Page 40 of Left Behind

“You fucking idiot! Why am I just now hearing about this?”

Junior shrugged. “You were gone when it happened, and I guess I let it slip my mind, but that’s not all. Gunny said there was a woman hiding somewhere in Eggers’s house, and after Eggers dropped, Gunny saw her running out of the house. She got in Eggers’s car and escaped. He went after her. Tracked her down in that rainstorm up on Pope Mountain and shot her, and left her body in the woods.”

Carl stared at his son as if he’d never seen him before.

“Who was she?”

“From Gunny’s description, I’d guess it was Eggers’s sister.”

Carl was in shock. “Is there more?”

“No,” Junior said. “I just told Gunny he was a dumbass for being so careless.”

“You’re the dumbass for sending someone else to do something I told you to do. Do we even know if the witness is really dead?” Carl asked.

Junior shrugged. “Gunny said…”

Carl held up his hand. “Between you and Gunny, you have turned a simple task into a nightmare. You get your ass to Jubilee and see what you can find out. See if there was a body found on the mountain. I don’t like loose ends.”

Junior ducked his head and left the library. He didn’t want to go to some hick tourist trap. This was all Gunny’s fault, but nobody bucked Carl Henley. Not even his son.

The next morning, Junior Henley was en route to Jubilee. He was in trouble with his old man, but it was no big deal. All he had to do was poke around a bit, see if there was any gossip about a body being found up in the woods, eat some barbecue, drink a few beers, and see the sights—maybe even have a funnel cake. He hadn’t had one of those since he was a kid.

But completing his quest was going to be tricky. He had to find out what he needed to know without asking outright, and in his experience, the best place to loosen lips was at a bar. Find the locals who’ve been at the bar too long, buy another round of drinks and strike up a conversation, get them to the point of trying to one-up each other, then ask the right questions. And after a quick cruise of the area, he headed straight for Trapper’s Bar and Grill, parked, and went inside.

He moved to the end of the bar, giving himself a clear view of the place and the customers and ordered a beer. After it came, he turned on the charm to the bartender who served it.

“Nice place you got here!” Junior said. “I drive through here sometimes, but I’ve never taken the time to stop.”

Louis Glass eyed the man as he slid a little bowl of pretzels toward him, wondering where the hell the man would be coming and going from to use this off-the-beaten-path highway to get there.

“Oh really? So, where are you from?” Louis asked.

“Originally? Frankfort. How about you? Lived here long?” Junior asked.

“All my life,” Louis said, then moved down the bar to serve new customers.

Junior kept striking up conversations with the people around him, feeding them the same line and questions, and as Louis slowly made his way back down the bar to where the man was sitting, he noted the man’s glass was nearly empty and so was the bowl of pretzels.

“Want another?” Louis asked.

“Yeah, and how about an order of nachos this time around?”

“Coming up,” Louis said. He turned in the order, then brought a second beer. As he was reaching for the empty bottle, the stranger leaned in.

“You said you’ve lived here all your life, and I always wonder about that mountain. Every time I drive up on my way to Bowling Green, I see signs of people who live there, but I don’t ever see houses. It’s really creepy.”

“Why do you say that?” Louis asked.

“I don’t know. It just looks like a dangerous place to live. You can’t see shit through those trees. Are there wild animals up there?”

“Of course,” Louis said. “There are wild animals in every part of rural America. They just vary from place to place.”

Junior nodded. “Yeah, right. Stupid question. I guess I mostly mean carnivores. I’d hate to get lost in those woods and get eaten by a bear or something like that.”

Louis laughed, but he knew the guy was feeling him out for a reason. “You’re safe sitting right here, mister. I’ll go check on your order.”

Junior frowned when the bartender walked away, then took a drink of his beer. The bar was filling up, and soon another guy slid up to the barstool beside him.

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