Chapter 3

Chapter 2  (13+) Dr. Marchall is excited to find a subject to trial her new burn treatment device. #2035109 by Hyperiongate

Chapter Three
 
Sheriff Sam Tucker walked out of the hospital’s emergency room and squinted into the morning sun. This day had gotten off to one hell of a start, beginning with a call from one of his deputies about some sort of accident out in the middle of nowhere; granted, everything to do with Reno was “out in the middle of nowhere.” The 2:00 a.m. call had woken him from a gin-induced slumber. Ever since his Beth had passed on a few months ago, sleep would only come from the bottom of a bottle, a condition that he knew would lead to no good in the very near future if things didn’t improve. He dry swallowed a couple of aspirin and pushed the headache aside; he had work to do.

The sheriff had stopped by the hospital first thing to see if he could gather any information about the victim. It turned out that the doctors were still working on their patient. They had been at it all night and didn’t expect to be available for another hour or two. He decided to check out the man that somehow happened to be in the right place at just the right time to find the victim. The report said that this Jack Barton had moved to the area only a month ago, interesting. New to town and already involved with could only be trouble. Sam dislike Barton already.

Sam found the phone number in the police report. He knew it was too early to call but the persistent headache had put him in a contrary mood so he called anyway. Jack answered on the first ring.

“This is Jack.”

Sheriff Tucker was caught off guard. Who answers their phone on the first ring at six in the morning? Sam established that he had the right man and arranged to go out to Jack’s place to discuss the events from the night before.

He hung up feeling mildly disappointed. He was in an “arresting” mood and Jack didn’t sound like he had something to hide. His one and only suspect had enthusiastically invited the sheriff to come to his place for coffee; an invitation the sheriff gladly accepted. Maybe the coffee would help with his hangover.

Hangover or not, Sheriff Sam Tucker had been in law enforcement for most of his life and he knew how to do his job. Usually, there was a very close relationship between victims and the guilty parties. In this case, there was only one known person, so far, that had any relationship with the victim and that was Jack Barton. If he wasn’t involved, and Tucker was already getting the feeling that he wasn’t, then this case just got a whole lot harder.

After a short drive, the sheriff pulled onto Jack’s property, making sure to take everything in. Not exactly an impressive place. A well-used double-wide trailer with a small porch sat parked next to several banks of solar panels. There was a Jeep in the driveway. It was dusty but the mostly unscratched paint indicated it was new. Aside from the solar panels and the view of the nearby mountain range, the place seemed…low-income ordinary.

A man that Tucker assumed must be Jack stepped out of the door and waved. At this distance, he appeared scruffy with longish, unkempt, dark hair. He was dressed in jeans and fairly ratty sweatshirt. Tom had seen these types before. The solar panels along with the remote location, Reno was ten miles to the north, was textbook “I want to get away from it all.”

These types typically had pasts that needed escaping from. Loose cannons that seemed to find trouble and blame it on others. Mostly damaged males with a propensity for drinking and little else. They were always surprised to find escaping from life such a full-time job; never noticing that “Wherever you go, there you are.” You could never escape from yourself.

Sam wondered if Jack was any different. He also wandered if he was about to meet the man responsible for the injured man at the hospital. His “lie spotter” mode, honed by years of experience, was online and ready to go.

“Good morning Sheriff. I’m Jack,” Barton said, offering his hand. “It’s nice of you to come out to see me. Come on in. The coffee should be just about ready.”

“Morning, Jack. You can call me Sam. A cup of coffee sounds about perfect right now,” he said reaching out to shake Jack’s hand.

Nope. This wasn’t the guy. Like most seasoned members of law enforcement, Sam Tucker could size up a person pretty quickly. Jack’s direct gaze and firm handshake spoke volumes. He was one of the good ones, Sam could tell right away. Still, Jack was out here in the middle of nowhere for a reason.

With coffee cups in hand, the two men settled into a couple of chairs on the front porch.

“Are you from around these parts?” asked the sheriff directly enough.

“Nope,” Jack said. “I just moved in a few weeks ago. I had those installed just last week.” Jack said pointing towards the solar panels. “Figured I might as well help the environment.”

Tucked nodded knowingly, still quite certain that there was more to it than that. He’d let it pass for now as he continued the “interview”.

“I was surprised that you were already wide awake and ready for guests at 6:00 in the morning,” said Sam conversationally.

“An old habit I got from the military. Up before the sun and no breakfast until after the run.”

“Ex-military, eh. What branch?”

“Navy, Special Forces. At one time I thought I’d make a career out of it, but eventually decided to move on.”

“Special Forces? You were a SEAL?” said Sam with a newly elevated impression of Jack.

Jack acted as if he hadn’t heard the question; a clear signal that he didn’t want to talk about it.

After a few more minutes of idle conversation, “howdy time” over. It was time to talk about the business from the night before. Jack spent a few minutes talking about how he’d come across the body and called for help. There really wasn’t much to it.

“Let me get this straight,” said the sheriff, “you found this guy buried up to his chest in the middle of nowhere? There was no sign of any struggle or foul play?”

“That’s right, Sheriff. It’s as if he was just planted there and had grown up out of the ground. There wasn’t even a trail that I could see although by the time I thought to look for one, the light was starting to fade. I could have missed it.”

The sheriff sat for a minute, sipping at his coffee and staring off towards the mountain range to the west. Finally, “Was there anything else that you may have missed or overlooked; something that seemed strange or out of place?”

After a moment, Jack said, “Well, there was something now that you ask. I told you I found him in a burnt area. Well, there was something about the burn pattern that didn’t seem right. It was too symmetrical; not natural like the remains of a fire might look. The ground was flat, with no plants or rocks. And the area itself looked to be a perfect circle. In fact, I recall seeing a bit of sage that was only burnt half way through. The part or the plant outside of the circle looked fine, but the part that should have been in the circle was burnt as cleanly away as if it had been but with a knife.”

Sam let out a small sigh. This was not what he wanted to hear. “Yep, I would say that that qualifies as something unusual. How big of an area would you guess this covered?”

“I would guess the circle was about five yards or so across.”

“Shit,” was all the sheriff said, shaking his head with obvious displeasure.

Seeing Jack’s questioning look, Sheriff Tucker felt the need to explain. “A blackened or burned circle with a body nearby is just the kind of thing that brings the kooks out of their dark, conspiracy-theory chat rooms in droves. Once word of this gets out, they will be climbing all over the place; including here. You’ll be the man that found ET. Unless we can keep a lid on this, you’re going to be the celebrity; at least until the next Big Foot sighting makes the headlines.

This was not good news for Jack. His goal of peace and quiet just got shoved a little farther out of reach. The last few weeks out here in the high desert had been good for his soul. He’d been around people all of his life but since he’d moved up here, he’d taken a liking to the solitude of the area. He had no intention of becoming a hermit, but a media circus was not on his agenda.

It was just bad luck that had brought him to that one place in the desert. No, he thought to himself, it was good luck. If I hadn’t been there, that guy would be dead for sure.

“Sam, tell me what to do. I can keep my mouth shut if that helps.”

“I appreciate it,” said the sheriff. “Maybe keeping a low profile for now wouldn’t be such a bad idea. I will talk to my troops as well as the folks down at the hospital. Are you the only one that knows about that circular patch out there?”

“As far as I know, Sam. You’re the only one I’ve told. I have no way of knowing if anyone else saw it or not. Maybe the EMT’s noticed it last night but it was getting pretty dark by the time they got there. Also, the site is a bit off the beaten path so I doubt anyone will come across it by accident anytime soon.”

The sheriff sat quietly for a few minutes and sipped at his coffee. He needed to check out the site to determine if, in fact, a crime had actually been committed. He could go out alone, but it would be better to have someone else with him. Someone that knew what he was looking for.

“Look, if you have some time this morning, how about you and I go out there and take a look at this site together? Normally, I would take a couple of my guys out there but for now, I figure the fewer that know about this the better.”

“Sure, Sam. I still have the GPS coordinates so it should be easy to find, although it is quite a bit off of the main road. By the way, have you heard how the burn victim is doing?”


“I stopped by there just before I came out to see you. They were still working on him. I guess that means he’s hanging in there but the nurse I spoke with didn’t seem very optimistic. If you want, we can stop by there on our way through town to see if there is any change in his status.”

Jack agreed. He was not sure why but for the first time, he felt that he had some sort of link to the man he had found. He supposed that it was normal for him to feel some sort of affinity to a man whose life he may have saved.

As he climbed into the truck with Sam, Jack became certain that the man was still alive, and somehow, waiting for him. It was as if, when Jack came across him in the desert last night, their lives had become inextricably woven together. There was a voice in the back of Jack’s mind that said, He knew your name! Jack had failed to mention that last part to the Sheriff.

After a short while, they pulled into the hospital’s emergency room parking lot. The receptionist recognized the sheriff and said, “They have stabilized him for now, Sheriff. I just saw a couple of the team members heading towards the parking lot. It was a long night for them.”

Tucker said, “Is there anyone I can speak with who can tell me the patient’s status?”

At that moment, Lise Marshall walked into the lobby. She looked like she had been up all night, which in fact, she had.

“Well Sheriff, you are in luck. Here is Dr. Marshall right now. She is in charge of the burn team.” The nurse called out, “Dr. Marshall, do you have a minute to talk with the sheriff about your patient?”

Jack was caught off guard. He knew this woman! He didn’t know how or when they’d met before but he knew her, of that he was certain. His mind rolodexed through his past acquaintances, trying to match her up with some event or time. Nothing. Maybe she just looked like someone he once saw. That must be it.

She appeared to be in her mid-thirties. She was only about five foot two or so but Jack noted she carried herself in a way that said “I am in charge here.” Her longish black hair had escape the bun she had used to tie it back hours earlier. Her large brown eyes met and held Jack’s without any sign of intimidation. For someone that had been up all night, she looked great. To Jack, she looked … radiant.

Jack could only stand there and stare like a deer caught in someone’s headlights.

“Jack. Jack! This is Doctor Marshall. She is the one in charge of the guy you found last night,” Sam said trying to snap Jack out of his stupor. There was no secret about what was distracting Jack and Sam smiled at his new friend’s momentary discomfort.

“What, huh? Oh sorry. Hi, I’m Jack. It’s nice to meet you.” Jack felt embarrassed at having been caught swooning like a schoolboy.

She offered her hand to Jack. “I’m Lise Marshall. I am the doctor in charge of JD11.” She too understood that she was the cause of Jack’s “medusa moment” although she had no idea how she could have stopped a man in his tracks. She was certain that she looked worse for wear after the night she’d just put in.

Jack was quick to take her hand. It was warm and fit nicely into his own. “I’m Jack but I guess I said that already. I don’t know what JD11 is but I’m the one that found the burned man last night.”

“JD11 is the name we’re using for him,” Lise explained. “You see, he is the eleventh John Doe we have seen this year. He didn’t have any identification on him and we have to call him something.”

She kept he eyes on Jack’s a moment longer than was necessary before turning her attention to the sheriff who had a few questions to ask. Jack tried to be attentive to the conversation with little success. There was something going on here that he could not describe. He’d just managed to disentangle himself from the world and now he could feel it pulling him back in. A relationship was not part of his game-plan for being off the grid. Still, there was something about this woman that spoke to his very core as a man. He shuffled his feet and tried fight off an urge to stand closer to her.

“Jack!” said the sheriff, apparently not for the first time. “The doctor asked you a question.”

Jack blinked, suddenly aware that they were both looking at him, Sam with a big smile on his face, the doctor blushing slightly.

“I’m sorry Doctor. Could you repeat your question?” Jack said feeling uncomfortable.

With a smile, Lise said, “Was he conscious when you found him?”

Recovering, Jack said, “No. As a matter of fact, I thought he was dead. He did move a little. That’s how I knew he was still alive. I don’t think he was conscious though.”

He knew my name!

Lise answered a few more questions from the sheriff but found that she couldn’t quite get her attention off of Jack who seemed to have taken a sudden interest in the floor tile. There was something about him that she liked. Maybe it was his eyes or maybe the shy way he behaved when she caught him looking at her. He had a handsome, ruggedness about him that she found appealing. But in the end, it was his eyes. She could see a softness that stood out in contrast to his tanned, unshaven face. There was an honesty about them that made her think that he was not of the self-centered, pretentious mold she was all too familiar with.

She could feel her “picker” murmering “What about this guy?”

After a few minutes it became clear to the sheriff that she had no real information about JD11 at this point other than the fact that he was still alive and was being prepared for some sort of revolutionary treatment. He cut the interview short knowing that the doctor needed to get some rest. He could follow up later that afternoon. Lise said she would be back sometime around three that afternoon to check on her patient.

Just before they left, Jack stepped forward and asked, “Doctor, would it be alright if I came by with the sheriff. I would like to know how things are going as well.”

“Sure, Jack. I look forward to it.” she said with a smile that may have revealed more about how she viewed Jack than she had hoped.

“That would be great Doctor,” he said holding out his hand, wanting another chance to hold hers.

Lise took the hand and said smiling, “Well, since you brought him in, I guess you are the closest thing to a relative that JD11 has. I’ll see both you and the sheriff this afternoon. And Jack, please call me Lise.”

As they walked out to the sheriff’s truck Sam smiled and said, “She sure is a looker, don’t you think Jack. Or is it possible that you didn’t notice.”

Jack only smiled, already anxious to see her again this afternoon.

They stopped by the sheriff’s home on the way out of town to get some equipment that Sam felt may come in handy once they got to the site. Jack could feel his emotional gearbox grinding as he shifted thoughts from Lise Marshall to the upcoming site investigation. His life had gotten a lot more interesting in the last fifteen or so hours.

Chapter 4  (13+) Jack and the Sheriff meet the Air Force...and Colonel Lanier #2035658 by Hyperiongate