A Tree Born Crooked Read online

  “How did she die?”

  “Liver cancer. It was pretty bad, especially near the end. I found out later that she had left me this house. I didn’t spend much time with her when I was a kid, but as an adult, she was my refuge, my soft place to fall.”

  James learned that as a child she had climbed trees to hide in the crooks of branches and read novels she didn’t really understand. He learned that she believed in ghosts, and in God, but was terribly and unexplainably angry with him. They swapped stories of scars. The long thin one across the plane of her breastbone was from wrestling a knife away from a desperate friend. The scar on the back of his hand that she had noticed before was from a bicycle chain wielded in a parking lot fight. She had a scar on her hand, too. A burn from her mother’s rage at her inability to cook from the height of a kitchen stool.

  He learned that she loved walking along the dirt trail behind her house at night and looking up at the stars, wondering what she was doing on Earth. She learned that he loved rock bands from the seventies, but never sang along. They traded demons and devils as the electricity and the atmosphere brawled above them, the fistfight in the sky mirroring the struggle their hearts were playing out, blow by blow.

  Marlena ran her fingers through her hair, separating the tangled strands.

  “You regret coming back here?”

  James studied the inside of his empty shot glass, a place he often turned to for answers.

  “I don’t know. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting to find. I quit my job in Callahan, left my place, but I don’t know that I was aiming to stay here after the funeral. When I was driving down here, I kept thinking I was just gonna be passing through, like always.”

  James spun his glass around on the table and watched the edge of the glass glinting in the light.

  “What about you?”

  “What about me?”

  “You regret moving back here? Giving up everything to come help Waylon?”

  Marlena sat up straight and stretched, before leaning back in her chair to balance it on the two back legs.

  “I’m not sure what all I gave up. I know this wasn’t what I pictured doing with my life, though.”

  “What did you picture?”

  Marlena set her chair back down and rested her elbow on the edge of the table. She cupped her chin in her palm and looked over at Roscoe asleep on the rag rug in front of the sink.

  “See, that’s the thing. I don’t know what I pictured. Oh, I mean I used to dream about things I wanted to be. A horse trainer when I was younger. Then an actress when I was in high school. Only I can’t act.”

  She grinned at James. Her vulnerability was spilling over, engulfing him as it did.

  “I wanted to travel. Maybe even see Europe like my aunt did. The cathedrals, the art museums, you know, all of it. I’ve never been west of the Mississippi or north of the Mason-Dixon.”

  “I been west, but not north. I don’t think you’re missing much.”

  “I hope not. I never did see myself living alone back in Crystal Springs, with only a gun and a dog for company. Like some bad country song.”

  James looked over at the sleeping animal. It was whimpering at intervals now, its tail straight out, chasing rabbits or cars in its dreams.

  “You know, I had a dog once that could—”

  But Marlena never found out about James’ dog because the roar of dual-carb V8s, followed by two shotgun blasts, had Marlena and James out on the front porch, guns ready, facing two pickups with blinding high beams and three men getting out of them in the front yard. It was slowing into a drizzle, but James still had to squint his eyes against the rain and the startling light from the trucks’ headlights. Marlena kicked the screen door closed to keep Roscoe inside. Rabbit was still in the living room, probably hiding in the corner behind an armchair.

  One man stepped forward, almost up to the porch.

  “Well, hello there. Not sure we’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.”

  He was big, with a beer gut barely covered by his Harley Davidson T-shirt, and shaved forearms to display what he must have thought were muscles. His rebel flag-embroidered trucker hat was pulled down over his large shaved head, so that in the porch light James couldn’t see much of his face. He didn’t need to, though. The man’s AR-15 at his side, and those of the men behind him, announced his intentions. James glanced over at Marlena without turning his head toward her. She was scared, but didn’t let her gaze back down from the man trespassing on her property. Neither she nor James said anything.

  “Well, since you all ain’t so talkative tonight, let me get straight to the point. I’m guessing you’re Waylon’s girl.”

  The man looked at James and frowned.

  “Don’t know you. But that don’t matter. Folks call me Big Ted and my boss is Sully Granger, so that should tell you all you need to know. We’re here for the Rabbit-boy, so you two can just set down your pieces and let us inside, so we can get what we come for.”

  Marlena quickly spoke up.

  “He ain’t here.”

  Big Ted switched his gun from one hand to the other.

  “Now look here, missy-thing. I may be able to break you in half over my knee, but that ain’t mean I’m stupid.”

  James stepped forward.

  “What do you want with him?”

  “Well, I’m glad you asked.”

  Big Ted put his foot up on the second porch step and rested his gun on his knee.

  “See, this Rabbit fella, I don’t even know him myself, but, poor guy, getting the name of a prey animal like that, must be mighty embarrassing, see, this guy has something that belongs to my boss, Mr. Granger.”

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  “Oh, he does. See, I’m in charge of, um, collections, let’s say, for Mr. Granger. It’s my job to recover things for him when they been taken without his permission. Like a bag of money done turned up missing this morning.”

  James kept his voice level.

  “That don’t mean Rabbit’s got it.”

  “Yeah, I woulda thought the same thing. Lyndell said this Rabbit kid weren’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. Sent us to talk to a fella named Delmore.”

  “And?”

  “Well, turns out Delmore was pretty quick to help Mr. Granger out with his little stolen cash problem. He was real quick to let us know that his cousin Rabbit’s got the money and was trying to make off with it.”

  “He told you that?”

  Big Ted smirked.

  “He did. Even told us a couple a places to find him. This was number three on the list, but we’re nothing if not persistent, you know.”

  James took another step forward, still with his .45 lowered at his side. Big Ted held his hand up.

  “Whoa there, sonny. You don’t need to come no closer. Otherwise, Jonesie back there might get a little trigger happy.”

  “Rabbit doesn’t have the money.”

  The smile fell from Big Ted’s lips.

  “I’m not sure I like the tone in your voice.”

  “I’m not sure I like the one in yours.”

  Big Ted snorted and spit into the azalea bushes along the front of the porch.

  “Who the hell are you, anyway?”

  “My name is James Hart. Rabbit is my brother. And I’m telling you, he doesn’t have that money.”

  Big Ted looked over at Marlena, her finger resting on the revolver trigger and her eyes staring him down like a basilisk. Finally, he threw back his head and laughed.

  “Alright. Guess maybe we need to go back and shoot Delmore in the other shoulder and wait for him to tell us who really took it. He’s a Hart too, right? Some relation there?”

  James didn’t flinch.

  “You do what you gotta do. You can’t bleed a stone.”

  “Good thing you can a person.”

  Big Ted winked at Marlena. The edges of her mouth curled in a snarl, but otherwise she didn’t move. Big Ted shook his head and took his foot off th
e porch step.

  “Alright, cowboy. I tell you what. Outta respect to the lady, whose front porch I ain’t want to get blood all over, I’ll give you ‘til the morning to think it over. Since you want to be a big shot, here’s the deal: either that money shows up, or Mr. Granger is gonna hold you personally responsible for it. That sound like a fair shake to you?”

  James and Marlena didn’t answer him. Big Ted turned around and walked back between the two other men with rifles. He opened the door to one of the trucks, but stopped before getting in.

  “We’ll be back in the morning. Maybe you can make us some eggs, darlin’. I like mines over easy. See you then.”

  He got in the truck, laughing, and the two men followed, the one in the passenger seat next to Big Ted keeping his AR trained on the porch until the two trucks had cleared the gate. When she could no longer see them, Marlena turned to James, her face finally breaking, betraying all of the fear she had kept pent up inside of her. She slowly let the hammer back on her gun.

  “James? What do we do?”

  He kept his eyes out on the road, watching the taillights disappear into the night.

  “We go wake Rabbit’s ass up. Right now.”

  ~ ~ ~

  “I swear, James, I don’t know where that money is.”

  “And yet, for some unfathomable reason, you managed to stay inside, cowering in the hall closet while three men are standing outside, pointing guns at me and a woman who’s got nothing to do with this.”

  Rabbit sat at the kitchen table, running his hands over the plastic tablecloth. James had yanked him out of the closet by the collar of his shirt and thrust him down in the spindly wooden chair that Marlena had occupied only an hour before. Marlena had disappeared upstairs.

  “Well, hey now. She offered for us to come here. Don’t go acting all like I’m trespassing now, just ‘cause you got a thing for her.”

  James sat down in the chair opposite him and flung his gun on the table, making sure that it landed with the barrel pointing toward Rabbit. He grabbed his left wrist with his right hand and dug his nails into his own skin as he leaned across the table.

  “Did you really just say that?”

  “Not that I got a problem with it. I know Marlena’s way outta my league. I know it. I mean, not that I ain’t thought ‘bout it once or twice. Hell, I don’t know a man in town who ain’t thought ‘bout it once or twice since she showed up.”

  James stared at his brother.

  “Are you still talking?”

  “But listen, I ain’t gonna stand in your way. I’m just saying that it ain’t no reason to get all uppity—”

  “Shut up.”

  “Huh?”

  “Just shut up.”

  James pushed back from the table, almost knocking over his chair. Roscoe growled at him from underneath the table. James steadied the chair, picked up his gun, and slid the magazine out to confirm the number of bullets he already knew were there. It was a nervous habit he hadn’t found himself doing in years. He slid the clip back in and put the .45 on the counter.

  “Alright, Rabbit. Here’s what’s gonna happen. You’re gonna tell me what you know. What you really know, this time. And so help me God, if you keep playing stupid with me, I’m gonna walk away from here. I’m gonna call that Big Ted dumbass that was just standing out here in the front yard, and I’m gonna tell him to come and get you. I might even wrap you up and put a nice Christmas bow on you, just to help ‘em out some.”

  “James.”

  “Yeah?”

  Rabbit leaned all the way across the small table, his arms outstretched and his hands raised upwards.

  “I don’t know nothing else than what I already told you. I don’t know where the money is. I don’t got it. So, if you need to give me over to those guys, then you might as well go ahead.”

  “You think I should?”

  Rabbit stood up, banging his chair to the ground without being able to catch it. The dog was immediately at Rabbit’s heels, barking and threading its lean body around the table legs.

  “Maybe you just should. You ain’t been no help with none a this to begin with.”

  “I tell you, I am this close—”

  James lunged toward the table, but before he could reach Rabbit, he was cut off by a sharp voice from the landing of the staircase.

  “Hey!”

  Both James and Rabbit looked up, James halfway across the table and Rabbit halfway under it. Roscoe whined and ran across the kitchen, tail wagging with concern, and bounded up the stairs to sit at Marlena’s feet. She crossed her arms and tossed her wet hair in exasperation.

  “Now, if you two boys are done playing who has the bigger shit-kicking balls, I think I know who’s got the money.”

  James stood up straight.

  “Who?”

  “My daddy.”

  Marlena sat down at the table and nodded to James and Rabbit to pull up chairs. She had changed into a clean pair of jeans and a Western style button-down shirt. Roscoe whined again and curled up under her bare feet. She rubbed her foot against the dog and began rolling up her sleeves. Rabbit stayed standing up, nervously shifting his weight from foot to foot, but James sat down.

  “Why do you think Waylon has the money?”

  Rabbit chimed in quickly.

  “Yeah, why?”

  James threw him a dirty look across the table and Rabbit looked away, suddenly very interested in the pipe cleaner and doily magnets on Marlena’s refrigerator.

  “Well, think about it. Rabbit here probably doesn’t have it. If he did, I don’t think he’d still be standing in my kitchen. Now, Delmore could have it and be blaming Rabbit to save his own skin. Hell, maybe he was setting up Rabbit the whole time. Who knows?”

  Rabbit picked off one of the magnets and looked at the back of it.

  “Nah, Delmore wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t do nothing like that to me.”

  James glared at him again.

  “You so sure ‘bout that?”

  Rabbit put the magnet back and turned around to face James.

  “Just ‘cause you two never got along when we was growing up, don’t mean you always got to think so bad of him.”

  “Are you kidding me?”

  Marlena interrupted.

  “Excuse me? Can I finish? Because this is going to be a very long conversation if you two keep rehashing your family problems.”

  James continued to glare at Rabbit, but turned his head toward Marlena, listening.

  “I brought home a stack of papers from the bar the other day. I do it all the time. Bring home a pile of paperwork that Daddy’s left lying around the back office, saying he’s gonna take care of it, but really just waiting for me to.”

  “Okay.”

  “I didn’t think to go through it ‘til now. Until after those assholes were pointing a gun at me in front of my own house. That money’s got to be somewhere. Honestly, I don’t think Delmore’s got it. And, like I said, I don’t think Rabbit has it. Despite your differences and his inability to join us in the face of confrontation—”

  “Hey now—”

  James cut him off.

  “Shut it.”

  Marlena kept talking.

  “I figure that the only other person who could have that money would be my daddy.”

  James nodded.

  “Rabbit did say that he never saw Delmore with the money after he went off with Waylon.”

  Rabbit perked up.

  “That’s right, I ain’t seen it with him when he come in the trailer.”

  Marlena ignored him.

  “Daddy could have taken the bag from Delmore and Delmore didn’t want to tell Rabbit. Didn’t want him to know that he’d screwed up somehow.”

  James continued her thought.

  “Then these guys come looking for Delmore, who doesn’t have the money, so he gives up Rabbit ‘cause he’s an easier target. He took some of the heat off of himself by pointing them at Rabbit.”

  Jame
s glowered at Rabbit.

  “And me, incidentally.”

  Marlena ran her hands through her wet hair a couple of times, trying to comb the snags out.

  “Again, that’s your family bullshit you can leave me out of.”

  James looked down at his hands and nodded.

  “Fair enough. So you were upstairs, going through some papers?”

  Marlena pulled a rubber band off of her wrist and started tying her hair back.

  “Thought maybe there’d be an off chance I’d find something. And I did. An opened envelope addressed to him. The kind a birthday card would come in or something.”

  “What was inside of it?”

  “Nothing. But the postage mark was from Biloxi, Mississippi.”

  James cocked his head to the side.

  “And you’re putting two and two together, how?”

  “Well, I know that Mississippi is where his ex-wife Donna is living now. And I also know they’ve been talking again. I heard Daddy on the phone with her at the bar a few weeks back. Even though she went all crazy, ran off with his money and dignity and all, my daddy is a weak man when it comes to women. I know that he would risk a whole lot to get another shot with her.”

  James slung one arm over the back of his chair and took a good look at Marlena. She fixed him back with a stare. They eyed each other for a moment, both understanding the gravity of the situation, before Rabbit finally couldn’t stand being ignored any longer and had to jump in.

  “You think Waylon went to Mississippi and took all that money with him?”

  James turned his head slightly toward Rabbit to address him, but kept his eyes locked on Marlena.

  “What I think, is that we need to take ourselves a road trip.”

  Marlena nodded and stood up from the table, but Rabbit was still bewildered.

  “What, right now?”

  James couldn’t believe he was doing this.

  “Yes. Right now. And you’re driving.”

  EIGHT

  At first, when James opened his eyes he was blinded by the glare reflecting off the Jeep’s window, but soon he was able to focus and make out the passing scenery. Shades of green melted into shades of yellow and brown, burnt colors, dead colors, colors still alive and colors that had died for the brief month of December and were beginning to spread their verdant hues once again. Anywhere else, this much life in February would be considered a false spring. In Florida, it was genuine. But, while the leaves of the passing oak, pine, and spruce trees lent their vitality to the landscape, so too did the gray, swinging Spanish moss, and the barren bones of cypress trunks stretching longingly toward the white sky, suck the life from it. Winter in Florida was a paradox.