AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The call ended.
“That was Sheriff Woodley,” Ray said.
Betty shoved the skillet of chicken off the fire as Charlie looked up from his game.
“And?” Betty asked.
Ray started smiling. “They caught him! They caught him, Charlie! The man who shot you is in jail. He confessed to the whole thing. He shot at you because he thought you were a bear, and then when he thought he’d killed you, he ran.”
Betty started crying. “Oh my God. What a coldhearted, callous thing to do,” and then fell into Ray’s arms.
Charlie was quiet, just listening to his parents rehashing their horror and fears, and their anger at the stranger who’d nearly killed their son, but Charlie wasn’t satisfied.
“Daddy?” he said.
Ray turned. “Yes, son?”
“Why was he there to begin with?”
Ray glanced at Betty. They’d heard through the family grapevine about what was in the journal and the theory that the shooter might have been looking for Confederate gold, but they hadn’t said anything to Charlie. However, now that the man was no longer at large, it was only fair to let him know.
“They think he was hunting for treasure,” Ray said.
Charlie frowned. “What? What treasure?”
“Gold or something that got lost during the Civil War,” Ray said. “Your mom and I just learned this today. Cameron thinks it’s why the man was there.”
“But why would he think that?” Charlie asked.
“It was something that was written in a journal in the 1800s. Your ancestor, the first Brendan Pope, wrote the journal. The shooter found the journal in some library and came looking for buried treasure.”
“But why on our place?” Charlie asked.
“Because Big Falls was mentioned in the journal and that’s where the man went.”
Charlie’s expression shattered. His eyes welled, and his voice sank to a whisper.
“I nearly died because some old man wanted to play pirate?”
Ray and Betty wrapped their arms around their son and hugged him. “You’re looking at this backward,” Ray said. “You lived because of your mother’s love. She went looking for you because you matter most in our world. You’re okay, you know that, right?”
Charlie could feel the rough scratch of his daddy’s day-old whiskers and the softness of his mother’s face against his cheek. The scent of home-fried chicken filled the room, and they were holding him close, and all he could think was,It’s over.
“Yes, Daddy,” Charlie said. “I’m okay.”
Sonny Warren started to call Dani Owens, and then stopped and went looking for Aaron Pope instead. After all Aaron had done on Dani’s behalf, he deserved the privilege of giving her the good news.
Aaron was at a desk, finishing up the report on his last call before going home, when he heard footsteps approaching and looked up. It was the chief.
“Hey, Chief. What’s up?”
“I have good news, and I need a favor,” Sonny said.
“I’m all about good news. What do you need?” Aaron asked.
“I just got a call from Sheriff Woodley. Long story short, the shooter we’ve been looking for has been arrested in Alexandria, Virginia. The local authorities picked him up for questioning, and he confessed to shooting Charlie by accident. Thought he heard a bear. He thought the kid was dead and ran. And if it hadn’t been for Dani Owens, I would venture a guess we’d still be treading water, looking for a suspect.”
“This is the best news ever for the Raines family,for sure. Charlie won’t have to be afraid anymore!” Aaron said.
