LEFT OF SINISTER

CHAPTER FIVE

Candy led him into the living room past the staircase just to their right that led to the second floor and the four bedrooms upstairs and close by the short hallway also to their right that led to the den area that was located within the added on extension of the large house.

Before him Earl could see some of the damage Candy had told him the kid Ryan had wrought. There were several large holes in various walls down here. "See those, he did it that day while I was taking that walk out back in that barren field. They were screaming at each other as I went out. They were always doing that with Sage trying to play referee between her son, that addled mother of their's and those three lazy boys. I would have expected that was the worse he would have done or broke something, but I was wrong obviously.

He wasn't much interested in guns thank god, but he wasn't around them much either. Sage's brother Johnny is into them, rifles and shotguns mostly because he's a hunter. But Ryan didn't go around him very often. Now if he had known his dad had that Glock who knows he might have messed around with it, but at least Randall had sense enough not to let any of those kids know he had it. I only found out about it when he clued me into his having it.

He got it when we moved out here in the country several years before I retired. I got this place then at a real bargain because the market was collapsing and it being so remote the owner was hard pressed to unload it. And there are eight acres of land to boot. I reckon I'll try and sell it now along with that Durango out there–you interested? I know you're rolling in dough driving a damn brand new Camry and having that big nice house up there in Greener's Leaf. The damn stock market must have done fine by you." he suggested.

"No the market treated me no better than anyone else quite frankly, but I planned for disaster just in case, I got me a moonlighting gig long ago to stay afloat just in case you know, but it took off after I got deep into it." Earl said as they continued to make their way into the living room.

"Oh yeah what kind of gig?" Candy asked leading the way. "I'll not bore you with the details, a commission deal it was, and surprisingly it has proven to be quite profitable in the long run while I been in it." Earl said.

"Boring crap huh–well I don't mind boring so you should have let me in on the deal man–maybe I would be prospering just like you?" Candy said. "No you wouldn't have had the temperament for it. You could say that it's kind of boring in most respects, but not always, sometimes it can be a real problem, but that's probably true about anything don't you think?" Earl replied.

"Ah Earl I've got a great temperament, I could have been an asset to you." "Maybe so–maybe so, but it never brought me down this way. And I'd reckon you wouldn't have been willing to leave a great government job for something that could bring you real grief with one big mistake." Earl said then. "It's in the past now though so let's just leave it at that huh?" he added then seemingly not wishing to continue discussing it.

"As you wish brother–I wasn't being nosy if that's what you think?" Candy said with a measure of embarrassment. "Oh no, no, it's just that this is a somber occasion and I'm down here for you, not to carry on about my life." Earl reminded him.

"Of course yes, I'll leave it at that." Candy said then moving further into the living room but still with a sense of how he was likely coming across as being to probative. 

And now he motioned to even more damage the kid Ryan had done. "See he knocked holes in the walls the whole time we have been living here Earl. Mostly upstairs though. I painted pictures or hung photographs to cover up most of them. My talent for art came in handy for something at least huh, to cover up that kid's malevolence? You can't imagine the destruction he caused Earl before I put him down."