Authors: Reavis Z Wortham
Dark Places (19 page)
After Anna promised to pass Top's information to Cody, she made a call to a friend in Houston. The crusty old deputy's gruff demeanor changed when he recognized her voice on the phone.
“How you doing, gal?”
“Fine, Burt.” They exchanged pleasantries for a moment before she went to the reason for her call. “Listen, I'm working on a couple of cases up here in Lamar County, but this department is more than a little behind the times. I need anything you can find out about a guy named Leland Hale, and his wife, Melva.” She spelled it to make sure he didn't write down Melba.
“What else?”
“There's something about him and that woman that bothers me. He's dead now. Hit and run. She's the strangest woman I've ever met, and acts even stranger when she talks about Leland. I'm wondering if he had any kind of criminal record that she's hiding for him.”
“I'll do what I can. When do you need it?”
“Yesterday.”
Burt laughed. “You haven't changed a bit. I figured country living would slow you down some, but it sounds like you're still the same old Sparky.”
“I'm Anna here. Don't you be giving these guys that nickname. Thanks, Burt.”
Half an hour later, she followed the winding country road through the river bottom on her way to John T.'s house. She crossed the swollen Sulphur River and came to the little wooden post office.
A stout woman wearing a tight bun on top of her head smiled wide when Anna stepped up to the scarred counter.
“Howdy, Deputy. What can I do for you?”
Anna returned the smile. She unfolded a sheet from a notepad and slid it across so the woman could read it. “I'm looking for this address.”
“Well, hon, that's off the main road a piece, but it ain't far.”
“Can you tell me how to find it?”
“Sure 'nough.” The postmistress closed her eyes to visualize the route. She pointed into the air with an arthritic hand. “You go right down the highway to the next road and turn right. Then you follow it for a piece and turn left at Carson Taylor's barn. Go on past two gravel roads to the third one and turn left. There's a big pecan tree there and you won't miss it. Cross a plank bridge and turn right again, I believe, and you'll pass Nellie Renshaw's house. I swear, that woman makes the best sweet tea I've ever drank. Past there you see a big pool, but you don't turn anywheres near it, but it's deep, it's an old gravel pit they used to build this here highwayâso you'll know you're on the right road. Go on a piece past a growed-up pasture, then a little field that ain't no bigger'n a minute, and I swear, I don't know why Daniel Spears wastes the gas to plow it ever year, and this year I believe it was peas that didn't make goodâbut anyway, go on a little fu-ther to the Crawford cemetery, you'll know it's the right one 'cause of the fresh grave right there beside the road. That was Miss Millie Bills, she was a sweet old soul and we're all gonna miss her, bless her heart, but then you'll see a little house off to the left with some big oak trees on the south side for shade. That's where you're going.”
She opened her eyes, pleased with the directions.
Anna blinked. “I got most of that, could you write it down for me?”
“Why sure 'nough, hon. Better yet, let me draw you a little map.” She cheerfully drew several intersecting lines, making small notes to identify the landmarks. She slid it across the counter. “There you go.”
Anna folded the map and put it into her shirt pocket. “Thank you so much. Do you know John T. West?”
The little woman's face changed in an instant. She held one gnarled hand in front of her mouth, as if the actual name shouldn't be spoken. “John T. I know him. That's where you're going, ain't it, to pick him up?”
“What makes you think that?”
“'Cause you wouldn't be going there for nothing else. He's been in the pen. What's he done this time?”
“I can't talk about that. I need to find him.”
The postmistress patted Anna's hand that was resting on the counter. “Hon, you be careful out there with him. That boy is mean as a snake. I ain't never heard of him working a lick and, you know, he drinks.”
Anna captured the hand between her own and gave it a soft rub. “I'll be all right. Thanks.”
“If I'd-a thought about that house being John T.'s, I might not have told you how to get there all by yourself. I don't want to have that on my conscience if you was to get hurt.”
“There's nothing to worry about.”
“Yes there is, when it comes to John T.”
Ned held an ice bag against his bruised shoulder and listened to both the Flagstaff sheriff and police chief apologize. “It don't matter none.”
The chief, a young man with close-cropped hair shook his head. “It does to my department, Constable Parker. It was a bad mistake all around, on our part, and yours.”
Completely wrung out, James slumped in a chair beside a worn wooden desk that had seen better days during the Garfield administration. “Cale Westlake got away. That boy was beaten, and I'm scared to death for my daughter.”
The sheriff laced his fingers on the desk. “We have men on the way to the address you gave us. They'll pick her up if she's there. We'll find Cale, too.”
“I doubt she's there.” Ned winced and rolled his shoulder. “Something's happened. That's why he was here, and now he's gone again.”
“You should have asked him what was wrong.”
Ned's blue eyes iced the distance between him and the youngest police officer who'd spoken, the one who'd used the billy club. He wished he could return the favor. The sheriff had called Chisum at Ned's urging, and talked to Judge O.C. Rains. He was still smarting from the dressing down he'd gotten from the old judge.
The officer finally dropped his eyes. Ned grunted. “Have you ever gone after a runaway child that was blood?”
“No.”
“That'd be no
sir
to you, and the truth is that you don't know what the
hell
you'd do in any such situation, so if I's you, I'd sit right there with my damned mouth closed and let my betters do the talking.”
“Easy, Constable Parker.” The chief agreed. “Lester, why don't you go outside?”
Ned remembered the police car parked next to theirs. “No. We're leaving.” His harsh outburst stunned them all. “Are you finished with us?”
The sheriff shrugged.
The chief tapped a yellow pencil against the desk. “We are too.” The phone rang. He answered and listened. “All right.” He hung up. “Mr. Parker, they went to the address you gave, but the house is empty. It appears they've moved.”
James deflated even more. “All right. Let's go.”
Ned wrote on a piece of paper.
The sheriff shifted, his leather holster creaking. “What's that?”
“My number in Center Springs, Texas. Give my wife a call if you find anything out. She'll tell me the next time I call home.”
“Where are you going?”
Ned rested his blue eyes on the sheriff. “After my granddaughter.”
When they were out of the office, the chief thumped a forefinger on the desk. “We need to find Cale Westlake before they do.”
The sheriff shrugged. “They have as much chance as us, though.”
***
Their car was gone when they stepped outside. Ned tilted the Stetson back on his head. “Well, son of a bitch.”
“Crow stole my car.” James' head felt like it would explode as anger flashed once again. “I told you he was a crook. Now what are we going to do?”
“I don't know.” Ned needed somewhere to sit, but the city fathers apparently didn't want anyone loafing in front of their courthouse.
“I'm going back in and file a report on my stolen car.”
“Wait.”
“Wait,
hell
. Dad, he stole our car and now we don't have any way to find Pepper.”
Another sharp pain shot through Ned's stomach, and he bent over to brace himself on both knees. “Let me think.” He took a deep breath once the pain settled back to a more tolerable level. “All right.” He pointed to a diner down the road. “Here's what we're gonna do. I want to go in there and sit down and order a Bromo-Seltzer. Then we'll figure out our next step.”
“Crow could be a hundred miles away if we wait for you to drink a powder.”
“I don't believe he stole it and run away. Let's think a minute while we walk.”
James finally gave in. “All right.” He rubbed his throat, sore from being choked down. “I could use something to drink anyway. You think they have sweet tea out here?”
“Of course they do.”
They were halfway to the diner when Crow steered the Bel Air around the corner. He shot over to the curb, reached across the seat, and gave the door lever a yank. It opened with a squall. “Get in. Quick.”
Ned jerked the back door open. “See, I told you he wouldn't run off.”
Without a word, James dropped heavily into the passenger seat. Ned stopped at the sight of Cale Westlake in the floorboard. He had a second lump on his forehead, and his hands were cuffed.
Ned got in, slammed the door, and Crow quickly pulled away from the curb. He smoothly accelerated away from the courthouse. Ned nudged Cale with the toe of his shoe.
“You stay right there and get to talking.”
It was full dark when Anna rolled into Ned's drive. Cody was still sitting on the porch with Top. They weren't alone, of course. Miss Becky, Ida Belle, and Norma Faye had taken turns coming out to check on them. It was obvious they wanted to know what Cody and Top were talking about, and Cody gave them enough information to satisfy the curious women, but not what Top said in confidence.
Anna killed the lights and Cody trailed around the front of the car to talk through her open car window. He saw someone in the backseat, lit by the dash lights.
“Howdy, Freddy.”
The dejected man barely raised his head. “Cody.”
“You know why I had Deputy Sloan pick you up?”
“I don't have any idea.”
“Sure you do.” Cody waited.
“Why'd you thend a girl to get me? Thath embarrathing.”
“I didn't. I sent a deputy.”
“I'd as thoon be taken in by that nigger John Wathington.”
Anna caught his eye in her rearview mirror. “Don't make me have to drag you out of that backseat.”
“What'd I do?”
“Don't use that word around me.”
“What?”
“That word you used referring to Deputy Washington.”
Freddy grunted at Cody. “What'th thith all about? Ith thith woman crathy?”
“Nope. She's a long way from crazy. I sent her to come get you. What do you know about some bodies we found today?”
The expression on Freddy's face was a full confession, but expressions can't be used in a court of law. Cody's prompt caused Freddy to shrug.
Cody opened the back door. “Get out.”
The porch light snapped on as Freddy slid out of the seat.
“Shut that off and stay in the house!” The light immediately went out and Cody was about to order Top inside, too, but he wasn't on the porch.
The boy's voice made him jump. “I know it was you, Freddy.”
“Top, go in the house.” Cody spoke automatically.
Anna opened her door and joined them. “Top, hon, you shouldn't be out here.”
“I recognized his voice.”
Top was determined to make them listen. He planted his feet, squared his shoulders, and lifted his chin. He was just as much a part of this as anyone else in the yard, and he figured that if he could get Cody to listen to him, as he'd done earlier that evening, they might see that he was standing up like a man.
Anyone else would have glared daggers at the youngster, but thoroughly humiliated by his arrest at the hands of a female deputy, and identified by a kid, Freddy simply stared at his feet. It was one more in a long line of embarrassments. “I didn't do nothing.”
“Then why do you think you're here?”
“I'm here becauthe thith woman picked me up, in front of my frienth.”
“Any idea who his friends were?”
Anna dug a notepad out of her back pocket. “He was in front of the skating rink in town, talking to some girls about half his age. I didn't get their names, but three young men that
were
about his age were there too.” She tilted the pad to read by the dome light. “Kenneth Lee Williams, Eliott George Hestor, and Peter Dale Heslink. They volunteered to follow John to the courthouse for questioning. We didn't put them under arrest.”
“They didn't do nothing, neither.”
“Good. That takes a load off my mind.” Cody gave Freddy a smile. “Now, tell me what you know about the bodies we dug up in the lake bottom.”
“We don't know nothing about them, nor any
other
bodieth you find.”
“What other bodies?”
Freddy was confused. “Theriff, any
other
bodieth, I reckon.”
“I didn't say anything about anyone else.”
“I know, what I'm trying to thay ith that
I
didn't thoot nobody.”
“
I
didn't say you did.”
“Then let me go.”
“I will when I'm sure I can. Did you make any calls to Judge Rains about knowing where some people were buried?”
“No.”
“You know something you aren't telling.”
“I honesthly don't know what you're talking about.”
Anna stepped in. “Who
would
know, then?”
Freddy hung his head. “I'm completely innothent. I didn't thoot nobody.”
“What do you do for a living?”
“Huh?”
“I'm asking what you do for a living.”
“Whatever. I got out of thchool and hauled hay all the thummer long. Plow thome. I'm pretty good with my handth, tho I work on carth.”
“You ever work on the lake? You know, run some of that big machinery to push over trees, like draglines or bulldozers?”
Freddy narrowed his eyes. “No.”
“Anybody you know who does?”
He shrugged.
“Could you?”
“Prob'ly, but I didn't.”
“Didn't what?”
“I didn't bur-ry nobody with no bulldozer.”
“Know who could have?”
Freddy shrugged. “Bunch of people been working down there. You bedder ask thombody else.”
“Uncle Cody. He told Mr. O.C.” The boy was determined to tell Cody what he knew. No more hanging back.
“Top, if you have something to say, stand right here and speak up.” Cody noted the change in the boy, and decided to listen.
“He said burry.”
“Huh?”
“He said
burry
, instead of bury, and he says
bedder
for better. I heard him say it on the phone. I know good and well it's him, even though he was trying to disguise his lisp.”
Uncle Cody raised an eyebrow at Freddy. “Well?”
“I ain't been talking to that boy.”
“Didn't say you was.”
“Well, he'th thaying like I did.”
“Did what?”
“Talk to him on the phone about burrying them men down there.”
“Where?”
He jerked his head toward the lake. “You know, where you found 'em.”
“How much money did y'all get out of this?”
“Money? What-choo talking about, money?”
Cody caught Anna's eye. “Bet they split it three ways.”
“There wathn't no money.”
The yard was suddenly silent as thunder rumbled in the distance.
Cody smiled. “You devil, you. They didn't know about the money, did they? You kept it all.”
“Theyâ¦.” He stopped like he was trying to organize his thoughts.
Anna and Cody didn't say a word. Top glared at Freddy, sure that Cody had him in a box. A drop of rain landed with a splat on the roof of her car. Another splatted on the gravel between them. One hit the tin roof of the chicken house, then the hay barn. More fell, scattered, but landing with force.
“They'll kill you when they find out.”
Freddy stared at his shoes.
“I think I'm gonna let you go. Then I'll tell the papers about the money that's missing.” Cody crossed his arms. “They haven't released that information, yet. I'm gonna tell them down to the dollar how much those men had in their briefcase. After I tell the
Chisum News
, I'll call Channel 12. Before you know it, everybody in Lamar County'll know there'd been a buttload of money in the empty briefcase that we found in the car. Your buddies don't have it, and they'll sure start thinking.”
Freddy started to shake.
“We're gonna release the bodies to their families here in a couple of days, and they'll come get them to bury those men back home, thanks to you. You wanted them to get a decent burial, and they will. But now you need to fess up. If I don't decide to let you go so your friends can find you, I'm going to charge you with murder, and if you keep quiet to save your friends, you'll go to the chair.”
Cody knew full well that the state didn't electrocute prisoners any longer, not since 1964, but most folks still remembered Ol' Sparky, and he figured that Freddy wasn't one hundred percent sure that the electric chair wasn't still in use.
“Freddy, you're between a rock and a hard place. I have enough on you right now to serve as a full confession. You've slipped up half a dozen times. You aren't that quick, son. Tell me who was with you, or I might let you go and wait until it all comes out in the news. They'll do the dirty work for me.”
Freddy licked his lips, studying Anna, then Cody, and settled on Top there at the edge of the darkness, ten feet away. “Would I be thafe in jail?”
“Safer'n you'll be once word gets out.”
He licked his lips again, like the sun was blazing overhead. His shoulders drooped and the lisp became even more pronounced, if that was possible. “It wathn't me. I didn't thoot them, but I wath there. I couldn't thop them.”
Anna put her hand on Freddy's arm, and that light contact was all he needed. “Who are they, hon?”
“Marty Thmallwood and John. T. Wetht.”
There it was. The confirmation she needed.
Now all they had to do was find them.