Cane Toad Hop: A Hambone and Cletus mystery by Elias Barnes

Author:Elias Barnes [Barnes, Elias]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Backroads Publishing LLC
Published: 2023-12-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

He was hiding in the corner of the room, watching Molly sleep on the velour sofa in her trailer while the Andy Griffith Show played in black and white on the television, the theme song tinny through the speakers. Jimmy walked in the front door and stood over her, a wicked smile on his face as he reached for her with his tattooed forearms and greasy black hair.

Jimmy didn’t notice him standing there, and no matter how much he screamed and jumped up and down, Molly wouldn’t wake up. Finally, Jimmy looked at him in a way that said he liked Hambone being there in the corner, watching him wrap his thick fingers around Molly’s neck. She woke up then, her eyes fluttering then flying open at the same time as her mouth did to scream—but she didn’t scream because Jimmy had cut off her air and all she could do was gag and slap his strong hands around her throat.

Hambone woke with a start and shut his mouth so fast his teeth clacked together. He had been the one gagging, and he realized that there had been a fly or some other bug in his mouth, crawling around, tickling the back of his throat. He gagged again then spit the smashed fly out into the dirt. He passed his hand across his lips and wiped away a stream of drool that had run down his chin in his sleep. It was cooler now; the sun had worked its way all the way across the sky and started its descent into the west.

He sat up and rubbed his eyes, listening intently. He could still smell smoke, but it didn’t seem like anyone was moving around in camp. Standing slowly, he crept as far outside of the shelter as his leash would allow and looked around. Jimmy’s tent flap was still down and zipped, and Ray was nowhere to be seen. Coals of a small fire crackled and sputtered around a large black pot that threw off tendrils of steam.

The knife was where he had left it. Holding it between his teeth, he made short work of the black electrical tape and started on the parachute cord. It took longer than he wanted, but he worked quickly and only poked the ham of his thumb one time, ignoring the blood that welled up from the wound. He ran three steps toward Jimmy’s tent and stopped. Maybe Jimmy had her tied up inside, and there was no way Hambone would be able to free her; maybe she was hurt and couldn’t make a run for it through the tall grass with him. Dark doubt filled Hambone’s mind and he felt like he didn’t know where to run next, didn’t know what to do. This was one of those times when he wished he had someone older around to make decisions, he was afraid anything he might do might set off some chain reaction that had a horrible outcome and he would be at fault.

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