Dorothy Garlock (22 page)

“No, he ain’t dead,” Marvin yelled as if she were out in the yard instead of standing beside him. “Get some water and wash him off.”

“We should take him to the doctor.”

“We ain’t got no car to take him to a doctor. Wash him off. I told the shit-head to stay back outta the way. He got what he deserved for not takin’ orders.” Marvin went to the water bucket and filled a dipper with water, drank some of it and poured the rest on his brother’s bloody face. Leroy didn’t move. “He’s still out. Wash him off before he comes to. He’ll be yelling like a sick whore.”

“Marvin, I don’t know if I can. I’ve not got much stomach for—”

“Do it and shut up bitchin’. Yo’re a woman, ain’t ya? Women are supposed to do such things.”

“Is he hurt anywhere else?”

“No broken bones…at least I don’t think there is. That son-of-a-bitch drove right into the mule he was on. Broke both the mule’s legs. I had to shoot it.”

“What’re we goin’ to do with it, Marvin?” Bud seemed to be thoroughly subdued.

“Drag it down to the river.” Marvin paced back and forth. “I got to go talk to Calvin. Somethin’ ain’t right. Somethin’ sure ain’t right.”

“Whata ya mean?” Tess was glad Bud had asked the question. Marvin turned his anger on him.

“Ya slack-jawed, pig-fat dumb-ass! That feller that run Leroy down ain’t no ordinary city feller, is what I mean. That car he’s drivin’ cost a pretty penny too, and he learnt how to drive it.”

“I ain’t never said he was, Marvin.”

“Lud and Arney said he was. They’da got his car if that black-bearded feller hadn’t started shootin’ at ’em.”

“Was they gonna kill him and take his car?” Bud asked.

“What the hell ya think, fat boy? He’d stopped up in the hills to pee and Arney got him in his sights. They’d only got off a couple shots when that other feller stuck his nose in. Ya can break a car like that down and sell the pieces for a right good sum of money.”

“I’m not for killin’ a man to get his car.” Bud spoke to Marvin with more conviction than Tess had ever heard.

“Nobody’s askin’ ya to. Ya ain’t got the guts of a sick cat nohow.”

Tess placed a pan of warm water on the floor beside the bunk where Leroy lay. She wet a cloth and laid it over his bloody face. The top of his ear was torn off. She had to swallow repeatedly to keep from throwing up.

“I wonder why he doesn’t wake up. He may be hurt worse than we think.” Tess voiced her fears aloud.

“He ain’t hurt bad. His head is hard as a rock.” Then, as if suddenly remembering, he took Tess’s shoulder and spun her around. “Ya stayed long enough over there. What’d ya find out ’bout that feller?”

“He was visitin’ with Mr. Boone.”

“I watched through the window. Looked to me like he come a-courtin’.”

“I honestly don’t know if he did nor not. He talked to the others as much as he talked to her. I think he was there to see Mr. Boone and Jack, the boy who works there, and they invited him to stay for ice cream.”

“Ya think! Ya don’t know shit from corn bread. Was anything said about the horses?”

“No.” Tess dipped the cloth in the water and kept her head down.

“They ain’t discovered them gone yet. Dumb shits.” Marvin went to the room he had taken over after their father died. Tess heard the squeak of the springs as he threw himself down on the bed.

“Ya think he’s hurt bad?” Bud came to look down at Leroy. The worried note in his voice caused Tess to look up.

“I don’t know. He should be waking up.” She lifted the cloth from his torn face. “We should get him to a doctor so he can sew his ear.”

“Ya want me to get ya some fresh water?”

“Throw this out and get some out of the reservoir.” Tess was surprised by Bud’s offer to help.

He returned with a pan of warm water, set it on the floor and pulled up a chair.

“How did Leroy happen to be down on the road this time of night?” Tess spoke in a low murmur.

“Marvin made us go with him to block the road so he could get at that feller that was over at the Donovans’,” Bud whispered, looking toward the room where his brother slept. “We was goin’ to block him in, but he gunned the car and went for the ditch to go around. He hit the mule Leroy was on.”

“Did he stop?”

“Hell, no. He beat it on down the road. Marvin was crazy mad.”

“Look at Leroy’s face. He’s never going to be the same again.” Tess clicked her tongue sadly. “He wasn’t good to look at anyhow. Bud, do you think you could take hold of his nose and straighten it?”

Tess turned her head while Bud’s pudgy fingers worked at straightening Leroy’s nose.

“It looks straight. Leroy ain’t a bad kid. He just tries to be like Marvin.”

Bud wiped his hands on the wet cloth. His fat face was lined with concern. Leroy’s arm was hanging off the bunk. Bud lifted it and placed it beside him on the bed.

“Why do you and Leroy want to be like Marvin?”

“I dunno. Folks look up to him.”

“Not decent folks. They think he’s hill trash.” Bitterness crept into Tess’s voice.

“How do you know that? The Carters, all of them, look up to him.”

“Don’t you ever want to know anyone other than Carters?”

“There ain’t nothin’ wrong with the Carters. Ya better not let Marvin hear ya say that. Carters is kin, and kin stick together.”

Tess realized that she may have said too much. Bud and Leroy had lived under the rule of the Carters all their lives. It was too much to ask of them to see things differently.

Leroy stirred and cried out. He opened his eyes and looked at Tess bending over him.

“Sis…Sis…I…hurt.”

In her heart Tess damned Marvin. Leroy was a stupid, foolish kid trying to live up to what was expected of him, and Marvin had almost gotten him killed.

Annabel stayed in bed when she heard Boone and Jack in the kitchen cooking breakfast. She wasn’t sure if she would ever speak to Boone again. He had done his best to ruin the most perfect day of her life, and she didn’t think she’d ever forgive him.

Like most girls, she had longed to meet someone with whom to share her joys and her sorrows; someone who would love her and whom she would love with all her heart. She had been attracted to Corbin when first they met. He had said that it was the same with him. She believed him. Admittedly, she didn’t know much about men, but Corbin didn’t seem the type to say things he didn’t mean.

She only had to close her eyes to see his features: high cheekbones, squared jaw, blue eyes and thick dark lashes and sandy hair. His eyes were like deep pools, clear and fathomless, as though they reached to the center of him. The thin scar that ran from his hairline down through his eyebrow gave him a sinister look until he smiled. She wished she had asked him about it. Maybe someday she would get the chance again.

Annabel relived the time they spent in the swing on the porch, recalling every word and every touch. She had been happy, feeling safe and warm sitting close to him with his arm around her. She could have stayed there forever.

Last night she had been riding on a cloud. Corbin was not only good-looking, he was fun. He had been about to kiss her when Boone returned and spoiled it. If only he hadn’t come back when he did, she would have the kiss to remember when she was in St. Louis.

Annabel left her room when she heard the back door slam. Thinking Boone had left the house, she was surprised to find him sitting at the kitchen table.

“Thought maybe ya’d sleep all day.” His tone was light, teasing.

“You hoped,” she muttered. “You could guard the bedroom door and Jack the window. It would save you some trouble.” She poured a cup of coffee and turned to go out onto the porch.

Boone was in front of the door when she reached it. “Sit down, youngun. We got a problem with the Carters.”

“Isn’t this something new?” She backed away from him, her tone heavy with bitterness. “You shouldn’t be admitting family problems to the
youngun
. Remember? She doesn’t have sense enough to do anything but sit on a shelf and…be dusted off once in a while.”

“Don’t be funny. This problem concerns ya, and don’t be gettin’ yore back up. I only do what your pa tells me.”

“Horse hockey! That’s going to change as soon as he comes back. I’m twenty-one years old, for God’s sake! And I’m going out and get a life of my own and if…you and Papa don’t like it you can…you can kiss my foot!”

“Ya’d better not let him hear ya swearin’ like a drunk sailor.” Boone took the cup from her hand and set it on the table. “Ya ain’t too old to get a heavy hand on your butt.”

“That’s what I mean. You and Papa think I’m nothing more than a child who can’t think for herself. I guess it’s partly my fault for letting you get away with it.”

“I know for a fact that he wants ya to be more and have more than he had. That’s one of the reasons he takes the risks he does.”

“What do you want to talk about?” she asked bluntly. “I’ve things to do.”

“Like what?”

“Like packing to move away from here, that’s what! We finally get to a place that I like and we have to move again. It’s the story of my life.”

“You’ve wanted Murphy to get out of the business.”

“Yes, I’ve wanted him to stop bootlegging for a long time and I’m glad he’s doing it. But why can’t we stay here?”

“Ya wanna stay because of Appleby? Don’t take him too seriously. He’ll be movin’ on. He’s a man who’s put some miles on his feet.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well…he’s been a lot of places and…done things.”

“I’ve been a lot of places, but I’ve not done much.” She picked up her coffee cup again and raised it to her lips.

“Marvin sent Tess over here last night to find out what Appleby was doin’ here. She said Marvin’s crazy and determined to have ya. Guess he overplayed his hand in town and got set down by Appleby. It didn’t set well with him.”

“He’s a…puffed-up jackass. I’d not have him if he was gold-plated!”

“He’s crazy mean…at times. Tess is scared to death of him.”

“Why doesn’t she leave?”

“It’s easier said than done. They slap her around whenever they take the notion.” Boone’s black eyes came alive with anger. His tone was more bellicose than usual.

It suddenly dawned on Annabel that Tess could be the reason that Boone had started shaving every few days and why he had been so amiable last night after she arrived.
He had fallen for Tess Carter.
That was why he wanted to buy this place. He wanted to settle down and have a home, a family. While she was trying to adjust to the idea of Boone being romantic with someone, his voice interrupted her thoughts.

“They stole our horses.”

“They what?” Annabel jumped to her feet. “The Carters stole our horses?”

“It’ll be the cow next.”

“They’ll not get Mildred! I’ll shoot them if they try!”

“Sit down. I want ya to go into town with Jack this morning and report to the sheriff that our horses have been stolen. I’d send the boy by himself, but I don’t know how much weight he’d carry. Besides, it’ll give ya somethin’ to do to get yore mind off Appleby.”

“Why don’t you go?”

“Because I’m afraid those sneakin’ Carters will come over here and burn the place down, that’s why.”

“You think they would?”

“Damn right they would. They’re a mean bunch.”

“All but Tess.” Annabel watched her friend closely and saw his eyes narrow and his lips press tightly together.

“Jack can take you in the truck. When you get to town, go right to the sheriff. Tell him that someone cut the back fence and took the horses through the woods. I followed until the tracks met up with another bunch of tracks and headed west.”

“Shall I tell him it was the Carters?”

“Tell him I trailed them across Carter land. If ya see a Carter in town, stay with the sheriff and send Jack to get Appleby.”

“I thought you didn’t like him.”

“I didn’t say that. I said your pa told me—”

“—to keep him away from me. I’ve heard that a couple of times now. But you trust him to protect me from Marvin. Is that it?”

“That’s it.” Boone got to his feet.

Chapter
16

I
N THE LIGHT OF DAY, Corbin surveyed the damage to his car and walked down the street to the courthouse square. He turned the corner and followed the walk to the small, squat building that served as the police station and county jail.

Stoney Baker, the sheriff, leaning back in a chair with his booted feet on the top of a scarred desk, looked over the top of his newspaper when Corbin entered.

“Morning, Sheriff.”

“Mornin’.” Sheriff Baker scanned a few lines in his newspaper before he spoke again. “What’s on your mind?”

“I want to report an accident. I ran into a mule last night out on the river road.”

“Yeah? Too bad for the mule. Whata ya think about that Scopes fellow over in Tennessee teaching the kids that humans come from monkeys?” Baker snorted and turned the page of his paper. “A kid’s got enough foolishness stuffed in his head without thinkin’ about his grandpa swingin’ from a tree by his tail. I hope they nail that know-it-all’s hide to the barn door. It he gets away with this, the next you know they’ll be teachin’ that God was colored and pigs can fly.”

“The court will settle it. Sheriff, there was a man on the mule I hit. He may be injured.”

“If he is, he’ll come in.” The sheriff shook his paper, then spoke from behind it. “I’ll swear I thought Clarence Darrow had more sense than to defend that brainless schoolteacher. What’s the world comin’ to? Him and that other lawyer, William Jennings Bryan, are nothin’ but old farts, is what they are. They ort to be sitting in a rockin’ chair or out fishin’. It’s what I’d do if I had their money.”

When Stoney said nothing more, Corbin sat down in a chair and lit a cigarette. He looked around for a place to put the ashes, then flicked them on a floor littered with ashes, cigarette butts and balls of wadded-up paper.

Twenty minutes or more went by. Corbin sat patiently, waiting to be acknowledged again. Stoney Baker turned the pages on his paper and continued to read. From time to time a grunt of approval or disapproval, Corbin couldn’t tell which, came from him.