The Grudge by Bert Hitchens

Author:Bert Hitchens
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
Published: 2021-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

In Sagebloom the bar and the stores were shut, darkened. A single bare light hung high overhead at the intersection by the closed service station. Reves looked around for Farrel, not really expecting to see him, and then started down the highway toward Palmdale to talk to the men in the Sheriff’s office there, when it suddenly occurred to him to take a turn up through the unpaved roads that led to the houses scattered on the hills.

He found Farrel. Farrel was propped behind the wheel of the company car, pulled to the side of the unpaved track. Perhaps Reves had wakened him; he was yawning when he got out of the car in the glow of the headlights.

He came back toward Reves, rubbing the gray stubble of whiskers, looking tired and old. When he got close, Reves could smell the whisky. Farrel propped himself against the door and looked in at Reves; there was some light from the dash, and Farrel said, “How’s the other guy look?”

Reves touched his tender jaw. “It shows?”

“Looks like he used sandpaper,” Farrel said.

“He got away.” Reves opened the door and stood, stretching his stiffening muscles, while he told Farrel what had happened at Painted Creek spur. “It wasn’t the Deppler kids,” he finished. “I’m sure of it.”

“I am, too,” Farrel agreed. “I’ve been here all night, and nobody’s stirred. The old lady came out on the porch a couple of times and looked around. I could see her white nightgown. I guess she spotted me down here. Anyhow, the kids haven’t come out and their car’s in the yard.” He began to tell Reves about the trip to Las Pulgas, and what he had said to the two juveniles, and how he had waited in the bar. “They didn’t come in. When I parked here, they were working on the innards of the Buick with an extension light. They went inside sometime after ten, and pretty soon all the house lights went out.”

“It’s not the Depplers at all,” Reves said.

“Oh, don’t put them out in the clear like that,” Farrel said. “They know something about all of this. They’re smart, they keep their eyes open, they know this country like the backs of their hands. They’ve got the old wreck to run around in. Wonder where they steal the gas? Anyway, I’ve got more to say to that pair.”

“I’m glad you’re doing it,” Reves agreed. “I’m afraid I wouldn’t keep my hands off them.”

“Maybe I had a different upbringing than you. Maybe you were taught to be nice and respectful to older people, and show good manners, and so on. Me …Well, when I was their age I wasn’t any angel, let’s say.”

Reves couldn’t imagine Farrel as having once been a wild kid. He shook his head a little and Farrel suppressed a grin.

“Well, let’s talk to the local law,” Farrel said. “See you in Palmdale.”

“I’ll see you there.”

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