I was glad their house had the same layout as mine. So, even in the dark, I was able to feel my way to their bedroom with no trouble. Before I even reached it, I could hear Milton snoring like a ox. When I opened the door, it creaked, and that scared the bejesus out of me. I almost turned around and left. But that was a option I couldn’t consider. I wanted my five hundred dollars back and I wanted them devils dead.

The noisy door didn’t wake them up. But when I stepped into the bedroom, the squeaky floorboards did.

CHAPTER 42 - ODELL

CHAPTER 42

ODELL

MILTON SAT BOLT UPRIGHT AND IMMEDIATELY TURNED ON THE lamp next to him. “Odell? What the hell you doing here—dressed like that?” he asked when he seen me standing at the foot of the bed. I had never seen a man look so stunned before in my life. I had on a black sweatshirt, black pants, and a black jacket. Milton had only seen me in casual clothes three or four times since we met. Him seeing me out of a suit must have threw him for a loop.

I didn’t give him time to say nothing else. I lunged at him and held the hammer up to his face. “I came to get my money back! Where is it?” I growled. As loud as our voices was, I was surprised Yvonne hadn’t woke up. All she did was mumble some gibberish and stir a little bit.

Instead of answering, Milton leaped off the bed and grabbed my arm. I held on to that hammer like my life depended on it—and it did. There was no way I was going to let this short-legged, pot-bellied pig overpower me. The next thing I knew, we was punching each other and scuffling around the bedroom. When his fist went upside my head, it dazed me. I stumbled a few steps backward and dropped the hammer. It gave him enough time to get out of the room. I picked up the hammer and followed him to the kitchen. When I got there, he had clicked on the light. “Have you lost your fucking mind, man?” he yelled, waving a butcher knife like it was a magic wand. There was a wild-eyed look on his face. What he said next made me stop dead in my tracks. “I’m going to kill you! But first, I want you to know the reason why! We know it was you that called Sheriff Potts and told that lie on us!”

“W-what?”

“What my ass! There ain’t no way you could have known Sheriff Potts got the call at his house unless you called him! Only the sheriff and his wife, and Willie Frank and his uncle, knew that. Willie Frank done already verified it with Sheriff Potts.”