"Kudzu" by Ace Atkins (from Birds of Prey, edited by Harlan Coben & C. J. Box, 2026; also available in Kindle)
Mook and Juanita Briggs were a neat and tidy couple who kept their yard a point of admiration to all who saw it. Then Mook died; Juanita lasted a few more years and was moved to a home a few towns over before she too passed. The property passed to their son, Dontell, who rented out portions of the land and left the house to fall into decay. Now the house was eaten by kudzu which had swallowed the entire building; a portion of the roof had fallen in, the yard was a jungle of weeds, abandoned vehicles, and junk trees; and vultures -- attracted by a parade of dead animals killed on the nearby highway -- kept circling the property. Then Grady Daniels bought up two hundred acres along the road to develop, with the love holdout being Dontell Briggs. In Tibbelah County, Mississippi, especially if you were good friends with a County Supervisor, as Briggs was.
Sheriff Quinn Colson was informed by Ole Man Skinner, the head of the County Supervisors, that they had voted to condemn the Briggs place as a firetrap and a nuisance. Colson was to serve papers on Dontell Briggs to that effect. Briggs met Colson holding a rifle, stating that his family home was going to torn down. Quinn had no education and worked in a menial janitorial position at the county high school. He told Colson that he wrote to the governor and to the president, and they would surely support him when they wrote back. "This ain't Russia." The house, he said, was "filled with antiques. Nice stuff that belonged to Mama. An old-time church piano and family photo albums. Yearbooks, keepsakes and shit. Anyone try to touch that place and I'll shoot them where they stand." Colson did not bother to tell him that anything left in that place was either ruined or vandalized.
Colson tried to convince Skinner to delay tearing down the building and managed to get a two day reprieve. He spent part of that time trying to figure out who actually had legal ownership to the property. There was no local record of Juanita Briggs death and no will appears to have been filed. Dontell was four years behind in taxes and hadn't registered a car since 1997. Without any definitive proof of legal ownership, Colson had to let Skinner have his way.
Colson and Skinner went out to the property and were met by a rifle shot through Colson's windshield. The standoff continued for hours. Finally, Colson yelled out that he was coming in. Once inside, he realized why Briggs was so determined to have the home remain standing...
Quinn Colson is a cigar smoking war hero who returned home to Tibbehah County after his uncle, the sheriff died. What Colson found was a nest of corruption, his hometown swimming in drugs, violence and bad politicians. He decided to follow his uncle as sheriff to help fix the county. Colson is a decent man who is trying to do the right thing. He was introduced in 2011's The Ranger. to date, there have been eleven novels and several short stories about the popular character, who was inspired by the myth of Buford Pusser.
Ace Atkins (b. 1970) has also written four novels about Nick Travers, an amateur detective, blues historian, and former football player (Atkins had lettered for the Auburn University football team, and his father had been an NFL All Pro football player and coach), ten novels continuing the adventures of Robert B. Parker's Spenser character, two novel featuring Memphis PI Porter Hayes, and four standalone novels. Atkins has received a number of literary awards and is a member of the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame.
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