Paul - See That My Grave Is Kept Clean

Also by Bart Paul

NONFICTION

Double-Edged Sword: The Many Lives of Hemingways

Friend, the American Matador Sidney Franklin

FICTION

Under Tower Peak

Cheatgrass

Copyright 2019 by Bart Paul

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Arcade Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

First Edition

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents are either the products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously.

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Names: Paul, Bart, author.

Title: See that my grave is kept clean / Bart Paul.

Description: New York: Arcade/CrimeWise, 2019. | Series: A Tommy Smith high country noir | An Arcade CrimeWise book. |

Identifiers: LCCN 2019020782 (print) | LCCN 2019021468 (ebook) | ISBN 9781948924399 (ebook) | ISBN 9781948924375 (hardback)

Subjects: | BISAC: FICTION / Westerns. | FICTION / Thrillers. | GSAFD: Western stories. | Suspense fiction.

Classification: LCC PS3616.A92765 (ebook) | LCC PS3616.A92765 S44 2019 (print) | DDC 813/.6dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019020782

Cover design by Erin Seaward-Hiatt

Cover painting by Denise Klitsie

Printed in the United States of America

To Cal Barksdale

Theres just one kind favor I ask of you

Please see that my grave is kept clean.

Blind Lemon Jefferson

Shooting people isnt all fun and games.

Sam Peckinpah

The first thing I noticed was the girl. I was opening the corral gate just before sunup and watching Sarahs dog bring in the horses and mules. They broke out of the tamarack and splashed through the creek, then crossed the meadow to the corral, running by me fast, the dust they raised hanging in the air. The kid couldnt have been more than ten. Her ratty high-tops with no laces scuffed up dust just like the animals did. Her shorts were small on her, and a dirty Little Mermaid jacket hung too big around her shoulders. She looked like she was headed for a day at some low-rent Disneyland or maybe a haunted carnival, not an early summer hike in the high country.

The dog got the stock penned, and I closed the gate. The girl dropped behind to watch. The man and woman walking ahead of her didnt seem to notice. They were looking at the cabin.

What place is this? the man said.

Aspen Canyon Pack Outfit.

He nodded, looking around at our setup. He and the woman kept moving, talking amongst themselves and still not noticing the child dawdling behind. The dog trotted over to the girl, who squatted down the way kids do and let the dog check her out.

Hi, mister, she said.

Hey.

Whats his name?

Hoot.

Hi, Hoot. She looked up. Can I pet the horses?

I dunno. I guess. Sure.

I pulled a handful of hay from the stack outside the fence and gave it to her. I showed her how to keep her hand flat sos not to get bit, and she held it out to one of the mules whose head was first over the top corral pole. The girl squealed when those big mule lips touched her hand, but she seemed to enjoy herself and didnt notice me studying her. She looked sort of grimy and had a sour old-clothes smell to her that cut through the whiff of fresh hay and corral dust. My own little girl was just a couple of months old and had that cool new baby smell, so for the first time in my life I noticed such things.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

Come on, dammit, the man hollered.

He was hustling back down the trail past my half-finished cabin about forty yards away. Sarah stood in the open front room of the cabin with our baby, Lorena, against her chest, watching. The guy hustled up to the kid and clamped a hand on her arm.

Quit dragging ass, he said. We got to hurry. You dont want her to give you the hot sauce, do you?

The kid shook her head.

When the guy finally talked to me, our eyes didnt meet. Sorry, sir.

I was looking at his scuffed-up city shoes and all-black clothes that looked like hed been clubbing in them for a week straight. He had ten years on me, so the sir sounded peculiar. The girl wiped the mule slobber on her shorts and yanked her arm from his hand.

Thanks, mister, she said.

Sure, kid. Have a nice hike.

Bye Hoot.

The sun burned through the tops of the Jeffrey pine down-canyon, and the first rays hit the kids dirty yellow hair and shined it right up. She looked back at me as she walked away, following the guy along up the trail to where the woman was waiting. Even at a distance, I could see the womans heavy face, red and weathered, and the scrawny hips of a rummy. I headed back up to the cabin and climbed the temporary plywood steps to the porch. The big front room only had three feet of the log walls in place, snugged up around the base of the rock fireplace with electrical conduit poking out of the logs where the outlets would go. Only the two bedrooms and a bathroom were totally closed in, but I never got tired of looking at it or smelling the fresh-cut pine. Sarah watched the three of them walk up the trail and vanish into the aspen.

They look like refugees, she said.

Yeah, but from what?

I could still hear the seedy looking pair yammering loud out of sight in the trees as Sarah got an extra blanket for Lorena and we walked up the slope through the aspen to Harveys trailer for breakfast. I thought I heard a motor like from an ATV or dirt bike at the trailhead across the creek, but the sound drifted away and we went inside. Harveys wife, May, had sausage, eggs, home fries, and coffee waiting. We sat at the dinette all crowded together, and May took Lorena on her lap and hugged on her, then handed her back to Sarah so she could nurse while we ate.

Sure you dont want me to stay here and work on that kitchen wiring for you newlyweds? Harvey said.

Nah, you need a break or youll sull up on me. A day at the head of a string of mules will do you good, old man.

I could lead that bunch myself, then, he said. Give you a day off.

A day horseback in this canyon aint never no hardship. Thats what you used to tell me.

I guess a junior partners got no pull in this outfit, he said. He winked at Sarah.

Dont make Tommy sorry he was so generous, May said. Hes putting everything he has into this place.

Hell, Mother, he said, the boy just wants company on those long hours in the saddle.

Thats what he has me for, Sarah said.

I aint touchin that, Harv said.

He poured us all more coffee. Id worked so many summers for him when I was in high school, it struck us both funny to turn the tables, but he was a pretty famous packer in his day and still had a million friends, even after being out of the business a couple of years. Either way, Harvey was glad to get back to it. Being a poor carpenter and worse electrician, I knew Id be screwed without his help on the cabin. And Sarah said I was such a grump, if I was starting a business involving actual human beings Id need all the help I could get.