CHAPTER 13

Having given up on getting the chief to help, Alsop cruised the courthouse again on the second night, searching for a parking spot on the street with a view of the burial site. He would stand watch for someone planting the bone, although it started to take a toll. The short nap after lunch back home had helped somewhat.

He slid in between two cars outside a beer joint about sixty feet from the courthouse lawn. A generator whirled, and portable lights illuminated the hole. The same two Cheyennes sat guarding the site like junkyard dogs.

At ten-thirty, he finished his last cigarette and flicked the butt out the window. He’d been waiting two hours in the cold, running the heater on and off and wished he’d brought a thermos of hot soup.

A yellow pickup rumbled in and parked two cars over. It was the fourth vehicle to arrive; the others belonged to beer joint patrons.

He thought there were two people in the car, but it was dark, and he wasn’t sure.

The driver’s door opened, and a short-necked Indian with long hair and hunched shoulders slid out, carrying a brown shopping bag. He must be the Caddo Tony said would be delivering the human bone. He started up the courthouse lawn.

Alsop got out of his car and stood beside a phone booth by the beer joint. He watched as short-neck made his way up the brightly lit lawn, puffs of breath streaming around his head. He reached the ropes and stopped, glanced around and ducked under. Both guards rushed to him. Short-neck raised a hand. They talked a minute before the three disappeared a few yards behind an oak tree. The Caddo was probably paying off the Cheyenne guards. Another minute and the sentries reappeared and settled back into their chairs. Moments later, short-neck emerged from behind the tree holding something against his thigh. As he passed the hole, he flicked it in.

Alsop trotted onto the lawn and hollered, “You can stop right there, fella.”

A second later something struck his head, and he plunged into an abyss.

***

Alsop opened his eyes in an unfamiliar room. Jo-Dee, her eyelids shut, lay on a cot across from him. A Negro man wearing what looked like white pajamas stood by a machine making pinging sounds. Alsop pulled himself up.

Pajama-man noticed his movement, his eyes bulged, and he hurried from the room.

“Jo-Dee!” Alsop barked. “Wake up. Where are we?”

Her pool-blue eyes fluttered open. “Thank God!” She jumped up and dashed to his side, clutching his hand as tears flooded her eyes. “I was so worried! You’re in a hospital. How do you feel?”

“Don’t know. Kind of hungry, I guess. What day is it?”

“Sunday. Someone hit you on the head last night.”

Pajama-man scurried back into the room, followed by a nurse with a white cap and reedy arms. She took Alsop’s wrist, stared at her watch, and nudged his chest with her free hand. “You need to lie still until the doctor arrives.”

“He’s hungry,” Jo-Dee said.

“When the doctor gets here.”

The door flew open, and Dr. Carrington whisked in, white smock flaring, like Errol Flynn leaping from a balcony. Jet-black hair, pencil-thin mustache--everything but the sword. “Well, if it isn’t my favorite car dealer back from the dead.” He grinned as if posing for an eight-by-ten glossy. “I almost made it out the door for supper.” He whipped out a flashlight from his breast pocket and shined it into Alsop’s eyes. “How do you feel?”

“Head hurts a little.” Alsop raised a hand to it.

“Follow my finger.” He moved it left to right. “How’s Bucky, that new car salesman working out?”

“Fine.”

“I want you to get out of bed and stand on one foot. Bucky called me up. Said it was time for a new car. My Oldsmobile was due for an expensive valve job.”

“How’d he know that?” The fella kept surprising him, though he rather wished the fog in his head would clear up.

The doctor helped Alsop sit on the bed’s edge. “Didn’t say. But he knew the year and guessed the correct mileage. Offered me a good deal on an Imperial.”

“He must know you have good taste.”

The doctor pulled out a little hammer from his coat pocket and tapped Alsop’s knees. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“I yelled at a man. It was dark.”

“Then what?”

“Then nothing. Two minutes ago, I woke up.”

The doctor put away his hammer and asked Alsop to count backwards from eighty-five to seventy-five and state his date of birth.

“Is he all right?” Jo-Dee asked, hovering over her husband.

“He’s had a concussion from a blow that didn’t break the skin, and by all appearances he seems fine. But hey, I’m only a doctor.” Carrington flashed that grin again and slapped Alsop’s leg. “Looks like you’re still in the car business.”

“What the hell happened?” Alsop asked.

“Jo-Dee’ll fill you in. I’ve got a hot date.” He winked.

“Can I go home?”

The doctor made a sad face. “Sorry, you need to stick around overnight for observation. Don’t worry, I’ll probably free you in the morning.” He headed for the door.

“Doc,” Alsop said. “Are you going to buy it?”

He stopped and turned. “Huh?”

“The Imperial. You going to buy it?”

“Didn’t you know? Bought it yesterday. Sweet dreams. I’ll have someone order you a light supper and a meal for Jo-Dee.”

The doctor fluttered out, and the nurse followed after.

Alsop turned to Jo-Dee. “Tell me what happened.”

“When you hadn’t returned by midnight, I drove to the courthouse and found your car. There were people everywhere, and someone told me a person got killed and taken away in an ambulance.” She put a hand to her heart and took a deep breath, her voice failing her momentarily. “I rushed over and found you here with a concussion. A policeman told me you were lying unconscious on the courthouse lawn, and that a witness leaving the beer joint saw two Indians jump into a yellow pickup and take off. I insisted that Chief Parker be summoned at once. When he arrived, I was so upset I yelled at him for having you do his police work.”

Alsop held back a proud smile.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I didn’t identify Tony, but I told the chief that Caddo people were scheming to plant a bone. He dashed right off.”

She went on to say that Chief Parker had retrieved the bone and took the two Cheyenne guards into custody. They were interrogated and threatened with an attempted murder charge. They then admitted to accepting a hundred dollars from a Caddo who approached them with a bag containing a bone. The chief authorized Jessie to resume digging.

Alsop nodded. “There must’ve been a second Caddo in the pickup who clobbered me.”

“And left you for dead. You know, Cal, the chief’s going to ask about your informant, and you need to tell him. They’ve got to catch those hoodlums.”

“Can’t do it, Jo-Dee. I gave my word.”

“I don’t care about your word if you end up dead!” She burst into tears. “I was worried sick. I didn’t know where you were or what had happened to you, and when I heard the report about someone getting killed--God. What if it had been true?”

“Shh, shh,” Alsop murmured, pulling her into his arms. She buried her face in his shoulder. “I’m so sorry you had to go through this. I admit, trying to handle those Caddos by myself was stupid. It won’t happen again.” Except if absolutely necessary.