The Indian
By Randall Silvis, first published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
When three adult brothers break into a school to get revenge on the superintendent, they find shocking evidence in a locked desk drawer of the superintendent's office.
Author
Published in
Year
Words
Genres
Collections
Plot Summary
Harvey arrives at his brother Will's bar in a fury. He tells Will he needs to borrow his gun. He grabs a drink and heads upstairs to Will's quarters. Will's wife Lacy, along with Will and Harvey's other brother, Stevie, sit talking. Harvey's wife is named Jennilee, and her brother, Kenny, used to be Harvey's best friend. In recent years, however, Kenny has been infuriating to Harvey. Harvey confesses to Will that the Indian motorcycle Kenny and Jennilee's father used to ride, which he had promised to Harvey, is now in Kenny's possession. Because it wasn't in his father's will, Kenny refuses to give it to Harvey, asking for an absurd sum of of money from Harvey in exchange for the bike. Will agrees to help Harvey seek revenge on Kenny. Jennilee is sugary sweet when Harvey gets home, though she is headed to her mother and brother's house, as she often is in the evenings. When she leaves, Harvey feels lonely. He wants children, and Jennilee said she did too, but Harvey found the birth control pills she'd been hiding from him. He never confronted her about them. The next night, Harvey, Will, and Stevie meet up. They break into the school at which Kenny is superintendent, graffiti the walls, and slip magazines of child pornography into his desk. In Kenny's desk, however, they find a CD in a locked drawer, and when they load it up on Kenny's monitor, it contains naked photos of his sister — Harvey's wife — Jennilee. Harvey is beside himself with fury. The brothers leave the building quickly, taking the CD. When they get back to the bar, Will's wife Lacy, a photographer for the local paper, has gotten the call about the school break-in, and is running to get to the scene to take pictures. Harvey leaves to walk home. Lacy passes him on the way back from the school, saying it was some stupid kids who placed the pornography in such an obvious way that it was clear it didn't belong to Kenny. Harvey heads to Stevie's trailer and demands the CD. He opens the photos up on Stevie's computer, and zooms in on one of them — Jennilee is wearing her wedding band. Harvey lets himself into Kenny's house with Jennilee's key. He finds Kenny in the basement, and after a tense altercation, Harvey kills Kenny. Harvey heads home to Jennilee, shows her that he has the CD, and tells her what he's done. Jennilee moves to Harvey's gun cabinet and tries to load a gun, but doesn't know how. Harvey helps her, and hands the gun back to her. She shoots him, killing him, and then shoots and kills herself. In the aftermath, Will gets the keys to the Indian. He doesn't want them. He thinks about how he is not made for big things. He was just meant to run a less-than-profitable bar and to barely support his family.
Tags