Thank you to all who’ve parted with their hard earned money to buy the series. I’m truly humbled and appreciative! I’m up to 45 reviews on The Grey Man- Partners, still looking to get over that magic 50 reviews hump. Once that happens, then Amazon starts pushing it a bit more. Vignettes is over the 100 mark, Payback is at 89, and Changes is at 68. 100 reviews is the next milestone, but I’m happy to have the reviews I have.
It seems that the ‘average’ of reviews vs readers is in the 4-6% range, which is about what is expected. Having said that, I’d still like to get over the 50 reviews hump with Partners, so consider this a bleg… 🙂
In other news, thanks to those readers who’ve whined, threatened, sent harassing emails, expressed interest, I’ve started working on the fifth book in the three book Grey Man series. It’s WAY early yet, but here’s a tease… They usual caveats apply…
Dressing for the Occasion
Aaron came out of the bedroom stretching his neck in the unaccustomed suit and tie. As he walked into the kitchen, the old man asked, “What the hell are you doing?”
Aaron stopped short, “Uh, I’ve got to go to court today, I’m testifying. Remember I told you last night.”
“Not dressed like that you aren’t. Get that damn monkey suit off. Jeans and a pressed white shirt. BBQ belt, holster and gun. Get your good Silverbelly. Now vamoose.”
Aaron said, “Can I at least get a cup of coffee first?”
The old man chuckled, “I guess so. And I guess we need to have a chat about dressing for court.”
Fifteen minutes later, Aaron was back, and the old man looked him up and down critically, “Need to run a brush over the boots. A cowboy may only have one pair of boots, and they may be run down, but he’ll do his damnest to put a shine on them.”
Aaron retreated once again, and ten more minutes went by before he reappeared, “How’s this,” he asked.
“That’ll do,” the old man replied. “Now sit down and drink your coffee.”
Aaron filled his cup and took a seat at the table as Jesse came in drowsily carrying Kaya in her arms. Jesse plopped her in the old man’s arms and mumbled as she headed for the coffee pot. Aaron asked, “Why the jeans? When we went through testifying class in the academy, they specified being well dressed and professional looking. To me, that’s a suit.”
The old man sighed, “That’s typical of the HPD mentality. They aren’t in cow country. They’re in an urban environment. Hell, Austin and Dallas are the same way, but anywhere else in Texas, you go in wearing a suit and the jury is gonna be against you.”
Jesse flopped down across from Aaron, “Banker’s, right Papa?”
“Yep, anybody that looks like a banker is gonna remind those jurors of the damn bankers that took their pappy or grandpappy’s land back in the day. That is the wrong foot to get off on with any jury.”
“What about the lawyers?”
The old man chuckled, “Always wanted to get defense lawyers that dressed like that. Guaranteed the jury would hate them for cross-examining us poor ol’ hardworking deputies.”
Aaron said, “But Attorney Randall dresses well, right?”
The old man laughed this time, “Nan Randall dresses only well enough to be seen as a hard working county attorney. She doesn’t wear fancy dresses here, matter of fact, she gets them off the rack at the local department store. That way, if there are women on the jury, they’ll recognize that dress. Hell, they might even have that dress in their closet. Makes ‘em comfortable with her, knowing she’s not putting on airs.”
“Jeezus… What else did I get taught that was wrong?”
Jesse patted his hand and laughed, “Probably half the stuff. Urban versus rural. HPD does all urban, leaving us poor rural deputies to learn the hard way.”
Jace wandered into the kitchen rubbing his eyes, “Daddy you go work?”
Aaron tousled his hair, “Yes, Jace. Daddy is going to work.”
Jace ran his hand over the butt of the 1911 on Aaron’s belt, “Daddy wearing pretty gun today.”
The old man coughed to cover a laugh as Jesse said, “Jace, come here. You want breakfast? And what do you do if you see a gun laying out?”
Jace smiled, “No touch, tell a big person. Can I have cereal? With choco… Chocolate milk? Please?”
Jesse said, “That’s right. No touch and tell an adult. Are guns in this house loaded,” she asked as she got up to fix him a bowl of cereal.
Jace nodded solemnly, “Guns are always loaded. Especially the ones hanging on the wall. They make a loud noise!”
Jesse smiled at him, “Yes they do, don’t they! What are you supposed to do before you eat?”
Jace stood hands on hips, prompting another cough from the old man and a chuckle from Aaron, “Oh, I gotta feed Yogi and Boo Boo!” He scrambled across the kitchen, then came back for the bowls, carrying them to the dog food bin by the back door, closely followed by the dogs.
Filling them carefully, he tried to carry both of them back, but finally carried one at a time, sitting them in place next to the water dishes as the dogs whined, “Eat doggies,” Jace said proudly.
Aaron smiled at him, “Good job buddy!” Now you can eat too!”
Kaya took that as a challenge to start crying, prompting the old man to look at her, “Hey now, I’m not your mommy. You want food, go talk to her.” He set her down at watched her toddle toward Jesse, “Incoming.”
Jessie looked down, “Okay baby, give me a couple of minutes.” Kaya reached Jesse and started trying to climb her sweatpants, almost pulling them off. Jesse swatted her lightly, “Hey, mommy is not doing the strip tease here. Aaron?”
Aaron picked up Kaya, planted her in her high chair and thought, I wonder how old this high chair is? I know Jesse used it, I wonder if it was John’s too. There are a lot of pieces of furniture in these houses that are at least a hundred years old. Real wood and handmade. Hell, other than the appliances, I think the newest things in here are our bedroom suite.
With the kids fed, Jesse took them back to their room to get them dressed as Aaron got up, “Time to go do battle.”
He heard a whistle as the old man started to answer, turned and saw Matt come in the back door, “Don’t you look purty today! All dressed up and no place to go?”
Aaron replied, “Gotta go over to Alpine, testifying on that chase that started just south of town and ended up crashing at sixty-seven and ninety.”
The old man chimed in, “Remember, follow Clay’s advice, make sure you get with him before you go in. They’ll call you first, since you initiated it. Just give them the facts as you knew them at the time. Do not add any of the after the fact, at that point you were just an assist.”
Aaron nodded, “I’ll call Clay as soon as I get close to Alpine.” Aaron headed for the door, “Y’all have fun.”
Jesse came back with the kids dressed to find the old man and Matt poring over a topo map of the ranch, with Matt flipping an acetate overlay up and down, “See, if we do that, it’s six miles to eleven seventy-six, so we’re good in that direction.”
The old man pointed to a couple of tracks that ran between Hwy 18 and 1178, “What about these?”
I’ve talked to Halverson and Zapata, they don’t use them, matter of fact,” tracing one of the tracks, “Halverson has blocked this one at his ranch entrance.”
Jesse asked curiously, ‘What are y’all planning?”
Matt replied, “We’re looking at putting in a range on the south forty. We can get all the way out to a thousand yards right here,” pointing at the acrylic overlay, “It’s thirteen hundred, almost fourteen hundred yards deep. Doesn’t impact any wells or fields that are in use for anything. It’s pretty much mesquite, which needs to be grubbed out anyway.”
The old man nodded, “Okay, I’ll buy that. What else are you planning?”
Matt pulled another sheet from under the topo map pointing, “Well, we figured we could do a pistol range here, a hundred yard berm here, three hundred here, six hundred out here and a thousand all the way at the end.”
The old man shrugged, “Okay, if that’s what y’all want, go ahead.”
***
Aaron pulled into the diner in Alpine, saw Clay Boone’s unmarked car and parked next to it. Feeling a bit self-conscious, he walked into the diner and saw Clay waving from a booth at the back of the diner. “Morning, Ranger. Mr. Cronin said to make sure I talked to you.”
Clay stuck out a hand, “Sit, Aaron, sit. Yeah, just want to make sure you know what to expect this morning. Coffee?”
Aaron nodded and Clay waved his coffee cup at the waitress and pointed to Aaron, “Angie, another one please.”
Aaron slid into the booth and chuckled, “Normally, I try to sit facing the door, but I guess I’m out ranked aren’t I?”
Clay laughed, “Yep, John is worse than I am about it. Now the court down here is basically the same as Fort Stockton, but it’s Judge Cameron down here. He’s by the book, doesn’t like a bunch of BS in his courtroom and he’s already pissed off at this case and the defendant, not that he’ll ever admit that, but I’ve known him for thirty years. The change of venue motion didn’t go over well, nor did that highfalutin’ lawyer from Houston.”
Angie delivered Aaron’s coffee and refilled Clay’s, “Honey you want anything to eat?”
“No, ma’am. I had breakfast this morning, just coffee.”
She smiled and sauntered back to the counter, pouring refills as she went. Clay detailed the expectations for the trial, including the fact that even though the chase had started in Pecos County, it ended in Brewster County with the perp hitting the Brewster County patrol car, then rolling his brand new Challenger three times out in the field. He cautioned Aaron about letting the defense attorney try to get Aaron to say anything about what happened after the wreck, including the drugs Deputy Ortiz had found after Aaron called for backup after seeing the package thrown from the Challenger. Luckily, it had been caught on video with a road sign in the video allowing pinpointing exactly where it had been thrown out.
Clay stopped and sipped his coffee and Aaron asked, “So just to confirm, all I talk to is start of the pursuit to the wreck, nothing after. I know when they deposed me they wanted a copy of my wheel book, but they only got the pages with the notes for this chase, broken down by timeline.”
Clay nodded, “Remember to ask for a copy of your deposition to refer to. Don’t let them catch you out. I’ll guarantee they’re going to try.” Clay looked at his watch, “We better go. Ain’t no point in being late and pissing the judge off any more than he already is. I got the coffee, you get the tip.”
They got up and Aaron dropped two dollars on the table, tipping his hat to Angie as the headed for the door.
***
Thirty minutes into his testimony and cross examination, Mr. Klapp, the prosecutor wearily got up, “Objection again your honor, Deputy Miller was not involved in the subsequent arrest of Mr. Holmes that was conducted by Brewster County personnel.”
Judge Cameron rapped his gavel, “Sustained. Mr. Maginault, I’ve told you three times to keep your questioning relevant. Am I not getting through to you?”
Maginault, the lawyer hired by Holmes parents, didn’t even look at the judge, “No further questions.” He sat carefully back down, straightening his Armani jacket and smoothing his styled hair in what Aaron had determined was a nervous tic.
“Prosecution calls Deputy Grayson.”
Aaron returned to his seat in the back of the courtroom, next to Sheriff Rodriquez as they waited for Deputy Ortiz and Ranger Boone to testify. The sheriff gave him a thumbs up and leaned over, “Fun ain’t it, Amigo.”
Aaron said softly, “Yeah, ‘bout as much fun as a surprise inspection in the Corps. Glad that’s over.” He zoned out on Grayson’s testimony, just remembering the flashing blue and red lights of the roadblock, the Challenger’s frantic braking, hitting the front of the cruiser and rolling out into the field.
