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More buck for your bang.
You could put it that way. You want to clean out a alley that's a pretty good way to go.
Wendell looked over the caldera. Well, he said. Somebody's walked away from here.
I'd say they have.
How come do you reckon the coyotes aint been at them?
Bell shook his head. I dont know, he said. Supposedly they wont eat a Mexican.
Them over yonder aint Mexican.
Well, that's true.
It must of sounded like Vietnam out here.
Vietnam, the sheriff said.
They walked out between the trucks. Bell picked up a few more casings and looked at them and dropped them again. He picked up a blue plastic speedloader. He stood and looked over the scene. I'll tell you what, he said.
Tell me.
It dont much stand to reason that the last man never even got hit.
I would agree with that.
Why dont we get the horses and just ride up here a ways and look around. Maybe cut for sign a little.
We can do that.
Can you tell me what they wanted with a dog out here?
I got no idea.
When they found the dead man in the rocks a mile to the northeast Bell just sat his wife's horse. He sat there for a long time.
What are you thinkin, Sheriff?
The sheriff shook his head. He got down and walked over to where the dead man lay slumped. He walked over the ground, the rifle yoked across his shoulders. He squatted and studied the grass.
We got another execution here Sheriff?
No, I believe this one's died of natural causes.
Natural causes?
Natural to the line of work he's in.
He aint got a gun.
No.
Wendell leaned and spat. Somebody's been here before us.
I'd say so.
You think he was packin the money?
I'd say there's a good chance of it.
So we still aint found the last man, have we?
Bell didnt answer. He rose and stood looking out over the country.
It's a mess, aint it Sheriff?
If it aint it'll do till a mess gets here.
They rode back across the upper end of the caldera. They sat the horses and looked down at Moss's truck.
So where do you think this good old boy is at? Wendell said.
I do not know.
I would take it his whereabouts is pretty high on your worklist.
The sheriff nodded. Pretty high, he said.
They drove back to town and the sheriff sent Wendell on to the house with the truck and the horses.
You be sure and rap on the kitchen door and thank Loretta.
I will. I got to give her the keys anyways.
The county dont pay her to use her horse.
I hear you.
He called Torbert on the mobile phone. I'm comin to get you, he said. Just set tight.
When he pulled up in front of Lamar's office the police tape was still strung across the courthouse lawn. Torbert was sitting on the steps. He got up and walked out to the car.
You all right? Bell said.
Yessir.
Where's Sheriff Lamar?
He's out on a call.
They drove out toward the highway. Bell told the deputy about the caldera. Torbert listened in silence. He rode looking out the window. After a while he said: I got the report from Austin.
What do they say.
Not much of anything.
What was he shot with?
They dont know.
They dont know?
No sir.
How can they not know? There wasnt no exit wound.
Yessir. They freely admitted that.
Freely admitted?
Yessir.
Well what the hell did they say, Torbert?
They said that he had what looked to be a large caliber bullet wound in the forehead and that said wound had penetrated to a distance of approximately two and a half inches through the skull and into the frontal lobe of the brain but that there was not no bullet to be found.
Said wound.
Yessir.
Bell pulled out onto the interstate. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. He looked at his deputy.
What you're sayin dont make no sense, Torbert.
I told em that.
To which they responded?
They didnt respond nothin. They're sendin the report FedEx. X-rays and everthing. They said you'd have it in your office by in the mornin.
They rode along in silence. After a while Torbert said: This whole thing is just hell in spectacles, aint it Sheriff.
Yes it is.
How many bodies is it altogether?
Good question. I aint sure I even counted. Eight. Nine with Deputy Haskins.
Torbert studied the country out there. The shadows long on the road. Who the hell are these people? he said.
I dont know. I used to say they were the same ones we've always had to deal with. Same ones my grandaddy had to deal with. Back then they was rustlin cattle. Now they're ru
Chigurh pulled in to the Desert Aire shortly before noon and parked just below Moss's trailer and shut off the engine. He got out and walked across the raw dirt yard and climbed the steps and tapped at the aluminum door. He waited. Then he tapped again. He turned and stood with his back to the trailer and studied the little park. Nothing moved. Not a dog. He turned and put his wrist to the doorlock and shot out the lock cylinder with the cobalt steel plunger of the cattlegun and opened the door and went in and shut the door behind him.
He stood, the deputy's revolver in his hand. He looked in the kitchen. He walked back into the bedroom. He walked through the bedroom and pushed open the bathroom door and went into the second bedroom. Clothes on the floor. The closet door open. He opened the top dresser drawer and closed it again. He put the gun back in his belt and pulled his shirt over it and walked back out to the kitchen.
He opened the refrigerator and took out a carton of milk and opened it and smelled it and drank. He stood there holding the carton in one hand and looking out the window. He drank again and then he put the carton back in the refrigerator and shut the door.
He went into the livingroom and sat on the sofa. There was a perfectly good twenty-one inch television on the table. He looked at himself in the dead gray screen.
He rose and got the mail off the floor and sat back down and went through it. He folded three of the envelopes and put them in his shirtpocket and then rose and went out.
He drove down and parked in front of the office and went in. Yessir, the woman said.
I'm looking for Llewelyn Moss.
She studied him. Did you go up to his trailer?
Yes I did.
Well I'd say he's at work. Did you want to leave a message?
Where does he work?
Sir I aint at liberty to give out no information about our residents.
Chigurh looked around at the little plywood office. He looked at the woman.
Where does he work.
Sir?
I said where does he work.
Did you not hear me? We cant give out no information.
A toilet flushed somewhere. A doorlatch clicked. Chigurh looked at the woman again. Then he went out and got in the Ramcharger and left.
He pulled in at the cafe and took the envelopes out of his shirtpocket and unfolded them and opened them and read the letters inside. He opened the phone bill and looked at the charges. There were calls to Del Rio and to Odessa.
He went in and got some change and went to the payphone and dialed the Del Rio number but there was no answer. He called the Odessa number and a woman answered and he asked for Llewelyn. The woman said he wasnt there.
I tried to reach him in Sanderson but I dont believe he's there anymore.
There was a silence. Then the woman said: I dont know where he's at. Who is this?
Chigurh hung up the phone and went over to the counter and sat down and ordered a cup of coffee. Has Llewelyn been in? he said.