#765
"Hey Jobe, will ya go get my keys out of the ignition and lock the doors, please?" Tyson tried to sound pitiful, failed totally, and noticed that Jobe didn't seem to be interested in complying.
"Maybe later," Jobe sounded disinterested, "I want to go home, the Sheriff outta be here soon."
Tyson stayed quiet. Boy oh boy, the Sheriff hated him more than Skeeter and Jobe combined. Tyson had been slick enough to evade out right illegal notice, but the Sheriff was spreading heat in his effort to pin a crime on Tyson.
Tyson sat on his bunk and all the misery of his current status kept flashing through his mind. Orrie was a major player; why the old man finally got a backbone was puzzling. But then; Orrie was tight friends with Bub, so that might have been the reason .All he could hope for, would be that the old man didn't croak.
Upstairs in the hospital, Bub wasn't worse, but he wasn't much better. He was fretting about the motel being unmanned and unprotected.
"Not so Granddad. Don is there and he is very capable. Skeeter said Don's parents had to leave, something about an important meeting they needed to attend. Skeeter said he would stop by and talk to Don. and then drop by and tell us the news. I'm not going to allow him in here, if you don't stop worrying, there's no sense in disturbing you further, so lay back and rest, or do without the current news." Mercy Rose couldn't believe she spoke that way to her grandfather, and it shocked Bub also.
"See here girl, don't you be speakin to me that-a-way. That's plumb unbecoming to you." Bub retorted, but he did lay back and tried to relax.
Rosie looked shocked, but managed to give MR a small smile and a thumbs-up when Bub had his eyes closed.
"I kin feel you two plottin agin me," he said in a tired voice, and then went off to sleep. MR got up noiselessly and went out of the room, walking down to the visitor's lounge.
She tried calling Don, and got the dead silence of unoperative lines. That's where Skeeter found her as he got off the elevator.
"Excellent," he announced; "I'm very happy to find you here. Don is fine, he's guarding the motel. He also told me that he shot the windshield out of a pickup that the driver was sneaking down toward the motel. It's quite a coincidence that Tyson's pickup is parked behind the diner with a tarp for a windshield." Skeeter laughed out loud. "Both Tyson and Clayton are in jail, and I'm on my way over there to help Fred with a laundry list of complaints and charges. So, tell me, how's Bub?"
"You know Granddad, he's all worked up and not resting. Do you and the Sheriff keep in touch?"
"Yes we do, especially on this matter. I'll tell you right now, if Bub and Rosie will testify against Tyson and Clayton, they will go to jail for a couple of years for extortion. But we have to have a first hand story from a victim." Skeeter was prepping Mercy Rose with the truth and the method on how to get the extortion stopped.
"Humm, I'm not sure Granddad will, but I believe Grandma will. Her inner mama bear is coming out, and Granddad might be astonished to find out how strong and independent Grandma could be." Mercy Rose smiled as she recalled Rosie's thumb's up. "I hope you find enough charges to keep Tyson for years."
"We can, if Bub will comply. That's the only way it can proceed." Skeeter reminded her. "Is he asleep now?"
"Yes, finally, after I scolded him."
"Then I'm on my way to the Sheriff's office. Feel free to tell Bub everything I've told you. See ya."