by With Heart
Barker made a few notations in a small pad.
“We’ll not get any help from the sheriff, Mr. Fleming.” Kathleen folded her notebook. “He’s in the doctor’s pocket.”
“Grant Gifford would be interested in this. He was elected attorney general a year ago. He’ll know what to do.” Johnny dropped this bit of information into the conversation.
“I heard that he was a crackerjack lawyer and straight as a string,” Barker said.
“He is.”
“I’ll get in touch with him when I go to the city. I know a good man up there who will investigate the doctor’s background and look up the parents of some of these babies born here. We could find a few more cases like the DeBerrys.”
Kathleen was burning with the urge to ask Johnny if he knew the attorney general and was relieved when Adelaide did it for her.
“Do you know Mr. Gifford, Johnny?”
“Yeah. He taught me how to pick out a tune on a guitar. He’s good, too, at lancing boils, milking, and chopping cotton among other things.” Johnny was trying not to smile.
“The state attorney general lances boils?” Kathleen asked.
“Among other things.” Johnny’s lips quirked with a supressed grin. “Don’t get in a snit. I knew him when I was a snot-nosed kid who didn’t know straight up. He’s as good a man as I ever met.”
Barker refrained from asking Johnny any questions. The relationship was fragile, and he didn’t want to put a strain on it.
Paul went to the front office, where Adelaide was collecting for a subscription.
“My father wants me to take over the running of the tannery here,” Barker said when the three of them were alone. He folded the papers Kathleen gave him and put them in his pocket.
“Will you be moving to Rawlings?” Kathleen asked.
“Not until after the first of the year. The children are in school in Elk City, and I don’t want to disrupt them.”
“They are beautiful children, Mr. Fleming. You must be very proud of them.”
“I am. They are usually well behaved. I feel that I should apologize for Marie’s and Janna’s behavior. They’re at the age where everything that Lucas does is dumb and stupid. But Elena, their sister in high school, thinks everything they do is dumb and stupid. The one in college thinks they all are dumb and stupid. So it evens out.” Barker’s eyes smiled as he talked of his children.
“I never had a brother or a sister. They don’t know how lucky they are.”
Barker threw up his hands. “Try and tell them that.” He stood and reached for his hat. “I’d like to take the two of you to dinner if you think the bickering between the girls and Lucas wouldn’t ruin your appetite.” He looked directly at Johnny.
“I’ve got chores out at the ranch.”
“And I’m going with him,” Kathleen said quickly. “But thanks anyway.”
“I’ll leave early in the morning and get the kids back to Elk City. I’ll be back when I have some news. I take it you don’t trust the telephone operator not to listen in.”
“You take it right.”
“I’ll figure out another way to get in touch. Good-bye, Johnny.” Barker held out his hand.
Kathleen held her breath until Johnny accepted it.
“Good-bye, Mr. Fleming.” She took his hand when he offered it. “Thank you for coming and for any help you can give us.”
“There’s something not quite right here. It deserves an investigation.”
They heard Barker talking to Adelaide and Paul in the office before he went out the door. Alone, Kathleen tugged on Johnny’s hand and pulled him behind the press. She put her arms around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder.
“I’m tired. I just want to be with you.”
He lowered his head and rested his cheek against hers. He held her gently, but firmly.
“I must go home and do chores,” he whispered after a short while. “Come with me and we’ll go on down to Vernon tonight and see Keith.”
“Will we stay all night?”
“Not unless you want to.”
“We can take my car.”
“You don’t like riding in my truck?”
“I have a special place in my heart for your truck . . . when it’s parked at the Twilight Gardens.”
He laughed against her forehead. “Come on. Let’s gas up the car and go tell Hazel you won’t be home.”
• • •
It was dusk when Kathleen and Johnny drove into the yard at the McCabe ranch.
“Just can’t stay away, can you?” Keith shouted the good-natured greeting as soon as they stepped out of the car. He had come out onto the porch. Ruth stood in the doorway.
“I’m thinking about moving in,” Johnny said as they approached.
“Not during my lifetime, boy.”
“Come in, Kathleen,” Ruth called. “Pay no attention to these two. The feud goes on all the time.”
“He’s always trying to get my woman,” Keith complained. “But now that he’s got one of his own—”
“We just finished supper, but there’s plenty left.”
“We had something at Johnny’s.”
“It was only pork and beans,” Johnny grumbled.
“Poor Johnny. Come sit down. I’ll find you some biscuits and beef gravy. But first you’d better say hello to Granny and introduce her to Kathleen.”
“See there?” Keith said in a confidential tone to Kathleen. “My women fall all over him ’cause he’s little and cute.”
Kathleen liked the McCabes immediately and longed for her and Johnny to be like them, easy and relaxed in the company of their guests. They were being themselves, very happy and secure in their love for each other.
She also saw a side of Johnny she had not seen before. With genuine affection he had carefully hugged the fragile old lady and played with Davis, and he was obviously fond of Ruth.
While Kathleen helped Ruth finish the cleaning in the kitchen, Keith and Johnny went to a front room lit by several big glass lamps.
“How’s Gertie getting along?” Johnny asked when the women joined them. Kathleen went to sit beside Johnny on the sofa. Keith sat in a big leather chair.
“Getting more rambunctious every day.”
“She kicked me last night ’cause I was gettin’ too close to Mama.” Keith pulled Ruth down and cuddled her on his lap.
“Johnny has called this poor little baby Gertie so often that even I’m getting to where I think of her as that.” Ruth rolled her eyes. Keith rubbed her protruding stomach. They were completely at ease talking about their unborn child.
This, too, was new to Kathleen. Pregnant women she had known had not talked about their pregnancy in mixed company. Keith McCabe adored his wife. Would Johnny be that loving when she was round and clumsy with their child?
Johnny told Keith and Ruth that he suspected Marty Conroy had killed Clara, or if he hadn’t, he knew something about what had happened to her out on that lonely road.
“I talked to someone who saw her get in a big fancy black car. The car was sitting off down the road from the Twilight Gardens as if the driver was waiting for someone and didn’t want to be seen. There was a fancy doodad on the radiator cap.”
“Sounds like our Marty. He loves big doodads.”
“I’ll be surprised if Marty did that,” Ruth said. “He’s obnoxious, but I never thought he was the type to kill a girl.”
“You can’t tell what a little bugger like Marty will do, honey, if he’s backed into a corner. Especially if he thinks somebody’s goin’ to take away his doodads.”
“We’ve got two problems,” Johnny said seriously. “We’ll not be able to prove he killed Clara with the pictures of the tire tracks. There are too many big cars with big tires. We have to get him across the line into Oklahoma, and we have to get him to confess.”
“Uh-oh,” Kathleen said. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“I’ll get him across the river, Johnny; you get him to co
nfess.” Keith’s big hand was massaging Ruth’s back.
“How are you going to get him to cross the river?” With her fingers on his chin, Ruth turned her husband’s face toward her.
“Sweetheart, have you no faith in your husband?” Keith chided gently and punctuated each word with a kiss. “Remember when I told you his latest hare-brained scheme was to build a toll bridge across the river? He said we could just sit back and collect tolls. I’ll call and tell him that I changed my mind and that I want to look over the spot where he wants to put the bridge. He’ll come running with a grin on his face like the wave on a slop bucket.”
“I’d like to figure out a way to give Sheriff Carroll the credit for the arrest, that is if there is an arrest,” Johnny said seriously. “I think he’s a decent sort, but under Doc Herman’s thumb for some reason.”
“He owes him for his job,” Kathleen murmured.
“Yeah, but if we can get him to go over Doc’s head and do something on his own, it might give him the confidence to help us on another matter that’s cookin’ up in Tillison County.”
“That’s a perfectly brilliant idea,” Kathleen explained. “Johnny, I’m so glad you thought of it.”
“She’s in love,” Keith whispered loudly to his wife. “I think it’s a dumb idea. Old Marty will be a hard nut to crack.”
“Maybe not. If he beat her up in the car, there was blood. Blood is hard to clean up. Chances are he waited until he got back over the line, and it would have been dried by then. If he’s our man, there will be bloodstains in that car.”
“All right, cowboy, deal me in. Where do you want him and when?”
“How about Wednesday at noon? Be sure you get him on the Oklahoma side.”
“Leave it to Cousin Keith, son. He’s been after me for years to go in on some deal or the other. He’ll be there.”
Chapter Twenty-four
The headlights of the Nash forged a path into the darkness. Johnny maneuvered the car with his left hand on the wheel, his right arm around Kathleen. Snuggled close to his side, Kathleen glanced at his sharply etched profile. Not only was Johnny Henry handsome, but he was a moral, decent man and, she suspected, an utterly ruthless one if the occasion demanded it.
“How long have you known the McCabes?”
“A few years. I met them when I went up to Pearl to help Hod, when he was working on the Pascoe and Norton case.”
“They were the Kansas City gangsters who killed Molly’s parents. I remember.”
Kathleen was extremely happy. She looked out onto the dark Oklahoma plains. The car lights were the only ones she could see in any direction. She felt comfortable and safe here in this small spot on earth with Johnny. A few short months ago she had not known the man behind the name Johnny Henry. It was strange, she thought, that she hadn’t realized she had been lonely. Would she ever be satisfied again to spend long evenings alone with only the creaking of the house and the sound of her typewriter to break the stillness?
“Johnny,” she snuggled closer against him pressing her lips to the side of his neck, “I love you.”
“Hummm, what brought that on?”
“I was thinking how lonely I’d be without you.”
“We’ve not been together all that much.”
“I may sound silly, but since I met you, you seem to be a part of me.” Her hand slid across his chest to hug him closer.
“Better stop that, or I’ll have to stop and kiss you.”
“Right here in the middle of the road? You wouldn’t dare!” Her lips moved over his neck, while her hand caressed his lean midsection.
The car came to a sudden stop in the middle of the road. He wrapped her in his arms and kissed her soundly. He lifted his head to look at her, then settled his mouth against hers again. The lips that touched hers were warm and sweet as they tingled across her mouth. A longing to love and be loved washed over her. The kiss became more possessive, deepened, her lips parted, his tongue touched hers, and his hand slid beneath her jacket to cup her breast. She unbuttoned her blouse and his fingers moved inside to stroke soft flesh.
“I want to hold you, love you.” His voice was choked with the harsh sound of desire.
Johnny’s arms were the only arms in the world, his lips the only lips. His tongue circled her mouth, coaxing it to open. Her skin tingled; the tiny hairs on her body seemed to be standing on end.
“You . . . taste so good—” He took his lips away and buried his face in her throat.
“Are we very far from your house?”
“Not far.”
“Let’s go there.”
For a moment he was still. Then, “Are you sure?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.
“I was never more sure in my life.” Her fingers inside his shirt moved lightly over his chest. His body answered the movement of her hand with a violent trembling.
The car moved down the road. They didn’t talk. She wanted to tell him what she was feeling, but she felt certain he knew. A minute or two later he turned the car off the main road, and after another minute he stopped in front of his house. He turned off the motor and the lights and looked down at her.
“This is a big step. Once I get you in there, I’ll not be able to let you leave.”
“I won’t want to go.” She cupped his cheek with her hand. “I’ve waited all my life for a man like you and for a moment like this.”
He kissed her. His mouth tender on hers, reverent. They got out of the car and, with his arm around her, they went to the house.
Kathleen stood inside the door while Johnny lit a lamp in the kitchen. Only a faint ribbon of light came through the doorway. He came to her and to her surprise lifted her in his arms, carried her to the bed, and sank down on it with her still in his arms.
“I’d love you on a feather bed in a fancy room . . . if I could.” He laid her down and leaned over her.
“I don’t need a feather bed or a fancy room. I need you.” Her arms encircled his neck and drew his face down to hers.
It was all so sweet, so right, so natural. He was unhurried and tender when he undressed her. She was terribly conscious of the part of him that throbbed so aggressively against her. His lips and his hands sent waves of weakening pleasure up and down her spine.
His callused palm lightly stroked the curve of her hip, then slid up to her breasts. His fingers squeezed her nipple and she hurt deep, deep inside of her. So many sensations crashed through her body and mind that she was unable to distinguish one from another. It was all too pleasurable, too wonderful.
If this is the coupling men and women do together, dear God, how beautiful!
Her body arched, seeking, wanting. She became aware of a hard pressure against her, a slow, gradual filling of that aching emptiness. A sudden movement brought a pain-pleasure so intense that she cried out.
“Sweetheart . . . I had to!” he whispered in her ear and lay still for a long moment.
“It’s all right . . . all right!” She kissed his face with quick, passionate kisses and clutched at him to keep the throbbing warmth inside her.
Later she heard him cry out, as if from a distance, “Kath . . . Kath, sweetheart—”
She couldn’t speak, aware of only that thrusting, pulsating rhythm that was pushing her toward a bursting, shivering height.
When she came back into reality, Johnny’s weight was pressing her into the bed. She moved her mouth against his shoulder. He lowered his head to kiss her lips. She wrapped her arms around him in a wave of protective love. He buried his face in the curve of her breast like a child seeking comfort, and she held him there.
He rolled away, taking her with him. They lay side by side. His mouth teased her lips, her lashes.
“It was wonderful,” she breathed.
“I didn’t use anything. You could be . . . pregnant.”
“I hope so. Oh, Johnny, I hope so.”
They loved each other deep into the night, until sheer exhaustion sent them into a deep sleep where she lay mo
lded to his naked body, her cheek nestled in the warm hollow of his shoulder.
• • •
It was the middle of the morning when they drove into Red Rock, Oklahoma. At daylight, Johnny had heated water on the kerosene stove for Kathleen to wash while he did chores. Then, as they passed through town they had stopped at Hazel’s so that Kathleen could change clothes. Since Hazel and Emily were not awake, Kathleen left a note saying that she and Johnny were going to Red Rock and would not be back until late.
Red Rock was not nearly as large a town as Rawlings. Only the main street was paved. They passed through, and a mile out of town, Johnny turned into the yard of a neat farmhouse surrounded by huge pecan trees.
“Johnny!” As soon as Johnny got out of the car, a young boy came running from the house. “Mama, Daddy, Johnny’s here.”
“Is that you, Jay? Lordy! I thought your daddy had a new hired man. You’ve grown a foot.”
“You haven’t. You’re gettin’ shorter, Johnny.”
The two clasped hands, then wrestled a bit. It was clear that they were happy to see each other. By the time Kathleen had slid out of the car a slim woman and a man who looked amazingly like Hod had come out onto the porch.
Henry Ann Dolan, her face laced with smiles of welcome, hurried across the yard. Johnny went to meet her, put his arms around her, and hugged her tightly.
“Johnny! It’s so good to see you.”
“Hello, sis. I’ve brought someone to meet you.”
“I see you have, and I’m guessing it’s Kathleen Dolan.”
“You guessed right. Kath, come meet my sister, Henry Ann.”
“Hello.” Kathleen held out her hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you from Johnny.”
“Johnny and I had to grow up suddenly and fast when we had this farm to run. Meet your Uncle Tom, Kathleen. He’s been champing at the bit to get over to Rawlings to see you.”
Kathleen was suddenly enveloped in strong arms. “Welcome, Kathleen.”
“I’m glad to meet you, Uncle Tom. Oh, my, you look so much like Uncle Hod.”
Tom laughed. “I’ve heard that a lot. That red hair of yours reminds me of Aunt Biddy, our mother’s sister.”