“So what are your plans?” Carol asked, as they lay side-by- side. “I mean, if you don’t intend to kill him.”
“I think I told you,” Clint said, “I want to prove he’s a charlatan.”
“But what if he isn’t?”
“That’s what Tully asked me,” Clint said, “only he doesn’t believe in Stoll. He was just being a devil’s advocate.”
“I guess I am, too,” she said. “What if you can’t prove to people he’s a fake?”
“Well then, I’ll get Aggie buried,” Clint said, “leave this town to its own decisions, and move on.”
“If that happens,” she said, “I’m afraid I’ll have to leave.”
“Why? You have a successful business.”
“I know it,” she said, “but Albert Stoll is not going to allow me to stay in business if I’m the only person in town who doesn’t belong to his group.”
“What is he promising people to get them to join?” Clint asked her.
“He says that when they die, they’ll be able to go to the Kingdom.”
“And where’s the Kingdom?” Clint asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I just assumed it was another word for Heaven.”
“Do you know Father Paul?”
“The town priest? Of course. I’ve been to his church.”
“Why can’t he rally the people away from Stoll by promising them Heaven?”
“Because a priest can’t promise you Heaven,” she said. “He can only warn you when you’re nearer to Hell.” She rolled over and took his penis in her hand, stroked it. He immediately began to grow hard again. “Like we are right now!”
~*~
Later, Clint let himself out the front door of Carol’s house, walked back to the undertaker’s office.
“Well,” Tully said, “how was supper?”
“Very good,” Clint said. “She took me to the Winslow Steak House.”
“That’s an expensive place,” Tully said.
“It was worth it.”
“I bet.”
“Why don’t you go and get yourself something to eat?” Clint asked. “I’ll stay here. In fact, you don’t even have to come back after you eat.”
“What else would I do?” Tully asked. “Go and sit in my grandfather’s house. How about if I come back with a deck of cards?”
“That sounds good,” Clint said. “It’ll pass the time.”
“We can both stay here and take turns sleeping on the cot,” Tully said. “In the morning we’ll bury Aggie.”
“Carol Holby wanted to come to the burial.”
“Did you tell her when we were doing it?”
“No, I didn’t,” Clint said. “I’m still not sure she won’t go and tell Stoll.”
“After talking to her all evening?” Tully asked. “I mean, you did talk all evening, didn’t you?”
“You better go and get something to eat while there’s a place still open,” Clint said.
Tully laughed. “Yes, okay. I’ll be back in a little while.”
“See you then.”
Tully left, and Clint locked the door behind him. Then he went into the back room, where Aggie Kimball’s casket was. He walked over and put his hand on it.
“Won’t be long now, Aggie,” Clint said. “We never met, but I feel like I can call you Aggie. After all, I did cut you down from that tree.”
Then he had a disturbing thought. What if Stoll had his men grab Tully? They could offer to trade him for Aggie. Would Stoll even think of that? Was he that smart? Or that devious? There was only one way to find out, and that was to speak with him. If they made it through tonight without a hitch, and got Aggie buried, then he’d go and talk to Albert Stoll tomorrow.
That’s if he didn’t see some men representing Stoll first, before the burial.