Backtracker (69 page)

"
Still, I had to kill them.

"
See, one of the worst things that happened to me...to Billy...was when my best friends deserted me. If you guys had still been around when things got really tough, if you
'
d
been
there for Billy when he needed you, I know he would
'
ve been able to keep himself together.

"
If you two hadn
'
t left, Billy would
'
ve had someone to give him support, get him over the rough spots. He wouldn
'
t
'
ve felt so completely alone, wouldn
'
t
'
ve turned to the wrong people for friendship like he did.

"
That
'
s why I killed Ernie
'
s parents...to keep him here for Billy.

"
I know it seems terrible,
"
Larry said regretfully,
"
but believe me, there was no other way.

"
See, I needed insurance. Couldn
'
t leave any room for the same things to happen.

"
By killing the girl, I probably changed Billy
'
s whole life. He
'
ll never meet her, so he won
'
t sleep with her, lose his true love, get married and all the rest. She was the
key
, the one person who
'
d done the most to push Billy in the wrong direction.

"
When I killed Kimmel, I increased the chance that Billy will stay on track. Even with the other girl out of the way, maybe Kimmel would
'
ve still stolen the girl Billy loved...but with Kimmel gone, Billy will have a better shot at keeping her.

"
Kimmel was insurance, and so were Ernie
'
s parents. With the one girl gone, Billy would probably marry the girl he loved, get a good job, raise a family an
d be happy...but just in case,
just in case some fluke threw things off and pushed him down a road like the one
I
ended up on, I had to make
sure
he
'
d have either you or Ernie around to help him.

"
Of the two of you, I picked Ernie,
"
Larry said with a sigh.
"
Not because I preferred him over you, but because I couldn
'
t see any way to make you stay.

"
I knew that with his folks gone, Ernie would have to stick around and care for his brother and sister. He wouldn
'
t be able to leave for probably ten years, maybe longer, and that would be enough of a safety margin to protect Billy.

"
On the other hand, if
your
parents were gone, there really wouldn
'
t be anything to keep you here. Your brother
'
s almost old enough to get out on his own, so you wouldn
'
t be held back by him.

"
Anyway, I picked Ernie. I hated to do anything that would hurt him, but I just didn
'
t see any alternative.

"
I caused the wreck that killed his parents,
"
said Larry, and then he faltered. He looked away from Dave, absently ran a hand across his brow.

"
Well, they
'
re dead now,
"
he said finally.
"
Their deaths served the purpose, too. Ernie
'
s stuck in town for at least the next ten years. Even if Billy somehow ends up on the wrong track even after all I
'
ve done, he
'
ll still have Ernie to help him through any troubles he might have.

"
He won
'
t have Tom Martin to contend with, either,
"
nodded Larry.
"
That jerk
'
s out of the picture for once and for all.

"
I
'
ll tell ya
'
, it wasn
'
t easy getting rid of Ernie
'
s folks...but I didn
'
t have such a hard time with Martin.

"
The reason I killed him was for more insurance, of course...to guarantee that even if part of the chain of events repeated, Billy wouldn
'
t lose his job and his chance for a promotion at the steakhouse. Still, I
'
ve got to admit, it sure felt
good
to pay that bastard back for all the
grief
he put me through...all the grief he put
everybody
at Wild West through.
"
Larry
'
s eyes twinkled and his voice rose with fresh enthusiasm.
"
Martin had tormented and taken advantage of everyone at Wild West since Day One, abused his position and even embezzled from the company...so when I
killed
him, I knew I wasn
'
t just helping Billy, but doing a favor
--
a
big
favor
--
for the employees and the company, too.

"
Hell, I was doing the whole
world
a favor,
"
chuckled Larry.

"
It was a real pleasure. He
'
d set himself up so
well
,
too. He made it
easy
for me.

"
His embezzlement made a perfect excuse for a suicide. You know
-
manager steals thousands over the years, finally has an attack of conscience and does himself in. Makes sense, right?

"
The suicide note I made him write did the trick. It wasn
'
t hard to make it look like he
'
d killed himself, either. There wasn
'
t a damn
thing
to point to a murder.

"
Of course, there
was
that
video
you claimed you had,
"
Larry said slyly.
"
I have my doubts about that, though. I bet there
wasn
'
t
any
video
,
was
there?
"

Dave
didn
'
t
answer,
didn
'
t
move;
he had
to exert a great force of will to keep from flinching before his opponent
'
s burning, steady stare.

"
Hmmm,
"
Larry said thoughtfully, narrowing his eyes.
"
Not gonna
'
give me the lowdown, huh? Here I am, putting all my cards on the table, and you don
'
t have the courtesy to do the same.

"
Come on. What about that
video
, huh?
"

As difficult as it was to maintain his composure, Dave managed to hold on. For as long as Larry stared at him, he remained fossilized,
didn
'
t
even blink.

"
Oh well,
"
tossed Larry at last.
"
No matter.
If you don
'
t have it, there
'
s no problem. I
'
ll just say I admire your bluff, and let it go at that.

"
If you
do
have it, I doubt you
'
ll try to use it after you
'
re done hearing me out. Once you get a little perspective, I think you
'
ll see there
'
s no need for that
video
.

"
Of course,
this
late in the game,
"
smirked Larry,
"
it wouldn
'
t do you any good, anyway.
"

As he absorbed the unsettling words, Dave felt his stomach twist painfully.

How late
was
it?

"
Anyway, about the boy,
"
said Larry, flicking his head in the general direction of the corpse that Dave and Billy had found.
"
More insurance.

"
He
'
s the narc, the kid who got Billy busted for dealing drugs. He
'
s the one who got me thrown in jail the first time...or he
would have been
, I guess.

"
With the girl dead and all the others, Billy probably never would
'
ve run into the little creep...but like I said,
insurance
.
Just in case Billy hits the skids again, at least he won
'
t have that
narc
waiting to set him up. At least he won
'
t go to jail and get even
worse
like before.

"
Killing the boy
was
a pain, though,
"
grumbled Larry, wagging his head.
"
Took a lot of extra work.

"
I knew his
name
,
but that was about it. When I first got into town, I didn
'
t know where he lived, how to get to him, anything. Had to go through the phone book, call everyone with his last name, say I was a teacher looking for this kid so I could give him a grade or something.

"
Once I tracked him down, I had to get close to him...so I volunteered at that youth center I found out he went to. I became his buddy, got him to trust me, set him up the same way he
'
d set
me
up.

"
Then, when the time came, after I
'
d handled my other business, I killed him. Drove him out here today so we
'
d be alone, told him I wanted to show him the rocks.

"
I, uh...I
'
m sorry about what I had to do to him,
"
sighed Larry, dipping his eyes away from Dave.
"
I didn
'
t want to mess him up as bad as I did, y
'
know.

"
I just didn
'
t expect the kind of fight he put up. When I brought him out here, I thought I could do him quickly...but he really gave me a tussle. I suppose I tend to forget how
old
I really am. Easy mistake to make when you
'
re reliving your younger days.

"
Anyway, it took a lot to kill him. By the time it was over...well, I
'
m sorry about that. Really.
"
Voice trailing off with an apologetic gravity, Larry stared at his feet.

"
Well, like I told you, there
'
s one more to go,
"
he said after a moment
'
s silence, looking back up at Dave.
"
Just one more, and I
'
m done.

"
I have to kill the killer. The bastard Billy took the rap for. The one who got him the death penalty.

"
I have to make sure Billy never gets mixed up with him. As long as that animal
'
s alive, Billy
'
s still in danger.

"
As soon as I leave here, I
'
ll be heading out of town to hunt for that guy. I have a pretty good idea of where to find him.

"
After that...well, you
'
ll never see me again. Obviously, I can
'
t come back after
this
.
Even if
you
don
'
t go to the cops...and I hope you won
'
t...I doubt
Billy
will keep his mouth shut.