“I need a drink,” she said.
“And me,” Dimples said. “Say, what happened to that guy with my five bucks? He’s been gone a couple hours. I tell ya I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw this trailer. He’s probably bending an elbow in some bar and guzzling up my five spot. I knew I should have . . .”
She stopped and stared at Gee Gee and me. We must have all felt it at the same time. It was a tight feeling of terror that caught my throat. I could feel a chill travel up my back.
“My Gawd,” Dimples whispered, “he’s killed her, too.” She looked wildly around the trailer, then she ran her hands through her yellow, wiry hair and shrieked, “He’s killed Evangie like he killed the others.”
I pushed Gee Gee away from the door and threw it open. As I ran toward the office I heard her slap Dimples.
“Shut up,” she said. “You’re nuts. Stop it now.”
The trailer park was dark. The dim lights from the trailers didn’t travel any farther than their own doorsteps. Low murmurs from the various radios seemed to follow me as I ran toward the trailer I thought Mother might have visited. Little Johnny’s father opened the door when I banged on it. He squinted out into the darkness.
“It’s me,” I said breathlessly. “Is my—have you seen my mother?”
“Well, no, I haven’t,” he said slowly. “I did see her this afternoon though. She was talking to some man in an automobile. Think she drove away with him, but I’m not sure. Why?”
“Was she alone?” I asked ignoring his question.
“Yes, I think she was. There’s no trouble, is there? That sure was a terrible thing to happen to a sweet little woman like her. Imagine finding a body in your own bathtub! My wife and me was just listening to a report about it on the radio. My wife here has an idea about . . .”
I left the man talking to himself and ran on toward the office. I should have telephoned immediately, I thought, instead of wasting time with stupid questions. I had a numb feeling, but I kept telling myself that nothing had happened—nothing serious, that is. I had seen Mother get herself out of so many scrapes that it was silly for me to think that anything could happen now. But the numbness made me dizzy. A feeble light in the office window showed me I was heading in the right direction; it helped clear my head, too.
“Hello,” I said to the operator. Then I gave her the number.
Then there was a click. Then I heard ringing. The doctor answered the phone. I had reached him so quickly that I didn’t know what to say. At least I don’t remember what I said to him. He told me later that I sounded very calm.
“She’s all right,” he told me. I do remember that. “She said she left a note for you. Didn’t you get a note?”
“Yes,” I said. “We found it. I’m sorry if I bothered you. We, I got a little nervous. So much happening and everything. Tell her to stay at the sheriff’s and we’ll pick her up.”
I placed the receiver back on the hook and leaned against the mouthpiece. It was as though my legs had suddenly collapsed under me and I was hanging mid-air. I felt in my pockets for my cigarettes. Then I remembered that I left them on the stove. I remembered how frightened Dimples had been, too. I turned quickly to go back.
I’m sure I wasn’t nervous when I went out into the darkness again. I closed the door behind me and walked briskly in the direction of our trailer. As my eyes became accustomed to the change, I thought I could see the outline of our house. It was so much larger than most house trailers and I thought I recognized the lean-to tent. It just seemed to be farther from the office than I thought it was. I couldn’t remember walking that far.
It seemed to be getting darker, too. I stopped for a moment to get my bearings. Behind me the office light cast a weak glow. Ahead, there was nothing but darkness. I had a sudden impulse to run back to the office. There was light there, there was a telephone. Ahead there was nothing.
“Biff! Biff!” My voice startled me. It made me feel more alone to hear no answer. Then I ran. I ran as fast as I could right into the black void ahead. As I ran I heard myself screaming, “Biff! Biff!”
Why don’t people in their trailers hear me, I thought. Where were the lights from them? Where was the sound of their radios?
I stopped still and held my breath. Then I began counting. “When I get to ten,” I said, “I’ll go back to the office and telephone. I’m just lost, that’s all. One, two, three . . .”
I couldn’t go on. I forgot what came after three. I forgot which way to turn to the office. Instead of running, I made myself walk very slowly, very quietly. I could feel the dust brushing against my ankles as I moved one foot after the other. My hands were before me as though I were playing blindman’s buff.
Then my foot stumbled on the bundle. I knew it was a dead thing even before I leaned down and touched the sticky substance that was blood. My fingers were stuck together when I pulled my hand away. I knew they were red with blood but couldn’t see them. All I could see were strange lights crossing each other in front of my eyes. White lights like small spots that were coming closer and closer.
Then I heard a mumble of voices, like the voices of the balcony boys urging me on during my specialty.
“There should be music playing,” I said suddenly. “And I don’t work in a white spotlight. I should have a surprise pink or a special lavender. There’s no applause.”
“Stop that gibberish, dammit.” It was Biff’s voice! I could feel him shaking me. “I won’t have you fainting again. Come on, pull yourself together.”
“There was only one spotlight now, and it was on the dead bundle at my feet. I felt Biff’s hand turning my face away from the light that was centered on the ground.
“Don’t go looking at it,” Biff said gently. “We don’t want any more trouble from you now.”
I didn’t have to look at it. I knew who it was, one glance had been enough. I think I knew even before I saw it in the light. In that one glance I had seen the knife gleaming as it stuck out of the man’s back. The knife wasn’t buried deeply. Hardly deep enough, I thought, to make him lie so still and quiet. His face was twisted and his eyes were open. They looked surprised.
“It must have hurt him, Biff.” It was a silly thing for me to say but I knew Biff wasn’t listening to me. He was listening to Mandy. I couldn’t see him but I recognized his voice.
“He’s cold and stiff,” Mandy said quietly. “Look, he’s still got the five spot in his hand. Look how he’s holding it. Dimples can kiss that five goodbye. They’ll never get it away from him now.”
“Go on over to the office and call the sheriff,” Biff said. “Gyp and I’ll wait here.”
Mandy went on talking as though Biff hadn’t spoken. He tugged on the five-dollar bill. Then he tried to force the dead hand open. “Boy, now I know what they mean by death grip.”
Biff had turned on his flashlight and I could see the look of wonderment on Mandy’s face change slowly to fright, then terror.
“You mean I got to walk back there alone?” he asked.
“Either that or Gyp and I’ll go and you can stay here with . . . him.”
Mandy hesitated a moment. Then he got to his feet. “O.K., I’ll go.”
He whistled loudly as he walked away.
20KEEP TALKING IF YOU’RE NERVOUS,” BIFF said as Mandy started back to the office.
“I’ll be running too fast for that,” Mandy replied. Then he was gone.
Biff handed me the flashlight to hold as he bent over the body at my feet. He was careful not to touch it. He just looked at it silently. Then he handed me a handkerchief.
“Wipe off your hand, Punkin,” he said.
All the red wouldn’t come off. It was like makeup, I thought. Some blood was on the flashlight. I wiped that, too.
“Seems that he would have fallen on his face, doesn’t it?” Biff said. “If they got him from behind like this the force of the blow should have thrown him down. He’s been frisked, I think.”
“Frisked?”
I knew the word but it sounded strange coming from Biff.
“I mean that someone rolled him over to look through his pockets. See? This one is still turned inside out like.”
“Don’t touch him,” I said, thinking more about the blood than the sheriff.
“No, honey, I won’t. You’ve done enough of that for all of us. What did ya do, fall over him?”
Biff didn’t wait for me to answer. He took the flashlight from me again and let it play around the surrounding ground. As the light traveled I could see where I had made my mistake. Instead of turning a little to the right when I left the office, I must have turned left. Biff found a cleared space a few feet from the body. He put down his coat for me to sit on. Then he lit two cigarettes. We didn’t speak until Mandy came back. We could hear him whistling loudly. Then he sat down beside me. He was out of breath and beads of sweat were on his forehead.
“I got the sheriff and the doctor,” he said after a moment’s rest. “I called the saloon, too. They’ll wonder why we’re late for the show. I just told ’em we had an accident. I thought it was better not to let this thing out until the sheriff takes a look.”
“My boy,” Biff said, “you are getting to be a cop’s delight.”
“I broke in the act already,” Mandy replied. “One more corpse and I’m ready for the big time.”
We sat silently until we saw the headlights and heard the car drive up. The sheriff and the others gathered around what was left of Cliff Corny Cobb. Biff showed them the pocket that had been turned inside out. He explained how I had touched the body.
“Were you three together?” the sheriff asked casually.
I thought Biff hesitated before answering. “No,” he said finally. “Mandy and I separated a while back. We were looking for Evangie, and Gyp here went to telephone and got lost. I heard her screaming, guess Mandy did too, so we just followed her voice.”
“That’s about right,” Mandy said.
The doctor looked up from the body. He seemed to be puzzled about something.
“When did you start all this traipsing around?” the sheriff asked. He had seen the doctor’s expression and must have recognized it.
“Not more than a few minutes,” Biff said.
The sheriff smiled at the doctor.
“Well, let’s get him out of here and let’s get these people together again. I left Evangie—your mother—at the trailer. The two gals were locked in separate rooms there, like they were afraid of each other. You must have all had quite a time of it. That Dimples one was having hysterics. The Gee Gee Graham girl had to almost break down the door to get at her. Did someone tell ’em about this, or did they just get an idea that something was wrong?”
The sheriff spoke casually but he kept his eyes on my face.
“Dimples was afraid that something had happened to Mother,” I said. “She’d been gone so long, and then we realized how long Corny had been gone and she . . .”
“She thought your mother might have killed him . . .”
“Oh, no,” I said quickly. “It was the other way around. She thought maybe Corny had—that’s why I telephoned the doctor.”
As we walked toward the trailer Biff told the sheriff about the four thousand dollars. The men had put the body in the back of our car and had driven away with it. The sheriff was alone with us. He took the money from Biff and put it into his pocket. Then he took out his gun and kept it in his hand until we were in the trailer.
Mother was the only one who was composed. She sat on the daybed, sipping a hot toddy. “All this excitement,” she said. “Just because I was away for a few hours.”
I knew she was pleased, but Dimples lifted her swollen face as Mother spoke. She shoved a strand of hair from her bloodshot eyes and stared at the sheriff.
“Something’s happened,” she said. Her voice sounded as though there might be a cord around her neck choking her. Her hands gripped the arms of the chair as she leaned forward. “What is it?” Dimples asked. “What’s happened?”
Gee Gee pushed her gently back into the chair.
“Biff said he was going to call the sheriff,” Gee Gee said. “Nothing else is going to happen, is it, Sheriff?”
The sheriff shook his head slowly.
“No, I don’t think anything more could happen,” he said. He watched Gee Gee massage Dimples’s head for a moment. Then he looked at the bottle of rye on the stove.
“I brought it to them,” Mother said. “When I stopped in to get the dogs’ dinner. I don’t approve of so much drinking but I felt an asthma attack coming on and hot toddys sometimes helps me.” She smiled over her glass at the sheriff.
“Why did you lock yourself in the bedroom?” the sheriff asked suddenly. He watched Dimples as he spoke, watched her tremble and watched her hands go white from gripping the arms of the chair.
“I—was afraid,” she said chokingly.
“How long were you in there?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know anything. I just want to get out of here.”
Dimples jumped to her feet and ran toward the door before the sheriff could grab her. He seized her shoulders and shook her.
“Look here now,” he said roughly. “Cliff Corney Cobb was found stabbed in the back a few feet from here. Are you sure you didn’t pretend to have hysterics so you could sneak out the back door and kill him?”
Dimples stared at the sheriff while he was talking. Her mouth fell open. Then suddenly a crafty smile made the sides of her mouth curl.
“I’m sure I didn’t leave the trailer,” she said slowly. Her narrowed eyes turned to Gee Gee. “But I can’t swear that she didn’t.”
In a split second Gee Gee would have hit Dimples. Biff moved too quickly for her, though. He held her tightly while she let her arms flay about.
“Why don’t you stop?” Biff said softly. “Can’t you see they want you to do just what you’re doing? As long as we stick together, they can’t do a damn thing to us. We fall out and . . .”
“I can’t help it,” Gee Gee said. “She knows damn well I kept pounding on that door every minute she was in there. What in hell would I kill Corny for, anyway?”
Biff released hold on Gee Gee. He led her slowly but surely to the bedroom. As they passed the stove, Biff picked up the bottle.
Gee Gee relaxed. “It’s O.K. now,” she said. “I was just sore for a minute.”
“I’m sorry, too,” Dimples said. She relieved Biff of the bottle and poured out two drinks, one for Gee Gee.
Biff stood in the bedroom doorway and spoke softly to Hank. “I don’t know much about the corpses, but I got an idea Corny’s been dead for a couple hours, anyway. In fact, I got an idea he was killed while we were all together in the office,”
“What makes you think that?” the sheriff asked.
“Because of the five bucks for one thing. Dimples had just given it to him to buy a bottle. Seems to me he’da put it in his pocket if he’d had time. He wouldn’t have loitered either, not with a fiver for a bottle in his hands. He never spent much time thinking that over. When he had the dough and the thirst he moved fast. Then I caught the look the doc here gave you when he was examining the body. He was telling you rigor mortis had set in, wasn’t he?”
“The blood was fresh,” I said.
“I got that figured out, too,” Biff said with a careless wave of his hand. “I think you dislodged it when you tripped over the body. I took me a good look at the wound. There was congealed blood around it. That’s one reason I didn’t ask you right away if you’d killed him.”
“Me?” I shrieked.
“Let’s not go through all that again,” Biff said impatiently. “Somebody killed him. It could have been you just as easy as anybody else.”
The sheriff pulled out a chair and sank into it heavily.
“You’re saving me a lot of breath,” he said to Biff, “but if you don’t mind, I’ll do the questioning.”
He turned to Mother and spoke more
kindly. “What were you doing before you came to my office this afternoon?”
Mother looked down into her empty glass for a moment before answering.
“Well,” she said slowly, “I’d had an asthma attack. After it cleared up we started out to visit a few people. We got as far as Mr. Hopkins’s trailer, that’s little Johnny’s father, and then the car drove up and we got in and drove to town. That’s all.”
“We?” the sheriff asked.
“Mrs. Smith and me, of course. She had been helping me with my asthma attack.”
“And the car? Who drove that?”
“Oh, the car.” Mother seemed surprised that the sheriff didn’t know about that. “It belonged to the insurance people, Mamie’s insurance people. She had to go into town to sign some papers, and I went along for the ride. I don’t trust those insurance people. I know all about them and I wanted to be there to see that Mamie got what was coming to her. You might say I went along for mercenary reasons.”
“Did you go with her to the insurance man’s office?’ the sheriff asked.
“Oh, yes,” Mother said. “But everything seemed to be all right. There were so many questions, though, and so many things to sign and everything. It was stuffy in the office, too, so I just thought I’d take a little walk. The office was quite close to yours, so I just dropped in to say hello.”
The sheriff smiled. “I’m mighty glad you did,” he said. “Then for all but the time you were in town Mamie Smith was with you, eh?”
Mother nodded yes.
Biff was busy heating water for another hot toddy. He took the potholder from the hook behind the stove and wrapped it around the handle of the pan. He placed a spoon in the glass with the liquor and sugar and added the water. Then he handed it to Mother.
“You say you were all together?” the sheriff said later to Biff. “When was that?”
“It was when Evangie was having her attack. We left for the office to have a drink and talk a little without her hear—without disturbing her.”
“That was when Cliff Cobb left for the liquor, eh?”
Mother Finds a Body Page 17