“No.”
“Here goes.” Lewis pulled it back and there was the face of a very old Indian woman, one eye open, one eye closed. The cover fell and the men took a couple of steps backward. “That’s not him,” Lewis said.
“Let’s get out of here,” Taylor said.
“Calm down, okay? It’s just a dead person.”
“I know that.”
“One more room.”
Another noise. Someone ran from a dark corner. Taylor screamed and pulled at the back of Lewis’ jacket, causing him to drop the light. Lewis found himself scurrying out into the room of tables and chairs and toward the door. He was aware of Taylor and several other bodies, all moving the same way. Taylor hit the door first, catching his foot on the screen door and falling. Lewis tripped over him. They sat up and saw three men running, two carrying a body. Lewis was up, but Taylor grabbed him.
“What are you going to do if you catch them?” the young man asked.
Lewis tried to catch his breath. Taylor had a point. He watched the last man disappear into the cottonwoods at the edge of the vacant lot. The man limped and Lewis recognized the limp. It was Salvador Alvarado.
“I know that man,” Lewis said.
Taylor was kneeling, holding his face in his hands.
“I know that man.”
Chapter Nine
Back in the motel room, Lewis sat in a chair by the window while Taylor went into the bathroom to change his pants. Lewis trusted him now. The man was new to anything like this. He looked out the window at the lot, at the low-rider still parked in the back. The night looked so normal, was the way he thought of it, save the fact that he was viewing it from a room at the Best Western. Looking at the night, he found it difficult to believe he had just sneaked into a mortuary and witnessed the theft of a body.
“Do you think that was my grandfather’s body?” Taylor asked, coming out of the bathroom.
“I don’t know.”
“You said you recognized one of them.”
“Yeah. Salvador Alvarado, he owns a boot shop.” Lewis shook his head. “I don’t get any of this.”
Taylor sat on the bed. He studied the towel he held, then tossed it onto the back of the chair at the desk. “Listen, I’m just a truck driver. I don’t need any of this.”
Lewis nodded.
“I say we go to the sheriff.”
“I don’t think so,” Lewis said. “He’s been lying to us and—”
“And what?”
“I just don’t trust him right now.”
“We’d better find somebody to trust. I’m no good at this stuff and you’re… you’re just an old man.”
Lewis let it all go. The young man was upset. Who could blame him?
“Maybe things will be clearer in the morning,” Lewis said, standing. “I’m sorry I got you into this.”
Taylor said nothing.
Lewis pulled the door closed behind him.
Lewis thought as he drove home. If he had not found Martin on the floor of his cabin, he would have thought nothing strange of the report of his drowning and he wouldn’t be in this mess. He was probably liable for prosecution for breaking and entering, but, and he laughed, the only people who could possibly identify him were stealing a dead person.
He wanted to stop at a phone, get Alvarado’s address from the book and pay him a call, but Maggie would be waiting up, worried sick. And better to get into this stuff about dead bodies in the light of day. There was also the possibility that Alvarado was not the man he had seen, in which case he might get an innocent, superstitious man out of bed to talk about a corpse.
Maggie was asleep on the sofa. Lewis watched her for a while. She was a small woman. She never seemed small when awake. He sat by her feet and she stirred. He took a foot into his hands and massaged it. She smiled. Her eyes opened and she looked at him.
“Back in one piece,” she said.
“What’d you expect after a goodbye like that?”
Maggie sat up and tried to come awake. Lewis pulled her close and pressed her head to his shoulder. She relaxed against him.
“Did you see him?” she asked.
“Not exactly.” Lewis could feel her eyes open more widely. “We got into Fonda’s all right, but—” He stopped, wondering if indeed he should tell her.
“But?”
“But somebody was there.”
“Fonda?”
“No, not Edgar either. Whoever they were, they stole a body.”
Maggie sat erect, pulled away and looked at him. “What?”
“We wandered into a cadaver snatch.”
“Is that what you private dicks call it?” she said.
“I’ve run this over in my head all night, allow me some fun.” He got up and walked to the empty fireplace. “I think it was Martin’s body.”
“You saw it?”
“No, I just have a feeling. And I think one of the men was Salvador Alvarado. You know how he limps.”
Maggie walked to him, put her arms around him. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. All of this is just — I’m too old for it. It keeps getting deeper and deeper and I’ve forgotten to miss Martin. My friend is dead.” He shook his head clear. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
“It’s funny. We’ve sort of known each other for a while. I’ve wanted to be close to you and it’s in the middle of something like this that—”
“Shhh,” she silenced him, pressing a finger to his lips. “Let’s go to bed?”
“I don’t know,” he said, smiling.
“Get in that room,” she said and pushed him in that direction.
Chapter Ten
Lewis didn’t sleep well. He held Maggie close most of the night. She was easy to hold and he felt good with her. He liked the way she smelled. One of her small hands lay still on his chest. He removed the hand and tried to slip his arm from under her neck.
“Where do you think you’re going?” she asked, eyes closed.
“Going to fix breakfast.”
“And you’re going to bring it to me in bed, right?”
“Nope.” He sat up and put his feet on the floor.
Maggie turned over on her stomach. “Please?”
He slapped her butt. “Get up. It’s a new day out there.”
Lewis was showered and in the kitchen when Laura woke up. The child was still in her nightshirt. She ran to him and squeezed him while he flipped a pancake.
“Hey, honey,” he said. “How’d you sleep?”
She didn’t answer, just hugged him.
Lewis looked at Maggie. He put his hand on Laura’s head and tilted her face to his. “Are you okay?”
She nodded.
“Bad dreams?”
“No.”
“Just loving me?”
The child smiled.
“I’m okay, sweetie.” He checked the cakes. “How many can you eat? Maggie says she can handle nine.”
Laura laughed. “Two.”
“So, how would you two ladies like to ride into town with me today?”
“Yeah,” Laura said.
Lewis looked at Maggie. “You could stand to pick up a few things.” He looked to Laura. “How would you feel if old sour-puss spent more time with us?”
“I’d like it.”
Maggie nodded.
Lewis delivered the first servings of pancakes and put the bacon on a plate in the middle of the table. He watched Laura eat and considered again sending her home to her parents. He wasn’t sure of his reasoning. It wasn’t clear that there was a threat to any of them, but someone had killed. At least, he believed someone had killed. He could always go back to the theory that Martin had not been dead when he and Laura found him in the cabin, that perhaps he had gotten drunk, hit his head and passed out.
The smoke became noticeable. “Shit,” Lewis said, turning over the burned pancake. “Sorry, Laura.”