Dorothy Garlock by A Place Called Rainwater Page B

you what the dog found. But as long as you asked, I'll tell you what brought me to Rainwater. My family and the Jones family live side by side back in Missouri. At her father's request, I came here to make sure Jill Jones had arrived safely and settled in with her aunt. Her brother will be along in a day or two.”
    “Good assignment, if you ask me. I've seen the young miss. She's pretty as a covey of quail.”
    “Yes, she is. She's shaken up over what we saw.”
    The sheriff took a gas lantern and a powerful battery-powered flashlight from a closet.
    “That the dog outside the door? ”
    “That's her.”
    “We'll take her with us. Here's Gus.”
    The young deputy wasn't very tall but was powerfully built. His features were heavy and coarse, but large blue eyes softened the bluntness of his face. He wore a red bandanna about his neck, a black Stetson hat and cowboy boots.
    “What's up, Ira? ”The deputy eyed Thad.
    “Probably nothing. If that fellow back there gives you any trouble, throw a bucket of water on him.” The sheriff went out the door and Thad followed.
    After several attempts to coax the dog into the touring car parked behind the jail, Thad picked her up, got into the backseat and held her between his spread knees. The sheriff took the dark back streets to the edge of town, then turned on the road going south.
    “Tell me when to stop, ”he called back to Thad.
    Thad looked back to judge the distance from town. “Stop here, ”he said a little later. “The dog and I will walk.”
    The car's headlights forged a path in the darkness. Fertile ran on ahead, happy to be out of the car. Thad trotted along behind her, sure she would head for what she considered a tasty meal. He was right, and he grabbed the hair on the back of her neck before she could pick it up. He held her and waited for the sheriff to stop the car and get out.
    Leaving the motor running and the lights on, Sheriff Page came with the flashlight to squat down for a close look at what was lying on the ground.
    “Hell and damnation! ”He picked up a small stick and turned the hand over. “Mother of Christ! Looks like someone cut the arm off with a handsaw. But I won't know for sure until the doc sees it.”
    “I hope you have something to wrap it in. I'm sure as hell not going to carry it back.”
    The sheriff went to the car and returned with a newspaper and the gas lantern. With a stick he rolled the hand over onto the paper and wrapped it up.
    “Now let's see if we can find the rest of her.”
    Thad released the dog and trailed along behind her with the lantern. The sheriff followed in the car. A hundred yards from where they had picked up the hand, Fertile, roaming a dozen feet back from the hard-packed road, began digging in a sand dune. When a bare foot emerged, Thad held her back.
    “Here, ”he shouted. “Bring a shovel.”
    Thirty minutes later, they had uncovered two legs, both cut off at the knee and again at the upper thigh, one forearm with a hand attached, two upper arms and a woman's naked torso, the breasts removed. Swallowing repeatedly in an attempt to keep from emptying the contents of their stomachs, the two sweating men, one digging with the shovel, the other with a piece of tin from the sheriff's car, dug until the mound was leveled.
    All the body parts were accounted for, with the exception of the woman's breasts and her head.
    “Dear God! What kind of a man would do this? ”Shaken, the sheriff turned his back on the eerie scene. The body parts laid out in the lamplight were such a gory sight that Thad, no longer able to control his heaving stomach, went a distance away and threw up.
    “I've no experience in this sort of thing, Sheriff. I just couldn't hold it a minute longer.”
    “Can't blame you, son. I thank you for the help.” Sheriff Page picked up the small spade they had been using. “I've seen a lot of dead bodies during my twenty years as a lawman, but nothing like this.”
    “How long do you think