Cooper's Loot by Rick E. George

Author:Rick E. George [George, Rick E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical fiction, female protagonist, suspense, psychological, reporter, mountains, mountain cabin, blizzard, snowbound, dark
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
Published: 2019-06-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Three

William Thomas Garfield looked pensive on his Oregon State driver’s license, expiration date March 17, 1973, a twenty-second birthday he would never have. On the day he went to the license office, he’d been wearing a light blue dress shirt and a black tie. He didn’t look like a goofy guy with a taste for marijuana and cocaine.

Susan darted around Cooper and threw a punch. Clint raised both arms, but her fist blasted through the defense and smacked his cheek. Then she swung an uppercut between his arms, this time connecting with his chin.

Cooper rose from his chair and took a step back, holding the revolver at his side. “Get her off of him.”

Bev had already backed away to the woodstove, but Jim sprang forward, wrapped both arms around Susan’s waist, and yanked her away while she continued swinging her fists.

“You son of a bitch!” she shouted.

“Stop it, Susan,” said Cooper, watching Clint, who kept his arms raised and his eyes wary.

Jim pulled her back another step. “C’mon, girl. Hold your horses. Let someone else take a shot at him.”

At the back of the cabin, Tanya stood with her hands covering her face. “Oh god, oh god, oh god, Clint, you…oh god.”

“Shut up, Tanya,” said Cooper.

Susan twisted left and right to get loose, but Jim kept her in a squeeze. “You fucking bitch,” she yelled at Tanya. “You’re part of this.”

“I’m not, I’m not, I swear I’m not.”

Cooper slapped his free hand onto the table. “Both of you, shut up!”

Bev kept her eyes locked on Clint. He rubbed his cheek and rotated his jaw. Perhaps the show of pain was a ruse. In a second he’d be a dart and Bev would be the bull’s eye. He’d grab her, thrust her in front of him like a shield, drag her outside, twist her neck, bite her, vicious like the animal he obviously was.

In the pause after Cooper’s command, a wind gust whooshed in the darkness outside.

Clint massaged small circles on the back of his jaw. “It ain’t like it looks,” he pled.

“Shoot him, just shoot him,” said Susan, no longer flailing but still inside Jim’s grasp.

“Lord almighty.” Clint closed his eyes and whimpered. “These people ain’t going to believe me. Why’d I have to take that wallet? Why couldn’t I have just left it there?”

“Look at me, Clint,” said Cooper.

Clint opened his eyes. There was a tremble in his shallow breaths.

“You’ve been lying to us.” Cooper kept his voice even. “You told us you didn’t know what happened to Will or where he was. But you do know. You took his wallet. Why should we believe anything you say?”

“I thought…” He sighed. “I thought if I told you, you’d be thinking what you’re thinking right now, that I done it. But I didn’t. Tanya, you know me. Am I the kind of man who’d kill someone?”

“I don’t know you. You’re a customer in the bar.”

Susan scowled at the waitress. “I don’t trust a thing you say. You told him we were going and when we’d leave.

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