All The Way Down

Chapter 48

She didn't say anything when she caught up to me, and we walked side by side on opposite sides of the grooves cut by her car. The sky was clear, the moon was full, and we had no trouble finding our way. We walked until we reached the place where our car had pulled from the tracks left by the trucks. We kicked loose sand over that area to make it less obvious that our car had been there.

I led Sandy past a pair of big copper dunes to the place where I had found Ray's body. The empty liquor bottles and ragged magazines were still there. "This is where I found Ray," I said. Then I pointed in the direction where bloodstains created a trail towards Marty’s body. "Marty's over that way a couple hundred yards."

Sandy didn't say anything. She seemed to be taking everything in, trying to work something out in her head. I reached behind my back for the pistol. I checked to make sure that there was a round in the chamber and that the safety was on before I put it away.

"You know how to use that thing?" she asked.

I shrugged. "I guess I’ll find out," I said.

"Maybe you have the guts to use it, but don’t have a duel with Bullard. He’s been there before and you haven’t. If you pull the gun on him, then you better aim and fire as fast as you can. Shoot for his body mass, not his head or knee. Got that?"

We stood close to each other, watching the pinpoint headlights of traffic on the highway three miles away. Traffic was sparse, and the only cars on the road seemed to be moving from left to right, from Alamogordo to Los Cruces. I wondered how long it would take to empty out Alamogordo if people left at the rate of one or two per minute.

We watched a dozen cars pass by on the highway before I saw what I was looking for. A beam from the highway seemed to flash in our direction for a second, then the light steadied and aimed directly at us.

"Oh shit," she said under her breath. "He’s coming after all. How do you want to play it?"

"Hang back a little," I said. "Bullard's got a big ego, and I think that if it's just the two of us here he might open up and tell me why he killed Brick. If you hear him confess, we’ll have him. But that won’t happen if he knows you're around." She looked at me uncertainly. "Let me deal with him and stay out of it," I said. "If he kills me, just do what you can."

"Meaning empty my gun into him. I suppose," she said.

"You're the one with the grudge," I said. "Here's your big chance."

The headlights were now distinguishable as two distinct points of light, and I knew we were almost out of time.

"Looks like you got your wish too," she said.

''Time to move, Sandy."

I went around behind a pile close to where I had found Ray. Sandy melted into the shadow of another pile. Moments later, I heard wheels crunch to a stop, then a door closing. My heart was pounding in my chest. The gun felt cold and hard in my hand. I wondered if that’s what death felt like.

A brilliant white beam cut past the pile I was hiding behind, and I was sure that Bullard was looking around for Marty's body. I heard him swear, then the sound of his feet crunching the ground at a run. He'd found the trail of blood that Marty left behind when he crawled off to die.

I waited until Bullard was past, and then I silently went over to check out the van. It was big and new, with running boards, custom aluminum wheels, and a roof rack. He had left the headlights on and the engine running. I reached in, shut the engine off, and pulled the car keys out. The van reeked of the rot of human flesh, and I realized that Bullard had loaded Ray's carcass into the van before coming. I put the keys in my jeans pocket and went around to the other side of the van so he wouldn't see me when he came back.

I felt juiced from adrenaline, and my heart was rocking along in my ribcage. I knew that I had Bullard trapped, but I wasn't sure what I was going to do with him. I flashed on a memory of a summer day in high school when I caught a water moccasin by pinning its arrow-shaped head to the ground with a forked Oak branch. The poisonous snake's skin had a beautiful diamond pattern on it, and I couldn't resist the urge to pick the thing up and control it with my hands. It wrapped its slick body around my forearm and squeezed powerfully, trying to break my hold on its head. I recalled that the hardest part was figuring out how to get it off of me without being bitten. Standing by the van, I couldn't remember how I had done it.

Then I saw the beam of Bullard's flashlight cut across the ground at my feet. He was coming back.

I clicked the safety off on my pistol and took deep breaths to steady myself. The van rocked slightly as he climbed in and shut the door. I came around behind the van fast, headed for the driver's door. I guessed he'd noticed that the keys were gone because he started yelling obscenities.

I was about to scream at Bullard to come out with his hands up when he stunned me by piling out of the door and knocking me down. There was a flash of recognition on his face when he saw me. He kept his momentum, plowing into me a second time as I tried to regain my balance.

I brought the gun up to fire, but he was moving too fast when we collided. My pistol went off, and Bullard landed on top of me with his head under my chin. A blinding white light sparked in my head when I hit the ground and my jaw slammed closed.