by With Heart
“He knows damn well that girl was murdered.”
“Like I said . . . this is his town, and he’ll not have it soiled by a murder.”
“It’s more likely that he’s afraid he’ll get a Federal Marshal in here.”
At the gravesite Sheriff Carroll and another man stepped forward to help Johnny and the undertaker carry the casket to its final resting place. Kathleen seethed to see Dr. Herman and Louise flanking Hazel and Emily as they stood beside the gaping hole to watch Clara’s body being lowered into the ground.
Poor little Emily. Kathleen remembered her own anguish as she stood with her grandparents at her mother’s burial. It was a consolation to know that Emily’s life would not be as disrupted as hers had been. The child had not been attached to Clara as a child is normally attached to her mother. In time she would forget the bad things about her mother and remember only the times when Clara came home bringing presents.
Dr. Herman and Louise stood by as if they were family while the mourners came to express their sympathy to Hazel then shake hands with the doctor. After hugging Hazel, Kathleen stooped down to whisper to Emily.
“Your grandma is so lucky to have you, Sugarpuss. You’ll take care of her, and she’ll take care of you. After a while it will not hurt so much. I’ll see you tonight.”
Kathleen straightened, looked directly into Dr. Herman’s eyes, but didn’t offer her hand as the others had done. She met the eyes of the smirking woman who stood beside him. Louise was a half head taller than the doctor even with his hat on. She wore a black coat with a huge silver fox collar. Attached to her small black hat was a black-dotted veil that came down to her penciled brows. On her face was the usual heavy coat of makeup.
Kathleen looked at the woman, and needing to do something to show her contempt, rolled her eyes in a derisive gesture. Louise’s cheeks became suffused with color, her balled gloved fists evidence of her surprised anger.
Johnny was waiting beside the car when they reached it.
“Are you going to the house?”
“No. I told Hazel this morning that we’d not come.”
Johnny held open the passenger-side door, plainly indicating that he was going to drive. Kathleen dug into her purse for the keys. He stilled her hand and, dangling her extra set between his thumb and forefinger, smirked at her.
“The extra set wouldn’t do much good if you can’t keep track of them.”
“You’re . . . sneaky!” She slid onto the seat, moved to the middle to make room for Adelaide, removed her hat, and looped her hair behind her ear with trembling fingers. Lord! Why do I get the trembles when I’m with him?
Johnny’s hand brushed her knee when he grasped the round ball handle on the gearshift. Her shoulder was behind his, her hip tight against him. It was such a wonderful feeling to be sitting close to him that Kathleen had to caution herself not to be giddy.
“Dr. Herman and Louise were acting like family,” Kathleen said in order to occupy her mind with something other than the man beside her. “He’s got a lot of nerve. I’ve never heard Hazel even mention him.”
“He wasn’t there for Hazel. He was there to show the public how much he cared.” Adelaide’s tone was heavily sarcastic.
“I took the pictures down to Vernon yesterday to show Keith. He agrees that Clara was not hit by a car. A car going forty miles an hour would have tossed her into the ditch, but wouldn’t have crushed her windpipe and knocked her teeth out.”
“The next question,” Adelaide said, “is why. She wasn’t raped, or was she?”
“Eldon said there was no evidence that she was.” Johnny parked the car in front of the Gazette, turned, and put his arm across the back of the seat. “Whoever killed her was in a rage. She wasn’t just run over. She was beaten up in a car because there was very little blood at the scene. Afterward he pushed her out of the car, then ran over her as she lay in the road. To be sure that she was dead, he stopped the car and got out. She was still alive, probably trying to get up. He pushed her over and stomped on her back. She may have yelled. That’s when he stomped on her neck and crushed her windpipe. After that he dragged her into the ditch.”
“That makes sense,” Kathleen said proudly. “You’d make a good detective, Johnny.”
“Yeah? I thought about it, but I don’t like living in the city.”
“Oh, dear, there’s Hannah, and she’s drunk again.” Adelaide opened the car door.
Johnny’s hand slipped from the back of the seat and squeezed Kathleen’s shoulder. His arm tightened for just an instant before he withdrew it and got out of the car.
“I’ll take her home, Adelaide. Keep her here while I get my truck.”
“No need for that, Johnny,” Kathleen said quickly. “Take my car.”
Johnny went to where Hannah was leaning against the building.
“Come on, Hannah. I’ll take you home.”
“Baby—” She looked up at Johnny with big sad eyes. “Baby, baby,” she babbled.
She had once been a pretty girl. Now her face was ravaged and gray streaked her raven black hair. Her dress was well worn, but clean.
“Where is your baby, Hannah?” Kathleen asked.
“Baby . . . gone . . . gone—” Tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Did your baby die?” Kathleen asked insistently. Then repeated the question. “Did your baby die?”
Hannah continued to babble and tried to pull away from Johnny, who was holding her up.
“Johnny will take you home,” Adelaide said soothingly. “He’s a nice man, Hannah. He won’t hurt you.”
“Whis . . . key—”
“I think you’ve had enough,” Johnny said kindly as he tried to steer her toward the car.
“Leave her alone!”
Kathleen jerked her head around at the belligerent tone and saw the sheriff hurrying toward them.
“Don’t you dare arrest her and put her in your rotten jail so that . . . that pervert of a deputy can molest her. Don’t you dare!”
“Shut her up!” Sheriff Carroll said to Johnny.
“She can say what she wants, and I’ll back her up.”
“Hannah’s drunk, Pete,” Adelaide said. “Johnny’s going to take her home.”
“Hannah, you . . . promised.”
Kathleen’s sharp ears heard the murmured remark.
“I’ll take her home.” Pete elbowed Johnny out of the way and put his arm around Hannah to hold her up.
“Where is she getting the whiskey?” Adelaide asked.
“I don’t know, but when I find out, somebody’s head’s goin’ to roll.” The sheriff guided Hannah across the sidewalk to the car and opened the door.
“No, Pete—”
“Get in, Hannah.” Pete eased her down on the seat, lifted her feet to the floor of the car, and closed the door. Without a word, he got under the wheel and drove away.
Paul got up from Adelaide’s desk when they entered the office and helped her off with her coat.
“Where’s Judy?” Adelaide asked, when she heard a familiar sound coming from the back room.
“At the linotype machine,” Paul grinned. “I’ve been showing her how to use it. She’s a smart kid.”
“Forevermore! She’ll hurt herself with that hot lead.”
“No, she won’t, mother hen,” Paul said affectionately. “She’ll be careful.”
“I hope so. Landsakes, whatever caused you to let her touch your precious machine?”
“She’s at the age to learn things, honey. Her mind is like a sponge. That girl needs to know that someone has confidence in her.”
“Paul darlin’, you’re right as usual.”
“Of course, I am. Remember that the next time we get into an argument.” He hung her coat on the hall tree. “Were there very many at the funeral?”
“Hazel’s friends turned out. Doc and Louise were there being very solicitous of Hazel and Emily. Kathleen, did you see the spray of fresh gladiolas? They must have come in on the bus
from a greenhouse and must have cost four or five dollars. Who around here has that kind of money to spend on flowers?”
“Doc Herman.”
“But why would he send flowers to Clara Ramsey’s funeral?”
“It looked to me like he was trying to throw up a smoke screen. It was overdone. He probably sent the big ham I saw this morning on Hazel’s kitchen table. The show-off!”
“Smoke screen? You think he could have killed her? What reason would he have?”
“Maybe they were . . . ah maybe he was . . . you know—”
“I doubt that it was Doc’s car that ran over Clara, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Johnny said. “His car was the only big one at the cemetery beside the hearse. The tread on his tires is a different shape. Does Louise Munday have a car?”
Adelaide answered. “An Oldsmobile.”
“If I get a chance, I’ll take a look at the tires.”
“Louise was dressed to kill,” Adelaide said.
“She looked like a moose in that big fur collar.” Kathleen broke into laughter. “It was really catty of me to say that.” Her eyes flashed to Johnny and found him watching her with a sweet and tender smile on his quiet face. She couldn’t look away and became lost in depths of his dark eyes. Only Paul’s voice talking about Hannah brought her back to the present.
“Hannah came to the door, but she was too drunk to open it. I didn’t help her because I was afraid it might cause problems if someone came in and found her in here alone with me.
Adelaide explained that just as Johnny was getting ready to take her home, the sheriff arrived.
“Did you notice how gentle he was with her?” Kathleen asked. “He was that way the other night. She called him Pete. Isn’t that what he was called when he was young?”
“They knew each other quite well at one time, but Pete’s mother was dead set against him having anything to do with an Indian, even a half-breed Cherokee whose daddy had a large spread and a good herd of cattle at one time. Heck Lawson was well respected in the town, even if he did have an Indian wife. He lost most of his land during the twenties and died shortly after.”
“Where does Hannah live?”
“Out on the edge of town with her mother and a brother who works at the tannery.”
“She isn’t married?”
“Never has been as far as I know.”
“Who was the father of the baby she had just before I got here?”
Adelaide lifted her shoulders. “Who knows.”
“Last night I asked Hazel about the baby Clara had a year ago. She said Doc Herman told Clara that it was dead when he took it from her and that it was badly deformed. He put it in a box and had it buried on the lot beside Hazel’s husband. Hazel felt bad that it didn’t get a proper burial.”
“A plank with the word baby and the date is there. I saw it while I was helping Eldon,” Johnny said.
“And shortly after Clara had that baby she had enough money to leave town.”
“I’d like to know what’s in the box buried out there by Sam Ramsey,” Adelaide said.
“Watch it, Johnny,” Paul warned. “These two have something devious on their minds.”
“Why are you interested in what’s buried on the Ramsey lot?” Johnny asked.
“We’ve got another mystery on our hands, Johnny. I haven’t had a chance to tell you about it.”
“You can’t tell him now,” Adelaide said quickly. “Here comes Leroy.”
“Don’t make a date for tonight,” Johnny said to Kathleen as he and Paul hurried to the back room.
“Afternoon, Leroy,” Adelaide said as he came into the office. Kathleen echoed the greeting. She didn’t have time to completely digest Johnny’s words, but she felt wonderful.
“Hello, Adelaide, Miss Dolan.”
“If you’re thinking about an ad, Leroy, we’ve got a new ad book.”
“No. I . . . ah . . . well—” Looking only at Adelaide, he stood on first one foot and then the other as he struggled for words.
“What is it?”
“We had a Chamber meeting this morning.”
“I didn’t know or I’d have been there.”
“It was a special meeting, Adelaide. About you . . . the paper.”
“For goodness sake. What about me . . . the paper?”
“Some feel that you’re taking too much on yourself to question the sheriff’s decision about . . . the accident.”
“That’s what papers do all the time, Leroy. It’s our job to question.”
“We . . . ah want you to stop it and take that board out of the window.”
For a minute or two silence throbbed between them. Leroy rocked back and forth on his heels, Adelaide looking steadily at him. Finally she spoke.
“If I don’t do as you wish, what will you do?”
“Stop advertising.”
“That’s the word that came down from Doc Herman?”
“We all think that it’s bad for the town.”
“You weak-kneed, spineless jackass!” The words burst from Kathleen as she shot to her feet. “A girl has been brutally murdered in this town. Her reputation was not the best, but she was a living, breathing human being. Would you feel the same if it had been . . . an upstanding citizen like . . . Louise Munday?”
“Sheriff Carroll says that it was an accident. It was night, the driver may not have even known he hit her. She was drunk and staggering down the road.”
“The sheriff is so tied in with Doc Herman that he’ll say anything Doc tells him to say. I’m disappointed in you, Mr. Grandon. I thought you were one man in this town with a mind of his own.”
“I’ve got a business here. I’ve got to get along.”
“At the price of losing your integrity?”
“You’re new here. You don’t understand.”
“I’m not new, Leroy, and I don’t understand how a group of grown men can knuckle under to one-man rule,” Adelaide said.
“I’m just carrying the message, Adelaide.”
“Here’s one you can carry back. You tell that dim-witted bunch, who have no more backbone than jellyfish, that I’ll not take that poster out of the window; and if they withhold their advertising, so be it. I carried every one of them, including you, Leroy, until I almost went broke. I’ll not let you or them or Doc Herman tell me what to do.”
“Hurrah!” Kathleen shouted and clapped her hands. The red-faced man glanced at her and then away.
“I’m sorry you feel that way, Adelaide. We’ve been friends for a long time.”
“Not friends, Leroy, or you’d have stood up with me for what is right.”
“I’ve told you. It’s all I can do.”
“No, it isn’t,” Kathleen said. “You can get those merchants together and tell them it’s time to take their town back from the tyrant who’s had control for so long.”
“The town has prospered under his control,” Leroy replied bellicosely.
“You’re mistaken,” Adelaide said quietly. “The prosperity here is due to the tannery, and you know it. Who comes to buy at your store, Leroy? Could you make it without the tannery people?”
“They help,” he admitted, “but Doc Herman sees to it that we have law and order. He talks to our congressman to get WPA projects for our city. His clinic brings people to town, and they buy gasoline, food, and lodging.”
“The congressman is obligated to spread the projects over the counties in his district. Rawlings is the only town in the county any larger than a wide spot in the road. There are not enough votes in Tillison County for anyone in Washington to pay any attention to a pipsqueak like Doc Herman. He has you all buffaloed.” Disgusted, Kathleen flopped back down on her chair.
“I’ve told you what the Chamber members think, Adelaide. The rest is up to you.” Leroy turned quickly and left the office.
“Adelaide, I’m sorry. This wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t come here.”
“No, I would’ve rocked along and lost the pa
per anyway. I hate to think that you may lose your investment.”
“If we lose it, we’ll go down fighting, and I intend to do everything I can to take Doc Herman and Louise down with me. If I have to do it all by myself, I’m going out to the cemetry and dig up that box he buried on the Ramsey lot. I’ll bet my entire interest in this paper that it will be empty.”
“I swear, Kathleen. Doesn’t anything get you down?”
“Some things get me lower than a snake’s belly, but not him. He just gets me mad.” Her blue eyes were hard and shone with rage.
“I’m proud of you, love.” Paul’s voice came from the doorway before he came on into the office and went to stand behind Adelaide’s chair. His hands massaged her shoulders.
“We may lose the paper, Paul.”
“It wouldn’t be the end of the world, would it? I know it means a lot to you; but if we have to leave, we’ll still be together.”
Adelaide’s hand went up to cover his.
Kathleen felt an ache in her heart. Not at the thought of losing her investment, but with a longing to have the kind of love Adelaide and Paul shared.
“Did Johnny leave?”
“He went home to do chores. He said to tell you to be ready to go honky-tonking and that he’d come to Hazel’s to get you.”
“Honky-tonking? For crying out loud. That’s the last place I’d’ve thought he’d want to go.”
“Tell Johnny about the birth records and how the deputy tried to get your notebook.”
“I also have to tell him that Barker Fleming is coming tomorrow. I kind of dread telling him that.”
Chapter Twenty-one
Dr. Herman walked Hazel and Emily to the porch.
“Do you have time to come in, Doctor?”
“No, thank you, Mrs. Ramsey. I’ve a patient waiting at the clinic. I must get back. I wanted to make sure that you and the child were all right. It was a terrible accident, just terrible. If there’s anything I can do, anything at all, send word. If I’m unable to come myself, I’ll send someone.”
“Thank you, Doctor. Is there a chance they’ll find out who . . . who ran over Clara?”
“Not much, dear lady. The driver could be deep in Texas by now. He may have hit her and been too frightened to stop. It happens in and around the cities. It’s something new for us here in Tillison County.”