She was in her early fifties now, and had put on a lot of weight since Joe’s death. Her pretty, flesh-padded face was lined with concern. “Thanks for coming, Sheriff.”
Not Wayne. A professional call.
“Somebody try to break in?” Westerley asked. There’d been a few house burglaries in the area over the past six months.
“Worse,” Edna said.
She led Westerley to a small den where Joe used to go to smoke his cigars. The room hadn’t changed much, except now there was a computer with a large monitor on the old maple desk.
On the monitor was a hefty blond woman having sex with a cucumber. Though he didn’t know quite why, Westerley was glad to see that the cucumber was wearing a condom.
“This is mild,” Edna Wellman proclaimed, looking away from Westerley and the image on the monitor, “compared to some of the other sites Mathew has been visiting.”
Westerley coughed. “Well…”
“Isn’t this kind of thing illegal?” Edna asked.
“It is if there are minors involved.”
“Oh, I’m sure there are, on some of the sites.”
“You’ve looked at other sites he’s visited?”
“Yes, I thought I had to know what I was talking about, if I was going to confront Mathew.”
“Good point. He’s no dummy.”
“I swear, Wayne, you wouldn’t believe some of what goes on that a ten-year-old could visit if he swore he was twentyone. There are safeguards to screen out minors, but there are also mere children who know more about computers than the people who designed the safeguards.”
“Sometimes the people who produce this stuff use models who are of age but look a lot younger,” Westerley said. He looked again at the woman on the screen. She didn’t seem to be enjoying herself. “Mathew’s what, twenty-two?”
“Just.”
Westerley shrugged. “He’s an adult, too.”
Edna Wellman stared at him. “So what can we do, Wayne?”
“Where’s Mathew now?”
“He left right after I walked in and found him looking at this filth. He’s embarrassed, no doubt. He should be.”
“I’m sure he is.” Westerley moved the mouse along a series of blue numerals on the screen and clicked on one. A brunette with bangs was performing fellatio, not on a vegetable. She did look like a minor, but it was impossible to be sure. “I’ll go look around, see if I can find Mathew. If I don’t, and he comes back here, tell him I want to talk to him.”
“I’ll do that. And thanks.” Edna shook her head. “He seems like such a normal young man.”
“He is,” Westerley said. “He’s curious, is all.”
“Then you don’t think it’s unusual for a boy-a young man-his age to visit these kinds of Internet sites?”
“It can’t be,” Westerley said. “Porn sites are the most visited places on the Internet.”
“The women in those photographs, at least some of them, must have parents, husbands, maybe children.”
“You left out money,” Westerley said.
Edna looked disgusted. “Some world it’s become.”
“Some world,” Westerley agreed.
73
Beth had used a brush to get around the edges of the porch floor with flat gray paint. That was the hard part, now that she was done with the scraping, and hammering in all the loose nails so they wouldn’t stick up from the floor.
The floor had become so weathered that bare wood was peeking through the paint leading up to the door, and beneath the glider where people rested their feet. All she had to do now was pour paint into a tray and roll the floor. It wouldn’t take very long, even though she’d be covering a large area.
She paused as she heard a car slow on the country road and turn into the driveway.
No, not a car-a truck. She could hear the rattling bass note of its big diesel engine.
As she watched, a gray, dusty truck cab parked near the short gravel jog to the house. It was one of the big rigs, with twin exhaust stacks protruding straight up on each side of the cab’s sleeper. On the tops of the exhaust-blackened stacks were loosely hinged caps that bounced and danced as the engine idled. Behind the cab were only the greasy fifthwheel connector plate, and air brake and electrical lines leading nowhere. No trailer, just the cab. There were numbers on the truck’s door, meaningless to Beth. She stood and watched, the paintbrush forgotten in her hand.
The truck’s door opened and Roy Brannigan swung down out of the cab.
Beth drew in her breath. Time seemed to collapse away beneath her, leaving her weightless and floating.
She and Roy hadn’t seen each other in years. Beth was surprised by how her ex-husband had broadened, though he wasn’t fat. More muscular, as if he worked out regularly in a gym. Or maybe driving, or loading and unloading trucks, had kept him in shape. She’d have known him at a glance, though, despite the buzz-cut hair and dark sunglasses.
He peeled off the tinted glasses and smiled at her, then took a few tentative steps toward the porch. He’d left the truck’s engine idling. It sounded like a great beast’s heartbeat, powerful, indestructible.
Beth walked to the top of the porch steps and stood looking at him. Somehow holding the brush gave her confidence, as if she might simply paint him out of her life again if he made trouble.
He moved a few steps closer so they could talk.
“Been a long while, Beth.”
She said nothing.
“I’m driving a truck now, doing long-distance hauling. My route on this run took me close to where I knew you lived, so I thought I’d drop by and see how you were doing.”
“I’m doing fine, Roy.”
“Me, too, I guess.”
“Eddie’s fine, too.”
At first he didn’t seem to recognize the name. Then he said, “Good. I was gonna ask.”
Sure you were.
“You look real good,” Roy said, as if at a loss for words. He moved his scuffed black leather boots around on the gravel. “Look, Beth, I just wanted to let you know I was sorry about everything. What I did… how it happened… I upped and left you because of my religion.”
“You still got religion, Roy?”
“I do, but you might say it’s less severe. I mean, what I’m trying to say is, I wised up, like everybody does when time passes. I apologize for overreacting. You know, back when… it happened.”
Beth chewed on her lower lip for a while, listening to the low, diesel beat of the truck. She didn’t like this, Roy showing up this way out of nowhere.
“I’ve got a husband, Roy,” she said.
He smiled. “I know you do. I checked on you. Fella in town mentioned Link’s away on a trip someplace. That his name, Link?”
Mentioned it because you asked about him. “You know his name.” Beth was beginning to feel the first cold touch of fear. “What is it you want, Roy?”
“It ain’t to dig up the past. Except I would like to know that you at least sort of forgive me-no, not even forgive. I guess I’d like you to understand that I was more rigid in my thinking back then. Now I can’t believe God would’ve approved of my actions. I’ve apologized to Him, and now I wanna apologize to you. I had no right to act like I did. I’m truly sorry.”
She studied him. He did seem sincere. “All right, Roy. I can’t forgive you, but I do understand.” She wondered if there might be some way she could get into the house if he tried anything, hold him off long enough to phone Wayne Westerley. But, hell, Wayne was all the way over in Hogart. It’d take him just inside an hour to get here.
“I heard about Vincent Salas being released,” Roy said. “Has that been making you uneasy in any way?”
“Not really,” Beth lied.
“I’d be glad to go talk to him if you want.”
“He wouldn’t like that.”
“You can’t know for sure. His soul might need succor if not salvation.”
“I’d prefer it if you’d just let all that drop, Roy. Let the past stay the past.”
Roy seemed to think that over. “Okay, Beth, if that’s what you want. But I got one question.” Roy moved a few steps closer. “Even though things worked out the way they did, is it possible we could be friends?”