"Fuckin' tambourine," Berni said, and she dropped her face into her hands, and again, Windrow saw the flash behind the venetian blind. Was there somebody out there?
Wendy put her hand on Berni's thigh and said, "We can do it. We can make you into the hottest thing on the stage. I've got these big cow tits, but you're what every cowboy wants… It'll work."
Slibe said, "Something else about this contract…"
SO THEY ARGUED into the evening, watching the clock, and finally Wendy turned to Slibe and said, "We gotta get down to the Goose. But I'm gonna do it. I gotta talk to the other guys, but I'm gonna do it."
And to Windrow: "Are you in town overnight?"
"Yup."
"So let's get together at the studio tomorrow, we can talk to everybody at the same time, and I'll give you the contract. You coming to the Goose?"
"Gonna get something to eat first, if you got a recommendation."
Wendy looked at Zoe, who said, "Probably… the Duck Inn. Right downtown."
"This is bullshit," Slibe said. "I say we take the whole thing to a lawyer tomorrow. What's the rush?"
"No big one-day, two-day rush," Windrow said. "But I've got to get somebody lined up, quick. I got a hole I'm trying to fill. You take it, fine. You don't-well, we're lining up people for next summer and fall. That'd be your next shot with us. If Johnny Ray hadn't drove his Mustang into a ditch, there wouldn't be this hole."
"I'm doing it," Wendy said. "I'm doing it."
18
Virgil put his hands on his head and asked, "What the hell you mean you can't find him? We talked to him. We saw him coming out of this place…"
Sig said, "The Duck Inn."
"… three hours ago. He's probably back at his motel-"
"He's not," Zoe said. "I went over there and knocked on his door. I even went out to the airport and talked with Zack."
"Airport guy," Sig said.
"And Jud's plane is still parked there."
"Probably in a bar."
"I cruised all the downtown bars. He was supposed to be there right at seven."
Virgil looked at his watch and turned to Sig. "I must've picked you up about then."
"I looked at the clock just before you got here and it wasn't quite seven."
"So we must've got down to the Duck place at…"
"Maybe ten after."
"So he was already running late," Zoe said. "He doesn't know anybody in town, he told us that. I couldn't find him. Wendy and Berni and Cat are out looking for him… I mean maybe he's drunk out in a ditch somewhere…"
"Wasn't drunk when we saw him," Sig said, picking up some of her sister's anxiety.
Virgil said, "Aw, fuck me. If that guy's off on a toot somewhere… Do we know what kind of car he was driving?"
"It was a red Jeep Commander," Zoe said. "He was out talking to Wendy this afternoon, when I went out there. I left at the same time he did, so I saw the car."
Virgil went out to his truck, got his phone, and called Sanders. "This may be a complete false alarm, but maybe not: we need to get your guys looking for a red Jeep Commander driven by a guy named Jud Windrow…"
SIG SAID, "Virgil-go."
He didn't want to. "This isn't an investigation, it's a search," he protested. "All I could do is go out and drive around."
"I can see what's going through your head, okay? We can't do this, not with you all cranked up, looking at your watch every two minutes. You're going to be getting phone calls. So go. Find the guy. I'll be here." She smiled at him. "I don't really think anything'll break off."
HE WOUND UP in the driveway with Zoe, and said, "Thanks a lot."
"Well, what was I supposed to do, Virgil?" she asked.
"Yeah, yeah…"
She said, "I do feel bad. Siggy likes men, and since Joe's been gone… and Joe…"
"What about Joe?"
"Joe's a heck of a guy," Zoe said. "He wanders off, like this, and it's no way to have a marriage, but he was a heck of a guy and she misses having a guy around. You know, if he'd been an asshole or something, maybe she'd want to sign off men. But Joe wasn't. Isn't. He's funny, he's hot, and he's sort of… out there. And I know she needs something like that. You guys are going to be good together."
"Christ, maybe you should have married Joe, if he was such a heck of a guy."
"Virgil…"
"All right. I'm going," Virgil said. "And you know what? Fuck a bunch of Joes."
DRIVING BACK TOWARD TOWN, he had a thought, pulled into a driveway, found his notebook, and called Prudence Bauer, in Iowa. She picked up on the second ring, and he identified himself: "I hate to bother you, but Jud Windrow didn't call you this evening, did he?"
"No. Why would he?"
"Well, I got the impression that you were friends; I thought he might have given you a ring. He's going to sign up Wendy."
"Virgil, we're friends, slightly, but he was really friends with Connie," Bauer said. "Now tell me the truth: have you lost him?"
"Temporarily," Virgil said.
She said, "Oh my God, no," and he regretted calling.
"We don't know that anything happened," he said.
"But you think that, or you wouldn't have called," she snapped. "Don't lie to me, young man."
"We'd like to find him," Virgil conceded.
"You should call his ex-wife. Her name is Irma Windrow, and she still works at the Spodee-Odee as the bookkeeper. They're very close," she said.
VIRGIL DID THAT.
"We're trying to get in touch about this, uh, contract he was working out with Wendy Ashbach," Virgil said.
"Haven't heard a thing-he usually calls around ten o'clock. It's past that, so, you know, he doesn't always call…"
She knew nothing-but Windrow hadn't called in.
Virgil's annoyance was shifting to alarm.
THE SHERIFF CALLED BACK. "We got the tag number from the rental place, and did a quick run-through in town, didn't find him. We're gonna spread out. What're you doing?"
"I'm going out to Ashbach's place. That's where he was before he disappeared-this whole damned thing has to do with the Ashbachs. I don't know which one, but it's one of them."
"Where you at?"
"Just going past the Arby's."
"Pull in there, at Arby's. If you're going out to Ashbach's. I'm going to send a couple guys along with you."
VIRGIL PULLED IN, left the motor running, and three or four minutes later, a sheriff 's car pulled in and he got out to talk.
The two cops were called Ben and Dan, both large, beefy guys with blue eyes and butt-crack chins, and Virgil said, "It's my personal opinion that one of the Ashbachs is involved in all this. I want to keep everything calm when we go in there, because this shooter knows how to use a weapon and he's crazy. Okay? Got your vests? When we get there, I want you to behave like it was a 'shots heard' situation. Don't get right next to each other so he could spray you. Let me go in, while you stay back. You got a rifle? Lay the rifle flat on the backseat and when you get out, open a back door and stand behind it, just in case."
WHEN HE FINISHED the briefing, and thought Ben and Dan understood the problem, he led the way through the dark to Slibe's. The farther in they got, the more the dark seemed to close down on them, like India ink spilling across the sky, and the more the trees seemed to hang down low over the road; and when they got on the gravel track, the narrower the road seemed to get, and the shorter the headlight beams, like the lead-in to a horror movie.
They went past the red mailbox that marked the last house before Slibe's, saw lights in a garage and what was probably the kitchen, and then they were at the end of the road. Slibe's house was dark, though an outdoor light cast a pink glow over the yard. Virgil could see a light in the kennel, up toward the peak of the roof, and a couple of lights in Wendy's double-wide. Two cars were parked outside the double-wide, and Slibe's truck was parked in front of his house.