kept him safe from the hog, but he wished the trick had worked for him. It didn’t seem fair.

Andy no longer tried to keep quiet. Rhodes could hear him blundering along through the trees. Rhodes heard something else, too: a siren.

Rhodes started jogging again in an attempt to catch up to Andy. It didn’t take him long. Andy had been hurt when he fell on the hog or when the hog had thrown him, and he was limping badly.

The siren sound got louder, and Rhodes saw Ruth’s county car through the trees. She had pulled into the field, anticipating that Andy would drive the truck out and try to get to the road. She stopped the car and got out.

Andy saw her, too, and as he limped out of the trees, he fired his pistol. Rhodes heard the shot. He saw the bullet dimple the car door, but he didn’t hear the sound.

Ruth wasn’t in much danger. She had crouched behind the front of the car so the engine would protect her from bullets. Rhodes knew she wouldn’t fire back at Andy, because she didn’t know where Rhodes was and wouldn’t take a chance of hitting him by accident. Considering that he was in the line of fire, Rhodes was glad she was being careful.

Andy pulled the trigger again, and another bullet hit the cruiser. Mikey Burns and the other commissioners weren’t going to like that. Ruth took a quick glance over the hood of the car and ducked back down.

Andy stayed where he was for the moment. He couldn’t go forward with Ruth blocking his way, and the hogs were behind him in the woods. So was Rhodes, who still wasn’t sure if Andy knew he was there. Andy knew, though, and he must have decided that he had a better chance against Rhodes and the hogs than against Ruth. He was a bank robber, after all, and it takes a certain amount of nerve to go into a bank lobby and demand that the teller hand over the money, even if you have a gun and the teller doesn’t.

When Andy made his decision, he didn’t waste any time. He turned back to the woods and started to run. Rhodes stepped out from behind a tree.

“Stop right there, Andy. We have you covered from two sides.”

Andy wasn’t impressed. He didn’t stop running, not even when he raised his pistol and started to shoot.

Rhodes wasn’t too worried about being shot. Hitting a target is hard enough for someone who’s standing still. Hitting something while running on unlevel ground is next to impossible. Andy might get lucky, but the odds weren’t in his favor.

“Stop where you are, Andy,” Rhodes said.

Andy wasn’t listening. He didn’t stop. A bullet hit a tree about five yards from Rhodes, and chunks of bark flew off the trunk.

Rhodes didn’t want to shoot Andy, but it looked as if he didn’t have much choice. He checked on Ruth. She was still hidden behind the car. Rhodes raised his pistol.

Andy stumbled. His arms windmilled as he tried to regain his balance, but he couldn’t. He continued to run, leaning farther and farther forward. After a couple of steps, he was almost parallel to the ground. He stretched his arms in front of him and landed facedown. The pistol went off, but the bullet didn’t come anywhere near Rhodes, who ran out of the trees and kicked the gun out of Andy’s hand.

Andy tried to get up.

“Not a good idea,” Rhodes said. “Just lie there still and quiet for a while.”

Rhodes looked toward the county car. Ruth was already on her way over. She had her handcuffs ready.

“Hands behind your back,” Rhodes said to Andy, who complied without bothering to argue.

“Did you shoot him?” Ruth asked as she walked up.

“No,” Rhodes said. “He fell. Cuff him.”

“Glad to,” Ruth said, and she did.

*   *   *

Andy wasn’t the only one who was cuffed. When they got back to the KCLR van, Rhodes saw that Janice Chandler also had a pair of cuffs on and was sitting in a chair. Buddy watched her, his hand only a few inches from the butt of his .38. Like Rhodes, Buddy was a traditionalist.

“How’d Buddy get here so fast?” Rhodes asked Ruth before they got out of the county car. Andy was safely stashed in the backseat.

“He was listening to the radio show,” Ruth said. “When he heard what was going on, he drove out here. Got here just in time, too.”

“He didn’t try to shoot anybody, did he?”

“No, but he did ask Ms. Chandler if she felt lucky.”

“He loves that line,” Rhodes said. “I take it she didn’t feel lucky.”

“No. I was pretty much in control by then anyway. Buddy cuffed her, and I went to look for you.”

“You were just in time, like Buddy. How about Alton?”

“He was great. He’s the one who pulled Ms. Chandler off me just before Buddy got here.”

They got out of the car. Milton Munday waved them over.

“Here they are now, folks, Sheriff Dan Rhodes and his courageous deputy Ruth Grady. They’ve captured the killer, and I can see him sitting in the backseat of their car right now. He appears to be very subdued. Maybe we can get the sheriff to say a few words for us. How about it, Sheriff?”

He stuck the microphone out at Rhodes, who walked up to it and said, “Just doing our job.”

Munday pulled the mic back. “How about that, folks. Just doing their job and keeping Blacklin County safe. We can be proud that we have a fighting sheriff like Dan Rhodes and deputies like Ruth Grady to watch our backs.”

Rhodes was amazed at how suddenly his reputation had turned around. He looked at Mikey Burns, who was shaking his head in agreement with Munday. Then he looked at Buddy, who looked a little miffed.

Rhodes gestured for the mic, and Munday handed it to him.

“Let’s not forget Buddy, here. He’s another of the county’s fine deputies. In fact, you could say that he’s the Dirty Harry of Blacklin County, and without him we’d never have subdued one of the Chandlers. Take a bow, Buddy?”

Buddy, grinning like a schoolboy, took a bow. It probably didn’t even occur to him that no one could see him. As soon as he completed the bow, he turned back to Janice Chandler, watchful and serious as ever.

“Then there’s Alton Boyd,” Rhodes said. “He’s the county’s animal control officer, but he helped control a different kind of animal today. Thanks, Alton.”

Boyd smiled and waved. Rhodes didn’t know who he was waving to, but maybe Alton had somebody in mind.

“Finally, let’s not forget Ed Garver,” Rhodes said.

Garver was beside Burns, and Burns stuck out a hand for Garver to shake. Rhodes wished they were on TV.

“It was Ed Garver’s testimony that helped us bring this whole thing off,” Rhodes said. “Remember, Ed works at Allison’s Plumbing, and they can take care of all your plumbing needs. Give them a call, and maybe Ed Garver will show up at your house to help you out.”

“Are you getting a kickback?” Ruth whispered.

Rhodes grinned and handed the mic back to Munday. The broadcast went on for a while after that, but Rhodes and the deputies didn’t stick around to hear the rest. Ruth and Rhodes drove back to town in her cruiser with Andy, and Buddy took Alton Boyd back with Janice stashed in the rear seat. There was no room for Garver, so he stayed until Mikey Burns could give him a ride back to town.

*   *   *

Rhodes thought it would take a while to get confessions from the Chandlers, but he hoped to play them off against each other and find out the whole story that way. It worked out pretty much like that, and as it turned out, things had happened just about the way Rhodes had it figured. There was one surprise, however. Rhodes had been right about Baty and Andy having been on the way to the Chandler place when he started chasing them, and he’d been right about Andy calling Janice. It was Janice, though, who’d brought the pistol to the woods, and she was the one who’d killed Baty. Or at least that was Andy’s story. Janice said it was all a lie, which was fine by Rhodes. He’d go on letting them implicate each other until they got tired of it and he got the whole story.

That is, he would if Randy Lawless didn’t stop him. The Chandlers had refused to say a word after they had a lawyer, and of course they’d gone for the best in the county. Rhodes wasn’t worried. Lawless had never come out ahead of him yet, and he hadn’t been successful in keeping the Chandlers quiet so far.

Jennifer Loam was a bit annoyed with Rhodes for using the radio show to stage the capture. She told him he was contributing to the downfall of newspapers, but she was only kidding. Or so Rhodes hoped. He promised her an exclusive interview as soon as the Chandlers confessed, and that was pretty much it, except for one thing.

The phone call came two days after the Chandlers were arrested. Hack answered, listened, and looked at Rhodes.

“This is for you. I don’t know who it is. Line two. You want to take it?”

Rhodes picked up the phone. “This is Sheriff Rhodes.”

“Yeah. This is Lenny Rapinski.”

Rhodes knew the voice immediately. Hack had known, too, no matter what he’d said, and he grinned widely. Rhodes knew why.
Lenny?

“Hoss’s brother,” Rapper said, as if Rhodes might not know.

“What can I do for you, Lenny?” Rhodes asked.

“I hear you got the guy who killed my brother.”

“You heard right.”

“That’s good. I give you credit.”

“Thanks,” Rhodes said.

“That doesn’t mean anything’s changed between you and me, though.”

“I never thought it did.”

“You messed up my leg again. It got infected. I can’t hardly walk on it now.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah, I bet you are.”

“Thinking it over, though, I believe you’re the one who hurt your leg, not me.”

“It was your fault.”

“I don’t see it that way.”

Rapper didn’t say anything.

“Seems like you get hurt every time you come to Blacklin County,” Rhodes said. “Might be best if you stayed away from now on. Sooner or later, I’m going to get you in jail on a charge that will stick. Like some of the assault charges you accumulated on your last trip.”

“I wouldn’t count on it. Anyway, I just wanted to say you did good, and I appreciate it. That’s as far as it goes.”

“You’re lucky you didn’t hurt anybody more seriously.”

Rapper didn’t answer. He’d already ended the call.

“Who was it?” Hack asked.

“You know who it was.”

“Rapper. He’s a sharp one. Never gives anything away.”

“I wouldn’t say that. Now we know his real name.”

“You gonna run a check on him?”

“Sure, but I doubt it’ll do any good. He’s lived off the grid for so long that he might not even have a record as Lenny Rapinski.”

“Prob’ly not. You think he’ll be back?”

Rhodes rapped his knuckles on the top of the desk.

“I think we can count on that,” he said.

A
LSO BY
B
ILL
C
RIDER

S
HERIFF
D
AN
R
HODES
M
YSTERIES

Murder in the Air

Murder in Four Parts

Of All Sad Words

Murder Among the O.W.L.S.

A Mammoth Murder

Red, White, and Blue Murder

A Romantic Way to Die

A Ghost of a Chance

Death by Accident

Winning Can Be Murder

Murder Most Fowl

Booked for a Hanging

Evil at the Root

Death on the Move

Cursed to Death

Shotgun Saturday Night

Too Late to Die

P
ROFESSOR
S
ALLY
G
OOD
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YSTERIES