The Granite Heart (An Ozark Mountain Series Book 2)

by Alan Black

  Buckner said, “And the third task?”

  LillieBeth said, “You will go to Fern, marry her, have lots of children and lead a good Christian life. I am giving you a second chance at life, do not waste it.”

  Joe Carver asked, “Miss Hazkit? What would you have of my boys? They are good boys, honest. They just get a bit of youthfulness mixed up in their heads sometimes.”

  LillieBeth looked at Susanne and shrugged.

  Susanne said, “Two tasks for both Andrew and George and one task for you, Mr. Carver.”

  Joe Carver said, “They is my only sons. I will do whatever you ask, just don’t hurt them.”

  Susanne said, “They go with Mr. Buckner to the Hazkits and to Galena. They tell the truth, admit their wrong doing and take their punishment. The second task, they must learn to read and write. Your task is to see they do it.”

  Joe Carver nodded fiercely. “I’ll do it. I can’t promise their Ma won’t punishment worse than any lawman could, but they’ll learn to read and write if I have to beat it into them.”

  LillieBeth slammed her rock on the stump to get everyone’s attention. “I will be watching each of you to see that you do as you have agreed to do. This is your chance to change your lives. You will not get another chance from me.”

  The girl stood up. She slid the rock back into its pouch at her waist. She pulled a dollar from a pocket and handed it to Joe Carver. “That is for the sandwiches.”

  Joe looked at the dollar in confusion. “But…”

  Susanne said, “No buts, Mr. Carver, we are not thieves. You gentlemen can get to the Hazkits before dark if you hurry. I suggest you approach the house with empty hands and your apology on prepared lips.”

  LillieBeth was already in Fletcher’s saddle, the Winchester still at hand. She was sitting warily, watching each of the men, untrusting, suspicious and clearly hostile.

  Susanne could tell that the girl was ready to get back to the hunt for the Braunawalls. She sighed as she slid into the saddle on the chestnut mare. It was a relief to be leaving this meadow behind without having dead men on her conscious. She was sure LillieBeth would have killed all of them without flinching. She was just as sure the men were as convinced of their impending death. But LillieBeth left them alive.

  Susanne wondered if the girl would be as forgiving with the Braunawalls.

  FRIDAY – DUSK

  It was a couple of hours before LillieBeth finally spoke. She looked at Susanne and said, “Thank you. I did not want to shoot those men. I might have without you there.”

  Susanne nodded. She did not know what to say. She had not wanted the men dead either, but whatever LillieBeth said or did; she committed her heart to stand by her young friend.

  “I do not want to have to shoot Trance and Dangle either, but I may not have a choice.” LillieBeth said. “Are you ready for that?”

  Susanne shook her head and ducked a random tree branch hanging over the road. “No. I am not ready to be a part of killing anyone. I don’t care whether they deserve it or not.”

  LillieBeth nodded. “Yes, ma’am, I do not think it is about deserving the punishment or not. It is about stopping them from hurting more people. What they have done in the past is past, we cannot change it. All we can do is to stop them from committing further evil.”

  “Yes, I agree, they must be stopped by someone. Why us?”

  “You remember I told you about when they attacked Mama? I hit Dangle with a staff and shot Trance in the ear. I could have shot him anywhere, but I only shot his ear as a warning to stop attacking Mama.”

  “But they stopped. Why go further now?”

  “Mr. Hoffman and Mr. Clayton would be alive if I had shot them both in the head. And my Daddy would not be home healing from a gunshot wound.”

  “Would you be able to live with yourself after killing two men?”

  LillieBeth reined in Fletcher stopping at a fork in the road. She shook her head. “No, Susanne, I shot a man once. I did not kill him, just wounded him. That wakes me up every night. I cry about it until I cannot cry anymore. Killing someone would do untold damage to my soul; I do not even know how to ask for God’s forgiveness for such a thing.”

  The young woman looked thoughtful. “I understand how Fletcher Hoffman felt about his killing and I understand why Daddy still hurts over being a soldier in the war. Not all of it of course, but I do have a small beginning of understanding. I do know if I had killed Trance and Dangle that day, then Grace would still be able to live with Clayton and not do without him.”

  “You cannot take that on yourself. You did not know the outcome when you let Trance and Dangle live. We cannot see the future. If we could, I would have never gone for a walk with Trance. For that matter, if you could see the future you would not have missed the last question on your last math test two weeks ago. You would have seen a future showing where you got the answer wrong. Then you would have studied the problem harder, so you would not have missed the question. Then, since you did not miss the question, you would not have studied harder and then you would have gotten the answer wrong anyway… Whew! That kind of thinking gives me a headache.”

  LillieBeth said, “You can keep your headache. This saddle has given me a pain somewhere else.”

  Susanne nodded. “My fanny went numb a long while ago. Is that why are we stopped?”

  LillieBeth pointed ahead. “Both roads lead toward Oasis. The right road runs along the ridge. I would guess going around the ridge road would take us longer to get to town.”

  Susanne said, “We go that way and we might as well find us a spot to sleep out tonight. I am anxious to get out of this saddle, but I am also ready to reach our goal.”

  LillieBeth nodded, “The left fork will take us down to the river road. It will get us into Oasis shortly after dark.”

  “But if the White River is rising, we might run into flooded parts of the road.” Susanne said, “You are the boss hog of this trip.”

  “Left.”

  It took longer to get into Oasis than they imagined. A full moon was high, leading the way, lighting up the road, illuminating the flooded spots. They rode around the high water and splashed through the mildly wet parts.

  They were walking, leading the horses, when the lights of Oasis popped up as they came around a bend. It only took a few more minutes of sloshing through an inch or two of slow moving water to reach town. The White River had crested over its banks, but it only put an inconvenient amount of water on the road, rather than a roaring torrent to sweep things away. The fading moonlight showed the river receding. The upriver rains must have stopped.

  Susanne said, “The stable is on the high side of the road. Let’s get these horses in, dried off, fed and give them a place to rest.”

  LillieBeth nodded. “That sounds like what I need, too.”

  Susanne led them between two buildings and into the open stable door. She called out “Hello?”

  A voice called back “Hello, miss. I’ll be right there.”

  LillieBeth pulled the Winchester free from the saddle. She checked to make sure the chamber was empty and the safety was on. She made sure the muzzle pointed skyward.

  A thin black man came out of the darkness. “Hello, Miss Harbowe,” the man said. He spoke to Susanne, but his eyes never left his feet.

  “Hello, Odie,” she replied. “It is good to see you again. How are you?”

  “Fine, miss. Just fine.”

  “How is Caesar doing with his reading?”

  Odie’s eyes flicked over in LillieBeth’s direction, but he still did not look higher than boot heel level.

  Susanne said, “Pshaw! LillieBeth, this is Odie Washington. Odie, this is Elizabeth OBrien Hazkit.”

  Odie tipped his non-existent hat. “Pleased to meet you, Miss Hazkit. I have met your father. He is a mighty good man, miss.”

  Susanne said, “LillieBeth, I gave Odie a first grade reader for his son Caesar to help him learn to read. Do you have a problem with that?”
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br />   LillieBeth nodded. “Yes, Miss Harbowe, I do. It seems to me Caesar should be going to school with the rest of us. How come he gets to stay home and learn to read and we have to go to school? That is not fair, is it?”

  Odie grinned, but kept his face to the ground. “Well, miss, wouldn’t that be something to see? White children and us coloreds going to the same school!”

  Susanne nodded. “Someday, Odie.”

  Odie chuckled. “It is a nice dream, Miss Harbowe, but it will never happen in Missouri or in Arkansas to the south of us neither.”

  Susanne said, “Odie, can you put our horses up, rub them down and feed them?”

  Odie said, “Of course, Miss Harbowe. No charge for you or Miss Hazkit, you being friends and all.”

  LillieBeth said, “No. I can and should pay. My Bible says in Luke 10:7 ‘For the labourer is worthy of his hire’.”

  Odie laughed. “Yes, miss. It does say that. But, it also says, ‘Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels unawares’.”

  Susanne laughed with the man. “Okay, Odie you win. We are not angels, but we will accept your hospitality.”

  The man led them and their horses to a back stall. He slipped the saddles off, setting them on the rail. “Don’t you worry none. These are good horses. I’ll get my boys Caesar and Marcus to come rub them down real good and grain them up nice.”

  Susanne smiled. “I am not worried, Odie. Grace Grissom said there was not a better hand with horse stock this side of the Rocky Mountains than you.”

  Odie said, “Kind woman. Miss Grace is a kind woman. She is always nice to me and mine. Will it be alright if you give her my sympathies about Mr. Grissom?”

  Susanne said, “Of course, Odie. I will tell her soon. I will make it a point to go tell her.”

  Odie said, “Miss Hazkit, if you would remember me to your father. I heard about him being with Sheriff Grissom and being shot and all. That is a right shame.”

  LillieBeth asked, “Mr. Washington, who saw the Braunawall’s shoot Fletcher Hoffman?”

  “Odie, Miss Hazkit,” he said, “Just Odie, if you please, I would not want to be getting ahead of myself.”

  LillieBeth said, “Well, all right, Odie.”

  “I saw it, myself. That Mr. Hoffman was one mean man. I did not like him one little bit.”

  LillieBeth said, “He was my friend, Odie.”

  Odie said, “Good. All men needs good friends. He may have been a mean man, Miss Hazkit, but he did raise nice stock. These two of yours look a lot like his stock. This Missouri Fox Trotter is a sure match for bein’ beget from a Tennessee Walking Horse from over in Taneycomo that Mr. Hoffman had standing stud with a big Pinto mare of his. And that chestnut mare is a sure match for his brood.”

  Susanne said, “You are correct, Odie. This stock comes from Mr. Hoffman’s farm.”

  Odie said, “Good. I was worried a might about his horses after he gots himself shot. I surely did not want that city fellow cousin of his to take them. That man did not know anything about horse flesh.”

  Susanne said, “The Hazkits bought Mr. Hoffman’s land and stock.”

  LillieBeth said, “I would be much appreciative if you could make time to come to our place and give me your opinion on the horses. We could pay you for your time.”

  Odie grinned. “I do love getting paid for looking at horses, but I would like to see your stock so much I would do it for free. I swear Mr. Hoffman only brought in the culls, selling off the worst of his lot.”

  LillieBeth said, “And what of his murder?”

  Odie said, “I was hoping you forgot that you asked. It doesn’t seem quite respectable to speak of such things to proper ladies.”

  Susanne said, “It is okay, Odie. Just tell us what you know.”

  Odie nodded, “Anyway, I was standing waiting for the horse buyer from Springfield to look over some raw stock. I saw them two white boys shoot him down. Mr. Hoffman never touched his gun. He coulda, I swear he coulda, but he did not even try. I told Sheriff Grissom what I seen, but I guess nobody believed me.”

  Susanne put a hand on Odie’s arm. “I believe you.”

  Odie backed up. “Please Miss Harbowe. I know you mean well, but if someone saw you touching me, I’ll not get home again.”

  “I am sorry, Odie.”

  Odie said, “It is getting late. I better get the boys over here. Um…there isn’t a decent place in town for you ladies to stay the night. I can offer you the loft up overhead. You’ll be safe and dry up there.”

  LillieBeth said, “That will be fine.”

  Susanne said, “Safe? Why would we not be safe anywhere in town?”

  Odie said, “Sheriff Grissom is gone and all. This being Friday night the town starts to get a bit crowded with men coming in to do their hootin’ and hollerin’. It is nothing like Saturday night and a payday, but as you can see, I’m already filled up here with horses coming in from all around. Men talking about getting real wild without any law to say otherwise.”

  Susanne said, “The hay loft will be fine for us, Odie.”

  Odie nodded, but kept his eyes to the floor. “Yes, miss, but just tonight. Saturday is going to be too rough. I expect I’ll send my wife and children up to camp in the hills tomorrow.”

  Susanne said, “Is there a safe place for us to eat?”

  Odie shook his head. “The café is already closed by now. The bar and grill on Main Street is usually good, but men been there drinking all day. I’ll have Caesar bring over some of his mama’s biscuits and beef stew.” He grinned at the floor. “Angels got to eat, too.”

  Susanne said, “Thank you, Odie. You have Caesar bring his reader. I’ll check his reading, too.”

  LillieBeth said, “I have some business to attend to before I rest and eat.”

  Susanne said, “Tonight?”

  LillieBeth nodded. “I expect if I am going to find Trance and Dangle Braunawall at Samson’s, then tonight sounds like prime hunting time. Daddy always said you can’t hunt coyotes in the daylight.”

  Odie said, “Oh no, Miss Hazkit. You can’t be going to Samson’s place. That place is…well…it just isn’t fit for decent young women, is all.”

  LillieBeth nodded. “I have never been in a brothel before. I expect it is a sight to see, so I had best go see.”

  Susanne said, “Odie, have you seen the Braunawalls?”

  “No, miss. I heard old Zeke Braunawall and his boys Abe and Ike were in town talking to all of the white folks about Trance and Dangle shooting Mr. Hoffman, but no one come by here.”

  LillieBeth looked at the rows of horses in the stalls. The outside corral was empty as it was ankle deep in mud from the receding water. “They do not bring their horses to the stable?”

  “They don’t normally stable their mounts. They just ties them up in the woods wherever they are camping. I suspect they spend all their money at the saloon and Samson’s, their horses be damned…sorry for my language.”

  Odie looked at the floor, but Susanne could see he was angry about something else.

  “What?” she asked.

  Odie looked around and then back at the floor. “Them Braunawalls always telling people they wouldn’t bring a horse here, ‘cuz it would be ruined after being touched by a black man. That isn’t so. I take care of the horses in my care. All of the horses, not just horses owned by good folks. Poor horse got no say so over who owns it.”

  LillieBeth said, “If Grace Grissom says you are a good hand, then that is good enough for me. Susanne, I am going to pay a visit to the local whorehouse. You coming?”

  Susanne was shocked. “Elizabeth Hazkit! What would your Mama say if she heard you use language like that?”

  LillieBeth said, “I do not suppose she would tan my bottom any harder for calling it a whorehouse than she would hearing about how I went into one.” She shouldered her Winchester and strode out of the barn and into the street. Her heels splashing mud and water up onto her ankle length skirt
.

  Susanne shook her head. Both women were wearing their Sunday best, since their first stop, so long ago this morning, was to pay their respects to Grace Grissom. Both women were wet, muddy, disheveled and as scuffed up as an old work boot. She wondered if there was a dress etiquette for decent women going to visit a house of ill repute.

  She did not think it mattered. LillieBeth was headed that way. She could not stop her young friend. Clare would blame her for not stopping the young woman and she would take blame for not going with her. She followed. She knew she might as well be blamed for being a lion as for being a lamb. This trip into Samson’s might be the straw that broke the camel’s back. If Art did not kick her out for keeping his daughter out all night and sleeping in a stable, then he sure would for taking her into a…a…well… LillieBeth was right…it is a whorehouse.

  As she hurried to catch up to LillieBeth, she tried to think of Bible scriptures about such women. All that came to mind were references to harlots. She knew sometimes that just meant an innkeeper and sometimes it meant…something else.

  She did remember a phrase about a whoremonger not being able to get into heaven, but she could not remember where it came from. She was also fairly sure the scripture was talking about whoring after other gods and men who sold idols. She filed it away in the back of her mind. It would be something she would have to find and read about later.

  She was about to step into her first real whorehouse. She was not sure what to expect. The mental image of dejected, dispirited, and wasted wonton women sprang to mind. She wondered what kind of man would want to visit such a place. She realized as the door swung open, this was exactly the type of place to hunt down men like Trance and Dangle Braunawall.

  FRIDAY – EVENING

  Susanne gagged at the smell. It was a thick mixture of cigar smoke and stale whiskey, with an undercurrent of something sickly sweet wrapped in sweat and musk. She knew the sweet was cheap perfume, but the specific odor of perfume was unidentifiable. The smell was visible in the air as a thick blanket of offense to the nose.

  Noise assaulted her ears. It was almost as incomprehensible as the smell was unidentifiable. A music box in the corner blared out a tinny noise, only vaguely reminiscent of a melody. Men laughed with drunken gusto. Women laughed with high-pitched giggles, sounds of forced humor. Glasses clinked, tinkled and rubbed against each other with a teeth-grinding, fingernails-on-the-blackboard irritating screech.