by Jackie Weger
Instead, she tilted her head in a manner to get a better look at me. “From your implication, I take it you believe you know it all. So why don’t you tell me?”
Dodie thought I was bluffing. Placing my hands in a praying position, I thought for only a second. Then, I rested them, entwined, in front of me.
Leaning forward, I began. “From Moria’s journal, I know a few things. I know she was deeply in love with you. So much so that she destroyed her marriage. I know that the night Alfie disappeared, you met with Moria up at Two Oaks. Alfie saw you both in a compromising position, and you killed him.”
Dodie raised her chin. I wondered at that moment if she was calling upon her dignity.
“It was an accident. Pure and simple.”
I shook my head. “Moria may have wanted to believe it, but I don’t.”
“He tripped and fell against a rock. Killed him instantly. By the time I got to him, there was nothing to be done. He wasn’t breathing.” She looked straight into my eyes. “What else could I have done? I was confused and scared.”
Pressing my lips together tightly, I reminded myself not to let my temper get the better of me. I said directly, “I don’t believe you.”
Outside, lightning flashed, and another round of thunder roared. In that moment, I saw in her eyes a stark revulsion for me that should have frightened any living creature, but I wasn’t afraid.
“I read Moria’s journal thoroughly more than once. I was caught by the fact that each time I read through it, Moria said she rushed to your side and the boy lay lifeless. She described Alfie in detail, but there was no mention of any blood or bruises. The only conclusion I could come to is that you drowned him. And that wouldn’t have been an accident, but a clear indication you wanted him dead.”
I gestured toward her with my right hand, my finger pointing at her. “You see, I thought a lot about it. There truly wasn’t a reason to kill the poor child. Who would have believed him with such an accusation? They would have thought him crazy. More than likely, he wouldn’t have said a word, but you couldn’t take a chance because there was one who might have believed him who would have ruined your plan—Matt. He knew his wife better than anyone. A wife who couldn’t bear his touch. It would have made sense to him. I imagine he would have quietly gotten the divorce he wanted. And then the two of you would have been free to be together. The odds would have been in your favor that no one would have ever suspected you were lovers. But that’s not what you wanted—”
“You think you know me?” Her cool voice was void of emotion but carried with it a veiled threat, which I promptly disregarded.
“I do know you,” I answered. “You forgot how well. I know that you didn’t love Moria, not in the way she did you. You had your eyes on a bigger prize—Matt. You wanted to be a Pritchard. How am I doing?”
She huffed. “You little shit…”
“Now, now, Dodie, I’m not finished. You wanted me to tell you what I know.” I grimaced and shook my head. “Granted, you have been impulsive, but you didn’t have time to think it through. Your actions have been reactionary for your survival. Oh, don’t think I believe that you are in love with Matt. I’m not that foolish. You don’t love anyone other than yourself. But you are right about one thing… The whole thing is ironic. Since that night you killed Alfie, you have been trying to put one fire out after another. But instead of putting the fire out, you only ignited more.”
I held out my hand and held back a finger as I counted. “First, you had to silence Moria. The poor thing thought you wanted to run away with her. That was the furthest thing from your mind. You killed her. I’m not exactly certain how. I would imagine that she was still drunk, and you talked her into going to a place where you could talk in private. She probably didn’t have a clue she was going out on a ledge. It wouldn’t have taken much to push her off. Second, you saw Matt’s interest in me and tried to embarrass me. It backfired and Matt married me. Third, you probably panicked when you discovered you lost the brooch. It was you that pressed Sheriff Brawner to search for it. I reckoned you got something on him…again probably from eavesdropping on conversations. Millie James has got to stop doing that…but I shouldn’t get off track. You never wanted it found. You knew I would hide it or get rid of it. Either way, if it wasn’t around, then it couldn’t be linked back to you.”
“Damn Moria,” Dodie uttered under her breath. “I had told her that peacocks were a symbol of love to me. Coy was there when I said it. He laughed at us girls. If he saw it…I couldn’t allow him to see it and put two and two together that it was mine. It would have put me there that night…”
I nodded in agreement. “Since I found it at the site.”
Her eyes flamed. I knew I hit a nerve. I wouldn’t relent.
“Fourth, the shoe. Fifth, Otis.”
She slammed her hands on the table at the same time the thunder clapped. The house shook.
“Enough!” Dodie yelled. “I’ve had enough of your babble. No one—no one will ever believe you. No one!” The next instant, she pulled a gun out of her pocket and aimed it straight at me. “You never should have married Matt. You—a dim-witted idiot. First, Moria, then you.”
“Put the gun down, Dodie.” I managed to speak in a calm voice. I swallowed back the bells clanging loudly in my head. Not now! I refused to give into them. No longer were they going to define my life. “It’s over,” I said. “You’ve made too many mistakes. You know you have. Though, I confess, I’m confused about Otis. Not only about why…but how?”
“The shoe.” She gave me a taunting smile but held the gun firm. “You mentioned the shoe but didn’t know he found it. Foolishness on my part. I must have missed it when I cleaned out my trunk. He found it when he changed my tire the other night.” She snorted. “Not as smart as you believe you are.”
“No, I’m not,” I agreed. I would never find out how she poisoned Otis if I didn’t let her feel she had the upper hand. “I certainly don’t have a clue how you got to Otis.” I didn’t waste my breath trying to minimize her appearance here tonight. There wasn’t any doubt she came to kill Otis.
Tension became thick as fog after a rain. She stared at me. In her eyes, I saw her desire to pull the trigger. She yearned to put a hole in me. Her finger itched to pull the trigger, but she hadn’t quite grasped why I wanted her here. She teased me for being stupid, but she didn’t truly believe I was dumb. Just not as smart as she was.
Then she laughed, a hard, loud laugh. “You really want to know? It was easy as shit.” Her voice lowered. “A simple glass of orange juice. All I had to do was send him a glass of orange juice…laced with a substance I got from Daddy’s garage. The idea came when I watched Daddy changing some kind of fluid the other day in the car. I saw an old stray dog come up and drink some that spilled. Didn’t pay it much mind. I went on in the house, but when I came out a couple of hours later, that dog was twitching something fierce. Daddy got his gun and shot it dead. Put it out of its misery. Daddy said it came from the spill. It’s sweet tasting to them, but deadly as sin. I thought about it when Millie Jane called me up, saying she heard Goldie Claudill call up that preacher man. Said she was worried about Otis because he didn’t know what to do with a shoe he thought might be Alfie Walker’s and was going to meet up with Matt at Dee’s Café.”
She waved the gun while she told the story. “I realized immediately he must have found it when he changed the tire. It explained the weirdness I felt afterward.” She shrugged. “I didn’t know how or if I could do it. But I never back down from a challenge. As luck would have it, Jed had come home for the week and came along with me. He didn’t mind helping spike the juice. He thought it was some sort of joke that would give them the shits. We ordered four large orange juices. Told Romy that we were expecting company.”
I felt my chest tighten as she talked. I saw a gleam in her eyes as she relived the moment. Oh, my God, she truly enjoyed it. She had crossed a line from which there was no return.
“Jed drank down half in each glass. Then, I took the glass. Under the table, I filled it back up with the bottle I brought in my purse. Afterward, I called Romy over and said that we got stood up…why not give the extra juice to Otis and Matt. She did.”
My heart leaped into my throat. My hand covered my mouth, trying to keep the contents of my stomach down. Dodie had planned for Matt to die as well. She was insane.
Her smile widened. “Oh, you didn’t know I had Matt in my sights. To be honest, my primary goal wasn’t Otis, but Matt had already gotten up by the time the juice arrived at the table. Otis didn’t mind…he drank both glasses. But there’s more.” Her voice became solemn and ominous. “I followed Otis out of the restaurant to his truck. The look on his face when he saw me lean over to talk with him as if he were a kid who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. I asked what good he thought he was going to be doing with that child’s shoe.” She tilted her head back and laughed. “I answered for him—none…no good was going to come from it. You know he tried to dismiss me. Told me I was crazy. He didn’t think so when I told him what he drank. He knew immediately, whispered antifreeze. But you know, his first thought was of you—you!”
Outside, I heard the storm burst. Rain poured, bombarding the roof. The wind picked up and whipped around something fierce. But my attention remained on Dodie.
Her face contorted; her eyes bulged. “What is wrong with everyone? Why does everyone want to protect poor innocent Cady Blue? Can’t they see who you really are? Pathetic. Poor. Disgraceful. You have them all fooled. Grandma. That Goldie woman. Matt. Matt,” she repeated. “The day of the picnic…I told him I loved him. You know what he did? He threw it back in my face.” Her voice spewed forth the venom in her heart. “He said he loved only you. He was finally happy. He suggested that I leave Oak Flatt to find my own happiness. We could never be anything other than friends. Friends.”
I said nothing. I found I could only stare at the deranged woman.
A loud thunderous bomb exploded. A blinding flash of light. Then we stood in darkness.
Losing electricity had been one aspect I had been prepared for. A lantern sat on the side of the table. I reached for it, along with a lighter. A moment later, a soft dim light filled the room.
Dodie held the gun straight at me. “You should have run.”
I stood my ground. I fully comprehended she meant to kill me, but I had known that before I came tonight.
“Cady Blue got no reason to run.” The voice walked out of the shadows from the hall. Goldie moved forward with her rifle pointed at Dodie. She looked very tired. Her mouth was set hard.
“And you, Miss Wentworth, ain’t goin’ nowhere,” Goldie finished. “Sit down.”
“I’ll shoot her,” Dodie threatened with her now trembling hand. She held the shaking gun at me. “I’m going to walk out of here.”
Goldie shook her head. Behind me, I heard heavy footsteps. Behind Dodie, I saw strong hands rip the gun from her hand and push her into the chair.
“Come on out,” Goldie motioned for the other shadows to emerge. She looked back at Dodie. “Miss Wentworth, I ain’t certain if you know this gentleman. This here is Daryl Walker. It was his son you killed.”
Pity filled my soul for the woman as the Walker clan became larger. I took a step back.
Dodie reached for me. “Cady Blue, you can’t leave me! They’ll kill me.”
I shook my head but kept silent.
“Cady Blue, we’re family. You’re my cousin. You can’t do this. It’s cold-blooded murder.”
I ignored her. Looking at Goldie, I gave her a simple nod. It was then that I believe Dodie realized I would give her no aid.
“You are a disgrace to the Reeves’s name,” she cried.
“That’s where you’re wrong— I’m not a Reeves.”
I turned on my heels and went out into the storm. Behind me, I heard her beg me not to leave her. I closed my ears to her pleas.
The rain pounded against me as I made my way to the car. I grasped hold of the handle, but before I could open the door, lightning lit up the night sky. Out toward the barn, I noticed a tall dark-hooded figure looming in the darkness.
I recognized him readily enough—Rudy Tipton. The sin-eater had returned. If I believed in his ability, I would question whether even he could cleanse the sins that flowed through Oak Flatt.
I stared at him for a long moment, got in my car, and drove home.
Chapter 22
It was after two in the morning when I arrived home. The torrential rain poured from the heavens, but I saw a light in the living room between the rhythm of the wipers. There was a silhouette of a man standing in the window. Matt had waited up for me.
When I walked through the doors, he stood in the foyer, still dressed in the clothes he had worn the day before. I was soaked from head to toe. I must have looked a sight. Yet, the look he gave me melted my heart.
He stepped toward me. “Are you alright? The weather has been awful. I was worried.”
Words choked in my throat. I nodded, then rushed into the safety of his open arms. He embraced me tightly. I’m not sure how long he held me. I wanted it to last an eternity, but that was impossible.
The world beckoned. I would have to face the consequences of my actions.
Matt realized something was amiss. I was certain the message I had left with Mrs. Holbrook confused him since he already knew Otis’s true prognosis—that there was nothing more the doctors could do for him. But, then, there were the journals.
I had left them on our bed for Matt to find. He had a right to know what I had discovered. Moria’s words held the answers he needed for closure.
Moreover, when it became known that Dodie had disappeared, he would also realize that I’d had a hand in it. Perhaps he already suspected.
He broke from me but took my hand in his. “I’m exhausted, and you need to get those wet things off. Let’s go to bed. It’s been a long day.”
At first, I was too startled to answer. I had expected questions about where I had been. He asked none.
“Yes, I would love nothing more than to sleep,” I said.
We walked in silence up the stairs and into our room. The first thing I noticed was the journals stacked neatly by the bedside. He had read them.
I didn’t dare look at him. Instead, I discarded my wet clothes, put on a dry nightgown, and climbed in bed beside him. He pulled me to him, and I slept in the crook of his arm until the morning light.
Life went on for us as though nothing had happened that night until Saturday morning. Then, through the living room window, I noticed a car coming up the driveway. The sight scared me. We weren’t expecting visitors. The news of Dodie’s disappearance was all over town. I feared it was Sheriff Brawner come to accuse me of the crime. My fears were allayed when I recognized the car as a Lincoln Continental until I saw who stepped out.
Coy Middleton walked toward the door without so much as a glance at his surroundings. He didn’t look happy.
Behind me, I felt a hand on my waist. Matt gave me a small hug.
“Don’t worry, my love,” he said. “I invited him. I just didn’t know if he would show. You will excuse us.”
With a quick kiss, he went to open the door, and I escaped into the kitchen. At that moment, I realized Matt was going to show Coy the journals.
I heard nothing of the conversation. Moreover, Coy didn’t stay long. When I went out to see if either man would like coffee or tea, Coy had one of the books in his hand. A tear ran down his cheek. I eased back into the kitchen.
When I heard the car start up, I walked back into the living room. Matt was watching from the window.
“He’s gone?”
“Yes. I doubt we’ll see Coy again.” Matt looked back at me. He smiled though there was a sadness in his eyes. “He realizes now that I had nothing to do with Moria’s death.”
I believed that to be true. The two men would never be friends again, but they parted with an under
standing. A part of me felt sorry for the man. I prayed he would come to an acceptance and find a semblance of peace.
Later that day, Goldie brought Otis home. She had finally come to accept that nothing more could be done except make him as comfortable as possible. He was in God’s hands.
Otis was heavily sedated because of the pain. He drifted in and out of consciousness. I believed he knew that he was surrounded by those who loved him, including Brother Frazier. He died a few days afterward on a beautiful autumn day.
Goldie was a strong woman, stronger than anyone I knew, but burying Otis was hard on her. It seemed like a part of her died when he was laid in the ground.
Matt and I told her we would help look after Dickie and make sure that he had a good education. I wanted both of them to move in with us, but she would have none of that. The farm was her home. So instead, I have gone over often to oversee the house cleaning and cooking.
Goldie had always been there for me. Now, I would be there for her. It was what family was supposed to do for one another.
Less than a month after Otis’s death, Brother Frazier left Oak Flatt. He gave no notice. After service one Sunday, he simply got into his car and drove off, never to be heard from again. I had talked to Brother Clayton only once shortly after Otis’s funeral. With the realization that I was in no position to judge another, my conscience dictated that I tell him that his secret was safe with me. He merely said thank you. It was the last we spoke.
Moreover, the search for Dodie Wentworth turned up no clues to her disappearance, despite an extensive investigation. On this case, Sheriff Brawner called in for outside help. The town was covered with law enforcement. Still, they found nothing except her car. It was discovered up at Two Oaks a few days after she’d vanished. The town talk now swirled with wild rumors.
Some claimed that Dodie fled because of the embarrassment of her father’s arrest for embezzling. Another said she ran off with one of the German POWs. But there were dark whispers that were closer to the truth.