The Keepers of Truth by Michael Collins

Author:Michael Collins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2000-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

I said, “It's a girlfriend she thinks I have, is all.”

There was a humiliation and stretch of believability to my account of things, how I went out there and got speaking with her, and her telling me the story about Ronny's mother dying.

Ed shifted in his seat as I went on, took the lemonade to his lips, but it was all gone. He just held the empty glass.

I didn't say anything about the shears. I left that part out. The mounting anxiety of the letter hung behind every word I uttered. I had not called them. They had come into my domain to tell me that the paper was all washed up, and there on the table was a key piece of evidence. So I mentioned the letter. I pointed to the table, watched their eyes move along the trajectory of my arm. “I got something that might bring all this to an end.”

We got up, encircled the letter. It read simply— The head is out at the tornado bunker at Lawton's old farm.

Sam and Ed shook their collective heads and said, “God Almighty.” They were almost leaning on each other. Then their heads rose together and they just stared at me.

And was there anything more ludicrous than me in that towel? The hair on my back stood on end. I had goose bumps despite the heat. I felt naked, exposed for what I was, this half-assed intellectual who was caught up in some two-bit murder. I saw how it looked, took a step back, the unglued pieces of letters lined up. It looked like something under construction, a puzzle I was making. For a moment I thought, Jesus, they're going to think I was making this myself, like I was working with Ronny's estranged to frame Ronny . I could feel something pass between us right then, a momentary flux where they seemed to doubt just how I fitted into all this.

Ed had a frank uneasiness. His eyes just fixed on me and then back at the letter.

Sam was less obvious, but more vocal. “And you didn't call anybody about this, Bill? That's kind of hard to believe. I mean, just leaving it there like that.” But it wasn't an accusation, just a statement.

We were all enveloped in the stalemate, afraid to touch anything.

I looked at both of them. “I was scared shitless to do anything.”

Ed said, “Why?”

I sort of half laughed. “Ed. Don't you get it? Somebody's watching me, that's why. Somebody chose me to pick up the pieces in all this.” I felt a sudden self-consciousness in the choice of words, but there was no convincing reason why I should have been chosen.

Ed pressed at me. “Why you? Why not Linda Carter?” I think he knew he'd overstepped his mark. Sam was pissed. He said, “What the hell does that mean, Ed? What the hell has Linda Carter got that Bill here doesn't have?” But I think we all got the point.

And still, it came around to why I'd got the note.

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