Page 53 of Maggie’s Match

“Yeah, but there are a lot of other Tillersons in town.” He pulled her into his chest so they could lay there and watch television together.

“Do you think they’re going to try something else? I mean, I know Royce and his uncle are unhinged, but every member of the family?” Maggie said as she rested her head back against his chest.

“It would stand to reason. The sheriff and Royce weren’t the only ones running your aunt and uncle out of town. Grant claims that the calls to have I.C.E. drop by the ranch were from someone in the mayor’s office.”

“Right, I had forgotten that Royce’s father is the mayor. His mother works there too as his secretary. There are even a few cousins that work in the city department and are on the city council.”

“They spent the last few years skirting the law and thought they were untouchable,” Rick said. “I doubt they even cared if they were seen. After all, who would take someone else’s word over the sheriff’s.”

“Too bad they didn’t think about cameras,” Maggie added with a chuckle. “Still, all of my uncle’s grain and most of his hay are gone. He’s having to purchase more. He’s moved his four-wheelers and equipment out and is storing it all in that barn for now until they can rebuild,” Maggie said.

They grew quiet as they watched the television. He flipped on the sound when a local report about the fire came on.

Hearing their spin on it just pissed him off. Everything was speculative. They didn’t even show the videos or talk about Royce and his uncle being arrested.

“They make it sound like they’re innocent and are just being accused of the crime and that no one was injured.” Maggie stood and started pacing the floor.

Just then Maggie’s phone rang, and she answered the call on speaker phone.

“I know we’re not supposed to share the video, but this makes me want to send a copy to the news station,” Bent said when Maggie answered the call.

“They’ll probably just bury it,” Maggie replied.

“Then how about I send it to a national news station? I’m already online looking for contact information,” Bent replied.

“Technically, the police didn’t tell us we couldn’t share it with the news.” Maggie turned to him. “I mean, we could leak it. It wouldn’t hurt our case. Right?”

“Let me talk to my uncle first,” Rick suggested.

After they hung up with Bent, they called Grant, who suggested that he share the security footage with a friend he had in Dallas at a news station.

Maggie sent a text to her cousin, and they sat back and watched the television for updates until they fell asleep.

By morning, the videos were airing on all the local and national news stations.

“We got them,” Maggie said with a grin while he ate his breakfast.

“Let’s hope so.”

“They’re even talking about looking into all the I.C.E. calls to the ranch.” She laughed. “Finally! Maybe now Bottle Creek will return to normal.”

Chapter Nineteen

For a few days after they left the hospital, things did seem normal. Then some leaked footage of Rick and her leaving the hospital started playing on the news and the calls started.

Every news station in the state wanted to interview Rick, Bentley, or her uncle.

Rick settled back in the room that they shared, glad that it was on the main floor, since he had to use crutches and keep weight off his leg for now. That was harder than expected, since his broken arm was in the cast, but still, he got around pretty well.

Then Bentley had given Rick an idea to use an old office chair, and now he was rolling around the house everywhere he went. The pair of them would race one another around like kids instead of the full-grown adults they were supposed to be.

Bent’s hands healed quickly and, so far, he only had a small scar on his right palm to show for the entire ordeal.

Her uncle’s insurance was quick to step in, and plans to rebuild the barn moved forward quickly.

Someone in town even started a donation account, which had raised a couple thousand dollars so far. Maggie wasn’t optimistic about the family ever seeing a dime of it. There were a lot of scammers out there.

A lot of people believed the security footage was fake, and some of them had made threatening phone calls to the family. Most were made in the dead of night, waking up the household. Her aunt eventually unplugged the home phone altogether.