Free Scare Tactics by John Farris Page B

didn’t have anything to do with Taryn’s death.”
    Gaynell drew a breath through her teeth as if she’d put a hand to something red hot.
    “How could you say a thing like that? Nealy was with me the whole night, Sheriff, and that ain’t a word of a lie! I’ll swear it on my daddy’s—”
    “The whole night, Gaynell?”
    “Well—”
    “Where were you when Nealy was getting it on with Taryn earlier in the evening? Out bowling?”
    Nealy’s head came up. “Sheriff,” he said hoarsely, “we never got it on!”
    “The autopsy’ll find that out beyond a reasonable doubt. Now, then. You’re the one that took her to Six Flags to see George Strait, which is where Taryn’s roommate said she was going?”
    “Yes, sir, I did. I, uh, left that out when we was talking to—”
    “And Gaynell, you weren’t home when Nealy and Taryn got there?”
    “No, I was on my way back from Columbus.”
    “What time did you get to the house?”
    “I reckon it must have been about two-fifteen.”
    “Where were Nealy and Taryn?”
    “They was ... in our bedroom.”
    “I guess you pitched a fit.”
    “That’s right, I surely did.”
    “Mad enough to kill her, Gaynell?”
    “I was, but I didn’t,” Gaynell said, and she broke down sobbing.
    Stone let her carry on, staring at Nealy all the while. “Then what happened?”
    Nealy said hoarsely, “Taryn got her clothes back on and took off.”
    “You didn’t give her the loan of the Camaro, then, so she could get herself home?”
    “She sort of borrowed it off of us without asking.”
    “And run out of gas down there by the drive-in theatre?” Nealy nodded. “That must have been what happened.”
    “How long had you been dating Taryn before last night?”
    “I never taken her out before. I’d see her now and then at the All-Niter, where she worked the counter. Sometimes I’d have me some breakfast there before the early shift.”
    “She talk to you about any of her other boyfriends?”
    “No, sir. I don’t have no idea who—” Nealy fell silent, thinking about something that intrigued him greatly.
    “Whatever’s on your mind could be helpful to us, Nealy.”
    “Well, I don’t know how important—”
    “Go ahead, son.”
    “There was this guy at the All-Niter, and he was coming on to her big-time. She told me his name was Hero, or else that was just a nickname, Taryn didn’t know his real name. He was just one of those itinerants, you know, with a beard he never trimmed, and his jeans was so shabby he must have got them out of a church barrel. Had a big blue knapsack with him. Taryn said he was in the All-Niter a lot.”
    “Biker?”
    “I don’t know if he owned a bike, I never seen him on one. There was just something about him I didn’t take a liking to.”
    “Sheriff, I’m the one needs go to the bathroom,” Gaynell said, sniffing.
    “Okay.”
    Nealy said with a little laugh that came off mean, “Gaynell just can’t hold water when she’s nervous.”
    Gaynell turned in front of him and began earnestly to kick his ankles and shins, swearing at him under' her breath. Stone got up and pulled Gaynell away from her husband, turning her toward the door.
    “All right, now, Gaynell, I don’t want to have to put you in a holding cell until you cool off.”
    Gaynell lifted her chin and, without another look at her husband, who was wincing and trying not to rub all the places where it hurt, she went outside.
    “I don’t know what else I can tell you, Sheriff.”
    “You ever stop to think, Nealy, that one of these days you’ll get hold of one who says she’s eighteen when she’s not? We’re talking twenty years in this state.”
    “I heard that. ” Nealy’s shoulders began to quake. He sobbed, “I’m not ever going to forget what she looked like, lying there in the drive-in. God, I’m so sorry!”
    “Would you recognize him again? The one Taryn called Hero?”
    “Yeah, I’d know him anywhere. I just hope you can find the