That's all right, Bell said. He'll talk to me. I've known him for years.
He called the number and Catron answered.
How're you doin Ed Tom.
I aint braggin.
What can I do you for.
Bell told him about the wreck. Yessir, Catron said. Sure I remember it. There was two boys killed in that wreck. We still aint found the driver of the other vehicle.
What happened?
Boys'd been smokin dope. They run a stopsign and hit a brand new Dodge pickup broadside. Totaled it out. The old boy in the pickup he climbed out and just took off up the street. Fore we got there. Truck had been bought in Mexico. Illegal. No EPA or nothin. No registration.
What about the other vehicle.
There was three boys in it. Nineteen, twenty years old. All of em Mexican. The only one lived was the one in the back seat. Apparently they was passin around a doober and they went through this intersection probably about sixty mile a hour and just T-boned the old boy in the truck. The one in the passenger side of the car, he come through the windscreen head first and crossed the street and landed on a woman's porch. She was out puttin some mail in her box and he didnt miss her by much. She set off down the street in her housewrapper and haircurlers just a hollerin. I dont think she's right yet.
What did you all do with the boy that took the gun?
We cut him loose.
If I come up there you reckon I could talk to him?
I'd say you could. I'm lookin at him on the screen right now.
What's his name?
David DeMarco.
Is he Mexican?
No. The boys in the car was. Not him.
Will he talk to me?
One way to find out.
I'll be there in the mornin.
I look forward to seein you.
Catron had called the boy and talked to him and when the boy walked into the cafe he didnt seem particularly worried about anything. He slid into the booth and propped up one foot and sucked at his teeth and looked at Bell.
You want some coffee?
Yeah. I'll take some coffee.
Bell raised a finger and the waitress came over and took his order. He looked at the boy.
What I wanted to talk to you about was the man that walked away from that wreck. I wonder if there's anything that comes to mind about him. Anything you might remember.
The boy shook his head. Naw, he said. He looked around the room.
How bad was he hurt?
I dont know. It looked like his arm was broke.
What else.
Had a cut on his head. I couldnt say how bad he was hurt. He could walk.
Bell watched him. How old a man would you say he was?
Hell, Sheriff. I dont know. He was pretty bloody and all.
On the report you said he was maybe in his late thirties.
Yeah. Somethin like that.
Who were you with.
What?
Who were you with.
Wasnt with nobody.
The neighbor there who called in the report, he said there was two of you.
Well, he's full of it.
Yeah? I talked to him this mornin and he seemed to me to be about as unfull of it as they come.
The waitress brought the coffee. DeMarco poured about a quarter cup of sugar into his and sat stirring it.
You know this man had just got done killin a woman two blocks away when he got in that wreck.
Yeah. I didnt know it at the time.
You know how many people he's killed?
I dont know nothin about him.
How tall was he would you say?
Not real tall. Sort of medium.
Was he wearin boots.
Yeah. I think he was wearin boots.
What kind of boots.
I think they might of been ostrich.
Expensive boots.
Yeah.
How badly was he bleedin?
I dont know. He was bleedin. He had a cut on his head.
What did he say?
He didnt say nothin.
What did you say to him?
Nothin. I asked him was he all right.
You think he might of died?
I got no idea.
Bell leaned back. He turned the saltcellar a half turn on the tabletop. Then he turned it back again.
Tell me who you were with.
Wasnt with nobody.
Bell studied him. The boy sucked his teeth. He picked up the coffee mug and sipped the coffee and set it down again.
You aint goin to help me, are you?
I done told you all I know to tell. You seen the report. That's all I know to tell you.
Bell sat watching him. Then he got up and put on his hat and left.
In the morning he went to the high school and got some names from DeMarco's teacher. The first one he talked to wanted to know how he'd found him. He was a big kid and he sat with his hands folded and looked down at his tennis shoes. They were about a size fourteen and had Left and Right written on the toecaps in purple ink.
There's somethin you all aint tellin me.
The boy shook his head.
Did he threaten you?
Naw.
What did he look like? Was he Mexican?
I dont think so. He was kindly dark complected is all.
Were you afraid of him?
I wasnt till you showed up. Hell, Sheriff, I knew we shouldnt of took the damn thing. It was a dumb-ass thing to do. I aint goin to set here and say it was David's idea even if it was. I'm big enough to say no.
Yes you are.
It was all just weird. Them boys in the car was dead. Am I in trouble over this?
What else did he say to you.
The boy looked around the lunchroom. He looked almost in tears. If I had it to do over again I'd do it different. I know that.
What did he say.
He said that we didnt know what he looked like. He give David a hundred dollar bill.
A hundred dollars.
Yeah. David give him his shirt. To make a sling for his arm.
Bell nodded. All right. What did he look like.
He was medium height. Medium build. Looked like he was in shape. In his mid thirties maybe. Dark hair. Dark brown, I think. I dont know, Sheriff. He looked like anybody.
Like anybody.
The kid looked at his shoes. He looked up at Bell. He didnt look like anybody. I mean there wasnt nothin unusual lookin about him. But he didnt look like anybody you'd want to mess with. When he said somethin you damn sure listened. There was a bone stickin out under the skin on his arm and he didnt pay no more attention to it than nothin.
All right.
Am I in trouble over this?
No.
I appreciate it.
You dont know where things will take you, do you?
No sir, you dont. I think I learned somethin from it. If that's any use to you.
It is. Do you think DeMarco learned anything?
The boy shook his head. I dont know, he said. I cant speak for David.
XI
I got Molly to run down his relatives and we finally found his dad in San Saba. I left to go up there on a Friday evenin and I remember thinkin to myself when I left that this was probably another dumb thing I was fixin to do but I went anyways. I'd done talked to him on the phone. He didnt sound like he was waitin to see me or he wasnt waitin but he said to come on so here I went. Checked in a motel when I got there and drove out to his house in the mornin.
His wife had died some years back. We set out on the porch and drunk iced tea and I guess we'd of set there from now on if I hadnt of said somethin. He was a bit oldern me. Ten years maybe. I told him what I'd come to tell him. About his boy. Told him the facts. He just set there and nodded. He was settin in a swing and he just rocked back and forth a little and held that glass of tea in his lap. I didnt know what else to say so I just shut up and we set there for quite some time. And then he said, and he didnt look at me, he just looked out across the yard, and he said: He was the best rifleshot I ever saw. Bar none. I didnt know what to say. I said: Yessir.
He was a sniper in Vietnam you know.
I said I didnt know that.
He was not in no drug deals.
No sir. He was not.
He nodded. He wasnt raised that way, he said.