"Shit." "No, no." "No." "No." "Wake up, wake up." ""Dear Tools." "By now, I guess you know I'm gone."" ""I couldn't take it no more." "Not so much my foster dad's drinking..."" "Shit." "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry." "Go and get a lawyer, Johnno." "This ain't gonna go away by you ignoring it." "Simon?" "Boy, you been mule-kicked in the head?" "Who the fuck you think it is?" "I thought you was out west on a bridge job." "Yeah, the fucking bridge is built, Johnno." "I'm standing right here." " Who you been talking to?" " What?" "What made you think I need a lawyer?" " Jess." " Jess?" "Yeah." "She waited on me at Puffy's earlier." "Said she moved into town with Nolan, hit you with divorce papers, and you won't go get a lawyer." "Shit." "That's old news, Simon." "Well, not to me it ain't." "I've been joining steel out in Montana these three months, remember?" "Says she's going back to school, be a teacher." "A teacher?" "Yeah." "You know what the end of the world is, Johnno?" "When your heart stops beating, partner." "Anything else is just a setback." "How good did you get to know Ira Hollenbach?" "How good what?" "When you worked for him?" "I worked for him near a year before he and Molly got killed." " Knew him to be a decent boss." " Yeah?" "But look here." "Go and see my lawyer, Daggard Pitt." "I don't want a divorce, Simon." "I want my family back." "Yeah, well, go on and see him anyway." "He'll take good care of you." "Thought you'd get away, did ya?" "John?" "You know me?" "It's a small town, John." "Daggard Pitt." "Simon Breedlove said you'd be a good one for me to talk to about this." "Come on in, John." "Let's see what you've got." "These were served on you over 40 days ago." "The law doesn't allow but 20 to answer them." "They got under something." "The problem, thankfully, isn't fatal." "I need your help." "I ain't interested in a divorce." "Me and Jess don't see eye-to-eye on that." "I'm so sorry." "She's got this idea about the boy." "Your son?" "Nolan." "After he was born, she started to see things different." " Different?" " Yeah, all of a sudden, she wanted more." "Now, I've always provided." "She can't say I don't provide." "I ain't lazy." "Says here you've had trouble keeping a job ever since your father lost his farm?" "No, sir." "I've had plenty of jobs." "Plenty of jobs, just not for long." "I even took a job at that creamery just to get her a few extra things, and when I lost that, she..." "I can't stay cooped up inside all day." "I was raised to farm." "It's all I know." "How can I help you, John?" "She mentioned counselling once." "I'll go now, if it'll bring her home." "You tell her lawyer that?" "I was acquainted with your parents." "I represented the bank when they foreclosed on and sold their farm to Cecil Nobie." "I felt awful about it." "We all did." "The bank did what it could to keep your father afloat, but the economy at that time, and him having overextended himself..." "Yes." "And, of course, him taking sick." "John, the question you have to ask yourself is will you be comfortable with me?" "Simon says you're cheaper than the rest of 'em in town." "That mean you ain't as good?" "Compensation takes many forms, John." "Name one besides money." "I have no wife, no family, only my clients and their often sticky and heartfelt situations." "I've known our friend, Simon, for example, through thick and thin." "How serious of scrapes you got him out of?" "Well, that's between him and me, John." "Just as anything you tell me as your lawyer will be between you and me." "You're not wondering about my criminal defence expertise as a result of more troubles you've had up at the Conservancy, are you?" "Your..." "Your poaching arrests, is it three now?" "Have all made the paper." "I'm afraid another one'll cause you more serious problems than just a couple of weekends in jail." "There isn't something of that nature that might get in the way of your custody or visitation rights, is there?" "No, sir." "No, sir." "I don't want a divorce." "I want my family back." "You just delay matters long as you can." "I appreciate your time." "Thank you." "Jess?" "Hey." "You look pretty." "That man's a friend of yours?" "Just some guy looking for some other guy." "What other guy?" "Not a guy worth knowing, called "The Hen."" "If you'd ever seen him, you'd know the name fits." "You want to order?" "Yeah." "I'll get a cheeseburger plate." "Cup of coffee." "What kind of cheese?" "You know what kind, baby." "Coleslaw?" "No, I'll get a tossed salad." "You don't eat tossed salad." "Well, I thought I'd give it another shot." "Doctor says it's good for me." "Make it a large tossed salad." "I hired a lawyer like you wanted." "I told him to tell your guy I'm ready to go to one of them counsellors." "Well, I think you ought to." "I meant together." "Look, John..." "It was your idea." "That was before we separated." "We didn't separate." "You moved out with our son, the day after I lost my job." "I know the timing was bad, but..." "I got some things at home for the two of you." "I'll bring 'em by later." "How'd that be?" "What things?" "Food things and money." "Can't you give 'em to me now?" "I've got a class till 8:00." "I'll come by after that." "I'd really rather you wouldn't, John." "Why not?" "You got a date?" "I can't talk right now." "You can't talk about it now, you can't talk later, when can you talk about it?" "Sorry." "The hell you say." "Christ almighty." "I'll come by and see Nolan then." "He's gonna be there, right?" "Not a good time." "I need to see him, and you." "I got something important to tell you about our future." "John, I..." "Look at what you done to my pants!" "What about your goddamn pants?" " They look pissed in." " Well..." "We got a problem?" "What did I tell you about coming here and raising shit?" "Don't trouble yourself, Puffy." "We're good over here." "Ain't we good over here?" "You get your pants cleaned..." "We got it straightened out." "Right, we got it straightened out." "Drop the goddamned bag." "Is this 1201 Belmont?" "I ain't shitting you, man." "Okay." "I think I got the wrong house." "Yeah, most-fucking-likely." "No." "He don't." "That's John." "John?" "The husband." "I'm Jess's friend, Carla." "From Puffy's?" "I'm babysitting." "Babysitting?" "Shit." "Where's Jess?" "I didn't ask." "Are you watching pornos on the fucking TV?" "Yeah, well, we got a Constitutional right." "You got a fucking gun on me, man." "Whoa, whoa, whoa, I'll put it away." "And you're fucking in front of my kid?" "Well, he was sleeping." "Till you woke him, John." "You'd best be gone or dressed when I get back." "I don't want to see your sorry ass naked in my wife and kid's house." "Hey, hey." "Hey!" "It's Daddy!" "Can you say "Dada"?" "Shit." "It's okay." "It's okay." "It's okay." "It's okay." "Hi, baby." "You better let me have him, John." "What's the matter with him?" "He just ain't used to seeing you is all." "What do you mean, ain't used to seeing me?" "I know, baby." "I know." "What's the matter with him?" "What'd you people do to him?" "He's just a little scared, that's all." "What you want, baby?" "What you want?" "Who's that man?" "Who's that man?" "Hey." "I'm gonna tell Jess what I found here." "You best believe in that." "Who's that?" "Say "Bye-bye, Daddy."" "The look on your face makes me think you do remember me." "I'm wondering why you can't fuck in your own place is all." "Shit, you know how it is, John." "My dick's a basset hound." "I'm just the poor son of a bitch holding its chain." "I can't figure out why you're still here neither." "Well, nobody who lives here asked me to leave." "Yeah, well, most guys who make assholes of themselves don't wait to be." "Well, hell, John, that was nothin'." "You should've come a few minutes earlier, got the same show the pizza man did." "Should I put this in the fridge?" "It feels like maybe it needs it." "You mad at me for some reason, John?" "I don't like guns being pulled on me." "If a fucking lunatic madman breaks into the place, what would you do, huh?" "I don't like 'em around my kid, neither." "Come on, now." "A lifelong hunter like you, John?" "I don't believe that." "See, the truth is, John, I'm like you." "I am, you see." "A person who makes good use of what he kills shouldn't have to worry about what time of year it is or whose fucking land he's on, right?" "Jess know you're here?" "Why don't you ask her?" "I might." "You do that, John." "You do that." "And when you give Jess her little bag of goodies, you ask her if she knows old Obie." "That's short for Obadiah, Cornish." "That's like "The Hen."" "Well, no shit, John." "You know, we might actually be acquainted." "Yeah?" "How's that?" "Well, seeing how a number of years back, old Obie Cornish spent many a day busting his ass for peanuts up and around that old mountain you're on." "Yup." "Back in town now after a lot of years, only to find that not much has changed, except I understand that you and yours had a string of bad luck." "Money must be pretty tight for you these days, huh, John?" "I don't recognise you from a clump of cow shit." "Ain't you gonna leave the bag, John?" "Do you know me?" "I don't think so." "Then what are you looking at?" "A face I ain't seen before." "I know this place ain't upscale enough to have a rent-a-cop, so, you must be a concerned citizen." "Right?" "No, I just know people who live on it, that's all." "I wonder, maybe we know the same ones." "Where do the ones you know live at?" "They ain't home." " No?" " Yup." "Well, then, maybe not." " Pretty bad, huh?" " Yeah, it's infected." "Hold still." "Well, I appreciate your time, John." "That's good." "You got any work, John?" "Yeah." "Plenty." "Just not much of the paying kind." "Grady's off to college come fall." "Got his-self some smarts from his mother, I guess." "Yep." "I'm proud as can be of that boy, but he ain't never took to farming any more than that one has." "Can't hardly blame 'em." "World's pretty exciting out there these days." "And for sure there ain't no money in dairying." "I ain't never had use for a full-time man before, but once Grady goes, it ain't right that his mother should take up the slack." "So, if you could see your way clear to working for me on your old home," "I'm offering you a job, come fall." "Good job." "Long-term." "You run this farm better than my daddy ever did." "That's the truth of it." "Him losing it is no fault of yours." "And I thank you for your offer, only I just..." "You got an interest in that piece of junk before it goes to the dump?" "I might." "I might." "Well..." "Now, ain't that a persistent son of a bitch?" "That's twice in 24 hours it's gone by toward Hollenbach's." "Maybe after six years, somebody's finally looking to buy that place." "Gotta be from out of the area, wouldn't you say, John?" "Nobody local's gonna buy that place, knowing its history." "Be like walking on Ira and Molly's graves." "You believe in ghosts, John?" " As much as I don't." " Yeah, sure." "Me, too." "Yeah." "As nice a piece of land it sits on," "I wouldn't live in that house for all the gold in the world." "You remember that foster kid, worked for Ira couple summers before they was killed?" " Cornish." " Yeah." " Obadiah Cornish." " Yeah, that's him." " Called himself "The Hen."" " Yeah." "A peckerwood son of a bitch." " Yeah." " Yeah." "I used to buy a lot of stone back in them days from Ira, and that Looney Tune kid and your buddy Simon Breedlove would help me load it." "Simon and him work for Ira at the same time?" "Yup." "Didn't Cornish get fired for stabbing a goat or something?" "No, it was this heifer." "He stabbed a heifer in the heart." "He got shit-canned for it." "Hey, now, I know that one is like a big brother to you." " Simon?" " Yeah." "Man, he can work the tits off a mule when he's sober, but when he gets on one of his drinking jags, that's a different man altogether." "Yeah, but he can take all comers." "Yeah." "You wanna hose off before you go?" "Nah." "I'll wash up at mine." "Well, I hope the somebody you got in mind for that's gonna get some good use out of it." "Gonna need a little work first." "Well, then the right man salvaged it." "You'll get back to me, right, John?" "About the job?" "You bet." "Yeah?" "I want you to stay away from the house, John." "Hey." "You can't just go around breaking through doors and leaving rancid meat in people's cars." "John?" "Yeah?" "What have you been up to?" "What?" "Did you..." "John, for God's sakes, where did you get that money?" "It's for you and Nolan." "There's over $4,000 there." "I didn't trouble counting it." "What's going on, John?" "Are you all right?" "Hey, you remember that farm?" "We used to talk about buying that farm." " You remember that?" " You used to talk about it." "I don't want to live on no farm." "Sure, you do." "No, I don't want to live on a farm." "I love you, baby." "Stop that, John." "What's going on with you, anyway?" "Who was that skeezy piece of shit fucking Nolan's babysitter?" "About had me calling..." "John?" "John?" "You're okay." "It's gonna be okay." "I'm right here!" "I'm right here!" "Yeah?" "Dog got in the way." "Who is this?" " You know, right?" " What?" "How things get in the way?" "What things?" "If what you took ain't back by tomorrow morning, ain't gonna be no dog that shows up dead next." "I'm gonna find you and I'm gonna slit your throat." "You hear me?" "Do you hear me?" "Shit." "There he is!" "Come on, y'all." "Come on over." "You taking visitors, Johnno?" "What the hell are you doing here?" "Shit." "You scared the shit out of me, man." "Hey!" "How you doin'?" "That's enough applejack for me." "You remember Big Colette?" "No, she ain't familiar." "No." "Colette Gans?" "Married to Ralph Gans." "He got that scrap metal yard up in Cortland." "We hauled a couple demo wrecks up to four or five years ago." "You know him." "Come on." "Look, she got a starter on her about as big as my thumb." "I tell ya." "A starter." "Yeah, why do you think we call her "Big Colette"?" "I tell you, you look down there, you think you're looking at half a man." "You've gotta be careful." " That's her cousin, Mincy." " Mincy?" "Yeah." "She got a lion tattooed on the back of her hind pots." "Hind..." "Hind pots?" "You'd be doing me a favour, John, if you make that son of a bitch roar for her." "Shit, I don't know." "I don't know." "Shape I'm in, about one cousin's all I can handle tonight." "Come on." " I don't know." " Come on, John." "Old co-worker of yours pulled a gun on me last night." "Old co-worker of mine?" "Yeah, at Jess's, after I walked in on him balling the babysitter." "Obadiah Cornish?" "Calls himself "The Hen"?" "Hell." "Last I heard, that motherfucker was doing time up in Greenville." "Well, he ain't now." "He got a hard bark on him." "He was one of them the police talked to that night old Ira and Molly got slashed up." "Where's that old three-coloured hound of yours?" "He's usually all slobbering up on me, by time I get here." "He was shot dead a few hours before you got here." "Shot?" "By who?" "Somebody I didn't see." "Well, somebody must've had a reason, John?" "No." "I'd guess not." "Well, shit." "Must've been a reason." "We are getting awful lonely over here, boys!" "Well, you got each other, baby." " Simon, you're silly..." " See, what did I tell you?" "Fucking shit." "Simon said." "Simon says..." "Oh, geez!" "No, I'll lead the way." "Simon said you might take some convincing." "He tell you I got a wife?" "He said she left you and that you needed to get your mind off it." "Yeah?" "Feel to me like you already have." "Shoot!" "Where's my watch?" "The rain'll ruin it!" "Help me find it, please!" "I had it since I was five!" " This it?" " Yes!" "Simon?" "Yeah?" "Wrong number, Johnno." "I had me this breather one time, so, I breathed right back to him." "I started huffing and puffing, like I'm about to blow my nut." "Mister pud-puller gets so scared, he hangs upon me!" "Cops'll trace that shit, if you ask 'em." "I wouldn't ask 'em." "I wish you two hens would quit your clucking." "Like two ball-peen hammers with feathers banging in my head." "You still hunting with them deer slugs, Johnno?" "Yep." "Ain't this fun?" "Would you go off somewhere?" "You ask me nice." "Mincy!" "Come on." "Come on." "Go on outside and get in the Caddy." "Move." " You wanna drive?" " Yes!" "Bye." "I'll tell you what, Johnno." "A woman is about the awfullest trick of nature on God's green Earth, you'd better believe it." "Good to see ya." "Steady, steady." "You scared us to death!" "I'm sorry." "I took you for somebody else." "Who put a fright like that into you?" "Steady, boy." "Steady." "Jesus, John Moon!" "I must've dozed off." "In the rain?" "With Mr 12-Gauge?" "I thought I might see a pheasant." "Or a deer?" "I'd never tell on you for it." "You gonna take that job he offered you?" "I ain't had much time to think on it." "You ought to." "Not everybody gets a chance to do what they love and get paid for it." "Shovelling shit and milking cows?" "I'm daughter to one, just like you." "Daddy had to work in a factory, he'd die." "Yes, ma'am." "In my summer school economics course, we were studying on profit-sharing." "You know what that is?" "No, I don't." "I bet you gonna tell me though, ain't ya?" "Well, it's when employees get to own a piece of the companies they work at." "If it was me, I'd suggest something like that to Daddy." "I'd tell him I'd take that job if part of my pay could go toward buying a piece of his farm." "You want me to buy back a piece of my own farm?" "John Moon, if you keep looking back, you ain't never gonna get ahead." "Maybe you ought to be worried about losing your inheritance." "I won't need one." "I'm gonna be a millionaire by the time I'm 30." "I got a thousand ideas how to do it, like making you my daddy's partner." "You got it all figured out, don't ya?" "I have faith in you." "You're only gonna make my inheritance bigger." "Your daddy know what they're learning you in school?" "No." "I'd appreciate you not discussing it with him when you go to him with my ownership proposal." "You will think about it, won't you?" "Be careful back in them woods." "It's slippery underfoot." "Don't you worry about me." "I'm an experienced horsewoman." "John?" "Whatcha doing?" "Well..." "I was bird-hunting." "In the trailer?" "I just got back." "Well, I just came by to pick up some things." " What things?" " My clothes are still in my closet." "I can't just keep wearing the same thing all the time." "Why not?" "I think you look great." "Can I come in?" "Well, I'll get them for you, so, you ain't got to see how the place has gone to hell since you left." "I'll bet." "Good to see ya." "Cecil Nobie offered me a full-time job the other day." "Soon as everyone goes off to school." "You'll be too proud to take it, won't you?" "Is that what you think?" "I was fixing to see if he'll let me buy a few of his heifers, start my own herd with." "Yeah?" "Yeah." "It's called profit-sharing." "Is that right?" "What do you think about that?" "Well, I think Cecil 'd be getting one hell of a bargain for whatever it costs him." "I gotta go." ""Your wife, your kid." "Hand over the money or bang bang."" ""Why don't you call the law?"" "Come on, come on." "Come on, Jess." "Come on, baby." "Come on, baby." "Jess!" "Where's my family at?" "I don't know nothing about it." "You don't know nothing about what?" "I don't know nothing about nothing, especially not about where Jess and Nolan's at." "Hang on, sister." "You'd better get smarter in a hurry." "Get off, John!" "She don't talk to me no more thanks to you." "Where's he at?" "Who?" "You know your boyfriend kills cows and dogs for fun?" "What are you smiling at?" "You keep smiling, I'll snap your fucking wrist." "That psycho is not my boyfriend." "I hear from him when he feels like, is all." "You know where I can find him, though, don't you?" "John, I know he don't like surprises, and if he's wanting to see somebody, he'll find them." "Why don't you just give the man an answer, Carla?" "I ain't got the one he's wanting." "Maybe you ought to try a little harder." "I'm obliged to you for the support, fat man." "You're a real prince." "There was a real pretty young thing in here just yesterday, looking for a job." "She had two things that you don't, a pleasant demeanour, and tits the size of cantaloupes." "I told her to leave her number." "I'll bet she's just holding her breath." "Where's he at?" "Where's he at?" "He's moving around nights." "Try the Bonanza." "That wasn't so hard, was it?" "You best not come around for a few days, John." "If he broke something, you're paying for it." "Hey, hey, hey!" "Not hurrying away from a bad Puffy's lunch special, are you, John?" "What say you detour with me away from whatever you're rushing from, or to, back to my office, sign those papers I told you I'd draw up?" "Not now." "Well, you're not agreeing to anything, remember?" "We're just protecting your rights." "Later, Pitt." "Not too much later I hope." "Shall we say this afternoon?" "Maybe there's another matter you'd like to discuss?" "Other than the divorce, I mean." "What?" "What matter?" "I hope I'm not stepping over the line, John." "It's just I know you've been under a lot of stress lately, and..." "Well, I hear things." "I'd hate to see your whole life get ruined for a mistake or two." "And it's not just your life, John." "What did you say?" "There's a boy to think about." "Nolan." "He ain't in this." "Well, of course he's in it, John." "He's your son." "Most problems, John, aren't as bad as they seem." "Thing is, you've got to deal with 'em before people get backed into corners." "You got something to say, spit it out." "There're so many overlapping interests in a small town, John." "It's a small-town lawyer's cross to bear." "Then, too, there's the law." "My only problem is getting my family back." "If you can't help me with that, I ain't got time to talk to you." "Hey." "Hey, mister, can you give me a ride back to town?" "You believe them titties is real?" "Well, they ain't." "It's a man, got plastic tits, a pussy made from the skin off his own leg." "Doctor cut off his dick and had them things sewn on." " Can I help you?" " Guy named Cornish staying here?" " Can't say." " You can't say, huh?" "No." "All arms and legs?" "Gangly, tattooed son of a bitch." "You seen him?" "Maybe he got him an alias." "Guess he don't want to be found." "Don't wanna be found, huh?" "What room's he in?" "Room seven." "I'll call, tell him you're on your way." "I'll go on down, let myself in." "And I weren't never here, neither." "You's one of them Fitch boys, ain't you?" "No, I ain't no Fitch boy." "I don't think slicing on the penis..." "Yeah?" "Open up." "Room service." "Shit." "Hey, man." "What you been up to?" "I been to Hawaii, what do you fucking think?" "I've been waiting for you to turn up with that money." "I've been on the case, man." "I've been on it." "Yeah?" "You been on it?" "Fucking-A, man." "She's had me on the run." "Two days, I've been keeping my guys sweet." "We don't turn up with the money tonight, they ain't gonna sell us no fucking drugs." "You understand that?" "You get that?" "You gotta trust me, all right?" "I am this fucking close to getting that money back." "If you can't trust your cellmate, who can you trust?" "Goddamn straight." "Assholes on the outside got no fucking idea." "It's when you get on the outside, you realise you spend your time with thieves and murderers, and fucking liars." "Yeah, that's right." "It's like we're all in one of them big clubs you get in a college." "What do you call that?" "Fraternities, you moron." "Yeah, that's what it is." "Hen, where's the fucking money at?" "Listen, man, this fucking woodchuck that lives up by the quarry, he's got it..." "Who?" "What's his name?" "John Moon." "I just ain't sure where he's hid it, man, but listen to me," "I've got someone real close to his wife and kid working with me to find out." "It's cool." "You sure he's got it?" "You've seen it?" "Yeah..." "No, but I know he's got it, man." "All right." "Where's Germ at?" "I don't know, man." "Maybe she went to her mom's or something." "Bullshit!" "She would never run away from me." "Where is she?" "Well, maybe she got scared or something, man." "I don't..." "You're fucking lying!" "Don't fucking lie to me!" "Where's my girl?" " Where?" " She's dead, man." "What?" "I found her in that container, man." "God's truth." "She's dead?" "I didn't want to tell you." "I didn't want to blow the fucking deal, man!" "I didn't do it!" "It was fuckin'..." "Your terrorising tactics have put me in a very delicate situation." "I thought we'd agreed I'd handle John Moon." "Hello?" "I'm wondering if John Moon is a doughnut eater?" " Is this what you want?" " That was my last crull..." "I'll kick your ass." "Where is she?" " John..." " Where's my son?" "John, I know you're angry." "Just let me talk..." "Where's my wife?" "Where is she?" "Jess came to see me yesterday." "Next thing you say better be about where she's at, or I'll snap your fucking neck!" "I told her, as your attorney," "I wasn't allowed to talk to you, but she insisted!" "You pick up that phone and call who's got my family." "Your family?" "John..." "John, I think you're confused." "Jess asked me to talk to you." "She's up on Oxbow Road." "I'm not supposed to say." "She's scared, John." "She said she tried to understand you, but she couldn't make any sense of what you were saying about this money or where you got it, that you were acting as if it just fell out of the sky into your lap." "She doesn't know what terrible things you've done or what repercussions it might have on you, or her, or especially Nolan." "You threatening me?" "Don't play games with me." "I already know you're working for 'em." " John, I don't know..." " Cut the shit!" "How'd they come by this money?" "How'd they come by it?" "I didn't ask, for the same reason I won't ask you what it is or how you come by it." "If, let's say, it's ill-gotten gains, then I'd be legally obligated to turn it over to the law." "That, I think, is something all parties would like to avoid, yes?" " Call Waylon." " Waylon?" "Waylon, yeah." "Call him." "Oh, Jesus!" "The one that's working with Cornish." "I think we ought to talk to Obadiah." "We ain't gonna be able to talk to Obadiah, he's dead." "Now, you call this Waylon, you tell him you got the money he's owed." "Where's he at?" "John, I don't know who you..." "I don't know no Waylon!" "I bet he's tired." "What are you doing here, Johnno?" "Son of a bitch, Johnno." "You got a gun on me." "Yeah, how 'bout that?" "I think I'll just go back to sleep, try to wake up a whole 'nother way." "What'd you do, Simon?" "Why is your name on this?" "Found that in Obie's hotel room." "And don't think I don't know you was going through my shit the other night." "What are you talking about, Johnno?" "What'd you do, Simon?" "Here, here, here..." "Sit down, Johnno." "Let me get you a drink." "Yeah, you get me a drink." "Maybe a couple girls, too." "You serve me up?" "I wasn't gonna let 'em hurt you, Johnno." "Talk to me, Simon." "Did you shoot Mutt?" "I don't shoot dogs, Johnno." "Go on!" "Get outta here!" "Go on, get outta here." "Get!" "You serve up my wife and kid, too?" "Let's just talk about this, Johnno." "Yeah, let's talk about it." "Let's talk about it." "Let's talk about it." "Tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now." "You tell me." "Talk to me, Simon." "You'd be doing me a favour, John." "You know what a big ol' pile of cash will do to a poor man, don't you, Johnno?" "Make him greedy." "Just like a rich man." "There you go." "I was up at the Bonanza two days ago with Big Colette, hiding out from her old man." "That'll liable to be when he moved all my livestock in here." "The son of a bitch." "And goddamned if I don't run into that Hen shit-for-brains." "Still got his convict tan and surprised as hell to see me." "He give me some old cockamamie bullshit song-and-dance about how he was gonna look me up as soon as he got his hands on that stash, and swearing up and down that somebody snatched it from where he dug it up after it were buried," "and got a good mind it was you, Johnno." "Thought of that cash got to be like a cancer in my gut." "I known you 20 years." "This ain't you." "Ira and Molly was supposed to be gone that night." "At a Fireman's dance or some shit." "I run into Obadiah at the Pink Lily over in Raburn." "Now, that had to be about three or four years after Ira shit-canned him, and he claimed he'd been holding on to Ira's" "Ira's safe combination all that long while, and all we had to do was just walk right in there and open it." "I figure, there's a safe in there at all, all that's gonna be in there is two weeks' wages Ira shorted me." "I'll tell you the God's honest truth, Johnno, the drunker I get, the more reasonable the most un-fuckin- reasonable things seem to me." "We walk in through the front door, whistling, except Hen can't crack it with the numbers he got writ down, so, he says "Fuck it,"" "he is gonna run upstairs and grab some of" "Molly's jewels and make the trip worthwhile." "Now, I ain't real happy about him ransacking the place, so, I stayed right downstairs, go over to the Frigidaire and grabs me a beer, sat down and watched some TV." "Fifteen minutes don't pass and here comes Obadiah down, covered in blood, talking about how Ira'd straightened him out on the numbers, and I runned upstairs, and Molly's dead, thank God..." "But Ira's still breathing, bleeding like Jesus stuck on the cross, and staring at me with a look that'll follow me into the ground." "I finished him off just like I would a wounded deer." "Ira treated you decent." "Molly, too." "Old Ira weren't bullshitting all them years about being a rich man, neither, but that much you know, huh, Johnno?" "Hen said, best we split up, him taking the cash back through the Conservancy, and me winding down through the hollow to where my car was at." "I reckon he'd planned all along to stash whatever we took till he got out." "And now, he's out." "Don't take that little pencil-dick Cornish just for bluster, Johnno." "He don't sell no wolf ticket." "Well, he's dead now." "Got his throat slit." "Shouldn't ought to done that, Johnno." "Even if he did have it coming his way." "I didn't do it, your friend did." "I ain't got no friends, Johnno." "Except you." "Well, you got a queer way of showing it." "I wasn't gonna let him hurt you, Johnno." "I wasn't gonna let him hurt you." "It's just the money they want." "What did you take that money for, Johnno?" "What did you take that money for, Johnno?" "What'd you take that money for, Johnno?" "You simple bastard." "What'd you take that money for?" " Easy." " No." "I'm gonna blow that head clean off, Johnno." "Let it go." "Goodbye, Simon." "Hey." "John Moon." "Whatcha doing here, darling?" "I brought you some homemade bread." "And fixings for a few meals." "I'm going to make you the first one myself." "Well, ain't I lucky." "What you got there?" "Italian hoagies, my speciality." "Your speciality, huh?" "Mama's worried, me too, John." "You're up here fading away to nothing." "You know me, I'm all right." "You don't exactly look all right." "You don't smell that way either." "Yeah, well, I was chopping wood up the hill." "I bushwhacked down to get some clean plugs for my truck." "Go jump in the shower, John Moon, while I fix you a nice lunch." "Go on." "Maybe just one." "Then I want you to get on home, you hear me?" "Hey, Abbie." "Darlin'?" "I'll do it." "I'll do it." "Takes a little work, finding room for it, with all that's in there." "I'll do it." "John, are you okay?" "Yeah." "I'm just..." "I'm tired." "Real tired." "It's the wind, John, against the shutters." "Yeah." "Yeah, I know." "We gonna eat?" "Let's get you fed." "It was on the news this morning about a murder in town yesterday, up at the Oaks." "Police aren't saying who, only that it's a fella with a long record and roots in the area." "They see anybody in particular?" "A woman who was staying in the room two down from the dead guy, and a man the maid saw with her not long before the body was discovered." "What is troubling you, Diablo?" "Jealous, must be." "I sure hope you used protection with whoever she was kept you out so late." "Weren't nobody but me kept me out." "Handsome, gentle, but strong, with a good sense of humour?" "All you need to be a woman's perfect catch, John Moon, is a secure job." "You leave a radio on inside?" "Yeah, I guess I must've." "I'll go turn it off." "You go on home." "What?" "Why?" "Your folks will be wondering." "My folks aren't home, no one is." "Plus, I'm not done eating." "You go on home like I told you to." "I'm not going anywhere, John Moon." "Please don't hurt her." "Just let her go." "I'll give you the..." "I'll give you the money." "Throw your gun down here." "Now!" "Throw it down!" "Pull your knife out." "All right, go get that rope and tie her up." "Get the rope!" "Let's go!" "Tie her hands up." "Tie her fucking hands up, will ya?" "Fucking tie it, I said." "Tie it tight." "It was an accident." "I took her for a deer." "Yeah, right." "Get back." "Get her feet." "Tie her feet up." "Where is she?" "I buried her, up in the woods." "I can take you there right now." "No way." "Corpses give me the creeps." "If I could do anything to take it back, I would." "Did you fuck her?" "I found a letter on her." "Said you loved her." "Said you was gonna take her to Hawaii." "You read my Ingrid's mail?" "Jesus." "You take me for a fucking idiot?" "All right." "Now, where's my money?" "It's up the hill, up yonder." "I can take you there right now." "Let's leave her be, and you and I'll go..." "No, no, that ain't how it's gonna play out." "See, you're gonna go fetch my money, and I'm gonna stay here and..." " What's her name?" " Abbie." "Yeah, Abbie and I are gonna get real well acquainted, just like you did with my Ingrid." "Just leave her be, and you and I will go up there right now." " Where's your truck?" " Let's you and me go up..." "Where's your truck?" "It's up." "It's halfway up, on the way..." "You got a weapon in it?" "I ain't got no guns." "You took all my guns, man..." "No?" "You swear?" " I swear." " You swear on your life?" "I swear on my life." "Well, now, you see, I want to trust you, John, but you killed my girl, took my money." "I'm finding it hard." "You understand that?" "I'm going to need me some insurance." "Yeah." " Put your hand on the table." " I need you to trust me." " Put your hand on the table now." " All right." "Ass-backwards, you cow-dung son of a bitch." "Your gun hand." "You think I'm fucking stupid?" "We don't have to do this." "Let's talk about..." "Open your mouth." "Open your mouth!" "Put your fucking hand on the table now!" "Sick of the sound of you." "Now, bite down real tight." "See, now I trust you, John." "Now, go get my money." "Jesus..." "All right, go inside, get yourself a Band-Aid or something." "Go on." "Your boyfriend ain't made of much." "It's gonna be all right." "You're a pretty little thing." "You might wanna hurry on back and get yourself a piece." "God damn it." "Give me a holler, John!" "Where you at?" "Check in with me!" "I'm at the truck!" "You got the money?" "I gotta dig it out first!" "Take a few minutes." "I'm coming as fast I can!" "Don't die on me out there!" "Hurry up, John!" "Abbie!" "Abbie!" "Abbie!" "Easy, darling." "Easy, darling." "He ain't gonna hurt you no more." "I promise." "You're all right." "It's over." "You'll be all right." "Come on." "I need your help." "I need your help." "Come on." "We're going home." "Go call the Sheriff." "John, you need to go to the hospital." "It's all right." "Go on, now." "John, you have to have that looked at." "I'm all right." "I'm gonna be fine." "I got something I gotta go do first." "Go on, now." "Everything's gonna be all right." "Everything's gonna be fine." "I'm okay." "I'm okay." "Son of a bitch weren't even gonna take you to Hawaii." "That's who you died for." "Gotta dig it deep enough, so nobody digs you back up." "They're from your daddy." "Yeah?"