Julie had fallen in love with Evan Johnson. He had no doubt of that. They were an unlikely match, and Julie was headed for heartbreak. He doubted that a man with Evan’s background was seriously interested in his eldest daughter. If he was merely amusing himself with her, as Birdie said, he was as low as a polecat, but it didn’t mean he was a murderer.

Jethro sat with his head in his hands for a long while, conscious of the sounds coming from the kitchen. Julie was talking to Joe and telling him to be careful with the basket of food she was sending to Evan. After Joe left, Julie and Jill washed the noon dishes. Jethro lifted his head and looked intently at the flocked wallpaper on the parlor wall.

Birdie would never be able to take over and run the house as Julie had done all these years. Some women were not suited for hard work, and Birdie was one of them. But oh, God, she was such a soft, pretty woman.

* * *

A couple of hours later Joe returned from town after taking the dinner Julie had packed for Evan and leaving Jack at the ball field.

“I found Appleby just as he was going to the restaurant to get a meal for Evan. He let me go into the cell with him. Evan said to tell you thanks and for you not to worry.”

“Easy to say.” Julie looked in the basket to see that Evan had eaten all she had sent. “Did Chief Appleby check the tire tracks?”

“I asked him and he said that nothing had been decided on that yet.”

“What’s to be decided? They either match or they don’t.”

“I’m telling you what he said, Sis. He’s bringing the marshal out this afternoon to talk to you and to Mrs. Stuart. Where’s Pa?”

“He and Mrs. Stuart walked out to the orchard.”

“The brat, too?”

“Of course. It’s like that girl is glued to her.”

“I thought Pa was beginning to wake up,” Joe said tiredly. “But I guess I was wrong.”

* * *

“Jethro, I just can’t lie and say Julie was out until two o’clock when I know she came in at ten.” They had stopped beneath an old gnarled apple tree.

“I don’t expect you to lie, Birdie. I just want you to be sure that you heard her come in. I heard her come in a little after two.”

“It couldn’t have been one of the boys. I heard her voice on the porch.”

“The marshal will be out this afternoon to take a statement, and you’ll have to tell him what you told Weaver.”

“Deputy Weaver was such a nice man. He was so polite and listened to what I had to say.”

“Mama, a bug bit me.” Elsie’s whiny voice broke into the conversation. “Look at the red bump.”

“Oh, darlin’. Mama will kiss it and make it well.”

“I want some lemonade.”

“Later, sugar. Later, Mama will see if she can get you some. Jethro, will you take me to the train station tomorrow so I can see what a ticket to Memphis would cost? I feel …that I’m not welcome here anymore.”

“Birdie, I had hoped that you’d fit into the family and like it here.”

“They … don’t like me.” Birdie’s voice broke. “Julie wouldn’t give me a chance. She turned Jill and Joy against me. Oh, Jethro—” She placed her face against his shoulder. “I don’t want you to see me cry. I’m …I’m ugly.”

“There, there.” Jethro patted her on the back. “I’ll never, never think you are ugly. Wipe your eyes. The marshal and Chief Appleby just turned down the lane.”

Chapter 25

J
ILL, TAKE
J
OY AND
J
ASON OUT BACK, PLEASE
.”

“But Julie, I want to hear what the marshal has to say.” Jill’s softly spoken protest was mild for her.

“Me, too,” Jason said. “I won’t say nothin’.”

“I know that this is important to both of you, and you’re old enough to understand, but I’m thinking about Joy.”

“I’ll keep her quiet,” Jill hastened to say. “I promise.”

“All right. Wash your face and hands, Jason. We don’t want the marshal to think we’re a slovenly family.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Come on,” Jill said to her brother. “I’ll tell you later.”

Julie greeted Corbin and the marshal at the front door and stepped out onto the porch. Corbin introduced her to the marshal.

“Would you like a drink of cool water?” she asked after shaking hands with the big man.

“I sure would, ma’am.” Marshal Sanford pulled a white handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his forehead.

Julie opened the screen door. “Come through the house to the back porch. It’s shady there and usually cooler this time of day. Today we have a breeze from the south.”

Joe brought a bucket of water from the spring and offered the dipper first to the marshal and then to Corbin.

“I don’t know as I’ve ever tasted better water,” the marshal said.

They were seated on the porch when Jethro and Birdie came across the yard. Elsie, as usual, was clutching her mother’s hand. Both men stood. Joe was already standing at the end of the porch.

Julie introduced her father to the marshal. After the two men shook hands, Jethro introduced Birdie.

“This is Mrs. Stuart, Marshal.”

“Howdy, ma’am.”

“Hel-lo.” Birdie kept her eyes on the ground, then looked up at the marshal with eyes wet with tears. “I’ll just go to my ro-om and … get out of the way.”

“I need to talk to you, ma’am.”

“I’ll come when you … you want me.”

“Why don’t you and the pretty little girl sit right down here on the bench?”

“But I … I’m takin’ someone’s seat.”

“It’s all right, Birdie.” Jethro took her arm as she went up the steps to the porch. “I’ll get a couple of chairs out of the kitchen.”

“Well, now,” the marshal said when they were all seated. “There is a nice cool breeze out here.”

“Ya want some buttermilk?” Joy asked. “It’s cold.”

“No, thanks, punkin.” Marshal Sanford reached out and patted the child’s head, then looked directly at Julie. “We’ve got to get a few things straightened out. Miss Jones, you said you were with Evan Johnson until two in the morning. Is that correct?”

“Yes, sir. I’m never up at two o’clock in the morning unless someone in the family is sick. I couldn’t believe how fast the time had gone by while I was with Evan.”

“Tell me where you went, who you saw and anything else you can remember.”

“We took the kids to the ball field. Our brother Jack is going to play on the Fertile team when the league comes to town. But first we went to the drugstore and got ice cream.” Julie spoke slowly, carefully, not pleased that Birdie was listening to her tell about the wonderful time she had spent with Evan, but wanting to impress on the marshal that she was speaking the truth.

“Do you remember what time you and Johnson brought your brothers and sisters back here?”

“I’m not sure of the exact time. Joe, do you remember?”

“The practice ended when it was too dark to play. After that we stood around and talked with Thad Taylor. Joy was asleep in the car and Evan said we should probably take her home.”

“By eight it’s starting to get dark this time of year and by eight-thirty it’s dark.” Corbin spoke up for the first time. “If they stood around for a while, and I’m sure Thad Taylor will verify that they did, they probably got back here between nine and nine-thirty.”

“How long did you stay when you came back here?”

“Only long enough to let the kids out.” Julie glanced at Joe.

“Evan didn’t cut off the motor,” Joe said.

Julie told the marshal about driving through town, then out on the river road to the bluff so they could see the lights of town. She ended by saying, “It was around two when Evan brought me home. I swear it.”

“Mr. Jones, Appleby says you can verify that your daughter came home at that time.”

“I heard her come in at that time. I don’t know if she had come home earlier and gone out again. After they came home from the ball game, I went out to the barn. I have a cow who is going to calf at any time.”

“Well, now, Mrs. Stuart, you told the deputy Miss Jones came in around ten o’clock. Are you sticking to that?”

“I’d …rather talk to you alone, sir.”

“I don’t think that is necessary. It’s nice and cool here on the porch. What time did you hear Miss Jones come in?”

“It’s as I said, sir. I heard her on the porch at ten or a few minutes after. The car had come in with its headlights off. I … I think Julie and Mr. Johnson were having a … quarrel, because Julie’s voice was raised.”

“What did she say?”

“I couldn’t make out the w-words.” Birdie glanced at Julie’s angry face. “I’m sorry, Julie. I hate having to say this.”

“I just bet you do,” Jill said nastily, then put her hand over her mouth when her father glared at her.

“Mrs. Stuart, you made some serious accusations about Mr. Johnson to the deputy. I would like for you to repeat them to me.”

“I don’t know what you mean, sir.”

“Tell me about the threats you heard Evan Johnson make regarding his father.”

“Well … like I told Deputy Weaver, I heard him say he wished he was dead… .”

“And,” the marshal prompted.

“I saw him trying to hit him with a stick of stove wood.”

“Anything else?”

“Not … that I remember.”

“Didn’t you tell the deputy that Evan was a seducer of young girls?” Julie asked. “And that he was going out with me so he could be near Jill and try and seduce her?”

“I…never said that! Oh, Julie, you can be so … mean.” Birdie began to sob.

“Mama, Mama, what’s wrong?” Elsie clung to her mother’s arm and began to cry also.

“Ma’am, I want you to be very sure of what you say. If Johnson is charged in the death of his father, you’ll have to go to court and testify.”

“I just never wanted to hurt …anybody. They’ve … Jethro has been so kind to me. I just couldn’t have lived with myself if I hadn’t spoken up.”

“You’ll swear on the Bible that Miss Julie Jones was here at the farm at ten o’clock last night?”

“Yes, sir. I’ll swear on the Bible.”

Julie jumped to her feet. “How can you say that? You know it isn’t true.”

“I’m sorry, Julie. I’m just … so sorry.”

The marshal stood. Birdie got to her feet and cowered behind him.

Jethro spoke to Joe. “Someone else is driving in. Will you see who it is?”

“It’s probably Weaver,” the marshal said. “I told him we would be here.”

“Marshal, are you going to take her word or mine and my father’s?”

“Seems to me that your father is backtracking a little, Miss Jones. You could have come home around ten when your pa was in the barn with his cow. Later you could have gone out again, walking around or sat on the porch. When you came in the house at two, you made enough noise that he heard you.”

“You think that?” Julie gasped, then turned to Corbin. “Evan didn’t do this terrible thing. He was with us from about six in the evening until two in the morning.” Her eyes pleaded with Corbin to believe her.

The first that Julie was aware that a strange man had come around the end of the porch with Joe was when Birdie let out a little squeak and tried to get into the house through the back door. Jethro was standing there and took hold of her arms.

“What is it? Nobody’s goin’ to hurt you.”

“Papa, Papa,” Elsie screamed, then jumped off the porch and ran to the man who stood there with Joe. He scooped her up in his arms and hugged her. She put her arms around his neck. “I want to go home, Papa.”