Salem's Lot - Stephen King [131]
Jimmy shook his head. ‘Not a chance in the world. We’re going to have to humble through this on our own. And remember that from this point on, we’re criminals.’
Shortly after, he went to the phone and called Maury Green, then County Sheriff Homer McCaslin.
Ben got back to Eva’s at about fifteen minutes past midnight and made himself a cup of coffee in the deserted downstairs kitchen. He drank it slowly, reviewing the night’s events with all e intense recall of a man who has just escaped falling from a high ledge.
The county sheriff was a tall, balding man. He chewed tobacco. He moved slowly, but his eyes were bright with observation. He had pulled an enormous battered notebook on a chain from his hip pocket, and an old thick-barreled fountain pen from under his green wool vest. He had questioned Ben and Jimmy while two deputies dusted for fingerprints and took pictures. Maury Green stood quietly in the background, throwing a puzzled look at Jimmy from time to time.
What had brought them to Green’s Mortuary?
Jimmy took that one, reciting the encephalitis story.
Did old Doc Reardon know about it?
Well, no. Jimmy thought it would be best to make a quiet check before mentioning it to anyone. Doc Reardon had been known to be, well, overly chatty on occasion.
What about this encephawhatzis? Did the woman have it?
No, almost certainly not. He had finished his examination before the man in the CPO coat burst in. He (Jimmy) would not be willing-or able-to state just how the woman had died, but it certainly wasn’t of encephalitis.
Could they describe this fella?
They answered in terms of the story they had worked out. Ben added a pair of brown work boots just so they wouldn’t sound too much like Tweedledum and Tweedledee.
McCaslin asked a few more questions, and Ben was just beginning to feel that they were going to get out of it unscathed when McCaslin turned to him and asked:
‘What are you doing in this, Mears? You ain’t no doctor.’
His watchful eyes twinkled benignly. Jimmy opened his mouth to answer, but the sheriff quieted him with a single hand gesture.
If the purpose of McCaslin’s sudden shot had been to startle Ben into a guilty expression or gesture, it failed. He was too emotionally wrung out to react much. Being caught in a misstatement did not seem too shattering after what had gone before. ‘I’m a writer, not a doctor. I write novels. I’m writing one currently where one of the important secondary characters is a mortician’s son. I just wanted a look into the back room. I hitched a ride with Jimmy here. He told me he would rather not reveal his business, and I didn’t ask.’ He rubbed his chin, where a small, knotted bump had risen. ‘I got more than I bargained for.’
McCaslin looked neither pleased nor disappointed in Ben’s answer. ‘I should say you did. You’re the fella that wrote Conway’s Daughter, ain’t you?’
‘Yes.’
‘My wife read part of that in some woman’s magazine. Cosmopolitan, I think. Laughed like hell. I took a look and couldn’t see nothing funny in a little girl strung out on drugs.’
‘No,’ Ben said, looking McCaslin in the eye. ‘I didn’t see anything funny about it, either.’
‘This new book the one they say you been workin’ on up to the Lot?’
‘Yes.’
‘P’raps you’d like Moe Green here to read it over,’ McCaslin remarked. ‘See if you got the undertaken’ parts right.’
‘That section isn’t written yet,’ Ben said. ‘I always research before I write. It’s easier.’
McCaslin shook his head wonderingly. ‘You know, your story sounds just like one of those Fu Manchu books. Some guy breaks in here an’ overpowers two strong men an’ makes off with the body of some poor woman who died of unknown causes.’
‘Listen, Homer-’ Jimmy began.
‘Don’t you Homer me,’ McCaslin said. ‘I don’t like it. I don’t like any part of it. This encephalitis is catchin’, ain’t it?’
‘Yes, it’s infectious,’ Jimmy said warily.
‘An’ you still brought this writer along? Knowin’ she might be infected with somethin’ like that?’
Jimmy shrugged and looked angry. ‘I don’t question your professional judgments,