Part 14 (1/2)
”Do you want to get to some kind of point?”
”Saving us both time, eh? I have a protege.”
”Named Freddy Van Harn, who is engaged to be married to your niece, Jane Schermer. People think he has a political future. Then there could be those who don't think he has any future at all.”
”You are a quick one, all right. You surely are. Frederick and I discuss his future and his current problems from time to time. You came up as one of his current problems.”
”Me?”
”Pure bug-eyed astonishment, eh? Frederick is a lively young man. It's entirely possible for a fellow like him to become involved in something foolish out of a sense of risk and adventure. At his age-he's only twenty-nine-a single man can do some foolish things, never quite realizing that he might be destroying his whole future and destroying the dreams of the people depending on him: A man can have his sense of values warped by expediency sometimes, McGee. In Frederick's case, he's wanted to make money fast and make it big to wipe out the local memories of his father, a man who made a terrible mistake and took his life. Frederick became overextended, and he took a foolish risk in an effort to make some quick money. I've been very severe with him about that.”
”What kind of risk?”
”We don't have to go into that here.”
”Then let's say he was flying in gra.s.s, dropping it to a friend in a power boat. That would be profitable and foolish enough, don't you think?”
”Out of the goodness of my heart, I would advise you not to get too smart-mouth and high-a.s.s around me. It makes me irritable, and when I get irritable, I'm harder to deal with.”
”I'm not after a deal.”
”You might be sooner than you know.”
”Whatever that might mean.”
”Frederick Van Harn is a very talented attorney, and he has that special kind of charisma which means he can go far in public service. It's past time that me and my little group had somebody in Tallaha.s.see speaking up for this county and our special problems here. We've all helped him along every way we could, ever since he got out of Stetson and set up practice here. Once he's married to Janie he won't have any more money problems to fret about and do foolish things trying to solve them. You get what I mean. Janie inherited ten thousand acres of the most profitable grove lands in this whole state.”
”How nice for her.”
”McGee, we're talking about image here. We're building an image people are going to trust. You ought to hear that boy give a speech. Make you tingle all over. What I wouldn't want to happen, I wouldn't want anybody to come here, some ntranger, and try to make a big fuss based entirely on the word of some dead thieving s.l.u.t.”
”You wouldn't?”
”Especially when it would be bad timing for Frederick in his career. A man shouldn't lose his whole future on account of one foolish act. It wouldn't be fair, would it?”
”To whom?”
”To those of us working hard to see dreams come true.”
I shook my head. ”Judge, you picked the wrong protege. You picked a bad one.”
”What are you talking about?”
”This Ready Freddy is kinky, Judge. He's all twisted in the s.e.x areas.”
”By G.o.d, there's nothing twisted about a man liking his p.u.s.s.y and going after it any danged place he can find it. When I was that boy's age I was ranging three counties on the moonlight nights.”
”He likes it to hurt them, Judge. He likes to force them. He likes to scare them. He likes to humiliate them. He leaves them with bad memories and a bad case of the shakes.”
”I'd say you've been listening to some foolish woman with too many inhibitions to be any d.a.m.n good in bed. I'd stake my life that boy is normal. And when he's got a wife and career he'll be too busy to go tomcatting.”
”That s.e.xy wife ought to keep him at home, all right.”
”Watch yourself! You got a lot more mouth than you need.”
”Judge, we have arrived at the end of our discussion. Weird as it may seem to you, I think your protege is a murderous, spooky fellow. I think he has been going around killing people. I think he killed two friends of mine. Tell him that.”
I reached behind me for the door handle. ”Wait!” he said sharply. ”What are you trying to pull? You can't believe that s.h.i.+t!”
”But I do!”
We locked stares for ten long seconds. And then he looked down and away, lips pursed. ”We couldn't be that far wrong,” he said softly, wonderingly. He shook himself and glowered at me. ”You want to raise the ante. All right. Here is your deal. Twenty-five thousand dollars cash to get out of this county and stay out.”
”Not for ten times the offer, Judge.”
”You are dead wrong about Frederick. Believe me.”
”I'll have to prove that to myself in my own way.”
”Stop reaching back of you for that door handle. Set a minute. Everybody wants something bad. What is it you want?”
”It isn't nice to go around killing people.”
”Frederick wouldn't kill anybody. Have you got some romantical notion about getting even for Carrie Milligan? My G.o.d, McGee, these people that get into drugs, they've got the life expectancy of a mayfly. That girl probably didn't know where she was or what she was doing. She walked into traffic.”
”Like Joanna.”
”A bomb? Frederick Van Harn fooling around with bombs? That's ridiculous. What do you want? What are you after?”
”Nothing you'd understand, Judge.”
”I understand a lot of things. I understand the world is too full of people and half a billion of 'em are starving this year. I understand there's a few million tons of phosphate under the ranchlands down in the southeast corner of this county, and the ecology freaks have kept National Minerals Industries from strip-mining it, and there's a group of us thinks if we put Fred in the State Senate, that might get changed around and a lot of people might make out pretty good. I understand that we're not going to stand for anybody coming in here and messing up our plans. People are starving because of the shortage of fertilizer. Phosphate is high priority McGee. Now who's going to do the most good in the world, Van Harn or you?”
”It's nice to know why you're so interested in me.”
”You know what I'm going to do for you? I'm going to set up a little session between you and Frederick, and I'll let him tell you just what his involvement was.”
”Are you sure you want to do that?”
”What's the matter? Afraid he'll shoot your theories full of holes?”
”I met him once. He didn't impress me, Judge.”
”You caught him at a bad time. He told me about it.”
”Why should he tell you?”
”I asked him if he'd ever met you.”