Come Get Me (12 page)

“Woo-ooo!” Rob whooped. “I’d say she’s got
the hots for you big time brother!” Rob obviously found the whole
situation funny. Jim wondered how he’d be acting if the shoe was on
the other foot. He was about to ask but Rob beat hi to it. “Looks
like Jimmy-boy has a not so secret admirer.”

“Shut up dickhead!” Jim said left with no
other rebuttal but a childish one. What he had been thinking of
saying wasn’t the sort of thing that was polite to say in front of
a woman.

Rob face turned sad as he tried looking
offended but he wasn’t able to pull it off very well. When you were
as big of a smartass as he was, and everybody knew it, there was
very little you could get away with (his feelings being hurt by
someone calling him a name wasn’t exactly something that was going
to make him cry). Jim didn’t know how Rob had ever succeeded in
becoming a cop. He must be a good actor. Jim decided to ignore him
instead of saying anything else. Maybe that would teach him a
lesson. He instead turned his attention back to Jill.

“Well,” he said trying to sound calm, “it
would appear you and I have a date tonight.” He really hoped she
hadn’t just been saying everything just to help him out of an
awkward situation. Jim heard Rob making what sounded like kissing
noises behind his back trying to get his attention but he wasn’t
about to give him the satisfaction of distracting him by turning
around and yelling at him. If he did Rob might think he’d won their
little battle. Jim couldn’t allow that.

After a few seconds of being ignored Rob
finally figured out that it wasn’t working. He mumbled something
about some people in the room being too emotional and picked up
another box of something he probably shouldn’t have. Jim continued
to ignoring him.

“Yes we do have a date,” Jill said hesitating
a little bit. She didn’t sound like she really wanted one. Jim was
about to say something to let her know she didn’t have to follow
through when she spoke again. “That is if you want one. I was just
trying to help out. Although, I did think this was as good a way as
any to get a date with you.”

“Really!” he said sounding a lot less cooler
than he’d wanted. “I mean, uh, don’t worry about that. I was
actually going to ask you out before I left I’m just a little, you
know, a little on the shy side.” How could she think he wouldn’t
want to go out with her? Had the woman never looked in a mirror?
He’d just about been drooling on her since the first moment he saw
her.

Jim was drawn out of his daydream by the
sound of Rob. He was back to his mumbling again. He’d been doing it
since he’d figured out he was being ignored but every now and then
he spoke a little louder to let Jim know he was still there. Jim
heard him say he had to get back to work and realized he needed to
hurry up. Rob still had things to tell him. The rest of the
comments were just mild threat about people needing to recognize
who was in charge or else they’d get thrown in jail. Jim could tell
he was getting upset that his taunts weren’t having the desired
effect. Rob loved being the center of attention so when you ignored
him it drove him batty. Do it long enough and he’d just about start
foaming at the mouth.

Jim figured a little while longer wouldn’t
hurt him but he did need to hurry. There was only so much he would
take. If they were lucky Rob would learn it’s not nice to tease
people, but Jim doubted it. Trying to speed things up without being
obvious he asked Jill what she wanted to do and talked about a few
other menial things for a few more seconds before Rob finally
popped.

“Alright you two lovebirds. I need to get
back to work,” he announced grumpily. “Being an officer of the law
is an important job and I’ve got some, uh, important stuff to get
back too.”

“Well, I guess we shouldn’t keep you from
those important things that are waiting for you,” Jill said
teasingly. “What were they again?”

“It must be awfully hard being a great, big
important policeman like you,” Jim said joining in.

“You must have a lot of important parking
tickets to write,” Jill said through giggles.

“And important old ladies to help across the
street,” Jim continued.

“Oh wait! I got it!” Jill squealed, “He has
to go catch all the bank robbers running around town.”

Robb was turning quite a few different shades
of red by this time. Jim was surprised he hadn’t stormed out of the
shop already. At least that part of him had changed.

“You’re not funny you two!” Rob whined, “My
job IS important! I don’t have time to stand around jawing with you
two all day. I do have a lot of important stuff to do. Even if I
can’t think what it is right now.” Rob looked like he could bite
the head off a nail right about then.

“Oh, just calm down a little ya big monkey,”
Jim said thinking they may have pushed Rob too far. “Give me just a
few more minutes and then we’ll both leave.”

He turned back and quickly found out Jill
wanted him to meet her at the grocery store tonight at around seven
when she closed up. He gave her a quick smile, said goodbye and
caught up to Rob just as he was about to stalk out the door. Jim
waved to Jill once more before he and Rob made their way
outside.

Rob was still a little upset so they walked
in silence while Jim gave him time to get in a better mood. He
needed Rob happy and willing to talk. He didn’t need him wanting to
bite his head off.

“So,” he began tentatively after a few
minutes, “what were you going to say about Tommy back there before
we were so rudely interrupted?”

“Oh yeah,” Rob said sounding a little better
and not looking half as mad as he had, “I forgot we were talking
about that before your girlfriend showed up.” He couldn’t resist
throwing that little bit in. Jim guessed it was his way of getting
back at him for earlier. He let it slide instead of saying anything
and listened to Rob talk. “There was also that part where you and
your other girlfriend started picking on me. Telling you stuff you
wanted to know about kind of slipped my mind.” He was still a
little ticked but Jim knew he wasn’t really mad. He was just trying
to make Jim think he was. He only had to wait long enough for Rob
to feel he’d gotten the better of him before he started talking
again. It didn’t take as long as he thought it would.

“It was real strange out where everything
happened,” Rob began quietly. “When we got there we all saw Tommy’s
body on the tree like I said. You already know what happened after
that but what you and everybody hasn’t heard is that the tree he
fell on wasn’t just some old tree that fell over like the sheriff
said. It’d been broken off sometime recently. Actually the sheriff
said it looked more like it’d been cut. He thought, maybe somebody
might’ve used an ax or something like that on it. We’ll have to
wait for the experts to decide that one. Anyways, this tree he fell
on stood about twenty feet away from the stand he was sitting in.
Even if he’d jumped, which I and everyone else doubt, then he
wouldn’t have made it that far. He would have needed to get a
running start or something to make it that far.” He paused for a
minute while Jim thought about what he’d said.

Rob was right; there was no possible way
Tommy could’ve made it that far by himself. There was just no way.
Deer stands were usually only about ten feet or so up and maybe a
few feet wide. In order for Tommy to have jumped that far the thing
would’ve need to be a lot higher and a lot wider than it was. He
hadn’t seen Tommy for a while but he doubted he, much less anyone
else, could’ve made a jump like that from his little stand. Jim
found it easier to believe he’d fallen than that he’d jumped but
neither made any sense. Rob was speaking again so Jim put those
thoughts on hold. He was glad he did when he heard what else Rob
had to say.

“Once everyone was done being sick and
whatnot we started looking around. From what we could see with the
body in the way the stump or whatever you want to call it was only
sticking out of the ground about three or four feet. There was a
lot of brush around it so if it hadn’t been for the thing sticking
out of Tommy’s chest we probably all would’ve never seen it. With
it looking like it was cut and that maybe somebody tried to hide it
just makes things look a little strange. If nothing else it was in
the perfect place for what it did. Unfortunately there were no
signs of foul play that we could find and no signs of anyone else
having been there. No foot prints, trash, broken branches,
nothing.”

“So what makes the sheriff think he fell
then?” Jim asked.

“Well, all the stuff he brought out with him
was still sitting up in his stand where he’d left it for one thing.
His gun, lunch, and a chair were just sitting there. If someone had
come out there to rob him or something they would’ve surely taken
that stuff. But it was all still there. Since there were no signs
of anything else the sheriff says Tommy jumping was the only thing
that could’ve happened.”

“There were no footprints on the ground or
anything?” Jim asked. He was pretty sure they would’ve checked for
something like that. Rob might’ve just forgotten to mention it.

“Wait a minute,” Rob said after thinking
about it for a few seconds, “now that you mention it I think there
were. I said before there weren’t but now after thinking about it
for a few minutes I think maybe there were.” Jim’s hopes grew.
Maybe this was the clue they needed to figure out what had really
happened. Now there’s a lot they could do with a shoe print. Rob
was just upset. He must’ve forgotten about them before. “But those
were from other hunters who’d been through there that day.” Jim’s
hopes crashed back down as he listened to his friend continue.
“There were a few hunters that came through that area. Those were
the prints we found. We questioned them but from what they say
everything was just like it was any of a hundred other times they’d
been there that morning. It was when they came back later on
towards evening that everything was all messed up and bloody. They
said the first thing they heard were the flies. Thinking it strange
they decided to investigate. That’s when the smell hit them. After
that they found the body then high tailed it out of there and
called us.

“At first they thought it was a joke or that
they might’ve drunk a little too much while they were out since
they could’ve sworn he was floating in the air when they first saw
him. Course that’s not what it was but that’s what it looked like,
to them, at first. They said Tommy was just stuck to the tree and
blood was splashed all over the place. Now they were overreacting a
little bit. There wasn’t blood all over the place, it just looks
that way.” Rob glanced at Jim to make sure he was following
everything he was being told. Jim reassured him he understood that
the old men were just a little drunk so anything they said had to
be taken with a grain of salt. But that didn’t really matter too
much. They were still right about Tommy being dead.

Rob kept looking around as if somebody was
watching them. He was still worried someone would somehow find out
about everything he was telling Jim. Rob didn’t come out and say he
was uncomfortable but then he didn’t have to. Jim knew his friend
even if they hadn’t hung out together in years. He didn’t want to
push him into saying anything he would regret so he just stood
silently waiting to see if Rob would continue.

“I really lost it when I saw who it was,” Rob
began again after a few minutes. “I try not to think about it too
much but I can’t help it. I keep seeing him there on that tree
every time I close my eyes.” Rob seemed to be on the edge of tear
but he pushed on like he wanted to get it all out at once. “Hell,
listen to me. I can’t even say the damn word. I never thought about
it before now but it’s a disgusting word. Whoever thought of it
should have it done to them and see how they like it. Impaled.
Gives me the willies just thinking about it. What’s worse is that’s
probably how I’ll think of Tom for the rest of my life. Every time
I hear someone say it or see it in a movie I’ll think of Tommy with
that damn stick coming out his chest. I don’t want that.”

“I know you don’t think you did very well out
there Rob but its ok,” Jim said gently trying to console him.
“Heck, I don’t know what I would have done if I had seen it but
from what you’ve told me you did just what Tommy would’ve expected
you to do. You did your job. Tommy would’ve understood. Don’t beat
yourself up about losing it. Tommy would’ve teased you sure, but
you did what you had to. Just because you’re a policeman doesn’t
mean you aren’t human. You probably never thought you’d have to see
something like that when you signed on for this job anyway. Don’t
think about how Tommy looked out there. Think about all the fun we
had when we were kids and the things we did back then. Tommy might
not be here anymore but he’s still with us on the inside for as
long as we live.” Jim didn’t know what else to say. He grabbed Rob
and hugged him and was relieved when he felt Rob return the hug.
They stood there like that for a few minutes in the middle of the
sidewalk, neither of them caring what anyone might think or say if
they saw them.

Jim didn’t even want to think about what he
might’ve done coming up on a horrific scene like that. “What did
you mean there was blood all over the place?” he asked as they
stepped back from each other.