The Blight Way by Patrick F. McManus

best grease money can buy.”
    â€œGood.”
    Noticing Susan rather thoughtfully perusing the menu, Tully wondered if she would go for the chicken-fried steak, too. She did. Might be my kind of woman after all, he thought. On the other hand, he wasn’t sure he could get used to a woman who matter-of-factly shoved a thermometer into a dead man’s liver.
    A waitress named Shirley came and took their orders. Afterwards, Dave told Susan and Buck about the second murder scene.
    â€œYeah,” Tully said, “a pool of blood on the ground back in the woods a little ways from the Jeep. Maybe Holt came out of the back seat firing a pistol and hit somebody just by chance. I don’t think the victim was a shooter, because none of the bullet holes in the Jeep came from that side. Maybe just an interested observer. Then Holt kept going. Dave traced the track from the fence to the Jeep, but never came across the pistol.”
    â€œRight, no pistol,” Dave said. “So I figure Holt emptied it and dropped it and it was picked up by whoevershot him. The tracker went right for him, like he knew Holt wasn’t armed anymore. Or maybe never.”
    Susan said, “You can tell that from the tracks?”
    â€œPretty much. He wasn’t dodging round like somebody was taking shots at him or like he expected the guy to.”
    Tully said, “We at least know who the men in the car were and that they came from Los Angeles. But what were people like that doing up here in Blight County? And on the Last Hope Road of all places?”
    â€œGot to be a setup,” Buck said. “No other reason somebody would drive back on that road. I can’t guess who might have done it, but the Scraggs come to mind.”
    â€œPretty hard to believe the Scraggs didn’t have something to do with it,” Pap said. “On the other hand, why would Batim call Bo to tell him he had a dead man over one of his fences?”
    â€œMaybe because the trail led right to that fence,” Tully said. “And there’s no way they could have cleaned up all the blood at the fence. Batim knows we’d tie the guy on the fence to the guys in the woods, even if the body was gone.”
    Two waitresses returned with their orders. The talk at the table stopped. One of the waitresses, blond and voluptuous, suddenly blurted out, “Why, Pap Tully! I thought that was you under that black Stetson.”
    Pap, obviously pleased, grinned broadly. “Had to give the boys a hand, Deedee,” he said. “Got some unfortunate business up here north of Famine.”
    â€œOh, you don’t have to be so secretive, Pap.” She reached out, lifted his Stetson and mussed his whitethicket of hair in a gesture Tully thought suspiciously familiar. “Everybody in town’s heard all about the bodies in the woods and all. It’s pretty creepy, hunh? Nothing like that ever happened around Famine before.”
    â€œEverybody knows about the bodies?” Tully said. “How does everybody know?”
    â€œWell, somebody probably mentioned it down at the gas station. You know how it is, Dave, you want everyone in town to know the news, you mention it at the gas station.”
    â€œYou bet,” Dave said.
    Susan said, “You may want to check in at the gas station, Sheriff. Maybe you can find out who the ambushers are, too?”
    Tully ignored the twinkle in her eyes. “I wouldn’t be surprised,” he said, and dug into his hash browns and gravy. This will probably kill me, he thought. Good, though.
    â€œYou been out to see Vern Littlefield yet?” Buck asked.
    â€œNo,” Tully answered. “But I’m going out there to talk to him right after lunch. Been a long time since I’ve seen Vern. I worked for him summers when I was a kid, before I went off to the university.”
    â€œWhat did you do for him?” Pap asked.
    â€œBuilt fences. I guess Vern figured the fences