He needed somewhere close in case he had to run out of there, or bring Dustin with him. Each time he went past Thaxton’s place he checked to see if there were lights on. There were none, but the old man’s car was still in the driveway. He hoped that Gabriel wasn’t in there. He’d told him in no uncertain terms that he should be gone by eleven o’clock. Why was his car still in the driveway? On his fourth tour of the block, he found a spot just up the hill toward Jackson Street; a tough little hike for a man of his size and age if he needed to get out of there in a hurry. He loaded up his pockets with the tools he brought. The stun-gun, the rubber gloves, extra cigarettes. His plan was to go in tough, scare the kid. He decided to leave his leather gloves. It was a bit of overkill since he already had the surgical ones. Besides, they were practically new and he didn’t want to ruin them with Dustin’s blood. As an afterthought, he climbed out and opened up his trunk and took a sheathed six-inch Buck knife and tucked it into his right boot.
