“Sure, mister. Okay.”
“Do you remember what it was that Carl told you after the bombing?” He wasn’t sure this girl was consistently capable of remembering her own name. But he had to try. BethAnne might well be the only avenue he would ever have into Carl Beamon’s memories of that day. He had to ask her.
“I think … look, mister, this don’t sound like much. Okay?”
“It’s all right no matter what it is, just so long as it is true. I promise.”
“Yeah, well, all I remember Carl saying … I mean, he didn’t come here to talk, really. He was sweet on me, you know? He practically loved me. That’s why he always told people he was my boyfriend. I mean, he knew better. But he liked to sort of believe it himself and he told everybody that. I guess I shoulda been mad at him but I wasn’t. I thought it was kinda cute. You know?”
“Sure. So what was it he said?”
“He came by like he usually did after he’d got some work. He didn’t have work every day, you know. When he did, he’d buy me my Delphium’s and bring some by and then we’d spend a little time together and then he’d go home. So anyway, this one night he came by and he gave me my Delphium’s like always, but this one night, he wasn’t interested in … you know, the usual stuff. I mean, he didn’t even try to do anything. I don’t know that he could have done it if he’d tried, he was that upset. He just brought me my bottle and fixed me some tea with the elixir in it, and then he wanted to just kinda sit and talk. Except he wasn’t making much sense. It was more like he was talking to himself than to me. You know what I mean, mister?”
“Sure, BethAnne. It’s like that sometimes. D’you remember what it was Carl was saying to himself that night?”
“It didn’t make no sense.”
“That’s all right. Tell me anyway, please.”
“Well, first off he kept saying over and over, ‘Why’d she do that? Why’d she go and do that?’ Something like that.
“And then?”
“Then later on he said … a couple different times, I guess it was … he said, ‘She was so pretty. Who would of thought a pretty girl like that would go and do something like she done.’”
“BethAnne frowned as if in concentration. “Does that make sense to you, mister?”
“No,” he admitted. “I can’t say that it does.”
“Not to me neither.”
“Was there anything else?”
BethAnne shook her head. “That was the last time I talked to Carl. No, it wasn’t. No, sir, it wasn’t for a fact. That was the last time Carl came to visit me. But a couple days after that, I think it was, I ran into him at the pharmacy where I get my medicine. Another gentleman was nice enough to give me money so I could buy myself some Delphium’s and I’d gone to the store to do that, and I ran into Carl there. I thought he was there to buy me some Delphium’s, that he’d be by to see me that night. I asked him if he was coming over, but he said no, he wouldn’t be able to do that, that he had to meet a couple fellas that wanted to talk to him.” She frowned again. “What else did he say? There was something … oh, yeah. Now I remember. He said after he talked to these two men he would have lots of money. He said he could buy me a whole case of Delphium’s then if I wanted. Of course I didn’t believe him. But it was kinda sweet of him to say so anyhow. Carl wasn’t usually a tease like that. I don’t know why he would of said any such thing that time.”
“But he didn’t come by again?” Longarm asked.
“No, of course not. That was the same day he was killed. That same afternoon. I’m pretty sure it was.”
It was Longarm’s turn to frown. “You’re sure he said he was going to meet two men?”
“Yeah, that’s what he said. Two of them.”
“He didn’t say who they were or what they wanted?”
“No. Just that he was going to meet these two men and then he’d have lots of money and he’d buy me a bunch of my medicine and him and me could have a real long party. He wanted me to go off somewhere with him. He’d mentioned that a bunch of times before, but he’d never had money enough to make good on it. He said he would this time.” She sighed. “But I never saw him again after that afternoon. Look, mister, you aren’t gonna forget what you promised, are you?”
“No.” Longarm smiled and stood up, reaching for his Stetson. “I tell you what, BethAnne. Show me where you get your medicine and I’ll get it for you now. Would that be all right?”
She gave him another of those bright, perfect, utterly insincere smiles. “Would you like to have a little party first, mister? I wouldn’t mind. Honest. You’re handsome and you look clean. And I don’t look like so much, but I can move it real good, and that’s the natural truth.”
“Thanks, BethAnne. You’re a mighty pretty girl, and I’m awful tempted,” he lied. “But it’s against the law for me to mess with a witness. I could lose my job if I did anything like you say, and the both of us might go to jail.”
“Oh, gosh, mister. They wouldn’t give me my medicine if I was in jail, would they?”
“No, I don’t think they’d allow Delphium’s Elixir in the jail, BethAnne.”
The overlarge smile flickered and was replaced by one that was not quite so big but that at least looked sincere this time. “Can we go get that medicine now, please?”
“Sure, BethAnne. Show me where, and I’ll buy it for YOU.”
Chapter 32
Longarm was so tired he felt like he might fall over sideways at any moment. And if he did he would likely start to snore and not wake up until tomorrow morning. What with the visit to Deborah last night, and then going out to see Billy with his very own eyes, he hadn’t gotten a wink. And he was damn sure starting to feel it. He had to get some sleep soon or his eyeballs might drop clean out of his face. They already felt gritty and burned like a pair of coals in a dying fire.
But, dammit, he wasn’t done there in Aurora yet. He still knew too damn little about Carl Beamon and what the man might have seen that day the bomb went off.
BethAnne Mobley had been a help. More so than she realized. But surely there was more to it than BethAnne’s confused and muddied mind was able to recall.
Then Longarm had a stroke of genius—if he did say so his own damn self—and headed for the boardinghouse where Beamon had lived.
“Ma’am,” Longarm said to the tall, rather hefty woman who opened the door to his knock. “Could I put up here for a single night?”
“My rate is four dollars for the week.”
“I only need the one night.”
“I don’t run a hotel here, young man. I offer rooms by the week or by the month. No exceptions.”
“I could pay a dollar and a half for the one night, ma’am. You do include board, don’t you?”
She sniffed. “You could put up at the hotel over on Main for half that.”
“But they wouldn’t have meals as good as what I’ve heard you serve.”
“Who told you that, young man?”
It had been a hell of a long time since he’d been called that.
“Fella name of … let me think … Beamon? Something like that.”
“He boarded with me, that’s true enough. Are you a friend of his?”
“An acquaintance is all,” Longarm said, “but he spoke highly of you. That’s why I thought of you when I discovered I have to stay over tonight. Your people haven’t finished with supper yet, have they?”
“A dollar and a half, you say. Cash money?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I would have to wash the sheets after only one night’s use, you know.”
“I could go as high as a dollar seventy-five. My boss won’t reimburse me for anything more than that.”
“You’re a businessman, Mister …?”
“Long,” Longarm told her with a smile. “Custis Long.”
“My name is Willets. Missus Willets, if you please.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You don’t have luggage, Mr. Long?”