09 Dead Man Running, page 17
While we were standing there, a dark wine-colored horse with a black mane came up and nuzzled the back of my head with his nose. “That’s Cutter,” Hank said. “I think he likes you.”
I reached around and petted the horse’s face. The smell of cut hay was thick in the air, and the sun kept playing hide-and-seek with the clouds. A breeze picked up and blew across my face gently. I stroked Cutter’s neck, and the horse blinked at me, sniffing my hair. Just standing that close to something that big was magical. He fluttered his nostrils and made a funny noise. I’m not sure how long I stood there, soothed by the presence of the animal, before Hank finally broke the spell with idle chatter about whether or not it would be a bad winter.
An hour later Hank had shown me all of the horses that were for sale and told me which ones he thought would be best for a family that had small children and had never taken care of anything larger than a wiener dog. He told me the prices and said he had a special going: Buy two, get the third one half price. I only wanted two, though.
Finally the meeting ended with me writing him a check to hold Cutter and Moonstone, the buttery-colored one. “I’ll be back with Rudy. See if he likes these two horses,” I said.
“Well, all right, Ms. O’Shea. I’ll be seein’ ya, then.” He glanced down at the check in his hand and smiled. “We have a summer camp for the kids. Teach them about grooming and proper care and all that.”
“Reserve a spot for three,” I said.
“That boy of yours is too young,” he said.
“Then I’ll be the third kid. I have no idea what I’m doing, either.”
Just as I was about to get in the car and leave, a small, sporty-looking red car pulled into Hank’s driveway and threw gravel all over my car, chipping the paint. Hank looked a bit confused for a second. “City slickers come down and buy horses they ain’t got no place to keep. Don’t ride ‘em or nothing,” he said. “Women love horses. Guys like this just like to say they got horses, so the women think they’re sensitive.”
I nearly choked as Tito de Rosa got out of the car and walked toward us. I glanced nervously at Hank. “Oh, Hank, I think he’s looking for me,” I said and put my hand out. “Thanks for all of your help.”
“Well, all right,” he said. “See you later.”
Hank headed toward his house, glancing over his shoulder several times at Tito and me. I knew that once he was in the house, he would stand at the window and watch what happened. That’s what I would have done. And really, curiosity is rampant in all of us. Some just have better self-control than others.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“You saw Tiny Tim last night and didn’t tell me?” he said. “Can’t tell you how angry that makes me.”
I swallowed. “I was going to call you as soon as I got to work,” I said. “There were cops all over when I left the house. Deputy Counts is suspicious as it is. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t being watched or followed.”
Tito smiled at me.
“Obviously, I’m no good at telling whether or not I’m being followed,” I said.
“What happened?”
“About midnight, I heard a noise over at the mayor’s house. I went over because I thought it was Bill coming home, But it was Tiny Tim.”
“What was he doing there?” he asked.
“I’m not sure. I interrupted him before he really got a chance to do much,” I said.
Tito leaned into me, and I backed up until I found the edge of my car with my hands. “I swear,” I said. “That’s all I saw. He took off into the woods.”
“Have you seen him since?”
“No,” I said. “Look, if you already knew about Tiny Tim, why do you need me to watch him?”
“The only reason I found about it is because that loudmouthed idiot that I rent the room from told me all about it at breakfast,” he said. “Imagine my surprise.”
I swallowed again. My heart seemed to have relocated to my head. My palms began to sweat, and breathing became something that I had to concentrate on.
“Maybe I should make her keep tabs on Tiny Tim,” he said.
As much as I would have loved to pass the torch, I couldn’t let Eleanore get mixed up in this any more than she already was. “No,” I said. “She’s a complete innocent. I swear I was going to tell you this morning. Just as soon as I got back to the Gaheimer House.”
His gaze flicked past me to the horses in the field beyond. “You just had to buy a horse first? What, you think a horse is more important than our agreement?”
“No,” I said. “I came out here to buy the horse to try to … cool off. The guys at the construction site had made me angry. That’s all.”
A slanty, almost curious smile crossed his face. “Did it work?” he asked.
“Surprisingly well,” I said.
“Play your cards right, and you’ll get to be a happy horse owner. Got it?”
I nodded my head, because I couldn’t seem to actually speak words. “Let me know if you see Tiny Tim again,” he said. “Right away. No excuses this time.”
“Of course,” I said. “But I’m not sure he’ll be coming back.”
“Well,” Tito said and lit up one of those dark, skinny cigarettes. “He never was very smart. Maybe he’ll surprise us.” He got back in his little red sports car and drove away, kicking up more gravel in the process. I wasn’t sure if that was for effect or if it was because Tito had never driven on a gravel road before and didn’t know how to handle the car.
I reached into my pocket, got out my keys, and tried to unlock the car door. My hands shook entirely too much, and I had to stop and take a deep breath and try again. On the third try, I got the key into the lock, and I all but fell into the front seat. I jumped and squealed as the radio blared when I turned over the engine. I’d forgotten I’d turned the car off when the radio had been on. Quickly, I turned it down. This time, I searched the stations for something soothing.
A few hours later, I was seated at the Gaheimer House, staring at the quilt on my wall, wondering just how many stitches were in it, when the phone rang. I’d been sitting there for a few hours, unable to do anything but trace the little curvy lines of stitches with my eyes. Stephanie had come into my office twice to see if there was anything she could do for me, but since she had no clue what was going on, she really couldn’t help. She gave the afternoon tours, and still I sat there.
I picked up the phone, anticipation rising in my chest. There was a lot of noise on the line, and the sound of music in the background. “Torie, it’s Sam Hill.”
“Sam,” I said, relieved that it wasn’t Tito or anybody else in the Mafia. “What can I do for you?”
“Meet me at the Corner Bar,” he said. “I’ve got news.”
“All right,” I said and hung up. I called out to Stephanie that I was heading over to the Corner Bar for a second. I walked out of the house and down the street and turned and walked some more. The Corner Bar is just that, a bar situated on the corner. Every town has one. Heck, up in St. Louis, there’s one on every other corner in some neighborhoods. New Kassel just has the one, but we really don’t need any more than that.
A Pabst Blue Ribbon signed flickered on and off in the window, and the p was out on the OPEN sign. I stepped into the smoky bar and immediately had to adjust my eyes, since it was dark inside. I think it has to be dark inside a bar during the day because it must be really hard to get tanked on cheap beer in the daylight. At least it would be for me.
Just as I walked in the door, the first chords of Waylon Jennings singing “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?” came on the jukebox. The bartender nodded at me. His mother plays bridge with my mother. He knew I wouldn’t be drinking, so he didn’t bother to come over and ask. I found Sam Hill sitting in the corner booth, nursing a dark brew of some sort. On closer inspection I decided it was a Black and Tan. I was impressed that he could get that in this bar.
“Sam?” I said as I sat down. “I was unaware that this was a hangout of yours.”
“It’s not usually,” he said, “but I just had to come and celebrate.”
Little prickles danced down my neck and spine. “Celebrate what?” I asked.
“I hit the jackpot,” he said, leaning forward. He slid a large manila envelope across the table to me. “I’ve found out what it is that Bill has been trying to hide all of this time. I know what it is that he is so ashamed of. And believe, me, Torie, it’s a doozy.”
“What?” I asked, opening the envelope. Inside were photocopies copies of newspaper articles. “Don’t make me read them Sam. Tell me.”
“His mother was a murderer,” he said, and smiled. He took a big drink of his beer and sighed heavily. “It doesn’t get any better than that. Does it?”
I was a little disturbed at his glee over the fact that somebody, not to mention somebody’s mother, was a murderer. I glanced around the smoky room. There were two men in flannel shirts sitting at the bar. A woman, Jessi Dunn to be exact, was sitting at a table in the middle of the place, flirting ostentatiously with some guy I didn’t recognize. Jessi had graduated with me. Five kids and seven husbands later, this was her domain. She picked her next Mr. Dunns here. “Lower your voice, Sam. This is the mayor we’re talking about.”
He waved a hand at me. “Not for long, Torie. Not for long.” He took another drink of his beer. This time he burped. “Oh, jeez. Sorry.”
“Okay, all right, tell me already,” I said.
“Lucy Castlereagh was arrested and brought up on charges for killing her infant child,” he said. “The baby was only a day or two old. It didn’t even have a name.”
“How?” I asked.
“Supposedly she suffocated it with a pillow. The article mentions all of the other children at home being scared out of their wits. Jesus, Torie. They even went to foster homes for six months. Bill was in a foster home because his mother was being held without bail for killing his brother!”
“What do you mean, supposedly?” I asked. This was incredible. Two people sat down in the booth behind us. I didn’t get a good look at them, because I didn’t want to turn around and stare. The less attention Sam and I got at this point, the better. Yes, I was paranoid, and it would probably get worse before it got better.
“I mean the charges were dropped because ultimately they couldn’t prove it.” He shrugged and seemed disappointed with that one little detail of his discovery.
“I don’t know what to say,” I said.
Sam rambled on. “They don’t mention the children’s names in the article, I guess to protect the innocent and all that, but it’s the right family. It’s Lucy Castlereagh and her husband Jarvis, and the address is the same address you gave me for where they lived in the census.”
“Well, Sam. You did it. You found what you were looking for,” I said.
“I found way more than I was looking for,” he said. “I could have only dreamed of a jackpot this big. You don’t seem too thrilled about it, though.”
Something was niggling at me, and I had no idea what it was. “No,” I said. “I am … thrilled for you, really. But I was wondering. Could you maybe not run this story for a few days?”
“What? Torie, you expect me to sit on this?” he exclaimed. “Not a chance. What’s the matter with you?”
“I’m just saying that maybe you should get a little more proof. Get some more witnesses or something,” I said.
“I doubt that any of Bill’s brothers will speak to me, even if I could run them down in the next few days. Torie, I can’t believe you,” he said.
“Fine,” I said, and held my hands up. “You’re the reporter, not me. I don’t know how these things are done, obviously. Congratulations.”
Sam said something in response, but I didn’t hear him. I was too busy trying to catch the conversation in the booth behind me. “It’s quite a coup for Rudy,” the voice said. It was a familiar voice, but I couldn’t place it. I suppose I was in denial. I held my breath waiting to hear what came next. “I cannot believe he got her to move out of this town.” I couldn’t make out what the other person said to that. “Oh, no doubt. One small step for man.”
“Excuse me, Sam,” I said. I stood up and turned to see who was sitting in the booth behind me. It was Colin, having a beer with a man I recognized but couldn’t place by name. Obviously, Colin wasn’t on duty, and when he looked up and saw me standing at the end of his booth, he flinched.
“Oh, Jesus, Torie.”
“No, I’m certain I’ve never been mistaken for Jesus,” I said. I looked at the man sitting across from him and nodded. “Glad to see you’ve got this whole thing wrapped up with the mayor so you can spend valuable time sitting here having a beer and gossiping about your stepdaughter.”
“Torie,” he said.
“Shut up, Colin,” I said. There were a bunch of things I wanted to say to him. In fact, my mind flooded with all of the things I needed to say. Somehow, though I couldn’t form the words. What was this feeling in my chest? Was that … hurt? If it was hurt, then that must mean that at some point I’d learned to trust Colin. He’d become family.
Finally all I could think of was a ridiculous insult. “I’ve never understood what my mother sees in you,” I said. And I took his mug of beer and dumped it right in his lap. I walked out of the bar and straight to the Gaheimer House to get my car, without even so much as glancing back.
Nineteen
I want you guys to take a ride with me,” I said.
Rudy and the kids stared at me over the dirty dishes. We’d just finished eating homemade enchiladas. Rudy rubbed his stomach and said, “I don’t know, Torie. All those beans cooped up in the same car. Is it a long ride?”
Mary laughed, and Rachel gave her father the oh-puhleeze look. “You can wear a mask,” I said to him.
“Where are we going?” Rudy asked.
“You’ll see,” I said. Half an hour later we turned into the driveway of Hank Hanshaw’s ranch. Hank saw us pull up and came out onto the porch with his napkin still tucked in his shirt, his cowboy boots clanking on the front porch. I waved to him. “We’re just here to see the horses.”
“Sure,” he said. “Let me get on my boots, so as you got someone with you.”
Mary and Rachel each gave me a quizzical look, obviously cautious because they didn’t want to read something into this trip that wasn’t there. Little did they know that what they were reading into it was exactly what they were getting.
The girls ran ahead into the field to the horses, with Hank leading the way, and Matthew dragging behind. His little legs couldn’t quite keep up with them, but he was certainly determined to make it to the horses. “Don’t sneak up behind the horses!” I called out. “They’ll kick you!”
“What’s this all about?” Rudy asked.
“If you wanted to move, why didn’t you just say so?” I asked. “Why couldn’t you just be honest and say, ‘Torie, I want to build a house away from town’? Why did you have to make me think this was my idea?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rudy said as we walked out through the field. It was obvious from the expression on his face that this was the last thing he had expected from me.
“Okay, all right, I’ll play that way, Rudy. Then let me ask you this. If you were going to complain to half of the town about your life and your wife, then why weren’t you smart enough just now to answer the first question honestly, so that I wouldn’t have to tell you that I know you’re lying?”
He looked down at his feet but kept walking. “Torie, I—”
“I’m hurt, Rudy. Look, I know I’m a pain in the ass,” I said.
“You don’t know the half of it,” he said.
I stopped in my tracks then. “Why, you—” I would not call him names, even though I wanted to. “We’re married. We’re a team. No matter how much I would have fought you and no matter how many sleepless nights it would have taken, why didn’t you just come to me and say, ‘I want to move out of town, because I think it would be best for our marriage’? Because now it’s going to take me months, Rudy, months to get over this. If ever.”
“You’re overreacting,” he said.
“Rudy!” I snapped. His head shot up, and he looked at me with guilt in his eyes. “This is a small town. Lou Counts knew. I overheard the guys working on our house talking about me like … well, like I’m your mother! You’ve made me out to be some horrible … thing! You’re the saint. Nobody hears about how many times I tuck a blanket under you because you fell asleep in the recliner in front of the television, yet again. Come on, every marriage has its compromises. Ours is no different. Just next time, tell me before you complain and then brag to half of the damn town.”
I started to walk toward the girls, but Rudy shot a hand out and grabbed my arm. “We’re a team?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Then what is this? You’ve already got the horses picked out. You just bring me in on the tail end of it to make it seem as though I had some say-so in it. You know for a fact that if I stood here and said, ‘No. We’re not getting a horse,’ you’d still get the horse. You are always off doing things that I don’t have any clue about.”
“Well, first of all,” I said raising my voice, “I came out here and picked out the horses without you because you’d made me so angry! But secondly, you’re not interested in what I do. None of it. You’ve got your world of bowling and fishing and that WWF stuff, and I’ve got mine.”
“Yes, and yours is dangerous. God help me,” he said and looked to the heavens. “If I had known that being a genealogist would put you in harm’s way, I would have married somebody else!”
We were quiet a moment, the wind whipping our hair around. In the distance I could hear the children’s laughter and the horses’ hooves and whinnies. The whole time, Rudy and I just stared at each other. “I didn’t mean that,” he said.
