Nelson DeMille - Spencerville

Keith didn't reply.

"And you're fucking with me."

Again, Keith said nothing.

"Behind the school. Meet me behind the school. That what you said?"

"Yup. I was there."

"You're lucky I wasn't. You'd be laid out right now at Gibbs, stiff as a board, with that pink shit they use in your veins. And I'd spit on your face if you had a face left after I got through with you."

Keith didn't reply.

"My boys told me you was hidin' behind that preacher's skirt at St. James."

"You can leave Pastor Wilkes out of this."

"Yeah? Why? Anybody who fucks with me or my boys is automatically in it — up to his ears — and that includes God Almighty himself."

Again, Keith didn't reply but just shook his head.

Baxter continued, "And what the fuck were you doing at Baxter Motors?"

"Speaking to your brother about a car."

"Yeah? And about my wife. If you keep asking around about me and my family, you're gonna die. Understand?"

Keith noticed that Baxter's eyes were set close together, the sign of a predator in the animal kingdom, and his head swiveled from side to side as he spoke, as though looking for prey or peril.

Keith tried to picture Annie with this guy for twenty years but knew that there was another Cliff Baxter, the home model. Cliff Baxter probably loved her, though she'd never tell Keith that, and Cliff Baxter thought he was a protective and caring husband, though most people would say possessive and abusive.

Baxter asked, "Cat got your tongue?"

"Nope."

"I'll bet you got to take a piss right now."

"Nope."

"Nope, yup, nope, yup. You got nothing else to say?"

"Yeah, I do. How did you get out of the draft? Mental or physical?"

"Hey, fuckhead, I was a cop. I did my duty here."

"Right. So did the women and schoolchildren who sent letters and packages."

"You motherfucker..."

"Hey, Chief, don't talk the talk if you haven't walked the walk. You want to prove you have balls? I'll go inside and get my piece, or you take off yours. You call it. Guns, knives, axes, fists. It doesn't matter to me how I kill you."

Baxter took a breath, and Keith saw by his body language that he wanted to take a step back. All said and done, Baxter still had the only gun between them, and there wasn't much keeping him from drawing it. Except, Keith thought, Baxter probably had other plans for Keith Landry, something he'd been thinking about for the last few weeks. Baxter hadn't come out here to kill him, so there was no reason to give him a reason. Yet, Keith couldn't resist the opportunity to mess with his mind and maybe draw him into a fair fight. Keith said, "Okay? You want to have it out? I was about to take a break anyway."

Baxter smiled. "Yeah, we're gonna have it out. But you ain't gonna see it coming."

"Still the class bully."

"Yeah, and you're still the class asshole. Hey, remember I used to bump you in the hall? You'd like to forget that, wouldn't you? I used to eye-fuck your girlfriend, and you didn't do shit. I'd feel her up every chance I got, and you saw me and just stood there. You know what? She loved it. She wanted a man, not a fucking pussy. And, hey, by the way, if I ever see you talking to her, I'll cut your balls off and feed 'em to my dogs. I kid you not."

Keith stood absolutely still. There was nothing to say after that, nothing to do now except let the man dig his own grave with his mouth.

Baxter, on a roll now, continued, "Hey, what do you do out here for pussy? If I catch you fuckin' the livestock, I'll run you in. You farm boys're always fuckin' the livestock, that's why they're so skittish. Your brother used to fuck the geese down by the lake and damn near killed half of them. He was the goose fucker. I remember him. And your sister..."

"Stop it. Please stop."

"Say again?"

"Please stop. Look... I'm leaving in a week. I just came back to see to the farm. I'm not staying. I'll be gone in about a week."

Baxter looked closely at him, then said, "Oh, yeah? Maybe I don't want you around that long."

"I just need a week."

"Tell you what — I'll give you six days. If you fuck up or piss me off, I'll kick the shit out of you and throw you on a fucking pig truck to Toledo. You understand?"

"Yes."

"Go back to your barnyard shit." He turned to leave, then spun around and buried his fist in Keith's stomach.

Keith doubled over and dropped to his knees.

Baxter put the toe of his boot under Keith's chin and flipped his head up. Baxter said, "Stay outa town."

He walked back to the car, and Keith saw him and Ward giving each other high fives.

They got into the car, turned and ran over a row of raspberry bushes, then peeled out on the gravel drive.

Keith got to his feet and watched the car turn onto the road. He smiled and said, "Thank you."

Cliff Baxter sat at his kitchen table and sliced a hunk of meat off his pork chop. He said, "These damn things are burnt."

"Sorry."

"Potatoes're cold."

"Sorry."

"You forget how to cook?"

"No."

"No wonder you ain't eatin'."

"I don't have an appetite."

"Appetite or no, this stuff ain't edible."

"Sorry."

"And thanks for offering to make me something else."

"What would you like?"

"I'll go out and get something."

"All right."

He put down his knife and fork and looked at her. "Something bothering you?"

"No."

"You ain't sayin' much."

"I have a headache."

"That's too bad, 'cause I have a woody."

Annie stiffened but said nothing.

"You finished with your period?"

"No... not completely."

"Well, your gums ain't bleedin', are they?" He took a drink from his beer can but kept looking at her. He said, "I stopped by your Aunt Louise's today."

She felt her stomach tighten.

Cliff put down his beer can. "Now, there's a woman who knows how to cook. What'd she make you for dinner last night?"

"I... I didn't have dinner there."

"You didn't?"

"No."

"That ain't what she said, sweetheart."

Annie looked him in the eye and replied, "Aunt Louise is becoming very absentminded. I was there last week for dinner. Last night I was just visiting."

"Is that a fact? Absentminded must run in the family. You been walkin' around with your head up your ass since you got home last night."

"I'm not feeling well."

"How so?"

"I don't know... maybe I just miss the kids. I thought maybe I'd go visit them next week."

"They don't need you motherin' the hell out of them. If they want to see us, they can come home for the weekend."

"I wanted to make sure Wendy is settled in. It's her first time away from home, and..."

"You know, I don't like that place. I don't like Bowling Green, and I think I'm gonna pull her outa there."

"No!"

He seemed almost startled by her tone. He leaned toward her. "Say what?"

"She likes it there."

"Oh, yeah? What she likes is that fucking coed dorm. They have that when you were there?"

"No."

"What the fuck are they tryin' to do there? Promote fucking?"

"Cliff, the world has changed."

"Not around here. This is a Christian house and a Christian community, and men and women don't live under the same roof if they're not married."

"I trust her to practice what she's been taught in church... and to follow our example." God help her, Annie thought.

Cliff regarded her a long time, then observed, "Yeah, there's somethin' on your mind."

"I just told you what was bothering me. Are you working tonight?"

"Maybe. Hey, speaking of college, an old friend of yours is back in town."

She got up and took her glass to the refrigerator, opened it, and poured iced tea. Her hands were shaking.