Chapitre 52: Chapter 51: Getting Down To Business
The Sherif's Office, Grand Street, Keeding, Wyoming...
Brick had been in a foul mood ever since he captured the bail jumper Clive Taylor and he was even less pleased to have to venture to yet another sheriff's station. Clive looked to have been beaten up in a running gauntlet with sharp objects he was so covered in scrapes and bruises. The local sheriff didn't seem to mind as he greeted the well-welcomed guest into the establishment along with his captors. Brick tossed the idiot Clive into the waiting officers' hands and glared rather menacingly at the lawmen that stood before him. He had not much liked it when they had him jumping through hoops but the prospect of the cold case had intrigued him to the point that he had complied and then some despite it being a difficult thing not to end right there and then Clive after the bumbling idiot threw beer in his face. He had managed to reign in his temper of course and now he wanted to see the results of his efforts.
"You got your fish now where's the real catch?" asked Brick in his usual gruff tone.
The sheriff in question was an average sized vastly aged but plenty gruff older man with a firm mustache and short cut hair going gray as it were especially on his sideburns and had come out of the back room with a stern expression on his face.
"You must be the boys Tillman sent over," he said in a gruff tone due to his age and cynicism taking over him long ago.
"I reckon we are," replied Brick still very much annoyed as the lawman sized him up and he did the same to the lawman.
"You must be Marrok Kenneally, the tall drink of water." said The sheriff meeting the towering werewolf's grey eyes.
"Brick." corrected the annoyed werewolf.
"Brick, then." said the sheriff not backing down from his gaze. "You and your crew seem to be quite capable of handling yourselves."
"Somethin' like that," replied Brick as his nostrils flared in challenge to the old man as he stood before him.
"I'm sure Sherriff Tillman had told you about the cold case that's been plaguing me for the past fifteen years." replied the current sheriff of Keeding, Wyoming.
"He might have mentioned something like that," replied Brick wondering where all this was truly going.
"Look, I needed to find some capable help and this is more of a personal matter, you see I promised an old friend that I would find his missing granddaughter on his deathbed, and every year that passes with no new information the case gets colder and colder." explained the sheriff drawing on quite a few painful memories. "A friend of mine, Eldon Downes had a son named Alexander and he had a daughter about six years old some odd years back, Alex was killed at a carnival with his wife June and their little girl came up missing shortly there afterward."
"So you think whoever killed them took the girl," said Brick putting the pieces together.
"That's right." replied the old sheriff apparently impressed that Brick's mind had been as sharp as a tack in this equation. "You don't appear to be as dumb as you look."
"Well you know what they say, Sheriff looks can often be deceiving," replied Brick as he crunched his knuckles into his waiting fist. "Anyway, the girl got anything something that carries a scent perhaps there's a trail to follow?"
"Been there done that." replied The Sherrif seemingly exhausted with the whole ordeal but he knew he had to give it one more go at least while he still could before he died. "Trail led to an abandoned house with a dead body inside and blood there were traces of the girl, but then nothing."
"Shit," said Rooster in shock.
"It really is a cold case," added Gunner shaking his head.
Neither of the old timers had ever heard of anything as remotely twisted as this in quite some time.
"That's some sick shit," added Brick as the Sherrif shared old photos of the crime scene.
"Indeed." replied The old Sherrif finding it difficult to trust outside help but sure they were his best option to finally put the case to bed. "It's why I want the son of a bitch found and what may be left of Alex's little girl."
"You don't sound as if you are holding out much hope that she's still kickin'," said Brick observing the older man's tone.
The sheriff sighed as he looked at the pictures of the couple that had been brutally beaten to death in his aged and trembling hands.
"Normally, I wouldn't enlist outside help, but this case has gone unsolved for far too long and I ain't got the amount of time left that I use to, so I can pursue this," he said honestly looking into Brick's eyes. "As I told you, this case is personal, Alex Downes was my godson, and his little girl was like a granddaughter to me, if there is even the slightest chance that she's still alive, I wanna see her with my own eyes and if she isn't I wanna lay her body to rest with her parents, either way, I want the son of a bitch that took them to pay."
Brick had read the old man loud and clear as he had known many a man who had carried a heart full of hurt and promises along the battlefield in his time in Iraq. He knew there was something to this case and given that he'd been a man of his word, he was intent on putting the case to bed one way or another.
"Alright old man, I hear ya," he said in understanding. "I'm gonna need some time a week maybe to process all the intel and what not but we should get that cracking in due time, anything we need to know just send it to Tillman back in Temperance, it's where we'll be for the time being."
The old sheriff seemed grateful for the assistance.
"One more thing old man," said Brick as he looked down into the sorrowful eyes of the older man. "You know my name but I ain't heard yours yet."
"It's Dale, Dale Porter," replied Sheriff Porter.
"Well it's nice to finally meet you, Sheriff Porter," said Brick with a stern expression. "We'll find your girl and the bastard that took her too."
The old man nodded as he had a feeling that Brick Kenneally despite all appearances was a man of his word.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone