Elmore Leonard: Escape from Five Shadows

He felt someone behind him and as he turned, Karla said, “Would you like coffee?”

“Fine…I was just thinking about you.”

“I’ll bring you a cup.” She started to turn away.

“Karla-” His hand touched her arm, but came away as she looked up at him again. “We never have much time to talk, do we?”

“I guess not.”

“We ought to have about a week with nothing else to do but talk, to get caught up with each other.” He paused. “Karla…I’m grateful for what you’ve done. I’ve thought about it and thought about it, but I don’t know how to say it.”

“Is that why you escaped, to come thank us?”

Bowen frowned. “I tried to explain that to your father.” He spoke earnestly, keeping his voice low. “You can feel you’ve done right, but when you explain it, it doesn’t sound like good sense.”

Karla’s eyes raised to his. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. You had no reason to believe a new trial would come through.”

“I was hopeful. But then this chance came along.”

“If only I could have gotten to you before-”

“Well, it’s done now.”

“The morning you were with Lizann”-Karla’s eyes moved to the window-“I wanted to tell you about it then. But you were there and then gone. I asked Lizann to tell you we’d found out something and not to use the gun.” She paused. “No…I even told her Mr. Martz had filed a motion for a new trial!”

Bowen shook his head. “She didn’t tell me anything about it. Listen…that’s something else. She had good reason not to tell me.” He glanced toward Falvey at the bar and brought Karla closer to him. “I’ve got something on my mind and I don’t know what to do about it. Lizann didn’t just give me that gun for my sake.” He glanced toward the bar again, then back to Karla. “She wanted me to use it on Willis.”

Karla’s lips parted. But for a moment she stared, saying nothing. “You’re sure?”

“She said I could do anything I wanted with it-if I used it on Willis first.”

“It’s hard to believe a woman-”

“Listen, I was standing right in front of her and I had trouble believing it.”

“But you took the gun,” Karla said.

“Of course I took it. I wanted to get out. I would have promised to shoot President Cleveland if she’d asked me. That kind of promise doesn’t mean anything.”

Karla said, “Have you told Willis?”

“No. That’s what’s bothering me. But he saw me come in here with the gun and he even guessed how I got it.”

“Maybe he thinks there’s something between you and Lizann.”

“I don’t know. Maybe he does.”

“Is there?” Karla asked hesitatingly.

“Because we were standing so close that time?”

“That would seem to suggest-”

“Karla, she wasn’t taking any chances. If I didn’t feel sorry for her enough to do it, then maybe she could make me like her enough to.”

“I wasn’t going to ask you that,” Karla said. “It just came out.”

He watched her eyes and the clean line of her nose and her mouth. “It’s something, isn’t it? We’ve only talked together twice before this.”

Karla nodded looking up at him and was silent for a moment. “What are you going to do?”

“Now?”

She smiled. “What would you do after. If-”

“After, I was planning to visit Willcox. I’ve got a friend there in the mining business. He doesn’t mine there, but that’s where his office is and where he ships out of. He’s been after me to join him for a long time. In fact, I was on my way there when I met Earl.”

“That’s where my mother is,” Karla said. “My sisters are in school there.”

“You’ve got sisters?”

“Two younger ones.”

“I could look them up.”

“It isn’t far. I go down every once in a while.”

“We could sure get to know each other, couldn’t we?”

“But,” Karla said, “it seems a long way off.”

“Now we’re back,” Bowen said.

Karla smiled faintly. “I’m glad we did that.” She paused. “Are you going to tell Willis?”

“I don’t want to. Even if he suspects her, knowing it is something else.”

“Maybe she’s sorry now.”

“Maybe she is. I don’t know.”

“You’d think they would have parted before this.”

“Renda wouldn’t let them.”

“What if Willis still likes her?” Karla said.

“That’d be something.”

“Corey…don’t tell him. If he already suspects her, he must be on his guard-”

“Or else he doesn’t care.”

“At least wait and see how this comes out. If there’s a hearing, then you know she’ll take the opportunity to leave him.”

“But if Renda wins there won’t be a hearing and everybody’ll be right back where they started.”

“Don’t let him win,” Karla said earnestly.

“Karla, I keep going over it and going over it-I can’t just use a gun on him. If I killed him I’d be back in jail-or worse-and Willis wouldn’t have to say a word. If we hold Renda and force a hearing, we can’t prove anything unless Willis testifies.”

“But Lizann would,” Karla said.

“You can’t count on her. She might keep still, afraid the plan to kill Willis would come out. Or she might just run off.”

Karla nodded. “So Willis is the only hope.”

“And he knows he’ll go to jail if he speaks up.”

“Corey…what will you do when he comes?”

“I wish I knew.”

There was silence before Karla said, “He doesn’t know Willis is here. Every other time Willis has gone to Fuegos. Sometimes he stops for a drink on the way. But this time he stayed…and Renda couldn’t know that.”

“Your father mentioned it. I don’t know how it can help us-” Bowen stopped. “Unless-”

“Unless,” Karla said eagerly, “you can make him tell what he did to Lizann in front of Willis! He won’t believe it from us-”

“He doesn’t want to believe it,” Bowen said.

“But he’d have to believe Renda. And in front of all of us we’d have to do something-that’s what I mean!”

“If I was Willis I wouldn’t much care.”

“But you’re not Willis! He said he didn’t believe us…not he didn’t care. That’s why I’d be willing to bet anything he still likes her.”

“You sure have a feeling about people.”

“I was right about you, wasn’t I?”

“You and that Mimbre would get along fine.”

Karla frowned, but she ignored this and said, “Is it worth a try or isn’t it?”

“I suppose it is,” Bowen said slowly. Then, “Tell your father to keep Willis out of sight when Frank comes, but close enough to hear.” Bowen shook his head. “I don’t even know what I’m going to say. Your father gave me an envelope to pass off as the one Frank’s looking for, but I don’t know how I’d work that. I’ve got all kinds of tricks and I don’t know how I’m going to spring any of them.”

“You could pretend to make a deal with him,” Karla said eagerly. “Renda gets the letter if he lets you go. At least you’d have a chance of getting away from here.”

Bowen shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Karla smiled up at him. “You’ll think of something.” Turning away she said, “I’ll bring your coffee now.”

But within thirty seconds the coffee was forgotten and there was no time to think of what he would say. As Bowen looked out across the yard again, he saw Frank Renda ride out of the willows.

Bowen drew the Colt from his belt, pressing himself against the wall next to the window. He looked across the room seeing Karla and her father in the kitchen, then waited until Demery turned from her and started into the front room.