Beyond This Point Are Monsters Read Online Free PDF Page A

it was left over from yesterday or last week and had nothing to do with Mr. Osborne. In spite of the cool act Jaime put on for his friends and the somnolent pose he assumed within the family circle, he still had the lively curiosity of a child.
    He whispered to Dulzura, “Hey, move over so I can get out.”
    â€œWhere you going?”
    â€œOut, is all.”
    â€œYou can get past.”
    â€œI can’t. You’re too fat.”
    â€œYou’re one fresh little big-mouth kid,” Dulzura said and heaved herself up and into the aisle.
    Casually, hands in pockets, Jaime walked to the front of the courtroom and sat down in the first row of benches. The cop had turned away from the water cooler and was watching him as though he suspected Jaime might pull a caper. Jaime tried to look like the kind of guy who could pull a caper if he wanted to but didn’t feel like it at the moment.
    The drawing on the easel was a map. What had ap­peared from the back of the room to be a road was the riverbed which marked the east and southeast boundaries of the ranch. The little triangles were trees, indicating the lemon orchard on the west, on the northeast the avocado grove, and on the north the rows of date palms with grape­fruit growing in the shade between. The circle showed the location of the reservoir; and the rectangles, each of them lettered, were buildings: the ranch house itself, the mess hall, the bunkhouse and storage sheds, the garage for all the mechanized equipment and, on the other side of the garage, the house where Jaime lived with his family.
    â€œAre you looking for something, fellow?” the cop said.
    â€œNo. I mean, no, sir. I was just studying the map. It shows where I live. The square marked C, that’s my house.”
    â€œNo kidding.”
    â€œI’m a witness in the case.”
    â€œIs that a fact.”
    â€œI was driving the tractor when suddenly I looked down on the ground and there was this knife lying there.”
    â€œWell, well, well. You’d better go back to your seat. The judge is coming in and he likes things tidy.”
    â€œDon’t you want to know what kind of knife it was?”
    â€œI can wait. I have to sit through the whole thing any­way, I’m the bailiff.”
    The clerk of the court, a young man wearing horn-­rimmed glasses and a blue serge suit, got up and made the first of his four daily announcements: “Superior Court of the State of California in and for the County of San Diego is now in session, Judge Porter Gallagher presiding. Please be seated.”
    The clerk took his place at the table he shared with the bailiff. The hearing of probate petitions was usually the dullest of all judicial procedures, but this one promised to be different. Before putting it aside to file, he read part of the petition again.
    Â 
    In the Matter of the Estate of Robert Kirkpatrick Os­borne, Deceased, the petition of Devon Suellen Os­borne respectfully shows:
    That she is the surviving wife of Robert Osborne.
    That Petitioner is informed and believes and upon such information and belief alleges that Robert Osborne is dead. The precise time of his death is not known, but Petitioner believes and therefore alleges that Robert Osborne died on the thirteenth day of October, 1967. The facts upon which the death of Robert Osborne is presumed are as follows:
    The Petitioner and her husband, Robert Osborne, lived together as husband and wife for approximately half a year. On the night of October 13, Robert Os­borne, after dining with his wife, left the ranch house to look for his dog, which had wandered off in the course of the evening. When Robert Osborne failed to return by half past nine, Mrs. Robert Osborne roused the foreman of the ranch and a search was organized. It was the first of many searches covering a period of many months and an area of hundreds of square miles. Evidence has been collected which proves beyond a