Lincoln Perry 03 - A Welcome Grave by Michael Koryta

Author:Michael Koryta [Grave, A Welcome]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-02-25T18:30:00+00:00

“And I told him, I said, 'You get out of my house, get back in your car, and

drive straight to hell.’ Because I wasn’t about to send a man to jail in exchange

for some dollars, you know? I wasn’t. And this guy, he just piled the money

back up and put it in the bag, had this little smile on his face. Once the money

was all gone, he reached down into the bag and took out a gun. Stuck the gun

up in my eye and reached out and grabbed me by the balls. You heard that

expression, somebody’s got you by the balls? Well, this son of a bitch actually

did it. Just reached out and took my nuts and squeezed, and I thought I was

gonna die. Couldn’t breathe. He kept squeezing, and he kept the gun in my eye,

and he asked … he asked how much I love my daughter.”

Donny Ward looked up for the first time since he’d begun to talk, a quick

jerk of his head. His eyes didn’t go to either of us, though, but beyond, to the

wall where the photographs of the little girl with the gap-toothed smile hung.

“I got a daughter, but she don’t live with me. Her name’s … well, that don’t

matter. She’s my daughter, you know? She’s my daughter. And he said .. .”

He stopped talking and wiped at his eyes and looked away. His hand was tight on the duct tape; a strip of it pulled loose and clenched between his fingers,

leaving a sticky sheen on his skin.

“I had a big old bluetick, best dog you ever seen. When this guy let up on

squeezing me, he took his bag and opened the door and walked out on the

porch. Otis was out there, waitin’ on me, way he always did. When he heard the

door open he’d come running. And this guy, he just lifted the gun and shot

him. Shot him right in the center of his head. Turned back to me, cool as anything,

and said, 'You think about your daughter, Donny.’ And then he started to

walk away and before he got in the car he yelled back at me, said, “You best

have that dog cleaned up before the police get here.’”

Donny Ward’s voice broke at that point, and he stopped talking. For a long

time he sat there picking at the duct tape. Joe and I let him sit. We didn’t look

at one another.

“We’re going to find this guy, Donny,” I said.

“I wouldn’t want that, I was you.”

“I do want it. And if I see Doran again, if I have a chance to talk to him, I’ll

tell him that you weren’t a part of this.”

He cleared his throat. “He already knows that.”

“What?”

“I did what I did because I was scared. Scared for my daughter. But that

don’t mean it was easy to take. I watched Andy go to prison, and I knew he

hadn’t killed that girl. That ate me up pretty good. Kept at it, too, didn’t just go

away after a year or two, you know? Well, a while back my daughter’s mother

moved.

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