“Now you come up real slow, too.”
“How’s Jimmy?”
“You don’t worry about Jimmy. You just worry about getting your ass up here.”
“I ain’t doin’ real good, Richie,” Jimmy said. “I’m scared. I’m real scared.”
“We’ll get you to Doc Klever,” Richie said.
“I hope it’s real fast, Richie.”
All the time he spoke, Richie was slowly emerging from the cellar.
Moments later, he stood on the floor of the cabin. For all its clutter, it looked a lot better than the gravelike darkness he had just come from.
“Get over there by Jimmy,” Arnette said.
“We need to get out of here,” Richie said. “Get him to the Doc.”
“I’ll worry about the Doc. You just worry about getting over there by Jimmy.”
Richie didn’t move. Just stared at his former friend in disbelief. “Shit, man, you’re really gonna do it, aren’t you? You’re really gonna kill us,”
“I’m scared, Richie,” Jimmy said. His voice was losing power. His words were croaked out.
“Get over by him, Richie. Now.”
Richie took two steps over to where Jimmy was propped up against the side wall.
“You’re really going to kill us,” Richie said.
“Just shut up,” Arnette said.
“Is he gonna kill us, Richie? Is he really gonna kill us?” Jimmy didn’t wait for an answer. He began crying sad, almost silent tears. Then, more to himself than to Richie, he moaned, “He’s gonna kill us.”
“You’ll never be able to explain this, Steve,” Richie said.
“Sure I will,” Arnette said. He smiled. “I’ve got a good friend of mine helping me with this.”
“I didn’t kill her, Steve.”
“Right.”
“I didn’t. Honest to God. I’m starting to remember seeing somebody on the hill last night... an hour or so more it’ll come back to me, Steve. It really will. I’ll be able to figure out who killed her.”
“You better be quiet, Richie,” Jimmy said. “You better be...”
Delirium must be setting in, Richie thought. The fever from the wound was making Jimmy babble nonsense sentences. It wasn’t a good sign. Maybe it was already too late for Doc Klever.
Then Jimmy started sobbing again. Richie slid down the wall so he could reach over and give him a small hug.
“You’ll be all right, Jimmy. We’ll get Doc Klever.”
But when he looked in Jimmy’s eyes, he saw that the man was starting to withdraw from the cabin here. Pull deep into himself.
Jimmy wasn’t going to be alive much longer.
Then he turned his attention to Arnette, and was startled to see that Arnette had put down his rifle and was holding Richie’s handgun to his own forearm.
He held the weapon further away, now a full two, two and a half feet from his arm.
What he was doing was obvious: he was going to wound-himself with Richie’s gun.
A perfect setup.
What lawman wouldn’t be justified in shooting, and fatally wounding, the man who had just shot him in the forearm?
Arnette looked at him and smiled. “This is where you can kiss your ass good-bye, Richie. Right here.”
2
Susan was in the kitchen, talking on the phone to a neighbor who’d just called.
Amy walked up in front of her. Susan saw immediately that something was very wrong. She excused herself to the neighbor, then hung up.
“Senator Cummings just admitted that he accidentally killed Darcy,” Amy said.
“Are you serious?” Susan said. “My God.”
“The posse’s being called back. But what I’m afraid of is that there will be a couple of gung ho types wandering around. They’ll be all liquored up and if they see Richie, the first thing they’ll do is fire at him.”
Susan saw instantly what Amy was saying. “The old line shack. That’s where he’s hiding.”
“God, I didn’t think of that,” Amy said.
She and Richie and Steve Arnette and Susan had played down there many, many hours.
“I know a shortcut from here,” Amy said. “I can be there in fifteen minutes.”
“That posse was pretty worked up,” Susan said.
“Very worked up.”
“I’ll go with you.”
Amy put out her hand and touched Susan’s shoulder. “Thanks. I figured you might want to go along.”
They hurried to find Sam and tell him where they were going.
“Richie’ll be all right,” he said, obviously concerned with Amy’s fear and dread that it was too late to save her brother.
3
Sam was just coming out the back door of the farmhouse, Senator Cummings and his sister preceding him.
Cummings looked even sicker than he had ten minutes ago — pasty, sweaty, trembling.
Helen kept glancing at him and shaking her head. “I knew you were going to ruin it for me, David. I finally got my chance to be senator and now this happens. I knew you were going to ruin it for me.”
But Cummings didn’t seem to hear her. His eyes were fixed on some distant point up in the autumn-hazy hills.
“Letting Amy sweet-talk you like that,” Helen went on angrily. “You could’ve kept your mouth shut for once, couldn’t you?”
Sam led them over to his car and held the back door open for them.
David slid onto the backseat. Said nothing. Helen followed him into the car. She was muttering to herself.
After Sam closed the door, Amy rushed up to him and told him where Richie was.
“I can get there in fifteen minutes,” she said. “I’m leaving right now.”
Sam nodded. “That’s probably a good idea. There may be a few people who haven’t heard that the search has been called off.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
Amy glanced to the woods in the distance. “We have to go.”
As they came to the first field, Amy held the strands of twisted wire apart so that Susan could slide through.
Then she climbed through herself, and they were off, jogging toward the woods and the shortcut that would lead them to the line shack.
4
Steve Arnette changed his mind, decided to kill Richie and Jimmy before wounding himself.
“You come over here near me,” Arnette said to Richie.
“He’s gonna kill you, Richie.”
“It’ll be all right, Jimmy.”
“He’s gonna kill us both.”
Jimmy started crying again, then put his hand to the wound. “He’s gonna kill us both is what he’s gonna do. He honest to God is.” He started breathing in spasms, then. Even talking wore him out now. The wound was bad.
Richie pushed himself to his feet.
He wondered if Arnette was going to be stupid enough to kill both of them in the shack.
Arnette would want to make it look as if Richie had been trying to escape.
“C’mon, Richie, let’s go outside.”
“What if I say no?”
Arnette spoke calmly. “I’m going to count to ten. If you’re not outside, I’ll kill Jimmy right now. And I think you know I’m not bullshitting you.”
Richie stared at him. “You know the funny thing?”
“I don’t have any time for funny things right now, Richie.”
“The funny thing is that Susan should have picked you over me. You really loved her. You really wanted a life with her.”
“Maybe it’s not too late.”
Richie felt a spasm of pity for his old friend. For all his “good sense,” Arnette had always been as much of a dreamer as Richie was. He was just quieter about it was all.