“Or I’ll have Dean lock you up,” Hatton said tightly. His hatred for Sam which he had been nursing for sometime got over him. “You’ve been acting all high and mighty, focusing on your damned bar, when men like Caesar , Hank, Father Rupert, God bless his soul and Lionel, God rest his soul, are watching and protecting this town from wolves. All you do is serve drinks in your bar and go home. You do nothing. And for that reason, you’ve got no right to make any decisions. You are just like any random man in this town,” his voice took a menacing tone. “and for that reason, you have every goddamned right to be under the jurisdiction of the law. Now, you’ve got to two choices; either you go back to your bar while we do our fucking job or you get the hell outta here and we all sit this out,”
“Like hell you will,” Sam retorted. “I’m finding my daughter with or without the help of any rotten bastard in this town. To hell with the law,” he screamed.
“I’m warning you Sam” Hatton said through locked teeth. “I’ve been itching to get my hands around your fat neck! Don’t give me the chance,”
“Maybe Selena took off with a man,” Caesar , who had been quiet the whole time said.
Sam turned to look at him at once.
“What did you say?”
“I said I think Selena ran off with a man. Actually, I believe that’s what happened,” he jeered at Sam.
“Selena……would never do that,” Sam babbled. “I know my girl. She ain’t got no brains for things like that,”
“Are you sure?” Caesar went on, enjoying himself fooling around. “I think that’s what happened. She took off with a drifter who came in the night. He professed some stupid love gag to her, just like any simpleton, town girl, she believed him and he fucked the hell outta her, then they both run off, leaving old, deluded Sam in this dreary, washed up town just the same way her mother got knocked up by a drifter,” he was laughing evilly at him now. “You know what they say? The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
Sam's mouth jerked open. Then something exploded in his brain. He slowly closed his fists and made a bill-like rush at Caesar. For a man of his age, he moved pretty fast. He swung his fist at Caesar's face. The blow caught him right in the jaw. Caesar, caught completely off guard, rocked back on his heels, collided with Dean’s desk and went over backwards. He would not have fallen if he hadn’t collided with the desk. Sam stood over him, his face tight with hatred, his fist clenched, his chest rising and falling.
“Don’t ever talk about Selena and her mother like that again!” he barked.
Hatton and Dean stood there like stones. They were too stunned to move. Caesar scrambled to his feet hurriedly, rubbing his jaw. His eyes were twinkling with anger and spite. He turned to Hatton.
“Go ahead, whack him around!” He seethed out, spitting out blood.
Hatton and Dean came alive. They pounced on Sam like a hungry dog. Hatton hit Sam in the stomach, while Dean swung two solid punches in quick succession at the old man's face. Sam thought the roof had fallen on him. He felt his knees sag and he had to hold on to the Sheriff’s body, so that he wouldn’t fall. He used that little moment to stab a punch into Hatton’s protruded belly. The pain was so severe that the sheriff screamed, shoving him off and falling to his stomach, holding his big belly, his face contorted with pain and fury. Sam collided with Dean, who added another solid punch to Sam’s ribs. That punch hurt like hell. Sam coughed out blood as he went over on his side and lay there. He began to make wet snoring noises. Dean advanced on him.
“That’s enough! We don’t want him to croak,” Caesar said excitedly. He had got a real kick when he saw them giving Sam the works.
Dean helped Hatton up and they all stood around Sam, watching him. Sam raised his head slowly. His puffy face glistened with sweat. Blood ran down from his eyes and chin from his lips. He was breathing heavily.
“Pick him up,”Hatton said to Dean.
Dean’s thick black hands closed around Sam’s shirt front, then he heaved a little. Sam came up, his neck thrown back, his hands dangling powerlessly by his sides.
“Hold him well! I wanna speak to him,” Caesar said.
Dean held Sam by his arms, while the old man rested his full weight on him. Caesar came over and stood in his front. He bent his head so that he was staring hard into Sam’s eyes.
“You know what, old man. I lied,” he said in a voice scarcely above a whisper. “You are right. I don’t know how you found out but you are right. Selena’s with me. I’m keeping her for now. Deal with it!”
Sam eyes widen in shock, and he mumbled something, but his lips was so swollen so that Caesar couldn’t hear what he said, and Caesar snarled;
“This is Fur Rivers, and I’m a Fur Elder! We elders run this town!” He straightened, and dragged his eyes to Dean. “Toss him in the can!” Dean began to drag the near unconscious Sam away. “respectfully,” Caesar added.
Hatton came over to him.
“You alright?” Caesar nodded. “I’ll put ice on that if I were you,” Hatton said and suddenly looked worried. “How long are we gonna hold him? you know folks who frequent the bar will raise hell if he doesn’t show up?”
Caesar nodded in agreement.
“Hold him for two days tops”
“Two?” Hatton gasped. “One wouldn’t do?”
“Nope! I sometimes need to finish things up with Selena. Once I’m done, we’ll cut both of them loose,“
“Just what the hell do you plan to do with that girl anyways?” Hatton probed.
“That’s my business!” Caesar said evenly, then he grinned. “You did well, Sheriff. I never knew you had it in you, until a minute ago”
Sheriff Hatton beamed, not used to such praise from Caesar .
“My old man was a local boxer back in the days.” He said proudly. “Used to watch him fight and all. I guess I took after him.” and he suddenly burst into a hard, barking, embarrassing, laugh.
“That’s fine!” Caesar clapped him on his shoulders. “Handle this very well sheriff! I’m trusting you on this,” and he sauntered out of office, while Hatton looked on, the smile still on his fat face.
****************
Selena lay on the bed, in the small cell, her eyes filled with worry and tension, her head, pounding with a violent headache. She was restless and uneasy. The memory of how the sheriff and his deputy had come to her house, ransacked her stuff, took her away forcefully in the sheriff's car and brought her to Caesar ’s kept replying itself in her mind. She wondered what Caesar wanted with her.
She turned her head slowly, surveying the cell, taking note of the AC ventilation, the hand basin sink, the WC, and the table, which was piled with the untouched food Dutch had brought for her that morning. What was this all about? She asked herself. Don’t you know? a voice inside her head said to her. Lionel’s dead! Victor told you he was going to deal with Lionel and now the man’s dead. Doesn’t that ring a bell? Doesn’t that tell you something?
She stiffen with fright as a sudden realization hits her and she puts her hand to her mouth to stifle a cry. Victor had finally done it! He had killed Lionel for what he did to her. He wasn’t bluffing! Oh Christ! Victor , what did you do? What did you do?
She turned and sat with both feet on the floor, cradling her aching head in her hands. What was going to happen to her now? And why did Caesar mention Victor’s name? The way he had said it, it was like he knew something was going on between her and Victor . She is stuffed again as a realization hits her.
Did he believe Victor was behind Lionel’s death?
No! That’s not possible. No! That’s not possible. They couldn’t have quickly connected Victor to it. Unless…..unless…….somehow, in an ingenious way, they had evidence of Victor’s involvement. Knowing how meticulous and sharp minded Caesar was, there was nothing he wouldn’t uncover if he set mind to it. Especially with the kind of power he wielded in the town. Yes! It was possible Caesar believed Victor killed Lionel and maybe, just maybe, that was the reason why he had asked her about Victor .
Selena's mouth jerked open in shock as understanding crept up in her head: Caesar had intentionally mentioned Victor’s name to see her reaction and she in return had reacted exactly the way he wanted her.
She clenched her fist in rage, her face twisted with raw hatred. That bastard! He had played on his hunch and it had worked.
Mentioning Victor’s name to her was a ploy to get under her skin.
She shouldn’t have reacted. She should have been calm. But her love for Victor had overrun her emotions and when that fool had mentioned his name; she couldn’t keep control of her emotions. But how did Caesar figure out she was seeing Victor? How did he figure out they were together now? Victor and her had done every possible thing to dust their tracks and yet, Caesar had ingeniously found out. Jeez! This is bad, really bad. Then another thought entered her head. What if Victor wasn’t the one that killed Lionel? She drew in a long, slow breath. Yes, what if he was innocent after all? What if he had gotten to Lionel, pushed the man around for what he did to her but had no intention of killing him, and in the process of throwing some scare into Lionel, he had had an attack and died? Well that seems reasonable enough if we look critically at it. Victor might not have anything to do with the death of Lionel after-all.
She was going to hang onto this shred of hope. For all their sakes, if Victor wasn’t involved in all of these, it would be better for everyone. For everyone. Selena’s head began to throb real hard now from too much thinking. And what made it worse was that she hadn't had any food since she had been locked up. She had lost all her strength. It was not that she didn’t want to eat. Ofcourse, they had brought her lots of sumptuous food. But the problem was that for some reason, she had suddenly lost appetite for food.
The smell of food makes her want to puke. She was feeling fuzzy, tired and weak and she wondered why. She had always been a strong, active girl and full of energy, so why all these? Was it the change of environment or something else? She heard heavy footfalls outside and looked through the bars. The big man who had been bringing food to her for sometime now, was tagging along behind Dvorak.
They both got to the cell and looked through the bar.