Detour by Martin M. Goldsmith Read Free Book Online

to the road. By this time it was daylight. The sky was a dirty blue with rain clouds hanging low. There was no sign of the sun. I started for the car. Then I froze. All the strength in my body suddenly ebbed away and it was all I could do to keep on my feet.
    Standing beside the car was a motor-cycle cop.
    He was walking slowly around the car when I came up out of the gully. His machine was parked ten feet away with its headlight still burning, I could read what was written across the fuel-tank: Arizona State Highway Patrol. This was no messenger boy. He was checking the New York plates with some numbers he had in a little book, so it was a few seconds before he lifted his head and saw me.
    “Oh, there you are,” he said.
    The blood was pumping through me like mad. I felt like running. But I didn't feel like getting shot. “Yes, here I am.” It was a stupid answer, but I couldn't think. At that moment the world seemed to fade, numbing me upstairs. I think if he had asked me my name I wouldn't have been able to remember it. Sue and every other person I'd ever known would have been strangers to me if they had suddenly come along. The badge on the cop's cap was the only thing that registered.
    “You the owner of this car?”
    I opened my mouth to say I was but I couldn't get a word out. The cop didn't pick me up on that, though. He simply took it for granted. “Don't you know better than to leave a car with the wheels half-way out in the middle of the highway?”
    “I'm sorry, Officer, I... I didn't think....” My voice did not sound like me at all. It was high and quavering, like the voice of a very old man.
    “Well, next time, think. That's how accidents happen. I'll let it go now, but watch it in the future. I know this is a lonesome stretch, but cars do come by here once in a while, and we get plenty of accidents.”
    He was telling me.
    All at once he looked down at my clothing. His eyes narrowed. I wanted to look down there, too, but I didn't dare. I imagined—and then suddenly I was sure—I was covered with mud or blood, or maybe Haskell's name was written all over the vest, or maybe...
    “Say,” the cop said, “what were you doing down there, anyhow?”
    I felt the corners of my mouth twitching to beat the band. At that minute I wanted to confess everything. The desire was so strong I had to fight myself. Because the suspense was pulling me to pieces, I don't think I ever wanted anything more. I was certain the cop suspected something queer and that it would only be a matter of seconds before he hiked down into the gully and had a look for himself. I opened my mouth to blurt it all out and take my chances with a jury. But then I shut it again and clamped my teeth together.
    “Oh yeah, I see,” the cop said. “Well, next time be sure your car is off the road.”
    I nodded without understanding.
    “And you'd better button up, Johnny. You're wide open.”
    “Thanks, officer,” I managed to say. “I will.”
    “I notice you're from the big town. I was wondering if by chance you know my brother? His name is Sid Hammerford.”
    “Sorry, I don't.”
    “Too bad. I figured it was pretty much of a long shot. He works for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company there.”
    “No, I don't remember anyone by that—Say wait a minute! Did he have red hair like yours, sort of a flat nose...?”
    I thought I'd keep him in conversation and get his mind off the gully.
    “Nope. Not Sid. He's short and darker than you.”
    “Well, then I guess it's a different guy.”
    “Yeah. Must be. Sid, he lives up in the Bronx, around Moshulu Parkway.”
    “No, I'm sure I don't know him.”
    “He's been in the east for almost eight years now. I hear from him every once in a blue moon. I was just hoping... well, thanks, anyway. And say, take it easy along in here. There's a washout about three miles ahead.”
    I stood in the road, watched him mount his cycle, kick the starter and then ride off. I was too dazed from fright to