Vengeance is Mine (15 page)
Authors: Reavis Z Wortham
Ned had a couple of hours to kill while Cody and the kids gigged frogs with Tony. The take-out point wasn't that far away, but the bends and twists in the creek stretched their float to a country mile. Instead of going back home, he steered toward Gene Stark's house not far off Razor Road. His brother's murder had been worrying Ned, because none of it made any sense.
Though Tommy Lee was pretty much a no'count in the community, to Ned's knowledge he hadn't done anything bad enough to get shot in the head for. He figured to spend a little time visiting with Gene. Maybe he'd say something to give Ned a clue as to where to look next. The old constable was running out of ideas, and didn't have lead one to follow.
Ned took his time driving between the moonlit fields and pastures of the river bottoms, enjoying the night and familiar scents of earth, vegetation, and leftover cotton poison. With the windows open, Ned followed his headlights through the darkness, driving with his left elbow hanging out the window.
His mind was in neutral, sifting through dusty files of information, when his headlights lit up the reflectors on a car parked off the dirt road. He slowed, flicked on the red spotlight mounted on the door post beside the windshield, and painted the car with the strong light.
The 1954 Dodge Coronet was empty, but a flicker of motion beside the stock tank on the other side of the vehicle caught his attention. He twisted the handle and moved the light in time to catch a flash of white slipping down below the water's surface. A second flash of well-developed white ducked down to join the first as he passed.
Ned braked, shifted into reverse, and backed up past a two-track dirt cut-off leading to the stock pond. Stopping beside an unfamiliar car, he maneuvered the strong beam beyond the open barbed-wire gate and onto two heads that seemed to be floating in the pond.
Ned checked the area. Insects fluttered in the light. The Dodge was empty. Clothes were scattered across the hood.
With the red spotlight fixed on the surface of the water, he left the car and flicked on his heavy silver flashlight. He was startled to see the heads belonged to females. “How's the water?”
Both women used a hand to shade their eyes from the white light. The squinting brunette beamed him with a smile. “Feels good, but it's a little thick.”
“That don't surprise me none. You're swimmin' in a mud hole, you know. I ain't in the habit of talking to two heads floating on the water, not without knowing who they are.”
“Can you lower that light a little? We've been out here for a while and you're blinding us.”
Ned tilted the beam to illuminate a stack of empty Jax cans.
“Now, would you move to your left a little bit,” the brunette asked, “to block that spotlight?”
When Ned shifted, the brunette raised up until her shoulders were above the water. “Thanks. My name's Pearl.”
More creamy white reflecting the moonlight told Ned they'd been hunkering in the water because they weren't wearing bathing suits.
The blonde stood a little higher, too. “I'm Liz.”
“Good to meet you, Liz and Pearl. Do you know whose pool you're in?”
They exchanged looks. “Not really. We're not from around here.”
“That's about the only thing I know right now.” Ned tilted his hat back and shined the flashlight onto the badge pinned to his shirt. “I'm the constable here in Center Springs, and y'all probably need to know that Frank Suttle won't be expecting two nekked women to be out here in his pool, scaring his cattle who probably need a drink right about now.”
Liz tilted her head. “How do you know we're nekked?”
He jerked the beam toward the pile of clothes on the hood and half a dozen more empty Jax cans. “It's a good guess, I 'spect, from what there is to see.”
“What's
your
name?” Pearl asked. They alternated in the conversation, giving Ned a good idea that the two had been running together for a long time, if they weren't sisters.
“Ned Parker. Constable Ned Parker.”
It was Liz's turn again. “Good lord. Somebody's done called the law on us. I've heard of you, but I thought you'd be a lot younger.”
“That'd be Cody. He's constable, too. Now, what are y'all doing out here in this water?”
Both women were standing higher as they talked. Even poorly lit, their shoulders glowed red, indicating they'd been in the sun for a long time. The muddy water barely covered their breasts, and Ned had a hard time keeping his eyes and the flashlight beam where they belonged.
Pearl's hand shaded her eyes. “We're from Dallas.”
Liz took over. “We're staying at Gene Stark's house right over there. We heard that Tommy Lee got killed, and came to see if we could help Gene in any way.”
“Um hum. And did Gene have anything for you to do?”
“Sure did!” Liz laughed. “We've been doing it all afternoon.”
“Gurrrlll,” Pearl cautioned. “What she means is that we cleaned his house for him, and then we all came down here for a swim after dinner and wound up staying. We both blistered, and Gene left a little while ago to go across the river and get us some more beer. Somebody drank all we had.” They laughed. “I wish he could drive into town and get some Unguentine, but it's too damn late. We been staying here in the water while he's gone, 'cause it's cool and that helps take out the sting.”
“Spirits of camphor'll take the heat out, but Resinol salve works, too.”
“I've never heard that. Mr. Ned, you better shine that flashlight beam a little higher.”
With a start, he realized the girls were standing completely upright in the waist deep water. He quickly moved the beam once again. “All right, y'all need to get on out of there and go someplace else, to Gene's, or home, I don't care, but you can't stay out there.”
They waded toward him.
“Whoa! Y'all wait till I'm gone, and then git.”
Ned went back to his car and heard them splash onto the bank. “Y'all don't forget to close this gate back and wire it shut,” he called over his shoulder. “I don't want to get a call later tonight from Frank telling me his cows are out and to come here after 'em.”
“We will.”
When he slammed the door, switched off the spotlight, and started the engine, Ned caught a glimpse of the women in the bright moonlight.
Making sure they were unarmed, he shifted into gear and left with a wave.
***
Ned's headlights led him down the dirt road past Love Thicket. Straight rows of harvested corn ran right up against a line of thick trees that trimmed the edge of a small trickle of water. The road bent, following a patchwork quilt of different-sized fields.
When the beams swept across a patch of winter wheat, half a dozen pairs of eyes glowed. The deer raised their heads to watch the car pass, and then resumed grazing. Ned slowed for a plank bridge, and the road paralleled another stand of trees. Once again, an unnatural glint in the darkness caught his attention.
He backed up, and aimed his spotlight toward the base of a tree, lighting two men that he recognized immediately. One waved, and they made their way through a tangle of blackberry vines to the side of the car.
“Howdy, Mr. Ned.” Jimmy Foxx stepped across the strong beam. His waders were muddy up to his knees. “What are you doing down here this time a'night?”
A quick jolt of dread made Ned feel sick, making him wonder if the brothers, though good friends of his, were the ones who might have accidentally, or otherwise, killed Tommy Lee Stark.
Rifle over his shoulder, Ty Cobb joined them. “Howdy, Ned.”
“What are you boys doing?”
Ty Cobb jerked a thumb at the silver moon. “Perfect night for coon huntin', but I'll be damned if I know where the dogs are. They been trailing an old boar coon, but then they got away from us and I ain't heard 'em bark in half an hour.”
“The hell of it is, we got one treed in this pin oak back here, but neither one of us can get a shot.” Jimmy Foxx spread his hands.
The absence of dogs worried Ned. “How'd you tree a coon by yourselves?” The boys laughed so casually he felt a little better.
Ty Cobb pointed his flashlight toward the tree. “The last time we heard the dogs barking was in this direction, so we hoofed it over from Love Thicket and saw a tree limb shake. When I shined my light up there, a coon blinked at me. Ain't that hell? We're better coon dogs than our coon dogs.”
“That's the way it is sometimes.” Ned waved an annoying mosquito away. “I never did ask you boys, were y'all out huntin' the day Tommy Lee Stark got killed?”
They shook their heads in synchronization. Ty Cobb spoke up. “Ned, that was one of the few days when we
weren't
out. Dumbass here cut hisself on a bobwire fence so bad I had to take him in to see old Doc Heinz. He sewed his arm up and made him take a tetanus shot.”
“That damn thing hurt worse than the cut or the stitches.” Jimmy Foxx pulled up his shirtsleeve to show Ned the long, barely healed gash near his left armpit.
“What'd you do, rassle with the fence?”
He gave Ned a wry grin. “Naw, I's climbing one running along the top of a gully over in the army camp. My feet slipped, I fell straight down, and it raked my arm open.”
Ty Cobb cocked an ear away from the car to listen for his dogs. “We hadn't no more than got back when Isaac Reader came and saw us up at the store and told us Gene was looking for his brother, so we joined in.”
Before Ned could answer, Jimmy Foxx held up one hand. “Lissen.” The sound of barking dogs echoed through the woods. “There's your dumbass coon dogs.”
“I done heard 'em before you,” Ty Cobb nudged his brother, “and half of 'em's yours, to boot.”
“You didn't do no such of a thing. I heard 'em first.”
It was hard to tell how far off the dogs were, but their baying quickly increased in volume, growing stronger and clearer as they approached. Feeling better, Ned shifted into gear. “They're probably after that coon y'all already treed.”
The brothers laughed and stepped back. “Don't run over 'em if they cross the road.”
Ned waved, and drove off.
***
A pair of headlights met him a mile down the dirt road. “I-god, these bottoms are busy tonight.” Ned shook his head at the amount of traffic in the river bottoms when, in his opinion, everyone should be home in bed. He steered to the side and waited. When the other car slowed, Ned's red light lit the face of Gene Stark, who grinned and waved. He pulled up door-to-door so they could speak between the cars.
“Howdy, Mr. Ned. What are you doing down here at night?”
“I was going to see you, when I ran across a couple of your friends back there in their all-togethers.”
Gene rolled his eyes. “Those girls are a couple of ring-tailed tooters, that's for sure. Did you need something from me?”
“I don't know. I thought maybe something new about Tommy Lee might have come to mind, and I figured we could visit for a while. I've about run out of ideas.”
A cloud immediately fell over Gene's face. “Mr. Ned, you know I'd-a called you if I thought of anything else.”
“Well, did you see anybody around his house that you didn't know before he was killed?”
“Nawsir. Oh, Tommy Lee always had folks over. For some reason I never figgered out, gals seem to like him, but it wasn't anybody we didn't know.”
June bugs flew through the headlights of their parked cars, striking the windshields with hard-shelled thumps. Other insects joined the mosquitoes and buzzed in and out of their open windows.
Ned waved a bug from his face. “Have you thought of anything Tommy Lee might have said or done to make somebody mad enough to kill him?”
Gene shook his head. “I done tol' you. He's stayed out of trouble.”
“Could he have got to sneaking around other folks' windows again, and lookin' in? Maybe some husband or daddy caught him and settled up.”
“Not that I know of, Mr. Ned, 'course I don'tâ¦didn'tâ¦see him all the time. He coulda' been doing anything for all I know.”
“You think he coulda got into them drugs? Maybe he started selling
that
stuff.”
“I wouldn't-a knowed it if he did.”
“Maybe he went hunting with somebody that had a bone to pick with him. You ever think of that?”
“If he did, he didn't say nothin' to me about anybody being sore at him.”
Ned took off his hat and put it on the seat beside him so he could rub his head to help him think. The engines idled quietly in the wide darkness between cotton and corn fields. “Well, keep studying on it. I can't help but feel like we're missing something right here under our noses.”
“Sure will. Mr. Ned, were them gals still in the water when you left?”
“Most of 'em.”
“You didn't give 'em no ticket or nothin', didja?”
“Naw, but I told 'em to get out and git after I was gone.”
Gene looked disappointed for a moment. “They been in there so long, I reckon they're probably pruney anyways.”
“I didn't get that close.” Ned shifted into gear. “But the next time they comeâ¦visit, you need to take them swimming down at the Rock Hole, where decent folks go.”
Gene waved a hand and depressed the foot feed. “Who said they was decent?”
Griffin had been on Tony's mind a lot since that afternoon when he stood in handcuffs on the side of the road. The frog gigging trip took his mind off of it only as long as they were floating down the creek. The puzzle of Griffin's appearance in Vegas resumed the moment they pulled the flat bottomed johnboat onto the muddy bank.
He remembered the sheriff sitting in the restaurant that night in Vegas. Of course the man looked different, dressed in a business suit and tie, instead of his Stetson and khakis. The puzzle was the relationship between Griffin and Best. Tony couldn't believe his bad luck, running into probably the only man in Texas who knew the same mob boss that put out a hit on him.
Tony's biggest worry was a simple phone call. If Griffin remembered Tony from that night, he could drop a dime on him and Best would be overjoyed to send a few professionals to his front door.
He had to find out what was going on.
It wasn't too late when the float was over and Ned picked them up not far from the confluence of Sanders Creek and the Red River. He plucked at Pepper's wet shirt in the fading light of dimming flashlight batteries. “I can't wait to hear why you're all wet.”
She laughed. “It was funny! Mr. Tony thought he got a snake down his back, but it was only a stupid little ol' lizard.”
She and Top took turns telling the story while they loaded the boat into the back of the truck using Ned's fresh flashlight. He shook his head. “I wouldn't expect anything else from this crew.” Once it was secured, the adults squeezed into the cab and the kids once again rode in the back. They dropped Cody off to get his El Camino, and drove on up to the house.
Despite the hour, Miss Becky was waiting when they pulled up the drive. Yellow light from the windows spilled onto the porch when she opened the door and stepped outside. The kids boiled out of the back, shouting stories.
Cody stopped beside Ned's truck. He reached in and lifted out the 'toe sack full of frogs. “Now the messy part, Mr. Tony.”
“What's that?”
“We have to clean them before we can be through.”
Tony shrugged. “It shouldn't take long to wash them off.”
The adults exchanged looks, then burst out laughing. Miss Becky gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Oh, Hon, what Cody means is that we have to cut their legs off and get 'em ready for the skillet.”
He grimaced. “You know, I don't think I have the stomach for that.”
“It's part of it,” Top explained. “You have to finish the job.”
Miss Becky gave her grandson a light shove toward the house. “You two go in and wash up. You don't get to tell adults what to do. Pepper, you need to get out of them wet clothes before you catch double pneumonia.”
They went inside without argument. “Uh, if you don't mind, I'd rather not stay for this part.” Tony gave them an embarrassed look. “I have a weak stomach.”
For those who lived by the land, the idea of being affected by blood was alien, but no one wanted to embarrass him. Miss Becky hugged Tony. “You go on home and be with that pretty little wife of yours. We'll take care of this.”
Tony left, but instead of going home, he drove into Chisum.
