Rockinghorse by William W. Johnstone Read Free Book Online Page B

Fundamental/Faith Healin’/Holy Rollin’. Them that didn’t start whoopin’ and hollerin’ and speakin’ in tongues right off just stopped goin’ to church altogether. And there’s some strange folks livin’ out not too far from y’all.”
    â€œStrange?”
    â€œBest way I know how to put it. Now don’t get me wrong; they buy their gas here and don’t pass no bad paper nor give me no trouble at all . . . but they’re weird. Two men and two women livin’ in the old Gibson house ’bout four mile from your place, through the woods.”
    â€œWhat do they do?”
    Jim looked at him, a flat look in his eyes. “Well, some folks around here say they worship the devil.”

5
    Tracy spotted the lockback in leather attached to Lucas’s belt the instant he walked in the house. “Aren’t you carrying the country-living bit just a little too far?” she asked.
    Patiently, he hoped, he explained why he bought the knife.
    â€œWell, at least you didn’t come back wearing a pistol.”
    Now was not the time, he concluded, to tell her about the .45 he had hidden in his toolbox.
    The sounds of a motor running caught his ear. “What’s that?”
    Tracy brushed back a lock of hair and smiled. “That’s Lige. Ever since you left this morning he’s been working like a beaver. Takes a five-minute break on the hour and that’s all. It’s amazing what he’s done in so short a time.”
    â€œHe’s too old for a lot of sustained work,” Lucas said. “I’ll tell him to take it easy.”
    â€œLucas, he’s not as old as we first thought him to be.”
    â€œOh?”
    â€œI heard him humming a song earlier. It sounded familiar, so I asked him what it was. He said it was a song popular back when he was about seventeen years old. Then I remembered it. An old Pat Boone song. I recalled the movie it came out of. Back in ’57 or ’58.”
    â€œWell, now. Then that would make him about . . . forty-three or forty-four years old.”
    â€œThat’s the way I see it.”
    â€œWait a minute, Trace. That doesn’t jell. He said he remembered Ira. But that would make him and Ira about the same age.”
    â€œI hadn’t thought of that, but you’re right.”
    Lucas tried to envision Lige without the beard and long hair. He gave it up. “Trace, Lige has probably been lying about his age for years. That and a lot of other things. We’ll get to the bottom of it while we’re here this summer.” He looked around him. “Where are the kids?”
    â€œI told them they could explore around the edge of the forest, but not to go into the woods.”
    Lucas nodded. The kids would obey their mother. But just to be on the safe side, he thought, he’d take a walk around the grounds and check on them; make certain they understood the boundaries. And he’d see what Lige had accomplished thus far.
    * * *
    â€œGod, it’s spooky in there,” Johnny said, peering into the tangle of brush and vines that clung to the dark clammy-appearing ground around the thick timber.
    â€œDon’t go in there,” Jackie warned.
    â€œDon’t worry about that. God, I bet there really is a bunch of wild animals in there.”
    â€œAll the more reason to stay out here. Come on, let’s walk around the edge some more.”
    The kids walked on past the darkest tangle of vines and brush and timber. They walked right past without noticing the eyes that watched them from the edge of the forest. The eyes were savage, filled with hate and fury and bloodlust. The tongue snaked out of the mouth and licked the thick lips. The lips pulled away from yellow teeth in a semblance of a smile. The watcher remained in his silent crouch, watching, waiting.
    Jackie looked back over her shoulder. She appeared nervous. The small of her back twitched and sweat dotted