“You don’t remember what you gave him?”
“No, I sure don’t. Bet you just as soon as I leave here it’ll come to me.”
“Think it mighta been a pesticide?”
“Could have been. I really don’t remember. Dreams are hazy like that. Wait a minute, wait one darn minute! I had dreams about doing it and I even thought once or twice about doing it, but I didn’t do it. Like the preacher said, ‘Thinking about it and doing it are two different things.’ You can hook me up to the lie-detector if you don’t believe me.”
“Not necessary. I heard you were experiencing financial difficulties and you confronted your father for an advance on your share of the money, and you and he got into a shoving match. True?”
“Yes, sorta true. He shoved me—I didn’t shove him.”
“You’re experiencing financial difficulties?”
“Yes. Me and everyone else. Estafay, my wife, she wants… You know how women are. Want this, need that.”
Sheriff Bledsoe studied him for a moment.
Robert Earl shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. “Why you looking at me, Sheriff? I’m telling the truth. You think I’m lying, hook me up to the lie-detector.”
Sheriff Bledsoe thought about it for a second. Why not?
Again he plugged the cord into the socket. “Okay, Robert Earl, let’s do it. If there’s any doubt of your veracity, the red light will light up.” Actually, both lights came on whenever he stepped on the pedal. “If you tell a flat-foot, bald-faced lie, both the red and black light will light up. So, Robert Earl, speak only the truth.”
“Okay.”
“What’s your full name?”
“Sheriff, you know my full name.”
“Yes, I do. We need to establish a rapport with the machine to see if it’s working properly. Your full name?”
“Mitt Romney. Just kidding. Robert Earl Harris.”
Sheriff Bledsoe stepped on the pedal and specks of light sparkled through cracks of paint in both bulbs.
“Dang! It can detect flip-flops?”
“Yes, Robert Earl. Let’s move on. Do you like snakes?”
“Yes,” staring intently at the bulbs; they didn’t light up.
“Have you ever flunked an IQ test?”
“Yes.”
“Have you ever killed anything?”
Robert Earl jerked his attention from the bulbs to Sheriff Bledsoe. “No!”
Sheriff Bledsoe stepped on the pedal and both bulbs lighted.
“Dang! Do animals count?”
“Yes, they do.”
“Yes.” The lights went off.
“Have you ever physically injured a human being?”
Robert Earl nodded.
“The machine can’t register nods. It requires a verbal response.”
Robert Earl pinched the bridge of his nose. “Uh-huh.”
“Yes or no?”
“Yes,” and pounded the arm of the chair with a closed fist.
Sheriff Bledsoe noticed sweat beading on Robert Earl’s nose and forehead. This thing just might work. “Robert Earl, have you ever killed a human being?”
“No!” Instantly both bulbs lighted. “Aw, shoots! Yes—I mean no. Maybe. I don’t know!” He squeezed his head with both hands.
“What?”
Robert Earl pounded the top of his head. “I didn’t mean to do it, Sheriff! I swear I didn’t mean to do it! The demon got hold of me.”
“Relax, Robert Earl. I’ll help you any way I can. Tell me—”
“I knew this would happen! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!” He kicked the desk. “I knew I shouldna come here. I should’ve waited till you came and got me. Noooooo! I had to go first.” He pounded his head again. “I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!”
Sheriff Bledsoe surreptitiously patted himself for his weapon. It wasn’t strapped to his waist. He scanned the room… There it was, a good ten feet away, in a holster hanging on a hat rack.
“Calm down, Robert Earl. I’m going to do everything I can to help you.”
Robert Earl jumped to his feet, snatched the cord off his chest and threw it to the floor. He held his fists in a boxing stance. “Are you going to arrest me?”
Sheriff Bledsoe pushed his chair away from the desk, for maneuvering room, and suddenly felt that all too familiar pain in his gut. “I’m afraid so, Robert Earl. You murdered a man.”
“What man?”
“Your father.”
“I didn’t murder him!”
“You just said you did.”
“I wasn’t talking about him. I was talking about somebody else.”
Sheriff Bledsoe stared at him for a long moment. “Excuse me?”
Robert Earl collapsed into the chair. “It was a long time ago, Sheriff.”
Sheriff Bledsoe scratched the top of his head, also starting to bald. “I’m not a man who easily resorts to profanity. I’d sure like to know what the hell you’re talking about?”
“When I was in the Marines, over in Okinawa, this girl, you know, a bad girl—see what I’m saying?”
“A prostitute?”
Robert Earl nodded. “It was a long time ago, Sheriff. I wasn’t married at the time. I…”
Sheriff Bledsoe waited for him to continue. He didn’t. “Keep talking.”
“I’d been drinking, too. I…” Another pause. Sheriff Bledsoe nodded for him to continue. “I’d drunk six or seven beers and a couple of Mai Tais. You ever drink a Mai Tai, Sheriff?”
Sheriff Bledsoe shook his head.
Robert Earl started to speak, but didn’t.
Irritated, Sheriff Bledsoe said, “At this rate, Social Security will dry up. Robert Earl, why don’t you get to the heart of the matter, okay?”
“We made a deal and I gave her the money upfront. Before she made good on her end she snuck off with my pants and wallet. I couldn’t get back on base without my ID card.”
“So you caught up with her?”
“Yeah, though it wasn’t as easy as it sounds.”
“And you killed her?”
Robert Earl started coughing and patted his own back. “I’m not sure I did or didn’t. I was drunk and very whizzed off. I mighta punched her a couple times. Her eyes weren’t open, but that don’t mean nothing. She mighta been faking.”
“Was there blood?”
Robert Earl nodded.
“You can’t fake blood, Robert Earl. The Marines never said anything to you about this?”
“Uh-uh. I got an Honorable Discharge, too.”
“I can’t believe you did something like that,” Sheriff Bledsoe said, for lack of anything else to say. “I’m shocked. I just can’t believe you did something like that.”
Robert Earl crossed his arms and rested his chin on his chest. Talking to the floor: “You think I’ll get the electric chair?”
Sheriff Bledsoe studied the top of Robert Earl’s head, in search of a lobotomy scar. Nothing except a receding hairline and a bald spot in the middle. Robert Earl didn’t have enough lights on in his head to plot and execute his father’s murder.
“Robert Earl, I’m going to do something I shouldn’t do. I’m going to give you a pass on this one. If I ever hear your name in trouble again, a misdemeanor or anything, you’re going to pay for old and new. Do you understand?”
A tear dropped from Robert Earl’s face and landed in the top pocket of his overalls. “Yes, sir.”
Chapter 22
For the first time in months, perhaps years, Shirley felt light on her feet. A good thing, too, because the walk from her house to the jail was almost three miles. The sun, a white orb against a blue-and-white canvas, magnified heat on the back of her neck.
A swarm of gnats hovered a few feet above her head, one occasionally breaking off to perform reconnaissance missions on her face and neck. Shirley waved them away and maintained her brisk pace, her open-toe sandals click-clocking on the hot asphalt.