If he ever managed to extricate himself from this murder charge... he was going to live a very different life.
A very different one.
The old line shack.
That’s where Richie had said he was going.
So that’s where Jimmy was going, too.
He wanted to see Richie before Susan did. Because when Susan told Richie that Jimmy had kept a secret from them... Richie was going to be awfully mad.
And then maybe he’d never speak to Jimmy again.
And the one friend whom Jimmy treasured more than all the others in the world... would be his friend no more.
He ran on... through woods and clearings... clearings and then woods again... running... looking for his very best friend in all the world.
Steve Arnette had guessed correctly. After leaving Susan’s place, he’d parked his car in a copse of trees and then walked back to the field that ran right up to the farmhouse.
He crouched there, with his rifle, for the next twenty-one minutes.
A couple of times, he almost gave up. Maybe Jimmy didn’t know where Richie was, after all.
Arnette still wasn’t sure of his plans.
The reward money was damn tempting... but the biggest share of it could only be won if he actually killed Richie.
The funny thing was, as much as he hated the guy, and as much as he enjoyed stomping the hell out of him that drunken night not long ago... actually killing Richie was another matter.
And then he realized why.
Because Susan would never forgive him.
He’d have all this money to buy a divorce with... and it wouldn’t matter.
Because Susan wouldn’t have anything to do with him.
Jimmy appeared.
Just like that. No warning whatsoever.
Came flying out the back door of the farmhouse. Raced to the outbuildings and hid behind the grain bin... then hid behind the old barn... then hid inside the new barn.
All Arnette could do was hold his position... and wait... trying to figure out what the crazy bastard was doing.
Susan called out for him. But Jimmy didn’t answer.
Sam and Amy came. Amy called out for him, too, even went looking for him.
By now, Jimmy was over in the bushes on the edge of the alfalfa.
Amy couldn’t see him.
And then Jimmy was up. And running.
Arnette couldn’t afford to run straight across the field to catch up with Jimmy. If he did, Amy would see him.
He had to run wide, into the woods themselves, and then run between the pines to find out where Jimmy was in all the trees.
Luckily, Jimmy wasn’t what you’d call a skilled tracker.
For one thing, he made these really eerie humming sounds as he ran. And for another, he was wearing an orange shirt, which wasn’t exactly a great trick for hiding.
Arnette lay back, played it easy.
All he had to do was keep at a half-ass run and he’d keep Jimmy in sight.
Arnette ran on... through woods and clearings... and woods again.
Ran on. With his rifle.
Ran on. Right to Richie.
Sixteen
1
Amy watched Chief Hadley’s car pull into the driveway and stop. Hadley usually kept his car clean and shiny. Traveling these gravel roads today made that impossible.
He got out of the car and walked up to the backyard, where Amy stood with Sam and Susan.
“How you doing, Amy?” he said.
He had his enemies in town — he was way too political a being to ever be a truly competent lawman — but he was decent to most people. And he’d always been more than decent to Amy. Hard as she sometimes tried, she couldn’t dislike him.
Before Hadley could even speak, he had to deal with Susan’s frisky collie. The dog mounted Hadley’s left leg, slurped his hand, and then aimed its nose directly at Hadley’s crotch. You could see the khaki-clad lawman wince.
“Git, git,” Susan said, pushing the dog away.
“Sam’s got something you should listen to, Chief,” Amy said.
“You sounded pretty damned mysterious on the cell phone,” Hadley said to Sam.
Sam held up the button and handed it over to Hadley.
“This supposed to mean something to me?”
“Jimmy found it last night,” Sam said. “By Darcy’s body.”
“What the hell was Jimmy doing with Darcy’s body?”
“He was going to Richie’s cottage,” Amy said. “I’d made some homemade bread and asked him to give it to Richie.”
“That’s when he found this,” Sam said.
“It’s a button.” Hadley turned the thing over and over in his fingers, assessing it. “Just a button.”
“Not ‘just’ a button, Chief,” Sam said. “It belongs to Helen Cummings.”
At the mention of Helen’s name, Hadley looked up sharply.
“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” he said.
“It means that Jimmy saw something last night,” Amy said.
“Oh? And what was that?”
Chief Hadley’s jaw muscles were already bunched. His eyes were narrowed, angry.
Amy said, “He saw Senator Cummings and Helen putting the body on the hill behind Richie’s.”
Hadley surprised her. Though he looked as if he were about to start shouting at her, he paused a moment and then broke into a grin. He looked fifteen years younger, wearing that grin.
“Well, I saw something last night, too, Amy. And you know what it was?”
He didn’t wait for her to acknowledge his question.
“I saw the pope put a body behind my house.”
“This is true, Chief,” Amy said.
He scowled. “Is it?”
“Yes.”
“Because Jimmy said he saw it?”
She hesitated. “Yes.”
“Jimmy ever tell you about the time he was watching TV and one of the Sesame Street characters came right out of the screen and sat on the couch with him?”
“No, but—”
“Or about the time he was riding his bike in the woods and he saw Santa Claus sitting up on a tree limb playing cards with a squirrel?”
Sam said, “Chief, we know how Jimmy can get sometimes. He likes to fabricate things. But this is different.”
“How is this different?”
“The button,” Amy said. “You’ve got the button.”
“What the hell good is a button, Amy?” Hadley said. “He could’ve gotten this button anywhere.”
“Why don’t you show it to Helen?” Amy said. “See if she recognizes it.”
Hadley’s jaw muscles were bunched again.
He glanced around the farm, settling his eyes on the new John Deere tractor down by the new barn.
Susan said, “I think Amy’s right, Chief. I think you should show the button to Helen Cummings.”
Hadley looked back to Amy. “You happen to remember how you got through college and law school, Amy?”
“This isn’t easy for me, Chief,” Amy said.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“I got through on a scholarship that Senator Cummings got for me.”
She was ten again, and being chastised by the principal.
“You know how many other people in this town got through college on scholarships that Cummings got for them?” Hadley said. “You have any idea how many businesses he’s brought to this town?”
“I didn’t say he wasn’t a great man,” Amy said.
“No, you didn’t say he wasn’t a great man. You just said that he and his sister are murderers.”
“Jimmy saw them,” Amy said.