A Shadow Fell (7 page)

             
             
             
             
             
   
Part 3

             
             
             
             
             
The Alliance

             
             
             
             
             
             
1
3

             
If Con Eldridge was anything he was easy company. He was quite content with long silences and only offered up a rare tidbit of advice if it was the kind that might actually do you some good. He
looked to be in his
mid
forties
, wore his
graying
hair
long and shaggy
, and his beard untrimmed. He was average
in
height but
big-boned
with a
solid
frame
that gave him a look of toughness. Not the kind of guy you’d want to mess with. He had a few tats on each of his
thick,
hairy arms
that looked military
.

             
By the time
we’d finished our steaks
and
Con
had
poured two inches of sour mash
whiskey
in a couple of
tumblers
I brought from the kitchen
we probably hadn’t spoken more than twenty words each.

             
I sat back on
one of two matching
rocking chair
s on the porch
and took a sip of the whiskey. It
tasted like a
blend
of
paint thinner
and
jet
fuel.
“You make this stuff?” I asked
, grimacing but trying not to choke as it burned its way down my throat
.

             
“You bet
,” he said proudly
.
“
Ya can’t buy this in a store. Ninety-five percent pure alcohol.”

             
I nodded and went silent again
.

             
After a few minutes Con said: “Jack,
I know your life has taken one awful fucking bad turn. Hard to imagine how
things
could possibly be worse. If ya think
talkin
g things out might help ya some, I’m a good listener.
”

             
I
turned my gaze on
him and watched as he sipped contentedly on his
homebrew
, rocking gently and gazing off into the distance.
There was an effortless sincerity to him that wasn’t all that common with men in my experience.
I
t occurred to me that if I was in fact ready to begin the process of
examination
he would be someone to whom I might be able to open up. But I was a long way from that kind of disclosure. The wounds were still too
fresh. Still, I found his voice soothing and a
nything was better than that
dangerous
voice in my head.
“Tell me a little about yourself, Con.”

             
“Not a lot ta tell,” he said matter-of-factly. “Born in Kentucky, raised
on a farm
. Got
myself
in
to
a bit a trouble as a kid. The army drafted me in sixty-five. Before I knew it I was
slogging
through the jungle
s
in Nam. Turned out
I was pretty good at
soldiering
. Did three tours. After I got out
, though,
I realized I wasn’t much good for anything else.”

             
“
If you did a triple then yo
u saw
some
bad shit, I imagine.”

             
There was a pause as he digested that thought.
“
Y
eah
,
”
he said in a quiet voice.
He looked at me then and
gave me a sad smile. “I’ve seen some bad shit. And
it’s not something I talk about
either
.
Maybe talking a little more would be
good for
both of us.
”

             
I nodded.
“
Maybe,” I said.

             
“What’s the best outcome to this you can imagine?” he asked. “What I mean is, if
this Henderson asshole
was caught and sent back to prison, would that be enough for you?”

             
It was like he had read my mind from a couple of days earlier. “No,” I said. “It wouldn’t be enough.”

             
“
S
o what’re ya saying?”

             
It took me several long seconds before I answered.
“I guess I’m saying I
’d rather find him myself than let the Feds do it
.”

             
“Yeah? And then what?”

             
I started to seethe thinking about it.
“
This animal did things to my little girl I can’t even bring myself to s
ay aloud
.
Because of him the only woman I ever loved is in a coma so deep her brain activity can’t be measured.
I think you probably have a pretty good idea what I’d have in mind
.
”

             
He
sucked his teeth noisily while he processed my candid comment.
“
Yeah, I imagine I do
,” he said
.

             
I could feel myself giving in to the emotions that constantly threatened to engulf me. I took a deep breath and then threw back a large gulp of my drink.

             
“
What about the consequences?
” Con asked. “
You off this fucker you’re gonna do
h
ard time
, Jack
. The courts don’t
take
kindly
to
vigilante justice. No matter how much
John Q. P
ublic might
app
laud
your actions.”

             
“
C
onsequences
are not exactly at the top of my priority list right now,
”
I said.
The truth was, though,
I
had
given some thought to the consequences. I was a former FBI agent. I had been responsible for putting away a lot of scum in my career. If I was locked up
in a federal prison
with the
se
lowlifes
my incarceration would most definitely
be violent and short-lived. But the way my thoughts had been tending lately, did it really matter whether
I
took my life or someone did it for me?

             
W
hat
Con
s
aid next
surprised me. “I’ve met your wife. Did ya know that?”

             
I’d had no idea. Callie had never mentioned him. “No I didn’t,” I said.

             
“Not long after you folks moved here she brought over a cake for me. It just happened to be a bad time for a drop in. I was
kinda
hammered up that day and
…
well,
ya know, I
might have
made her a little nervous.”

             
“She never
said a word about
it
.
”

             
“
Mmm,” he said contemplatively. “That don’t surprise me at all. 
She
’s a hell of a
fine
woman.”

             
His comment seemed a tad inappropriate in that he didn’t know her well enough to make it, but I let it be.
“She is
,” I said
.
“
The best.”

             
“
What do ya think she’d have ta say about your pl
ans?”

             
“Not
something that’s really too pertinent, Con
,” I
responded.
“
I
have
n’t been given
much hope that
she’s going to pull through.
Her
doctors don’t seem optimistic
about her
future
.”

             
“I’m real sorry to hear that, Jack. I
do
hope you’re wrong about it.”

             
I don’t know why this simple statement affected me the way it did but suddenly my eyes started to
mist
up. I
rose quickly
and went
into the house
just in time
to
conceal
the
torrent of tears that spill
ed out of me
.

             
It took a while to get my emotions under control.

             
When I came back out to the porch later, Con
had left
.

             
             
             
             
             
             
1
4

             
The crime scene guys
phoned to let me know the motor home would be released to me whenever I wanted to pick it up. 
It had been held in
Lumberton
but an inspection had yielded no evidence of Henderson’s presence and so served no useful purpose in the investigation. I decided
I would get a
rental car
for the drive up to Lumberton and pay the extra drop
off
fee that would permit me to leave it there. Meanwhile I took the path that led from my place to Con’s
to
ask if he would look after Winston while I was away.

             
Con’s home was a very unassuming place. It looked like it had been built
sixty or so
years
earlier
and
could have used some attention.
The yard was pretty much left to nature.
L
ike mine, his home was set well back on a heavily treed property and could not been seen from the road. He answered
my knock at his door with a friendly smile. “Jack, good to see y
a
.”

             
“Hi, Con. I’
m sorry for the other night. I guess my feelings got away on me a little.”

             
“
Hey,” he said, “if anybody’s got a reason to
let go
now and
then
it’s you.
Ya holding
up
okay
?”

             
I nodded, not sure I could pull off a spoken lie. “I was wondering if you might look after Winston for me again. It’d just be for a day or two
.”

             
“Not a problem, man. Glad to.
”

             
“I’ve got
t
o
go up to Lumberton to get my RV.
I’ll leave in the morning.
”

             
“Oh. How ya getting up there?”

             
“I’ll
get a one-way
rent
al
.”

             
“
Mmm.
Listen, Jack, I just put some coffee on. Would y
a
join me?”

             
I didn’t have anything to rush home to and Con was, after all, easy company.
“Sure.”

             
While Con held the
screen
door open for me Winston scooted by him. “Hey, boy, come back here,” I said.

             
“No, no. Let him be,” Con said.

             
The interior of Con’s home was, to be charitable, ramshackle. It looked like he had
gathered together
every item he had ever owned
and then went through the place blindfolded
while
deciding where to place it all. He pointed to a threadbare recliner that appeared to be his favorite spot and said, “Have a seat, Jack.”

             
I sat and looked around the room, trying not to cringe.

             
“Sorry about the mess,” he said. “I ain’t much at housework.”

             
I nodded in a way that
strove to indicate
I wasn’t terribly concerned about it.

             
“So, coffee or something stronger?”

             
I knew if I said I’d have whatever he was having I’d end up with another glass of that nitro combo he had brewed. “Coffee would be fine,” I said.

             
While he headed off to the kitchen I noticed an ashtray full of tiny butts on the end-table next to his chair that gave off the unmistakable odor of marijuana.

             
A minute or so later he was back with two extra large mugs of steaming java. He made another trip and returned with a
chipped
cup of sugar and a
half pint
container of half and half. He slathered cream and sugar into his mug and took a taste. Seemingly satisfied it passed his test for
drinkability he sat back
i
n the rocking chair he had chosen to occupy and turned his gaze on me. “
I was just thinking,” he said.

             
I had finished adding cream and sugar to my own coffee and took a tentative sip; it tasted only a tad less toxic than his sour mash whiskey. I raised my eyebrows and mumbled, “Uh huh.”

             
“I got nothing special coming up. Why don’t I drive ya up to Lumberton in the pickup. It’d give me something to do and save you a car rental fee.”

             
I figured he wouldn’t have offered if he didn’t really want to do it.
“If you’ll at least let me pay for your gas.”

             
“
Deal
,” he said.