Blowout

looking at it. He wanted to scare him, make him worry that he might not live through this little drama, at least not for long. Maybe a nice car accident off the cliff road into Long’s Quarry, with his wife in the car beside him.
    Martin said, “There’s no reason for you not to tell me, no reason for you to keep saying that my father was a part of it. You’re just too chicken to tell the truth, aren’t you, Sheriff? All you can do is throw the blame on someone else.”
    “Nah, why would I even care what you thought? Hey, I know Townsend’s your dad, that you believed in him for eighteen years, but the fact is you must have known way down in your gut there was something wrong about your daddy, why else would you have skipped Boston, disappeared, never contacted him again?
    “Yep, it was your daddy who wanted your mama murdered. He offered me a whole lot of money to off her. But you know, Austin, I was worried about keeping the money coming in since it was your mama who ran the business, and wasn’t that a funny thing back then, particularly thirty years ago? But your daddy promised me it wouldn’t be a problem, there was lots and lots of money, and he’d be in control again once she was out of the way. Your daddy liked to gamble, went off to Las Vegas at least once a month, and Sam was giving him grief about all his losses. Maybe he thought about divorcing her, I don’t know. But what happened was that your mama figured out he was cheating on her. She had him followed, and a private investigator caught him catting around with a couple of local women. He documented it with lovely big black-and-white photos. Your mama was going to divorce him, and he couldn’t have that. She’d take all his money, and you. I guess he figured he didn’t have any choice but to have me kill her, so your daddy promised he’d get me elected sheriff of Blessed Creek for life, if that’s what I wanted, and that’s what I did want. I’d just been elected by a real narrow margin with his help, and I knew I’d need really big bucks to keep this job come the next election. It’s amazing how well people treat you if you’ve got some money to spend, and your old man has paid me well over the years. It was sure a blessing for both of us that he married a rich woman in Boston, since he has no talent with money. His folks were right about that.
    “You know something else, Austin? Your grandparents drowned in the lake, so drunk they couldn’t even swim back to the frigging boat. I’ve wondered if maybe your daddy made their martinis really strong, or maybe added a little something extra. You know, I think they were about ready to acknowledge to the world that he wasn’t quite right, that he was a real loser with money. But who cares when all’s said and done?”
    “So you two planned to murder her the day of my sixth birthday party.”
    “Everybody was there. It was a really big deal. There were so many people there, laughing, eating. After I made sure your daddy was surrounded by a dozen people so he’d have an alibi, I followed your mama to the bathroom and stabbed her in the heart. It was real easy.
    “Only thing is, I looked up, and there you were, standing there, eyes wide as an owl’s.”
    Martin said slowly, “And then you took my hands, told me Mommy would be all right, and you took me up to the attic.”
    “Fancy you remembering that. Your daddy was really pissed that you’d witnessed the murder, didn’t know how you’d managed to slip away from all those kids you were playing with. That’s when I put you in the attic, told you to stay there or something really bad would happen to you. We decided to leave you up there in the attic, in a nice dark corner, let you think about things. We left you there for a good hour, until Old Emily found your mother’s body. That’s when I had to get you down, before people started looking for you. You were so freaked out I nearly had to drag you out of the attic. You didn’t say a word, just gave me this blank look.
    “Your daddy got you out of there fast, right after the funeral. I think he was afraid I was planning how to kill you, and he was right about that. I hate loose ends. Another accident, I would have come up with something. You didn’t speak for a month, and when you did, it was obvious you didn’t remember anything, you had amnesia and your daddy didn’t think you’d ever remember. And after a while I thought, Who’d believe a little kid anyway,