A Powerless World | Book 3 | Defend The Homestead Hunt, Jack (read my book TXT) 📖

“Why arrest him?”

“I just told you.”

“I think you are pressing for something more, Captain. My question is, what are you after?”

He was turning the tables. Benjamin knew he couldn’t wriggle his way out of what he’d just asked, so he would do the same. “I’ll answer that once you answer this. Who do you think is a problem in this county, sheriff? Who do you think is liable to shoot first and ask questions later? The general public or the Rikers and the Stricklands?”

Dan waved a finger in his face. “Ah, so this has less to do with law and more to do with your hatred toward the two families. Listen, we are not having this conversation. I determine who is arrested, not you. And as far as I’m concerned, Derek came through on what he said. You gave a warning and removed Jessie from Eureka. So what, you didn’t find an arsenal of weapons. Who cares? Move on.”

As quick as a flash, Benjamin turned. “I care. The people out there care. And so should you if you don’t want things to spiral out of control any more than they have, and trust me, they are going to get worse from here on out. If either one of these families has an arsenal of weapons, they are a threat. We could be looking at an all-out war.”

“This is not a war, captain. You can’t just go charging into places, demanding people hand over guns. Here, in this town, under the circumstances, well that’s different. We have some leeway but we have provided people with options. We aren’t just demanding they hand over weapons. What we have in place right now may not be ideal but in light of the threats we are facing, I think it’s fair. No. For the time being, I don’t want any of you going near Derek Strickland.”

“Why don’t you just go with me? That way he can tell you how he came to learn about this arsenal. I think there is more to this. I think we are overlooking something important.”

“It’s not happening. We have bigger things to deal with right now like who’s scalping locals in the county.”

Benjamin nodded. “All right. All right. But I’m giving you the heads-up now. Mark my words. You let this slide, and you could have a problem on your hands.”

He turned and walked out of there, gritting his teeth and balling a fist. He wanted nothing more than to reach over that table and strangle Dan but he couldn’t, not now. Making his way down the corridors, he turned left into the staircase just as Deputy Johnson stepped out, bumping into him.

“Oh, I’m sorry, captain.”

“Not a problem.” That’s when it dawned on him. Maybe he was going about this the wrong way. He’d seen the way Dan had Johnson follow him around like a shadow. The way he referred to him at times, getting his input. “In fact, you’re just the man I want to see.”

“I am?”

“The sheriff wants us to handle a matter. Let’s go,” he said.

“Concerning?”

“I’ll tell you on the way.” Benjamin held the door open for him to go back into the stairwell and then cast a glance back down the corridor.

It was a simple matter of the right hand not knowing what the left hand was doing. Benjamin knew that to take things to the next level, he needed to be in control. He had to ramp things up. Push his boundaries. Step over a few lines in the sand and see what Dan, the Rikers, and the Stricklands would do. Maybe an arrest was extreme but he had to believe that the Stricklands weren’t any different than the Rikers, and both posed a threat.

And as such, they needed to know their place in the hierarchy.

Then, of course, there was the obvious question that needed to be answered.

He knew that Derek could have said anything to them. He could have come up with any story. Dan was right, Derek had given them Jessie, but he hadn’t just said that Jessie had one gun. He could have. That would have sufficed. It would have been enough to get him in trouble. But he didn’t stop there. He specifically mentioned an arsenal and gold. Why bother? Why even mention that if it wasn’t true? It was that little tidbit on the end that made him think that he was telling the truth. Finding it would be of great use to the militia. It could strengthen their position and give others more incentive to bow the knee.

The question was if Derek hadn’t seen the cache, who had? And why was Dan shielding him? Sure, he could put on the big front about protecting the community, not showing favoritism, and that Derek had been truthful, but he’d seen the look in his eyes. Was it fear? Or something more?

Now, he knew he couldn’t just waltz into Strickland territory and pluck Derek out without reason. Hence, he’d come up with the idea of him making a false report. Had he known the law himself? No. He had one of Dan’s deputies to thank for that. The deputy had told him that the punishment for filing a false report could be up to six months in jail. With the state of the jail system in Eureka, he figured he might be able to use that as a ploy to apply pressure on the Stricklands.

Of course, to make a charge like that stick, he would need to skirt around Dan and have another deputy made aware of this. Either way, whether Derek was arrested today, or allowed to go free, he planned to find out for sure if this arsenal of weapons existed. The gold was just the cherry on the cake.

They were already halfway there when Johnson asked, “Are you sure Dan approved of this?”

“Positive. The Rikers have been given the option, the Stricklands haven’t yet. We can’t have them waltzing into town