Precious Bones

by Mika Ashley-Hollinger

  Mama sat quietly, blinking her eyes. Then she said, “LeRoy, what does all this mean?”

  “Well, Miss Lori, it means they arrested Decker for the murder of his partner, Mr. Fowler. Seems Decker and Mr. Fowler’s wife was planning on having them some fun with that fifty thousand dollars of insurance money.”

  Me and Little Man sat with our mouths open like two gulping fish. Nolay and Mama remained silent as stumps. I could almost see LeRoy’s words hovering around their ears like bees.

  Mama and Nolay turned to look at me. Nolay slapped his knee and said, “Gol-durn, Bones! And here I thought that watch didn’t mean anything. I sure was wrong this time.”

  Mama kept her eyes on me. “Your daddy and I certainly owe you an apology. Especially me. I should have paid better attention to what you were trying to do.”

  LeRoy shook his head. “I wish you could have seen the look on Decker’s face when I walked into that interrogatin’ room and laid that watch on the table. I thought he was gonna swallow his tongue. He looked at me and said, ‘Where did you find this?’

  “And I tolt him, ‘In the swamps, pretty close to where you dropped off your partner’s body.’ He started ranting and raving about having paid those stupid Reems brothers good money to find it for ’im. Appears them Reems bothers was in cahoots with those Yankee real estate boys. They were gonna go around and hep ’em buy up property real cheap and sell it off for a profit.” The sheriff let out a little laugh. “But I guess they weren’t that stupid, ’cause they knew that area would be under water until winter came and the swamps dried up.”

  LeRoy stopped and took a sip of coffee. “That’s why it was so easy for Miss Bones to find it.” He looked in my direction and nodded in approval. Then he continued, “When they arrested Mrs. Fowler for being an accomplice to murder, she turned on Decker quicker than a squirrel a-hidin’ a nut. Told them city po-lease how Decker killed her husband and dumped his body in the swamp. Being that the two of ’em had got into that confrontation with Nolay, Decker thought that would be the best place to dump the body.” LeRoy took a sip of coffee. “I reckon he thought the gators would take care of the body and nothing would ever be found. He would just report his partner missin’, and that would be the end of it. He didn’t count on losing that watch.”

  LeRoy took another sip of coffee and continued. “Still ain’t real clear on how the leg got separated from the body. Although when I found it, the body was pretty well chewed up. Could have been any number of swamp critter to do that. Got to admit, Decker was a smart Yankee, but not smart enough to get away with murder.”

  Nolay leaned forward. “LeRoy, does that mean I have been cleared of the charges?”

  “It sure does. It means your name has been cleared. You are no longer a suspect. You are a free man.”

  The reality of Sheriff LeRoy’s words spread inside me like drops of oil shimmering across the surface of water. I turned to Little Man. Words bubbled up and stuck in my throat. Before I could utter a sound, Little Man smiled and turned away.

  Mama clasped both hands together as if in prayer. “Thank you, LeRoy. Thank you.”

  A flush of crimson crept steadily up LeRoy’s long face. He hung his giant head and mumbled, “Just doin’ my job, Miss Lori.” He drained the rest of his coffee and set the cup down on the small table. “Now, the next situation is that one with ol’ Peckerhead Willy. I knew who done it, ’cause ol’ Charlie was brave enough to tell me. It was just a matter of figurin’ out how to catch ’em, without causin’ no harm to Charlie.” LeRoy looked longingly at his empty coffee cup.

  Mama said, “LeRoy, would you like some more coffee?”

  “Yes, ma’am, if you got some more, that would be mighty fine.”

  As Mama got up and walked toward the kitchen, she hesitated, glanced at Nolay, and then said, “LeRoy, would you like some sausage biscuits with your coffee? I have some left over from breakfast.”

  “If it ain’t no bother, Miss Lori, I sure would appreciate it.”

  “It’s no bother, LeRoy. No bother at all.”

  LeRoy’s eyes glazed over as Mama placed a heaping plate of biscuits stuffed with sausage patties on the table in front of him. Nolay looked at me and raised one of his eyebrows. A smile nudged at the corners of his mouth. We were in for a long, slow story. One that we were all anxious to hear.

  LeRoy picked up a sausage biscuit, and in two chomps it disappeared into his huge mouth. “Miss Lori, that is a biscuit comparable to my mama’s. Now, like I said before, law enforcement has come a long ways. For a couple of years, I been dabblin’ in something called fingerprints. It’s been around for a while, but being we ain’t a very big po-lease force down here, it was harder to come by.” LeRoy held up one of his massive hands and pointed to the fingertip. “You see all them little squiggly lines. Every person has their own special lines. Each time we touch something, we leave a little fingerprint trail behind us.”

  Me and Little Man held our hands out in front of us and compared fingertips.

  LeRoy talked around another biscuit. “When Charlie told me about Whackerstacker using a branch as a weapon, I went out and found it. It was hid up under some bushes, so it still had some blood and hair on it and some usable prints. The next thing I got was that chicken crate over at Charlie’s that Whackerstacker picked up. It had prints on it, too. And then there was the shovel he used to try and chop off Nolay’s head.”

  The sheriff stopped for a biscuit break, then continued. “Now that I had the evidence, I needed to get it all up to Jacksonville, where they had the proper FBI equipment to document everything. Course there were other prints on everything, but turns out all of ’em had one print that matched up perfect. They was all from the same person: Whackerstacker Joe Reems.” LeRoy took a sip of coffee. “For your information, late yesterday afternoon, me and two Florida State po-lease men arrested Joe Reems for murder. He is now sittin’ in the Titusville jail.”

  A smile spread across Nolay’s face as he looked at the huge man scrunched up in one of our chairs. He stood up, walked over to the sheriff, and stuck out his hand. “I’ll be durned, LeRoy, you have made me one happy man. I always knew you had it in you. You’re an even better sheriff than your daddy was.”

  LeRoy hung his head and mumbled, “Well, I don’t know about that. I’m just doin’ my job.”

  “You done a dang good job. Let me ask you one thing. What about ol’ Whackerstacker’s boys? They’re young, but they’re still meaner than a pack of cornered weasels. You think they might try to hurt Charlie?”

  “I don’t think so, not after what just happened to their daddy.” LeRoy shook his head and let out a little chuckle. “I do believe them state po-lease men put the fear of the devil in them boys. That oldest boy could have been arrested for being an accomplice. If he goes to jail with his daddy, them other two boys would end up in reform school. So I don’t think they’ll be causing any more harm to Charlie.”

  When the last biscuit was gone, LeRoy looked wistfully at the empty plate. He sat silently for a moment and then said, “I clean forgot about one more thing—the bail money. Soon as you can get up to the Titusville Courthouse, you can sign for it and it will be returned to you.”

  Mama said, “The bail money? But it doesn’t belong to us.”

  “Why, sure it does, Miss Lori. Now that Nolay is cleared of all charges, that money is yours, free and clear. All you gotta do is go pick it up.” He gathered up his folder of papers, picked up his Stetson, and placed it on his head. “I best be gettin’ on now, it’s been a long day. I just wanted to let you folks know the good news.” He tipped his hat in Mama’s direction. “Much obliged to you, Miss Lori, for the coffee and biscuits.”

  Mama looked up at the massive man standing in front of her; her eyes sparkled like dewdrops in the sun. “Thank you, LeRoy, for the best gift we have ever had.”

  Nolay stood up. “I’ll walk you out to the car, LeRoy.”

  LeRoy jingled across the room and was just stoo
ping to walk through our door when I jumped up and ran over to him. “Sheriff LeRoy?”

  He turned and looked down at me. I stuck out my hand. His huge hand slowly stretched out and wrapped around mine, as soft and gentle as a dishcloth. “Sheriff, I just want to say thank you, and I want to tell you that I think you are a mighty fine sheriff.”

  “Why, thank you, Miss Bones, I ’preciate them kind words. I always try to do my best. And I want to thank you for your hep. Without that watch it woulda been a harder nut to crack. You are a mighty fine little detective.”

  “Thank you, Sheriff.” I watched as the massive man ambled back out to his car, with Nolay by his side. I now had a lot of admiration for pond water and puddles.

  When I turned around, Little Man was still sitting on the floor. The question mark was gone, and he was wearing a smile so big it nearly split his face in half. I went over and sat down beside him. “I’m glad you were right, Little Man. I can’t believe my imagination got the best of me. I let my mind go to some places it never should have went.” I looked down at my feet and said, “Little Man, are you mad at me?”

  “Course I ain’t mad at you. Why would I be? You didn’t do nothing wrong. It ain’t important that I was right. It’s more important that what you were thinking was wrong. I’m just glad it all turned out this way.”

  The two of us sat on the floor and shared our silence. “Little Man, you know that hunting knife that I found that day out in the swamps?”

  “Course I do.”

  “I’d like you to keep it for your own. It would just remind me of things I don’t want to be reminded of.”

  Little Man let out a soft laugh and looked down at the floor. “Bones, I think you should have it. It can remind you of things you need to be reminded of and to never let your mind go wanderin’ like that again. I’ll bring it next time I’m out here.”

  Little Man was just about the best friend a person could ever have.

  Nolay walked back in the house and let out a hoot. He sauntered over, pulled Mama off the couch, and swung her around the room a couple of times. Me and Little Man busted out laughing.

  Nolay put Mama down and stood in the middle of the living room. “Hallelujah! Ol’ LeRoy pulled it off!” He looked straight at me. “Bones, I’m mighty proud of you. I’m proud of what you did.”

  “I’m just glad it all turned out for the good. But you know what, if it hadn’t been for Mr. Speed, I never would have known to go looking for something out in the swamps. I guess we owe him a big thank-you.”

  “You’re right about that, Bones. I wish he was here so I could shake his hand.”

  Nolay and Mama sat down on the sofa. “Bones, what do you think about that big old slow-movin’ sheriff now?”

  “I think he’s about the smartest sheriff I ever did know.”

  “You know what I’m thinkin’? I’m thinkin’ we should have us a celebration. What do you say, Honey Girl?”

  “That’s a fine idea. We certainly have a lot to celebrate.”

  “Tomorrow being Friday, I’m going out to invite everyone I know to come over here this Saturday. We’re gonna have us a cookout and fellowship with each other. It ain’t New Year’s, but I think we just might break out some fireworks and shoot ’em off.”

  Nolay stood up so quick it looked like he had springs on his feet. “Come on, Little Man, I’ll give you a ride home. I want to see if your daddy can come over tomorrow and help out settin’ up some stuff.”

  That night at supper, Nolay and Mama looked like they were walking through sunshine instead of standing under a rain cloud. I felt like a chameleon that had just shed its old skin and was trying to get comfortable in its new one.

  Later, our conversation centered on the return of the bail money. Three hundred dollars. What would we do with it?

  Mama said, “It’s just not right for us to keep that money. It should be returned to the people who gave it to us.”

  Nolay shook his head. “How do we know who gave us what? It was a gift. It would be durn embarrassing for us to return a gift. That would be like telling someone you don’t like what they gave you.”

  “I don’t know, Nolay. It just doesn’t seem right for us to keep it. Maybe we should put it in the bank and save it to help other people in an emergency.”

  Nolay stopped eating and cocked his head sideways. “Helping people, now, that is a mighty fine idea. How ’bout we use that money to buy six telephone poles, have ’em installed, and get hooked up to electricity?” He glanced over at me and winked. “We might even have enough left over to buy you a brand-new refrigerator.”

  Mama leveled her gaze at Nolay and said, “And just how would us having electricity and a refrigerator help other people?”

  “Anytime someone needed some ice or something cold, we could help ’em out with it.” He turned to me. “Bones, what do you think?”

  “I reckon it’s a great idea to have electricity and a refrigerator!”

  “Now, see there, Honey Girl? Two out of three agree on it.” Nolay reached over and placed his hand on Mama’s. “I think our friends and neighbors would be danged happy for us to have electricity.”

  Mama just smiled and shook her head.

  After supper Nolay opened up Mama’s cedar chest to survey the assortment of firecrackers we had been accumulating over the past year. Every trip that Nolay took up to north Florida or Georgia, he came back home with fireworks. There were strings of firecrackers, Roman candles, cherry bombs, and bottle rockets.

  Nolay stacked all the fireworks in neat little piles, stood up, and rocked back on his heels. “Yes, sir, we are gonna light up the sky Saturday night.”

  Mama walked in and said, “I was just thinking; I have a bag of marshmallows that needs to be used up. Why don’t you two go out and make a fire so we can roast a few?”

  “Honey Girl, that sounds like a mighty fine idea. I’ll get out there right now.”

  I followed Mama back into the kitchen and started to help her clear the table, but she said, “Bones, I can wash up. Why don’t you grab our old beach blanket from the closet and go help Nolay? I’ll be out in a few minutes with the marshmallows.”

  I went in my room and woke up Nippy. Now that winter was almost here, she slept most of the time. I held her warm sleepy body under my arm. As I grabbed the blanket, Mama called out, “Bones, be sure to rub on some DDT. There’s some in the can right there by the door with a rag in it. The mosquitoes will be out on a night like this. And take some for your daddy, too. I’ll put some on before I come out.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I will.”

  I opened the door, and Nippy and I walked out into the moonless night. It was like stepping into a bottle of black ink. I whistled, and Pearl, Harry, and the dogs ran to me. They led me to the small pile of wood that Nolay had just set on fire. He stirred the embers with a stick and watched as a cluster of cinders raced each other up into the darkness. He pointed to one side of the fire and said, “Bones, put the blanket down over there, out of the breeze, so the smoke don’t make us cry.”

  We sat down; the fire came to life and bathed us in a warm orange glow. Paddlefoot and Mr. Jones curled up as close as they could to the blanket. Silver lay down on the other side; like a small sphinx, she stared into the fire, her front paws crossed and resting on the blanket’s edge. Pearl grunted as she plopped down and made herself comfortable in the back, away from the heat. Harry laid down behind Pearl and rested his head on her plump belly.

  Nippy curled up on the blanket between us for a few minutes, then got up and stretched. She looked at me, then scurried toward the darkness. I called out to her; she stopped and looked back at me, then turned and melted into the night. I started to go after her. Nolay placed his hand on my arm. “Bones, you gotta let her go.”

  “But she might run away, and I don’t want to lose her.”

  “She’s a wild critter; you can’t take the wildness away from her. You gotta let her go find that part of herself.”

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sp; I stared out into the blackness. “Yes, sir, I will, but I don’t want to.”

  Nolay placed his hand on my head and said, “Let’s me and you lay down on the blanket and see who can count the most stars.”

  So me and Nolay lay down and looked up into the black sky.

  “There must be a zillion stars up there. The angels are working hard tonight, pouring out all those bushel baskets of miracles.” I pointed to a huge star that stood out from the rest. “Nolay, you see that star over yonder? I think that one belongs to Mr. Speed. I think he’s up there with God, looking down on us right now.”

  “I’m sure he is, Bones. If I know Speed, he’s busy helping the angels pour out all those miracles. He poured one down on us, that’s for sure.”

  “Yes, sir, I think he did, too.”

  “Bones, the last three months has been a whirlwind learning lesson. I learned I got to take my actions a little more serious. I got you and your mama to look after. You can’t stay a kid all your life. But you can still enjoy life like you’re a kid. I intend to change some of my ways.”

  “Yes, sir, that makes sense. I intend to change some of mine, too, like keeping better track of my thoughts so they don’t go wandering away someplace they shouldn’t.”

  The dogs stirred as Mama walked up and joined us on the blanket. “It is such a beautiful night.” She lit up a Lucky Strike.

  Nolay and I sat up; he gave us each a sharpened stick. Mama opened the bag of marshmallows, releasing their sweet scent into the night air. Pearl grunted in anticipation. “Wait till I roast one,” I told her. “You know you like the roasted ones better than the raw ones.” Her shiny black eyes followed every move I made as I slid a sugary blob on the stick and held it over the fire. The flames licked up and turned the white ball into a glazed marble. “You know,” I said, “life sure can be confusing. I mean, I’ve lived here all my life, but it seems like lately I’m meeting people I didn’t even know. Or I knew ’em, but I didn’t know who they really were.”