Free Bound for Home (Tyler Cunningham Shorts) by Jamie Sheffield

don’t care. I think that it’s most likely Allen, and is least likely to be Everson, but it doesn’t really matter … nobody gets hurt … just stuff.” I said.
    John looked at me like I was from Mars, but nodding slightly, as if he could live with knowing this particular Martian.
    “It meets our/your needs, stops the birds dying, protects Nick’s secrets and ‘ loot ’, and avoids you having to run any bodies through the wood-chipper.” I felt confident now that I could see my way through the next minute or so of conversation to the twist that, if it came off, would end my day even better than a large cone from Donnelly’s.
    “I like it … not least because it’s not at all my style, and Nick won’t tumble to my having had to fix anything.”
    This fed into my twist so perfectly, that I couldn’t wait for my planned opening, 30 seconds from now. “There’s just one remaining loose end, John. My source also indicates that there was likely someone inside feeding information to the shooter.” I paused here to give him time to jump to a conclusion that I would reinforce a second later. “It’s critically important to me that nothing happen to Sophia.” I let that hang, while John crunched things around in his head, and ate his soggy cone, before pulling out a napkin and wiping his hands.
    He swallowed my baited prompt, “She’ll have to leave the farm, Tyler. Nothing bad’s gonna happen to her, but she can’t live there anymore … she’s out this afternoon. After I have a talk with her.” He leaned on the last sentence in a way that I wasn’t crazy about, so I reiterated my earlier position.
    “ The important thing is that nothing bad happens to her … you can’t make her talk about her involvement in this without tipping that we don’t know which one it is, so it’s best to just make her leave. She’ll report back to whichever guy is the guilty party, and that will convince him that the you know he did the shooting. He’d be crazy not to walk away from it, and think himself lucky.” This was one of those instances in which my lack of emotional response/display comes in handy; now I just had to get out of here cleanly before he thought about it too much.
    “Funny how it’s working out, isn’t it? We met because Sophia’s grandfather wanted her out of Helgafell, and here it is … happening … just a few days later.”
    “She’s the newest ‘ recruit ’, which is logically when a family member is most likely to want a relative out of a set-up like the farm, and also the likeliest person to be a plant/scout for someone wanting to steal from you.” This was sketchy, but could hang together if John wanted the symmetry to work.
    “I guess. So, how should I work it? Sooner is better than later, and I want Sophia gone ASAP.” John offered.
    “I can take care of the tires and the storefront in to wn, if you can manage the sugar shack and the garage.” I offered, both to sweeten the deal, and to move things along, past Sophia.
    “Just because they’re closer to you, doesn’t mean they’re easier for you … I’ve got some experience with things like the in-town ‘accidents’ you suggested. Let me handle them, and you can wander the backwoods of the rural Adirondacks for the maple-shack and what’s-his-name’s garage. Wear gloves, be quiet, and get gone as quickly as you can afterwards.”
    “Better … thanks John.” It would be best to let him help in planning, to shift some of the plan over to him in his mind.
    “Sounds good Tyler … we should do them all within 24 hours of Sophia getting bounced … I’ll take care of that this afternoon, deal with Everson and LaFleur tonight. I’ll bring some eggs along with another slab of bacon tomorrow sometime. Can I bring them by your home?”
    “I’ll be in and out, but there’s a key under … never mind … you can leave it in the fridge, assuming that you can get in as easily as you did last time.” I said.
    “I could