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“I drive fast,” Kellen said.
They were on their way out of town when Eric said, “Can I ask you something?”
“Go ahead.”
“Why are you hanging in the game?”
“What do you mean?”
“If I were you, I’d probably have driven back to Bloomington by now and stopped taking calls from the crazy white guy. Why haven’t you?”
There was a brief silence, and then Kellen said, “All those stories my great-grandfather told me about this place? All those crazy-sounding stories? Well, Everett Cage was a talker, I’ll admit that. He liked to captivate his audience. But, Eric? He also wasn’t a liar. He was an honest man, and I’m sure of one thing-whatever he said, well, he believed it. I guess I’ve always wondered how he could believe things like that.”
It was quiet again, and then he said, “I’m starting to understand.”
Josiah found himself watching the clouds. At first he’d taken to gazing out the window just because he wanted to be sure the old woman wasn’t up to something, that there was no way she could signal for help once those drapes were pulled back. But the window showed only a field and a view of the western sky. The clouds were massing, unsettled and swirling, layers seeming to shift from bottom to top and then back. The sky over the yard was pale gray, but out in the west it looked like a bruise, and the wind pushed hard at the house and whistled with occasional gusts. Something about the turbulent sky pleased him, made him smile, and he pulled his lips back and spat tobacco juice onto the window, watched it slide down the glass in a brown smear. Fu
He waited until nearly nine before kneeling beside A
“Time for your part in this,” he said. “It’s a most minor role, Mrs. McKi
She held his eyes and didn’t so much as blink. She was scared of him-she had to be-but she wasn’t allowing herself to show it, and there was a part of Josiah that admired that. Not a large enough part to tolerate it, though.
“If you’re fixing to hurt people,” she said, “I won’t have a part in it.”
“You don’t have the faintest idea what I’m fixing to do. Remember that. But here’s what I can tell you-this call doesn’t go through, people will begin to get hurt. And there’s only one person nearby for me to start with, too.”
“You’d threaten a woman of my years. That’s the kind of man you-”
“You ain’t got the first idea the kind of man I am. But I’ll give you a start: you picture the darkest soul you ever seen, and then, old woman, you add a little more black.”
He hovered over her, the phone extended, his eyes locked on hers. “Now, all you got to do is make a phone call and say a handful of words, and say them right. That happens, I got a feeling I’ll find my way out of that front door of yours, and you’ll be sitting here watching your damn sky as you like. But if it doesn’t happen?”
He pursed his lips and shook his head. “I’m a man of ambition. Not of patience.”
She tried to keep her gaze steady but her mouth was trembling a bit, and when he pressed the phone into her wrinkled palm, he felt a fearful jolt travel through her.
“You call that hotel,” he said. “You said he wanted that water? Well, tell him now’s the time to come get it. You’ll give it all to him, but he’s got to hurry up and get out here, because you’re going to be leaving town for a few days.”
“He won’t believe that.”
“Well, you best make him believe it. Because if he doesn’t? We’re going to have to find ourselves a whole new tactic. And with the mood I’ve found myself in, I don’t believe anyone would like to see what happens should I be required to get creative.”
He slid the shotgun over and leaned it against the edge of the couch so the muzzle was looking her in the face.
“A
“All right,” she said. “I’ll call. But whatever you think is going to happen, I can assure you it won’t work out as you’ve pla
“Don’t you worry about me. I’m a man who’s capable of adjusting.”
She dialed, but he took the phone from her hand and put it to his ear to be certain she wasn’t calling anybody else. The voice that answered said, “West Baden Springs,” and Josiah, in a voice thick with easy charm, said, “I’m calling for a guest. Mr. Eric Shaw, please.”
“One moment,” the woman answered, and Josiah passed the phone back to A
“Hello,” A
“Oh,” she said. A pause during which Josiah could hear a female voice, and then A
Josiah gave an emphatic nod.
“Yes, I’d like to leave a message. My name is A
She was talking too fast, and Josiah moved the gun so the barrel was just inches from her chin.
“That’s all. Just tell him to come see A
She shoved the phone away and Josiah took it and disco
“She said he was gone?” He spoke with his back to her.
“Yes. She told me she’d see that he got the message.”
“Ain’t that just dandy news,” Josiah said, thinking that Da
He called Da
“I’m following him, Josiah! Give me a break, I’m following him.”
“Why the hell didn’t you call and tell me that?”
“He didn’t leave but five minutes ago! I’m just trying to keep up, see where’s he going.”
Josiah reached up and squeezed the bridge of his nose, took a breath. “Well, damn it, next time tell me when they start moving, then call back. Where are they going?”
“Headed toward Paoli. The black kid picked him up in the Porsche. It was good work that I saw him go, since he didn’t take his own car.”
“Just follow them,” Josiah said, in no mood to offer Da
“I’m doing best as I can but that black kid, he drives like-”
“Just stay behind them and let me know where they end up.”
They hadn’t made it more than a few miles out of town before Eric’s cell phone rang-Claire.