Роберт Паркер - Robert B. Parker's Revelation

“What’d I tell you,” Driggs said. “What the fuck did I tell you? Huh? Nothing to say?”

Chastain stumbled, falling forward to the floor, as Driggs continued to pull hard. Then Chastain rose up and powered his strong legs in reverse and slammed Driggs hard into the wall.

But Driggs just pulled even harder on the cuffs. Chastain moved away from the wall and then powered back again, slamming into the wall, but Driggs did not let go. Chastain moved to the center of the room and turned, then turned again as Driggs choked him. Chastain dropped to his knees with Driggs still on his back. Chastain toppled forward onto his face and after a moment he gave up the fight as blood flowed from his neck and puddled onto the floor. Driggs looked around at Chastain’s face as the last bit of life drained from his eyes.

“I told you that you were making a mistake... I goddamn told you.”

Driggs moved to look out the front window for other lawmen. He figured they had to be right there, ready to pounce on him. He did not see anyone. He rummaged through Chastain’s pockets and found the keys to the cuffs. He unlocked the shackles, then dumped Chastain’s body into the same opening where he discarded Uncle Dave.

He looked out the broken glass of the back door but saw no one. He stepped out the door and just stood there for a moment, then moved down the steps into the alley.

The rain was still coming down hard and the alley had a good-sized creek running down the middle of it. Driggs moved to the opposite side of the alley and stood under the building’s overhang. He looked left and right to make sure nobody saw him and he saw nobody. Then he slogged off down the alley the way he came.

Driggs thought that Chastain coming on his own was abnormal procedure for a city lawman. Driggs stopped and moved under an overhang out of the rain. He wondered if he was going to be confronted at any moment by other Appaloosa lawmen, but the only thing that came and continued to come was rain.

He fished a cigarette and match from his vest pocket. He lit the cigarette and just stood there for a moment letting his fast-moving blood slow down some. Driggs was never really riled and he was not riled now but he was intent on taking care of business. He knew himself well enough to know that this sort of stimulation was like opening valves and gates made for destruction.

He moved between two buildings and made his way back to the street. He crossed the street, passed through the alley behind the drugstore, then emerged out onto a street a block closer to the Boston House.

When he started up the boardwalk he walked right under the Room for Rent sign where Margie boarded. He stopped, then took a step back and looked inside. There was no one in the small lobby. Then he walked to the side of the building and looked up to the window where he previously saw Margie when he’d followed her.

“What the hell, now is as good a time as any.” He knew she was away so he entered the boardinghouse. He stood still for a moment just inside the front door, thinking someone might come through a door that was just off the small lobby, but no one came. He walked up the steps to the second floor. Margie’s door was locked. There were two other rooms on the floor. Just to be safe, he knocked on both of the doors to see if anyone was in, but no one came to either door.

He pulled his knife, working it between the door and jamb, and made his way easily into Margie’s room. Inside Margie’s room, he began to search. What exactly he was searching for he did not know, but for something that would hopefully tell him who Margie really was.

He suspected just who she might be, but he had to find out for certain. He could not just speculate. He’d read about women like her, but he needed to know for sure. He needed to know just why she lied about Lincoln, Nebraska, and what she was doing there in Appaloosa. That lie she told meant only one thing to Driggs: she was hiding something, and Driggs was determined to find out just what that was.

What a gloriously strange day, Driggs thought, as he looked through Margie’s personal items. Everything had changed, and it would be only a matter of time before Driggs could get to the bottom of his business.

And there was nothing short of death that would keep him from doling out his vengeance. “If thine enemy hunger,” Driggs thought, “feed him. If he’s thirsty, give him drink, for in so doing thou shall heap coals of fire on his head. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves but rather give place for God’s wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord.”

Driggs’s excitement grew as he looked through Margie’s personal belongings. Then Driggs found something that made him realize he was indeed keen, perceptive, and all-knowing. What he discovered in the bottom drawer under Margie’s underclothes made his loins grow perfectly rigid.

The dark weather came upon us as Virgil and I loaded up young Gracie in a buckboard that we hitched up to two of Gibson’s mules. Gracie was alive and hanging on but was very weak and going in and out of consciousness. We covered the bed of the buckboard with tarps, then tied our animals to the back and headed out for Red Rock.

“Good chance we could happen upon the sonofabitch Degraw up here in Red Rock,” I said.

“Hope so,” Virgil said.

“He damn sure didn’t go back the way we came,” I said.

“No...”

Virgil hawed the mules and popped the reins.

“He’ll bed down someplace,” Virgil said. “Likely Red Rock or thereabouts.”

“He goddamn sure shows up wherever he wants and does whatever he wants.”

“He does at that.”

I turned and lifted the tarp to look at Gracie.

“Gracie?” I said.

He tilted his head a little and looked to me.

“You doing okay back there?” I said.

Gracie nodded a little. I watched him a moment then I turned back in my seat.

“Poor kid,” I said.

Virgil looked to me as he worked the mules.

“We’ve come across some evil hombres in our time,” I said. “But this one we are chasing now is as lowdown as any sonofabitch we’ve ever had to hunt.”

“Sure he was beyond no good when he got to prison and being locked up just made him worse.”

“Does that, don’t it?”

“Does.”

Virgil popped the reins and encouraged the mules to move on.

“Mad at it all,” Virgil said. “Starts there... ends up real fucking close to hell.”

“And now he’s got some young girl,” I said.

Virgil shook his head at the thought.

“Look forward to his demise,” he said.

We checked on Gracie every few miles as we traveled. The first part of the trip was without rain, but eventually the dark clouds cracked and the rain fell. It was not coming down hard at first, but by the time we arrived in Red Rock it was coming down solid.

It was about two hours after dark when we came through the small but well-established lumber-mill village built up on the edge of Rio Blanco.

The only business open in Red Rock was an eatery saloon that was built near one of the mills on stilts close to the water’s edge.

Before we entered we looked in the window, thinking there was a chance we just might see Degraw, but he was not there. We’d never laid eyes on him, but the descriptions we got gave us a very clear picture of the convict who had killed so many innocent people since his escape.

Inside we found the place kind of lively for a rainy night. In the corner there were some older lumbermen listening to fiddle music played by two old-timers.