Side Story #1 - Colt - Page 9

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"It would be nice if I could relieve myself of all feelings of guilt or responsibility," said Alice, "but that is not what Cocora teaches us."

Colt found that surprising. Wasn't Cocora all about peace and forgiveness and all that sappy shit?

"'Those who make light of their burdens shall become callous under their weight,'" she said. "'And a calloused heart shall never know peace.'"

What? How did that make any sense? It was something out of her holy book, no doubt. Colt wanted to ask for details, but considering he was supposed be a follower of Cocora himself, he felt like he probably shouldn't.

He did have another question for her, but he was struggling to think of a way to not make it sound like the rudest thing he could possibly say to her. He had to ask it, though. It was relevant to the investigation. Probably.

He deliberated in silence for another minute or so before ultimately deciding to say, "No offense, but it doesn't seem like you have much tying you down here. So if everything you just said is true, then why are you still here? Why haven't you left this place behind?"

Surprisingly enough, Alice smiled at him. "That would be the normal thing to do, wouldn't it?"

Colt just listened.

"I wanted to leave, certainly," she went on. "A part of me still wants to, I think. But I can't. Cocora doesn't want me to."

He couldn't help letting his expression go flat a little. "What?"

"After praying on the matter for several days, I felt in my heart that I must stay here in Orden."

That just provoked another question from him. "...Why?"

Her own expression slackened a little, and she exhaled a long breath. "I am still trying to figure that out, myself."

Colt didn't understand. Was she lying? She had to be lying, right? But why? What was she trying to hide?

"Reason tells me that if I am to remain here, then it must be because I am needed," she said, "but it is difficult to see how I could possibly be useful to the townspeople now."

'Reason' was telling her that, huh? That was a word he hadn't expected to come out of her mouth.

He wanted to argue with her. Or perhaps try to get her to admit to lying. But after she'd shared what was obviously a sensitive subject with him, he figured that would probably be too much of a dick move, even for him.

Or hell, maybe she wasn't lying. He supposed that was technically possible, though it seemed incomprehensible to his mind. Maybe she really did just believe in the divine will or whatever of her goddess that strongly.

At length, he ran out of things to talk about. It was still too early to ask her about the dead sheriff. He didn't intend to deliver that news to anyone. It would make its way around Orden just fine on its own.

Having not had breakfast this morning, Colt was starting to get quite hungry, and he supposed he'd gotten all that he could out of Alice for the time being. The twins had already had various snacks, but he hadn't brought anything for himself. Maybe he'd stop by a restaurant on the way back to the cabin. Or just hunt something down when he got there, perhaps.

Thinking about it was making him hungrier. He was about to get up and leave when his stomach growled.

And Alice noticed.

Her face lit up. "Oh, my, are you hungry? Allow me whip something up for you!"

"Oh, no, that's really not--"

"Please! It would be my pleasure! Do you mind meat? How does bacon sound?"

He opened his mouth to say no, but the word didn't come out. What was the harm, really? And it was an extra chance to get to know her better, wasn't it? For the potential purpose of babysitting? "Well, if you're sure it's not too much trouble..."

"Certainly not! Would you like some eggs? Hash browns? Coffee?"

"...That all sounds great."

"Wonderful!" She bounded up from her seat and practically skipped out of the room and into the back of the chapel again. "I'll have it ready in a jiffy!"

For some reason, Colt was beginning to wonder if Alice Ridgemont was a real human being. Maybe she was just a hallucination. Maybe this was a fever dream, and Bohwanox would wake him up any moment now.

In no time at all, he could smell fresh bacon again, and his mouth began to water.

How the hell had he ended up here? Yesterday, he was hunting snakes in the woods, and now a beautiful woman was making him breakfast.

As he waited, he tried to get his head straight again. There was a murder investigation going on. He had to be vigilant. What was his next move? Colt, of course, still didn't actually trust this woman, but he also felt like he was probably spending too much time on her. Who was the next suspect he should consider?

It sure would help if Bohwanox could give him something more to work with. But it hadn't been all that long since he'd last prodded the reaper for information. He decided to hold off for now.

"It's ready!" came Alice's voice. "Come on back!"

He gathered the kids and got up from the pew. It wasn't a long walk.

The back of a church was somewhere he'd never been before. Somehow, it felt a little sacrilegious.

It probably was, he decided. For someone like him? To be here? Yeah.

Alice had no idea. Of course she didn't. She just looked at him eagerly, waiting for him to sit down and eat the meal she'd prepared for him.

This wasn't right.

He should never have come here. As much as he wanted to enjoy her hospitality, an equal part of him wanted to leave. No explanation. Just go.

Why? Because it would be the right thing to do.

This wasn't right.

It wasn't.

But he sat down. And he started eating. And he enjoyed it. And he told her as much. And she seemed happy about it.

And it wasn't right.

But he was accustomed to not doing the right thing. What difference did it make in the end? Why should he allow himself to feel guilty now? Of all times?

Even if it wasn't right, who cares? No one.

No one would ever know how wrong this was. Not unless he told someone. And he wasn't going to.

It was too late. For so many things, it was far, far too late.

"Is something wrong?" said Alice, sitting at the table with him and watching.

"Hmm?" said Colt, still eating. "No. Why do you ask?"

She shrugged lightly. "I don't know. It's just. You've gone quiet. And you've got this look on your face like your mind is somewhere else."

Impulsively, he wanted to say something rude. Something defensive. Something that would get her to mind her own business. But he resisted. "It's nothing. Just remembering the past."

"Mm," she hummed. "Well, if you ever want to talk about it, I'm right here. Listening to people is kind of my job, you know."

She was the absolute last person in the universe that he wanted to talk to about his past. "I'll keep that in mind."

The meal grew quiet from there. Perhaps uncomfortably so. Colt couldn't really tell anymore. Alice still seemed content enough, so maybe it was just him.

He finished it up quickly and thanked her one last time before finally leaving.

When he was at his car again, and the kids were in the backseat, he stopped with his hand on the driver's side door.

What the fuck was wrong with him? What was going through his head, right now? He couldn't even tell.

And why was he so angry?

He threw one last look back at the chapel. He saw Alice there, standing in the open doorway. She smiled at him and waved goodbye.

Stiltedly, he waved back.

And he hated himself.

That much was suddenly quite clear.

He wasn't sure why--but perhaps that was because there were so many potential explanations for it. It seemed somehow so obvious that it hardly bore any serious questioning. In fact, a better question would be, why shouldn't he hate himself?

He got in his car and drove off.

His belly was full, so he didn't see much point in heading into town anymore. He didn't know who else to talk to yet or what leads to pursue, either, so he decided to just head back to his cabin and wait for nightfall. He might be able to go inspect the crime scene then, and tomorrow, news of the sheriff's death should have been pretty well-disseminated throughout the town. He wouldn't have to worry about drawing as much suspicion, then. Hopefully.

That, and he just wanted to be alone.

As he was in the middle of chopping more wood, however, Bohwanox's voice arrived.

'So I managed to get some new info out of the dead sheriff.'

Colt set his axe down. 'Yeah?'

'I asked him about who might possibly have wanted him dead, and he mentioned several names. Keith Hopper, Leonard Pink, Robert Plenty, and Janet Beaumont.'

'Janet? Why does he suspect his own niece?'

'Well, he's not too sure on that one. Says it's just a vague sense of unease that he got from her. Like she was hiding something from him and that she might've secretly hated him.'

Colt's brow tilted. 'But he can't think of a reason WHY she might've secretly hated him?'

'He thinks she might've blamed him for her father's death.'

Colt took a long breath and went to let the twins out of their playpen. 'Sounds like a long story.'

'Not particularly. Sheriff Rex used to work in the capital. He was part of a gang violence task force and ended up becoming a target. The task force was ultimately successful, but before it was over, his brother was killed as retribution for one of the first gang members he'd put away.'

'Hmm.'

'It was a whole big mess, from the sound of things.'

Sounded like he was going to have to figure out a way to talk to Janet again, after all. 'What about the other three names?'

'Okay, so there's a lot to go through, and Rex wasn't entirely coherent for all of it, but I'll do my best to summarize. Keith Hopper is the gang member from the capital who he put in prison. Supposedly, he's still in prison, so that makes him a pretty unlikely suspect in my book, but Rex keeps saying he could've gotten someone else to do it. I intend to go check on Hopper tomorrow.'

'Okay.'

'Leonard Pink is a fellow police officer, and in fact, is still here, right now, investigating the crime scene.'

'Ah.'

'Yeah. Apparently, Leonard and Rex used to be good friends, but they had a falling out when Rex discovered that Leonard was stealing money from crime scenes.'

Colt wished he could say he was surprised, but he'd witnessed that exact thing himself a few times back in Atreya. It was easy enough to justify. The money belonged to criminals, and it was just going to get logged into evidence and forgotten about, so what was the harm in skimming a bit off the top and just logging a lower amount into evidence?

Cops needed to eat and provide for their families, too.

Nevermind that it could screw over investigations if inconsistencies were ever found. Nevermind that it could lead to some absolute piece of shit getting off scot-free.

'Rex brought Leonard's misconduct to the attention of his captain, but for whatever reason, Leonard was never formally charged. The man's career, however, may have been stalled, which could be the main source of the theorized grudge.'

'Mm. And Robert Plenty?'

'That one's a bit more complicated...'

'Why?'

'Well, first of all, according to Rex, the name "Robert Plenty" is an alias.'

Colt blinked dully. 'Tell me you're joking.'

'Nope.'

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These Side Story pages are released each week on Sunday at 6 pm EST.
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