"Brackett, Beverly - Sherrif Funderburk - Booger" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brackett Beverly)

"I'm glad you didn't have to hurt anyone," Funderburk answered. "Something on your mind?"

"Remember how you wanted me to get the Adkins kids to a doctor?"

"Uh hunh..."

She looked around carefully, making sure no one was close enough to hear them, then leaned across the table and whispered, "Well, in addition to the malnutrition, poorly healed broken bones, bruises, and scars that all three of them have, Doctor Morrow says the little girl has chlamydia."

Funderburk was silent, searching his memory for the word, wondering what it meant. He came up empty. "You're gonna hafta help me out here, Betsy. I've never heard of that one."

"Well, let's start with this: it's a sexually transmitted disease..."

Funderburk stared down at the pecan pancakes that he wouldn't be finishing. "Oh, Lord! No wonder Asa shot the bastard. Hell, I'da shot him, too, and I'm not even her paw-paw."

She grinned slightly and nodded. "Funny, Doctor Morrow said the exact same thing."

He slid out of the booth and stood up, pulling a few ones from his pocket and placing them next to his empty coffee cup.

"You'll forgive me for runnin' off, but I need to tend to this right away."

Betsy picked up her coffee cup and raised it in a mock toast, "Here's to Asa..."

* * *

Asa Hutchins lay on the bunk in his jail cell, his face turned to the wall. He seemed uninterested in his surroundings, paying no attention to the sound of Funderburk's footsteps, even when they stopped at the door to his cell.

"Asa?"

The figure on the thin mattress sighed and cleared his throat, but kept his face to the wall. "Could you just leave it in the slot? I'm not really hungry..."

"Asa, it's Sheriff Funderburk. I don't have your food, I came by to talk to you 'bout something."

Funderburk reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring heavy with keys. After a brief search, he located the one he needed and opened the cell door.

Hutchins rolled over and sat up, bracing himself into an upright position by pushing his hands against the edge of the bunk's metal frame. Funderburk was shocked at the sight of him.

In the few days he'd been in jail, the lines in his weathered face had deepened, and his facial muscles had gone slack. His eyes were red-rimmed and sunken. And as he sat on the edge of the bunk, swaying slightly, he seemed to be in pain.

Even for a prisoner, his health had deteriorated dramatically.

"Asa, you feeling okay? I know this is a difficult time for you..."

The farmer threw his head back to get a better look at Funderburk. Squinting in the bright light, he smiled wanly. "I'm okay, don't you worry 'bout me. How are my granbabies?"

Funderburk picked up a metal chair from a corner of the cell and moved it closer to the bunk. When he sat down, the two men were almost knee to knee.

"They're just fine, Asa. Rayette's taking real good care of them. You're the one I'm worried about. You don't look so good. Let me call you a doctor."

"No, I'll be alright," he said with a shake of his head. "Ain't a damn thing a doctor can do for me..."