Thomas Blackhorse's Arc

Chapter 10 of 17

Thomas drove north with the phone on the passenger seat, calling Earl every ten miles. Eight rings. Recording. Eight rings. Recording. The sun dropped behind the mesas and the road went gray. He tried Earl's sister's landline in Gallup. A woman answered. She said Earl had come by that morning, dropped his bag, and left again on foot. She had not seen him since lunch. Thomas asked where he might go. She said the old ranch. He always walked out to the old ranch when he was thinking. Thomas found the turnoff by the mailbox she described. The Jeep bounced down a dirt track and the house came up out of the dusk. A porch sagged along the front. Two windows still held glass. The rest were dark squares. A truck he did not know sat parked at the side with its hood cool. He killed the engine and got out. He drew his pistol and held it low. The front door stood open two inches. He pushed it with his boot. Earl sat in a kitchen chair in the middle of the front room. His hands were tied to the arms with baling wire. His lip was split. He was breathing. When he saw Thomas, his eyes went wide and he jerked his chin at the hallway. Miguel Roundrock stepped out of the hallway with a kitchen knife in his hand. He stopped when he saw the pistol. "She's in the back room," Miguel said. "She went to get gas for the cans. She'll be back in twenty minutes. Cut him loose." Thomas kept the pistol on Miguel. "Drop the knife." Miguel dropped it. It hit the boards and slid. "She was going to burn the house with both of us in it," Miguel said. "I've been waiting eight years for someone to come. You came." Thomas moved to Earl and worked the wire off with his pocket knife. Earl coughed and rubbed his wrists. "She wanted to know what I told you," Earl said. "I told her nothing. She didn't believe me." Thomas helped Earl up. He looked at Miguel. "You're coming too." "I'm coming," Miguel said. "I know where she keeps the ledger copies. She kept everything. She wanted a record." A young woman stood in the hallway behind Miguel. Thomas had last seen her in the casino basement. She held a canvas bag against her chest. "I drove him here," she said. "I couldn't stay down there anymore." Thomas looked at the three of them. Earl on his feet. Miguel alive. The girl from the basement with a bag that was not empty. "Get in the Jeep," he said. "All of you. Now." They were on the road before the gas cans came back. Behind them the ranch house sat dark and empty. Ahead of them, for the first time in eight years, Thomas had witnesses.