The Whippoorwill Trilogy - Sharon Sala Page 0,189

in first,” Eulis said.

“Okay… and, oh yeah… one other thing. He said his name was Emory James.”

Eulis stared. “He introduced himself?”

“Sort of.”

“Then what in blazes is the problem?”

She pointed. “You’ll see.”

Eulis circled the rock with the rifle at the ready then staggered to a stop.

“Oh God… oh man… Mister, Mister… how in blazes… what… who…”

“I’d be real happy to tell you the details, but could we talk after you get me out of this hole?”

Eulis pointed behind him. “The wagon. I got a shovel in the wagon. Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

Emory James would have grinned, but he was too miserable to make the effort. Instead, he chose sarcasm to cover the emotion of relief.

“Wait here? Yeah, sure. No problem.”

Eulis blinked, then sucked his lower lip into his mouth and bolted for the wagon, thrusting the gun in Letty’s hand as he went.

Letty circled the rock again, squatted down in front of the man, and cradled the rifle across her lap.

“Mister…”

“Emory… please call me Emory.”

“Emory. So how did you get this way?”

Emory blew toward his nose then gave Letty a beseeching look.

“I know we’ve just met, but could I ask you to do me a favor and brush that ant off my nose before it crawls up my nostril.”

Letty hesitated a moment, then leaned forward and brushed the ant off the man’s nose.

“Does it hurt?” she asked.

“Where’s your man,” Emory asked. “I sure would like to get out of here.”

Letty turned around to look. “He’s coming.”

“Reckon y’all got yourselves a shovel?”

“We got one,” she said, then eyed him closer. “How tall are you, anyway?”

“Less than six feet.”

Letty nodded. “Who did this to you? Why would someone want to bury you like this… up to your neck and all? He had to know that you’ll die. If he was that pissed, why didn’t he just out and out kill you?”

The woman’s curiosity struck Emory’s funny bone, which somewhat surprised him, because if anyone had asked him, he would have said that Black Dog had broken the funny bone, and everything else Emory had, before he stuck in him in this hole, and buried him up to his neck.

“Considering it takes twice as long to die like this, I’d say that Black Dog was using his best options to make me suffer before I kicked.”

“What happens if we dig you up and Black Dog finds out?”

“I’d advise you not to mention it around.”

Letty shivered. She couldn’t imagine running into someone who was capable of this kind of torture.

“What did you do to piss him off?” Letty asked.

“I was about to poke his woman.”

That was something Letty understood. She stared long and hard at him, and rocked back on her heels.

“Then I reckon you’re lucky he didn’t cut off your dingus before he planted your ass.”

Emory was still digesting that remark when Eulis came running around the rock. Letty moved aside to give them more room while eyeing Emory James closely. She’d known a thousand men like him, and not one of them had been worth saving. She couldn’t help but wonder if they were doing Black Dog an injustice, but it was too late to question that now. If they walked away from this man after finding him like this, then they would be the ones killing him, and that wasn’t something she took lightly.

Eulis chunked the shovel into the earth a distance away from where the man’s shoulders should be, and took out the first shovel full of dirt.

“He’s not quite six feet tall,” Letty offered.

Eulis looked up, surprised that she’d had the sense to ask, and then smiled.

“Good thinkin’, Sister Leticia.”

Emory frowned as he looked at Letty, trying to figure out how an armed woman wearing man’s pants and burned brown as the earth in which he was buried, could have any religious connections.

“Sister? So is he your brother, or are you one of them nun women… one of them Catholics?”

“We’re digging you out. That’s all you need to know,” Letty said.

Since Emory was in no position to argue, he didn’t push the issue.

Time passed. Eulis dug with the shovel until he was forced to stop and dig with his hands to keep from injuring James more.

They finally managed to move enough dirt to get a rope beneath his arms and around his chest. The ground around him was looser from the waist down, and Eulis figured they could hitch him to the mules and pull him out.

Emory wasn’t as convinced it would work and spoke up to the