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“I thought you didn’t have any more favors to call in,” King challenged, for some reason getting some enjoyment out of messing with Arnoldo. It was hardly the time or place but in a moment like this, what was left to do but have some laughs.
“It wasn’t so much of a favor as it was more an ultimatum based on extortion. I helped a guy out who works in the records department when his daughter was getting mixed up with the wrong people. I bailed her out a couple of times and never said anything. I don’t like squeezing people like that, but desperate times call for desperate measures.”
King could see the conflict on Arnoldo’s face. These situations were delicate and he’d clearly had a lot of emotions tied to the past. It was obviously messy.
Arnoldo went on explaining. “The good news for us, but not for him, is our buddy Buck has two warrants out on him. That in itself isn’t enough to get the cops to give a damn about coming up here. But when I dug deeper, I realized one is for punching an off duty police officer about six months ago.”
Moe still looked unconvinced. “You think the brotherhood of cops will be swayed enough by that? If they were concerned about him, why didn’t they just come up and get him?”
“Buck, for being an idiot, made a point of spreading the word that he left town to move back home with his mom. Obviously, we know better. And it’s not so much the fact that he punched a cop, its which cop. Lenny Smith. He’s the sheriff’s son. If we call the right people, they’ll be up here in a hurry to get him. If we can get them to stumble upon that trailer it might be enough.” Arnoldo slapped his hands together. “We’ve got to move the right levers at just the right time but we can make it happen.”
King chuckled. “Nothing like a common enemy to solve a problem. So all we have to do is sell Buck down the river to the cops.”
Arnoldo paced a bit, running his hand over his balding head. “I want to make sure they don’t walk into an ambush. We need to let them know about the cache of weapons they have and how they’re likely tweaking and trigger happy. I might not be very popular with my old department, but I don’t want to see anyone get shot up either.”
“What if I call?” King asked, his mind racing with the possibilities. “I can be a concerned citizen. Let’s take you out of it completely. Unless you think you’ve got some more extortion magic up your sleeve.”
“I don’t know what they’ll think of an outsider but it’s probably better than me trying to strong arm them by threatening to dig up all their skeletons. It’s worth a shot.”
King took his phone out and handed it to Arnoldo who punched in a number. When it started ringing, they all fell silent.
“Sherriff’s office.” The voice was distracted and indifferent.
“Uh—yeah hi I need to report something.”
“Who’s speaking?”
“My name is King. I ran out of gas up here by some place called Cinderhill and stumbled on some crazy shit I thought you should know about.”
The silence on the line dragged on.
“Do you know where that is?” King pressed. “It feels like the middle of nowhere. Maybe you haven’t heard of it. “
“Sir, can you tell me more about what’s going on there?” The annoyance remained but he could tell he had their attention.
“I don’t even know where to start. I stumbled on this weird place and they were nice and all but there is something going on in the woods. I think there are people cooking drugs in some trailer out there. A bunch of guys with guns. They’re kind of a mess.”
Another long pause. “I can take down your concern but we won’t have an officer out that way for a while.”
“There is some guy here bragging about beating up a cop. He said he popped a kid named Lenny Smith and took him down pretty good. His name is Buck, I think. He’s telling anyone who’ll listen how he got the best of the Sherriff’s son. Someone needs to get up here and check these dudes out.”
“Buck Sanveesa?”
Now he had their attention.
“Yeah, I think that’s what they said his name is. He’s up here in a trailer cooking meth and shooting guns off. If you come up here, I’d be ready for a shoot-out. They’re nuts.”
“Do you have a location?”
“I can send you my current location if that helps. These guys were talking crazy. I heard Buck say he was going to finish that Lenny guy up for good next time he saw him. It seemed like he really meant it.”
“I—uh, hang on for me. I’m going to get some more information. We can get someone up there today.”
“I don’t know if I’d send just one or two people. I think these guys plan to go out in a blaze of glory. They are definitely a cult or something. You don’t want to mess with them.”
“Trust me, we are aware of them and what they’re capable of. You’re sure Buck is up there?”
“Positive,” King asserted. “He’s a nut. Totally destructive and obviously he’s got a hand in the drugs their making. There’s more than a dozen guys up here. I think they might be planning some kind of take over. A hostile one. Are you going to do anything about it?”
