Where All Light Tends to Go Read Online Free Page A

mechanics to make the whole deal look pretty official. Really, though, there’d never been much of anything official about Jeremy Cabe aside from a few mug shots. He was a skinny little cuss with cold blue eyes, a mustache that never seemed to grow ripe sprigging over his lips. Those wiry, wide-eyed types often proved the most dangerous men, and that’s what it was about Jeremy Cabe that made me uneasy. He always had a glint in his eye like if you didn’t believe what he was saying he’d prove it right that fucking second.
    “Tree must’ve fallen after you came through. I had to saw my way in here,” I said.
    “This son of a bitch gave us a hell of a time! Spit all over my work shirt and scratched the hell out of Gerald’s eye!” Jeremy looked down at his navy blue work shirt and rubbed at a smeared white splotch that looked like a cum stain above his name patch.
    I could barely distinguish Gerald’s face as he stood in the far corner of the room behind the chair. A small lantern was set on a makeshift table beside Jeremy and a 315,000-candela spotlight was propped on the floor and angled directly into Robbie’s eyes. Gerald stood in a shadow cast by Robbie, but I could still make out a dark red line running sharply from the corner of his eye down into his beard. He was the type of man that wouldn’t say boo to a goose, and other than those blue eyes, the brothers looked absolutely nothing alike. Gerald was as big around as a forked hemlock and always wore a set of suspenders clamped to his britches with a T-shirt just short enough to allow his belly to fold over his belt buckle. He kept a tangled mat of hair stuffed under a Joy Dog Food trucker cap, and had a grisly beard wiring from his face. But as intimidating as he was, it was Jeremy you had to keep an eye on.
    “Calm the fuck down, Jeremy. Looks like y’all handled yourselves just fine without too much blood to show for it.”
    “Calm down hell! If it wasn’t for your daddy, we’d have this son of a bitch buried down deep in an old asbestos mine or somewhere! I be damned if anybody’s going to be calm!”
    “Judging by the cigarette butts on the floor and these burns all up and down his chest, I’d say you’re about even.” I tried to sound tough and calm, and as the words came out of my mouth, I thought I’d done a pretty damn good job. Daddy wanted me to be a man and it was things like this that made you one. Truth was I hadn’t ever taken part in anything like this. Truth was, shit like this didn’t come up too often. For the most part business was smooth, and folks had enough respect or fear or whatever you call it for Daddy to never let it come to this. I was scared shitless. “Has he said anything yet?”
    “He’s said a whole lot of shit, but that’s it, just a bunch of bullshit. Ain’t said a fucking useful word.”
    Gerald still hadn’t spoken, but walked over and stood directly behind Robbie. Gerald’s belly was almost close enough to rest on top of Robbie’s head.
    “I’ve already told y’all I ain’t got nothing to say, I ain’t said nothing to nobody and that’s it, that’s all there is to it.” Robbie spoke fast and it was hard to unravel the words with his jaw racking in that way as he chewed on the same invisible thing that kept Mama’s teeth sawing.
    “If you haven’t said anything to anyone, then that’s good,” I said. “That’s good, Robbie. But the problem is we heard a little different. Problem is that person you talked to is someone my father has known for a long, long time.”
    Robbie had gone under the radar for months. He didn’t come around too often and maybe that’s why none of us knew how hard that crystal had him. If Daddy’d known, it wouldn’t have come to this. But Daddy hadn’t known, and it took Robbie getting the deputies called on him while he tried to steal a stereo and television from his own folks before Daddy found out. Robbie hadn’t ever been deep. He’d never made runs,