Bexar County Line by George Wier

Author:George Wier [Wier, George]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Google: F-7gDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: B0889ND8XP
Goodreads: 53652428
Publisher: Flagstone Books
Published: 2020-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

There’s a certain sensation that goes with the sneaking suspicion that you’re missing something, and it’s something fundamental. Your hearing sharpens—even though I was still recovering from the report from firing my firearm in an enclosed space, and still had a distant ringing in my ears; the second cousin to tinnitus—and the small hairs on the back of the neck stand up at attention and bristle against the collar, making for a mild itch. It’s the same feeling as knowing there’s a camouflaged hole somewhere close by, and it’s not a good feeling at all.

During the drive and after the call to Julie, which I let Jessica handle the better part of—I thought about everything that had happened thus far during the long day. I knew I would have to write a detailed report. In fact, I was overdue for a call to Captain Orville Biggs, he of the oversized ears and the four-word sentences. I vowed to remedy that as soon as we were seated at a restaurant table.

Jessica had her attention out the window, hell and gone. “Wow.”

“What?”

“The sunset. It’s just starting, but it’s going to be dramatic.”

“When I see a dramatic sunset, I think of volcanoes.”

“I’m not sure why you would, but okay.”

“After a big eruption, even continents away, the dust and ash in the air make for beautiful sunsets. That’s what they say, anyway.”

She nodded.

“Have you picked a name?”

“A name?”

“You and Driesel. For the baby.”

“Oh. Not yet. You’re making it a little too real all of a sudden. I’m not sure I’m ready to be a mom.”

“Oh, you’ll be mom all right. That baby is coming. But you’ll do fine. You helped raise all the little ones.”

“I helped, but mom raised them. You know, I still remember when you two got together.”

“Oh. You mean the Archie Carpin deal.”

“Yeah. That guy was muy loco en la cabeza.”

I laughed. “Crazy in the head. I don’t like to think about that time. Hank almost died.”

“I know. He’s your best friend, isn’t he?”

“I don’t know. More like my crazy older brother.”

“He’s not that much older than you, dad.” She punched me in the shoulder.

“I was nine or ten about the time he came back from Vietnam, so he had to be in his mid late twenties or something.”

“Dad, he’s only seventeen years older than you.”

“Thanks. Suddenly I feel ancient.”

“Why aren’t we going home? And yes, I am hungry.”

“Because whoever it was shot at me and almost hit Jennifer...”

“He—or she—is still out there.”

“Right.”

Jessica put her phone in her pocket as I made the turn west onto Loop 337 and after a minute we pulled up to the barbecue joint.

Hank had beaten us there, of course.

*****

It took another thirty minutes for Perry to arrive, but Jessica got his order over the phone and his food was waiting for him when he got there.

“So what’s the plan now?” Perry asked, barbecue sauce running down his chin. Jessica made a motion and he wiped his chin with a paper towel.

I swallowed my food, took a swill of sweet tea.

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