“He went on into the house through that door. Run around and cover the front. I’m goin’ in.”

“Hadn’t we better call in for help?”

“Help, hell. I’ll get the cop-murderin’ bastard.”

Footsteps sounded on the wet sand outside, and I heard Roy’s body slide through the window and fall onto the floor of the garage. Shoes scraped on concrete, and then he was testing the kitchen door. My hand was still on the knob, and I could feel it move slightly as he rattled it. I tried not to breathe. He tried it again. “Hey, Jim.”

The other came back. “What is it?”

“Door’s locked. And ain’t no sign it’s been forced. Ain’t a scratch on it.”

“Don’t make sense, though, he’d go back out in the rain when he had a dry place to hide.”

“Wait! He’s in there, all right. Look. The garage door was locked, and so was the window, because he had to break it. So this one probably wasn’t. He just went inside and locked it himself.”

I sighed. I didn’t have a chance now.

“No,” one of the voices said quickly, “wait a minute. This door was locked. Remember? We checked it the other day when we made the round. Somebody’d left the garage door open and kids had been playin’ in here, so tried this one before we locked up.”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

I wondered how much more of it I could take.

“Sure funny he’d leave without even tryin’ to get in the house. He’d need dry clothes and something to eat.”

“Probably wasn’t anything he could use.”

Oh, sweet Jesus—the hammer! Then I realized I was looking right at it. There on the counter by the sink. I’d carried it inside without realizing it.

“Well, we’re wasting time here. We know he’s around somewhere, so he’s probably broke into one of the others. And we got to search all them shrimp boats.”

Roy climbed out the window, and I heard them drive away. I felt limp as I walked slowly into the living room and collapsed on the couch. When I crushed out what was left of the cigarette I saw it had burned blisters on my fingers.

Two

In about twenty minutes they came back. There was a little comfort in knowing I had anticipated them on that one. They walked around the house trying the windows they had forgotten the first time.