sheriff wasn’t ready to go quite that far.
“I’ll tell you,” he said amiably, “I got some connections with the fellow who owns Angus House. He was in trouble once and I helped him out, if you get my meaning. I can pick up some of his best steaks and bring them up here and we can let Ellie broil them right here in the cabin.”
“I don’t know,” Roebuck said.
“Why not, Lou?” Ellie gave him her secret smile. “I don’t mind cooking. It’ll feel good to whip up a big meal again for more than two people.”
“If the sheriff’s furnishing the steaks,” Roebuck said, shrugging, “how can we say no?”
“Fine,” Boadeen said. “Settled, then! I’ll turn up here tomorrow evening about this time with the juiciest sirloins you ever saw.” He held his string of fish away from his body and looked at them. “I better be getting back and cleaning these.”
“We’ll see you tomorrow, then, Sheriff,” Roebuck said.
They watched Boadeen get into his boat and push off into the lake. He jerked once on the starting cord and the outboard motor sputtered to life, spinning the boat in a slow half-circle to head for the opposite bank. Boadeen looked back over his wake and gave them his little half-salute half-wave.
“He’s got a hell of a nerve,” Roebuck said.
Ellie sighed. “We had to let him come tomorrow night. He might have started to get suspicious if we’d told him no.”
“Maybe we should leave here,” Roebuck said. “I feel like things are closing in again.”
Ellie shook her head. “The worst thing we could do is leave real suddenly. He might get so suspicious, he’d start digging and find out who we are.”
“Maybe you’re right, but I sure as hell don’t like him.”
“So who does? But we have to be nice to him if he likes us. That’s the safest thing we can do.”
“That might be, but I don’t want to be so nice to him that he starts hanging around here.”
“Would you rather have him hanging around his office by one of those teletypes, or listening to his police radio?”
“He’ll hear about us sooner or later anyway,” Roebuck said with dismay. “He’s got to.”
“But he won’t know who we are, Lou. We look like any other couple on a fishing trip. They didn’t get a good description of me when we were spotted in Collinsville, and you don’t have any distinguishing marks or anything.”
“Just my eagle tattoo,” Roebuck said, “and I won’t let him see that.”
“The only way he could suspect us is because of the car,” Ellie said. “And there are thousands of station wagons that color. We just have to make sure he doesn’t get a look at the license plate.”
“He’s not likely to. He’d have to scrape the mud off it.”
“You got him outsmarted before he’s even started to think,” Ellie said, and she smiled invitingly with her generous mouth.
Roebuck smiled with her, smiling the uneasiness from himself as they walked into the cabin.
3
Sheriff Boadeen arrived the next evening just as Roebuck and Ellie were returning from a luckless day’s fishing on the lake. Roebuck watched as Boadeen braked the sheriff’s car to a halt in exactly the same place before the cabin as he had the first time he’d visited them, as if invisible markings designated a parking space there.
Carrying rods and tackle box, Roebuck and Ellie walked up the mud bank toward the car. As they drew near and Boadeen opened the door and got out, Roebuck glimpsed a walnut stocked shotgun mounted with chrome brackets on the dashboard. The sheriff himself was resplendent in a powder blue uniform crisscrossed with black leather and displaying a formidable-looking gold badge.
“No luck, I see,” Boadeen said as he shut the door behind him with that stiff, backward motion of his arm. “Or did you throw them back?”
“We threw them back,” Ellie said, “’cause they weren’t worth keeping, anyway.”
“Well, here’s something worth keeping.” Boadeen opened the
“I’ll tell you,” he said amiably, “I got some connections with the fellow who owns Angus House. He was in trouble once and I helped him out, if you get my meaning. I can pick up some of his best steaks and bring them up here and we can let Ellie broil them right here in the cabin.”
“I don’t know,” Roebuck said.
“Why not, Lou?” Ellie gave him her secret smile. “I don’t mind cooking. It’ll feel good to whip up a big meal again for more than two people.”
“If the sheriff’s furnishing the steaks,” Roebuck said, shrugging, “how can we say no?”
“Fine,” Boadeen said. “Settled, then! I’ll turn up here tomorrow evening about this time with the juiciest sirloins you ever saw.” He held his string of fish away from his body and looked at them. “I better be getting back and cleaning these.”
“We’ll see you tomorrow, then, Sheriff,” Roebuck said.
They watched Boadeen get into his boat and push off into the lake. He jerked once on the starting cord and the outboard motor sputtered to life, spinning the boat in a slow half-circle to head for the opposite bank. Boadeen looked back over his wake and gave them his little half-salute half-wave.
“He’s got a hell of a nerve,” Roebuck said.
Ellie sighed. “We had to let him come tomorrow night. He might have started to get suspicious if we’d told him no.”
“Maybe we should leave here,” Roebuck said. “I feel like things are closing in again.”
Ellie shook her head. “The worst thing we could do is leave real suddenly. He might get so suspicious, he’d start digging and find out who we are.”
“Maybe you’re right, but I sure as hell don’t like him.”
“So who does? But we have to be nice to him if he likes us. That’s the safest thing we can do.”
“That might be, but I don’t want to be so nice to him that he starts hanging around here.”
“Would you rather have him hanging around his office by one of those teletypes, or listening to his police radio?”
“He’ll hear about us sooner or later anyway,” Roebuck said with dismay. “He’s got to.”
“But he won’t know who we are, Lou. We look like any other couple on a fishing trip. They didn’t get a good description of me when we were spotted in Collinsville, and you don’t have any distinguishing marks or anything.”
“Just my eagle tattoo,” Roebuck said, “and I won’t let him see that.”
“The only way he could suspect us is because of the car,” Ellie said. “And there are thousands of station wagons that color. We just have to make sure he doesn’t get a look at the license plate.”
“He’s not likely to. He’d have to scrape the mud off it.”
“You got him outsmarted before he’s even started to think,” Ellie said, and she smiled invitingly with her generous mouth.
Roebuck smiled with her, smiling the uneasiness from himself as they walked into the cabin.
3
Sheriff Boadeen arrived the next evening just as Roebuck and Ellie were returning from a luckless day’s fishing on the lake. Roebuck watched as Boadeen braked the sheriff’s car to a halt in exactly the same place before the cabin as he had the first time he’d visited them, as if invisible markings designated a parking space there.
Carrying rods and tackle box, Roebuck and Ellie walked up the mud bank toward the car. As they drew near and Boadeen opened the door and got out, Roebuck glimpsed a walnut stocked shotgun mounted with chrome brackets on the dashboard. The sheriff himself was resplendent in a powder blue uniform crisscrossed with black leather and displaying a formidable-looking gold badge.
“No luck, I see,” Boadeen said as he shut the door behind him with that stiff, backward motion of his arm. “Or did you throw them back?”
“We threw them back,” Ellie said, “’cause they weren’t worth keeping, anyway.”
“Well, here’s something worth keeping.” Boadeen opened the
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