let ’em quit or work during the school year. Mrs. Harris
is pretty strict about that.”
“Not Mr. Harris?”
“Well, you know Buck.” He paused and looked at
them dubiously. “Or do you?”
“Never met him that I know of,” said Dwight.
“Me neither,” said Jamison.
“Buck didn’t mind cutting corners if it would save a
few dollars.”
“In what way?”
Lomax shrugged. “Hard to think of any one thing.
He’s one of those up-by-his-bootstraps guys. Always
saying he started with nothing and built it into some-
thing. Wasn’t completely nothing though, was it? He
had what was left of his granddaddy’s farm. Gave him a
place to stand while he leveraged the rest. Not the most
patient man you’d ever want to meet. Couldn’t bear to
see any workers standing around idle if the clock was
running. Thought they ought to keep picking tomatoes
or cutting okra even if it was pouring down rain because
that’s what he did when he first started. Always pushing
the limits.”
“You got along with him though?”
“Enough that I never quit him. Came close a couple
of times. But he paid good wages for hard work and
156
HARD ROW
he knew he didn’t have to be breathing down my neck
every minute to make sure I was keeping to the sched-
ule. And most of the time he could laugh about things.
He liked to keep tabs on whatever was going on. He’d
come out here in the fields and get his hands dirty once
in awhile or plow for a few hours. That man did love to
sit a tractor.”
“Yet you weren’t surprised when he didn’t show up
for two weeks?”
Again the shrug. “I knew he and Mrs. Harris were
fighting it out in court. I figured that’s where he was.”
“You have a couple here named Ramon and Strella?”
“Ramon? Sure. Only they’re not on the place now.”
Once more he consulted his Palm Pilot. “They moved
over to Harris Farm Three back around Thanksgiving.
That’s down near New Bern.”
“Any objection if we question the people still here?”
Dwight asked.
“No problem. Either of you speak Spanish?”
As both deputies shook their heads, Lomax unclipped
the walkie-talkie on his belt. “Let me get Juan for you.
He’s pretty fluent in English.” When the walkie-talkie
