Haas, so pleased to meet you.” She wore a navy polo shirt, white slacks, white sandals, looked to be her husband’s age. More wrinkled than he, but a trim figure.
Short, wavy hair dyed mahogany.
Her grip was strong. “Have a nice drive up from L.A.?”
“Very nice. Beautiful scenery.”
“It’s even more beautiful when you live here. Something to drink?”
“No, thanks.”
“Well, then, I’ll be shoving off.” She kissed her husband’s cheek and put her arm around his shoulder-protectively, I thought. “You boys be good, now.”
“Now, that’s no fun,” Haas said. “Drive carefully, hon.”
She hurried to the door. Her hips rotated. Years ago, she’d been beautiful. She still was.
When the door closed after her, Haas seemed to get smaller. He motioned toward the chairs. We both sat.
“She decided to visit her sister in Bakersfield,” he said, “because she didn’t want to be here when you were.”
“Sorry-”
“No, not your fault. She doesn’t like unpleasantness.” Crossing his legs, he plowed his hair with one hand and studied me. “I’m not sure I want to be doing this, myself, but I guess I feel obligated to help the police.”
“I appreciate that, Sheriff. Hopefully it won’t be unpleasant.”
Haas smiled. “Haven’t been ‘Sheriff’ for a while. Quit right after the Ardullos, started selling insurance for my father-in-law. Two years later, there was no need for a sheriff- no more town.”
“Who closed it down?”
“Group called BCA Leisure bought all the land. One of those multinational deals-Japanese, Indonesian, British. The American partners are a development group out in Denver. Back then they were buying up land right and left.”
“Was there any resistance from the residents?”
“Not a peep,” he said. “Farming’s always been a tough life, and inTreadway only two families made a serious living from it, the Ardullos and the Crimrninses. Between them, they owned ninety percent of the land. The rest of us were just here to keep their businesses going-like sharecroppers. So once they sold out, it wasn’t much of a brainer. The sheriff job was only part-time, anyway. I was already living up in
Bakersfield, near my in-laws. Doing bookkeeping for my father-in-law.”
“When did you move back here?”
“Five years ago.” He smiled again. “Like I said, it was near my in-laws. Seriously,
I decided to pack it in when I figured I had enough policies tucked away to be comfortable. And Bakersfield was starting to look like L.A. We were thinking out of state, maybe Nevada, then this unit came up-a lucky deal, because Fairway units don’t stay vacant very long. We said, why not. The air’s great, terrific fishing, they show movies, you can do all your shopping right here. We travel half the year, a small place is perfect. We don’t go mobiling, this thing’s as rooted as any regular house. We fly. Vegas, when there’s a show we want to see. Alaska, Canada.
This year, we did a big one. London, England. Saw the Chel-sea Flower Show because
Marvelle likes flowers. Beautiful country. When they say green, they mean it.”
His tone had relaxed. I hated what I had to do, decided to approach the task indirectly. “The Ardullos and the Crimminses. A boy named Derrick Crimmins was quoted in an article I read about the crime.”
“Carson Crimmins’s son. The younger one-he had two boys, Derrick and Carson Junior,
Cliff. Yeah, I remember both of them hanging around the crime scene, along with a bunch of other kids. I don’t remember Derrick talking to the press, but sure, I can see him shooting off his mouth, he always had a mouth on him. -So, tell me, why do the police send a psychologist to talk about the Monster? Don’t tell me it’s some kind of evaluation, they’re thinking of letting him out.”
“No,” I said. “He’s locked up tight, no release in sight. I just saw him. He’s pretty deteriorated.”
“Deteriorated,” he said. “Like what, a vegetable?”
“Close to.”
“Well that’s good. He shouldn’t be alive…. Deteriorated- the village idiot, that’s how everyone saw him. Myself included. He was treated with kindness, pity, it’s a big-city lie that small-town people are prejudiced and intolerant, like those morons you see on Jerry Springer. The Monster received more kindness in Treadway than he ever would’ve in L.A. Him and his mother. A couple of drifters, not a penny in their pockets, they just showed up one day and got taken in.”