No Country for Old Men (17 page)

You dont look it.

Is that right? You know a lot of queers?

You dont act it I guess I should say.

Well darlin what would you know about it?

I dont know.

Say it again.

What?

Say it again. I dont know.

I dont know.

That's good. You need to practice that. It sounds good on you.

Later he went out and drove down to the quickstop. When he pulled back into the motel he
sat there studying the cars in the lot. Then he got out.

He walked down to her room and tapped at the door. He waited. He tapped again. He saw the
curtain move and then she opened the door. She stood there in the same jeans and T-shirt.
She looked like she'd just woken up.

I know you aint old enough to drink but I thought I'd see if you wanted a beer.

Yeah, she said. I'd drink a beer.

He lifted one of the cold bottles out of the brown paper bag and handed it to her. Here
you go, he said.

He'd already turned to go. She stepped out and let the door shut behind her. You dont need
to rush off thataway, she said.

He stopped on the lower step.

You got another one of these in that sack?

Yeah. I got two more. And I aim to drink both of em.

I just meant maybe you could set here and drink one of em with me.

He squinted at her. You ever notice how women have trouble takin no for a answer? I think
it starts about age three.

What about men?

They get used to it. They better.

I wont say a word. I'll just set here.

You wont say a word.

No.

Well that's already a lie.

Well I wont say hardly nothin. I'll be real quiet.

He sat on the step and pulled one of the beers from the bag and twisted off the cap and
tilted the bottle and drank. She sat on the next step up and did the same.

You sleep a lot? he said.

I sleep when I get the chance. Yeah. You?

I aint had a night's sleep in about two weeks. I dont know what it would feel like. I
think it's beginnin to make me stupid.

You dont look stupid to me.

Well, that's by your lights.

What does that mean?

Nothin. I'm just raggin you. I'll quit.

You aint got drugs in that satchel have you?

No. Why? You use drugs?

I'd smoke some weed if you had some.

Well I aint.

That's all right.

Moss shook his head. He drank.

I just meant it's all right we could just set out here and drink a beer.

Well I'm glad to hear that's all right.

Where are you headin? You aint never said.

Hard to say.

You aint goin to California though, are you?

No. I aint.

I didnt think so.

I'm goin to El Paso.

I thought you didnt know where you was goin.

Maybe I just decided.

I dont think so.

Moss didnt answer.

This is nice settin out here, she said.

I guess it depends on where you been settin.

You aint just got out of the penitentiary or somethin have you?

I just got off of death row. They'd done shaved my head for the electric chair. You can
see where it's started to grow back.

You're full of it.

Be funny if it turned out to be true though, wouldnt it?

Is the law huntin you?

Everbody's huntin me.

What did you do?

I been pickin up young girls hitchhikin and buryin em out in the desert.

That aint funny.

You're right. It aint. I was just pullin your leg.

You said you'd quit.

I will.

Do you ever tell the truth?

Yeah. I tell the truth.

You're married, aint you?

Yeah.

What's your wife's name?

Carla Jean.

Is she in El Paso?

Yeah.

Does she know what you do for a livin?

Yeah. She knows. I'm a welder.

She watched him. To see what else he would say. He didnt say anything.

You aint no welder, she said.

Why aint I?

What have you got that machinegun for?

Cause they's some bad people after me.

What did you do to em?

I took somethin that belongs to em and they want it back.

That dont sound like weldin to me.

It dont, does it? I guess I hadnt thought of that.

He sipped the beer. Holding it by the neck between his thumb and forefinger.

And that's what's in that bag. Aint it?

Hard to say.

Are you a safecracker?

A safecracker?

Yeah.

Whatever give you that notion?

I dont know. Are you?

No.

Well you're somethin. Aint you?

Everbody's somethin.

You ever been to California?

Yeah. I been to California. I got a brother lives there.

Does he like it?

I dont know. He lives there.

You wouldnt live there though, would you?

No.

You think that's where I ought to go?

He looked at her and looked away again. He stretched his legs out on the concrete and
crossed his boots and looked out across the parking lot toward the highway and the lights
on the highway. Darlin, he said, how in the hell would I know where you ought to go?

Yeah. Well, I appreciate you givin me that money.

You're welcome.

You didnt have to do that.

I thought you wasnt goin to talk.

All right. That's a lot of money though.

It aint half what you think it is. You'll see.

I wont blow it in. I need money to get me a place to stay.

You'll be all right.

I hope so.

Best way to live in California is to be from somewheres else. Probably the best way is to
be from Mars.

I hope not. Cause I aint.

You'll be all right.

Can I ask you somethin?

Yeah. Go ahead.

How old are you?

Thirty-six.

That's pretty old. I didnt know you was that old.

I know. It kind of took me by surprise my own self.

I got a feelin I ought to be afraid of you but I aint.

Well. I cant advise you on that neither. Most people'll run from their own mother to get
to hug death by the neck. They cant wait to see him.

I guess that's what you think I'm doin.

I dont even want to know what you're doin.

I wonder where I'd be right now if I hadnt of met you this mornin.

I dont know.

I was always lucky. About stuff like that. About meetin people.

Well, I wouldnt speak too soon.

Why? You fixin to bury me out in the desert?

No. But there's a lot of bad luck out there. You hang around long enough and you'll come
in for your share of it.

I think I done have. I believe I'm due for a change. I might even be overdue.

Yeah? Well you aint.

Why do you say that?

He looked at her. Let me tell you somethin, little sister. If there is one thing on this
planet that you dont look like it's a bunch of good luck walkin around.

That's a hateful thing to say.

No it aint. I just want you to be careful. We get to El Paso I'm goin to drop you at the
bus station. You got money. You dont need to be out here hitchhikin.

All right.

All right.

Would you of done what you said back yonder? About if I had of took your truck?

What's that?

You know. About beatin the crap out of me.

No.

I didn't think so.

You want to split this last beer?

All right.

Run in there and get a cup. I'll be back in a minute.

All right. You aint changed your mind have you?

About what?

You know about what.

I dont change my mind. I like to get it right the first time.

He rose and started up the walkway. She stood at the door. I'll tell you somethin I heard
in a movie one time, she said.

He stopped and turned. What's that?

There's a lot of good salesmen around and you might buy somethin yet.

Well darlin you're just a little late. Cause I done bought. And I think I'll stick with
what I got.

He went on up the walkway and climbed the stairs and went in.

The Barracuda pulled into a truckstop outside of Balmorhea and drove into the bay of the
adjoining carwash. The driver got out and shut the door and looked at it. There was blood
and other matter streaked over the glass and over the sheet-metal and he walked out and
got quarters from a change-machine and came back and put them in the slot and took down
the wand from the rack and washed the car and rinsed it off and got back in and pulled out
onto the highway going west.

Bell left the house at seven-thirty and took 285 north to Fort Stockton. It was about a
two hundred mile run to Van Horn and he reckoned he could make it in under three hours. He
turned the rooflights on. About ten miles west of Fort Stockton on the I-10 interstate he
passed a car burning by the side of the highway. There were police cars at the scene and
one lane of the highway was blocked off. He didnt stop but it gave him an uneasy feeling.
He stopped at Balmorhea and refilled his coffeebottle and he pulled into Van Horn at ten
twenty-five.

He didnt know what he was looking for but he didnt have to. In the parking lot of a motel
there were two Culberson County patrol cars and a state police car all with their lights
going. The motel was cordoned off with yellow tape. He pulled in and parked and left his
own lights on.

The deputy didnt know him but the sheriff did. They were questioning a man sitting in his
shirtsleeves in the open back door of one of the cruisers. Damn if bad news dont travel
fast, the sheriff said. What are you doin up here, Sheriff?

What's happened, Marvin?

Had a little shoot-out. You know anything about this?

I dont know. You got any victims?

They left out of here about a half hour ago in the ambulance. Two men and a woman. The
woman was dead and the one boy I dont think is goin to make it either. The other one might.

Do you know who they were?

No. One of the men was Mexican and we're waitin for a registration on his car settin over
yonder. Wasnt a one of em had any identification. On em or in the room either one.

What does this man say?

He says the Mexican started it. Says he drug the woman out of her room and the other man
come out with a gun but when he seen the Mexican had a gun pointed at the woman's head he
laid his own piece down. And whenever he done that the Mexican shoved the woman away and
shot her and then turned and shot him. He was standin in front of 117, right yonder. Shot
em with a goddamned machinegun. Accordin to this witness the old boy fell down the steps
and then he picked up his gun again and shot the Mexican. Which I dont see how he done it.
He was shot all to pieces. You can see the blood on the walkway yonder. We had a real good
response time. About seven minutes, I think. The girl was just shot dead.

No ID.

No ID. The other old boy's truck is got dealer tags on it.

Bell nodded. He looked at the witness. The witness had asked for a cigarette and he lit it
and sat smoking. He looked pretty comfortable. He looked as if he'd sat in the back of
police cruisers before.

That woman, Bell said. Was she anglo?

Yeah. She was anglo. Had blonde hair. Sort of reddish, maybe.

Did you all find any dope?

Not yet. We're still lookin.

Any money?

We aint found nothin yet. The girl was checked into 121. Had a knapsack with some clothes
in it and stuff was all.

Bell looked down the row of motel doors. People standing around in small groups talking.
He looked at the black Barracuda.

Has that thing got anything to turn them tires with?

I'd say it would turn em pretty good. It's got a four-forty under the hood with a blower
on it.

A blower?

Yep.

I dont see one.

It's one of them sidewinders. It's all under the hood.

Bell stood looking at the car. Then he turned and looked at the sheriff. Can you get away
from here for a minute?

I can. What did you have in mind?

I just thought I might get you to ride over to the clinic with me.

All right. Just ride with me.

That'll be fine. Let me just park my cruiser a little better.

Hell, it's all right, Ed Tom.

Let me just pull it up here out of the way. You dont always know how quick you'll be back
when you set off someplace.

At the desk the sheriff spoke to the night nurse by name. She looked at Bell.

He's up here to make a identification, the sheriff said.

She nodded and rose and put her pencil in the pages of the book she was reading. Two of em
were DOA, she said. They flew that Mexican out of here in a helicopter about twenty
minutes ago. Or maybe you already knew that.

Nobody tells me nothin, darlin, the sheriff said.

They followed her down the hallway. There was a thin trail of blood along the concrete
floor. They wouldnt of been hard to find, would they? Bell said.

There was a red sign at the end of the hall that read Exit. Before they got there she
turned and fitted a key to a steel door on the left and opened it and switched on the
light. The room was raw concrete block, windowless and empty save for three steel
machinist's tables on wheels. On two of them lay bodies covered with plastic sheets. She
stood with her back to the open door while they filed past.

He aint a friend of yours is he Ed Tom?

No.

He took a couple of rounds in the face so I dont think he's goin to look too good. Not
that I aint seen worse. That highway out there is a goddamn warzone, you tell the truth
about it.

He pulled back the sheet. Bell walked around the end of the table. There was no chock
under Moss's neck and his head was turned to the side. One eye partly opened. He looked
like a badman on a slab. They'd sponged the blood off of him but there were holes in his
face and his teeth were shot out.