We got a call that a member of a motorcycle gang, dangerous individual, wanted for questioning in an ongoing investigation might have gone down somewhere on this stretch of road. If you saw anything, anything at all, it's important you tell us now for your own safety. For my safety, Marjorie repeated. Yes, ma'am. Men like that, they're not the kind of people you want showing up at your door in the middle of the night.
Margaret thought of Wes crouched behind her couch, diabetic, broken legged, half frozen, terrified out of his mind, and thought of the two men standing in front of her right now. Badges gleaming, smiles practiced, eyes hard as river stones. It is. Well, she said, if I see any dangerous bikers wandering my property, deputy, I will be sure to call it in. Now, if that's all I've got got, a wood stove that needs tending, and I'd rather not lose more heat standing here with my door open.
Pierce did not move. For one terrible stretch it out moment, Margaret was certain he was going to push past her, badge or no badge, and she felt her hand twitch toward the shotgun on the side table, close enough to reach, far enough to make her wonder if she'd get there in time. Then from somewhere down the driveway a radio crackled and the older deputy Hale said something low that Margaret couldn't catch. Pierce's jaw tightened. "We'll be in touch, Mrs.
Doyle. " He said backing off the porch one slow step at a time, his eyes never leaving hers. "You have yourself a good day and Mrs. Doyle. " He paused at the bottom of the steps. "If you do happen to remember something later, don't call the station. Call me directly. " He handed her a card plain white, nothing but a phone number scrawled on it in pen, no department letterhead, no badge insignia.
"Sometimes things get lost in the shuffle up there. I'd rather handle this personally. " Margaret took the card between two fingers like it was something diseased. Smiled her best harmless old lady smile and closed the door the moment both men turned toward their cruiser. She stood with her back against the door for a full 10 seconds listening to her own heartbeat roar in her ears before she trusted her legs to carry her back to the couch. "They're gone. " She said and West dragged himself up from behind the couch, his face gray with pain and something worse than pain.
"That's not a real badge number. " he said. "I could hear it from here. He made that up on the spot. " "I know. " Margaret was still staring at the plain white card in her hand. "He gave me this instead, told me to call him directly if I remembered anything. No department letterhead, no name of the actual sheriff's office anywhere on it. " She looked up at West.
"You know this man? " "Logan Pierce. " West said the name like something bitter caught in his throat. "He's one of the names on that drive, Margaret. Not the top of the list but close to it. Word was he ran security for the transport routes, made sure certain vehicles got waved through certain checkpoints without ever getting searched. " "And he just stood on my porch and told me to call him personally if I saw anything. Because he already knows, Wes said.
And for the first time since she'd pulled him out of the snow, his voice cracked with something that sounded like genuine despair. He already knows I'm here, Margaret. That whole wellness check nonsense, that was him confirming it, not investigating it. He's not going to knock again next time. Margaret set the car down on the table like it might bite her.
Then we don't wait for a next time. She moved to the window, peering through the gap in the curtain, watching the cruiser sit at the bottom of the driveway for nearly a full minute before it finally pulled away, crawling slow down the snow-packed road. Not the speed of men in a hurry, the speed of men who wanted to be seen taking their time. Wanted her to know they weren't afraid, weren't rushing because they had all the time in the world. Margaret Wes's voice had gone quiet and strange behind her.
I need to tell you something and I need you to actually hear it, not just push through it the way you've been pushing through everything since you dragged me off that fence line. She turned. Go on. There is no clean way out of this now. You opening that door and lying to a corrupt deputy's face, that's not a small thing you can walk back tomorrow.