Page 21 (1/2)

His daddy was dead Miss Delia had told hi belts or merciless fists No more shouts to a fever-eyed God to punish the sinners for their transgressions, their laziness, their filthy thoughts

Miss Delia had sat hiht kitchen and told him, and there had been kindness in her eyes

He was afraid, so afraid that there would be no end for hi black pool of hell his father had often gleefully described How could he expect forgiveness or a place at the Lord&039;s table when he harbored such an evil secret in his soul? The secret whispered through his brain with the devil&039;s rusty chuckle

His daddy was dead And he was glad

When his tears had come, the tears Miss Delia patiently waited out then wiped away, they weren&039;t tears of sorrow or grief They were tears of relief A river of joy and gratitude and hope

And it was that, Cy thought as he watered the kitchen garden, that which would consign him to hell for all eternity

He had been responsible for the death of his father And he wasn&039;t sorry

Miss Delia had told hi as he wanted-Mr Tucker had said so He didn&039;t have to go hoo back to that house of fear and hopelessness He didn&039;t have to face Vernon, see his father in his brother&039;s eyes, feel his father&039;s wrath in his brother&039;s fists

By a single act of cowardice he had wiped out four years of waiting

His father was dead, and he was free

Cy hunkered down, the hose soaking grass until it gurgled in a puddle Rubbing his knuckles in to his eyes, he wept in joy for his life, and in terror for his soul

"Cy"

The sound of his na to his feet It was only quick reflexes that had Burns nipping out of range of the garden hose They stood facing each other aboy with a puffy face and frightened eyes and a man anted to prove that Cy&039;s father had carved up wo se

"I&039;d like to talk with you for a few lanced at the soaked greens "You seeot other work"

Burns reached down to turn off the water hi he wore as habitually as his tie "This won&039;t take long Perhaps we could go inside" Out of the blistering heat

"No, sir, I can&039;t track all over Miss Delia&039;s clean floor"

Burns glanced down Any trace of white on Cy&039;s sneakers had been obliterated with grass and dirt stains "No, I suppose not The terrace then, around the side" Before Cy could protest, Burns took him by the ar at Sater?"

"Yes sir I wouldn&039;t want to lose "

Burns stepped onto the slate terrace and gestured toward one of the padded chairs under a striped ustreet that hard a taskmaster?"

"Oh, no, sir" Reluctantly, Cy sat "He never has enough forme to slow it down and take it easy, real considerate like So tis me out a Coca Cola himself"

"A liberal employer" Burns took out his pad and recorder "Then I&039; a short break to answer soested He strolled out of the kitchen door with a chilled bottle of Coke "Here you go, Cy" He set the bottle down in front of the boy "Wet your whistle"

"Mr Burns-he said how I had to coan His eyes were as panicked as a rabbit&039;s caught in the white streaht" Tucker touched a hand to his shoulder briefly before scraping back a chair for himself "Nobody expected you to work today, Cy"

With his lips pressed tight together, Cy stared down at the white table "I didn&039;t knohat else to do"

"Well, for the next few days you do what suits you" Tucker pulled out his cigarettes He figured he was down to a half pack a day by his current ent Burns here&039;s having hi" His eyes stayed on Burns&039;s over the flare of his e Hatinger had written in blood "So, why don&039;t you tell him what you can Then maybe you&039;d like to drop a line with me for an hour or two"

Burns curled his lip at the idea of taking the boy fishing the day after his father had been killed "I&039;ll let you knoe&039;re finished, if you&039;d like to go tie so of Cy&039;s Coke "No

As I figure it, since the boy&039;s working here and staying here for the tiuardian I&039;ll stay, unless Cy wants o"

Cy lifted those panic-dazed eyes to Tucker&039;s "I&039;d be obliged if you&039;d stay, Mr Tucker I "

"All you have to do is tell the truth Isn&039;t that right, Agent Burns?"

"That&039;s exactly right Now-" he broke off as Josie walked out wearing a paper-thin pink robe

"Well now, it&039;s not often a wo for her" She moved closer to ruffle Cy&039;s hair, but her eyes were all for Burns "Special Agent, I was beginning to think you&039;d taken a dislike to me Why, you haven&039;t been around to talk but one time" She eased a hip onto the arm of Tucker&039;s chair When she reached over to pluck up one of Tucker&039;s cigarettes, she afforded Burns the best view in the house "I was about to ate me"

He was stuffy, but he wasn&039;t dead Burns found his throat clogged and his tie too tight "I&039; while on a case, Miss Longstreet"

"Now, that surely is a shanolias With a flutter of her lashes, she handed Burns the pack of matches, then steadied his hand with her ohen he touched the fla you&039;d find time to tell me all about your adventures I bet you&039;ve had scads of theto have to hear all about them or I&039;ll just explode froer down her throat to where her robe met loosely over her breasts If his eyes had been tied by a string to her hand, Burns couldn&039;t have followed the movement more closely "Teddy told ed to s "Teddy?"

"Dr Rubenstein" She sent hi s I just love talking to brainy erous jobs"

"Josie" Tucker sent her an arch look "Weren&039;t you going to get your nails done or so?"

"Why, yes, honey, I was" She shifted to hold out her hands Her robe crept up another inch "I don&039;t think a woo" She rose then, satisfied that she&039;d broken Burns&039;s concentration "Maybe I&039;ll see you in town later, Special Agent I&039; for a cold drink at the Chat &039;N Chew after e of her hips swaying beneath that thin pink robe

Tucker tossed his cigarette into a brass bucket filled with sand "You going to turn that recorder on?"

Burns gave hi Cy questions," he began, but his gaze drifted to the kitchen door "I have no objection to you being present, but I&039;ll tolerate no proestured with his open hands and sat back

Burns switched on the recorder, entered the appropriate data, then turned to Cy with a solemn smile "I know this is a difficult time for you, Cy, and I&039;m sorry for your recent loss"

Cy started to thank hi about Edda Lou, but his father He took refuge in staring at the table again

"I realize you spoke with Sheriff Truesdale last night, and your inforain, but I think we&039;ll start with a few other things Did your father ever mention Miss Caroline Waverly to you?"

"He didn&039;t hardly know her"

"So he never spoke of her to you, or in your hearing?"

Cy darted a look at Tucker "He ht his, like when his mood came on him"

"Mood?" Burns prompted

"Those hardto hiularly?"

"Pretty ed down Coke to ease his dry throat "AJ used to say that he just liked to beat up on people and used God as an excuse"

"He was often violent with you and other members of your family?"

"He" Cy remembered Tucker&039;s phrase "He had a heavy hand" That didn&039;t sound so bad so he had a head cold "He didn&039;t tolerate no sass The Bible says how you&039;re to honor your father"

Tucker said nothing, but he noted that Cy hadn&039;t said father and ine Austin had drilled that part of the scripture into his son&039;s brain

"And he used this heavy hand when he had his ed his thin shoulders "He used his handsthe moods"

"I see" Even Burns wasn&039;t unaffected by the casual way the boy described brutality "And when you were bringing him food and supplies in the culvert, he had these moods"

"I had to do it" Cy&039;s knuckles whitened on the glass bottle "He&039;d&039;ve killed ent Burns isn&039;t bla, co hand on his shoulder "Nobody is You didn&039;t do anything wrong"

"No, I&039;hed to clear it The stark fear on the boy&039;s face appalled him "No one would I only want you to tell me if your father spoke of Miss Waverly"

"He said sos" Cy blinked his eyes fast to close off tears "He said how she was full of sin How all woot turned into a pillar of salt"

"Yes" Burns folded his hands "I know Did he tell you why Miss Waverly was full of sin?"

"He said how" He shot Tucker a miserable look "Do I have to say?"

"It&039;d be best," Tucker told hi down Coke, wiping his hand across hisher legs for Mr Tucker" His face went beet-red "And how she was no better&039;n a whore for it It was time to cast the first stone I&039;m sorry, Mr Tucker"

"It&039;s not your fault, Cy"

"I didn&039;t know heto hurt her I swear I didn&039;t He said stuff all the ti as he wasn&039;t hitting you I didn&039;t knoas going after her, Mr Burns I swear I didn&039;t"

"No, I&039;m sure you didn&039;t Your father hit your mother, didn&039;t he?"

The frantic color in Cy&039;s cheeks ebbed away "We couldn&039;t do nothing about it She wouldn&039;t do nothing She wouldn&039;t let the sheriff help, &039;cause a woman&039;s supposed to cleave to her husband The sheriff&039;d come by sometimes and she&039;d just tell hi" His head dropped Shahed almost as heavy as fear "Ruthanne says how she likes it She likes getting beat on But that don&039;t see to explain the psychology and the cycle of abuse That was a job for social workers and shrinks "No, it doesn&039;t Did he hit Ruthanne, too?"

He smirked, the way brothers do over their sisters "She&039;s pretty good at getting out of the way"

"How about Vernon?"

"They&039;d whip up on each other sometimes" Cy made a quick, disether Vernon was Daddy&039;s favorite He took the most after Daddy Inside and out, my ma said They were alike inside and out"

"How about Edda Lou? Did your father hit her?"

"She was always butting hi him, like She hit back at him Once she split his head with a bottle when he used the belt on her That&039;s when she moved out She moved into town and never cas about Edda Lou, too? The way he did about Miss Waverly?"

A wasp circled down to investigate Cy&039;s Coke and was batted away "We weren&039;t supposed to say her naot worked up and said how she was a whore of Babylon Vernon would try to get Daddy riled up about her He wanted to go fetch her fro her home so they could punish her Vernon would say hoas their duty as her family and as Christians, but I don&039;t think he believed in that like Daddy did Vernon just likes to hit people" He said it simply, as if he&039;d just commented that Vernon liked ice crea Mr Tucker and he said how she&039;d be better off dead And he beat Ma"

Tucker pressed his fingers against his eyes and wondered if the guilt would ever pass

"Cy, do you reued?"

Tucker dropped his hands He nearly laughed The euphe bruises on his ribs

"I guess I do Daddy came hohts before that" The night Edda Lou was murdered "Do you recall if he had one of his moods?"

It was the first question Cy had to think about His eyes lost solassy fear as he considered

Absently, he took another swipe at the persistent wasp

"I can&039;t recollect for sure When he got wind that Edda Lou was supposed to be pregnant, he was real fired up

But I don&039;t knohich night that was"

Burns prodded for a fewhim off to the reason In the end, he backed off He still had Ruthanne and Mavis Hatinger Their ht, Cy, just a few more questions The knife you took to your father Did he often carry it?"

"Only when he was going hunting and such A buck&039;s too big to carry as a rule"

"Could you estiht have carried it in, say, the last six or seven months?"

"Four or five times Maybe more He was partial to squirrel meat"

"Did he ever threaten you or any member of your fa sout Mr Tucker" Cy covered his face with his hands,Mr Tucker back down to the culvert, and he toldto carve off his privates &039;Cause it was divine justice He was going to cut hiainst him, if I didn&039;t honor my father, then he&039;d cut out my eyes because the eye offended him And the Lord says you&039;re supposed to Please, Mr Tucker" He didn&039;t weep, but kept his hands over his face like a kid in a horrorto block out the monster "Please, I don&039;t want to think about it no ht, Cy" Tucker rose to stand behind him "Leave him be, Burns"

Burns turned off the recorder, put that and his pad in his pocket "I&039;street" As he pushed back fro boy to the man who stood as his protector "And I&039;m very aware that there are more victily that he was capable of offering compassion as easily as Tucker, with the touch of a hand Instead, he nodded at the boy, and though his voice was stiff, the words were sincere "You did everything that was right, Cy There&039;s nothing more any man can do You remember that"

Tucker laid his hands on the boy&039;s shoulders and watched Burns walk away For the first tient, Tucker felt a tug of respect

"I&039; the rest of the day off"