Cottonwood Whispers (11 page)

There was no revelation from the heavens, but there was
a determination that built in me all of a sudden. No matter what Joel Hadley had threatened, there had to be some way to outweigh him, and I was determined we’d find it.

I marched over to Gemma and took her stoutly by the shoulders. “Mr. Poe needs our help, and we’re gonna give it to him, so you best stop your bawlin’ and get up on your two feet, Gemma Teague. We got work to do.”

Though Gemma never stopped her quiet crying the whole way into town, she did manage to make the trip, and when we came in sight of the jail, my heart sank to find that my fears had been justified. About a dozen men stood outside of the jail talking all at once so that their words sounded like nothing but a buzzing beehive. Right up on the front steps stood my daddy, gun in hand. Behind him, Luke leaned against the doorway in a nonchalant fashion that I well knew, one that implied ease but was tensed up for battle underneath. He held his pistol in one hand, his arms crossed, his hat pulled down so that no one could see much of his eyes but he could still see theirs.

Daddy was talking too, amid that buzzing hive of revenge seekers, but there wasn’t much anyone could do to hear one voice at a time, and I figured there wasn’t a man among
them that heard a word anyone but himself was saying. Finally Daddy turned to Luke and gave him a sharp nod. Luke returned the nod and pointed his gun into the air, firing one earsplitting shot.

I had seen it coming, so my heart only sped up a bit, but poor Gemma jumped so high I thought she’d hurt herself coming down. The rest of the people in town stopped dead, even the angry men who’d come for Mr. Poe.

Luke tugged at the brim of his hat. “Seems we’re all talkin’ at once here,” he drawled. “So now, why don’t everyone just turn their attention to Mr. Lassiter and we can try and sort things out?” The whole time he talked, he waved his gun around like it was an extension of his hand, and I figured it was his way of showing people he’d use that gun if he had to and be quite comfortable with it.

Eager to hear all, I grabbed Gemma’s hand and pulled her closer to the jail, though well out of sight of my daddy and Luke. There was no doubt if either saw us they’d send us packing right off.

Daddy cleared his throat and said, “Well then, now that we got some order here, why don’t everybody just calm down and speak one at a time?”

“We want Elmer Poe,” Delmar Custis called out, one of his grubby hands holding a rope up high. “Seems to me you got a pretty good idea what we come for.”

“But see, that ain’t exactly a rightly excuse, Delmar,” Daddy told him in reply. “This here’s a law-abidin’ town, and our laws say a body’s got a right to be considered innocent
until proven otherwise. So now, why don’t you boys head on home and wait for the trial to be over and done. I’m sure you’ll see some sense by then.”

“Ain’t no trial necessary,” Walker Mason shouted back. “We got all the evidence we need. Ain’t nobody in this town got any doubts who done killed that girl.”

This started all the men talking loud again, and Gemma and I used the distraction to get closer to the jailhouse. We hid behind a willow tree to the right of the stairway and tipped our heads sideways to hear better. Two squirrels scurried past us and up the tree as though fleeing the crowd. The men started to mount the steps, and I felt the hair on my arms stand up.

Daddy raised his gun to point it straight at Delmar Custis since he was at the head of the pack, and I wondered desperately where Sheriff Clancy and his deputies were. It seemed for all the world that Luke and Daddy were the only two people guarding Mr. Poe.

“You best back on down,” Daddy shouted over the din. “What you boys are plannin’ would be a big mistake, and I don’t aim on lettin’ you make it. Y’all just get on home to your families and let the law take its course.”

There was no change in the men at that point. They seemed carried away by blind rage, and I realized for the first time that Nate Colby was at the center of the group. He hadn’t said a word, but he was standing there with them, his fists clenched by his sides, a look of pure hate on his face. It was then that he pushed his way past the rest of the
men and mounted two steps to stand square in front of my daddy’s gun.

“You got no right to keep me from doin’ what any daddy’s got a right to do.” Nate put one finger on the barrel of the gun and pushed it sideways a little. “What would you do if someone killed your baby girl, Harley? You tell me that. What would you do?”

Daddy’s face wrinkled up in pain at the thought, but he shook his head slowly and said, “I know what I’d feel like doin’, Nate. But God help me if I ever got close to doin’ what I’d feel. Ain’t no healin’ from actin’ out of hate and rage. Now why don’t you head on home to Mae. I’m sure she’s needin’ you right about now.”

“Not so much as my baby needed me,” he cried out in anguish. “Not so much as she needed me when that man in there ran her down in cold blood.”

Daddy lowered his gun a bit and leaned forward to put a strong hand on Nate Colby’s shoulder. “Listen here, Nate. I don’t rightly know what’s goin’ on inside you, but I can tell you this. We ain’t certain sure Elmer Poe had anythin’ to do with what happened to your girl. Truth of it is, he says he had nothin’ to do with that automobile on that night. Now, we got to take time to find out the truth, hear?”

Nate had one hand on his hip and used the other to tip his hat back so he could look into my daddy’s eyes without obstruction. “My little girl’s dead, Harley. You hear what I’m tellin’ you? My girl ain’t got no life left in her, and you want me to worry about waitin’ for facts and figures? We got all
the truth we need to have, and I want that man to pay for what he done.”

Up close, I could see the chilling looks on the men’s faces, and my heart began to pound faster and harder. There was murder in the eyes of most. I knew because I’d seen that look before in my life. I was afraid for my daddy. I was afraid for Luke. And I was afraid for Mr. Poe. To say nothing about Gemma’s broken spirit. I was just plain afraid for everything.

Two of them men started to advance toward Daddy, and Luke cocked his pistol with a very blatant movement. I leaned forward and readied myself to pounce at any man I could get my hands on if help was needed, but my sharp movement sent the leaves of a nearby bush to rustling, making Luke look quickly toward our hiding place.

Our eyes met, and Luke narrowed his at me so that he left no doubt about his feelings. He was mad as a hornet at me for coming into such a dangerous situation, and I knew I would be in for a good lecture by both him and Daddy. And Momma would no doubt put her own two cents in. But I couldn’t think about that now, and I returned Luke’s hard gaze with one of my own. The way I figured it, I was a grown woman, and I didn’t need Luke Talley telling me what I could and could not do. I stiffened my shoulders rebelliously and stood up straight, revealing myself to all of them.

“Nate,” I said with a bit of a shake in my voice, “Mae’s awful broke up, so I hear. If you want, I’ll go back with you to help her.”

Nate’s look of malice softened a bit at my words, but his
jaw still held tight in determination. “I ain’t goin’ home right now, Jessilyn.”

“Momma’s makin’ some good food for you, and we can stop by on the way to get it. I know you don’t feel like eatin’, but it’ll do you good.”

“You go on home and get it yourself. Mae’s sure to like your company. Maybe you can get her to eat somethin’.”

“I’d be happy for you to come with me, Nate.”

He didn’t take his eyes from my daddy’s, but he said to me, “I got other things to do right now. You go on without me.”

I left Gemma cowering beside the steps and ducked beneath the railing, climbing up to stand behind Daddy. “I can’t go on without you, Nate, ’cause it seems to me you’re threatenin’ my daddy. Just the same as you would have wanted to protect your baby girl, so I want to protect my daddy.”

“Your daddy’s a grown man,” Daddy growled at me. “And I told you to stay behind, Jessilyn.”

“Yes’r, but somethin’ came up to change things.”

“What somethin’?”

“I can’t tell you, sir.”

Daddy knew better than to take his eyes off the man in front of him, but I could imagine the look he would have given me just then if he could have. “Jessilyn, you best tell me what’s goin’ on.”

“I can’t tell you, Daddy. You just have to trust me.”

I felt a hand on the back of my shirt as Luke pulled me closer to him. “You best get out of here,” he whispered in my ear, “before you get hurt.”

“I ain’t leavin’ you alone.”

“Jessie, I don’t want you gettin’ hurt.”

I didn’t reply. I just kept my eyes on Nate, almost wishing him away. He didn’t make a move toward Daddy. In fact, his face seemed to soften a bit, but he still held his position firmly.

“You do anythin’ here, Nate,” Daddy said quietly, “and your Mae loses you and her girl all in one fell swoop. You’ll go to prison for murder and leave her all alone.”

“Ain’t murder if it’s justice.”

“Law says you ain’t got the right to carry out your own way of justice. Law says you’ll go to prison. And you just might take these men along with you.”

Nate blinked a bit faster as though fighting back emotion.

“You turn away, Nate,” Daddy continued, “and I figure they’ll do the same.”

“He ain’t got control of everythin’ around here,” Mr. Custis said. “Not a one of us wants that crazy lunatic roamin’ these streets to run down our own families. Gettin’ rid of Poe gets rid of danger to all of our families, the way I see it.”

“Stand down, Delmar,” Nate Colby growled. “This ain’t your battle to fight.”

“Way I see it, it is,” Mr. Custis said, pushing past Nate. He stuck a finger in Daddy’s chest and poked him twice, hard. “I don’t see no badge pinned to your shirt, Harley Lassiter,” he snarled, poking him with each word he spoke. “You best get on out of my way until you get sworn in official-like.”

Daddy could stand a lot but he didn’t like getting poked;
that I well knew. Momma once told me that Daddy had had only one fight in all his life. Daddy made his excuses by saying that the boy had been asking for it for a long time, but when I asked him what had finally made him angry enough to fight, Daddy said, without even looking up from his newspaper, “The boy poked me.”

I remembered that story now and backed up closer to Luke, afraid of what my daddy was going to do. I saw the muscles in his neck tighten and his free hand clench into a fist. Then he reached up, grabbed Mr. Custis by the front of the neck and squeezed, just enough to take away a bit of his air.

“You listen here, Delmar Custis,” he said through clenched teeth. “I’m a generally peaceful man by rights, but you’re forcin’ me to get nasty. Now you just calm yourself down and get off this property before somebody gets hurt. You hear?”

Mr. Custis squirmed uncomfortably, his head stuck in an awkward upward turn. His eyes were wide and his lips moved as though trying to speak but unable to.

Just then, I heard a rifle cock, and I looked up to see Joe Dailey point his rifle straight toward my daddy. Terror filled my mind, and I reached a hand back and grabbed Luke to steady myself. I felt his hand on my shoulder in a tight grip, but his other hand held the pistol off in front of me, pointing at Joe Dailey.

“You best stand off, Luke,” Mr. Dailey said. “Lest you want me to shoot Mr. Lassiter here. And you best let Delmar go, Harley, ’cause we aim to have what we came for.” He
moved a foot closer so that the gun was only inches from Daddy’s chest. “Now let him go.”

Daddy let Mr. Custis go but he still held his gun in front of him at the ready. Nobody budged for those few seconds that seemed to me like hours. We all stood without flinching, afraid that any sudden movement would set one of those guns off.

A couple more men took advantage of the moment to move quickly forward, and I again readied myself to pounce, but a shot sounded in the air that brought us all to attention. Fear crawled through my veins and made my hair stand on end, and I desperately scanned my daddy from head to toe to make sure he was all right. He stood there without a wound, his eyes as wide as everyone else’s, and I looked frantically around to see who had fired that shot and if anyone had received it. That was when I caught sight of Sheriff Clancy standing on the bottom step, his arm raised, pointing his pistol into the back of Joe Dailey’s head.

No one said much of anything, and no one moved either, but Sheriff Clancy kept his gun steady. “Don’t think I won’t use it, Joe Dailey,” he said to the man at the other end of the barrel. “I ain’t got as much of a conscience about such things as some do.”

Joe’s face melted into dismay, and he let the gun drop slowly to his side.

“All the way down, Joe. I want that rifle on the ground.”

Joe dropped the gun and raised his hands slowly up next to his ears in a show of surrender.

“All right, then, boys,” the sheriff shouted. “Move on out before I got to lock you all up.”

“Lock us up in there with Poe,” one of the men muttered. “We can take care of him good and simple that way.”

“I’d send you over to Spokeet County, is what I’d do. I’m sure Sheriff Hobbes would welcome the sight of you. He gets lonely over there since they ain’t got but a handful of people livin’ there these days. Heck, he’d put a welcome mat on his front door.”

“That man in there,” Mr. Custis said, pointing toward the jailhouse. “That man’s responsible for killin’ a little girl, and you’re gonna protect him?”

“That man in there,” Sheriff Clancy replied, “is
accused
of killin’ a girl. He ain’t convicted. You boys ain’t got any right or responsibility to judge him lest you’re on a jury, and I can tell you right now, ain’t a one of you that will be on his jury after today. Now you all best scatter before somebody gets hurt.”