All in all, there was nothing he could do, he decided, except follow his thoughts and the few facts he had and see where they led him. If Johnny had been telling the truth, hard as that might be for folks around the county to believe, then someone else had killed Jeanne and Mrs. Barrett and Bill Tomkins. And if those last two had seen Claymore’s car at Jeanne’s house, it was certainly possible that a desperate man might want to get them out of the way before they told anyone. How possible? Rhodes thought he would know soon.
Rhodes got himself a Dr Pepper out of the Coke cooler in Hod Barrett’s store. He wiped the cold water from the bottle with a tissue from the box that Barrett kept nearby for that purpose. While he drank it, he watched Barrett wait on a woman who had gathered up a small order of groceries. When she left, Barrett walked over.
“You get the man who killed my wife, Sheriff? Was it that deputy of yours?” Hod looked old and tired. Even his spiky red hair seemed limp and bedraggled.
“I’ll get him,” Rhodes said. “It wasn’t Johnny.”
“Word’s around, he’s the one killed Jeanne Clinton,” Barrett said.
“It is, huh?” Rhodes said. “It was Billy Joe that robbed your store, though. I just wanted to let you know. You going to press charges?”
Barrett shook his head in disgust. “I don’t care about that anymore,” he said. “It doesn’t even matter.”
“He might try it again,” Rhodes said, “or someone else might find out how easy this place is to get into. Then you’d probably lose a lot more than just beer and a few packages of cigarettes.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Barrett said listlessly. He walked over to his counter to wait on a customer who had come in.
Rhodes put his empty bottle in a wooden case and went outside. He got in the county car and drove to Elmer Clinton’s house. The chickens were still in the yard, and the car was still parked in its usual spot under the chinaberry tree. Elmer was different, though. He was sitting in a metal lawn chair under the tree instead of inside.
Rhodes got out of his car. “Haven’t gone back to work, yet? They must have a liberal leave policy at the cable plant.”
Elmer hardly looked up. “Quit,” he said.
Rhodes walked over near him and leaned against the car. It was coated with dust and chicken droppings. Rhodes tried to avoid the latter. “You ever do any deer hunting, Elmer?”
Elmer still didn’t look up. “Some,” he said.
“I expect you have a.30-.30, then,” Rhodes said.
“Yeah, I got one in the house somewhere.” Elmer sat with his legs straight and his hands crossed loosely in his lap. He was so still that only his lips moved.
“Would you be surprised if I told you I thought you had Hod Barrett’s rifle in there?” Rhodes asked.
Elmer just sat.
“Why, Elmer?” Rhodes asked. He thought he knew, but he wanted Elmer to tell him.
Elmer looked up for the first time. His eyes were red and slightly unfocused. He didn’t seem to really be looking at Rhodes, or at anything, except possibly at something only he was able to see. “What you mean, Sheriff?” he finally said.
“I think you know, Elmer,” Rhodes told him.
“No. No, I don’t,” Elmer said, dropping his head again.
Rhodes kicked at a chicken that was pecking near his foot. “I’ll just have to tell you then,” he said. “I was asking why you killed Bill Tomkins and Mrs. Barrett, and I think you know why. But maybe you don’t. I think they talked too much, myself.”
Elmer stiffened, but he said nothing.
Rhodes waited a minute, then went on. “Somebody had to stop them, I guess. They were saying things about Jeanne.”
“A whore,” Elmer said, so softly that Rhodes almost didn’t hear. “Called her a whore, and she was a girl that wouldn’t do wrong for anything. Maybe before she married me, but not since. Never once. She was like an angel on earth.” He shook his head sadly. “Called her a whore.”
“And Bill Tomkins?” Rhodes prodded.
Elmer said nothing.
“He told me things,” Rhodes finally said. “Maybe, he told some others the same things.”
“Lies,” Elmer said. “All lies. About how people all came to my house at night while I was at the plant, came here to see my wife. How could a man tell a lie like that?” Tears squeezed themselves out from behind Elmer’s eyelids.
“I guess you know I’m going to have to take you to the jail,” Rhodes said quietly.
“What?” Elmer looked up, directly at Rhodes, his eyes wide, the tears running down his cheeks. “Take me to jail? What for?” He seemed genuinely puzzled, as if Rhodes had asked him to factor a binomial equation.
“For killing those people, Elmer,” Rhodes said. “You’ll have to go to jail for that.”
The tears continued to run down Elmer’s face. “But they needed killing,” he said. “They were the ones tellin’ the lies. They had to be punished for that. I couldn’t let them go around sayin’ those things about Jeanne. They were lies.”
“‘Mrs. Barrett was wrong about what Hod was doing over here,” Rhodes said, “but that’s no reason to kill her.”
“He was never here!” Elmer yelled.
“Yes. .” Rhodes began, but he never finished the sentence. Elmer Clinton catapulted out of the lawn chair and charged him.
Rhodes shifted to the side, pain coursing up and down his rib cage, but Elmer managed to grab him and wrestle him to the ground. Elmer was yelling incoherently, and Rhodes was yelling with pain.
It was probably the pain that saved Rhodes. He was never sure later exactly what happened, but it seemed as if he literally ripped Elmer’s arms from around him, grabbed the other man’s biceps, and stood up. Then he threw him back into the car as hard as he could. It seemed later as if such a feat would have been physically impossible, but it seemed to have happened that way.
All the air went out of Elmer, and he sagged forward. Rhodes stepped up and tapped him on the jaw. Elmer keeled over in the dirt. A couple of curious chickens came over to see what the matter was. They scratched in the dirt by Elmer’s head as Rhodes tried to get his breath and to fight down the pain that screamed in his body.
After a few minutes, he could breathe almost normally again. He looked down at Elmer, who was beginning to show signs of recovery, and took out his pistol. He wasn’t going to take any more chances. He’d used bad judgment in just about everything so far.
Elmer sat up and looked around. He looked at the chickens, and then he looked at the gun in Rhodes’s hand. He nodded his head as if to shake himself completely awake.
“We’ll walk over to the county car, now, Elmer,” Rhodes said. “You’ll be getting into the back seat.” He gestured with the pistol.
Elmer got shakily to his feet and preceded Rhodes to the Plymouth. Rhodes opened the back door and nudged Elmer with the pistol. Elmer got inside, and Rhodes slammed the door.
Going around to the driver’s side, Rhodes opened his own door and looked at Elmer through the wire that separated the seats. “You could save me a lot of time if you’d just tell me where that.30-.30 is,” Rhodes said.
“It’s in my bedroom closet,” Elmer said listlessly. “In the back, to the right.”
Rhodes shut the door and went into the house. In a few minutes he was back, carrying a rifle. He got in the car and took Elmer Clinton to the jail.
“Well, Sheriff,” Hack began after Elmer had been placed in a cell, “I guess that about wraps things up, except for that little suit against the county. I sure hate to think that Johnny would’ve done such a thing as to kill Jeanne Clinton. And look at all that’s come of it. It’s a real shame.”
Rhodes had to agree. “I think I’ll go on home now,” he said. “It’s been a rough day. Call me if you need me.” He left the jail and got in the car. It had been a rough day, all right, but it wasn’t over and he wasn’t going home. There was one other thing he had to do first. He started the car and drove away.