Don't fire off hasty, Curtis.
Hasty, hell, I go by natural steps, by god, one at a time. I'll bet he's lit out. I'll bet that's what he's done. He's lit.
And leave his wife?
It's his neck — why not?
Why not, says Tott. Bessie, will you draw your breath in pain to tell our story? It's Omensetter's neck. And a neck's a neck. It's quite a lot. Why not? Says Tott.
Will you shut up, god damn it, will you?
Oh you are hoarse, you're very hoarse. I believe you've caught something.
Boylee's strong, and Boylee had a time up, Chamlay said, holding out an open hand to Orcutt and folding in a finger. And like you say, Henry had no strength at all, he said, folding in another. So I conclude that Henry didn't get up where we found him by himself. Chamlay formed a threatening fist. What do you say, Doc? Want to bet, he said, fanning his other fingers. Lucy Pimber says the last time she saw Henry, he was off to Omensetter's to collect the rent. Chamlay bent a finger. That rent was on Henry when we found him. He folded back another. So, he said — they met. Both fists drew angrily together, though Chamlay grinned.
Step by step, eh, Curtis, Doctor Orcutt said.
One more step, by god, and you'll be standing on him.
Give up if you want, George. You was always quick to fold, but I think I'll call him. Ah. Thank you Olus. I've got some sort of pill in here.
To pour in the porches of my ear.
Somewhere…
Never mind him.
… if I can find it.
We got all these Omensetters here now. Menger got them girls in. I say let's find him, Hawkins said.
I say he's lit.
So you can hunt him, Bessie, like you hunted for Hog Bellman?
What do you know about that?
I've heard you tell it.
Hawkins laughed and said: you ever hear a tale that Tott told honest? He's a glory awful liar.
… a liar…
You like to talk about the law, Curtis — ah, here it is — but the law won't like it. Here they are. One is all you take now — maybe, in a bit, another…. Jethro?
Furber said: then you shall bring forth that man or woman who have committed that wicked thing, you shall bring them forth to the gates, and there you shall stone them with stones until they die.
Will you give off groaning, George, said his brother.
Orcutt might as well have spit in my eye for all the good he done me, George said.
You said you were calling, Curtis said. I've more cards.
Ah, maybe. But you're not all that strong. There's cards you ain't got, for one thing — not yet anyhow. Now the way Henry's hanging — up so high — that's a high card, Curtis, like you say, but whose hand's it sitting in? Boylee's strong, you say. Boylee had a time. Okay. How strong would a man have to be to climb up that tree with a dead man hanging to him somehow? I hope you don't think Henry was alive then?
Why are you playing his hand?
Furber said: at the mouth of two witnesses, or three, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death, but at the mouth of one witness he shall not.
He'd be a dead weight, Curtis, all the way. And then he'd have to be hung out there and tied.
Chamlay slammed his palm down.
Jethro — that pill now…
We've hearts like the teeth of dogs, said Jethro Furber, crouching in the clothing.
Like I said, there're facts you haven't got yet. Have you looked our Henry over careful? Was he strangled? broke his neck? Hah — maybe he was shot. Or cut his throat with a razor, or died of the drizzles and the trot.
Ah — shit Doc—
There'll have to be an autopsy — that's what I'm saying.
Listen, Furber said, when I was a little boy and learning letters — A…, B…, C…, love was never taught to me, I couldn't spell it, the O was always missing, or the V, so I wrote love like live, or lure, or late, or law, or liar.
Furber wiped his nose noisily on someone's sleeve.
Look, he said, if it comes to law, I'll testify. I'll tell the truth for the first time.
Get out of them coats, god damn it.
I'll say I lied. I lied and lied. I spread hatred against him — all by lies. I turned myself against him-with my lies. I folded his own heart back against itself, and burned it black with lies. And after my lies, he spelled love: luck.
Get him to swallow that, will you, Doc.
I turned the land against him — planting it with lies. His wife was turned against him; his children turned against him — from my lies. I turned Mat, and all his friends, and all of Gilean, against him through my lies. I put it in your minds to be against him — all by lies. I turned even God against him by my lies.
Take Doc’s pill, Jethro, said Chamlay gently, you're just not well now. Everybody knows it's not in you to lie, whatever else—
With lots of water now — it's like a square one. You need any help to get to the kitchen?
Menger's asleep, that sonofabitch.
Careful, George, you've both the same ma.
I've a fuckin' eye.
I wish l could sleep. I'm dead, but I'm nervous somehow, Hawkins said.
Well put, Puker — dead but nervous — yes. Henry has a lively twitch.
Hawkins swore.
He'll leave, Furber now said earnestly. He promised me. He'll leave.
All those questions you've been asking. Curt: why would he kill himself? why would he choose the middle of a woods? why would he hang himself so high? why would he hold so tight onto that money? why this? why that? well you can ask those questions new again, if you think Omensetter killed him. There are just as many, and the same ones.
So no one would find him. It's simple, Doc. He just hid the body.
That's right, you're no bait, bodiless…
Hey — he's by the baby.
You okay, Furber?
Oaky… I am oaky… Yes, yes, coming…
Anyway, Omensetter found him, Tott said, sitting up. No point to hanging him so high in that case, seems to me.
Throw off suspicion, Curt said.
Didn't throw yours off, did it, Orcutt said.
It threw yours!
Oh, Curt's suspicion's all inside him, Tott said. Past his underwears.
Very good, Bessie. Why you're growing! There's no end—
Shit.
You say shit to a preacher? shit?
Anyhow, it would have been lots easier to bury him, seems to me, Knox said. Lots of easy places.
That's it, Jethro — in the kitchen — get some water.
In a fish, Furber said. I also know a man who's buried in his brother. And then I know another…
Menger's asleep, that sonofabitch.
If the ground was frozen, Curt said, then how easy? if the ground was frozen?
… another… here's another, I know — his tablet reads:
Mary was my wife,
and Mary was my mother,
merry was my life,
until I met my brother.
Still, Curt, there are a dozen better places: rocks, brush, river—
He stole from me my wife,
he stole from me my mother;
he stole from me my life,
lest I should love another.
Bravo, Jethro — not a bad tune, boy.
Not with the ground hard as marble.
But Curt, for god's sake, it wasn't, Olus said. We'd had only a few frosts when Henry disappeared, and the ground was easy.
This pill will spell love literally, and sleep my bittering tongue, but should I swallow?
How do we know, though how do we know that Henry was murdered the moment he disappeared.
Come on, Curt — come on.
Okay — so Omensetter waited with the body. He had Henry hid somewhere — a barn, a basement. Or maybe Henry went away — Cincinnati, Columbus — and then when he came back, Omensetter—
… towns beginning in C…
Ah, nah. Straws, Curtis. They won't hold you.