The first finished, blew mightily and croaked, "My god, that's pure fire." His voice was barely a croak. Only Jello saw Seeber flick his drink onto the worn carpet.
The whole bunch choked, held their throats and groaned aloud. Spider joined in. He laughingly suggested, "I swear, that stuff's gone bad."
Another laughed shakily. Spider said, "Let's get to the dividing."
They tried to get to the table. One collapsed holding his throat. Some turned to look, but Spider changed their attention by sprawling over a chair and rolling around holding his belly.
They looked at him dumbly. Then one said weakly, "Hey, this isn't funny." He sat down, staring dully at the table, trying desperately to catch a breath.
Another fell on his side. One tried for the door but missed the opening and slammed into a wall.
Then they were all down, jerking and choking, faces blackening with futile efforts to gain air.
Spider and Jello Gorse watched them go. Seeber turned pale but remained expressionless. Long minutes passed before the last spasm ended and five faces lay slack in death. A stench of vomit and loosened bowels and bladders filled the room.
Jello Gorse appeared angered and sounded mad when he spoke. "What in hell was in that stuff, Seeber? Hell, I thought they would just nod off and we'd dump 'em."
"A bad mix, Jello. Damn, I thought it would be quicker than that." Spider looked thoughtful. "I got it out of a book on poisons. Hell, the book sounded like they'd go about the time it struck their guts." Seeber shrugged it off. "Who cares, they didn't suffer long."
Seeber turned away. "I'll fire up the backhoe. You dump 'em in the hole."
Spider started away, then thought better of it.
"Look, Jello, let's not either of us get ideas about doing the other guy, OK? We split even, the way we figured, fair and square. That right?"
"That's right, Spider."
Jello would agree, at least until Spider got everything buried. The rental hoe had to go back or someone would come after it. That might get people to wondering where Spider had gone. Gorse figured he could return the backhoe all right, but he wouldn't be good at burying and smoothing.
Jello grabbed a body by the shirt collar and horsed it outside. Spider got into the cab of the backhoe. The engine coughed to life, but Spider surprised his partner when he swung the machine and drove off, almost out of sight.
Jello heaved the body into the deep part of the pit and went for a pair. He got them to the hole and let them tumble in on top of the others.
Gorse disliked Spider's unexplained absence. He could hear the backhoe idling, but there was no sign of Spider Seeber. He wondered if the skinny puke had a rifle hidden up in the woods.
Jello felt his skin crawl, as though a cross hair was even now centering on his chest.
+++
Chapter 13
I crossed the narrow flat of the ridge well away from Seeber's traps. Within the trees I could not see into Spider's yard, so I edged along until I got behind brush right at the woods edge. I chose the only decent viewpoint that gave cover to a watcher. It was the spot I had used the first time I checked out the place.
There was no movement below, but Jello's bike was parked by the house and Seeber's pickup was alongside.
Where was the van? My eyes ranged. When I saw its rear end sticking out of Spider's hole I almost choked.
What the hell? There were motorcycles deep in the hole as well. The sight made no sense. I reared up a little for a better look, and Spider came out of his back door. For an instant his head was up, as though he were looking my way. Then he turned and made straight for the backhoe. The machine was probably the one he had used before. At least it looked the same. Seeber started up and maneuvered the hoe through the yard.
Movement below caught my eye. Jello Gorse had come through the door dragging something. For a moment I thought Jello's burden was a bundle of old clothing. When what I observed registered, my hair stood on end, I quit breathing, and goose bumps jumped all over me. Jello was dragging a man's body. Even as I watched he shifted his grip and hauled the corpse across the yard by one ankle.
No thought of the body being alive touched me. It flopped grotesquely with the boneless fluidity of any newly killed animal. What the monstrous Gorse dragged so easily had to be dead.
I was distantly aware of fear enveloping me like a heavy mist. My mind said, "Run, get out of here," but I had to see. My lungs began working again, and I stayed low in watching. My ears tuned to Spider's idling backhoe, but Jello Gorse held my attention.
With casual ease, Jello flipped the body into the hole. It landed among the motorcycles, flopping awkwardly before settling into a distorted heap.
Jello turned away as casually as if he had tossed out the garbage. For a moment his huge head turned toward Spider's hoe, then he reentered the house.
Sour bile flooded my throat, and I struggled against gagging. I knelt in place, stunned by what I was witnessing. Who had been killed or why, I could not imagine, but just as he had done with the girl, Jello was burying a man's body.
Why bury the motorcycles? Perhaps they were only junk, although Seeber had never bothered with other trashed vehicles. The van too was a mystery. An hour before, Gorse had been driving it around. The dead man was undoubtedly the passenger I had seen beside Jello only a short time before.
Gorse's huge hulk again appeared in the doorway. He tugged, and a pair of bodies appeared. They, too, dragged limply, and I felt a numbed expectancy that there would be more.
What had Seeber and Gorse done? Mass murder, obviously, but how many would there be? Jello tumbled the dead in beside their companion. Then he stood, fists on his hips, staring toward Spider's backhoe. His head moved his eyes along the woods, but did not turn my way. He shrugged, as though irritated, and again entered Spider's house.
Curiosity urged me to stay, to discover how many bodies Jello Gorse would drag to his burial pit, but a louder voice told me to go while I could. I was sure I could outrun either Gorse or Seeber, but the only smart thing to do was to get to the police right now, while they were still busy with their burying.
I backed a few steps, making sure Jello did not reappear while I was leaving. Then, staying low, I turned and started up the ridge.
+++
I saw and heard in the same horrified instant. Ten feet away, sitting comfortably, was Spider Seeber. He sighted over the long barrel of a shiny revolver that was pointed at the middle of my chest. The sound I had heard was Spider thumbing the pistol to full cock.
My movement stopped, my knees turned to water. Distantly, I felt them touch the soft earth. Death was a second away, and it sucked the courage and strength right out of me.
Behind his pistol's sights, Spider's teeth showed in a mirthless smirk. No mercy lay in his expression; I gained no hope from his words.
Spider said, "Why howdy, Gene. You come over to pay a neighborly call?" Then he snickered.
Frozen weak, knowing I was about to die, I still hated Seeber's snicker. Spider had always sneered and snickered. As a rotten kid he had snickered if he held advantage. He had sneered to hide his fears or to show contempt if he had an edge.
Sure enough, Seeber's snicker turned into a lip curling sneer. God, how I hated that. Anger began replacing the abject terror that had held me immobile.
Spider said, "Your spying's got you in some trouble this time. Perry." His lip curled further, dragging down a corner of his mouth.
Seeber spit to a side, as though in disgust, but his pistol did not waver.
"I figured you snuck around, Perry, sticking your stupid nose in where it had no business. I been watching the woods ever since you came back. Hell, this is the only spot you could see from. If you were spying, it'd be from here."
Spider's voice turned smug. "You were easy. Gene. I knew I'd catch you sooner or later." He chuckled, shortly and without humor. "In fact, your timing is just about perfect.
Although numbed by the improbability of living mor
e than a few minutes, I recognized that Seeber was right. What a fool I was for hanging around. The instant I saw Jello dragging a body I should have gone over the ridge like a flushed-out deer. Not old, slow moving, dull headed Gene Perry. I'd waited there like an Alaskan fool grouse, that you can knock over with a club.
Spider motioned with his pistol, staying far beyond any grab I might attempt. "Let's go on down to the house, Perry. I doubt you've met my friend."
He snickered again, "You're going to like Jello, and I'll bet he'll enjoy helping me figure out what to do with you."
I went down the hill, because I had no choice. Jello Gorse stood by the hole, holding another corpse by an ankle. Even with my fear-depleted reasoning, I wondered how many more lay dead in Spider's charnel house.
Gorse held still during a lengthy study of the two of us. Then he turned away to dispose of the latest body. As though to add to the horror, he hefted the corpse and flung it well out, where it thudded soddenly among the motorcycles.
When we got close, Spider said, "Look what I found up on the hill, Jello."
Gorse was looking, mallet sized fists again planted on his hips. He spoke, and I realized with surprise that despite all my tailing of Jello, I had only heard his voice on the day he beat me bloody.
Jello asked, "He alone?"
"He's alone."
"Anybody know he's here?"
Spider looked thoughtful. I don't know. Let's ask him."
Gorse led the way to the house. I followed with Seeber well behind.
Spider said "We don't want to waste too much time asking, Jello. The sooner we get this hole covered, the safer we will be."
Jello answered going through the door. "I dropped the bar across your lane so nobody'll be driving in, but I got to wonder if there's more like him lurking around these woods."
Spider snickered. "Naw, Jello, this is Gene Perry, my nosy neighbor. He lives alone. When we're done with him, I'll go over and bring his car around. It'll fit in the hole easy enough. I'll pack a bunch of his things in it, and if anybody checks, they'll figure he went off again."
Seeber turned speculative. "We could even leave some of this stained money over at his place and people would figure he did the robbing and took off." Spider smirked at me. "How's that sound to you, Perry?"
Then to Jello Gorse, "No trouble here, partner."
I went into the house with no doubts left as to what was going to happen. I hadn't the chance of a snowball in a hot oven.
All I could do was plod along, like an ox going to the slaughter. Spider Seeber wasn't going to get close, where I might try something. If I made a move, the monster Gorse would be all over me anyway.
The stench in Spider's house was awful. I gagged and Seeber snickered.
"Sure stinks, don't it. Gene? Dead people let everything go. Did you know that?
"Guess I'll have to air out after we're done with our burying."
The sights in the dining room further appalled me. A large mound of money was heaped on the table, and some lay under a T-shirted body that grimaced, dead-eyed, at the celling.
The dead man sprawled on a sagging sofa. I heard myself say, "Oh, God, Seeber, what have you done?"
I was unaware that I had halted until Gorse's huge paw snatched my shirt front and heaved me across the room. I struck a wall and skidded tanglefooted, to topple across the dead man on the sofa.
I struggled away from the body, hearing Spider's sneery voice.
"That's a good place for you to sit, Perry. Just ease back down on top of old number one there." Unable to refuse, I lowered myself tentatively to the middle of the dead man's body.
Spider went on. "You ought to feel honored, Gene. That boy you're sitting on, and another already out in the pit, stuck up three banks just this morning."
My jaw must have hung, although the money pile had already told of something big being robbed. Even Jello Gorse appeared amused by my reaction and Seeber hee-hawed loudly.
"You ain't heard, Gene? Bet you ain't had your radio going." Spider had a chance to brag, and he took advantage of it.
"Jello and me put this thing over, Gene. Six Perry County banks in one day. Even Dillinger didn't try anything as daring as that." Spider's voice was exultant, as though true fame had come his way. Maybe it had.
Then Seeber turned confidential. He spoke almost softly, as though imparting a secret.
"The best part is that Jello and me stayed clear. No way we can be implicated. All the robbers will be in that grave with lots of dirt and junk piled on them."
He leaned away a little and congratulated Gorse and himself. "Before dark, Jello and me'll have the last ends covered, and in a week or two, we won't hardly remember any of it."
My wits were returning. I still didn't expect anything. Hell, no matter what else they did, they had to kill me.
I might ruin some of the game for them though, and who could tell, the police might come charging in. I didn't believe that part, but I gave it a try.
"Forget all this, Spider? About like you two try to forget that girl you buried over at the Bikers' Club?"
The effect was astounding. Even Seeber's gun wavered. Jello Gorse came off his wall leaning like an angry gorilla. His voice rumbled like a volcano.
"How'd he know that, Seeber?"
Spider came back fast. "Hold it, Jello. I didn't tell him, and I'm sure you didn't." He rushed on, reasoning frantically, clearly more than a little scared.
"Someone else has got to know. Damn it, that's the only explanation."
I bluffed a laugh. "They sure as hell do and the minute I disappear, the police will know.
"I'm not dumb, Seeber. I've got it all typed up and in the hands of two different lawyers.
"I put a lot in those statements. Want to hear more of it?"
Gorse didn't answer, but Spider's cold voice worried me the most.
"Sure, Gene, we'd like to hear."
Sweat had popped out all over me. The stench off the dead man I sat on clogged my nostrils. The physical menace of Jello Gorse loomed behind Spider Seeber as an ultimate and certain doom. Seeber's pistol was back in line.
Even as I got my voice going, my mind jerked around, seeking something, anything. Where was the lamp to hurl, the secret door to dive through? Why didn't I have an ankle-holstered pistol to draw unexpectedly? Come on cavalry, now is the time to come charging in!
My errant mind registered that Spider's gun was stainless steel with an unusually long barrel. Probably a .357 magnum. Did he use hollow-pointed bullets? What difference would that make to me? I jerked my attention back to my words.
I tried to sound confidant, even scornful of my danger. I doubted I was very convincing.
"All right, Seeber, I'll tell you a little of it. Just so you'll know that I'm not the only one in trouble."
I cleared my throat to give myself time to concoct a yarn out of what little I had.
"I've been on your trail since the girl disappeared. Took a while to get it together, but now it's all written down and safely spread." One of Spider's eyebrows rose in doubt.
"Gorse actually killed the girl by lying on her too hard. You two hid her and buried her after the club had closed."
I forced a laugh. "Why Jello still pours drain oil on the junk covering the grave, hoping to keep people away."
Gorse cursed and started around the table. Spider waved him back, speaking hurriedly.
"Hold it up, Jello. Let him talk. I'm curious to hear it all."
I didn't have a whole lot more, but I could make it sound like a lot. I would at least plant many doubts.
"More? All right, try this. I'd have let it all go by if Gorse hadn't, for no reason, beaten the hell out of me down by the river. So, in a way, it's your friend's fault, Seeber."
Jello looked confused. "What the hell you talkin' about?"
I acted surprised. "You don't remember, Gorse? I had a beard then, and you got yourself splashed crowding by my pickup."
Gorse stared hard, and re
cognition set in. Without his helmet, Jello's hair lay plastered in a greasy looking mat that blended into his unkempt beard. His piggy eyes widened and the red of his mouth showed behind stained and broken teeth. Jello's was not a visage to inspire hope.
Spider saw Gorse's surprise. "What's he talking about, Jello?"
Gorse's bear-like rumble made it short. "This guy had a beard and was driving a pickup with Alaskan plates. Oh, last spring some time, I guess it was. I knocked him around, and he crawled into the river." Gorse's laughter was coarse. "I never thought of him since."
Jello shrugged his monstrous bulk of shoulders. "I'm going to like doing him again."
Already scared to my soul, another threat added nothing. I summoned my own best sneer.
"How'd you like having your bike burned up, Gorse? I'll bet you've thought about that."
Seeber started to laugh, and I was grateful because it diverted Gorse, whose whole body was swelling with rage.
Spider said, "Ain't he a sneaky one, Jello? Here he is living right next door, acting like an innocent neighbor, when all the time he's hitting on you and spying on me." Seeber's head shook in mock admiration.
Well, they hadn't killed me yet, so I kept on talking, mixing lies with the facts I had. For the moment, at least, it kept Gorse from savaging me and delayed Spider's shooting.
I said, "That's when I began writing down what I knew, Seeber.
"The fact is, you're the sneaky one. God, just look what you've done now. You've probably put a noose around Jello's neck." I waved at the room. "This is your kind of yellow dog killing, Seeber, but Gorse will end up paying."
I suppose my attempt to divide them was obvious, and I saw no indication of success, but it wasn't a time for subtle nuances. Death thickened the air, and if Seeber's trigger finger flexed. I'd have nothing more to say.
"Oh, I wrote down your meeting in secret, like in the bar in Steelton, and up at Girty's Cave. I even mentioned your get together at the fishing point on the Juniata."
Inspiration struck. "Of course, I couldn't do it all alone. Paying for help has cost me, but they came up with things."
The Sweet Taste (Perry County) Page 12
