he’s already got his-self some poontang.” The sheriff had scared Hodge by threatening to send him back to Brushy, but Trotter would not do that. You had to kind of admire the boy’s determination, and besides, he was a hell of a cook. “We figure Hodge’ll be real cooperative from here on out. I figure we can tie a string around his dick.”
“Put a bell on it,” the other deputy suggested.
Warden Davis was intrigued. Hodge had had quite a reputation around Brushy, too, though he had never given any trouble. Had they happened to get a look at the girl? Did they know her?
They did not know her but described her as frizzy-haired. She had put on a pair of glasses when Hodge let them in.
“She had the sheet pulled up to her chin. Must be a real fine lady, har de har-har.”
“Maybe this will help,” the warden said. He opened a file and took out some photographs of women and spread them across his desk. The deputies immediately pointed to one.
Warden Davis asked his secretary to get him Sherry Sheets’s home number.
“I hate spoiling her Sunday,” the warden said.
8
S HERRY POSTPONED TELLING HER HUSBAND that she had been fired from Brushy. It was not necessary for him to know yet, and it was Sherry’s way to react to necessity rather than to force matters prematurely. She had always taken this circumspect, deliberative approach to life. During her senior year in high school, for instance, when her grades began to fall, she waited until she received her midterm report card and changed the F’s and D’s to B’s with the stroke of a pen. By the end of the next quarter she had discovered the store in Harriman that sold blank report cards; for six cents she was able to convert herself into an honor student. She knew that eventually the people she called Mom and Dad, who were actually her sister and brother-in-law, would discover the ruse. They would be angry and disappointed, and she would be unable to qualify for entrance to nursing school. But all that could be dealt with in its proper time, and meanwhile, there was the thrill of getting away with something for months on end.
She pretended to leave for work as usual, fabricating an erratic work schedule so she could see Benny when she wished, lolling around the house when Billy was at work and Renee at kindergarten. She relished having more time to devote to Benny, but she was resentful. She did not blame Warden Davis; he had no choice but to fire her, and she knew him as a decent and honest man with concern for the welfare of his prisoners and a belief in the possibility of rehabilitationfor some of them. But she thirsted for vengeance against Hot Pants, who must have snitched on her. How else would the warden have suspected her? What also galled her was that Benny the jailbird had scarcely been reprimanded—not that he deserved worse, since his only crime had been in acting like a real man—while she, the supposedly free woman, had lost her job for doing nothing more than loving someone. That was what the world called justice. She was out of a job, while Sheriff Trotter was even talking about giving Benny weekend passes if he behaved himself. The next thing you knew, Benny would have himself deputized.
It was Sherry who handled the family finances—just as she was always the designated driver and the one who went down to bail friends out when they were DUI’d and the one who did the shopping and took Renee to the doctor—and she prided herself on her skills in the field of domestic economy. But with her salary stopped, she quickly ran into a cash-flow problem.
The Pelfreys’ house, three bedrooms and a carport, had been willed free and clear to Billy and his two brothers and two sisters by their mother. Sherry and Billy had taken out a mortgage to buy up his relatives’ shares. At the end of each month, Sherry went to the bank to make the payment in cash. What with only Billy’s salary coming in and buying presents for more than a dozen
“Put a bell on it,” the other deputy suggested.
Warden Davis was intrigued. Hodge had had quite a reputation around Brushy, too, though he had never given any trouble. Had they happened to get a look at the girl? Did they know her?
They did not know her but described her as frizzy-haired. She had put on a pair of glasses when Hodge let them in.
“She had the sheet pulled up to her chin. Must be a real fine lady, har de har-har.”
“Maybe this will help,” the warden said. He opened a file and took out some photographs of women and spread them across his desk. The deputies immediately pointed to one.
Warden Davis asked his secretary to get him Sherry Sheets’s home number.
“I hate spoiling her Sunday,” the warden said.
8
S HERRY POSTPONED TELLING HER HUSBAND that she had been fired from Brushy. It was not necessary for him to know yet, and it was Sherry’s way to react to necessity rather than to force matters prematurely. She had always taken this circumspect, deliberative approach to life. During her senior year in high school, for instance, when her grades began to fall, she waited until she received her midterm report card and changed the F’s and D’s to B’s with the stroke of a pen. By the end of the next quarter she had discovered the store in Harriman that sold blank report cards; for six cents she was able to convert herself into an honor student. She knew that eventually the people she called Mom and Dad, who were actually her sister and brother-in-law, would discover the ruse. They would be angry and disappointed, and she would be unable to qualify for entrance to nursing school. But all that could be dealt with in its proper time, and meanwhile, there was the thrill of getting away with something for months on end.
She pretended to leave for work as usual, fabricating an erratic work schedule so she could see Benny when she wished, lolling around the house when Billy was at work and Renee at kindergarten. She relished having more time to devote to Benny, but she was resentful. She did not blame Warden Davis; he had no choice but to fire her, and she knew him as a decent and honest man with concern for the welfare of his prisoners and a belief in the possibility of rehabilitationfor some of them. But she thirsted for vengeance against Hot Pants, who must have snitched on her. How else would the warden have suspected her? What also galled her was that Benny the jailbird had scarcely been reprimanded—not that he deserved worse, since his only crime had been in acting like a real man—while she, the supposedly free woman, had lost her job for doing nothing more than loving someone. That was what the world called justice. She was out of a job, while Sheriff Trotter was even talking about giving Benny weekend passes if he behaved himself. The next thing you knew, Benny would have himself deputized.
It was Sherry who handled the family finances—just as she was always the designated driver and the one who went down to bail friends out when they were DUI’d and the one who did the shopping and took Renee to the doctor—and she prided herself on her skills in the field of domestic economy. But with her salary stopped, she quickly ran into a cash-flow problem.
The Pelfreys’ house, three bedrooms and a carport, had been willed free and clear to Billy and his two brothers and two sisters by their mother. Sherry and Billy had taken out a mortgage to buy up his relatives’ shares. At the end of each month, Sherry went to the bank to make the payment in cash. What with only Billy’s salary coming in and buying presents for more than a dozen
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