Of All Sad Words Read Online Free Page B

Old Testament’s Book of Samuel. Rhodes had never been much of a biblical scholar.
    “I might have a Craig Biggio card, too,” she added, “if you’d like to have a look at it.”
    “I gave up on baseball a long time ago,” Rhodes said. “Before those two were even rookies.”
    “Maybe a nice forty-five, then. I have a couple by Elvis.”
    “I just wanted to ask a question,” Rhodes said. “About your neighbor.”
    “Jamey the barber?”
    “That’s the one. Have you seen him today?”
    “He was here this morning.”
    When she said the word morning, Rhodes realized that he’d missed lunch again. As soon as he realized it, his stomach felt hollow and empty.
    “When did he leave?”
    “Not long ago. Someone parked out in front of his shop and went inside. After a few minutes, they both came back out and left”
    “Do you know who it was?”
    “No, but he was wearing a T-shirt that had ‘I’m with Stupid’ printed on the front.”
    “Bald, a little chubby, driving an old Ford pickup?”
    “That’s him. Is he in trouble?”
    “No, and neither is Jamey—not yet anyway. There was something I wanted to tell him.”
    “Want me to take a message?”
    Michal turned to a cabinet behind her and found a pencil and notepad.
    “This isn’t something I’d want you to tell him,” Rhodes said. “I’ll find him. Where does Jamey live?”
    “Out in the country, about a mile past the rock crusher.”
    “I’ll look for him there,” Rhodes said. “Does he close up often?”
    “Actually, he does. He has plenty of customers, though. He seems to be very fast at cutting hair, gets people out quickly. Maybe that’s the secret to getting some time off.”
    “Maybe,” Rhodes said.
    He thanked Michal for her help and drove out to Hamilton’s house. On the way, he passed the old college campus and main building that were located just off the highway. The building was nearly a hundred years old, but it was no longer a part of any college. It had been used for any number of things, most recently as a church, but the minister had left, and now the Clearview Players were converting it into a theater.
    No one was working on the building when Rhodes drove by, and he wondered if the Clearview Players would change their name to the Obert Players if they ever got the theater completed and open for business.
    When he passed the college building, Rhodes went by the rock crusher at the edge of town. After that, the road wound through the countryside. In a normal year, it would have been shaded by trees whose limbs reached out over it and met in the middle. This year, the trees seemed shriveled and small, and there was only a little shade. Dead, dry leaves lay in the road and swirled aside as Rhodes drove over them.
    Hamilton’s house was small and had a nearly bare yard. Crawford’s truck was parked in the shade of a chinaberry tree, but Rhodes didn’t see another vehicle. When he knocked on the door, no one answered. He walked around the house and knocked on the back door. No answer there, either.
    Something was going on, and Rhodes didn’t know what it was. He didn’t like that, but there was nothing he could do about it except drive back to Clearview. He was tempted to stop off and see how Ruth was doing, but she knew her job, and he didn’t want to distract her.
    He did, however, get onto the county road and head for C. P. Benton’s house. The black mailbox by the road in front of the house had a little sign dangling from it. It said CASA DE MATH in red script. Rhodes wanted to talk to Benton, but the math teacher’s Saturn was gone. Apparently, nobody Rhodes wanted to see was going to be home that day.
    Rhodes pulled into the driveway. Benton’s lawn might not have been mown in awhile, at least according to Judge Parry, but it was hard to tell because the grass was brown and dry. Benton obviously didn’t believe in wasting water on something like grass. Rhodes didn’t blame him. He didn’t like mowing any