Beating her chest, she put on a gorilla face. ” ‘Me farmer, me do nothing else.’
Straight ahead and pigheaded, just like his father. So Orton went to Carson, and to his surprise, Carson said he’d consider it.”
“Surprise because Carson was uncreative?”
“And because everyone knew Carson wanted to get out of Treadway himself. Each year there’d be talk of some new real estate deal.”
“How long had that been going on?”
“Years. The main problem was Scott wouldn’t hear of it, and half the land wasn’t very attractive to the developers. The approach Orton used with Carson was to suggest the paper might be a good activity for Sybil, to keep her out of trouble.”
She snapped her ringers. “That did the trick.”
Now I understood the Intelligencer’s sudden editorial shift toward Crimmins.
“What other kind of trouble was Sybil getting into?” I said.
She smiled archly. “What do you think?”
“I saw a picture of her and Scott at a dance.”
The smile faltered, then changed course, growing wider, fuller, ripe with glee.
“Oh, that picture,” she sang. “We might as well have published them naked. Orton wasn’t going to print it, a gentleman to the last. But that night, he was sloshed to the gills, so I put the paper to bed.”
Breathing in deeply, she savored the exhalation.
I said, “What was the fallout?”
“Nothing public. I suppose there was tension among those directly concerned. Terri
Ardullo always impressed me as tightly wound, but she didn’t run around after Sybil with a hatchet. The Ardullos were never the type to air their laundry in public.
Same for Carson.”
“What did the serfs have to say about it?”
“Nothing that I heard. Doesn’t pay to antagonize the nobility if you want to eat.
And it wasn’t as if everyone didn’t already know about Scott and Sybil.”
“The affair was public knowledge?” I said.
“For months. Certainly since Sybil’s production fell apart. I suppose she needed another role.” She shook her head. “The two of them adopted a flimsy coven First,
Scott’s truck would speed out of town. An hour later, the slut’s little Thunderbird would zoom away. She’d always return first, usually with shopping bags. Sometimes she’d visit the peasants in the local stores, showing off what she’d acquired. Then, sure enough, Scott’s truck would zip past. Ludicrous. How could they possibly think they were getting away with it?”
“So Carson had to know.”
“I don’t see how he couldn’t have.”
“And no reaction at all? He never tried to stop it?”
“Carson was much older than Sybil. Maybe he couldn’t cut the mustard, didn’t mind someone else keeping her busy from time to time. Perhaps that’s why he bought
Orton’s line about finding Sybil recreation. We were certainly trying to exploit him-did you read the rag after she took over?”
“Borderline coherent.”
“You’re a charitable young man.” She stretched. “My, this is great fun.”
“What can you tell me about Jacob Haas?” I said.
“Well-meaning but a boob. Before he became sheriff, he’d been working as a bookkeeper in Bakersfield. He got the job because he’d served in Korea, took some law enforcement courses in junior college, didn’t offend anyone.”
“Meaning he wasn’t aligned with either Butch or Carson.”
“Meaning he never put their kids in jail.”
“Was that ever a possibility?” I said.
“Not with Scott, but with the Crimmins boys, sure. Two obnoxious little buggers-spoiled rotten. Carson gave them fast cars, which they proceeded to race down Main Street. It was common knowledge that they drank and took drugs, so it was only luck they never killed anyone. One of them paid for his recklessness a few years later-died motorcycling.”
“Any other offenses besides drunk driving?”
“General bad character. They treated the migrants like dirt. Chased the migrant girls. When the picking season was over, they switched gears and bothered the local girls. I remember one night, very late, I’d just finished with the paper, walked outside to get some air, when I saw a car screech to a stop down the block. One of those souped-up things with stripes on the side, I knew right away whose it was. The back door opened, someone fell out, and the car sped away. The person lay there for