Vengeance is Mine

by Reavis Z. Wortham

  “Yes we have. I know you, and you know me. It took a minute to place your face the other day on the side of the highway when Washington had you in cuffs, but I did.”

  It was obvious Griffin didn’t want to say where they’d seen each other, wanting Tony to fill in the blanks.

  Tony hated playing games, wishing Griffin would come out and say what he meant, because there was always the chance the crooked sheriff was simply fishing for information. “Sheriff, my wife and I have only recently moved in.”

  “I know that. And I know you ain’t got a job, and that’s unusual for a man in this community. I’m surprised Parker hasn’t been around here asking questions.”

  “The constable and I have talked about a lot of things. There are many job possibilities to explore. What can I do for you? Have I broken the law in any way? Am I under arrest?”

  Griffin looked genuinely surprised. “Why, no, I don’t have anything to arrest you for, right now. I came out to see if you wanted a job, before you moved.”

  Tony squinted. “I don’t need a job right now, and I didn’t say I was going anywhere.”

  “Sure you are. I believe you’re going to do something for me, and then you’re leaving north Texas for good. When you do, I won’t come after you or your woman.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I know what you do for a living, and I know you’ve been sent here for me. But I’ll make you a better deal. I’ll give you twenty thousand dollars to leave me alone and do a job for me. You kill Ned Parker and that nigger deputy who arrested you. Then you can tell Best that I run off.” Griffin spread his hands. “Ain’t that simple? Killing me will bring all kinds of hell down on your head, but you can put those two down and nobody around here will come looking because I’ll cover for you. You’ll get paid twice, once from Best and once from me, and go on back to Vegas with money in your pocket when I disappear. What your boss don’t know won’t hurt him.”

  Tony raised an eyebrow at the idea. “People read newspapers. If someone hired a guy to kill you, he’ll be checking the papers, or he’ll have someone watch the news. You can’t get away like that.”

  “They’ll read that I disappeared. That happens around here. I had a deputy vanish into thin air a couple or three years ago, and he ain’t been found yet.”

  A farm truck passed on the oil road beside the house. The driver raised a finger from the steering wheel in a wave. Griffin threw up a hand, knowing it was expected.

  “He saw us together.” Tony nodded toward the retreating truck. “If I’ve learned anything about this place, it’s that people talk about the littlest things with each other.”

  “Who cares? We’ll both be gone from this one-horse town when it’s all over, because this has to happen quick.”

  “I’m not here for you and I don’t want to be gone. We like where we are. Sam and I may want to spend the rest of our lives in this house.”

  “You can quit with that story. I know better.”

  “It isn’t a story and you aren’t as good as you think you are. I’m out of the business.”

  Griffin threw his hands up in exasperation. He always felt that he was the smartest guy in the room. “Look boy, you can’t con a con man. Y’all don’t belong in Texas, and you stick out like a sore thumb. Besides, that isn’t why you’re in Center Springs.” He lowered his voice in a conspiratorial whisper. “Like I said, we both know, and I don’t think either of us wants that. I’m making you a good deal. I’m giving you the chance to pocket two salaries, and go back to Best a hero.” Griffin snapped his fingers. “Better yet, here’s what I’ll do. I’ll give you another twenty thousand to go back and kill Best. Whaddaya think of that?”

  That unbelievable suggestion finally confirmed what Tony already knew. Griffin was either completely insane or out of touch with reality. A feeling boiled up in Tony, feeding the urge to kill someone. It was an almost overwhelming injection of adrenaline.

  Silence stretched so long that sweat beaded on Griffin’s forehead, the only sign of nervousness. The sheriff wiped a trickle from his cheek. “Look, I’ll make this even easier for you. I’ll have someone help you with Washington. He’ll be the toughest to take down. He’s seeing a woman named Rachel. Her house is about five miles down a dirt road south of Reid’s store in Forest Chapel. Washington shows up there every day about five in the evening and he won’t be expecting you. Go there, shoot the big bastard, and leave. I’ll have the money ready for you when you’re finished. You’ve done this before. Twenty thousand, Saturday afternoon, at five.”

  The vein throbbed in Tony’s forehead. His hand clenched, and he wished for a baseball bat. Three good whacks. Three. It would eliminate the problem standing before him, and give him the release he desperately needed. It had been too long. He knew then that he would soon kill Griffin. With that thought, the pressure immediately lessened. Relieved, Tony winked at Griffin. It was his promise to put the man in a shallow grave very, very soon.

  Griffin mistook the wink for agreement and relaxed just as the Parker kids coasted past the store on their bicycles. They pedaled hard for the two men standing under the ancient oak trees in Tony’s front yard.

  “Mister Tony!” Top called. “Did you hear what happened?”

  The kids’ enthusiasm dimmed when they recognized the sheriff. Neither liked the man, but they couldn’t explain why, even if asked.

  Pepper stopped her bike beside them. “Hidy, Sheriff. Mr. Tony, the Wilson boys rounded up a bunch of men and they all went dog hunting.”

  For a moment, Tony didn’t know what to say. Did these people organize dog hunts, like a deer hunt? “Tell me about it.”

  Before Pepper could answer, Top spoke up. “Before daylight this morning Ty Cobb and Jimmy Foxx caught some more dogs killing a calf out in Mister Bronson’s pasture and shot two of them. Then they came up to the store and gathered up a bunch of men to help. They trailed them down to the creek bottoms.”

  Pepper broke in with the exciting conclusion. “Them Wilson boys was waiting, and when the rest of the men ran the dogs in their direction, they opened up on ’em. Mr. Ike said it was like a deer drive they have back east, whatever that means. They killed them all.”

  Tony chewed the inside of his lip in thought. “So I guess that gets you off the hook, doesn’t it, Top?”

  “I did my share.”

  “It looks like it’s over for you now.”

  “Yessir.”

  “And when it’s over, you hang up your guns, isn’t that right, Sheriff?”

  Griffin tried to read Tony’s face. “A smart man knows when things are over, but he also knows some things aren’t over until they’re done.”

  Pepper frowned. “What?”

  Tony looked down at Pepper. “He knows. Let’s go to the store and get a soda…a Coke. How’s that?” Without a glance at Griffin, he paced the kids as they walked their bikes down his long, dusty drive.

  Griffin’s voice was clear in the still air. “Remember the time, Mr. Agrioli! And don’t pay too much attention to those two little nits, they’ll pester you to death if you let ’em.”

  Tony felt a catch his throat.

  Oh my god, Griffin and Best have been talking.

  Nits.

  Moments later, Griffin caught them and slowed the car. “Best, to you and that pretty wife of yours.” He raised one finger in a wave.

  The kids waved back. Feeling his temple throb again with renewed savagery, Tony swallowed down the growing rage burning deep inside. He watched him drive away.

  Best to your wife.

  Best.

  Tony watched the car disappear and vowed to go back to Vegas and beat the sonofabitch into jelly if Best included the kids, the Parkers, or especially Sam in his vendetta.

  He didn’t care if he was Sam’s father.

  Chapter Thirty-three

 
Something kept nagging Ned about Tommy Lee’s murder, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. His mind kept going back to his conversation with Wade Reidel on the day Tommy Lee’s body was found. He decided to visit Wade or Karen Ann. Either would work for the moment. Ned picked up the microphone. “Cody Parker.”

  A moment later, Cody’s voice came through the little speaker. “Go ahead, Ned.”

  “Where are you?”

  “Leaving the courthouse. I dropped off a prisoner.”

  “You want to run by Bill Adkins’ house and talk to him about Tommy Lee?”

  Cody knew exactly what he meant. Bill spent a lot of time rubbing bellies with Karen Ann in the honky-tonks across the river. “You bet. I been planning to go over there anyway.”

  “Good. I have a stop to make. I’ll meet you there in an hour.”

  “Ten-four.”

  The nearly twenty-year-old ten-code always annoyed Ned to no end. He preferred to talk in plain English. “All right, then.”

  Passing the Plaza Theater, Ned traveled west to a neighborhood of tired frame houses not far from the red brick train station. The splintered boards on the railroad crossing rattled as his tires rolled over the tracks.

  Though many of the houses were tired and needed mowing, the neighborhood itself was tidy. Most porches had chairs or swings. A few were occupied by folks who either watched him with suspicious eyes, or old folks who waved whether they knew him or not.

  Checking the address scribbled on the Harold Hodges Insurance notepad, Ned steered to the curb in front of a cheaply constructed Texas bungalow that probably looked worn out ten years after it was built. The eaves drooped and the yard hadn’t felt a lawnmower blade at any time during the summer.

  Ned slammed the car door and studied the house for a moment. A rusty, unsupported water cooler sagged from a window on one side, actually pulling the wall out of plumb. An even rustier screen leaned against the peeling shiplap. The porch contained two chairs and a dead washing machine.

  The wooden steps creaked underfoot as Ned stepped into the shade. He opened the warped screen and knocked loudly on the front door. He squinted through the dirty windows. The interior was surprisingly neat. The living room contained an overstuffed sofa, a chair, an upright piano, coffee, and end tables. Each of the tables wore a white doily.

  He hammered the door again with his fist, but by that time, Ned was sure nobody was home. He didn’t expect Bill Adkins to be there at that time of the day, but he figured he’d give him a try anyway. A minute later he stopped at the top of the steps to think.

  “Bill ain’t home. He has a job, you know.”

  The statement came from a tiny gray-haired woman on the porch next door. Her home was the exact opposite of Bill’s rented house. The green yard, blooming plants hugging the foundation, and a variety of hanging and potted plants gave it a cool, jungle feel. “You know Bill pretty well?”

  “Who’re you? The Law?”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Well, walk over here. I don’t aim to holler across at you.”

  Trying not to grin, Ned took a moment to cross the yard. He paused halfway up the steps, still not invited all the way onto her porch. “I’m Constable Ned Parker.”

  “I can see that, now. My eyes is getting cloudy and I can’t make out things from a distance like I used to. I’ve seen you before. I’ve lived here all my life.”

  “Yessum.” Ned removed his hat and wiped his head with a soft handkerchief from his back pocket. “I’m looking for Bill Adkins. They say he rents that house.”

  “Sure ’nuff. Been living there for nigh onto twenty years, and he ain’t struck a lick at that yard the whole time.”

  “I can see that. Yours looks nice, though.”

  She sat as straight as her age would allow. “Thank you. It don’t take much more than some water and a handful of fertilizer ever now and then. I scatter my morning coffee grounds on the yard and in my flower bed, too. You ain’t asked me my name.”

  “No, I haven’t.”

  “Don’t you want to know it for your report?”

  “Well, I don’t reckon I’ll make a report on this visit, but I’d like to know who I’m talking to.”

  “You should. I’m Olivia Rose Owens. My husband was the late Walter Cooley Owens. He was the ticket master for the railroad. That’s why we lived right ’chere, ’cause he could walk over to the depot each morning after breakfast. He only had one cup of coffee a day, too. You shouldn’t have anything to excess.”

  “No ma’am. Did he know Bill?”

  “Oh, no. Mr. Owens was called to glory near thirty years ago.”

  “You been living here by yourself all that time since? I’ll vow you’re a strong woman.”

  Her eyes twinkled. “Strong enough. Now, question me so I can get back to my sewing. I see better this time of the day, and I don’t want to lose the light.”

  “I’m trying to find Bill Adkins.”

  “Answer me this. Is it about that bank robbery I read about in the paper?”

  “I can’t say, but it ain’t about the robbery.”

  “Are you married?”

  Startled by the sudden conversational shift, Ned was for a moment at a loss for words. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Oh well. I like them blue eyes of yours. Bill works down the street at Mack’s Garage. You can generally find him there during the day, but you’ll play the devil catching him here. He comes home to scrub off some of the grease, and then heads north across the river nearly every night to them honky-tonks. I hear he likes the Sportsman and the Texoma Club the best.” She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Sometimes he brings one of them low-class Oklahoma hussies back with him.” She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Sometimes they’re even Indian. I can tell by them cheekbones and that black hair jist a-shinin’.”

  Ned felt his face redden and wondered what she’d say if she met Miss Becky. “You don’t say?”

  “I do, and they don’t make no bones about it in the mornings when they come-a struttin’ out of the house, pretty as you please, to go back across the river.”

  He wondered how she knew the names of the joints across the Red River. “Mack’s tarage.”

  “Yep. Constable, you’re as good as that ‘Dragnet’ feller Sergeant Friday that I used to watch back before it went off the air.”

  “Thank you. I hear it’s coming back on again next year.”

  She brightened as if that was the best news she’d heard in years. “Is that a fact?”

  “It’s what I heard, and took it for the truth.”

  “Well, I hope you’re right. There ain’t nothing on the television set anymore, except a lamp and a bunch of silliness.” She expelled what she felt was a girlish giggle.

  Ned replaced his hat. “Thanks for the information.”

  “Don’t you let that man drag you down to his level. He’s as sorry as the day is long.”

  ***

  Bill was under an International pickup in the garage bay when Ned lightly kicked the sole of his shoe. “You Bill?”

  “Uh huh.” Bill continued to work. “I’m kinda busy here. I got a bolt all boogered up and I need to get this sonofabitch fixed before dark.”

  “I need to talk to you now, and I ain’t got time to wait. C’mon out so we can both get back to what needs doin’.”

  Bill rolled out from under the truck on a creepy crawler and squinted upward. “You the law?”

  “I am.”

  “I ain’t done nothin’.”

  “Didn’t say you did. I have a couple of questions.”

  Bill sat up and rested his greasy hands on the knees of his blue work pants. “Go ahead.”

  Ned wasn’t sure if there was more grease on his hands, or in his unwashed hair. “Do you know Tommy Lee Stark?”

  “I did. Somebody kil
led him, I believe. If you’re here about that, it wasn’t me. I’s with somebody then.”

  “You don’t know when he was killed, and neither do I.”

  Bill’s eyes drifted down to Ned’s badge, and the .38 on his hip. “Well, I mean if I ain’t here, I’m gen’lly with somebody.”

  “I’ve heard. Sometimes it’s with somebody’s wife.”

  “Ain’t against the law.”

  “No, it’s not. But didn’t you get in a fight a while back over some other man’s woman?”

  Bill stood quickly, expecting Ned to back away, but the old constable stood his ground. His lack of response took some of the wind out of Bill’s aggression. “That was across the river. Do you have some kind of warrant from Oklahoma?”

  “I already told you, I want to ask a couple of questions. Have you been running around with Karen Ann Reidel?”

  Bill’s eyes were answer enough. “Why?”

  “Well, she’s married to Wade Reidel, ain’t she?”

  “What of it?”

  “She was also running around with Tommy Lee, too.” Ned hadn’t heard any such of a thing, but he wasn’t above a little white lie every now and then to jolt somebody into spilling a little information. “Y’all didn’t have words over her, did you?”

  Once again, Bill’s eyes gave him away, and this time they got him off the hook. “I didn’t know she was having anything to do with Tommy Lee. But I can promise you this, I wouldn’t kill another man over a woman like that. What she has ain’t that special.”

  Ned watched another lead fizzle out and he completely lost his spirit. “All right.” He started to go, and then faced Bill again. “By the way, do you have a rifle?”

  “A twenty-two.”

  “Not a deer rifle?”

  “Nope.”

  Ned studied him for another moment. “If I’s to get a warrant right now and go to your place, I wouldn’t find a two-seventy, or a thirty-thirty, or a thirty-aught-six?”

  “You’d find a twenty-two, like I said.”

  “All right. Now, if I’s you, I’d stay away from Karen Ann. Her husband came by to see me here a while back about her and them honky-tonks, and I don’t want any trouble over it.”