He started back up the ridge then, mud and wet leaves stuck to his boots, everything smelling of damp wood. He caught himself spitting often, which was odd as it wasn’t a habit he’d practiced before. Stranger still was the mild taste of chewing tobacco in his mouth.
The long stretch of summer twilight that should have guided him back wasn’t present beneath tonight’s overcast sky. He came back to the timber camp in almost total darkness and didn’t make out the shape of the car until he was almost upon it. He gave a start at first and shrank back into the woods but then recognized it as Danny’s Oldsmobile. When he came up behind it, the driver’s door swung open and Danny stepped out with a face twisted with consternation.
“Where in the hell you been? I swear, Josiah, I was ten minutes from leaving.”
“My truck was in the barn.”
“I seen it, else I would’ve been gone an hour ago.” He frowned. “You been walking around in the rain?”
“I have.” Josiah leaned past him, looked into the car. “That a pizza?”
“Figured you’d need some grub. Cold by now, of course.”
“Hell if I care.”
They pushed the barn door open a few feet and sat just inside while Josiah ate some pizza and drank a bottle of water. It took the edge off the powerful thirst that had built in him, but neither food nor water removed that faint taste of tobacco.
While he ate, Danny gave him the update from town. Talk of the murder was common, but credible theories were not.
“You find out if the one who called himself Shaw is still in town?” Josiah said.
“He is. I had a hell of a time finding him, but then I got lucky.”
“Yeah?”
“I called both hotels and asked for him. French Lick said he wasn’t registered, but West Baden put me through to a room. I hung up soon as it rang.”
“That’s a hell of a hard time?”
“No. But just because he had a room doesn’t mean he was still in it, and besides, you told me to follow him. But I don’t know what kind of car he has. Car they were in yesterday was the black guy’s.”
“Right.” Josiah caught Danny frowning at him. “What are you staring at?”
“Why do you keep spitting?” Danny said. Josiah was surprised; he hadn’t even realized he was doing it again.
“No reason,” he said. “Get back to the story.”
“Well, I went through the parking lot, looking for Illinois plates, but there was quite a few of them, so I didn’t know what to wait on. It started to rain then and I decided I’d drive back up here and ask what you thought. I was halfway through town when I seen him walking down the sidewalk.”
“You did.”
“Uh-huh. Wouldn’t have even noticed him but he was all bent over like he was about to be sick. He walked all the way back up to the hotel, stumbling like a drunk. Wasn’t but five minutes later he came out and got in a car. Acura SUV. Then he drove to Anne McKinney’s house.”
“Anne McKinney?” Josiah said, incredulous.
“You know who she is, right?”
“Got that house with all the windmills and shit. Comes to the hotel every day.”
“Yeah.”
“What would he be doing up there?”
“I’m not sure,” Danny said, “but he looked awful strange going inside. Left the door open and the engine running. She had to come out and turn it off.”
“She did? Well, how long did he stay?”
“A long time. Then he went back to the hotel. Didn’t see him come out again, so I left to come up here. Something else—what he told Grandpa is that some woman from Chicago hired him.”
“A woman?”
“That’s what he said.”
“Bullshit. He’s working for Lucas.”
“I got to say I don’t know what we’re doing, following this guy around,” Danny said. “You’re in a shit-ton of trouble. You ask me—”
“I didn’t ask you.”
Danny shut his mouth and stared at Josiah, then spoke again, his voice lower.
“Maybe not. But if you did ask, I’d say you only got two options. First is to turn yourself in. I know you don’t want to do that, but I think it’s smartest. That guy pulled a gun on you, right? You did what you had to.”
“Not going to happen,” Josiah said. “I got no interest in trusting the local law.”
“Fine,” Danny said. “Then you best get out of town. You said you need money to do it, but I don’t know how you’re getting any from these people from Chicago. I’ll give you what I got left from the casino, be enough to get you out of here, at least.”