Belly tractor that a collector would pay good money for. I knew if I checked the oil stick, it would mark the right level and the fuel filter would be clean as a new sponge. Men of Gerald’s generation took pride in such things, which made the patch of land beyond the woodshed appear so out of place. Charred wood and rusty tin poked out of kudzu and honeysuckle. It was all that remained of the house Gerald had built for his son, William.
Gerald was worming his tomatoes. He wiped his hands on his overalls and came to meet me. Even at seventy-six, he was a man not to be trifled with. Six feet tall and easily two-thirty, with little of that weight hanging over his belt. Gerald sheared his white hair and beard with scissors, keeping both short but ragged. Years back, a snapped logging chain had ripped open the right side of his face. The purple scar that stretched from eye to chin looked like a centipede had burrowed under his skin.
The scar and the size of the man, even the desert camo cap William had worn in Kuwait, all these things would have unsettled Tucker’s guest. The story of your life is in your face, an old country song claimed, a hard life in Gerald’s case. How could it not be for a man whose only child died at nineteen. Now his wife, Agnes, was gone too. Over the years, he and I had gotten along well enough, but his anger could flare up like a struck match. When it did, people gave Gerald a wide berth. Yet you never saw that part of him when he was around Becky. Watching him dote on her, and her him, you’d think him the mildest of men. He looked that way now, smiling as we shook hands.
“Nice tomatoes,” I said.
“They ought to be. Becky’s got me fussing over them enough. But she’s near convinced me she’s right. I didn’t dust a bit of Sevin on them. And feature how dark that corn is. I done it without pesticides too.”
I looked at the field. The shucks had the right coloration, the tassels blond and silky.
Gerald tapped his chest.
“What with this bad ticker, I can’t handle but an acre. Doc Washburn got on me for doing that much. Anyway, those tomatoes are riped up good so carry a few home with you.”
“Thanks, but not today.”
“So what brings you out this way, Sheriff?”
“Becky said that Darby’s had your lawn mower for two weeks.”
Gerald’s smile disappeared.
“What of it?”
“I’m of a mind it’s past time for him to bring it back.”
Gerald looked down and scuffed up a bit of dirt with his boot toe.
“If that’s why you come out here, I got nothing to say to you.”
“Actually, it’s not, Gerald. You scared a woman at the resort yesterday, bad enough that she packed up and left.”
“I didn’t mean to spook that woman,” Gerald said. “The trail took a curve and of a sudden she was there. Hell, she give me a jolt too.”
“C.J. Gant warned you not to go up there. Tucker’s signs told you the same thing.”
Gerald’s chin lifted and his gray eyes narrowed.
“What about all the times Harold Tucker’s bird watchers and flower sniffers come onto my land? I never rough-talked a one of them.”
“That may be, but I’m here to tell you the next time you trespass I’ll charge you.”
“So you’re taking their side?”
“The only side I’m taking is the law’s. There are other places to fish. Go over to the park and catch your trout there. Becky’s always glad to see you.”
“Who claimed me to be fishing?” Gerald bristled. “Any that says so is a liar.”
“Then why were you up there?”
As soon as I said it that way, I knew I’d made a mistake. Gerald’s face, his whole body, grew taut.
“I’m not trying to pry into your business, Gerald,” I said. “I’m just wanting to smooth this out, for everyone. C.J. Gant could get in trouble over this. He tried to do you a favor by not reporting you in June.”
For a few moments Gerald didn’t speak.
“I like to go up above that waterfall and look at them specks,” Gerald finally said. “That water’s so clear you can see every dot on them. It ain’t about nothing but setting on a rock and watching them.”
“That’s good to hear,” I said. “I’m glad you weren’t poaching, but I’m afraid that still doesn’t change anything. Tucker wants you to stay off his property and that’s his right.”
Gerald’s fingers began rubbing his palms. He’d spent his life trying to figure out problems with his hands instead of with words, even so far as to build his son a house when William left for the Persian Gulf War. I’d always thought Gerald building the house was a sort of wordless prayer to ensure William’s future—as if his son had to have a future if a house awaited him. But William hadn’t come back. I’d been right behind the fire trucks the day Gerald had gotten the news about William. By then all that could be done was keep the fire from spreading. Gerald had been sitting on the ground, a charred door frame and empty kerosene can in front of him. Sparks had singed his shirt and arms but he didn’t move or make a sound. No one could get him to, not even Agnes.
“This ain’t right,” Gerald said, his voice growing angrier. “I’m of a mind to go over there and tell Tucker my ownself it’s not.”
“You don’t need to get put out about this, especially with your heart.”
Gerald pointed at an overall pocket.
“I got my nitro right here if I have cause to need it.”
“I’d rather those stay tucked in your pocket, Gerald,” I said. “Look, I’ll remind C.J. about resort guests wandering onto your property and I’ll let him know you aren’t catching their trout. I can talk to Tucker as well. This economy’s got them on edge, same as a lot of folks. You can understand that. This will blow over if you’ll just wait it out a bit. But I need you to promise you’ll stay away from that creek, okay?”
That seemed to calm Gerald some. At least his fingers no longer rubbed his palms.
“Okay?” I asked again.
“Yeah,” Gerald said.
“Becky been out to see you today?”
“She come by for a minute,” Gerald said, his voice still sullen. “Why? You told her about this?”
“Not yet.”
“It ain’t your business to tell her.”
“I think she needs to know.”
“She’ll take my side,” Gerald said stubbornly.
I nodded at his field.
“You’ve got plenty around here to keep you busy. You
