The Caretaker of Lorne Field

Wolcott took a step back, his hand resting on his service revolver. “A lot of what-ifs. What if Santa Claus were real?”

“If he was, the world wouldn’t come to an end ’cause of it.”

The sound of tires on the dirt road out front stopped them. A car door opened and shut, followed by Hank Thompson’s voice bellowing about what an outrage this was.

“We’re back here, Hank,” Wolcott called out.

Hank Thompson was seething as he joined them. He pointed a long quivering finger at the sheriff. “You had no right doing this,” he accused, his voice loud and booming.

“Calm down, Hank. I had every right. Besides, I was only following the directives of the town council.”

“To sneak into my client’s house and dump all of his belongings out in the street?”

“They were put out on his front yard.”

“You know damn well what I meant. And don’t you dare smirk at me!”

Wolcott held out a hand to stop the attorney.

“Calm down,” he ordered. “I wasn’t smirking at you. And as I was telling your client, a notice was sent over a week ago. There’s nothing I can do if he chose to ignore it.”

Hank’s eyes slid momentarily towards Durkin, then back on Wolcott with renewed intensity. “I’ll calm down when I damn well want to. What if it was raining?”

“It’s not.”

“But if it was you would’ve still dumped everything he owned on the front yard?”

“Look, Hank-”

“This was wrong. Legally and morally you had an obligation to make sure my client was aware of the seizure notice and eviction plans.”

“Which is exactly what I did!”

“By serendipitously placing a notice in the mail so it can be lost and never delivered?”

“By hand delivering it myself. I put it in your client’s mailbox a week ago!”

“You had to sneak here and hide it in his mailbox? You didn’t have the common decency to deliver it by hand?”

Wolcott shook his head. “I did what I was required to.”

“Hank,” Jack said, interrupting his attorney in the middle of shaking his finger again. “I found my wallet packed away in one of the boxes. It was empty. The two hundred dollars you gave me was taken from it.”

The attorney shot a withering look at Wolcott.

“Hank, you know as well as I do that I only supervise packing up the house. Besides, it’s your client’s responsibility to pay attention to the seizure notice and make sure the house is vacated. If he fails to do so, then any lost property is his fault.”

“I demand that you investigate this!”

“Come on, Hank-”

“You failed to properly notify my client, and assuming you didn’t take the money yourself, two hundred dollars was stolen out from under your nose-”

“Be careful what you’re saying, Hank.”

“Not only that,” Durkin interjected, his voice not much more than a croak, “they packed up the food from the refrigerator and left it out in the sun. Half of it’s spoiled.”

“Alright, alright,” Wolcott said, flashing Durkin a look before staring angrily at the older attorney. “I’ll look into this. But you know, Hank, your client broke a window and trespassed into the house. I could arrest him right now.”

“He was retrieving personal property that you didn’t bother to pack up.”

“I made sure that nothing was left behind!”

“He had several items of great sentimental value that were hidden in the basement. If you’d like, I’m sure Jack will show you where they were.”

Wolcott looked slowly from Hank to Jack Durkin. “No, that won’t be necessary,” he said. “It doesn’t matter. Your client criminally trespassed, regardless of what might’ve been left in the house.” He removed a pair of handcuffs from his belt and stepped forward. “I am placing him under arrest. You can accompany us down to the station house if you’d like.”

“I’ll tell you what,” Hank Thompson said, his voice shaking with indignation. “If you do this I will sue you for abuse of power. Trust me, Sheriff, making your life hell will be my life’s work. Maybe at the end of the day, you’ll also get to find out what it’s like to have your home seized.”

Wolcott hesitated, then reluctantly slipped the handcuffs back on his belt. “I want your client off this property now,” he said. “And all his junk too. Anything still here by tomorrow morning will be carted off to the town dump.”

Hank sniffed dismissively. “Jack will be given a reasonable amount of time to remove his property. If you touch any of it he will sue you. Make no mistake about that, Dan. Now why don’t you get the hell away from here and let me talk to my client in private.”

Wolcott nodded. “Just make sure your client doesn’t enter the house again.”

“What about the garage?” Durkin asked.

“What?”

“My pa built that garage.”

Wolcott stared at Durkin as if he sprouted horns.

“You’ll have to bring that up with the town council,” he said, his voice strained. “Maybe they’ll let you move it to somewhere else. That’s up to them. But I’m coming back here at midnight and if you’re camped out anywhere on this property, I’m arresting you.”