“Is that why he lives in that filthy shack in the woods?Is that why he bombs around town on that motorcycle, making enough noise to wake the dead?Is that why foryears he stole whatever money he could find?”When Eugene was unmoved, he threw in his ace.“Is that why he hangs around Pamela?I just came from town, and there he was, snuggling up to her outside Leroy’s store.I’m telling you, he’s sick.She’s just a girl, not thirteen to his twenty.It’s obscene!”
Eugene was perfectly calm.“I trust him.”
“To fool around with your daughter?”
Eugene snorted.“He’s not doing that.He likes Pam.Everyone likes Pam.She’s friendly and agreeable.She’s also one of the few people who knows Cutter for who he is, rather than where he came from.He’ll go places one day, John, and I intend to give him a boost.”
“Butwhy?”John cried.“Why Cutter Reid?You’ve always had a thing for him, right from the day you hired him.Is he your little project?Your cause?Is that what this is all about?You took a kid who was headed for jail, put him to work and turned him around, so you have a personal investment in him now?Is it an ego thing for you?But you won’t be around when he inherits Little Lincoln.Why in the hell would you waste a prime piece of mining property like that?”
“It won’t be a waste.”
“He won’t know what to do with it.”
“He’ll know,” Eugene said, and gave John a curious look.“But what I don’t understand is why it’s botherin’ you so much, the thought that I’m giving him some land.You’re goin’ to have the business, and the good Lord knows how much other property the business owns.We’ve got mountains all over the county.Little Lincoln isn’t much more than a hill, when you come right down to it.”
“But it’s rich.”
“And it’ll be years before he can get at it, for pity’s sake.We have a contract with families who live there sayin’ that no mining will be done till they leave.That may not be for another twenty or thirty years.”
John had spent his share of time in the past thinking of ways to circumvent that contract.“I’d offer them money to move them sooner.Cutter wouldn’t do that.He wouldn’t have the money to do it.”
“Which is probably why I’m willing that land to him,” Eugene said.“I’ve already offered those folks money, and they don’t want it.They want to stay where they are.You’d pressure them, but I won’t have it.”He shook his head conclusively.“No, Cutter was born and raised here.He feels for the people more than you ever could.”
“‘Feeling for the people’ isn’t what keeps a business running.”
“It’s what’s kept it running so far.”
“And not terribly efficiently, if you ask me.”
Eugene drew himself up to his full height, which, to John’s frustration, hadn’t shrunk at all with age.“I ain’t askin’ you.”He started for the door.
But John wasn’t through talking.He had to get Eugene to change his mind—and his will.“All right.”He followed his father into the hall.“You have a personal interest in Cutter.If you want to help him, leave him some money.The guy lives like a pauper.”
Eugene paused at the top of the stairs.“If he lives that way, it’s because he banks most all of his paycheck, just as I taught him to.He’s got money.He wants to spend it, he can.”
“Okay.”John could deal with that argument, too.“So he’s being prudent, just like you taught him.Leave him a little more money, and he won’t feel that he has to be so prudent.”
Halfway down the stairs, Eugene said, “He’s happy with his life.He wants to splurge, he can.”
John grasped the railing with both hands.“But he’s going to need more money anyway.Pretty soon he’ll meet someone and want to get married, then he’ll have kids coming right and left.He’ll need funds, but it’ll be years before he sees a dime from Little Lincoln, and then only if he puts money into it.”
Eugene’s smile, as he looked up from the bottom of the stairs, was a knife twisting in John’s gut.“You’ve got his life planned out for him, eh, John?You’ve always been orderly, ever since you were a boy lining your toys up in your room.But Cutter’s life ain’t your toys.You ain’t got much of a say in it.”
He took a breath and went on.“To be perfectly honest, I don’t know what Cutter’s got planned.Don’t think he does.Don’t think he wants to plan much ahead right now.And that’s why Little Lincoln is the perfect thing for him.By the time it’s ready to be mined, he’ll know what he wants.”He arched a brow and said pleasantly, “Tell you what.You keepyourmoney in the bank, and by that time you might have enough to buy him out.Course, Little Lincoln won’t come cheap.And by that time, at the rate you’re goin’, Cutter will hate your guts enough to take you for a real ride.”He walked to the front door and left.
Pride was only one of the feelings that prevented John from going after him.The other was a raw anger thatkept him immobilized, standing where he was gripping the second-floor railing, for a time.It was only when his fingers began to ache that he realized what he was doing.Returning to his room, he finished packing with a vengeance.
“Pam!”he bellowed, trotting down the stairs with his bag.“Get down here, Pam!”Had he not been her only source of transportation home, he’d have left without her.Having to suffer her company was bad enough under normal circumstances.Given his present mood, it was going to be unbearable.“We’re leaving, Pam,” he shouted.“Get her out here, Marcy!I’m getting the car!”He stormed out of the house.
It was another fifteen minutes before they got on the road.The sudden departure plans had caught Marcy baking a chocolate cake.She had to clean up the kitchen before she could pack, then had to dash to take food to her mother, who was laid up with a broken rib.
“Did he hit her again?”John asked in disgust when, breathless, she finally climbed into the backseat of the car.
“She’s okay,” Marcy said and tucked herself into a corner.
Pam turned around in the front seat.“Is someone with her?”
“Lizzie.”
