by Carrie Carr
Closing the door, Amanda turned around and leveled her gaze at Charlie. "It's only us in here, now. What are the charges, and how soon can I take her home?"
He closed the folder on his desk. "Have a seat, Amanda." After she sat next to Martha, Charlie did his best to explain the situation to them. "I'll give Thomas one thing, he fills out a very thorough report. He even called the hospital to get a rundown on Hubert's condition. This isn'st going to be easy. I can'st find any mistakes here."
"So? Lex didn'st do anything; it doesn'st matter," Amanda said confidently. "This is all a big misunderstanding, right?"
"I hope so." Charlie looked back at the report. "But, we'd better get her a lawyer. This isn'st something that's going to be cleared overnight, I'm afraid."
Martha jumped to her feet. "This is ridiculous. Lexie always owns up to her mistakes. If she says she didn'st do it, she didn'st do it." She put her hands on her hips and glared at the paperwork in front of her husband. "I don't give a rat's hind end what that idiot says, I'm going to get to the bottom of this." She spun and stomped from the room, slamming the door behind her.
Charlie thought Martha was taking things better than he had expected. "As soon as Lex gets back in here, I can give you a couple of minutes alone; but I'm afraid I'll have to lock her up for the evening."
"Thank you, Charlie. I appreciate what you'sve done for her so far. This has got to be terrible for you, too." Amanda stood, walked around his desk, and gave the lawman a hug. "We'll get through it."
"Already found someone else, huh?" Lex teased from the doorway. Looking around the room, she asked, "Where's Martha?"
Amanda gave Charlie one last squeeze and stepped away. "She needed some air, I think."
"I'll go look for her." Charlie stopped at the door. "I'll give you girls a couple of minutes alone."
Lex held Amanda close. "Been one of those days, hasn'st it?"
"You can say that again," Amanda sniffled. "Charlie said I'd better get you a lawyer. Do you think it's going to come to that?"
"I hope not. But, it might be best to call Melvin Taft, anyway. His number is in my wallet." The last time she had seen the young attorney, he had excitedly given her his newly-printed business card. Not thinking, Lex had placed it in her wallet. At the thought of spending the night away from Amanda, she swallowed the lump in the throat.
Feeling the body pressed against hers stiffen, Amanda looked into her face. "Lex?" She saw the rigid set of Lex's jaw, which normally signaled Lex's upset. "Hey, look at me."
As she dropped her gaze, Lex was caught up in Amanda's shining eyes. "Hmm?"
"I understand you're upset and scared." She saw the look of consternation cross Lex's features. "I'm scared, too. But we're going to get through this. You and me together, there's nothing we can'st do." She buried her face in her lover's shirt, prolonging the contact for as long as possible before they would have to be separated.
Chapter Nine
EXTREME PAIN WAS the first thing that registered as he returned to consciousness. Hubert opened the one eye that wasn'st swollen shut and looked about. The sterile environment made him realize he was in a hospital. When he took a deep breath to speak, the pain almost caused him to pass out again.
"I see you're awake," a voice observed quietly. "Let me go get the doctor." The nurse hurried from the room.
Moments later, the physician arrived, a serious look on his face. "Mr. Walters, good. I'm glad to see you're back with us." When the injured man opened his mouth to speak, the doctor waved his hand. "No, no. You need to be quiet, young man. Your injuries aren'st life-threatening, but they will be painful for a while."
A knock on the door caused the doctor to turn away, as Deputy Thomas stepped into the room. "Doctor, I heard Mr. Walters was awake. Is there any way I can have a word with him?"
"Only for a moment, Deputy. Then I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave."
"Thank you." The deputy stood next to the bed. The cuts, which had bled so badly were stitched closed, yet the injured man looked terrible. "I'll make this as brief as possible, Mr. Walters. If you could nod or shake your head, I need to ask you a few questions."
Hubert nodded.
"When I first saw you in your office, you told me your sister did this to you. Correct?" At the man's agreement, he looked at his notes. "Good. You have nothing to worry about, she's already been taken into custody. Are you willing to file charges, sir?" Another emphatic gesture. "Excellent. I'm going to let you get some rest. If there's anything else I can do for you, give me a call. I'll leave my card on this table." Deputy Thomas left the room, whistling a tune to himself.
Painful as it was, Hubert smiled. He wished he could have seen the look on his sister's face when she was arrested.
The doctor returned to the room. "While you're awake, I thought I'd go over your injuries. We'll have to keep you here for a couple of days, to make sure there's no internal damage. Believe me, Mr.
Walters, it looks and feels a lot worse than it actually is." He took the chart and studied it for a moment. "You have two broken ribs, a concussion, numerous cuts on your face which required stitches, and I'm afraid you're missing several teeth. On the bright side, your jaw is only bruised, not broken, and we'sve already set your broken nose." The doctor closed the chart. "Due to the stitches in your mouth, it will be difficult for you to form words. As soon as the swelling has gone, you should be able to speak. Until then, I'll leave a notepad with you so you can communicate. Do you want me to contact anyone for you?"
Hubert shook his head.
"All right. Give the nurse a buzz if you need anything. I'll be back to check on you in the morning." He replaced the chart at the foot of the bed and left the room.
LEX EYED THE small room with trepidation. "No bars?" Butterflies the size of tanks were flying around in her stomach, and her weak attempt at humor did nothing to alleviate her fear.
"Nope. We remodeled a couple of years ago, and have these lovely semi-private rooms, instead." Ginny unlocked the heavy door and opened it. "We're not full at the busiest of times, so you'll be by yourself. don't worry, it's not so bad. You can sit back and enjoy a little peace and quiet for a while."
"Right." Lex stepped into the small room and looked around. She was holding a folded blanket against her chest and was suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling of the walls closing in on her. She swallowed hard as the door closed and locked. The square window in the center of the door insured her little privacy, but at least it gave her something to look through.
She dropped the blanket onto the steel cot that protruded out from one wall. Sitting on the chilled surface, Lex took a deep breath and tried to calm her pounding heart. She stood again and began to pace the small room. "Hubert told them it was me who beat him up. I wish. Jackass." Shaking her head at the negative thoughts, she started pacing again. "I don't have an alibi, since I went to the stupid car wash to clean up. There's got to be some way to prove it wasn'st me."
Lex stopped in her tracks. "Wait a minute. If I supposedly beat him so badly, then my clothes would have blood on them." She hurried over to the door and looked out the window. She had to get word to Amanda before she put the clothes in the wash. She began to beat on the door. "Hey. I need to talk to the sheriff," she yelled, trying to catch someone's attention. "Hello? Can anybody hear me?"
IT WAS ONE o'clock in the morning. Amanda noticed Martha was busy baking something. They had come back to the rental house after Lex had been taken away, and both women were trying to figure out some way to expose Hubert's lies. Amanda sat at the dining room table writing notes on a yellow pad, while Martha cleaned and baked. Angrily tossing her pen, Amanda jumped from the table. "This is ridiculous." As her chair fell to the floor behind her, she covered her face with her hands and burst into tears.
Martha dropped her spoon into the mixing bowl and rushed to the other side of the room. She brought Amanda into her arms and began to rock her back and forth. "Hush, child. Everything's going to be fine, y
ou'll see." She held Amanda as she cried, whispering words of comfort and rubbing her back.
Finally getting her emotions under control, Amanda sniffled one last time and pulled away from her. "Thanks, Martha. I guess I needed that." She ran one hand through her hair. "Maybe I need to be busy. I think I'll gather our laundry." Before she could leave the room, the telephone rang. She raced for the phone and picked it up before it could ring again. "Hello?"
"Miss Cauble? This is Melvin Taft. You left an urgent message for me?" He had returned home from a late dinner with friends and was glad he'd remembered to check his answering machine before going to bed.
Amanda mouthed to Martha, "Lawyer." She directed her attention to the telephone. "Thank you for calling back so quickly, Mr. Taft."
"Please, call me Mel. Mr. Taft is my grandfather. Your message said something about Lex needing my help?"
"I'm afraid so. Her brother was found beaten in his office this evening, and he told the deputy Lex did it."
"Damn." He paused a moment for the information to sink in. "They arrested her?"
Allowing the housekeeper to lead her to a chair, Amanda sat. "Yes, they did. The deputy is a transfer from another county. He didn'st even let her get dressed, but took her out in her bare feet and pajamas."
"Don't get mad for me asking this, but did she do it?" He had to know, so he could figure out his defense strategy.
"Of course not," Amanda yelled into the phone. "I'm sorry, Mel. It's been a long evening."
Melvin believed it was only going to get longer. "That's quite all right, Miss Cauble. You'sve been under a lot of stress today. Does she have an alibi for the time in question?"
"Please call me Amanda. And no, she had been at the ranch supervising the construction and was on the way home. Of course, she had a flat tire, and locked her keys in the truck, and--"
"Hold on. I'm going to have to write all this down." He paused for a moment, and cleared his throat. "It's late, but would you mind if
I came over? I think this would be easier face-to-face."
Amanda covered the mouthpiece on the phone and looked at Martha. "He wants to come over to discuss Lex's case." She spoke into the handset. "That would be great, Mel. I think Martha's even baked something sweet, and we'sve got a fresh pot of coffee on."
"All right. It's settled. If you'll give me your address, I'll be over in a few minutes."
After giving the lawyer meticulous directions to the house, Amanda hung up the phone. "He said he'll be here in ten minutes," she shared with Martha. "Do you think I have time to start some laundry? The clothes Lex had on earlier probably need a good soak to get all the mud out of them. I may as well get them started."
"CALM DOWN IN there," the new jailer on duty yelled, slamming his metal baton against Lex's cell door. "You're disturbing everyone else with all your noise. Go lie down and get some sleep."
Angered at the man's attitude, Lex continued to slam her hands against the thick glass. "Go get the sheriff," she yelled, her voice becoming hoarse with overuse. "It's an emergency."
He peeked into the window and glared at her. "I don't give a good goddamn what your problem is. don't make me come in there and put restraints on you."
Another jailer moved into the hallway. "What's going on here, Dave?" He noticed the woman in the window. "Lex? What the hell is she doing in there?"
"You know this lunatic?" Dave asked. "She keeps screaming about needing to see the sheriff."
"I'd listen to her if I were you, Dave. Her mother's married to Charlie."
Dave knew he should have called in sick tonight. "Crap. Do you think she's in here by mistake?"
"I don't know. Open up, and we'll see what she wants." Dan stood back as Dave unlocked the door. "Hi, Lex. What on earth are you doing in here?"
Lex stood inside the cell, afraid to come out after the way the other jailer had spoken to her. "Long story, Dan. Is there some way I can see Charlie? Or at least get a message to him?"
"Why don't I take you upstairs to see him? He's in his office." With Lex here, Dan knew why the sheriff was working so late. "Come on. I don't have to chain you, do I?"
"No. I'll behave," Lex whispered, her voice almost gone. "Thanks, Dan. I owe you one."
"Don't mention it." He motioned for her to walk in front of him as they left the row of cells. Dan rubbed his slight beer belly. "Just don't take off running. I could never catch you." Leading Lex to an upstairs interrogation room, he opened the door. "I can'st let you back into the offices, but if you'll wait in here, I'll go get the sheriff for you."
Lex looked around the small room. One table and a couple of folding chairs were all that could fit inside. It was even smaller than the cell she recently vacated. "Guess I don't have much choice, huh?"
" Fraid not." He waited until she was seated. "I'm going to have to lock you in, but we'll be back in a flash." Dan closed the door and hurried off to find Charlie.
"Wonderful. I traded one box for another." Lex stood and paced around the room. Seeing the large mirrored glass on one wall, she smiled slightly. "Just like on TV," she murmured, touching the glass with her index finger.
Moments later, the door opened and a very tired looking sheriff walked in. "What's going on? Dan said you were raising a ruckus downstairs." He sat in one of the chairs and motioned for her to join him at the table. "It's no picnic, but you have to--"
"Charlie, wait. I wanted you to get the clothes I wore today from Amanda. If Hubert was beaten as badly as the deputy led me to believe, then whoever did it--"
"Would have his blood on them," Charlie finished for her. "Damn, I must be getting old. Why didn'st I think of that?" He stood from the table so quickly his chair fell over. "Wait right here, I'm going to go make a quick phone call."
She watched him rush from the room. "Like I can go anywhere." Lex crossed her arms on the table in front of her and laid her head upon them.
AMANDA WAS CARRYING a large hamper full of laundry to the garage when the phone rang. "Could you get that, Martha? I want to get these filthy clothes soaking, before they dry completely," she yelled.
Martha heard Amanda's request and grabbed the phone in the kitchen. "Hello? Charlie? How is everything?"
"Hi. I don't have a lot of time, but could you have Amanda take the clothes Lex wore today and set them aside? It's important."
"Well, sure. Does Lexie need more clothes? We can always bring--" Understanding of the situation dawned on her. "The clothes, of course! Oh, no. Hold on a minute." Martha dropped the phone and raced through the house. "Amanda! don't wash those clothes." She reached the garage as Amanda was about to pile the muddy clothes into the washing machine. "Wait!"
Amanda shrieked and fell back away from the machine onto her rear end. "Good grief, Martha, you scared me half to death. What's wrong with you?"
"I'm sorry." Martha offered her hand to Amanda. "Charlie needs the clothes Lexie was wearing this evening."
She stood and rubbed her backside. "Ow." She picked up the discarded hamper and took the damp jeans and shirt from inside. "They're nasty, but he's welcome to them." Amanda piled the messy garments next to the washing machine and glared at her. "You scared the crap out of me, hollering like that."
"I didn'st mean to, honest. But Charlie's hoping the lack of blood on Lexie's clothes will prove she didn'st thrash that no-good brother of hers." Her eyes widened. "Oh, poop. Charlie's still on the phone." She charged from the garage.
"I had no idea she could move so fast." Amanda dropped the hamper and followed her back to the kitchen.
DREAMS OF EXPENSIVE cars and beautiful women floated through his subconscious as Hubert lie resting in the semi-private hospital room. The other bed was empty, so no one noticed as a tall figure slipped into the room and pulled the privacy curtain around the occupied bed. A hand around his throat woke the resting man, who was groggy from all the drugs in his system.
"Shhh," the man standing over the bed whispered. "Damn, Walters, you look like someone kicked
your ass." He was proud of his handiwork.
The partially open eye looked around wildly. "Wha--" Hubert rasped, barely able to speak.
"The only reason I didn'st kill your sorry ass earlier was because you owe me money," the man informed him. "We tried to help you out, running your sister off the road New Year's Eve. You keep promising to pay us, or I would have put you in here sooner. We ruined our boss's truck, too. You were supposed to pay for all the repairs, remember?"
"Didn'd pollow dhrough," Hubert wheezed. "She's sdill alibe."
"You stupid asshole. You never told us to kill her, only mess her up a little." He leaned to get in Hubert's face. "I may look stupid, and talk stupid," he thumped the end of the swollen nose in front of him to make his point, getting a perverse thrill out of the moan of pain from the bedridden man, "but I ain'st stupid, Walters. You'd best be figuring out how to pay me, or this," he indicated the bed, "is going to look like a paper cut."
Hubert blinked the tears of pain from his eye. "I don'd habe id." Seeing the man's face darken with fury, he stammered, "B...b...bud, I can ged id. I jusd need your helb."
The man moved back slightly. "You'sve got to be shitting me, boy. Do I look like someone who wants to help you?"
"W...waid. The wanch is word a vordune."
"So? I've seen where you live, Walters. You ain'st got the ranch."
The large man began to crack his knuckles as he paced around the room. "What are you trying to say?"
Inhaling a painful breath, Hubert groaned. "Ib anydin's were do habben do my sisder, I'd be de sole heir do de wanch. And--"
"And if you were the sole heir, you'd have all the money." The man slapped at a covered foot, ignoring the hiss of pain from the man on the bed. "So, what do you have in mind?"