Chapter 11
Except for those shed pounds and the gimp in his gait, Jed seemed robust as ever, optimistic in a controlled sort of fashion.
"Cindy .Jesus girl. Quite a vacation, huh?" An insouciant lopsided grin ruined the symmetry of his youthful features while he waited for her answer, the smile fading when hr face hid from his, turning from him, too, the flush of guilt that he interpreted as weak womanly emotion.
"Hey .what's the matter?" Strong arms enfolded her, squeezing out sobs of relief. She couldn't look him in the face, not after .some things are best forgotten. He need never know. Jed nor Mama .
Behind them in the ranger station a scuffling parade of park visitors in cut-offs and backpacks shuffled in and out, studying maps while Joe Barnes handed out park regulation folders, disgruntled that more than half of them ended up in the trash can outside the door. Funny how people think the woods are safe as their backyards, mused Joe. Now take the kids behind me .
Out here in the woods he'd seen some pretty weird goings-on, but the scene in the Comstock's living room would make a darn good book.
As the last hiking boot scuffed out the door, the park ranger strode back toward the kitchenette to pour a cup of coffee, inevitably brushing past Jed and Cindy enroute. Joe's limpid blue eyes locked on those apple cheeks and wide brown eyes. Jesus she didn't look like the type.
Cindy jolted when he spoke. "Got everything settled, kids?"
Mutely, she nodded, his presence too much company at a moment like this.
"We'd like to thank you, Mr. Barnes," put in Jed enthusiastically. "And we'd like to thank those people who took care of Cindy. If you know who they are, we'd like to thank them personally before we ."
"No!"
Bewildered, Jed squinted disagreeably at his girl friend. "But Cindy, if it hadn't been for them ." An abrupt quiver in her shuddering body startled him and in mid-sentence he traced over a red welt on her soft neck. "Gosh, look what that bear."
It wasn't a bear, it was a lioness, Cindy wanted to say, her spidery eyelashes batting over her high cheek bones, recalling the gentle, nibbling touch of Zelda Comstock's sex magnetized mouth. And the ranger knew .but didn't say a word. God bless him!"
"Well .take care, kids!" He patted Jed on the shoulder and winked at Cindy who smiled back, shaken.
Cindy let out a grateful sigh. She had survived. Zelda Comstock had led her down a dark alley of perversions but there was light at End of the tunnel .there was Jed.
By five o'clock that afternoon a padlock hung on the Comstock's cabin door. From the hay loft Jack pressed his nose to the smudged window for a last glance, trying to control his rage. Damn perverts, think they're so damned civilized `cause they have money .Go back to the city and stink up your own air..
The dresser drawers were pulled out, emptied, his few belongings stuffed into a faded army duffle bag. Down on hands and knees, he peered under the bed for stray socks and stuffed them in too, then grabbing the blanket off the bed, he started to fold it up when the Playboy magazine plopped on the floor. What the hell .he stuffed that in too.
Naw .he'd find another place to live. Down in Moose maybe. Existing for dead memories and an old horse wasn't living.
Again at the window he watched the maids load up a car, wondering how they felt about being fired. But that didn't matter because in minutes .
Real panic gripped his arthritic limbs. Hell, who would know it wasn't an accident? In this dry weather.
He sat on the bare mattress sipping cold coffee and smoking cigarettes, cogitating, and when the car's tires crunched on the gravel driveway and the old Chevy faded to a pin prick of light belching up clouds of dust, he stomped down the steps, dragged a piece of rubber hose from its two penny nail and stuck it in the gas tank of the old tractor, funneling out a few gallons. The gas sloshed against the bucket rim on the uphill trek toward the cabin.
Like a bad temper on a full moon night the flames exploded, leaping like dragon's breath into the air and from his tree stump vantage point the old cowboy smoked a cigarette, thinking about what to do with the Palomino.
Arson was against the law, but he was doing the world a favor. Certainly that ravaged hiker would agree. Only one way to deal with evil .kill it before it kills you. Forgive me Mamie .but I gotta forget you, too.and if I meet some nice lookin' lady in Moose, don't get mad at me.