The path up the bluff was treacherous in the dark, even with the help of the flashlight, and Jack took his time. He had enough problems without falling and breaking something. By the time he got to his lookout point, the first hesitant light was starting to seep into the sky. He shone his flash on the pitchfork he’d left behind the day before, started to reach for it, then recoiled. He hoped this wasn’t an omen of how the rest of his day was going to go, but the situation had its irony, and even in his current situation, Jack could appreciate it.
He had brought the pitchfork to guard against snakes, and now one was lying beside and partly on top of it. It was a rattlesnake, and not a little one; this was a real monster. He couldn’t shoot it, a bullet might only wound the goddam thing, in which case it would probably strike at him, and he was wearing sneakers, having neglected to buy boots in Tippit. Also, there was the potential for a ricochet that might do him serious damage.
He held his rifle by the end of its stock, slowly extending the barrel as far as he could. He got it under the dozing rattler and flipped it high over his shoulder before it could slither away. The ugly bastard landed on the path twenty feet behind him, coiled, and began sounding off, a noise like beads being shaken in a dry gourd. Jack snatched up the pitchfork, took a step forward, and jabbed at it. That rattler slithered into a crack between two leaning boulders and was gone.
‘That’s right,’ Jack said. ‘And don’t come back. This is my place.’
He lay down and peered through the scope. There was the parking lot with its ghostly yellow lines; there was the decaying gift shop; there was the boarded-up cave entrance, the sign over it faded but still legible: WELCOME TO THE MARYSVILLE HOLE.
Nothing to do now but wait. Jack settled in to do it.
4
Nothing before nine o’clock, Ralph had said, but they were all in the Indian Motel’s café by quarter past eight. Ralph, Howie, and Alec ordered steak and eggs. Holly passed on the steak but ordered a three-egg omelet with ranch fries, and Ralph was gratified to see she ate every bite. She was once more wearing the jacket of her suit over her tee-shirt and jeans.
‘That’s going to be hot later on,’ Ralph said.
‘Yes, and it’s very wrinkled, but it’s got nice big pockets for my stuff. I’m also taking my shoulder-bag, although I’ll leave it in the car if we have to hike.’ She leaned forward and dropped her voice. ‘Sometimes the maids steal in places like this.’
Howie covered his mouth, perhaps to stifle a belch, perhaps to hide a smile.
5
They drove to the Bolton place, where they found Yune and Claude sitting on the front porch steps and drinking coffee. Lovie was in her little side garden, weeding from her wheelchair with her oxygen bottle in her lap, a cigarette in her mouth, and a big straw sunhat clapped on her head.
‘All good last night?’ Ralph asked.
‘Fine,’ Yune said. ‘Wind was a little noisy out back, but once I went to sleep, I slept like a baby.’
‘What about you, Claude? Everything okay?’
‘If you mean did I feel like there was someone creeping around again, I didn’t. Ma, either.’
‘Well, there might be a reason for that,’ Alec said. ‘Cops in Tippit had a home invasion last night. Man of the house heard breaking glass, grabbed his shotgun, scared the guy off. Told the police the intruder had black hair, a goatee, and plenty of tattoos.’
Claude was outraged. ‘I never budged out of my bedroom last night!’
‘We don’t doubt that,’ Ralph said. ‘It could be the guy we’ve been looking for. We’re going to Tippit to check it out. If he’s gone – and he probably is – we’ll fly back to Flint City and try to figure out what to do next.’
‘Although I don’t know what more we can do,’ Howie added. ‘If he’s not hanging around here and if he’s not in Tippit, he could be anywhere.’
‘No other leads?’ Claude asked.
‘Not a one,’ Alec said.
Lovie rolled over to them. ‘If you-all decide to go home, stop in and see us on your way to the airport. I’ll make up some sammitches from the leftover chicken. Long as you don’t mind eatin it twice, that is.’
‘We’ll do that,’ Howie said. ‘Thank you both.’
‘It’s me should be thanking you,’ Claude said.
He shook hands with them all around, and Lovie opened her arms to give Holly a hug. Holly looked startled, but allowed it. ‘You come back, now,’ Lovie whispered in her ear.
‘I will,’ Holly replied, hoping it was a promise she would be able to keep.
6
Howie drove with Ralph riding shotgun and the other three in the backseat. The sun was up, and it was going to be another hot one.
‘Just wondering how the cops in Tippit got in touch with you,’ Yune said. ‘I didn’t think anyone in authority knew we were down here.’
‘They don’t,’ Alec replied. ‘If this outsider actually exists, we didn’t want to raise any suspicions with the Boltons about why we’re going in the wrong direction.’
Ralph didn’t need to be a mind reader to know what Holly was thinking at this moment: Every time you and the others talk about the outsider, it’s conditional.
Ralph turned around in his seat. ‘Listen to me now. No more ifs or maybes. For today, the outsider does exist. For today, he can read Claude Bolton’s mind any time he wants to, and unless we know differently, he’s in the Marysville Hole. No more assumptions, just belief. Can you do that?’
For a moment, no one replied. Then Howie said, ‘I’m a defense lawyer, son. I can believe anything.’
7
They came to the billboard showing the awestruck family holding up their gas lanterns. Howie drove slowly up the cracked asphalt entry road, avoiding the potholes as best he could. The temperature, which had been in the mid-fifties when they set out, was now edging into the seventies. It would go higher.
‘See that knoll up there?’ Holly pointed. ‘The main cave entrance is in the base of it. Or was, until they plugged it. We should check there first. If he tried to get in that way, there might be some sign.’
‘Fine with me,’ Yune said, looking around. ‘Jesus, this is desolate country.’
‘The loss of those boys and the rescue party that went after them was terrible for their families,’ Holly said, ‘but it was also a disaster for Marysville. The Hole was the town’s only job provider. A lot of locals left after it closed down.’
Howie braked. ‘That must have been the ticket booth, and I spy a chain across the road.’
‘Go around it,’ Yune said. ‘Give this baby’s suspension a workout.’
Howie drove around the chain, his seatbelted passengers bouncing up and down. ‘Okay, folks, we are now officially trespassing on private property.’
A coyote broke from cover at their approach and sprinted away, his lean shadow racing beside him. Ralph spotted the remains of wind-eroded tire tracks and assumed that local kids – there had to be at least a few of them left in Marysville – brought their ATVs out here. He was mostly focused on the rocky bluff ahead, site of what had been Marysville’s one and only tourist attraction. Its raison d’etre, if you wanted to be fancy about it.
‘We’re all carrying,’ Yune said. He was sitting upright in his seat, eyes fixed straight ahead, on alert. ‘Is that correct?’
The men answered in the affirmative. Holly Gibney said nothing.
8
From his perch atop the bluff, Jack saw them coming long before they reached the acre of parking lot. He checked his weapon – fully loaded, with one in the pipe. He had placed a flat stone at the edge of the drop. Now he lay at full length with the barrel resting on it. He sighted through the scope, putting the crosshairs on the driver’s side of the windshield. A sunflash momentarily blinded him. He winced, drew back, rubbed his eye until the floating spot was gone, then peered into the scope again.
Come on, he thought. Stop in the middle of the parking lot. That would be perfect. Stop there and get out.