“So what are you going to do?” Bennet cut him off. “What you going to do about this nigger?”

Otto looked down at the man. “First thing I’m going to knock those fucking teeth out of his mouth.”

“But he says he didn’t do it,” Bennet said.

“He did it. I’d know his hide in a tanyard. I saw him and his fuckin’ dog running from that barn.”

“Pity you said it was a big-ass nigger and his white dog before they found him,” Siggy said.

“He was covered in fuckin’ shit. Looked like a damn nigger.”

Bennet squatted down and addressed McFarlane. “You rape that girl?”

McFarlane shook his head. “No, sir.”

Otto kicked him viciously in the small of his back. McFarlane cried out and Bennet threw his hand over the hobo’s mouth to keep him quiet.

“Well, I reckon we’ve got to get it out of him.” Bennet stood up, looking at Otto. “I think us boys would feel a whole lot better if we’re sure he did it.”

Otto nodded, clearly waiting for Bennet to suggest something.

“This is your show, maestro,” Bennet said. “But we got to keep it quiet.”

Now all the men were looking at Otto. He scratched his head, glancing around the clearing, then up into the trees. All at once he got excited. “You boys, you build this fire up here.” He ran off through the woods toward the road and returned a little while later with a rope out of the back of his truck, a fishing reel, duct tape, and an empty feed sack. The men had built up a good-sized fire now.

“Let’s get these fancy clothes off him,” Otto said. Siggy moved forward, but Bennet put a hand to his chest.

“Go on then,” he said to Otto. “Just keep it quiet.”

Otto pulled out his Bowie knife. The man squealed, covering his face, as Otto cut all the buttons off his shirt. After some rough tugging and tearing, McFarlane was naked, curled up, whimpering, and covering his crotch.

“Mother of God, he’s built like a little girl,” Finn said.

“Look how smooth he is.” Goldwin bent down to examine him. “Like someone’s stuck an old man’s head on a kid’s body.”

Everyone but Magnus, who was still standing out a little way, using the rifle like a crutch to steady himself, gathered around to look at this strange creature, with its weathered, grotesque face upon a child’s body, marble-pale and pristine.

McFarlane let out another cry and Bennet hissed, “Keep him fucking quiet.”