Free The Edge of Town by Dorothy Garlock Page B

watch as each of them came out of the furniture store. He didn’t have long to wait.
     
     
    Mayor Ira Brady, who had told him the swearing-in ceremony would take place at nine the next morning, was a man in his late forties with thinning dark hair. He was small, neat, and would probably be overlooked in a crowd, yet he projected an aura of competence and trustworthiness.
     
     
    Corbin watched him pass the banker without speaking and walk on down the street. Amos Wood, Corbin suspected, had a low self-image. The only way he could make himself feel important was to be against things the other members were for. His short legs supported an overweight body. There appeared to be no neck at all between his head and his shoulders. His jowls hung heavily and the brows above black-button eyes grew together over his nose. He was not a likable fellow.
     
     
    Ronald Poole, the youngest council member, seemed the most pleasant of the five. He impressed Corbin as being intelligent, efficient and capable. His face, unremarkable though handsome, was framed by a mop of unruly blond hair. His clear green eyes were warm and friendly. His shoulders were broad, his arms heavily muscled. He was a man who could take care of himself.
     
     
    The druggist, Frank Adler, had drooping eyelids and pale skin. He was nearly six feet tall, gaunt, a man in his late thirties and not as easily led, Corbin suspected, as he allowed others to believe.
     
     
    Herman Maddock, undertaker/furniture store owner, reminded Corbin of a hound dog. His face was long and thin. Even the corners of his sad eyes drooped like those of a hound. His shoulders were narrow, his ears were large and his head jutted forward when he moved his tall, stooped body. Strands of dark hair were carefully combed over his near bald pate. Corbin could see him operating as an undertaker but could not imagine buying a sofa or a bed from him.
     
     
    The council was as mixed a group as Marshal Sanford had described them. The mayor, Ira Brady, was the brains and Ronald Poole the brawn. Wood was the pain in the butt and the others went along with the majority.
     
     
    It was a good assessment.
     
     
    Now, Corbin thought,
let’s see what happens next. Someone in this town is a goddamn murderer. When I find him, I’ll prove it. If I can’t, I’ll kill him
.
     
     

Chapter 6
     
     
    Y OU’RE NOT GOING TO THE REVIVAL MEETING ?” Jill put the leftover biscuits in the warming oven.
     
     
    “Joy and I will stay here.”
     
     
    “Jack isn’t going.”
     
     
    “Jack’s old enough to know what he wants to do.”
     
     
    “He wanted to go to town with Joe.”
     
     
    “Joe will be home pretty soon and they can go. You and Jason go with Papa.”
     
     
    “Why don’t you want to come with us?”
     
     
    “I don’t want to, and that’s that.”
     
     
    “You don’t have to be mad about it.”
     
     
    “I’m not mad, Jill. I’m tired. I don’t feel like sitting for three hours on a hard bench at a revival meeting. I’m not going to do something I don’t want to do just to please you and Papa.”
     
     
    “Well, all right. Papa won’t like it. He thinks you’re going.”
     
     
    Julie didn’t bother to answer. She tilted the pan of water into the tin sink and watched the water flow down through the hole. Joe had run the pipe from the sink down the wall and outside. It had saved her many steps, as had the red iron hand pump on the side of the sink.
     
     
    Joe could do about anything he set his mind to. He was handier with tools than her father and no doubt was delighted to have the car to tinker with.
     
     
    “You’d better get Joy cleaned up, Sis. We’ll be leaving in a little bit.”
     
     
    Jethro had come into the kitchen from his room across the hall. He wore his good black pants, a white shirt and a perky bow tie. He went past her to the mirror over the wash bench, dipped his comb in the water in the basin and carefully parted his