“Ma’am?”
“I’m gonna hand you up a shotgun, it’s empty,” came the voice. The gun’s butt appeared and Harrison handled it by the grip. He walked outside and placed it on the ground.
“Grab on to me,” he said as he returned and leaned into the hole. Harrison fought the repellent odor. Two slender hands gripped his thick fingers, and he helped lift Doreen Culliver out of the hole and left her standing in the outhouse as he backed away from her. He groaned and turned when he saw brown gunk dripping from her knees to toes. The overwhelming stench wafted in all directions.
“Natalie,” Doreen said. “You got a washcloth around here?”
“I gotta get inside.” Natalie covered her mouth with her arm.
“Yeah, why don’t you do that,” Harrison said. “There are so many reasons that baby shouldn’t be out here in the first place.”
“It ain’t easy for me.” Natalie groaned as she pointed to her injured rear.
“Oh. All right, listen here,” he spoke to both women. “I’m gonna help Natalie back into the house, then I’ll be back to help clean you off. I saw a well out front. I’ll bring some buckets back to you.”
“Aw, would you look at that?” Doreen, disgusted, gazed across the yard. “The turkey’s burnt.”
“What?” Harrison saw the scorched bird. “Ma’am, I’d think eating anything is the last thing in the world you’d be thinking about right now.”
“I deliberately didn’t eat anything today, deputy whoever-you-are,” Doreen said. “You’d be surprise how quickly your appetite creeps up on you after the last few hours I’ve had. At least the pies should still be good.”
“Go in the woods and I’ll bring the water,” Harrison said. “For God’s sake, please do it now.”
Harrison, still dumbfounded, assisted Natalie to her feet and supported her as they walked inside the house. They entered through the back and Harrison couldn’t avoid seeing dead Sam against the wall.
“You shouldn’t have to look at that, Natalie,” he said.
“I don’t mind it at all. The bastard probably would’ve killed me and my baby if he’d found Doreen in time.”
He sat her on the sofa as comfortably as he could. She put no weight on her wound and rested uneasily against the sofa’s arm.
“Close the shutters, all of them, and lock the front door.” It wasn’t a request.
“Yeah, I will,” Harrison said.
“I kinda wish you had brought a gun.”
“Look, I didn’t even bring food,” Johnson said. “And I feel silly about not doing that. Noah said you’d have enough and—”
“Just go help Doreen,” she said. “I’ll feed my baby.”
“We gotta get you to the doctor.”
“Go help Doreen first. Jake needs milk. He’s about cried the life out of himself. I left the gun where you found me. Make sure it’s loaded. Bullets are on the body. I guarantee you there are other men like him out there.”
“Right. I’ll make sure to knock or call out before I or anyone else enters, okay?”
“Go, please,” she said. “But before you go, climb into the loft, open the closet door and grab any one of my dresses for her. It don’t matter which. I want to make sure she has something clean to wear.”
Harrison scooted up the ladder and then back down with some tan fabric tucked under his arm. He locked the front door and exited through the back to begin the first of many trips from the water well to the woods to cleanse Doreen Culliver of the ungodly foulness that clung to her body.
“Just splash it onto my legs,” Doreen said. She stood with her back against an oak tree. “I don’t care how cold it is.”
Harrison tossed the water onto her as if she was smoldering. She moved from tree to tree to avoid standing in pooling filth. She tore off her dress, exposing her bare legs from just below her hips. She felt no compunction about being wet and ill-clothed from the waist down before a complete stranger.
“I expect I’m gonna have to ruin one of Natalie’s towels, too,” said Doreen, this time facing a tree so Harrison could concentrate on the backs of her legs.
“I’ll go get one for you,” he said. “There’s one of Natalie’s dresses for you by the back door, when you’re decent.”
Harrison came back with what he hoped was a final bucket of water along with a brown yarn blanket.
“Natalie said it’s disposable.” He draped it around Doreen’s neck, and was thankful this hadn’t happened in the wintertime.
“Leave the pail,” she said. “I’ll pour little by little and clean up where I need to. Thanks for the bath.” She smiled at him.
“Harrison, don’t move!”
“Jesus, now what?” The deputy froze, as did Doreen, who looked over his shoulder to see Noah standing at the lip of the forest, pointing a gun at his back.
“Noah, put the gun down,” Doreen called. “He helped both me and Natalie.”
Harrison, his hands again raised, slowly turned his head.
“Noah, you’re the second Chandler to point a gun at me today. This was not what I was expecting when you invited me to supper.”
“I’m telling you, Noah,” Doreen pleaded. “He’s good.”
“Noah, listen to your wife.” Natalie, standing by the back door cradling Jake, waved to get his attention. “We’re all right—for now.”
He lowered his gun after seeing blood caked on Nat’s leg and ran to her. He hugged his wife and child at the same time.
“What happened?”
Natalie explained, and was soon joined by Doreen and Harrison, who all stood in a semi-circle around Noah and chipped in details where they could. Noah then recounted what transpired at Toby’s home.
“Where’s Sarah?” It was Natalie.
“Hiding in the woods,” Noah said. “I told her to stay until I made sure our place was safe.”
“Go get her. It is,” Natalie said.
They reconvened in the sitting room, Natalie and Sarah on the sofa with their babies, Noah and Harrison, both armed, standing by the fireplace, and Doreen sitting at the kitchen table, sloppily devouring an apple pie with her bare hands.
“You know how many other deputies are crooked?” Harrison said.
“I don’t.”
“You trust me?”
Noah took measure of Harrison. Innocence and fear reflected genuineness in the young man’s eyes. “I do. But now that you’re with me, you’re in danger too. So’s Doreen.”
Doreen, now attired in Natalie’s dress and spare pair of sandals, nodded in agreement.
“You’re right,” Harrison said. “Noah, whatever you need me to do, I’ll do it. In the meantime, I’ll be outside keeping watch.”
Harrison, armed with Noah’s reloaded shotgun, paced the house’s exterior perimeter while Noah hatched his plan.
“Nat, we need to get you to a doctor first. And I think Doreen can take you there in her wagon. We just got to cover you and the baby up in case someone happens upon you. Harrison can ride with you. Once you’re in the Doc’s care, I want Doreen to grab whichever Army officer is nearby and hound him to speak to the commander. Do not talk to any sheriff’s deputies, not until we figure out who’s who. Diggs may have been able to corrupt the locals but there’s no way he bribed the Army.”
“I don’t think the Army’ll believe me,” Doreen said. “And you all should have some of this.” She waved her hands over the bounty of food on the table. “Long day and night ahead, and all that.”
Noah didn’t argue and grabbed a peach pie and a fork.
“Ladies, you should, too,” Doreen said. “I’ll bring one to the deputy.” She left with an apple pie and a fork, while Sarah, figuring she needed a boost, grabbed a blueberry pie and two forks so she could share it with Natalie. Not realizing how hungry they all had become, they spent the
next few minutes gorging themselves before Noah, who wiped his face with his shirtsleeve, continued.
“Get the highest ranking Army man you can over to the doc’s—Harrison’ll watch over Natalie,” he said to Doreen, who’d retaken her seat. “Once the Army sees Natalie’s injury, they’ll know there’s something to what you’ll be saying.”
“What about you? And Sarah?” Natalie, like Sarah, openly nursed her baby.
“I’m not sure yet.”
“I want to go back to my house.” Sarah spoke for the first time. “I won’t let Diggs get away with this. I can’t. Not after everything we put into that farm.”
“You showing up’s just what Diggs wants,” Noah said. “The farther we keep you away and hidden from him, the better chance we have at taking him down.”
“You think the powers that be are gonna believe a freedwoman?”
“I do. And when we march a platoon of soldiers over to your property, all the proof in the world will be there. Diggs can’t abandon the place. Either him or some of his men will be there. We’ll easily outgun him when he sees the reinforcements.”
“That’s why we need to get going,” Doreen said. “Noah, you should come, too.”
“Can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Diggs’ll have thought of that. If some bad deputies see me in town, they’ll shoot me on the spot, putting others in danger.”
“Well then, sneak in.” Doreen’s tone grew incredulous.
“Hell, for all I know they’ve spun some bullshit story about me having killed Cole or Toby, and to take me down, no questions asked.”
“We can get you to a neutral spot—you could hide in the church. Nobody would open fire inside God’s house.”
“Diggs would.” Sarah looked at Toby and nodded her head in affirmation. “He would.”
“Look, I want to go back to Toby’s,” Noah said. “I got my Winchester. I can take up in a tree and pick them off, one by one.”
“All of them?” Natalie said.
“Probably not, but I could make a dent. Enough to keep them at bay until the Army arrives.”
“And once they figure out where the shots are coming from, they aren’t going to unload everything at your position?” Natalie continued making sense to the point where Noah internally conceded she’d win the argument.
“Doreen, will you please go get Deputy Harrison?” he said.
She obliged, and the women buttoned up before Harrison returned to hear the rough plan.
“You want me to question any deputies if I see them?” Harrison said.
“They’ll fight you like dogs if they know you’re on to them. Don’t try doing it by yourself. Bring backup. The Army, I mean.”
“They know I’m off today. If they see me walking around with a gun, they’ll figure something’s up.”
“Sarah, I understand you wanting to go back home,” Noah said. “And I suppose I can’t stop you from doing it. But think of your baby. Your job now is to protect him. Going home doesn’t do that.”
She glanced only briefly at Isaac, focusing on Noah, pursing her lips as she thought.
“You trust this doctor?” she finally said.
“With my wife and child’s life, I do.”
“You’re a fool, too, for going back there by yourself. You know that,” Sarah said.
“She’s right, I don’t want you going either,” Natalie said.
“Diggs wouldn’t expect it.” It was his last desperate attempt to convince her.
“I believe he would,” Sarah said. “But he’s expecting someone else. That what’s he’s worried about right now more than anything.”
The room grew quiet. Noah instantly knew what she meant.
“Then I can help your men,” Noah said.
“You’d only get in their way.”
“So you did hire men to kill the Klan. Look, I knew it all along but Toby would never admit it.”
Sarah raised her hand.
“Noah, we ain’t hired nobody to do anything for us.”
“Then you paid them in food—look, Sarah, I’m not concerned about that right now.”
“Noah, stop.” Sarah, her voice slightly raised, stood. “Do not go back to that farm. Not tonight. It’ll all be over by tomorrow.”
Sarah and Noah eyed each other. Natalie, speaking softly so as not to wake the two sleeping babies, reached out her hand and brushed Sarah’s dress to alert her.
“What are you talking about?” Nat said. “How do you know?”
“Noah, you come with us to the doctor’s,” Sarah said in a manner that drew Noah in, keeping his attention. “You can ride separately on your horse, if you like. Actually, that’s probably safest. Keep your distance from us and away from the road so you can monitor us from afar. You’ll be there to help us in a pinch. But I beg you—do not go back to the farm.”
“If this is a democracy, I’m voting for you to come with us,” Doreen said. “You said it’s Sarah’s job to protect her kin. Correct? Well, you got the same job and a bigger kin right now, and don’t you forget it.”
Noah felt all eyes on him.
“Harrison, if we had to put this up for a vote, what say you?”
“Strength in numbers, Noah. Keep up the rear in the shadows. I don’t know how many more men Diggs might have out there. You might’ve only seen a few of them. If something happens, I wouldn’t want to take ’em all on by myself.”
Noah fought back a stubborn urge and agreed. “Let me get my rifle and bandolier. Harrison, strap on the headless guy’s gun and ammo belt. Also, let’s figure out a way to secure the babies as best we can.”
“I can handle a gun,” Doreen said. “In fact, where’s the one I gave you?” she said to Natalie.
“In the headless guy’s belt,” Natalie said to Harrison. “Go get it and whatever else might be useful off him.”
“I’ll do the same to the feller over there,” Noah said of Sam and his weapon, and then looked at Sarah. “Can you handle a gun?”
“Let’s go,” was her way of saying yes.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
“Why didn’t you pop out of the outhouse and shoot that lunatic earlier?” Natalie Chandler could not be seen from the road. She shouted above the clatter created by Doreen Culliver’s rig as it rode toward downtown Henderson. Natalie rested flat in the wagon bed with the crown of her head touching the wall behind Doreen’s seat. The two made eye contact whenever Doreen leaned back and looked down into the bed.
“Gun jammed,” Doreen said nonchalantly. “I waited outside the window near where you shot that first feller. I was waiting for him to come running down those stairs—and he did. Only when I pulled the triggers nothing happened. I would’ve blown the bastard right into the fireplace then and there.”
Doreen, her hair in a bonnet, easily passed as a churchgoer as her wagon bobbed along the road at an easy pace. Should she see someone riding opposite, she’d reach behind her and knock on the wood above Natalie’s head, alerting her to cover herself and the baby with blankets she’d brought from the house. Noah and Harrison went so far as to reload the bed with food to make the blanketed bundle in the middle look more inconspicuous. Jake put the side of his head to his momma’s chest and let the gentle rocking of the wagon lull him to sleep. Just in case things got hairy, Doreen kept her satchel open and next to her, making it easy to pull her gun.
She followed Harrison, who retrieved Noah’s rig, which carried Sarah and Isaac in a fashion similar to Natalie and Jake. Sarah kept Delbert Johnson’s gun by her side, while Harrison could grab Noah’s shotgun stowed in the driver’s compartment. The ride seemed smooth. Still, they traveled the open countryside and remained exposed. All they desired was for Henderson’s first few buildings to appear on the horizon. The first would be Doctor Richardson’s office, and, hopefully, sanc
tuary. Somewhere, unseen in the brush and behind fir trees, Noah rode Wilbur and kept an eye on the nascent wagon train.
“So then why’d you let him shoot me and kick me for as long as he did? I mean, the gun did work,” Natalie said.
“I took up in the outhouse to figure out what was wrong with the damn thing. Believe me, I’d have busted out of there in a heartbeat if I was certain it would’ve fired. But I wasn’t. I had a clear shot at him through a hole in the outhouse. I was worried he’d see the barrel sticking out at him. Good thing it blended in. No matter how hard I pulled the trigger? Nothing. The hammers wouldn’t budge. It was torture in there watching him abuse you like that.”
“I see. I really do. And thank you for everything.”
“No need for that.”
“No, thank you not just for shooting him, but for what you did to yourself so you could plug him.”
“Oh, you mean me jumpin’ in the shithouse? Hey, survival instincts kicked in. I saw him take a gander in my direction and couldn’t risk it when I saw him point his gun at me. All I can say is this: What on earth do you people eat?”
Natalie and Doreen exploded into laughter.
“I don’t know, maybe me plopping in there rattled something loose in the shotgun. I lowered and re-cocked the hammers right before he poked his head over the hole. You know the rest. And I’d do it again if it meant saving you.”
“That’s sweet, seeing you barely even know me, Doreen.”
“I don’t know you, but I can tell you and Noah are decent. That’s enough for me. I just wish there were more of your type around this place.”
“That makes two of us.” Natalie waited for her to continue the chat but saw Doreen focusing straight ahead—at Harrison, she presumed—and saw a look of worry.
“He stopped.” Doreen, likewise, reined in her horse.
“Why?”
“Don’t know. He’s looking around. I think he saw something.”
“What’s around here?” Natalie tried lifting herself up to see.
“Stay down.”
Natalie let her body go limp. She stroked Jake’s head to keep him asleep. And she listened.
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