“I think I’m beginning to get the picture,“ Colby said softly. He stepped back.
“Are you, Savagar? About time. Sure taken you long enough. Too bad it’s gonna be the last picture you ever see.“
Harry opened the Cadillac’s door and climbed out. The revolver never wavered. The gun gleamed in the icy starlight.
Colby took another step backward. “You want to tell me what this is all about, Harry, old pal?“
“Don’t move, you bastard. You always thought you were real slick, didn’t you? Thought you could keep just out of range and get away with anything. Twenty years ago you almost walked off with the brass ring. But you blew it.
You got into Cynthia Fulbrook’s hot little pants long enough to get her pregnant, but you didn’t get anything out of it except the baby she left you holding. You didn’t get one thin dime out of the Fulbrooks, did you? I told Eddy you weren’t nearly as smart as he always said you were. I told him last summer that things were gonna be different next time.“
“That was a long time ago, Harry.“
“I’m not likely to forget. I wanted her, Savagar. I wanted her real bad. I’d watched her all those years I’d worked for the Fulbrooks. All those years I spent fetchin’ and carryin’ like some slave. I had plans for her. She liked me, you know. Flirted with me. Used to wiggle that little rear of hers whenever she walked past me. She wanted me bad, I could tell.“
“Harry, get real.“
“I was gonna make sure it was me she had to marry. Her folks liked me. I always did everything they told me to do.
They would have let me marry her if I’d gotten her pregnant. They might not have liked it at first, but they’d have tolerated it. Eventually they’d have made me a real member of the family.“
“Christ, Harry, you’re crazy, you know that?“
“Shut up. I had it all planned. I was gonna become a real Fulbrook. I’d have been in line for all that money. But then you breezed into Cynthia’s life, and she couldn’t resist adding your scalp to all the others on her belt. You were a real prize. The town’s one and only legend. Only this time she made a mistake and got knocked up. The Fulbrooks were gonna take care of that mistake. They had a doctor all lined up. But you talked Cynthia into marrying you, instead.“
“Harry, that was twenty years ago. It’s over. It’s been over for a long time. The Fulbrooks wouldn’t have tolerated you marrying her any more than they tolerated my marrying her.“
“I’d have made them put up with me,“ Harry exploded. “I did everything they told me to do. I did all their dirty work.“
“That doesn’t mean they would have let you marry their one and only daughter.“ Colby almost felt sorry for the man. “As far as they were concerned neither of us would have been good enough for her. And I’ll tell you something else, they weren’t the only ones who felt that way. Cynthia herself didn’t think either of us was good enough for her.“
“She married you.“
“Only because she was confused and scared. When she finally came to her senses and realized what a mess she was in, she jumped in the car and headed back to Mom and Dad. She had no intention of staying married to a guy from the wrong side of the falls.“
“I could have made her stay with me. I wouldn’t have screwed up the way you did. But you’re right. It’s over. I’ve got other plans now, though, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you ruin everything for me a second time, Savagar.“
“What plans, Harry?“ Out of the corner of his eye, Colby saw the shadow moving among deeper shadows.
Brandon was slipping through the darkness, leaving the cover of Diana’s Buick to slide behind the Cadillac on the passenger side.
“Don’t you see?“ Harry raised the barrel of the gun. “There was no one left after Cynthia got killed. No one left to inherit all that money, except me. The old lady changed her will after Cynthia died. She said she planned to leave a lot of money to me because I’d stayed loyal all these years. She said she owed me something. She wasn’t going to leave you or that kid of yours a cent. She hated you. But last summer you came back with your son and wrecked everything.
She started changing her mind the day she met Brandon and saw those goddamned eyes of his.“
Colby stared at him. “You think Margaret Fulbrook was going to leave you all her money? Harry, you’re a bigger fool than I thought.“
“She told me she’d put me in the will, damn you! Oh, she was gonna leave a chunk to the hospital, but I was also going to get some dough. A lot of it. She was grateful to me, you see. I was the only one left. I was the only one who’d take her orders – did what she said, no questions asked. Then she met that boy of yours and all of a sudden she couldn’t talk about nothin’ except her grandson. She went to see a lawyer, and that’s when I knew I had to do something.“
“There’s nothing you can do, Harry. Margaret’s got a mind of her own. You ought to know that by now.“
“You’re wrong, Savagar. There is something I can do. I can get rid of you and the boy. Then there won’t be anyone left again except me. I’ve been thinkin’ about this for months. Ever since last summer, in fact. I started makin’
plans then. I was just gettin’ some ideas together when you suddenly left town and I had to wait. But when old lady Fulbrook went into the hospital with the heart attack night before last, I knew it wouldn’t be long before she sent for you.“
“And you figured this would be your big chance?“
“Damn right. So I got you out here alone. I decided to take care of you first, you see. You’re the one I got to watch, you and your damned sneaky sucker punches. I can handle your kid later.“
“You really think you can kill me and Brandon and get away with it, Harry? Come on. Gil Thorp will be around asking questions before you can blink. And he’ll go straight to that new sheriff.“
Harry’s grin was wide in the darkness. “Won’t be no questions to ask, Colby. Got to have bodies before you can ask questions. You know these mountains as well as I do. You know there’s places up here where I can dump you and that kid of yours, and you won’t be found for years, if ever. As far as everyone around here is concerned, you’ll just disappear for another twenty years or so, same as last time you left town.“