Thistle and Twigg

by Mary Saums

As we walked past the leader, Phoebe gasped. “Did you kill him?”

  “No. Now come along,” I said. I put an arm around her to hurry her. As we stepped to the side of the cabin, I glanced at the other prone man with the snake tattoo.

  “What about Hank?” Phoebe said. “Is he dead?”

  “No, of course not.” I paused. “His name is Hank?” I said, as I eyed the snake on his arm and thought of Cal’S last words.

  A sudden rustling of leaves in the near distance caught our attention. Footsteps crackled dried leaves and twigs as someone approached from the forest trail that led to CaL’S house. This person wasn’t trying to make a surprise visit.

  I herded Phoebe and Shelley across the clearing and up the ridge toward the two great trees, stopping behind the nearest boulder. I leaned out just enough to see, my gun raised, as a man came into view. He walked to the edge of the clearing.

  Phoebe pushed by me before I knew what was happening. “Oh, my Lord, are we glad to see you!” she said, her arms up in the air, her orange rifle hanging off one shoulder by the strap and bouncing on her hip as she approached Chalmers Wade, who looked quite out of place wearing a three-piece suit in the woods.

  “What in the world is going on out here?” the lawyer said on seeing Hank and the leader unconscious. I walked from behind the boulder, stepping slowly the AR-15 held low

  Chalmers put his hands up in the air quickly when he saw my rifle trained on him. “Whoa there, Miz Thistle! Easy with that thing!” He laughed a little as he spoke, his wide trademark smile lighting up his face, which showed the slightest bit of fright. His expression changed to worry when he fully realized the size of my gun.

  When Phoebe reached him, she flung her arms up and around his neck, planting a loud kiss on his cheek. She pointed toward Hank. “That guy abducted Shelley,” she said. “I saw the whole thing. He forced her into a van. I followed them.” She panted and tried to catch her breath.

  “What! Honey,” Chalmers said, “bless your heart, you’ve been through it haven’t you? I was coming to see Cal and heard a police dispatch on my scanner that something was going on out here.”

  Shelley also ran past me into her employer’s arms. Phoebe backed away and walked toward me beside the round homemade archery target. She leaned on it as she wiped sweat from her hairline. Her gun hung loosely from her shoulder.

  “Shelley, sweetheart,” Chalmers said, rocking her back and forth. He held her away from him and brushed a strand of auburn hair gently from her face, then wiped a tear running down her cheek.

  With his large hands on her shoulders, he turned her to face us. “Miz Thistle, Miz Twigg,” he said, as he reached inside his jacket, brought out a gun, and moved it up to Shelley’s temple. “I must ask you ladies to kindly drop your weapons.”

  Phoebe screamed. When she saw Chalmers’ gun, her body shook violently from head to toe, causing her rifle to slide off her shoulder and to the ground.

  He was an intelligent coward. All but his face, which he pressed against Shelley’s cheek, was hidden behind her tall form. If only a bit more space were between them, I might have risked a shot. I could see no way to take him out without possible harm coming to Shelley. Would he really do it? I hadn’t the option of calling his bluff. I reluctantly took each strap from over my head and dropped the AR-15 first, then the G-3.

  “Turn around. Let’s take a little walk.” He motioned in the direction of the two great trees. And the bluffs.

  Not good. I did not want to leave those guns. Nor did I want to turn around.

  “You don’t think the police will find it odd that three women just happened to fall off the cliffs at the same time? That they won’t find some sort of evidence against you?”

  He laughed. “How could they when I’m not here? I’m at my office at the moment. No reason to suspect me of anything. And it will just be two women. You two.”

  “I wasn’t talking about evidence that you were here. I meant in paperwork. In Cal’s handwriting.”

  A few moments passed. He shook his head. “Nothing suspicious about a man’s lawyer looking through his papers. If there’s anything to find, I will. You’re grasping at straws. You two will fall. The police will assume one of you tried to rescue the other with no success. It could be days, weeks before you’re found. Shelley will have a different fate. So far as her travel agent knows, she’s on vacation. Or the police will conclude she was abducted and killed by paramilitary extremists. I haven’t decided yet.”

  “A group of which you are the real boss,” I said.

  He shrugged. “Only in the sense that I hired them. I’m much too well bred to be one of them.”

  “But they served your purpose, eh? They made a good cover for shooting Cal. You’re thinking that will make your takeover of his estate most convenient. Of course, the police will see through that just as I do.” He shook his head and laughed. “You killed Cal, didn’t you, Mr. Wade?”

  Phoebe gasped. “Cal is dead?”

  “You’re a sharp lady, Miz Thistle. And, by the way, thank you for the loan of your gun.”

  I paused. Could this be true? “You took one of my guns? To frame me for Cal’s murder?”

  “They were all so tempting, lying there on your couch after the good detective brought them back to you.”

  Though I couldn’t see his weapon well enough to identify it as my own, I knew he spoke the truth. He was in the house just after my guns were returned. He took one when no one was watching. “And now you wish to kill the only three people who knew Cal wanted to sell his land to me. So you can take it.”

  “I’ve worked for it. It should be mine. I’ve looked after that old man for years when he’s had no one else. With you gone, his land will be mine. We need developments here, businesses to bring in jobs. I can do that right here. And if I have to cut down a few trees to put a few million dollars into my pocket, I can do that, too.”

  “And destroy everything around us. Forest, animals, history. Legally. Or not so legally if you must, eh?”

  He moved his gun and held it out straight at shoulder height. It wasn’t much of an improvement. He still held Shelly too close. Even if I had time to reach back for the gun in my waistband and fire it, I had no clear shot. I’d have to try something else, something even more risky.

  Phoebe looked to me. Tears mingled with sweat that covered her face. She wiped her cheeks, then flung her arms out and embraced me, crying into my shoulder. “Good-bye, Jane. I wanted us to be best friends for a long time. Now we won’t get to be.”

  I had to suppress the urge to laugh out loud. Even in the worst circumstances, Phoebe had a way of lifting my spirits just by being herself. I hugged her and said, “Don’t worry, dear. He won’t shoot. Bullets would give the police a trail to follow. A multi-million-dollar land deal can’t be conducted from prison.”

  His worried look changed to relief. “When the police find this gun, it will have the dishonorably discharged ex-Marine’s fingerprints on it.” He nodded toward the man out cold on the porch.

  “You killed Cal,” Phoebe said, as she gave him a fiery look. “And you’re going to kill us? You’re a sorry excuse of a man, Chalmers Wade.” She still trembled but a bit of fight was now in her voice. “Your good-hearted grandmama is turning over in her grave right now. Why, she would tan your hide.”

  “Touching, Miz Twigg, but even Granny’s disapproval doesn’t make me feel a bit worse. By the way, she also disapproved of redheaded floozies like you who can’t mind their own business.”

  Phoebe’s infuriated utterances were most unladylike. She suddenly reached to the ground, scooped up a rock and threw it at Chalmers. He started to laugh but never got the chance for I took the small distraction and used it knowing I must act before it was too late.

  I rushed him, arms out. He pivoted slightly, took aim, but was too late. I reached across Shelley and grabbed the gun with both my hands pushing it straight up. While close to his body, I delivered several kicks to his legs. He let
go of Shelley. When I felt her body move away, I kneed his groin. He dropped his pistol when he doubled over. I kicked it away from us. Before I could reach behind my back for my own gun, he half stood and threw a left hook into my face.

  The pain was staggering. I fell backward into the round target knocking it over. I lay over it a moment, stunned, trying to get up, for I could see Chalmers as he lunged for and reached the AR-15 I’d thrown to the ground.

  Just then, a shot rang out. Both Chalmers and I froze momentarily. Neither of us had weapons. Neither had been shot.

  I looked to my left to see Phoebe falling backward from the kick of the orange rifle she’d retrieved. She was off balance and fell to one knee but she still held the gun loosely, her finger on the trigger. Not a comforting sight.

  She righted herself, shouldered the rifle, aimed in Chalmers’ general vicinity, and fired again. The bullet hit a boulder about two yards away, ricocheted, and pierced the back of the straw dummy. By this time, I’d managed to scramble to my feet. I stepped to her side as I withdrew the pistol from my waistband and prepared to shoot.

  Just then, a rush of cool autumn wind blew between the two great trees from the direction of the ceremonial hall. Scents of pine and turning leaves, sweeter and stronger than before, swept across our faces, and the most amazing, unbelievable event in my sixty-seven years played out before me.

  Time and the world ground to an abrupt halt, then moved again in super-slow motion. Everything came into sharp focus. My brain’s survival instinct was to sharpen the senses and heighten reality. Why, then, I thought, was my imagination in overdrive as well? For something more was at work here. The air sparkled with a golden yellow tint specked throughout with reflective bits like metallic dust.

  A mockingbird swooped down into the breeze. Its slow dip and rise, dip and rise, its haunting melody and repetition, the branches around us swaying in a strange manner like arms of a maestro conducting, all stood out in vivid detail. It was a multidimensional symphony, expanded for all senses, as overpowering as the Maiden’s Tears in its artistic perfection.

  Even Chalmers and the deadly weapon he held, brought up slowly to point at Phoebe, seemed an orchestrated and inevitable part of it. These flights of fancy were not like me, were not in my training. I gave myself a mental shake yet the sparkling air was still there, and looked thicker as I stared at the AR-15’s barrel and leveled my own gun at Chalmers.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a movement of orange and of Phoebe moving slightly forward. The air pulsed and glittered around her. I stepped toward her meaning to knock her aside out of the AR-15’s path as I aimed at Chalmers.

  In the heavy golden air, three shots fired simultaneously.

  I leaned toward Phoebe but I felt a gentle pressure hold me back, ever so slightly just enough that the bullet Chalmers fired at Phoebe missed me by no more than an inch.

  When Phoebe fired, her rifle once again gave her a good kick. An accumulation of glistening air thickened at her side like a barrier. She tipped in the opposite direction. The bullet Chalmers intended for her missed and embedded itself in one of the two great trees, the huge oak, behind her.

  My shot found its target and lodged between Chalmers’ upper chest and collarbone making him twist away in pain and fall backward.

  Phoebe’s shot had an even more dramatic end. I didn’t see it hit a boulder but I heard it ping. As Chalmers fell, I looked toward the sound and when I did I saw the air gleaming in golden strands that caught her bullet and whipped it up with the speed and force of a hurricane wind, high into a limb of the other great tree, the maple, just overhead. The limb, long as a car and its branches as wide, snapped and fell heavily on Chalmers covering him completely with red leaves.

  Nothing stirred beneath the massive limb. No part of Chalmers could be seen. Only the barrel of the AR-15 stuck out from underneath the mass of leaves. My heart jumped as I hurried to retrieve it. Phoebe came forward to my side. She stood with her weapon trained on the heap should Chalmers emerge. I did likewise with the AR-15.

  We spoke at once. “Are you all right?”

  We laughed a moment, both still shaking, but sobered quickly as the sound of running feet came nearer through the woods.

  “Police! Hold your fire!” Detective Waters yelled as he came into view.

  “Don’t shoot, detective!” I yelled. “We’re putting down our weapons.” I let mine drop and put my hands in the air. Phoebe followed suit.

  Detective Waters held his handgun straight out as he surveyed the scene. He paused at the two prone militia men as he came toward us. He saw Shelley huddled behind a tree and ordered a female officer over to help the stunned and silent young woman.

  “Chalmers tried to kill us!” Phoebe shouted.

  “Where is he? Is he armed?”

  “Not anymore,” Phoebe said. We pointed to the fallen branch, now moving a bit as Chalmers stirred beneath it. Detective Waters motioned for his men to cover it.

  “How did you know to come?” I asked.

  “The patrol officer I put near your house came back from another call and saw Chalmers’ car enter Cal’s place. He radioed me. I told him to follow. He found a man unconscious near the house.”

  Detective Waters looked again at the two men on the ground in the clearing. He looked at Phoebe then at me. He grimaced as he took in the bruises and cuts on our faces then he smiled. I shrugged.

  In the distance beyond the detective’s head, I saw a man standing in the trees. He was not a policeman. He stared at me with large dark eyes. His black hair fell down over bare shoulders. His skin was a burnished red. One hand with the palm turned toward me came up in greeting. His other arm was disfigured. I wanted to go to him but was stopped by an amazing sight. As he brought down his hand, his body shimmered then became transparent. It morphed into a ball of glittering particles that, in a flash, swooped upward to a pine branch and came to rest as a mockingbird. It trilled, cocking its head as it eyed me. Though able to fly away, it did so with a curious dipping movement, something I attributed to its one damaged wing.

  “All right. Everything’s okay now, ladies,” the detective said, still taking in every detail of the area. He holstered his gun while noting the AR-15. He did a double take when he saw Phoebe’s unusual orange rifle.

  “Good,” Phoebe said. She strode to the mound of leaves, saw it move again, and kicked it viciously Chalmers grunted.

  “Phoebe, don’t!” I said, worried she might be charged with assault. She, apparently, was not worried in the least in spite of being surrounded by police officers.

  She kicked again resulting in a louder cry of pain. “I’m not hurting him,” she said to me. “Hey, Rich Boy.” This she addressed to the leaves. “I reckon next time you see a lady with a loaded AK-46 and a half, you won’t call her a floozy.” She bit her bottom lip and kicked harder than ever. “And that’s for your sorry grandmama.”

  Detective Waters had made his way to Phoebe. He gently put his hands on her shoulders. “Calm down, Miz Twigg. We’re going to take good care of him, don’t you worry. Now,” he said looking all around the clearing and the nearby woods. “Are there any other bad guys around I need to know about? That y’all haven’t already knocked out?”

  thirty -three

  Jane Gets the Scoop

  The next morning, Hank came to my house for breakfast. To our surprise, he was a very nice young man. Phoebe sat close to him and kept filling his coffee cup. “So you and Cal knew each other? Why didn’t Cal tell us?”

  Hank patted his lips with his napkin. He’d had a shave and haircut since we saw him last. He looked quite presentable, which made me regret having knocked him unconscious all the more.

  “We talked a few times, yes, but he didn’t know I was working undercover. When things got out of hand, he called us at the ATF. He didn’t trust the local police.”

  “Were the others in the survivalist group local as well?” I asked.

  “No. Chalmers hired the leader, Tr
ent Smith, an ex-Marine from Indiana. They met on a hunting trip in Montana several months ago. He told him to find a few rednecks who wanted to play soldier. I’d been sent in some months before that since ATF wanted to get someone close to him. Trent’s a suspect in several military-base robberies across the country.

  “Trent says he was told to lean on Cal hard. We think Chalmers hoped the stress would do Cal in though he hasn’t admitted that yet. So, Trent was being paid to harass Cal, and he also saw an opportunity to extort money from him, not something in the original plan.”

  Phoebe took a sip of coffee and said, “So, Chalmers gave the order and y’all took Shelley. You weren’t in on my house bomb, were you?” she said, giving him a stern look.

  “No, ma’am. I didn’t know anything about it. Trent took that upon himself, too.”

  “What a relief,” Phoebe said. “You sure had me fooled.”

  “Treenie Dodd had been buying drugs from him,” Hank said. “She told him you and Mrs. Thistle found the man he killed and that you knew more about it than you were telling.”

  Phoebe slapped the table and stood. “Oooh, when I get my hands on that blond-headed little …”

  I put a hand on her arm. “Try not to get upset, dear. I’m sure the police will take good care of her. Hank, was the poor young man we found also part of the survivalist group?”

  “Yes. Trent caught him stealing guns, guns already stolen from a Navy base, and killed him. Chalmers didn’t like it when he heard but he used the situation to make things worse for Cal. He told Smith to move the body to Cal’s firing range.”

  I sighed. “That’s a horrible way to treat a friend.”

  “Money does that to you. He needed Cal’s land for several major manufacturers who wanted to come to the area. They were about to choose another site in southern Alabama. Chalmers was offered an easy five million just to smooth out the land deal. Today, we’re bringing in the manager at the Bank of Tulluluh for questioning. We think he was in on the deal, too; possibly he was promised that some juicy financing would go through his bank.”