Page 61 of Maggie’s Match

One of the men that had shot at them was still alive?

Maggie jerked forward, wanting to warn everyone that he was still dangerous. But police kicked the weapons away from the dark figures while more paramedics rushed to help the shooters.

When Rick and the rest of her family came out of the house following the gurney with Bentley on it, she rushed over.

“Is he…?” she asked Rick.

“Still fighting,” Rick answered as they loaded Bent into the back of an ambulance. Briefly, one of the officers tried to stop the family, but Bryson barked at him and told them they could question the family down at the hospital.

Then the rest of the family crowded in the back of the ambulance and left with Bentley.

Rick held onto Maggie as they both looked around at the destruction. They noticed an EMT working on one of the shooters at the same time. Rick dropped his arms, and she followed him to just outside the door on the back porch.

It was obvious that the man had been shot in the right arm and leg. Half of his fingers were dangling from his hand, held on by bloody white strings. She felt her stomach lurch and held onto Rick for strength.

“Why, Frank?” Rick demanded of the guy, who was groaning in pain and cursing.

The man looked up at Rick and laughed as if suddenly he was no longer in pain.

“Stupid spics. They need to be taught a lesson. Go back to your own damn country. You mess with the Tillersons, you mess with all of us,” he spat out.

“Did the Tillersons hire you?” Rick demanded as Maggie tried to hold him back. The man just laughed up at him again. Then Rick stilled in her arms and took a deep breath. “Course they didn’t. They probably had nothing to do with this. You and your partner probably did this all by yourselves. Too bad you’ll be locked up for life while they sit back in their mansion and laugh at you,” he said in a calm voice.

“It was Arnold Tillerson,” Frank said loudly. “He paid us twenty grand each to get you off this land,” he screamed as they started to load him onto a gurney. “He wants the land so he can build his horse and dog tracks on it. He’s going to bring gambling to Bottle Creek, which will bring back all our jobs and get our land back that the Mexicans like them stole from us.” He motioned towards the house. “This will all be bulldozed down and back to its rightful owners soon enough.” He laughed.

“You have any proof?” the older officer asked, standing beside them.

“Yeah, I got proof. Text messages. I’ll give ’em to ya, but...” He glanced around as if suddenly realizing how dire of a situation he was in. “I want to cut a deal,” Frank said. “I’ll give you the proof to take the Tillerson family down and you let me go.”

The officer chuckled. “I don’t make deals.” Then he reached over and took the phone from Frank’s coat pocket. “Thanks, I’ll just take this into evidence.”

“I got text messages from the boss himself,” Frank yelled as they started to roll him away. His teeth were full of blood and his eyes were wide, making him look even crazier. “We got ourselves a deal, remember?”

Maggie felt a shiver race down her spine and held onto Rick.

“Shit,” the officer said after looking down at Frank’s phone. “He didn’t even lock his phone. That’s a real smart one there.” He scrolled through the phone. “Son of a…” He turned around and pointed at another officer standing by a patrol car. “Head on over to Arnold Tillerson’s house. It looks like we need to question the mayor.”

Rick turned and wrapped his arm around her. “Let’s head down to the hospital.” He ran his eyes over her. “We need shoes and a change of clothes first. Maybe bring the family some clean clothes too.”

“We’ll need to question you,” Officer Johnson said, “But you can get cleaned up first.”

“Can this be done with the rest of the family at the hospital? I know my fiancée is anxious to see how her cousin is doing,” Rick said.

Officer Johnson glanced around, then nodded. “It’s pretty obvious what happened here, seeing as Willy and Frank were wearing masks and had semi-automatics. It looks like they used the house as target practice.” He motioned to the ground. “Shit, it’s going to suck counting all these rounds.” He snapped his fingers and then motioned to the ground. “Someone better damn well be taking pictures and collecting evidence.”

Several of the officers that had been standing around suddenly jumped into motion. Thankfully, someone had covered Willy’s body so she didn’t have to see it again.

“Go on, head inside, just… don’t mess with anything that might help us figure out what the hell just happened,” Officer Johnson added.

“We won’t.” Rick nodded.

Maggie started to follow him through the wreckage but then veered and headed towards the front door.

“I locked it,” she reminded him.

“There’s a key in the flowerpot,” he pointed out, and she stood there shivering as he opened the front door. Then he pulled her inside, down the hallway, and into their bedroom.

The room looked so normal compared to the carnage just down the hallway.