Justice Read Online Free PDF Page A

just stare at you. I don’t want to hurt you or take advantage of you. You can trust me. You can talk to me.... But hot on the heels of those thoughts came these: Wesley knew he wasn’t going to speak to Beverly. And he knew she wouldn’t see him as any different from his brother and his friends. Why should she? For although he held these noble impulses toward Beverly he also wished that she would come back to the hotel with them, that she would drink so much of their whiskey that she would let them—Wesley included—do what they wanted to her. Wesley closed his eyes and dropped his head into his hands, wishing he could squeeze from his mind all but the nobler thoughts.
    When he lifted his head and opened his eyes, Tommy was putting the matter directly to Anna. “You come back to the hotel with us and we’ll give you a drink of whiskey. What do you say to that?”
    She was shaking her head no, but Wesley thought her smile said she was not entirely averse to the proposal.
    By now Frank had slid his chair over so that he was sitting closer to the girls’ table than his own. “What are you saying?” he said to Tommy. “These are Sacred Heart girls. Sacred Heart girls don’t drink whiskey.” He smiled wickedly
at Anna. “Do they?”
    â€œYou got a moving picture here?” asked Tommy. “We could take you to the moving picture.”
    Anna shook her head. “There’s one over in Henton.”
    â€œYou been?”
    She shook her head again.
    â€œWant to go? How far’s Henton? We can drive over to Henton to see a moving picture. You gals come on over to the hotel with us and we’ll take you to Henton.”
    â€œTonight?”
    â€œOr don’t Sacred Heart girls go to the moving pictures either?” asked Tommy.
    â€œIn the snow?”
    â€œWe drove in, didn’t we? How far’s Henton?”
    â€œShe’s got a boyfriend,” Anna said, nodding in Beverly’s direction.
    Tommy looked to the right and the left. “Where? I don’t see him.”
    Anna lowered her voice. “They’re going to get married.”
    â€œWell, they’re not getting married tonight, are they?” said Frank.
    â€œI’d think she’d want to be with a cowboy before she was married,” Tommy said. “Once anyway. Find out what she was missing.”
    â€œJesus Christ,” Wesley said. “She’s sitting right there.”
    â€œYou better watch your mouth there, brother. These are Sacred Heart girls.”
    â€œWatch my mouth? Did you hear what he said?”
    Anna wagged her finger in Tommy’s direction. “If her
boyfriend heard you talk....”She shook her head gravely.
    â€œAm I supposed to be scared?” asked Tommy.
    Anna’s voice shifted and became like a little girl’s. “He’s coming to pick us up.”
    â€œIn a car?” asked Frank. “Or a wagon?”
    Without taking her eyes from the window, Beverly spoke up. “He’s got a truck.”
    In a falsetto, Tommy said, “A truck. He’s got a truck.”
    â€œAs soon as she graduates,” Anna volunteered. “That’s when they’re getting married.”
    Tommy reached into his coat pocket. “We got to do something about this boyfriend.”
    Frank leaned toward Beverly. “You’re awful young to be an old married woman.”
    Tommy dropped the pistol on the tabletop and gave it a spin. The gun rumbled on the wood like far-off thunder. As it slowed, Anna and the boys watched to see where the barrel would finally point. It stopped—aimed just to the left of Tommy—and Wesley saw it clearly.
    It was a .38 revolver, nickel plated, but the plating had worn off in so many places the gun was as black as it was silver. The black checkered grip was partially broken off and exposed the steel and the screw of the handle.
    Wesley had seen it before. It was