Sarah looked at her mother and then her father; she had no idea what was going on but she followed her father’s directions and gathered the men to bring up to the other barn. She was shaking as she walked past me and I wanted to reach out to her, but I kept my hands to myself. When this was all over with, Sarah wasn’t going to like me all that much. She was probably going to hate me for lying to her and hate me for putting her family’s life in danger, but because of her father, she was alive and so was I.
“I’m sorry,” I said to Sid as we stood there waiting for the police to arrive.
It had been a few minutes since Sarah had left with the men and none of us knew what to say or do. We couldn’t touch anyone and we couldn’t leave. We just had to stay there and wait. The only thing I could think to say was some sort of apology for the face that I was there and that those men had come after me.
“Boy, don’t be sorry. What’s done is done. I’m just glad I took those bastards out. Your agent will be picking you up when he arrives. You’ll need to gather your things, but wait until the local police have arrived. I don’t want you disturbing the crime scene.”
“Has this ever happened before?” I asked, suddenly curious how Sid seemed to know the exact protocol for what was going to happen next.
“Not exactly. But you’d be surprised at how many people we’ve hidden here and how many criminals have tried to find them. It’s the first time someone actually worked their way into the property though. We’ve had deaths on our ranch before, but it’s usually ranch hands getting drunk and stupid.”
“It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have gone into town when I first got here. I’m so sorry,” I said through my tears.
If I had been in my right mind, I would have been embarrassed by the number of tears I was still shedding. But I wasn’t in my right mind. I was a mess. The events of the last year had all culminated into that moment and my nerves were utterly shot. I could have been killed that night. If Sarah and I had decided to go back to my cabin, we both would have been dead at that very moment. It was enough to shake me all the way down to my soul.
“Come on now, Garrett, that was months ago. We can’t change all that. The important thing is that you’re still alive,” Meredith said as she hugged me.
I totally lost all control of my emotions as Meredith’s arms held onto me. It had been a really long time since I had a good cry and there seemed no better time than to mourn the lives of two men. I felt safe there with Meredith and even with Sid. He didn’t seem to be judging my tears at all, although his hands were still steady as could be. It was impressive to me that Sid had just shot two men and then wasn’t even shaking at all.
Everything about my situation was more real in that moment than it had been since that day over a year before when I was pulled into the questioning room at the police station. This wasn’t the life I had hoped for, but it was my life and my mistakes. I hated that other people’s lives had been taken all because of mistakes I had made.
I could hear the sirens roaring in the distance and felt like I was in a daze as they arrived on the ranch. Meredith and I walked over to the front porch and sat down while Sid talked to the officers. The sun was coming up and it helped to illuminate the full scene as the officers swept the rest of the ranch to make sure there were no other people hiding and waiting to kill people.
Meredith talked to me and even held my hand a little as she calmed my nerves. I could tell she was a great mother and wished my own mom was still alive. I would have loved to of had a hug from my own mother that day. But Meredith would do just fine. She was sweet and calm as she kept me busy talking and tried to avoid any conversation about the incident that had just happened.
When they got to the barn, one of the officers noticed the secret love nest in the attic and came to talk to Sid about it. I walked over toward him and was ready to admit to what had happened between Sarah and I, but apparently, I didn’t have to. Sid already seemed to know. Maybe it was because both Sarah and I had come out of the barn that morning, or maybe Sid had known all along; but he clearly knew that Sarah and I had been sleeping together.
“No, they weren’t up there. My daughter and Garrett were up there,” Sid said as he pointed to me.
“What’s your name?” one of the officers asked me, as he looked at his notebook and seemed not to be able to find the name that Sid had given him.
It seemed like a simple enough question and yet I didn’t exactly know how to answer him. I had gone by Garrett Reynolds for a year, but that wasn’t my real name. Which name was I supposed to give him? Could I even trust him? I really didn’t know.
“Garrett Reynolds,” I said with an unsure voice.
“It’s okay, I know this man. His name is Chief Canter. You can trust him,” Sid said.
That was all I needed to know. If Sid trusted the man, I knew beyond a doubt that I could trust him as well. I would have given the man my real name right away, but I had been told to never give that out when I arrived at the ranch.
“My name is Malcolm Edwards,” I said.
“The FBI will be here shortly; they are going to want to get Malcolm out of here and safe as quickly as possible. Can he grab his things from the cabin?” Sid asked.
“I’ll have one of my guys go in with him.”
“Thanks.”
Sid patted me on the back as we stood there and watched the crime scene investigation as it unfolded. I was really glad I had been placed there with Sid and his family. I was certain had I been anywhere else, I wouldn’t have been alive at that moment. Sid had saved my life. I would always remember him and all my time at the ranch, no matter what else was in store for me with the trial and my future.
It took the police over three hours before they cleared my cabin so I could go in and grab my things. Not like I had anything else to do with my time, but did seem like a very long wait for the five minutes that I was in the cabin to gather my things. There weren’t many things that I had to grab. Some clothes, my journal, and a few small items I carried with me when I arrived.
The moment was surreal as I walked out the back door of the cabin with the same small bag that I had arrived with. I needed to find Sarah. I couldn’t leave without talking to her first. The agent was going to be there at any moment and I had to find her.
“Where’s Sarah?” I asked Sid.
“At the barn up north.”
“I’m going to take Buckjoy up there and say goodbye before I have to leave,” I said as I started to leave.