Pie Town - Lynne Hinton [100]
He pulled up and got out of the car. He turned behind him and could see the line of people coming up the road, slowly moving in their direction.
“What are you doing, Katie?” he asked, heading toward his sister, suddenly concerned that something was not right.
“This is it,” she answered. She had dropped down and was touching the ground. “This is where it happened.”
“Where what happened?” Danny asked, reaching down to lift her up. “What are you doing here? You’re chilled.” And he took off his jacket and threw it around her shoulders. “How long have you been here?” he asked, looking around to see if anyone else was there.
He noticed that the rectory was empty, the doors and windows closed and covered. He knew that Father George had left and that the new priest wasn’t due for a few weeks and might not live in the rectory in Pie Town anyway. A truck pulled into the lot, and Danny turned to see who it was.
“I need to tell you something,” Katie replied. “I need for you to know the truth.”
A door slammed. It was Bernie King. Of course, Danny thought, this meeting was his doing. He hadn’t shut up about the fire since he first discovered it. He turned back to his sister. “What are you talking about?” he asked, thinking he needed to get his sister away from there, thinking she was acting a little crazy. And then he looked at her more closely, noticed that she had been crying for a long time, saw the deep red marks on her neck from scratching her nervous hives, and suddenly thought that something had happened to her. “Katie, are you hurt? Did somebody hurt you?”
The girl shook her head. “I just need for them to know.”
More cars pulled into the driveway and parked. People were getting out and starting to walk toward the deputy and his sister. Just then, Danny turned around and saw Rob Chavez coming in their direction.
“Katie,” the boy yelled out. “Katie, shut up!” And he started running toward them.
When Rob got to Danny, the deputy turned to his sister, and when he saw the look of fear in her eyes as she cowered behind him, he snapped. He thought that whatever had happened to Katie—and something had certainly happened to Katie—happened at the hands of her boyfriend. He spun around and threw a punch at Rob, knocking him off his feet.
“What the hell did you do to her?” Danny asked, grabbing Rob by his collar and yanking him up for another blow.
“I didn’t do anything to her!” he yelled, trying to pull away. “I just need to talk to her!”
Danny reached back and slammed his fist into the boy’s face. A crowd was starting to gather. Katie was screaming at her brother to stop, trying to pull him off, and Rob was trying to cover himself. Danny was going after him again, yanking him off the ground and throwing more punches. “Did you hurt my sister?” he shouted, punching him harder and harder until he was finally restrained by Bernie and a few other men.
“What the hell is going on?” Bernie asked. “Danny, get ahold of yourself!” He pulled the deputy away.
Katie ran over to Rob and knelt down by him, trying to see how badly he was hurt, trying to wipe away the blood, crying, telling him she was sorry. And he pushed her away and began walking to his truck.
“Get back here, you little son of a bitch,” Danny yelled out to Rob, trying to free himself from the men holding on to him. “Come back here and get what you got coming! I swear, I am going to kill . . .” He didn’t finish because somebody was yelling that Roger was calling on the radio in the squad car, telling his deputy that he needed help at Malene’s.
“It must be Alex,” Bea called out. She and Fred had walked from the diner. They had hoped to bring the crowd the reassuring news that Trina had left town and so they could leave well enough alone and