BooksBarbecue
Back This Side of Night
Chapters (110)
  1. Cover
  2. ALSO BY J. TODD SCOTT
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. PROLOGUE
  6. I
  7. II
  8. PART ONE
  9. ONE
  10. TWO
  11. THREE
  12. FOUR
  13. FIVE
  14. SIX
  15. SEVEN
  16. EIGHT
  17. NINE
  18. TEN
  19. ELEVEN
  20. TWELVE
  21. PART TWO
  22. THIRTEEN
  23. FOURTEEN
  24. FIFTEEN
  25. SIXTEEN
  26. SEVENTEEN
  27. EIGHTEEN
  28. NINETEEN
  29. TWENTY
  30. TWENTY-ONE
  31. TWENTY-TWO
  32. TWENTY-THREE
  33. TWENTY-FOUR
  34. TWENTY-FIVE
  35. TWENTY-SIX
  36. TWENTY-SEVEN
  37. TWENTY-EIGHT
  38. TWENTY-NINE
  39. THIRTY
  40. THIRTY-ONE
  41. THIRTY-TWO
  42. THIRTY-THREE
  43. THIRTY-FOUR
  44. THIRTY-FIVE
  45. THIRTY-SIX
  46. THIRTY-SEVEN
  47. THIRTY-EIGHT
  48. THIRTY-NINE
  49. PART THREE
  50. FORTY
  51. FORTY-ONE
  52. FORTY-TWO
  53. FORTY-THREE
  54. FORTY-FOUR
  55. FORTY-FIVE
  56. FORTY-SIX
  57. FORTY-SEVEN
  58. FORTY-EIGHT
  59. FORTY-NINE
  60. FIFTY
  61. FIFTY-ONE
  62. FIFTY-TWO
  63. FIFTY-THREE
  64. FIFTY-FOUR
  65. FIFTY-FIVE
  66. FIFTY-SIX
  67. FIFTY-SEVEN
  68. FIFTY-EIGHT
  69. FIFTY-NINE
  70. SIXTY
  71. SIXTY-ONE
  72. PART FOUR
  73. SIXTY-TWO
  74. SIXTY-THREE
  75. SIXTY-FOUR
  76. SIXTY-FIVE
  77. SIXTY-SIX
  78. SIXTY-SEVEN
  79. SIXTY-EIGHT
  80. SIXTY-NINE
  81. SEVENTY
  82. SEVENTY-ONE
  83. SEVENTY-TWO
  84. SEVENTY-THREE
  85. SEVENTY-FOUR
  86. SEVENTY-FIVE
  87. SEVENTY-SIX
  88. SEVENTY-SEVEN
  89. SEVENTY-EIGHT
  90. SEVENTY-NINE
  91. EIGHTY
  92. EIGHTY-ONE
  93. EIGHTY-TWO
  94. EIGHTY-THREE
  95. EIGHTY-FOUR
  96. EPILOGUE
  97. I
  98. II
  99. III
  100. IV
  101. V
  102. VI
  103. VII
  104. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  105. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  106. Excerpt from LOST RIVER
  107. LITTLE PARIS
  108. DILLON
  109. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  110. What’s next onyour reading list?

He studied the end of the cigarette, watching it burn. “I saw you really looking at the one decedent, the boy. Like I said, it doesn’t get any easier, you know? I kind of thought it would, but it doesn’t. Particularly when you see a kid laid out like that. He was what, seventeen, eighteen? He was probably following an older brother or dad or uncle, trying to be a man. What a damn waste.”

Just like Rodolfo, she thought.

He drew hard again on the cigarette. “It’s not supposed to, I guess. When it does, it’ll be time for me to find a new line of work.”

“Not supposed to what?” she asked, putting his card away, and reaching over and taking the cigarette from his fingers. It helped keep her hand steady as she put it to her lips.

Delaney looked up into the sky, his hands now in his pockets, watching their shared smoke chase itself and fade into nothing. “Get any easier, Deputy Reynosa. It never gets easier at all.”

EIGHT

Garrison arrived late in the afternoon, having driven all the way down from El Paso. He’d gotten lost twice, and Chris was standing on his porch waiting for him, drinking his second beer, when he finally pulled down the long gravel drive. Chris had been reluctant to invite Garrison out to the Far Six—it had already been a long forty-eight hours, and he’d always hoped to keep his work and home separate, even after realizing no such separation could exist—but Mel had agreed it was better than anywhere in town, or worse, the department. Chris’s deputies, Tommy Milford more than the others, liked to talk shop with anyone who’d pull up a stool at Earlys or the Hamilton (except for Amé, who hardly talked to anyone). The agent’s presence in Murfee would fuel even more stories than those already being shopped around since the discovery on the river yesterday, though Chris had made no official announcement about it, and had asked the local media to hold it close for another day or so.

Chris wasn’t ready to answer official questions from the Daily about Garrison or Eddy Rabbit or anything else.

He didn’t have any answers.