Dead Renegade (18 page)

“That’s Bobby’s car!” said Osborne, sitting forward. The top was down, making it easy to see the trunk was open. Lew stopped about fifty yards from the car just as a man in a light-colored t-shirt and jeans ran from the woods towards them.

“Stop right there,” shouted Lew as she got out of the car and crouched behind the open door, her Sig Sauer pointed at the runner.

“Kenny! Get back here!” shouted a heavy voice from the woods. A gunshot sounded, and the man in the t-shirt leapt into the air before twisting and falling.

“Ron Schradtke—come out with your hands up!” shouted Lew. The answer was another gunshot shattering the windshield of the cruiser just as Osborne slid out the passenger side. “Doc? Doc?” shouted Lew.

“I’m okay.”

“Stay down!”

One more gunshot from the woods, then the crisp pop of Lew firing her Sig Sauer. Quiet. A long minute … still quiet. No sound from the woods. Lew ducked and ran towards the man in the t-shirt, which was rapidly darkening with blood.

“Can you hear me?” she said as she dropped to her knees.

“He got me in the shoulder,” said the man, clutching his upper arm.

“Don’t move. We’ll get some pressure on that but first I’m calling an ambulance—are you Kenny Reinka?”

“Yes. That’s Ron Schradtke in the woods. He’s out of his mind. Keep him away from me. Oh, God, there’s so much blood …” The man turned his head away and started to sob.

“Take it easy,” said Lew, patting him. “You’re going to be okay. This is all over.” Staying low to the ground and taking care to avoid the beam from the searchlight, Lew edged her way in the direction of the old convertible.

Osborne stayed beside Kenny. He ripped away the t-shirt and wadded it into a pressure bandage, which he held against the wound to staunch the bleeding until the paramedics could take over.

After handing Kenny off to the first of two paramedics arriving with the ambulance, he headed over to where Lew stood staring into the trunk of the Ford Sunliner. Alongside the rear tires were mounds of fresh dirt. What remained of Bobby Schradtke lay curled in the trunk of his car.

“And then there is this,” said Lew with a wave of her hand towards the half-dug grave. Bobby’s younger sibling—wider, heavier, darker than his big brother—lay with his head and shoulders in the pit he’d intended for Bobby. Ron Schradtke wouldn’t be finishing that job: Lew’s bullet had entered above the right eye, killing him instantly.

“Hard end to a long evening, Doc.”

“Oh . .,” said Osborne. He shook his head, “I feel sorry for Edna.”

“I don’t know that I can agree with you. She protected Bobby. You have to wonder why.”

CHAPTER
25

T
he hospital corridor was bustling as if it were a Monday, not a Sunday. “Oh, it’s always like this on Sundays,” said a young nurse at the look of amazement on Osborne’s face. Lew and Osborne paused at the door to Kenny Reinka’s room. The door stood open halfway. Even though the nurses’ station had told them it was okay to enter, they peered around just to be sure.

Kenny was sitting up in bed, the bandage on his right shoulder visible under the pale blue hospital gown, his color much better than it had been when they had last seen him at two that morning.

“Kenny, the doctor said you’re feeling well enough to talk—is that right? You okay sitting up for a while?” asked Lew in a brisk tone. She had her notepad out and was already pulling out a chair as Kenny gave a weak smile.

Under wispy strands of light brown hair, Kenny’s face was round and worn, toasted orange brown by too many seasons in the sun. His eyes were small and round, too—their pupils pinpoints of black against the blue of his irises. In spite of the bony, slender frame visible under the thin coverlet, he reminded Osborne of a pumpkin with a half smile carved into it.

It was a smile of hesitation wed to worry—certainly not pleasure—at the sight of the Chief of the Loon Lake Police Department and her deputy. It was a thin-lipped smile that telegraphed, “oh shit, what happens next and how bad will it be?”

“Kenny, I’d like Dr. Osborne to sit in on our conversation. He assists the department with forensics and I’ve got some questions along that line—”

“That’s fine,” said Kenny, shifting slightly against his pillow. “I know Doc. You put my plate in a while back,” he said, looking at Osborne. “Remember? My dogs took off with the sled and I ended up face down on that stump?” To demonstrate, Kenny pulled the fixed plate from his mouth, waved it in the air and put it back in.

“Sure, folks. Ask away. Sorry I was in such bad shape last night. Feel a lot less shaky today. You saved my life, Chief. Ron was out of his mind crazy. I couldn’t believe it when he showed up at my place, at first. I thought he was making a joke when he asked would I help him bury Bobby.

“Once I knew he was serious—when I saw what he had in the trunk of the car—I kept trying to get away and call for help but he wouldn’t let me out of his sight. Wouldn’t even let me feed the dogs. He was foxy weird. I didn’t know what he’d do next, and I was scared. Man, was I scared. No way have I ever known Ron to be like that. Wild. All over the place screaming how Bobby cheated him out of his life, his mother, his home—everything. And you know what … he wasn’t even drinking.”

“What set him off do you think?”

“I don’t think—I
know
. Bit of a story ‘cause it starts way back if you ask me,” said Kenny, grasping the rails on his hospital bed with his good arm and pulling himself up a little higher up on his pillow. “Here, need help?” said Osborne getting up from his chair to boost Kenny’s good side.

“Thanks, Doc.” Kenny took a long sip through the straw in his jug of ice water, then said, “I’ve known Ron since first grade and I can tell you that even though Bobby was a teenager when we were little kids, he picked on Ron. Bad stuff, too. Burned him with cigarettes, knocked him around …” Kenny rolled his eyes and said, “Worse, even—if you know what I mean …”

Lew raised her pen from her notepad but not her eyes, “Molested maybe?”

“You know there were two girls in that family, too. Both dead now. Y’know, I don’t know who was worse: Bobby or their old man. But I tell ‘ya that after the old man fell out of his fishing boat and drowned—I think Bobby was around fourteen when that happened … After he died it was like Bobby became the man of the family—in an evil way. Y’know? Just
evil.
He for sure did stuff to his sisters.

“Ron knew about it, maybe even saw it. Never said anything happened to him, but I tell you he could get real dark when he was drinking. When the demons came out, I made it my business to leave, get out of his way.”

“How much do you drink, Kenny?” said Lew.

“Oh, I’ll have a brewski now and then. Two’s my limit. Feel too bad in the morning if I have more. I decided years ago to feel good every morning.” Kenny managed a grin.

“Smoke dope?”

“Nah, can’t afford the stuff Nothing like that for me. Put my money in my dogs, dumb as that must sound.”

“Not at all. So Ron was a heavy drinker?”

“Off and on. Any talk about Bobby was only when he was really drunk and some goofball at the bar might bring up the old stories. You know—Bobby’s burglaries, stealing cars, beating up the shop teacher at the high school, that stuff One guy said he’d heard Bobby had stashed a pile of cash somewhere—asked Ron if that was true.

“One thing I’ll never forget happened to Ron when we were still kids, maybe fifth grade. Late one winter night he showed up at my folks’ place with all these welts on his back and no clothes on except his underpants—said he tried to tell his mother that Bobby did it but she didn’t believe him. He ran away he was so scared. My mom put First Aid cream on him and he slept at our house that night.

“Bobby still pulls shit on Ron. I seen him kick his brother for no reason. He’s always chewing on a toothpick and more’n once I seen him spit the damn things into Ron’s food. Little stuff, but mean. Just plain mean.

“On the other hand, Bobby protected him, too. From other kids. You know how kids like to beat each other up when they’re twelve, fifteen? Bobby kept ‘em all scared to death so no one touched Ron. Guess you could say Ron had a love-hate thing with his big brother.

“In fact that’s what was going on this week. Right when Bobby got back to town was the same day that Ron and I get screwed over by this Calverson guy we done some logging for. We told Bobby about it and he got all excited about payback. Said he picked up some new ideas while up the river.”

“You mean, go after Calverson?” said Lew.

“I mean he was going to rough the guy up ‘til he paid us, but when he found out the guy owns the bank where Mrs. Schradtke keeps her money and the bank won’t let her have it—it got worse. It was one thing that Calverson owed Ron and me, but their old lady?
That
Bobby did not like—not one bit.”

“You’re saying it was Curt Calverson who owed you and Ron money?” asked Osborne. “What for? How much?”

“Oh, shit, he owed us each twenty-five hundred bucks—we worked hard as hell logging that back forty for him. The day we go to get paid, the sonofabitch stares us down and refuses to pay. Said he knew we were on unemployment all winter so he didn’t have to pay up.”

“Ah,” said Lew, “so that’s what spurred Bobby to go to bat for Ron—is that it?”

“That and the old lady’s missing bank account.”

“Did that just happen? The bank account, I mean.”

“No, I think it’s been going on. But it was right when Bobby got home from the slammer that one of the neighbor ladies who had been helping Mrs. Schradtke with her government forms happened to stop by. She’s the one told the boys that Edna’s government benefit payments were way down because of some loan she had with Calverson Finance.

“Bobby got real cold when he heard that. I can tell you right now that ever since I was a kid and first knew the guy—when he goes cold, you get out of his way. He doesn’t care if you’re male or female or a little kid. He’s gonna smack somebody. That’s when I told Ron I didn’t know what they were up to, but I wanted no part of it.

“But he kept talking to me. He was getting more and more excited, see. That’s when those two started hanging out in the woods back behind the Calverson’s lake place. They wanted money and they wanted to hurt the guy.”

“Did you know Bobby stole a boat and rammed Calverson’s wife on her jet ski?” Lew asked.

“They thought it was her husband on it. Ron said they were watching from across the lake with binoculars. See, we knew from working out there that Calverson always took either his jet ski or his pontoon out in the afternoons when it was nice. We knew his habits—like when he would go to town to get his mail, that kind of stuff?’

“Go back to Ron and Bobby for a minute,” said Lew. “If they were operating together to try to get back at Curt Calverson, what set Ron off against Bobby?”

“Oh, yeah, he told me all about it when he drove up with Bobby in the trunk. Two things happened yesterday. First, Edna had one of her anger spells and went after Ron. You know how her memory has been going? Well, she sometimes has these rages—her eyes get like Bobby’s when she’s so crazy mad. Usually Ron could settle her down but this time she ranted that she was leaving the house to Bobby. She started throwing stuff at Ron and Bobby thought it was funny. He egged her on.

“The other thing went wrong was …” Consternation cramped Kenny’s face as if he realized he had just said too much.

“Keep going,” said Lew. “Another thing went wrong …”

“Okay … I learned something from Ron when he got to my place last night that I swear I didn’t know before.” Kenny looked worried as he spoke. “Chief Ferris, you gotta believe me when I tell you this.”

“Kenny, I’ll do my best.”

“You’re gonna think I’m an accomplice or something …”

“Let me decide that. Tell me what it is, and we’ll see.”

“Bobby and Ron have been robbing a couple places lately. According to Ron, Bobby has this surefire way of getting into bars and stores from the roof that can’t be traced.”

“Right,” said Lew, “we just had someone rob Family Video by cutting a hole in the roof.”

“That was Bobby—and Ron. What happened was after they left the video store where they got a nice bundle of cash, Bobby told Ron he wasn’t gonna give him half like he promised he would. Ron said they stole over three thousand bucks but Bobby said all he’d give Ron was a couple hundred. A couple hundred? That did it for Ron.

“Add it all up—he’s losing the house to Bobby, Bobby’s taking over their mother’s money. Ron only makes a few thousand a year. Living with his mother is all he has besides that truck of his. Hell, he doesn’t even have a dog. The guy cracked. I wonder he didn’t kill his brother a long time ago.”

“Well, he finally did,” said Lew, “and mutilated the body.”

“Yeah … I saw that,” said Kenny, raising his eyebrows as if he still couldn’t believe it.

“We’re hoping you might have some idea where all this took place, Kenny,” said Osborne.

“I know where he shot him, all right. Ron said he got himself calmed down after that set-to with his mother and Bobby and invited Bobby out to see his deer stand.” Kenny was quiet for a moment. “Used Bobby’s own chain saw on him. Smiled when he said it, too. I’ll bet you’ll find the chain saw back by that deer stand.”