South of heaven by Jim Thompson

Author:Jim Thompson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery & Detective - General, Mystery, Detective and mystery stories, Crime & mystery, Mystery & Detective, Natural gas pipelines, Natural gas pipelines - Fiction, Political, Hard-Boiled, Fiction, Psychological, Texas - Fiction, General, Suspense, Mystery & Detective - Hard-Boiled, Gas industry, Fiction - Psychological Suspense, Crime & Thriller, 20th Century American Novel And Short Story, Gas industry - Fiction, Texas
ISBN: 9780679740179
Publisher: Vintage Books
Published: 1994-08-15T23:21:39.245000+00:00

17

It was mid-morning when I awakened. I lay with my eyes half-closed for a time, letting the sunlight seep gradually under the lids, putting the day off as long as possible. At last I yawned, stretched and looked around, then suddenly sat up with a start.

The cell door stood open. A man in boots and a blue serge suit was leaning against the wall, reading the poem I'd written the night before. He went on reading, giving me a half-nod without looking up. When he had finally finished (and he took his time about it), he shook his head wryly and tossed the paper back to the floor.

He shouldn't have done that. No one should ever treat a writer's work disrespectfully. If he does it, all right. But never do it yourself. He'll like you a lot better if you spit in his face.

"How are you, Burwell?" he said. "Darrow's the name, Ben Darrow. I'm the sheriff here."

"I'm all right," I said, "and I know who you are. I've heard quite a bit about you, sheriff."

I turned around to the sink and began to wash up. He grinned at me in the mirror, blue eyes glinting in his tanned face. A good-humored, intelligent-looking man in his thirties whom I might have liked under different circumstances. I stared back at him coldly, and he chuckled and winked at me.

"Good news, Burwell. You've been cleared."

"Wha . . . !" I whirled around, my heart doing a big flip-flop. "You . . . you really mean that? You're not just kidding me?"

"Now, of course, I'm not. The boys had the evidence to let you go last night, but I was out of town and they decided to play it cute. God knows why . . ." he shook his head, frowning, "since they certainly didn't have any love for Lassen. But I can promise they'll never do it again."

"But I have been cleared?" I insisted. "There's no doubt about that?"

"Absolutely none. Three witnesses swear that Lassen was fooling around the dragline when the bucket dropped on him. He must have triggered something, I suppose, or. . . ."

"Why the hell didn't they say something sooner?"

"Why don't a lot of people? Because they're afraid of getting involved or they were doing something that they shouldn't have. These three birds, for example, had stolen some Jamaica ginger out of the cook tent and were tying on a drunk."

That sounded reasonable, but it left some pretty big questions in my mind. Like how had Four Trey known about the three men and why had he wanted me to keep quiet about them. But this was hardly the time or the place to raise those questions.

"Well, Burwell . . ." he gestured toward the door. "You've missed breakfast. Come on and I'll buy you some."

"Thanks," I said. "But I'll buy my own."

I put on my hat and picked up my bindle. Darrow frowned, laughed uncertainly. "Oh, come on, now! Why so huffy? I'm sorry you were held longer than you should have been.

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