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

"Why is it you wanted to see me, Rayette?"

The farmer's wife shifted uncomfortably and glanced at the floor. "I couldn't understand why Asa didn't want a lawyer, why he just wanted to go to jail, but now, I can see..."

"Uh huh..." Funderburk was still not clear where this conversation was going.

She looked up, staring intently into his eyes. "He doesn't want people to know what happened to Katie. This is a small county, Wallace Funderburk. Everybody knows everybody else's business and it can be mighty hard to live down your past. Even if it ain't your fault. You know how it is..."

She paused, and her face grew stony. "I don't want Katie to have to grow up that way. When you were coming up, people said awful things about your mother. I know because I used to hear them talking."

Funderburk's mother, who was deemed the town trollop, and disappeared when he was six in any case, was not a subject he liked to discuss. He nodded and changed the subject. "Asa tells me he has liver cancer."

Rayette twisted the shreds of tissue in her hands until small pieces broke off and floated down to the floor. "Yes, the doctors at Keowee Memorial told him about it two weeks ago. They say it's pretty far along, he could try that chemo, but they don't think it would do much for him."

Her voice softened and quavered. "He tol' them he didn't want nothin' to do with it."

Funderburk shifted on the desk, leaning in towards Rayette, and cleared his throat. "There's something you need to know, Rayette. Before you got here, I was back there talking with Asa. And he doesn't know anything about this business with Katie."

Rayette gasped, and swayed in the chair. The tissues fell from her hands, landing in her ample lap and cascading to the floor.

"Are you sure?"

Funderburk nodded. "I'm certain. And Rayette, I don't think you should tell him. It would break his heart..."

Having lost the tissues, Rayette was wringing her hands with finger-breaking ferocity. Funderburk reached over for the tissue box and handed it to her. She sat in her chair, squeezing the box, and staring distractedly at his nameplate on the desk.

"It would break his heart," Funderburk repeated softly. "To know what happened to Katie, and him not able to protect her. And it might make his health much worse. He deserves at least some peace of mind in his last days, don't you think?"

Rayette nodded, and pulled a tissue from the now crumpled box. Dabbing her tear-filled eyes, she whispered, "Yes. I don't ever want this to get out. For Katie's sake, and now for Asa's too."

"Would you like to go back there and visit with him? I can get Bill to take you back."

Funderburk walked over to the door. Opening it just wide enough to be able to see out, he beckoned for Bill Carson.

Rayette Hutchins stood up and placed the mangled tissue box on the desk. As she approached the door, she patted Funderburk lightly on his arm. "Thank you, Sheriff."

"I'm glad to be able to help out, Rayette. We don't allow children back in the jail, but don't you worry, they'll be okay out here."

Funderburk watched momentarily as she made her way down the corridor, then he turned to go back into his office. The children still sat in their chairs, unnaturally quiet, watching his every move. He smiled at them and got no response.

As he shut the door and turned to his desk, his eye fell on the three shotguns he kept in an antique glass case that once belonged to Horace Funderburk, his adoptive father.

And as he stared at the guns, he had a revelation.

Returning to the door, he opened it and stuck his head out in the hall.

"Davey, son, would you come in here?"

Reluctantly, Davey stood up, crossed the hall, and stepped into the office.