Page 19 (1/2)
Tucker didn&039;t care to picture hiht As he sped back to Dead Possum Road, it occurred to him that this was the second tiun
It was dao back and sit on the porch, waiting for Burke and Carl to handle it Not when he still had the picture of Cy&039;s terrified face in hisboy&039;s fear was still hanging heavy in the car
He&039;ll cut my eyes out!
Where in Christ had the boy come up with that?
From his crazy, sick old man, Tucker concluded
His face was set, his eyes the color of burnished bronze as he swung the car to the shoulder He hefted the gun, then using the car as a shield, reached in the backseat for the binoculars Delia, and alht them up and focused, the concrete hump of the culvert ju at the entrance, noin the field beyond
He caught the glint of silver from the roofs of thehis sights, he clearly saw Earleen&039;s sister Laurilee step out of her trailor, take a swing fro the kids in for supper, Tucker thought absently, and sloung the binoculars away He saw pigs rooting in the pen at Stokey&039;s far on the line at the Marches&039;, and a plu out
But on the fields and flats, nothing stirred And the silence hung heavy, disturbed only by the strea its way over rocks anddisinterestedly in the hazy heat of the evening
If Austin aiting, he aiting in the dim, dirty shadows of the culvert There was only one way to find out
Tucker took tih he sincerely hoped he wouldn&039;t have to use the low, his eyes trained on the shallow entrance, he circled the culvert When he got within five feet, he dropped down on his belly, the shotgun nestled on his shoulder
"God, if You want to do me one favor in this lifeti"
He took a deep breath, exhaled slowly
"Austin! I reckon you know I&039;m out here" It wouldn&039;t occur to him until later that his skin was bone dry, his hands rock steady "You went to a lot of trouble to invite me out for a visit" He bellied his way to the slope of the bank "Why don&039;t you come on out and we can talk reasonable, or we can wait awhile until Burke co"
There was only silence from the culvert and the screa toto have to co as how you tormented that boy I just can&039;t s that Then we&039;re going to start shooting at each other, and one of us is likely to be dead" With a little sigh Tucker reached over and picked up a stone "I sincerely don&039;t want it to bereport of a gun Silence
"Shit on toast," Tucker y trickle of the Little Hope There was a roaring in his head now, a steady wall of sound that was his heart and his fury He swung the shotgun around and charged the entrance, fully expecting to be dodging bullets
But the culvert was e un at the ready and his heart beating like a brass band He could hear his own rushing breaths bouncing off the concrete "Okay," he said quietly "Okay, there was nobody around to see you make an ass of yourself" He started back toward the entrance, then stopped short
Could Austin be hiding soh to crouch in? Was he waiting, just sitting out there for Tucker to come back out so he could pick him off?
That was stupid, Tucker assured himself, took another step, then stopped and swore
It was better to be stupid than dead, he supposed, and wondered what the hell to do now He had a ridiculous ie of the final scene from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, where Newman and Redford had been freeze-fra didn&039;t fool Beau Longstreet&039;s son Tucker No indeedy He knew just what had happened Guns had fired, and Butch and the Kid had been blown to glory
He stood in the narrow culvert thinking he was neither outlaw nor hero, but it was hty hard on the pride just to huddle there and wait Before he had to make the decision, he heard the rumble of a car, then the quick, sharp slaht?"
"Down here, Burke" Tucker leaned the shotgun against the wall "He ain&039;t here"
He heard Burke give Carl orders to look around, then the light at the entrance was blocked by the sheriff&039;s broad shoulders "What the sweet fuck is going on here?"
"Well, son, I&039;ll tell you," Tucker said, and did
"Couldn&039;t understand half of what that boy was saying" Burke offered Tucker a light for his half cigarette "But he see to kill each other down here"
"I&039;m not sure if I&039;m disappointed or relieved we didn&039;t have the chance to try Cy&039;s a good boy, Burke Austin threatened hiht" He pulled in sht be best if he stayed on at Sater for a while Hoet to him, Vernon will make him pay for this I swear to Christ I don&039;t see how that boy could be kin to either of them"
"With any luck Vernon won&039;t hear about it for a day or two Right noe&039;d better concentrate on finding his father" He nodded at Tucker "I guess we can say you&039;re already deputized"
"I&039;d just as soon you didn&039;t" Tucker reached for the shotgun It was then he noticed the scrawl of writing on the wall "What the hell&039;s this?" He leaned closer, squinting "You&039;re in ht, Burke," he said, then shen he hty," Burke ainst the first A "Looks like he wrote it in blood I&039; to call up some men We&039;ll do a house to house We&039;ll walk every inch of the county, but we&039;re getting that crazy sonofabitch tonight"
He&039;ll cut ers to his own eyes as Cy&039;s terrified voice rang in his head "I guess I&039;et one of those cheap tin stars?"
Within the hour Burke had fifteen able-bodied and willing es of uneasiness to see Billy T Bonny and Junior Talbot both standing around with rifles He had to hope that the exciteitive would put personal feuds on the back burner For safety&039;s sake, he separated the Billy T with his own He took a chance and put Jed Larsson, slow but sensible, in charge of a third
Using a county ing Austin&039;s got hi potshots at rabbits, he&039;s only used one bullet I&039;d sure hate to end the day by having to go to soot hiot ourselves more sense than those lard-ass county deputies" Billy T was excited at the prospect of shooting so to relieve nerves Burke waited until it died down
"The last tiht down there in that culvert Now he&039;s got at least an hour on us, and he&039;s on foot But a man who knows this country could find a lot of places to hide We want hiive a call on the tay Your weapons are for defense only"
Several of the men slanted sly looks at one another Austin wasn&039;t a popular fellow
"If he ends up dead, there&039;ll be plenty of questions so gazes just long enough to , you are duly deputized public servants Now, ather his own group "And God help us"
Five of theleton Fuller, and Bucky Koons Singleton iars Happy wouldn&039;t let him smoke at home
"You ain&039;t called up the county boys, Burke," he said casually
Burke&039;s fingers flexed on the wheel "No It&039;s our town"
There was asstreet, which Burke had designated as Base A, he pulled to the shoulder The spot had significance for Tucker, who flicked a glance in the rearview mirror Billy T met the look with surly eyes
They separated there, three to go east with the cautious Singleton in charge, and Burke and Tucker to go west
"You want to tellbetween you and Billy T?" Burke asked as they started the wide circle that would bring theroup by McNair Pond
"Oh, that&039;s already boiled over and been lance in the direction of Caroline&039;s house "You really figure he&039;d have gotten this far?"
"Can&039;t figure He could be off in any direction, and I could bein to county"
"Hell of a lot of good they did us last time"
"Well," Burke said, and left it at that "Could be he headed off for horoup "County&039;s still got his house under surveillance, and he&039;d know it, but it doesn&039;t sound to ured the distance with sooes They&039;ll snatch him on up and take hilint of Caroline&039;s second-story s "It&039;s not just that he&039;s not thinking right, Burke It&039;s like he&039;s gone rabid or so I was my old man He didn&039;t want to kill me nearly sofor a cigarette and struggled it back "I&039;ll tell you what I think It wasn&039;tto that culvert, either"
Burke frowned He didn&039;t know a hell of a lot about psychology, unless you assumed that was the same as human nature But he did understand that a s when a wo hirudge over a woot a surplus of tiet up and leave the rooht up until the end of her life" Tucker stopped while Burke scanned with binoculars "It used to e about her She laughed" Now he did pull out a cigarette "She said that he&039;d someti her around" A chill raced up his spine "See anything?"
"Not a godda" Burke pulled out his walkie-talkie to check in with the other groups