Devil's Due

"I lost my Mom when I was 12, and my Dad died when I was 17," I admitted. "Lost Grams and Gramps four years later, while I was at College. If it hadn't been for Alysha and her Mom, Amelia, I might not even be here, today."

"I hear you," he nodded. "Dwight didn't have the support you did, though. Once Erica died, Tim kept Dwight away from us as much as possible. I'm pretty sure that even though Erica's death was attributed to a seizure, Tim had a hand in it."

"Seriously?"

"You have no idea," he took a deep breath. "Tim has a mean streak ten miles wide. He's always been a vindictive bastard. If Erica even talked to a woman that Tim hadn't vetted, nobody would see her for a few days. Or if they did, she'd be wearing dark sunglasses. And God forbid, she should ever talk to a man."

"This is the 21^st fuckin' century, man!" I said in disbelief. "How the fuck does Tim get away with that shit?!"

"Have you noticed how small Bumfuck is, Rick?" he smirked, raising one eyebrow. I snorted a laugh, when he used my name for the town. "My uncle's family has owned that town for almost two-hundred years. They do what they want, to whomever they want. They hold back just enough, so most people wouldn't think of standing up to them. That doesn't stop them from still getting whatever they want, though. From what I heard from Mom and Dad, Tim is thinking of running in the next Mayoral race, and he wants to appoint Dwight as Sheriff."

"That ain't gonna happen," I promised him. "We're gonna round 'em all up, today. Right?"

"Yes, we are," he said with conviction. Then he glanced past me and snickered. "Looks like Big Roscoe is hoping for more bacon treats."

I looked, and sure enough, that fuckin' dinosaur lay stretched out on the grass by his pond.

"Just as long as he doesn't like Irish sausage, I should be fine," I laughed nervously. Fuck, that thing is fuckin' huge! Oh wait. I mentioned that already. "How old is that monster, anyway?"

"Well, if the stories are to be believed," he said, smiling. "He's older than the town itself. Gators and crocodiles keep growing throughout their lives. As big as Roscoe is, it wouldn't surprise me if those tales are true."

Then he looked up and turned onto a side road. "We're here. Put those cuffs back on, please. We need to make this look as authentic as possible. I told you before, Tim isn't stupid. He's also paranoid as fuck-all."

"Gotcha," I said, closing the cuffs behind my back.

"Wait here," Harland said softly, as he got out of the car and walked up to Dwight's door. He used the knocker, then walked back to the car and opened my door. As he helped me stand, the door opened, and Dwight and Tim came out to greet us.

"You did real good there, Brett," Tim said, smiling at his nephew.

"You got that trumped up evidence?" Brett replied, dispensing with the unnecessary niceties.

"That's no way to talk to your uncle, Brett," D-Bag smirked, waving his finger in the air. "Especially the man who kept you from going to prison for rape!"

"Well, Dwight, if you hadn't given me that roofie, I wouldn't have even been in that situation with that girl," Harland fired back.

"Hey, now! That wasn't my fault! How was I supposed to know she'd have a bad reaction? At least you were ok, after it wore off! I was just trying to loosen y'all up!" Dwight raised his hands like he was completely innocent, but we had all we needed.

"You're never going to get away with this, Dwight," I said, breaking from the script a bit.

"You think so, do ya?" he laughed. "After we're done with you, I'm gonna track down that sweet little wife of yours. Then I'm gonna have more fun with her, before I slice her throat open from ear to ear."

"Hmm," Harland said, appearing to think or a moment. Then he looked at me. "Do you think that's all we need, Rick?"

"I think so, Brett," I shrugged as I looked at him. "I'm pretty sure he just admitted to drugging you and that chick at the party. Then he threatened Sophie and admitted he was going to kill me. That should be all the FBI needs. Everything else is just gravy."

When we looked back at D-Bag and T-Bag, they looked shocked.

"You know the FBI is going to send you to prison too, asshole!" Tim shouted, recovering from his shock first. "That is, if I don't kill you here and now!" With that, he drew a gun from the back of his belt.

Tim's hand didn't even finish rising to fire, as an FBI sniper's bullet hit him in the side of his skull.

By the time Sheriff Tim's body hit the ground, Harland already had his gun out and pointed right at Dwight. "Dwight Bagwell, you are under arrest. First, pull your gun from its holster and drop it. Two fingers, only! Then raise your hands and interlace your fingers behind your head. Turn around and get on your knees. Don't be stupid like your old man!"

Dwight wasn't as stupid as his old man, lucky for him. He pulled his weapon out with his index finger and thumb, then tossed it away. When he turned around, though, he bolted for the trees.

"I got this!" I shouted, slipping the cuffs as I took off after him. All I could think was, if he got away, he would harm Sophie and Diana. Sure, I didn't love Sophie anymore, but that didn't mean I wanted to see her raped and dead! Geez! Gimme some credit, here!

Over the last six months, I healed up and started working out again. That included running every morning, before going to work. I'd managed to raise my endurance threshold by a lot, not to mention my speed. I was almost as fast now, as I'd been when I was playing Baseball.

Dwight didn't know that, and he was kinda out of shape, anyway. He had a beer gut, whereas I kept my beer in a six-pack. He heard me behind him, then he made the mistake of looking back. When he turned forward again, he ran smack into a tree!

I didn't hesitate. It was like Dwight Fisher all over again, when I jumped on him and started breaking his face. I lost count of how many of my punches landed, before Harland tackled me from behind.

"We got him, Rick! Stop! Let me cuff him and arrest him!" he shouted, getting through my Irish haze.

I relaxed. "He's all yours, Brett."

He let go of me, then calmly walked over to Dwight's prostrate body. He checked for a pulse, noted the broken teeth, and snorted. When he saw that Dwight was conscious, he read his Miranda rights to him.

Me? I finally got my revenge on the pisser. The Yankee Devil got his due!

^^^^^

The rest, as they say, is pretty much history.

Tim Bagwell died, mourned by nobody at all. Well, except maybe Dwight. Even his sister and brother-in-law didn't bother shedding any tears for the fuckin' pisser, though. It felt like the whole town breathed a sigh of relief, when they heard he was dead.

Every single deputy's home was searched. Some were actually clean, while others had drug stashes and/or manufacturing going on. They found meth, marijuana, ecstasy, and custom roofies for date rape situations.

Every last one of them, including Dwight, went down for at least 15 years, each. Dwight, seeing as how he masterminded quite a few of the disappearances, got the Death Penalty, once the FBI got around to trolling Big Roscoe's pond. Ironically, he also went down, because they pinned Gumshoe's and Dawg's deaths on him, too.

Big Roscoe? Oh, he was fine, once the four darts full of elephant tranquilizer wore off.

The Mayor was also detained, and it came to light that he'd known about, and had been complicit in Tim's dealings. The FBI had to request help from Florida's Governor, who sent in the National Guard to secure the town until the leadership and police situation could be resolved.

Agent Wilson left her lieutenant in charge, and came back to Atlanta with us. She wanted to debrief all of us in her office.

"Ok," she said, when we were all in her office. Then she sighed in relief. "Have a seat, guys."

When we'd all sat down in those uncomfortable government chairs, Harland spoke first. "Ma'am, I'll type up my resignation, as soon as I finished the paperwork for the case," he said.

"You're going to do no such thing, Brett," she said, a little smile pulling at her lips. "I'll get to that later, though. Right now, I want to tell all of you, good job!"

"Hey! I just stood there in handcuffs, taunting Dwight. Oh, and I did run him down and beat the shit outta him," I shrugged, getting a laugh from everyone else.

"I don't know what I did either, except sit in that van biting my knuckles," Alysha added, grabbing my bandaged hand gently.

"You were both helpful, in your own ways," she replied, smiling genuinely. "It's because of you two that I'm not going to accept Brett's resignation. I don't care if Washington finds out, anymore."

"Good for you!" I grinned. Brett looked stunned, to say the least.

"Are... are you serious, Simone?" he asked.

"I am going to have to reprimand you, Brett," she said. "However, this was a big one, for all of us. I understand. They put you in an impossible situation. You could've told me, though. I trust you with my life, honey. I also trust you with my heart."

Brett Harland looked like he thought he was dreaming, for a moment. "Huh?"

"Ms. Murphy pointed it out to me, sweetheart," she smiled, giving Aly a wink, to which my lady grinned. Then she turned back to look at him. "She told me that you didn't have to inform me about what was going on. You did it because you love me, and because you want to be a better man for me."

Brett Harland nodded. "That's part of it. I also wanted that trumped up evidence gone, showing me in bed with that girl they claimed I raped. I knew that as long as they had that, there wouldn't be any real future for us."

"You mean this evidence?" Simone said, holding up a folder, a smile on her face. Before Harland cold reply, she turned and fed the folder into her industrial-sized shredder. Then she turned back to us. "We have enough evidence against that town's government as it is. No sense ruining a great agent's reputation in the process. Besides, we already have the recording of Dwight Bagwell admitting he set you up."

"I love you, Simone," Harland said, standing up and walking over to her side of the desk. She stood up, and he took her in his arms.

"I love you too, Brett," she replied with a grin, then kissed him.

"Umm, do you guys want some space?" I asked, breaking them out of their kiss. "I mean, we do have a flight back to L.A., tonight."

"Go ahead, you two," Wilson said, smiling. "Thank you both, for your help. If we need your testimony, I have your number."

"That's our cue to get outta here," Aly said as she took my hand and led me out the door.

^^^^^

After that, things pretty much got back to normal, for us. Somehow, Diana and Sophie got my new number. I couldn't be mad at Amelia, though. She had a point, when I called her to ask why Diana and Sophie were flying out to L.A. She said that we all needed closure, before we could move on.

Like I said, I stopped hating Sophie a long time ago. I'd never love her again, but after what she did, could anyone in my situation? At least I'd finally stopped having the nightmares.

When the knock came, we were just finishing our prep for our Independence Day celebration. We had quite a few friends and neighbors coming over.

"I'll get it, baby," I said, as I walked over to the front door. I thought it was one of our friends coming over to help, maybe. Imagine my surprise when I opened the door.

"Sophie. Diana. You're both looking well," I said, in a state of shock. We'd talked on the phone, but I never expected them to show up here. "Well, c'mon in. We're just getting our prep done for the 4^th of July BBQ. You're more than welcome to stay."

"Much obliged, Rick," Diana said, giving me a hug. Sophie seemed reticent, but I hugged her too.

"I'm sorry, Rick," she said, tears threatening to fall. "I'm so, so sorry for what I put you through."

"Stop worrying about it, Sophie. What's done is done," I said as I stepped back. "For what it's worth, I forgive you. Ok? That doesn't mean I'm taking you back, though. My heart belongs to someone else."

"Who is it, honey?" Alysha asked, coming into the foyer.

"Alysha, this is Sophie and Diana Randall," I introduced them. "Sophie, Diana, this is my fiancé, Alysha."

Yep, that's right! I got notified by Brett and Simone, that I was now officially Divorced. Once it became a done deal, I proposed to Aly the next day. I gave her a ring, down on one knee. The whole nine.

"Hello," Aly said, smiling. She hugged both of them. Diana took it in stride, of course. Sophie, on the other hand, almost didn't hug back. "It's good to meet both of you. I hope you don't mind the mess in the kitchen, but you're welcome to join us."

Sophie started to balk, but Diana placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "We'd love to stay. When does the BBQ start?"

"We're going to start about four, or as soon as Charisse and Jade get back from the liquor store, whichever comes first," Aly laughed. "Sorry, they're our roommates. It's going to take them a while, though. They just left. Come in. Have a seat on the sofa, and we can talk."

And talk, we did. Sophie told me what I already knew. Our marriage was officially over. I just nodded and thanked her.

Just before Chari and Jade walked in, Sophie looked at Alysha. "Aly, thank you so much. I know I'm not really one to be giving advice to y'all, but please treat Rick better than I did. Trust him. Always trust him."

Aly just looked at me and grinned. I saw the love in her eyes, as she said, "I already do. As a good friend of ours said, I trust him with my life, and I trust him with my heart."

We had a lot of fun at the BBQ, of course. I grilled ribs, burgers, hotdogs, and chicken. We had salads for the vegetarians and vegans in our group. Aly's idea. Not mine. I'm a carnivore, and I'll always be a carnivore!

Then, when the party was almost over, Aly handed me a Guinness and turned to our guests.

"Can I have your attention, everyone?" she called out. When everybody looked her way, she smiled brilliantly and interlaced her fingers with mine. "I have an announcement to make! We're going to have a baby!"

I'm proud to say I recovered quickly. Then I took Alysha in my arms and kissed her lovingly.

Life is wicked good!

The End