Morningside Fall(15)

“OK. Here’s the plan,” Fletcher said, then noticed Mags was still sleeping. “Wake Mags up.”

Yeager kicked Mags pretty good, and Mags woke up mad and Creed laughed a little.

“Come on, Mags,” Fletcher said, “we gotta do some work.”

“What’s the plan?” Mags asked, sitting up and rubbing his ribs where Yeager’d kicked him.

“Creed, you and Yeager, you’re gonna go round to where Sloan is, and then you boys get Nice and Lady and come up behind him. Then me and Cup and Mull and Mags, we’re gonna come up in front of him.”

“OK,” Creed said. “And then what?”

“Then I’m gonna ask him some questions.”

“OK. And then what?” Creed repeated.

“Well, then I reckon we kill him.”



“OK.”



“OK,” Fletcher said.

“OK,” Creed said, and then he and Yeager went off to find Sloan and the dogs.

“Cup,” Fletcher said. “You get that?”

For a second, Cup didn’t do nothing, then all sudden-like he just sits up and headbutts the wall, and he sits back with a big smile – with blood coming down between his eyes – and then gets up and starts walking. Cup was crazy.

Mags and Mull started following him, but Fletcher caught Mull’s arm and said real low, “Hey, Mull. I’m gonna ask him a couple questions, but if he acts funny, you don’t wait. You just go on and shoot him, alright? I wanna ask him a couple questions, but I won’t be mad if you gotta just shoot him, alright?”

“Alright, Fletcher, I got you,” Mull said, and he patted the jittergun he kept in a holster right at the front where he could reach it real quick.

“Alright,” Fletcher said, and he patted Mull on the shoulder because he was one of the good ones, and you could always count on Mull, even when Cup went crazy.

Fletcher walked out into the street with Mull just behind him and walked up a couple of yards from Blindfold. Cup and Mags was already there, but kind of hanging back, and then when Fletcher was there in the street, Sloan give a little whistle and come out of the alley behind Blindfold with Nice and Lady barking all a-sudden – because they been such good dogs to be so quiet so long – and now they was slobbering and pulling their leashes, and Creed and Yeager was right there behind them, laughing at how the dogs was dragging Sloan up the street. But the dogs they quit when they got close and started pacing back and forth like they was a little confused and a little excited.

“Hey,” Fletcher said, once all the boys was in place. But Blindfold just sat there on his knees with his head down like he was sleeping.

“Hey!” Fletcher said louder. Blindfold didn’t move or nothing.

Then for no reason Cup just let out a holler and threw a brick or something right at Blindfold and it went next to his head so close his hair moved, no fooling. But Blindfold he didn’t move or nothing, not even like it’d been a fly buzzing.

“Knock it off,” Mull said, kind of sharp-like to Cup. Then he leaned in. “I told ya, Fletcher, pretty sure he’s dead.” Fletcher shooed Mull away. He was quick on the trigger, but not so much with the thinking.

“Hey, old man, my friend thinks you’re dead. You ain’t dead, are ya?” he asked.

“Not yet,” Blindfold said, and Mags actually jumped back two steps, and Creed and Yeager both busted out laughing at that. And Nice and Lady kept walking back and forth, back and forth, and Nice whined a little high-pitched whine, and Sloan jerked his leash to shut him up.

“Not yet. That’s right, not yet,” Fletcher said, chuckling and turning to look at Mull. “See, Mull, he ain’t dead yet.” Then he turned back to Blindfold and Blindfold’s head was up, like he was staring right at Fletcher, even though he couldn’t see nothing, and Fletcher felt something wasn’t right. Blindfold’s hair was long like a woman’s and dirty grey, and his coat was worn-through pretty good, and his hands was flat on his legs, palms down, and Fletcher saw his fingernails was all cracked and black in places like somebody been digging. “What’s your name, old man?”

“Today,” Blindfold said. “I am Faith.”

Creed laughed at that, and Fletcher thought Creed laughed too much, and Nice and Lady both started whining and turning circles on their leashes, and Sloan had to rough-talk ’em to get ’em to shut up.

“Faith, huh?” Fletcher said, smiling big and putting on a show for the boys, even though he didn’t much like how things was feeling. He took a step back to get a little distance, but did it all casual so it didn’t look like he was scared. “Didn’t know people still had any of that these parts.”