“You’re right, Charles, but this ain’t just some backwoods lab explosion. Wait a minute—how did you know I was at Bear Creek?”
“Because I know everything, Dane. That’s why. And I don’t condone freelancing. Especially in your condition.”
“I’m not in any condition. Don’t do that. And I’m not freelancing, either. It’s just that this Sheriff—Ellis—he’s a little new to all this, and like I told you, he just caught a real-deal murder—and it’s a weird one at that.”
“I don’t care, Kirby. You need to be taking it easy, and besides, I—”
“I am taking it easy. Stop worrying.”
“I’ll worry if I damn well please, and like I said, I called you for a reason—”
“Well, give me a few minutes and I’ll call you back. The victim up here is pretty well-known, and not only did he get gunned down on his own front porch, but as a bonus, a buddy of mine from back at McFalls County FD is involved.” Dane looked at Ned and covered the phone. “You sure there’s nothing else you want to tell me? This guy is good people.”
“No,” Ned said. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the tree. Dane put the phone back to his ear. “Anyway, the reception is for shit out here and the sheriff is getting antsy. I can hit you back and tell you all about it when I leave here.”
“Hold on—Dane, I—”
Dane tapped his phone off and slid it back into his pocket. “Sorry about that, Ned. Now back to what I was saying. This looks bad, and we’ve only got another minute or so together without anyone else around, so if there’s anything you want to tell me, now’s the time.”
Ned didn’t hesitate to spit out another “No.”
“Was there anyone else out here with you and Tom before you blacked out?”
“No,” Ned said again, but this time there was a slight hint of hesitation in his voice. He looked down at his covered feet when he said it. Dane had known this man a long time. For more than thirty-five years. He also knew Ned could never look someone in the face when he was lying. But it had been almost ten years since Dane had seen him. People change. Ned kicked the sheet off his bare foot and rubbed his heel in the dirt to relieve an itch—or to keep Dane from thinking about any more questions to ask.
“Ned, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me everything you know.”
“I don’t know anything else.”
“C’mon, Ned—”
“Trust me, Dane. I don’t know any more than you do.”
“Trust you? Ned, I haven’t seen you in over what—nine years? Now all of a sudden, out of the blue, you call me out to—to this?”
Ned shuffled under the tree and scratched his back against the crumbling bark. “I’m telling you everything I know, Dane. I came over here a few nights ago to drink with Tom. I got lit up last night. I blacked out and woke up out here with that blond-headed jackass over there poking me with a rifle. I asked for you because the last I heard, you were wearing the sheriff’s badge in Fannin, and I wasn’t interested in pleading my case to a kid.”
“I gave that sheriff thing up a while ago. It was a bad fit. And it doesn’t sound like you’re pleading anything to me but guilty.”
Ned scratched his back on the tree some more. “If that’s how you’re taking it, then I guess I am, because other than what I told you, that’s what happened and I haven’t moved from this tree since. That’s it. All of it. I got nothing else to tell. I wish I did.”
“Right.” Dane wasn’t happy with the nutshell response, but he didn’t press it—not yet. There was no time. “Well, Sheriff Ellis was kind enough to let us have this conversation, but he’s going to have to do his job now. I can assume you’re not going to give him any more grief, right?”
“There’s not much grief I can give as long as I’m wearing a toga.”
“I’m glad you recognize that. I’m going to tell him that cuffs aren’t necessary, but he doesn’t have to listen to me. He’s still gonna have to bring you down to the station, so it’s his decision.”
“You mean he needs to arrest me?”
“Yes, Ned, he does. No way around it, but don’t get all worked up about it. I’m going to ride down to the station, too, and take a look at all this.” Both men sat in the grass and studied each other. It had been a long time. Dane stood up. He listened to both his knees pop and groaned. “I’ll follow y’all down to the station and we can try to figure out what’s what from there.”
Ned picked up another empty jar of shine, shook it a bit, and set it back down on the ground. “You got a smoke?”
“I sure don’t. I’m eight years quit.”
Ned’s eyes glazed back over. “Well, good for you, man. That shit will kill you.”
Dane almost laughed, but he didn’t. He and Ned just shared another moment of uncomfortable silence. Their faces had aged over the years, but the sadness they’d both carried around since they were young men was still as fresh as it had ever been. “You said you told me everything.”
“I did.”
“You said the last you heard I was wearing the sheriff’s badge over in Fannin. So you must’ve been home for some time now.”
Ned lowered his head. “About a year or so.”
Dane felt the sting of that admission. “You’ve been home that long and you didn’t think to call me until you found yourself in trouble?”
“I thought I was doing you a favor.”
“By calling me out to this shit?”
“By not calling you at all.”
“So where have you been staying all this time?”
“Here and there. Why does it matter? I didn’t want to see anyone.” Ned picked at the grass growing high under his palms and tossed clumps of it rooted to chunks of red dirt across the ground as if he were skipping stones over a lake.
“You know, I spent a long time worried about you, Ned. We all did. A postcard while you were gone would’ve been nice, or a phone call once you got back. I could’ve used you around, you know.”
“I’m sorry about that, Dane. I never said I was a great friend.”
Dane cocked his head. “Yeah, you kinda did.”
“Well, add that to my endless list of disappointments.”
Dane sighed and tucked his hands down deep into his cargo pants. “All right. I suppose now ain’t the time to talk about it anyway. How about I stop by Pollard’s on the way to the station and pick you up some smokes?”
“That would be grand.”
“You still a Camel man?”
“I’m a ‘whatever I can get’ man.”
“All right, then.” Dane pushed himself off the tree he was leaning on and let out a little grunt.
“Are you okay, Dane?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“You don’t seem fine to me.” Ned held a hand over his eyes to block the sun in his face until Dane stood directly in the light. It backlit him and Dane’s face went full dark like some sort of phantom.