That Night at the Palace by L.D. Watson Page A

and Garvis were stunned as they watched Jefferson turn and walk out the door.
    When they got about halfway to the prowler, Shorty started to speak, but the police officer halted him. When they were finally by the cars and out of earshot he nodded for Shorty to explain.
    “The Lowery boys pulled up just as we were about to tow off Cliff’s coupe. They had been out huntin’ and, well, you just need to come down to the river.”
    “What is it, Shorty?” Jefferson asked, a little annoyed.
    “It’s Cliff, Jefferson. I ain’t never seen nothin’ like it.”
    Jefferson looked at the porch. Jesse and his parents were watching. He nodded in their direction, smiled, then turned to Shorty, “Lead the way.”
    “One other thing, Jeff. The coupe. There was a bloody tire-iron under the seat.”
    #
    Jefferson parked right behind Shorty’s Dodge pickup. They’d just driven about a quarter mile alongside the railroad line to the trestle on a rutted road made by hunters and fishermen. Jefferson hated doing that to his brand new prowler. He felt sure that the springs wouldn’t take much of it, and he doubted that the town council had allotted much cash for repairs.
    Toad Lowery came walking toward him and Shorty as they approached the trestle. Jefferson found Toad to be a bit amusing. He’d known Toad all of his life and had always thought that “Toad” was just a nickname because he actually looked like a toad. He was short and broad-chested with no visible neck at all. On top of his shoulders, Toad had a melon shaped head that looked as if it was two sizes too big for his body. Naturally, given his appearance, kids would nickname him “Toad”. Then one weekend a few years back he had to run Toad and his brother Hunker into his jail for getting drunk and driving their father’s flatbed Buick all through Mrs. Hollis Harrison’s prize winning azaleas. Two years earlier Mrs. Hollis Harrison had won second prize at the State Fair of Texas Floral Competition. Mrs. Hollis Harrison was convinced that she had not won first place because, as it was learned after the fair, one of the judges, an editor from the Dallas Morning News, was also a cousin of that Galveston woman who did win. Mrs. Hollis Harrison was bound and determined to go back to the State Fair and win first place, and might have had it in the bag had the Lowery brothers not driven through her garden. Apparently it takes two or three years for a “competition quality” azalea to blossom. Understandably, Mrs. Hollis Harrison was not happy with the Lowerys and wanted them to go to prison. She settled for them spending two weeks on the county road gang.
    When Jefferson booked the boys, he asked Toad for his real name. Obviously drunk, the boy kept telling him that his name was Toad. Finally, the next afternoon when their parents came and tried to bail them out, Jefferson finally realized that the boy was given the name “Toad” at birth and had somehow grown up to look like one.
    “Chief,” an excited Toad began, “We been huntin’ on the other side of the river and came walkin’ across the bridge when Hunker seen a gator on the bank eatin’ somethin’. Well, he killed the gator with his first shot and then he climbed down the bank to get a look and seen that it was eatin’ some fella.”
    Hunker walked up with a hunting rifle across his shoulders, holding it casually with both hands loosely hanging on it. “His head’s awful bloody, Jefferson, but I’m pretty sure it’s Cliff Tidwell.”
    “Have you two told anyone else about this?”
    “No, Chief,” Toad replied, “Just Shorty and Hobe. I seen Hobe tryin’ to tow that coupe; he said he’d get you, and we came back here.”
    Jefferson walked out on the bridge and looked over at the body.
    “Right by those trees,” Toad said as he pointed.
    Jefferson took one good look and then turned away, feeling the scrambled eggs he had eaten for breakfast coming to his throat. The alligator was a big one, at