Minus Tide

all shapes and sizes. He could hear coyotes in the distance. Knew that the rocks he’d stacked on top of her would not keep them from her for long.

Chapter 48

James took Bill Calder’s keys but he didn’t shoot him like he’d wanted. This was no time to add vigilantism to his resume. He’d shot a cop and a high school football coach and he didn’t know if he’d killed them both. And he knew what they did when someone shot a cop, even if it was someone like Dawkins. If they don’t kill you themselves they’ll catch you and you’ll stand trial. And by the time your chance for parole comes up you’ll no longer see the point in getting out.

As soon as he started the Subaru he was blasted by FM Country. Bill and the others just stood watching him drive away, afraid that if they moved too soon he would turn around and come back. He watched Bill’s face in his rearview mirror until he turned off. Saw the surprise still working his face. Wondered if Bill’s family would be wishing James had gone a little farther off the deep end.

Farther up into the mountains there were downed trees everywhere. James had to lever down the window of the Subaru so he could navigate. The night air was redolent of sawdust. Many of the trees he saw appeared to have been trimmed in a hurry and pulled to the side.

The suitcase of money sat next to him. A bullet had passed through it to the other side and he could see a hint of green at the edges. He wanted to open it but he needed both thumbs to unsnap the locks. When he saw that the highway was going to straighten for a few miles he pulled off the hoodie and draped it over the suitcase. He would have to look at the contents again later. When he checked into a motel or pulled over onto some back road for a few minutes of sleep.

As he drove he struggled to focus. His thoughts kept getting tangled up with Ann and the men he’d shot. He wasn’t any good at turning off the switch. Not like the guys he’d met in Mexico who worked in the drug trade. You didn’t mess around with them, kept your past off limits, didn’t even allow yourself to dream about it because they had people who worked for them who would find out about it. He’d made it clear right away that he had no interest in their business, that he was only living there because he needed a place to be alone and think.

Ann’s going to be fine. It’s not going to matter if she hates you for what you did. She’ll get over it faster that way. Besides, you weren’t even back for very long. You’re never going to see each other again so close the door and move on.

He glanced over at the suitcase to make sure it hadn’t gone anywhere. Like the first night he had his new truck and Ann had sat next to him in the cab. For a moment he’d felt like the luckiest man in the world and he’d kept turning his head to see if she was still there and he would’ve hit a deer had she not seen it and let him know.

It wasn’t easy to imagine what it was going be like. But in a few days he was going to wake up as another person in another town with all the identification to prove it. How long could he go before he had to look for a job, he wondered. People are going to notice eventually. It kind of defeats the purpose then. You have all this money and you’re still not free.

Chapter 49

He’d told her almost all of it except what happened to her mother’s eyes. How it haunted him still. A body that lies out at sea won’t remain beautiful for very long.

“I missed her,” he’d said. “Even if she went to the cops before she died.”

She’d refused to show them any identification. Had spent an hour telling them everything she knew about him and Duane. When her body was found two days later the cops had no idea she was the same person.

He told Ann that as soon as he’d heard about it on the news he’d left town, leaving out the part about stealing her mother’s body from the morgue and burying it in the desert.

At a pay phone in Bakersfield he’d called the sheriff and told him they shouldn’t talk for awhile. He returned to New York and prepared for the worst. Three months went by. Nothing. But after six months he began to have a strong feeling that he was being watched. It was the feds finally. He’d been told that he’d know when they were around. And as far as he knew they weren’t the buyable kind.

It wasn’t until after his car accident that the feds made their move. He was an injured animal and they’d seen their chance to come in for an easy meal. While he was in the hospital having his empty eyehole sewn shut and his limbs set in casts, they arrived at his house with warrants to tear apart everything he had. When the doctors said he was well enough to leave they took him into federal custody.

“So why are you doing this to us?” Ann said. “We had nothing to do with what happened to you. We were only kids.”

“Where’s the money?”

“I don’t have it. James does.”

“Good. Then we’ll soon know who’s lying or not.”

Ann laughed at him and for a moment he was jarred back to a memory of her mother floating in the motel pool with her arms around him, her breath smelling of vodka and lemon.

“You’re not going to catch him. He knows this area better than you. You haven’t got a chance.”

“Why are you defending James? He left you to die didn’t he?’

“I know him. I’m not defending him.”

Cyclops smiled. He replaced the duct table over her mouth and smoothed his thumb over her lips to seal it.

“He can’t run forever. I will find him some day.”

He stood up and walked over to where he’d tied Chad to a post. He took out his knife and tilted it at an angle so he could see stars on its steel surface. Thought about all the throats it had parted so neatly.

The knife came down against Chad’s head. Cyclops brought up the blade as if he were cutting off the feathery tops from a fistful of tall summer grass. Ann screamed when he turned and showed her Chad’s blonde hair.

Chad still lay unconscious, hadn’t even seen him coming.

Cyclops walked back. Ann was crying. He tore away the tape on her mouth and sat down in front of her.

“Please don’t hurt him.”

“It’s only hair. It’s not going to kill him.”

“He doesn’t know anything about the money. He has nothing to do with this at all.”

“You think the money is everything Ann. But it’s not. It’s been about you. I wanted to meet you.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re a loose end.” He took the handful of Chad’s hair and tossed it into the wind.

“My mother’s been dead for years. This has nothing to do with me.”

“But it does.”

“You’re crazy.”

“You’re free to think that. But let me tell you something. When I got out of prison I was not at all the man that went in. Prison is like a factory that presses coins. They think they’re turning us into something they can dump back into the normal currency some day. But they know it’s not true. That most of us come out ready to put our new education to use.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“I think you do. As well as anyone I know. But other than taking my money you mostly walk the straight and