He opened it and looked at the contents and? 'Miss Wilson! Miss Wilson! Get the Little Rock FBI on the horn! And fast!'
Chapter 51
Earl was escorted to his car by two Hot Springs plainclothesmen whose demeanor indicated they'd be just as happy to beat him to a pulp as to spit. He drove the seven blocks to the hospital with a black-and-white ahead of him and one behind him, and the plainclothesmen behind them.
He parked and went in, and found the boy sitting wanly in the waiting room. His left side was heavily bandaged and his arm immobilized by a sling, and his face appeared pale and forlorn.
'Well, ain't you a sight,' Earl said, glad to see the kid was basically all right. That meant he hadn't lost them all. He'd saved one. He'd gotten one through it. That at least he'd done, when he'd failed at all else.
'Howdy, Mr. Earl,' said Carlo. 'Good to see you.'
'Well, sir,' said Earl, 'guess my last official act is to take you to the station and see that you head back to Tulsa. Then I'm to get out of town and don't come back no nevermore, or these fine gents'll throw me in jail.'
'Yes sir.'
'Got the car right out here. Can you make it? Do you need a wheelchair?'
'No sir. I'm fine. I lost some blood, that's all, but the bullet passed through without breaking any bones. I been ready to leave for two days.'
'Guess all them important boys had to decide what to do with us.'
'Yes sir. Heard they was going to throw us into jail.'
'But heroic Fred Becker stopped that. Yes sir, that's what I like about Fred, he always stands by his men.'
'He's a real hero, that one,' said the boy.
They walked out into bright sun, and all the cops were lounging on their bumpers. Earl waved.
'Howdy, y'all. We're going to the train station. Let me know if I get too far ahead of y'all now.'
The cops stared at him grimly; now that he was disarmed and beat up badly, he didn't scare them a lick, no sir.
He opened the door for Carlo, then went around and got in.
The hospital was in the north end of town; they drove south down Central one last time to the train station. The eight bathhouses
Fordyce
Superior
Maurice
Quapaw-Ozark
Buckstaff
Lamar gleamed on the left and on the other side of the boulevard, ancient, corrupt Hot Springs marched onward, the Medical Arts Building, the Southern, all the smaller casinos and brothels, on down to the Ohio.
'We could still shut that place down,' joked Earl. 'Two men without guns, with a cop escort. That would at least surprise 'em.'
'Give 'em a good laugh, wouldn't it, Mr. Earl?'
'It sure would, Henderson.'
Two blocks beyond they reached the train station. All evidence of the shootings of four nights earlier had vanished by now; the place hummed with pilgrims come to take the waters. The Missouri and Pacific 4:30 lay next to the station, cutting off the view of the railyard beyond, so at least they didn't have to look at the killing ground, the switching shed or the culvert.
Earl bought the ticket, one-way to Tulsa, $8.50, with just about the last of his cash. Supposedly the state would forward a last paycheck, or so he had been promised, but he'd believe it when he saw it.
The train wouldn't leave for half an hour, so the two men sat down on the bench. Discreedy, the policemen and the detectives set up a watch around them.
'You want an Eskimo Pie, Henderson?'
'Yes sir.'
Earl went back inside, got the boy the ice cream and returned. While the boy ate his ice cream, he lit up a cigarette and stared at the train just ahead of him.
'Mr. Earl,' said the boy. 'How come you knew where that culvert was?'
'What?' said Earl.
'How come you knew where that culvert was?'
'Hmmm. I don't much know. Must have seen a map. What difference does it make?'
'How come you knew how steep the hill behind the Belmont was? How come you knew that street ran downhill not far from Mary Jane's? How come you knew where the manager's office at the Horseshoe was? Mr. Earl, was you in this town before you got here with D. A.?'
Earl didn't say anything. Then he said, 'What difference does it make?'
'I have to have this out with you, Mr. Earl. Mr. Parker wouldn't want me to. But I have to know, Mr. Earl. If you murdered your father, I have to know, and then I have to work out what to do next. I can't let a murder pass, no matter that the man who committed it saved my life. I'm a police detective and that's what I'll be till the day I die.'
'You are a good cop, Henderson. Wish I could say the same.'
Earl lit another cigarette. The boy stared at him intently.
'It makes sense, Mr. Earl. You were going to the Pacific. You thought you were going to die over there. You had to have it out with your daddy, to punish him for beating your brother till he died, then hanging him up in the barn, and beating you till you ran away. But you couldn't disappear during normal duty, because the Marine Corps would keep a record. But when the division moved out for the West Coast from New River, that would be your time, Mr. Earl. You could disappear and come back and your sergeant pals would cover for you. You could get here and wait for him and recon the place and learn it up one side and down t'other. So you meant to beat him up and you shot him instead. You drive him out to Mount Ida, you dump him, you hop a freight, then another troop train, and you're on your way to Guadalcanal and who would know? Is that how it was, Mr. Earl?'
'Say, you are good, ain't you?' said Earl.
'You tell me, Mr. Earl. Mr. D. A. would let it pass as bad old business, but I have to know. I investigated it. I can't get it out of my mind. It kills me to think you done such a thing, but I can't look myself in the mirror if I don't know.'
'Wouldn't that be some end? Survive the Pacific, survive all this and get the chair because some young cop has the genius to see into everything?'
'Some people need killing. No doubt about it. Your daddy, he's one of them, from what I can tell. I saw the pictures of that boy. I ain't even sure it's wrong, what you did. But I have to know. I just have to.'
The mention of his brother hit Earl like a slap in the face.
'You are right,' he said. 'Some people deserve killing. And you got everything pretty right too.'
He took a breath. 'I will tell you this once and I will never speak of it again. I will never answer no questions on this and if you want to believe me or not, that is your decision, but you should know by this time I am not in the habit of telling lies. I only told one that I know of, when I told D. A. I had never been here.'
'I believe you, Mr. Earl.'
Earl took a puff, blew a blue cloud of smoke out before him. Passengers hurried this way and that, kids squawked, mamas bawled, dads lit pipes, traveling men read the paper, cops kept watch. It was America as it was supposed to be.
