Dorothy Garlock (33 page)

“I taught you everything you know about that store, and this is the thanks I get?”

“You’ve said that a million times already.”

“I’ll say it a million more. It’s Ron’s store. Not yours.” “Ron is dead. He’s not been running the store for the past ten years.”

“It’s my store, and you’ll run it the way I tell you to.” Her voice was so loud it hurt his ears.

“I’ve decided to move out. I’ll still run the store for you if you want me to, but tomorrow I’m going to look for a room elsewhere.”

“You’re moving out?” she shouted. “My home isn’t good enough anymore?”

“I need a place of my own,” he said patiently.

“You want a place where you can get that slut in bed with you. That’s what you want!” Shirley’s eyes were flashing hatred, and her face was set in harsh lines. The corner of her mouth lifted in a sneer.

“Get ahold of yourself, Shirley. You’re saying things you may regret later.”

“I’ve seen the way you look at her. Sniffing ’round like a cur dog after a bitch.”

“Hush up!”

“If you move, you’ll never set foot in my store again.” Fred reached into his pocket and handed her the key.

Chapter 26

D
OC AWAKENED TO THE SOUND
of a rooster announcing the break of day. There was just enough light in the room for him to see the clock on the table beside the bed. Six o’clock. The days were getting shorter this time of year.

He felt the warmth of Caroline snuggled against him. He caught the hand lying on his chest and brought it to his lips, being careful not to awaken her. It had been pure heaven to sleep with her in his arms. They had made love last night— more than once. Not having to leave her had been wonderful. The cozy bed had been their world. He had cuddled her in his arms; they had whispered their love for each other, and he had told her of the future he planned for them.

She had stiffened when he explained that he wanted to take her home to Tennessee to meet his sisters before they found a place where they could be married.

“Ah, don’t be afraid, sweetheart. They will love you. I know it or I wouldn’t take you there. I want you to know them, and I want them to know you, should something happen to me. I need to know that my wife and my child will have relatives who will take care of them.” He held her tightly to him and moved his hands up and down her back.

“If something happens to you, I will not be able to bear it.” “You would, sweet girl. You would have the babe to care for.”

“I should go back to the house with Silas,” she whispered. “No. You’re going to be by my side from now on. You’re my wife even if we are not legally wed. This is my baby.” He stroked her belly with the palm of his hand. “Both of you are staying with me.”

His kisses became deeper and more urgent. Desire thickened the part of him nestled between her thighs.

“Lord, honey. You make me as randy as a billy goat.”

She laughed softly. “I’m glad.”

Caroline nipped his chin and gasped when his skilled fingers found the center of her physical pleasure and danced around it. Unable to wait, she shifted into position so that he could enter her. The small sounds that came from her throat were music to his ears. Their joined bodies united their souls. A warm glow inundated their senses as she took pleasure in him as he did in her. At that moment happiness magically erased all of the problems that faced them.

Afterward, they held each other and dozed, unwilling to break contact, happily knowing they had a lifetime together.

The shrill ringing of the telephone brought a groan from Doc. He said a few cusswords under his breath and leaned over to kiss Caroline one last time.

“I wish we could stay here together like this forever, but it’s not to be,” he whispered.

The cold morning air hit his naked body when he left the warm bed. He slipped into his old flannel robe and went to answer the phone.

April dreaded going back to Mrs. Poole’s. But when she reached the house, thankfully, neither the landlady nor her brother was in sight. She hurried up the stairs to her bedroom before one or the other of them should appear from one of the back rooms and confront her. After locking her door, she placed the back of her only chair beneath the doorknob.

From pure habit she checked to see if she had a clean uniform for the next day before she stripped and fell into bed. She was so tired that she was asleep almost the minute her head hit the pillow.

April came slowly out of a deep, sound sleep to hear a loud voice and a pounding on a door; not hers, but Fred’s. The high-pitched tone of Mrs. Poole’s voice suggested that something had frightened her. She sounded almost frantic. April swung her feet to the floor and then recognized the shocking words the woman was saying.

“You sonofabitch! Whorin’ dog! Ungrateful shithead! You’re not fit to kiss a mule’s behind.” After a pause she continued. “Money from my store paid for every stitch of clothes on your back; and when you leave, you’ll take only what you brought when you came here. Understand me? You’ll leave here buck naked!”

April stopped in the middle of the room to listen. Fred had opened the door and was talking to his sister in a low, calm voice.

“Go back downstairs, Shirley. I’m coming down and we’ll talk. There’s no benefit to waking Miss Asbury.”

“Asbury? Don’t you mean Ass Bury! It’s what you want to do, isn’t it? Bury yourself in her ass. Don’t be shocked, Brother dear. I know what men want—all they think about.

It’s puttin’ that thing that dangles between their legs in some slut.”

“Stop that nasty talk,” Fred said sternly. “You’re making a fool of yourself. Come on downstairs.”

“Turn loose of me, you . . . you . . . ass kisser. I’ll talk any way I want to. This is my house. Ron wanted me to have a nice house. And it’s mine. Do you hear? I’ve let you stay here, and this is the thanks I get. You’ll be sorry you treated me like this. You’ll be sorry . . .” Her voice faded as they went down the stairs.

April didn’t realize that she had been holding her breath until she let it out through her teeth. What had happened to set off Mrs. Poole? She couldn’t be drunk this early in the morning. She must be having a breakdown ...going out of her mind.

April knew she had to get out of there. On her way to the clinic she would stop by the hotel to see if they had a room. Last night, she’d heard, it had been crowded to overflowing. If she couldn’t get a room there, she would stay at the clinic until there was a vacancy.

Feeling it safe to go to the bathroom, April hurriedly gave herself a quick wash and brushed her teeth. She dressed for work. Then, after wiping off her white shoes with a damp cloth, she went to the storage room for her suitcase. She packed it and left it lying open on the bed. Today she would find someone to help her move.

For a minute or two she had a pain in her heart when Joe came to her mind. She didn’t want to think about him or the way he had made her feel. He was a classic flirt, and she was right on the verge of falling for his line, his sweet grin and the look of affection in his blue eyes.

He’d had to try out his technique on the new woman in town, and when she succumbed to his attraction, he had cast her off, dismissed her from his mind because he feared she would become a nuisance.

She was lucky that he had shown his true colors before she had been foolish enough to go to bed with him. She didn’t know if she would have been able to resist the spell he cast over her when he held her close and kissed her.

It was quiet when she opened her bedroom door. She paused to listen before proceeding. Then, as she reached the stairs, she heard the crash of something against the wall and Mrs. Poole’s shout.

“You are not leaving this house!” The words were punctuated by another crash.

“Stop that, Shirley. Calm yourself. The way you’re acting makes me more determined than ever to get out from under your roof. You’ve gone off the deep end. Just look at yourself. You’ve not slept.”

“I was afraid to sleep, you fool. She catches me unaware, she’ll cut my throat.”

“Are you talking about Miss Asbury?”

“I’m talking about that slut. She wasn’t satisfied to have the Joneses. She wanted Ron and you.”

“You’re talking crazy, Sister. Ron has been dead for ten years. Why don’t you let me call Dr. Forbes? He could give you something to quiet you down and let you sleep.”

“How dare you say I need that sawbones! Hattie Daven-port says he keeps women down there so he can rut anytime, day or night. He’s not touching me.”

April walked briskly to the kitchen. Shirley was beside the cookstove. April moved around the table so that she could face the two of them.

“Mrs. Poole, I’ll have all my things out of your house tonight. You can think what you please about me, it doesn’t matter. But I resent greatly your slurring of a good and decent man like Dr. Forbes. I’ll not waste my breath defending myself to you because you have made up your mind. I’m only sorry I ever came here in the first place.”

“I didn’t want you.
He
did. Now he’s leaving. It’s your fault—you’re a slut, a whore, just like the whores who were after my Ron, making him do . . . things to them.”

April realized the woman was out of control. Her shoulders twitched; her eyes were hate-filled; saliva ran from the corner of her twisted mouth. Just wanting to get out of there, April left the kitchen and headed for the front door.

“Miss Asbury.” Fred lightly touched her shoulder and stepped in front of her. “She’s not herself. It’s like she’s fallen to pieces. I’ve never seen her like this.”

“I understand your need to defend her, and I agree that she’s having some sort of mental breakdown. You should urge her to seek treatment. You must understand that it will be impossible for me to stay here after the accusations she made the other morning and now this.”

“She’s upset because I’m moving out. I should have had my own place years ago.”

“That’s between you and your sister and has nothing to do with—” She glanced up at his face. He was looking over her shoulder.

“Sister . . . no!” One of Fred’s arms swept April aside, the other shoved Shirley back. She took a couple of fumbling steps, bounced against the post at the bottom of the stairs, then over onto the floor. She lay there facedown in a tangled heap, her head at an odd angle.

The butcher knife was still in her hand.

“Good Lord!” April breathed. “What in the world was she going to do?” Her nurse’s training kicked in. She knelt beside the woman and felt for a pulse, almost sure that she would not find one. Shirley’s neck had been broken. April looked up at Fred, who was holding his arm where his sister had cut him with the knife, and shook her head.

“She . . . she was going to stab you. I pushed her too hard!”

“How were you to know she’d fall as she did? Let me see your arm.”

“It’s all right. Oh, God. What have I done?”

“You could bleed to death,” April said firmly. “Let me see your arm!”

She pulled his hand away, then yanked up the bloody shirt-sleeve to see a cut on the top of his forearm. No artery had been severed, as she had first believed. She hurried to the kitchen and took a clean dishcloth from the drawer. When she returned, Fred was staring down at his sister, tears rolling down his cheeks. April wrapped the cloth tightly around his arm.

“This will make do until Doc can put in some stitches. I’ve got to call him.” Fred was in such a state of shock she wasn’t sure he had heard her. Keeping her eye on Fred, she went to the phone in the hall, rang for the operator and asked her to ring Dr. Forbes. It seemed forever before he answered. “Doc, this is April. Come up to Mrs. Poole’s right away. There has been an accident.”

“It’s urgent?”

“Very.”

“See you in a few minutes.”

When she hung up, she rang Diane again. “Please ring Mr. Appleby.”

“Have you heard about the new baby?” the operator said. “It’s a girl. A big one. Weighed eight pounds.”

“I’ve heard,” she said crisply, not wanting to prolong the conversation. When the male voice came on the line, she said, “Mr. Appleby, this is April Asbury, Dr. Forbes’s nurse. Will you please come to Mrs. Poole’s? There has been an accident. Doc is on his way here now.”

“A police matter?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

The shock was wearing off and reality was setting in. Fred was kneeling beside his sister sobbing. When he reached to pick up her hand, April put her hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t touch her until the doctor and Mr. Appleby get here. I had to call him. He’s substituting until Jack is able to take over again.”

“I pushed her too hard. She’s not been herself for weeks, and she just went kind of crazy when I told her I wanted to move out. I never dreamed she’d blame it on you. I just wanted a place that was mine.” Fred continued to babble. “Oh, Lord, I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have hurt her for the world.”

“It was an accident, Fred.”

“She didn’t like women. She didn’t have a woman friend that I knew of, and she avoided them when they came in the store. I never thought she’d hurt you or anyone else. I wish I hadn’t urged her to rent the room.”

April heard footsteps on the porch and opened the door before Doc could ring the doorbell.

“It’s Mrs. Poole, Doc. She fell against the post and over onto the floor. I knew right away that her neck was broken.”

Doc came in and knelt down beside the woman. He lifted her head, let it fall back, then felt for a pulse in her neck.

“What’s she doing with a b-butcher knife in her hand?” “She was going to stab me. Fred pushed her out of the way, and she fell. She hit the post first. I heard her head hit the floor. It may have struck the bottom step first.”

Fred was sitting on the stair steps, his head in his hands. “Did she cut him?”

“A gash on the arm. It will need a few stitches. Mr. Appleby is on his way. Doc, she’s been ranting and raving for a couple of days. Fred said that she’s never acted like this before. She may have been having a nervous breakdown.”

“Why was she going to s-stab you?”

“Fred wanted to move out and find a place of his own. For some unknown reason she blamed me. She accused me of being after Fred and after Ron, her deceased husband. She has a very low opinion of women and said some nasty things.”