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offenders. I think you d make a good investigator. Why not? Yeah, but have to drive a radio
car first, do street work. Meet the same kinds of people she did now but on a different basis.
Confront them armed. Perhaps some time or other have to use the gun.
She thought of it looking in Dale s windows and right now wished she had the .38 snubnose
Tony had given her. In case Elvin was home and got funny. Maybe asleep when she knocked
on the door. But all she saw through the windows was trash, low-class living, discarded stuff,
cans, longnecks, empty pizza cartons& She wished now Gary Hammond had come with her.
Talk, get to know more about him.
Driving home she wondered where he lived. She was still in the apartment off West Atlantic
in Delray Beach. No more Keith with his attitude and his sporty outfits she used to gather
from the floor. Finding out about the blond nurse hadn t bothered her as much as picking up
after him. The blond nurse gave her a quick way out. She couldn t imagine Gary Hammond
leaving his clothes lying around, or the top off the toothpaste. But maybe she wouldn t care if
he did. Little things became irritations when you weren t getting along. The last she had heard
of the major irritation, Keith excuse me, Dr. Baker he had switched his specialty from
psychiatry to anesthesiology. It was Ray who told her about it. He still didn t trust Keith. She
said, I ve almost forgotten him.
Except now he was popping into her mind again when she thought about Gary Hammond, in a
way comparing them. She had never caught Keith looking at her unless he wanted something.
Looking just to look. In the shower she wondered what Gary Hammond saw when he looked
at her with his nice eyes. The phone rang as she was getting out.
This is Bob Gibbs.
Kathy stood at her desk in the living room, felt the towel slip and held it with an arm across
her breasts. She said, Yes, Judge, as if he called her all the time.
You get my message at work?
I wasn t in this afternoon.
You were supposed to call me.
No, I m sorry.
How s your boy Dale Crowe doing?
I m going to stop by his house this evening.
Good. I want you to come by here after. I m at home. Be a good chance for us to talk.
Judge?&
Mainly about my wife s condition.
How is she? Kathy said, stalling. It wasn t the question she wanted to ask.
You mean is she normal? Hell no, I told you that.
Is she home?
That was the question. It got a moment of silence.
I suppose you heard about the alligator business.
It was in the paper.
I know it was. I didn t want Leanne to get mixed up in it, her mind the way it is. I sent her to
Orlando for a few days, visit friends she has there. You have a pencil? I ll give you
directions.
Judge, I m not the least bit qualified.
Hon, let me decide that, okay? You want to help me, don t you?
She wanted to say, Look, I m not going to bed with you. You mind? So leave me alone. If she
could say that& But then wondered, what if she could learn something? If they did talk about
his wife& Something Gary didn t know about. Maybe help him. Get to see him again&
Judge, it might be late.
That s okay, hon. Long as I know you re coming. Kathy put on jeans and a polo shirt,
opened a can of beer and made herself a tunafish sandwich. Now she was hon. What was she
supposed to call him, Big?
" " "
Dale s junkyard pickup was in front of the house when Kathy returned, almost six-thirty,
starting to get dark. But it was Elvin in his cowboy hat and boots who opened the door.
Well, look it who s here. You come to check my wee-wee?
I want to talk to Dale.
Come on in. She moved past him into the dim living room and Elvin called out, Dale?
Where are you, boy? He paused, listening, and said, I guess he ain t home. I just got back
myself from a business deal.
Sounding like the judge. Both with that country-boy way of talking.
You have a job?
One s been offered me. A good n too.
What kind of work?
That got a smile.
One that gives you peace a mind. Makes you feel good.
What does that mean?
Oh, nothing.
Playing with her. If he had a job he d tell her.
You know where Dale might be?
I magine he s in town hunting beaver. Get himself some of the real thing fore he goes
away.
Kathy turned to leave. He reached out to take her arm and she pulled it away saying, Don t
touch me, Elvin. You try it again you re in trouble.
That got another smile. Elvin holding his hands up, innocent. I saved your butt the other
night and you act like we re strangers. He moved past her, hands still raised. Come on, sit
down a minute. Remember I said I d tell you about this dink I wanted to shoot? Elvin eased
his big frame into the sofa. The time I got the wrong guy?
Kathy said, Will it take long? Interested, but not wanting to show it.
Lemme ask you one. How many people you take care of ever killed anybody?
She came over to sit at the opposite end, not answering, on the edge of the sofa that smelled of
mildew, aware of the stained walls, the bare light bulb in the lamp without a shade. It was
behind Elvin s cowboy hat as she looked at him, waiting.
I m the only one, huh? I m your star you get for five years, if you make it. How long you
been with Probation?
You want to tell me about someone you didn t shoot or someone you did, or what?
Both, Elvin said, smiling just a little. You heard of my brother Roland?
Is he in prison?
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