Peckerwood Read Free Page B

still wiggling, trying to get away, unable to see that it was over, or unable to care, digging his hole deeper as fast as he could.
    “Whoa, there, Earl.” Mondale called. The man looked at him, his eyes wide and teeth clenched, “C’mon, son, settle down, not helping yourself any.” Some of the fight leaked out of Sutter and the wrestling became less frantic.
    Townsend clamped the cuffs around one of Earl’s wrists and then the other. The young deputy rolled off of his quarry and stood, beaming at the two older policemen. “That was a rush,” he said.
    Mondale looked at the man on the ground. His ankle was cut from catching on glass, going through the window, and it was beginning to bleed profusely. Musil was already on it, trying to staunch the flow with a hankie.
    Mondale leaned forward, resting his palms on his kneecaps and sucking breaths greedily. He looked at Townsend. “Go get the car. Get him to the hospital.” Townsend nodded and took off at a trot for the cruiser.
    Earl Sutter spit. “I don’t need no hospital.”
    “You’re my responsibility and you’re getting that leg looked at.”
    “I can’t afford no fuckin emergency room.”
    “Hold still, you’re making it worse.”
    “I ain’t goin to no hospital, fuck you.”
    Deputy Musil reached down and slapped the back of Earl’s head. “Hey. Shut up. Save it for your lawyer.”
    “I ain’t got a lawyer, fool.”
    Mondale knelt down to be at eye level with Earl Sutter. “Listen to me, Earl. This is what you need to do. We’re arresting you for that lab you got downstairs, okay?”
    “Man, I don’t know what you’re even talkin about.”
    Musil broke in. “Don’t interrupt the sheriff, asshole.”
    “Earl, what you’re going to want to do is call a lawyer, or call a family member to get one for you.”
    “Man, I –“
    “Earl!” Mondale barked. It got his attention. “You’re gonna want to have somebody start working on bail for you too. You have anyone you want me to call, let them know you need bail money?”
    Earl started shaking his head, “Nobody I know got that kind of money.”
    “Listen, son, you didn’t point any weapons at us and, as far as this little scratch goes, it doesn’t have to have been from resisting arrest. We’re talking probably a few hundred dollars, Earl, who can I call?”
    Earl Sutter just shook his head.
       

    Jimmy Mondale had been Sheriff of Hamilton County, Missouri for nearly twenty years, and seen some discouraging things, but nothing torpedoed his boner for life like his ex wife’s new name on the caller ID on a Friday night. What the woman could want from him now that she’d moved away, moved on, and moved her bowels so well, he couldn’t guess.
    He looked at the St. Louis area code and steeled himself. He could ignore the ringing phone, but Shirley would talk to him on the answering machine like she knew he was standing there listening, trying to avoid her. She had a way of sensing that sort of thing that only ended up putting him in a defensive posture every time they spoke. He took a deep breath and picked up.
    “Hey Shirl.”
    “Hey Jim, how are you?” As soon as she spoke, her presence was unwelcome, but unavoidable all around him. He smelled the laundry and spray-cleaner scent of her and could feel the warmth of her breath on his neck like she’d never left. He was going to get drunk after this.
    “Same as ever. How’re you and whatshisname?” He flinched as soon as he said it. Made him sound as petty and spiteful as he was and didn’t want to admit.
    “We’re fine.” She wasn’t going to rise to his bait. “Have you talked to Eileen lately?”
    Shit. What now? Their youngest daughter, Eileen, had taken on a wild streak in high school that hadn’t curbed. He’d had to pull some professional strings to smooth over the trouble she’d gotten into in Cedar Rapids her freshman year at Truman State. He hated doing that, trading on his badge for favors, but what was he