Darkness the Color of Snow by Thomas Cobb Read Free Book Online Page A

woman’s voice behind him. “It was Ronny Forbert who killed him.”
    Gordy spins around to face Gayle Laferiere, who has come up behind him. “Gayle. I came to express my condolences.”
    â€œRonny Forbert is who killed him. He wasn’t driving the car, but he killed my boy.”
    â€œNo, Gayle. That’s not true. There was a struggle, sure. But Ronny did not kill your son.”
    â€œWe’ll come to find something different. We got a case against this town on this.”
    â€œNo, Gayle. I don’t think you have a case. It’s a clear-­cut hit and run.”
    â€œMartin says we have a case.”
    â€œMartin? Martin Glendenning?”
    â€œHe said so. And he knows. He’s president of the town council. He says we got a case against you, the town, and Ronny Forbert.”
    â€œHe told you that?”
    â€œHe was just here. He told us that. Ronny Forbert is an incompetent moron, and he got the job on the police force because he was your pet.”
    â€œGayle, none of that is true.”
    â€œMartin says it is.”
    â€œI can’t believe he would say that. Martin’s wrong about a lot of things, but on this one he’s really wrong. You need to talk to a good lawyer.”
    â€œWe’re going to do that.”
    â€œI also came to tell you that you can claim Matt’s body this afternoon.”
    â€œThey cut him up,” Roger says.
    â€œOf course they did. Goddamn you, Gordon Hawkins. Why won’t you leave my boy alone? You tormented him when he was alive and now you’re still at it when he’s dead. I suppose you’re on your way over to the hospital right now, just so you can piss on his body. Goddamn you, Mr. Hawkins. This ain’t over. Not by a long shot.”
    I T’S SO MESSED up. All day at school kids keep coming up to Sammy, asking him about the accident. He doesn’t want to talk about it, but everyone wants to know.
    â€œDid you see it happen?”
    â€œYes,” he says, but he’s not sure he really did. See it. He’s not sure he actually saw the car hit Matt. He saw it drive away, but he’s not sure what he actually saw. His vision was partially blocked by the car. He saw something. He saw something, saw Matt come flying, but even now he’s not sure. He lies. “I saw the whole thing. Really messed up. Really, really fucking messed up.”
    â€œIt knocked his head off, didn’t it? You saw that, didn’t you?”
    â€œNo. It smashed his head.” This he saw, afterward. It was the worst thing he has ever seen.
    â€œYou saw his brains?”
    â€œYes.” He has a clear image of blood and gore. Maybe his brain in all of that mess. He remembers Matt’s teeth scattered in the blood. Maybe an eye. He doesn’t want to talk about it, but everyone else does.
    â€œReally? His head smashed to pieces. Whoa, dude. How fucking cool.”
    No. Not cool. Just fucked up. Really fucked up. He starts telling the story. Matt flying through the air until he hit the Jeep headfirst. His head smashed open like a Halloween pumpkin. At first he thinks he is going to throw up again. But as he keeps telling the story, he feels better, like it was something from a movie, something he saw in some movie. He keeps telling it and telling it.
    In class, he can’t concentrate. He tries to draw it on lined paper in his notebook, but he can’t. There’s too much. He walks out of class.
    â€œHey, Colvington. Tell me, man. Tell me what you saw.”
    Just messed up. Completely fucking messed up.
    W HEN G ORDY GETS back to the office, Martin Glendenning is talking with Pete. He can’t quite read Pete’s expression: angry, disgusted, but more than that.
    â€œGordon,” Martin Glendenning says when he sees Gordy. “How are you doing this morning, Gordon?”
    Gordy just stares at Martin for several seconds, then shakes his head. “How do you think