"Now I need to know…and right now," Jo said in a shaky voice. "Can you handle this? Are you going to snap and break, or are you fixin’ to cowboy up and get this job done?" She shook her head and stepped back, hands on her hips. "Because I gotta tell you what I'm seeing right now, that ain't gonna work. You act like this much longer, and you'll never see your wife and baby girl again, you hear me?” She glared at him. “At this point, I half want to see ‘em myself. Not like I got anywhere else to go…” she muttered, looking away.
Reese cleared his throat and squared his shoulders, ignoring the jolt of pain from the knife injury. "You're right."
Jo looked at him, waiting in silence, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"You're right," Reese repeated, more forcefully. He shrugged his good shoulder. “I lost it…I cracked. Ben…” Reese looked down at the mound. "I never expected to lose him. I never expected any of this to happen—I just didn’t…” He blew out his breath and inhaled deeply. "There is nothing more important to me in this world than getting home to my wife and daughter." He looked straight at Jo. "Nothing."
A smile spread across Jo’s face. "That's the Reese I wanna see," she said, jabbing a finger at him. "That's the man that ain’t gonna take ‘no’ for an answer! That’s the man who’s gonna knock down any two-bit thug who stands in his way! That's what I'm talking about," she said slapping him on his good shoulder.
Reese swallowed, then knelt by Ben's grave. He picked up a fist full of fresh dirt, squeezed it in his hand, then pressed it down on top of the mound. "We've been through a lot, man. From college to TechSafe…you were always there for me, and the one time you needed me, I wasn't there for you. I'm more sorry than you'll ever know.” He looked up at the sky, blinked, then looked down again. “I just hope if you're still somewhere nearby, you can forgive me." Reese stood and wiped his hand on his mud-caked shorts.
Jo stepped next to him and wrapped a meaty hand on his good shoulder, squeezing gently. "I'm sure he does. In the little time that I knew him, that dude didn't seem to have a grudging bone in his body. Goofy, yeah, but grudging? I don't think so." She turned Reese to face her again. "You know the best thing you can do to honor his memory right now?" she asked. "Don't die. Make your life mean something—get back to your wife and daughter. I ain't overly religious, but something in my gut tells me that things will be okay between you and him if you make it back to your family."
Reese didn't know what else to say, so he nodded.
She pressed Ben’s cell phone against his chest. “Here. Take this. The cops said we could have it since we’re the closest thing to next of kin. It was all he had on him and I think he’d want you to have it.”
Reese took the phone and immediately pulled up the messaging app. “It’s still got a signal! Not strong, but it’s there…”
Jo chuckled. “Well, what are you waitin’ for? Call your wife already.”
“It’s not going through,” Reese muttered in frustration. “I’ll try a text message.” He tapped out a missive with trembling fingers and hit send. “I hope that gets through…”
"I'm sorry I missed the service," a voice said behind them.
Reese held Ben’s phone tight and turned to see Ellsworth’s top cop trudge through the weeds behind the Walmart and approach the fresh grave. Three more had been laid out at the far corner of the building, the eternal resting places of the officers who’d died after the riot. As he approached, Foster stuck out his left hand for an awkward shake.
Reese pocketed the phone and shook hands. "Thanks," he said. He nodded toward the three graves in the distance. "I'm sorry about your loss. I hear they were good men."
"The best,” Foster said, his voice tight. He cleared his throat. “I heard the same about your friend” he said, looking at Ben's grave. "I know things have been a little…rough…for you since you showed up in town, but I wanted to thank you personally for what you did last night."
"Did they get much?" asked Jo.
Foster shook his head. “Nah—handful of camping supplies, bunch of watches and jewelry. Idiots weren't thinking right last night, that's for sure. We'll be all right. But it could've been a lot worse if you folks hadn't been there to scare ‘em off.“
Reese scoffed. "I think I was the only one scared off.”
Foster looked at him square in the face and held his gaze for a long moment. “Judging by the amount of blood left on the floor when you slashed that guy, I'd say you did a fair amount of active dispersal, Lavelle."
Reese glanced down at the knife in his belt, encased in a brand-new sheath, courtesy of the grateful Walmart manager.
"Didn’t know what else to do," Reese muttered.
Foster grimaced and looked to the horizon. "I'd say what you did was just fine. I've got a proposition for you," he said abruptly, turning back to look at Jo and Reese. "I heard from the doc that checked you over last night that you guys want to get home. But I'm asking if you’d stay for a while longer.”
"I don't know what's going on here," Reese said, looking over the little town of Ellsworth. "But I don't think me and my friend here
