Will O Wisp (20 page)

“
Sure enough. Now how do
you know that about the Indians?” Sheriff Logan asked.

“
I took Gracie to find the
Indians in Junior Singleton's timber,” Millard said. “I was with
her when Black Eagle told her his people were afraid of the spirits
that roamed in her timber.”

“
I will be dadburn,” the
sheriff exclaimed. “All right, men, let's go arrest Neff Graves.
After he's in jail, we'll come back and spread out over the timber
to see what we find. Sounds like Miss Gracie is right. Someone is
hiding something.”

Chapter
Fifteen

“
We'll be right behind
you,” Gracie said.

“
We don't know what kind of
fight Neff will put up,” the sheriff drawled slowly. “I sure wish
you women would stay home where it's safe.”

“
We can come back and let
you know what happened, Gracie, when Neff is safe and sound in
jail,” Millard said.

“
Nope, I want to be there
to see that man arrested,” Gracie declared. “Melinda and the girls
can go home if they want.”

“
Take me home with you if
you intend to put my father in jail,” May Jean said. “I need to be
with my family.”

Melinda said to Shana, “What do you
want to do?”

Shana put an arm around May Jean's
shoulders. “May Jean and her family will be upset. I want to be
with them,” Shana said.

“
You're right. Poor Lettie
is going to be beside herself. I need to go along and comfort her,”
Melinda said. “We're all going.”

The women and girls
climbed into the buggy. The procession worked its way to Neff
Graves farm. When they arrived, the sheriff rode back to Gracie's
buggy. “I want all of you to stay in that buggy until we're sure
Neff is in handcuffs. If you see him waving a gun, you hightail it
out of here. You got that Miss Gracie.”

“
Yip,” Gracie said
shortly.

“
Don't worry, Sheriff. The
girls and I won't let her be anywhere close to here if we're in
danger,” Melinda assured him.

Neff was sleeping or passed out in his
rocker on the front porch. His shotgun was propped up against the
porch railing close by. He must have persuaded his sons to give it
back to him. Sheriff Logan picked it up, cracked it open and took
the shells out. He tossed them over the railing.

May Jean whispered in a trembling
voice, “He sleeps in that rocker a lot when he's been mean to the
family. Mama locks the door so he cain't come inside until he
sobers up. Most of the time, he don't even remember what he did.
Papa ain't so bad when he's sober.”

After he laid the gun down on the
other end of the porch, the sheriff knocked on the screen door.
Orie and Millard positioned themselves on each side of Neff while
they waited. If he tried to run, they would grab him.

Lettie came to the door with all her
children behind her. The taller boys and girls peered over her
shoulder and the small ones peeked from under her arms like a
chicks with a setting hen. “What can I do for you,
Sheriff?”

“
Mrs. Graves, I'm here to
arrest your husband,” the sheriff said.

“
What for?” Lettie hand
went to her mouth as she turned pale.

“
Right now he's charged
with attempted murder of your children and Shana Lang,” the sheriff
said.

“
Oh, but Sheriff, my
husband never means to hurt any of us. He gets out of his head
sometimes is all,” Lettie defended.

“
Is it true that Neff fired
his shotgun at your children?” Sheriff Logan asked.

“
Yes, but like I said he
didn't know what he was doing. He didn't hurt any of us. I wasn't
going to bring the law in for what he done.”

“
You don't have to. Gracie
Evans and Melinda Applegate are pressing the charges on behalf of
Shana Lang. They witnessed Neff shooting his shotgun at the
children.”

Lettie stepped out on the porch and
shouted toward the buggy. “Miss Gracie, you going to do this to my
man?”

“
Yip, Lettie. Neff is a
danger to all of you. He has to be stopped, before he kills one of
you,” Gracie yelled back.

“
You people don't
understand. Papa will be so mad when you turn him lose. We'll all
be in real danger including you, Miss Gracie,” one of the older
boys said over Lettie's shoulder.

Sheriff Logan spoke up.
“
No worry there. Your daddy will be going
to jail for a long time just on the attempted murder charge. He's
going to have plenty of time to dry out from being a drunk.” He
turned to Millard and Orie. “All this talk and that man slept right
through it. Ready, men? We best get at this.”

“
We're ready, Sheriff,”
Orie said.

The sheriff shook Neff on the
shoulder. Neff grunted. “Wake up, Neff. Open them eyes.”

Neff shuddered and opened his eyes.
“Who are you?”

“
Sheriff Logan. Neff,
you're under arrest.” The sheriff put the handcuffs on Neff before
he had time to figure out what was going on. “Now stand
up.”

“
What you arresting me for
on my own front porch being peaceable?” Neff whined.

“
For attempted murder of
your whole family and Shana Lang,” the sheriff said.

“
You're crazy, Sheriff. I
never did no such thing. I wouldn't hurt anybody,” Neff
cried.

Gracie climbed out of the buggy and
marched to the porch with Melinda and the girls behind her. “Don't
try to lie out of this, Neff. Melinda and I stood right over there
in them trees, watching you shoot at your younguns and Shana last
night.”

Neff eyes narrowed as he glared at
her. “Sure enough, you were spying on us from them
trees.”

“
Yip,” Gracie
declared.

Neff turned to his wife and said
testily, “Lettie, how could you let this happen to me?”

“
Don't go blaming your
wife, Neff,” the sheriff said. “She didn't have anything to do with
this. Gracie Evans and Melinda Applegate are the ones pressing the
charges. Mrs. Graves didn't know anything about this.”

“
Might have known. You
never did like me and my family,” Neff sneered at
Gracie.

“
Don't have anything again
your family, Neff. Just glad to see you will be locked up for a
spell where you cain't harm any of them. Maybe the children will
all be growed and gone from home before you get let out of jail. If
Lettie is smart, she will find her another man before then,” Gracie
declared.

Millard rolled his eyes. “Listen to
the match maker over there that's never said I do herself for some
reason.”

“
You stay out of this,
Millard Sokal,” Gracie snapped, her face turning red. “I'm talking
about a fairly young woman with a bunch of kids that needs provided
for and raised.”

Melinda winked at Shana and
snickered.

The sheriff grabbed Neff's arm and led
him down the steps. The screen door's rusty hinges squeaked as
Lettie and the children stepped outside. They had mournful looks on
their faces like someone in the family died.

Neff gave the sheriff a half grin in a
small admission of guilt. “My daddy had a saying that he said I
should always live by just like he did. A woman, a dog and a walnut
tree are all the same. The more you beat them, the better they be.
I always listened to my daddy.”

Melinda gasped. “How
awful!”

Gracie studied the woeful faces of
Neff's family. She felt sorry for them. They didn't like the
torturous trap they were in with Neff, but they couldn't imagine
the future being any better. They had lived in this horrible world
under the influence of Neff Graves for so long. Gracie feared some
of the children would turn out just like him unless they were
helped to see how to live a descent life.

Melinda touched Neff's arm as he
passed her. “I wish this didn't have to happen, Mr. Graves. I will
pray for you.”

“
Much obliged, ma'am. I
don't know what happened to lead me down this awful path. I saw
temptation coming, but it saw me coming, too. I was just so weak
demon drink finally got the better of me.”

“
Come on, Neff. It's a ways
back to town. We got to go,” the sheriff said, jerking on his
arm.

As Melinda stared at Neff's hunched
back, she said softly, “Poor man. He sounds like he tried so
hard.”

“
No, he doesn't. That man
is feeding you a song and dance to make you feel sorry for him,”
Gracie declared. “He made his bed a long time ago. He has to sleep
in it now.”

“
There isn't anyway that
man can get out of this and come back to harm his family is there?”
Melinda asked softly as she watched the sheriff pull Neff up behind
him on his horse.

“
My old Uncle Hiram had a
saying. Catch an Evans in a lie, and a thunder cloud will strike
him from a clear blue sky. We got to believe there's no way Neff
can lie his way out of this now that he's caught,” Gracie
said.

“
I never heard much about
your Uncle Hiram. What caused his death?” Melinda asked.

“
Mama told me a bolt of
lightning struck him dead on a clear day. They buried him in my
cemetery,” Gracie said with a deadpan look.

“
But what if Neff is able
to make bail and get out. It wouldn't take him long to come after
us and his family, too,” Melinda worried.

“
That ain't going to
happen. Neff don't have two pennies to rub together nor a pot to
pee in,” Gracie declared.

“
Oh, Gracie,” Melinda
scolded. “Watch what you say in front of his children.”

“
Well, you're acting as
skittish as an old woman. Stop borrowing trouble until we get
some,” Gracie said.

Melinda mumbled softly, “It takes an
old woman to know one, Gracie Evans.”

One morning, Gracie asked Shana if
she'd like to go rabbit hunting. When they tromped around the
gooseberry and blackberry thickets, Gracie said, “Now remember,
girl, to get out of the way so you ain't in my line of fire when I
shoot.”

“
To be sure, I'll be
careful. I know what it's like to have a gun pointed at me,” Shana
declared.

As they walked through the trees,
Gracie stopped in a clearing. “There's been a fire in here. Looks
like it got away from someone.”

Shana looked sheepishly at her
feet.

Gracie put her hands on her
hips and turned toward Shana. “
You wouldn't
happen to know about this fire, would you?”

“
Why would a fire be me
fault?” Shana hedged.

Gracie decided to give the girl the
benefit of the doubt. “Well, might be the Indians built a fire and
didn't get it put out good.”

“
That does sound possible,”
Shana agreed with her fingers crossed behind her back.

The dog feverishly sniffed at a clump
of dried grass and flushed out a rabbit. The rabbit zig zagged
around the trees. Gracie whistled sharply. The dog skidded to a
stop. The rabbit halted, too. The only things moving were his
perked ears. Gracie took aim and downed the rabbit on the first
shot.

She had Shana hold the rabbit by the
legs while she pulled the hide off. They brought carcass to Melinda
to boil. Gracie told her how to make rabbit track soup with
vegetables in it.

Gracie and Shana sat down at the table
to drink a glass of ice tea. Melinda put together the meat and
vegetables in a kettle. Shana ran her finger up and down the
sweating glass as she thought about the whole process, and the fact
she'd be eating soup made from the rabbit. “Did the rabbit have a
name?

“
Of course, not. He was
wild,” Gracie said. “Why would you ask?”

“
Because
a
ll the other animals around here have
names, it seems,” Shana said with a shrug.

Melinda raised an eyebrow. “She's got
you there, Gracie.”

“
Wild animals don't have to
have names. All rabbits look alike. Besides, they were put on this
earth to be food for us humans. How you coming with the soup,
Melinda?”

“
All we can do is let it
cook until lunch time.”

“
It's hot in the kitchen.
Want to sit outside while the soup simmers?” Gracie
asked.

“
I would like that,”
Melinda said, wiping her damp forehead with her apron.

“
Let's go try the swing
hanging on that old tree. I haven't had a chance to sit in it since
we came,” Gracie said.

The three of them squeezed together on
the swing.

“
Not bad here in the
shade,” Gracie said.

“
Not bad at all,” Melinda
agreed. “I can see why you like it in the country. It's cool in the
shade of this tree. Listen, Gracie. You can hear the wind
whispering through the tree leaves like someone singing to
us.”

“
You sound like this is all
new to you.
I thought you had some growing
up time on a farm when you were a kid?” Gracie asked.