The Shining Badge (22 page)

“It’s a little hard. We found that out last time,” Moon replied. His coppery skin glowed in the bright sunlight that filtered in from the open window beside him. He glanced quickly at Jenny, then asked, “What’ve you got in mind?”

“You’ve been talking about Al Jennings, and we know pretty well about that still of his. I think it’s time to hit him, Billy.”

“Jennings is a pretty tough customer, and he’s sharp too.”

“Well, we can’t wait any longer, but this time I want us to do it differently.”

“Different how, Sheriff?”

“I don’t want anyone at the office to know about this raid.”

“You’ve been thinking about that too, I see.”

“I’ve got my suspicions and so have you, but we can’t prove anything.”

“Two of us won’t be enough. We have to have more men.”

“We can do it if we use Frank and Kermit.”

“I don’t know. They’re pretty old guys. They were good
men in their day, but this could get rough. I think we’d better get more people in on it.”

“If we do that, then word can get out. You and I will plan this alone. Then, when we’re ready to go, we’ll let Frank and Kermit in on it. We don’t tell anybody else anything and that way we can take Jennings off guard.”

“I’d like to nail Jennings, but I still think we need more men.”

“You know more than I do about this business, Billy, and I trust your judgment. But I need to make a showing. I haven’t had a single important arrest since I’ve been in office, and the moonshine business is booming. We’ve got to make some sort of effort.”

The two spoke of the possibilities for a time, and finally Billy said, “Okay, if that’s what you want, Sheriff, we’ll try it. But they’re hard to sneak up on. I think they’re making another run now. They’ll be busy for at least another day or two.”

“Then let’s do it either first thing in the morning or this afternoon.”

Moon was startled. “This afternoon! Without any planning?”

“Why not? We know where the still is. All we have to do is close in on them. If we can sneak up and catch them off guard, they won’t have a chance.”

Moon thought silently for a time. “Well, actually there are only three of them, sometimes only two. If we catch the old man Al and bust up that still, that’d put at least one moonshiner out of business. And a bad one too. Al’s a pretty bad guy, Sheriff. He killed a man over in the next county. He got off, but everyone knew he was guilty. It won’t be any play party, but we’ll do it if you say.”

Jenny hesitated, then nodded firmly. “All right, we’ll do it, then. Shall it be this afternoon or in the morning?”

“Might as well make it now. We’ll go by and see if we can catch Frank and Kermit.”

****

Kermit Bing answered the door and was surprised to see Sheriff Winslow standing there. “Why, hello, Sheriff. Come on in.”

“Thanks, Kermit.” Jenny stepped inside and said quickly, “We’ve got a very important job right away. Can you come?”

“Why, sure. What’s up?”

“We’re going to raid Al Jennings’s still.”

“About time,” Kermit nodded. “That man shouldn’t be roaming around free, and his boys are just as bad.”

“We’re going over now to see if Frank’s able to go. It’ll be just the four of us. And, Kermit, don’t tell anybody.”

“Right, Sheriff. Where will I meet you?”

“Frank has the car. I’ll have him come by and pick you up. We’ll meet out of town in one hour out past the cotton gin.”

“All right. I’ll be ready when Frank comes.”

“This could be pretty dangerous, Kermit. Billy says Al Jennings and his boys are killers.”

“Everybody knows that,” Kermit said. He smiled and said, “You’re really getting into this sheriffing business, aren’t you, Miss Jenny?”

For a moment Jenny hesitated. Bing suddenly looked old and tired. For one instant she was tempted to call the whole thing off, but she had convinced herself so thoroughly that all she could say was, “We’ll be real careful about this, but there should be only three of them, maybe two. I’ll have Frank bring the shotguns and rifles by.”

“All right, Sheriff. I’ll be ready.” He stopped suddenly and snapped his fingers. “I’m supposed to be at the scout meeting tonight. My oldest grandson, he’s getting his Eagle Scout badge.”

“Well, that’s wonderful! I know you’re proud of him. What time will that be?”

“Not till seven o’clock.”

“We’ll be back in plenty of time for that. I’ll go with you.”

“Would you really, Sheriff?” Bing was pleased. “That’d mean a lot to Tim and to me too.”

“I’ll be sure to be there, then. Meanwhile, I’ll see you out by the cotton gin.”

Bing nodded and after he shut the door, he went over and looked at the picture of the two young boys on the wall. “An Eagle Scout. Just think of that,” he said. Then he straightened up and moved toward the bedroom to put on his uniform. He dressed quickly and strapped on the thirty-eight he had carried all of his years as a deputy. At a knock on the door, he went to answer it and found Deputy Arlie Pender standing there. “Hello, Arlie, what’s up?”

“I came by to see if you could take my duty tomorrow, Kermit. I got something I need to do.”

“Why, I guess so.”

“Appreciate it, Kermit.” Pender left and strolled back to the car, but stopped suddenly and snapped his fingers. “I forgot to tell the old man I had the early shift.” He wheeled and hurried back to the house, but as he stepped up on the porch, he stopped abruptly. Bing was on the phone, and Pender stood to listen.

“ . . . can’t go hunting with you tomorrow, D.C. Got to work an extra shift. What? No, I can’t go this afternoon. We’re raiding a still, and tonight I’ve got to go to the awards for the scouts. Whose still? Well, it’s Al Jennings’s, but don’t say a word, you hear me?”

Arlie Pender moved silently off the porch, then hastened to the car. He jumped in and said, “We got to get to Max, Merle.”

Merle Arp turned and said, “What’s wrong?”

“There’s gonna be a raid on Al Jennings’s still this afternoon. Max will want to know about it.”

Merle Arp sent the car ahead with screeching wheels. “You’re right about that,” he said grimly. “He promised Al protection, and Al will come lookin’ for him if he gets into trouble.”

“We gotta hurry. It must be the sheriff, Moon, Frank, and Kermit.”

“Why didn’t they tell us about it?”

“Because they’re not stupid. They suspect we’ve been tippin’ off what’s going on. Come on. Get some speed out of this rattletrap.”

****

Conroy stared at the two deputies. “You sure about this, Arlie?”

“Yeah, old man Bing didn’t know he was tippin’ me off, but they’re gonna hit Jennings all right.”

“What are you gonna do, Max?”

Max Conroy laughed. “They’re gonna find out they bit off more than they can chew.”

“You gonna get ’em to move the still?”

“Not time for that,” Max growled, “but there’s time to put that sheriff away and Moon too. Killed in the line of duty. Maybe they’ll even get a medal.”

The two deputies stared at Conroy and did not speak for a time. “That’s pretty crude, Max,” Arlie Pender said. “Killin’ a sheriff is bad business.”

“You fellows get out of here. Make yourselves obvious. I want you to be able to account for your time.” He turned and hurried away, and Merle Arp shook his head. “Come on, Arlie. I don’t want any part of this. Somebody could go down for it.”

****

Billy handed out the shotguns and saw that each of the other three had plenty of ammunition. “You’ll have to be closer with these, and I’ll take the rifle. One thing about a shotgun, it’s hard to miss with it.”

“What’s the drill here, Billy?” Frank Eddings asked. He was a tall, lanky man, and his hair, at the age of sixty, was still black. He had dark eyes and had been known as a tough
officer all of his career. He held the shotgun loosely and stood waiting, his eyes on Moon rather than Jenny.

“You all know where the still is. It’s in the same place the Fender brothers made moonshine.”

“Kind of a hard place to sneak up on,” Eddings murmured. “It’s right out in the open.”

“What’s it like, Billy?” Jenny said nervously.

“Well, Frank’s right. It is hard to sneak up on. It’s an old barn right out in the middle of an open field. The old house burned down a long time ago, so the barn’s just standing there all by itself. Nobody lives there now, but Jennings has been using it for a spell.”

“Well, if it’s out in the open, how do we get to it?”

“I’ll work up to where I got a good view of the door. The other three of you come at it from different angles. What I’m hoping is that they’re so busy makin’ the shine that they won’t know until we open the door and throw down on ’em. So, we’ll come up as quiet as we can.”

Jenny listened, and her hand tightened on the barrel of the shotgun. Somehow she had to keep her fear from these men, but it was difficult. She had read books about men going into battle during war, and this was much the same. She listened carefully to Billy as he went over the plan, and finally when he said, “All right, any questions?” she did not say a word, nor did the other two.

“It ought to go down pretty easy,” Moon said. “They’re not lookin’ for us, and I’ll go in first.”

“Better let me go with you, Billy,” Eddings offered.

“No, I want you three outside to be sure they don’t get away. I don’t think they’ll argue with this thirty-thirty. They know what it can do, and I can get off three shots quicker than they can think.”

“All right, Billy,” Eddings said.

Bing spoke up and said, “Sheriff, why don’t you stay back out of this? It doesn’t seem right for you to put yourself at risk.”

“It goes with the job, Bing. Thanks for thinking about me, but this is something I agreed to do when I took the office. Let’s go.”

Jenny felt strangely numb as she got into the car with Billy. As he pulled out, she glanced back to see Eddings driving the other car close behind them. They drove for some fifteen minutes, then Moon pulled over and said, “We go in from here.”

Jenny got out, and her mouth felt dry. She waited until the other two got out of the car and looked to Billy. She felt utterly helpless and knew that without Moon it would be a total washout.

“We can walk through the trees here. It’s not more than an eighth of a mile. We’ll go quiet, and when we get to the edge of the tree line, we stop and see how it looks. Come on.”

The sun was moving westward in the sky, and Jenny looked at her watch and saw that it was five minutes until three. She gripped the stock of the rifle until her hand ached, and glancing around, she saw that the three men with her seemed to have little concern. They were all old hands at this, and she felt a sudden sense of shame at the fear that clutched at her.

As they moved along, a sudden rustling startled her, and she uttered a short, strangled cry and whirled quickly.

“Just a deer, sheriff,” Kermit said. He had come up even with her and reached out and patted her shoulder. “Nothin’ to be afraid of.”

“Kermit, I hate to say this, but I . . . I’m scared spitless!”

“Nothin’ wrong with that.”

“Aren’t you scared just a little bit, Kermit?”

“No, not anymore, but I was the first time I went on a job like this. I was no older than you, and it was a tough one. But then again, I got less reason to be afraid than you.”

“Why, you’re as likely to get shot as I am.”

“Yes, but my life’s mostly behind me. All the good things are gone. Since I lost Helen, why, nothin’ seems to matter much. But you’re young. You’ve got your life in front of you. That’s why I wish you had stayed back, Miss Jenny.”

“I can’t do it, Kermit. Don’t worry. I’ll be all right.”

They hurried and caught up with the other two, who had reached the edge of the woods. “There it is. No sign of a car, but it could be inside. Don’t see any smoke either, but that doesn’t tell us anything,” Moon said. “Well, we can do this slow or fast. I say we go fast. If they’ve got a lookout, the faster we go the better. You spread out now and let me take the door. Are you ready?”

Jenny nodded but could not say a word, and then Moon said, “All right, let’s do it.” She felt like a robot, but her legs obeyed her will. She checked the safety to be sure that it was off, and the four of them leaped out of the woods at a fast trot. Jenny moved out to Moon’s right along with Kermit, and she saw that Frank had darted to the left. The four of them made a ragged line as they approached the front of the barn. She could hear the sound of the men’s feet and her own pounding the dry earth and wished fervently she had never thought of such a thing. She also wished she had never decided to run for sheriff, for she knew now that this was beyond her.

Jenny was caught off guard, as were the others, when a shot rang out. Billy hollered, “Look for cover! They’re waitin’ for us!”

Then the air was filled with gunfire. She heard the boom of shotguns and the crack of Billy’s rifle, and looking up, she saw a man, in the open window of the loft, suddenly disappear as if driven back by a fist. But she also saw the flickering of rifles or sidearms that filled the air with a rolling thunder.

“Get out of here!” Billy said. “There’s too many of ’em!” He turned to one side, and Jenny saw blood on his neck.

“Billy, are you all right?”

“Yes, get out of here!” He was raking the barn with the thirty-thirty, the shots causing one continual roar. The other men were keeping up the fire as they backed away. They had almost reached the edge of the woods when Jenny heard a muffled cry. She turned to see Kermit as he fell back on the
ground. She ran to him, crying out, “Billy—Kermit’s been hit!”

She heard Billy say, “Keep firing! Give us cover, Frank.” And then he was there with her. Jenny saw the spreading crimson on the front of Kermit’s shirt, and her heart felt as if it were squeezed in a gigantic, freezing fist. “Kermit,” she whispered. “Kermit . . .”

Billy picked the man up, threw him over his shoulder, and gasped, “Let’s get out of here.” He raised his voice, “Come on, Frank. Get away! Get out of this place!”

Jenny followed numbly as they dove past the tree line. A bullet clipped a branch off beside her head, and she saw the leaf fall to the ground. But then they were in the trees.