“Yep.” Ned tossed the cigarette out the window. “You remember the night I got arrested? That night over by Slater Street Bridge?”
“How could I ever forget that, Ned?”
“Well, I was leaving Lydia’s that night. She’d only been dating Eddie for a few months at that point. He wasn’t even that into her. I’d been finding reasons to go see her. That night I scored y’all’s weed from Casper. It was also the first time Lydia and I, well, you know. That’s why I was coming home from that way, but I saw the wreck and just reacted. The rest is history.”
Dane took off his hat and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “Jesus, Ned.”
“Look, Dane, you need to know. It wasn’t just something cheap—Lydia and me—it was—is—real. I’m not just fucking her.”
“Okay, I get it.”
“Anyway, that night at the bridge, what happened—happened.” Ned crushed the empty pack of Marlboros into a balled-up wad of paper and cellophane. “By the time I got out, Eddie and I had a different kind of friendship. Our time at Tobacco Road had made us brothers. Lydia was also his woman—lock, stock, and barrel. He’d got out to become big-time at the farm by that point, so I stayed away. I tried to ignore what Lydia and I had.”
“But then you came back.”
“Yeah, and that was a mistake, as you can see. I should never have come back here.”
Ned’s eyes were back to staring out the window at the sheriff’s office. He wiped at his face. “I’m sorry I left, Dane. I’m sorry I left you here by yourself after what happened to Gwen and—” Ned couldn’t even bring himself to say Joy’s name. “You were my best friend, Dane. My brother. And I left you here alone because I was a selfish piece of shit, and now I’ve done dragged you into this, too.”
Dane put a hand on Ned’s shoulder. He didn’t have any words, nothing worth saying that would make a difference. “Give me that,” he said, and motioned for the crumpled-up pack of cigarettes. Ned looked down at his hands and then handed Dane the trash. “I dragged myself into this, and I promise you, I’ll get us out. The real people responsible for what happened to Tom will go down. You have to trust me, but I need to return you to Ellis before I can do that. I don’t want to, but I don’t have a choice. You won’t be in there long. I’m almost done here.”
“I do trust you, Dane, but—” Ned stumbled on his words.
“But what, man?”
“If your partner is right. If you’re looking at Eddie for what happened to Tom, you need to stop. He’s innocent.” Ned added, “Of that at least.”
“How are you so sure about that?”
Ned’s eyes hardened. “Because it was me. I did it, man.”
The car went cold and silent. “Did what?”
Ned began to look ashamed, and his shoulders sagged even more than they already were. He looked as if he’d wilted.
“Ned, what the hell are you saying?”
“I’m saying that when I came back here, me and Lydia fell back into it. It’s just not possible for us not to. I know you understand that, Dane.”
Dane stared at Ned, slack-jawed. “Ned, tell me about Tom.”
He sighed. “Tom was letting me crash there. He was never home. He took off for days at a time to hunt or fish or whatever. I was there by myself most of the time, so that’s where—”
“You and Lydia would meet.”
“Yeah. She came to me. It’s not like we could be seen anywhere. It was secluded. Perfect even.”
“And?”
“And, well, Tom was supposed to be gone for a few days, so Lydia came over to spend the night. Tom must’ve forgot something because he came back the next morning. He saw us together in his house, in his bed, and he freaked out. He started talking about how if Rooster found out he’d kill all three of us. How I’d made him party to shit he didn’t want no part of. He was screaming at Lydia. Called her a whore. Told me to pack my shit and get out. Dane, I pleaded with him, but he insisted that he was going to tell Rooster. It was a death sentence, Dane—for me and her.” Ned shook his head and stared at the floorboards. “Jesus, man, I’m not really sure what happened next, but after he said he was going to tell Rooster, he headed for the door and I tried to stop him but couldn’t. I was drunk and somehow ended up holding Tom’s gun. I don’t even remember doing it, but I did. Lydia freaked out. I tried to calm her down, but Tom was dead. I couldn’t do anything about that, but I wasn’t going to let Lydia go to fucking prison, man, for something I did. Or worse, have Rooster find out why she was there.”
“So you told her to run. And you what, got drunk?”
“I told her to run, yeah. I told her to run like hell, and I’d figure something out.”
“And your figuring something out was passing out against a tree half naked with the murder weapon?”
Ned shrugged. “I didn’t have time to think. As soon as she left, I chugged a jar of hooch, paced around the front yard, and I guess I just fell out.” Ned let out a small laugh. “I didn’t even think to put my pants on. I can’t imagine what you must’ve been thinking when you got there.”
Dane wasn’t amused. “A man is dead, Ned. There’s nothing funny about that.”
Ned turned sharply in his seat. “Yeah, I know that. And if I could change that, I would, but I can’t, so I’m just going to confess and be done with it. And listen to me, Dane. I won’t tell anyone that Lydia was there. I’ll deny telling you if I have to. If it was Gwen you’d do the same thing.”
“Stop,” Dane said. “Stop talking about Gwen.”
Ned stopped. He just sat there melting even more into the seat. They both stared out the window at the wall to the county lockup before Dane downshifted the truck into reverse and backed out of the parking space. Ned looked confused. “Where are you going?”
Dane tossed the wadded-up plastic and paper cigarette pack onto the floorboard of the truck. “I promised to bring you back, but I didn’t say when.” He wheeled the truck out of the lot and onto Main Street. “I figure we’ve still got enough time to run by Pollard’s and get you some proper smokes first if you plan on laying all this out to Darby.”
Ned wiped at his face again. “Thanks, Dane.”
“Yeah, Ned.” They drove about half a mile before Dane asked, “Why did you ask for me? What was the point?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I just wanted to see you again before I was sent away for good. It was stupid. I shouldn’t have.”
Dane didn’t correct him. He drove a few more miles up the road to the local gas station and bait shop. He pulled into the gravel lot and shifted into park.
“And you’re positive Eddie doesn’t know—about you and Lydia, I mean?”
Ned studied Dane’s face hard before unclicking the shoulder belt and opening the door. “No fucking way, man. He’d have killed us both already.”
Dane nodded and handed him a twenty to pay for the smokes. “I want my change back.” Ned got out and Dane watched him disappear through the front door of the store. He felt his leg buzz and pulled out his phone.