“Mother, you didn’t kill him. You couldn’t have known.”
“Depends on who you asking,” Robert Earl said. “She hasn’t said anything about the gopher poison in her closet.”
“Shirley,” Leonard said, “what’s stopping you from kicking his ass? You didn’t hesitate tossing me across the room. Kick his ass and make him shut up! He’s not helping the situation here at all.”
“What’s he talking about?” Ida said. “Gopher poison?”
“Mother, I found a box of poison in your closet.”
“Your father bought it for Shirley and she never got it. Shirley, you remember you told your daddy you were having problems with raccoons near your house?”
“Yes, you’re right, Momma.”
“Ruth Ann!” Eric called from outside, “please come help me! Please, Ruth Ann!”
“Robert Earl,” Shirley said, “are you still feeling suicidal?”
“Nope. Not at the moment.”
“Who is that?” Ida said.
“Eric,” Leonard said.
“Why don’t he come inside?”
“He wants Ruth Ann, Mother.”
“What in heaven for? And where’s Shane?”
“Ruth Ann!” a woman shouted. “Ruth Ann, I know you hear me!”
“Who is she?” Leonard asked.
“Estafay!” Shirley said. “Estafay! I knew it was her!”
“Ruth Ann, you’ve got thirty seconds to get out here, or I’ll blow your boyfriend’s testicles off. I mean it, too! I sure will. You better get out here. Now!”
“If you do,” Shirley shouted, “I swear to God, Estafay, I’ll kill you!”
“Who are you?” Estafay shouted.
“It’s me. Shirley. Estafay, let Eric go!”
“Come out and get him, fatso!”
“I’m going to kill that heifer! Momma, I swear to God, I’m going to kill that crazy heifer!”
“Robert Earl?” Ida said. No answer. “Robert Earl?”
“What?” Robert Earl said, his voice far off again.
“Is he outside?” Ida asked.
Shirley pointed the light at Robert Earl’s dusty hiking boots inside the chimney.
“How did he—What’s he doing in there?” Ida asked.
“He’s hiding, Mother.”
“Robert Earl,” Ida said, “get outta there! Your wife is out there—you hear her! Go out there and talk some sense into her, so everybody can go home. Get out of there, Robert Earl, and start acting like a man.”
“Estafay killed Daddy, Momma,” Shirley said.
“How you figure that, Shirley?” Robert Earl said.
“Ruth Ann,” Shirley said, “you remember the day before the barbecue? You told Estafay she didn’t have to buy all the meat herself. You tried to give her some money and she wouldn’t take it. The meat she brought to the house was separated in Tupperware bowls. One for chicken, another for ribs, one for hot dogs and one for neck bones.”
“Yes,” Ruth Ann said. “You’re right.”
Robert Earl said, “Why y’all trying to pin it on Estafay? She’s a sanctified woman. A little high strung, yes. She’s still a good, sanctified woman. Shirley, you gave everybody else the benefit of doubt—give Estafay one, too.”
“You might be right, Robert Earl. I doubt it. There’s only one way to find out. You go out there and talk to her. Maybe she’s teed off because not one of us contributed to her church building fund. Who knows? You go out there and find out what her problem is.”
“Ruth Ann,” Estafay called, “you’re down to five seconds!”
“Robert Earl, what are you going to do?” Leonard said.
“All right, already, I’m going. Somebody help me out of here.”
Leonard moved to assist him—and then a shot rang out.
“Wait a minute,” Robert Earl said.
Chapter 41
Eric, on his knees, Estafay’s fingernails pinching his neck, whispered what little he remembered of The Lord’s Prayer.
Estafay said, “I don’t think Shirley cares if you live or die, whore.”
“Shirley is nothing to play with. I wouldn’t hurt me if I were you. Shirley will beat the shit out of you, then beat you again for messing yourself. I were you I’d leave now.”
“If she’s so tough why hasn’t she brought her fat butt out here? She cares the same what happens to you as Ruth Ann. Diddlysquat!”
“Can you blame her? You got a gun. Put it down and she’ll come out. I know she will.”
Estafay squeezed his neck harder and he felt a warm trickle slide down his chest. “Do you feel me as stupid?”
“No, I don’t,” he grunted.
“Ruth Ann,” Estafay shouted, “you’re down to five seconds.”
“In prison, Mrs. Harris, them women lift weights all day and love to wrestle. Two or three of em hold you down and make you eat something real ugly and smelly. Let me go—no wrestling for you.”
“How would you know?”
“Believe me, I know. The smell worse than sardines. It’ll leave a bad taste in your mouth Listerine can’t touch. You need to think about the long-term consequences of what you’re doing.”
“Here’s something for you to think about.”
Kapooow! The gunshot echoed through the woods. Eric’s left foot jerked and he felt a strange sensation… a burning pain…
The heat flamed up his leg, burned in his groin, sizzled in his stomach, heated his chest and burst inside his head…
“You shot me! You shot me! You shot me!”
“Scream!”
“You shot me!”
“I said scream!” Estafay stepped on his injured foot and hopped up and down on it.
“Aaauugggggghhhh!”
“Louder!”
“Aaaaauuggggggghhhhhhh!”
The door opened and slammed shut… opened and slammed shut. “No, Shirley!” Ida said. “We’re not letting you go out there!”
“She’s killing him!” Shirley cried. “Momma, she’s killing him. Please, Momma, let me out!”
The door opened and slammed shut, opened and slammed shut, opened and slammed shut…
“Help us, Ruth Ann!” Leonard said, breathing hard. “We can’t hold it!”
Ruth Ann didn’t budge, paralyzed by fear and guilt.
Shirley screamed… and the door opened and slammed shut again.
