“Me and Glenn and Snake saw Gloria Reeve’s body,” I said, so fast I wasn’t sure if they even understood me.
Daddy lowered the book he was reading and peered at me over the top of his reading glasses.
“What did you say?” he asked, laying the book on the arm of his chair.
“I said we found Gloria’s body in one of the caves in the ridges of the Portersville Gap. We pulled her out of the water and she was dead. We were about to leave and go get help when we heard somebody comin’. It was Jake and James Bullard. We hid behind some rocks in the cave and I watched them and heard what they said. James had killed her and put her in the cave and they had both come back to get the body.”
I went on to explain in detail what Jake had said about the sheriff but that I’d either heard him wrong or that he was just talking foolishness, because the sheriff was going all out trying to find her. I told him and Momma that we had been afraid to tell anybody about it, thinking at first that the sheriff might somehow be involved and worrying about what the Bullard’s would do to us if they found out we saw them. I of course didn’t mention anything about talking to Madge Harper and made Snake swear he wouldn’t either.
“Junior, I can’t believe you kept information like that to yourself,” Daddy said, a little anger and a lot of disappointment in his voice. “That poor family has grieved themselves almost to death and still believe there might be a possibility their daughter is alive. Not to mention the hours of searchin’ the sheriff and volunteers have put in tryin’ to find her and the money that’s been spent. Why did you not tell me? Your own daddy. Did you not trust me to do the right thing?”
I explained to Daddy how afraid I was for my life as well as his and Momma’s. Those Bullards were capable of anything, and I thought the sheriff might be protecting them. I told him it almost drove me crazy knowing, yet being afraid to tell him, because I knew he’d call the sheriff or some other law enforcement as soon as I told him. After hearing the whole story, Momma started to side with me, telling Daddy that was a lot for a fourteen year old boy to have to carry around. She told him that I was probably in shock anyway, after finding another dead body. I had certainly found more bodies in the last two months than most people did in a lifetime. Most people would go their whole life and never find one. I had found three. And all in the same summer.
Daddy listened to Momma and then looked at me. I was almost in tears, which was very rare for me.
“Well, I guess you two have a good point. And son, I know you must have been scared to death worryin’ about what the Bullards might do. I’m sorry you got caught up in something like this, but in a way I guess it’s good that you did. If you hadn’t, nobody may have ever known what happened to the poor girl.” He let out a long sigh and got up out of his chair.
“C’mon,” he said to me, slowly walking toward the front door, “we better go see the sheriff.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Sheriff White didn’t interrupt me a single time when I told him the story of what happened that day in the cave. I, of course, omitted everything Jake Bullard had said about him. The sheriff didn’t give me any furtive looks of disbelief or condescension like a lot of folks would have, hearing such a sensational tale from a young teenager. When I finished, he sat there for a few minutes rubbing both eyes with the heels of his hands.
“Are you one-hundred percent positive that the men you saw and heard were Jake and James Bullard?” The sheriff asked this as he was looking through his desk drawers to find a legal pad.
“I’m as sure as I can possibly be, Sheriff. I’ve known them all my life.”
“Remember now, you were in a cave and that’s the hardest place on earth to see anything. And sounds can git distorted, too, especially when there’s water runnin’ like you said it was over that waterfall.”
“I know, sheriff. But I could see the Bullard’s faces well from their flashlights and I know I heard them plain.”
“I ain’t doubting him, George,” the sheriff said, turning his attention to my daddy. “But right now it’s just gonna be his word against Jake Bullard’s and his boys. The only other proof is the body which might not ever be found.”
“I understand, Sheriff. It’s a very serious accusation and you shouldn’t take it lightly. But I know my son and I know he would never lie to me or anybody else. Especially about something as serious as this.”
“I know he wouldn’t, George. Hell, I’ve known him since he was born and know he’s gonna be a good man just like his daddy is and his granddaddy was. But it ain’t as easy as him convincing me. He’s gotta convince a jury and them Bullards have got good lawyers and they will use everything you can think of, and a lot of things you can’t, to create a reasonable doubt.”
What the sheriff just said struck me like a bolt of lightning. “You mean I gotta testify?” I asked incredulously. “I’ve gotta sit right there in front of those Bullards and tell everybody what they did and what they said?” I could just see me sitting there squirming in a chair like a worm on a hot stove eye, while Jake Bullard was staring a hole through me. I should have thought of that before, but for some reason I hadn’t. The sheriff said what I already knew but had blocked from my mind.
“You’ve gotta testify unless you want them to go free,” the sheriff answered. “You and them other two boys are the only case we got. And you said neither one of them really saw anything ‘cause of where they were behind them rocks.”
“They didn’t see, but they heard. And when we came out from behind the rocks the body was gone. It don’t take a genius to…….”
“Junior, don’t be a smart aleck,” Daddy said, in a semi-scolding manner, “I know it’s frustratin’ and you’re scared….”
“It’s alright, George. The boys been through a lot and he’s got more to go through yet. He ain’t bein’ smart, he’s just a kid.”
The sheriff walked into the next office and told Kate to bring him and George some coffee. “Do you drink coffee, Junior?” he asked me.
“Yes sir, but I wouldn’t care for any, thank you.”
The sheriff sat back down and looked at both of us seriously. “Now this ain’t gonna be as easy as just goin’ and getting Jake and his boy and cartin’ ‘em off to prison. First I gotta convince Riley Morris, the DA, that I got enough evidence for him to prosecute. And the only real evidence I got is sittin’ right here in this room. But Riley shouldn’t be a problem, ‘cause he knows you George, and he knows George Junior comes from a good family. He prob’ly knows old Roscoe Burt pretty good, too. Then he’s gotta git the judge to issue a warrant and a grand…….”
“I know how the process works, Andrew. We have to get an indictment from a grand jury before there is a trial. It sounds like you’re tryin’ to talk us into just forgettin’ the whole thing.”
The sheriff sat up straight in his chair, “That’s the last thing I want, George. You ought to know me better than that. That Reeve’s girl’s family is grievin’ as bad as I’ve ever seen anybody grieve in my life. When they hear their daughter is for sure dead it’s gonna be worse. But at least they’ll know, and will eventually be able to git on with things. I just don’t wanna sugar coat this thing. Them lawyers are gonna be hard on Junior here, tryin’ to twist his words around. And what if a grand jury doesn’t turn in an indictment? The people on that grand jury prob’ly won’t know who you are from Adam’s house cat. I really believe there will be an indictment, but I’d be lyin’ and you’d know it, if I told you we had a rock solid case.”
“I know, Andrew, and I apologize. I know it will be hard on our whole family. But not nearly as hard as it will be on the Reeves family.”
*****
Jake Bullard drove his truck down the little road that was very seldom used anymore for anything, except occasional teenage love and drinking. All of that usually happened in the dead of night and this was the middle of the day, so he felt they would be safe here from prying eyes. The road was on top of Lookout Mountain
and came to an end less than a hundred yards from the edge of Little River Canyon. Jake stopped his truck and sat there with James, waiting. In a few minutes, Andrew White pulled up behind them in a borrowed car. Andrew got out and walked up to the passenger door of the pickup. James scooted over to the middle of the seat to let him in.
“Well, what’s the story?” Jake asked.
“It was George Patrick’s boy, George Junior, Glenn Burt, Roscoe’s boy, and Snake Williams that found the body,” the sheriff answered.
“Well, hell. I wish it had been somebody I didn’t know so good. And ’specially somebody besides young boys. I like George Patrick. Like him a lot. Like his boy, too. And I like Roscoe Burt, but I don’t know his boy as well.”
“That ain’t all, Jake,” the sheriff said with the sound of dread in his voice.
“Well shit, Andrew. Did they have a whole damned slew of their friends with ‘em?”
“No, it was just them three. But…they… they was hid out in the cave and saw you two. And George Jr. said he heard everything you two said.”
Jake pounded his fist on the steering wheel of his pickup, then started rubbing his chin whiskers. “Them sorry-assed boys of mine is the cause of ever bit of this. They’ve already caused me more grief than their sorry hides will ever be worth. Now we gotta do something that I’m really gonna hate doin’.”
The sheriff lit a cigarette and the other two followed suit. “I can hold off ’til tomorrow about goin’ to Riley to give him my story. But I’ll have to do it by no later than mid-morning so it won’t look suspicious. You and James could git lost…….”
“Hell, Andrew. Git lost fer how long? This thang ain’t gonna blow over like it would if you caught me with a truckload of moonshine. I can’t leave my place with nobody to watch it. And whose gonna take care of the boys in Miami and Chicago? Do you think they’re just gonna shut down their operation ’til I git this thang straightened out?”
“I know, Jake. I know what you gotta do and I don’t like it one damned bit. And I don’t need to know about it either. I mean, I’ll know about it anyway, but as long as you don’t ever talk about it I can at least claim ignorance.”
“Of course you don’t need to know and you ain’t gonna know,” Jake said. “You never know when something like this has to be done and you never will.”
The three sat there in silence again, none of them knowing what to say. The sheriff could hear a slight breeze ruffling the leaves of the trees. Off in the distance he could hear a crow cawing. He saw a flock of buzzards with their wings completely extended, gliding effortlessly over the canyon . He was thinking what an appropriate sight the circling buzzards were, considering the conversation they were having. Finally, he broke the silence. “If them boys disappear, everybody’s gonna know who did it, Jake.”
“Suspect, you mean. If there ain’t no evidence or no witnesses, all they can do is suspect. You can’t arrest somebody and charge ’em with a crime ’cause you suspect they did somethin”.”
“Well, I guess there just ain’t no other way, then.”
“Yeah, there is another way,” James finally spoke up.
Jake gave his son a hopeful look. “Well, do you want to let me in on it?” he asked.
“Those boys might need a trip to the experiment station,” James answered. “Let the scientist and the nurse take care of ’em. They’ll know what to do.”
Jake had a look of dread on his face, almost as if the mention of this “Experiment Station” somehow frightened him. The sheriff couldn’t imagine what James was talking about. He thought it must have something to do with some of their associates in Chicago. Those men were all business and didn’t play games and sometimes had very creative ways to get rid of someone and not leave a trace.
“I know you ain’t gonna tell me what this experiment station is and I don’t want to know, anyway. I just don’t want those boys to suffer,” the sheriff said in a low, trembling tone.
James looked at the sheriff. “You’re right, Andrew. You really don’t want to know about this.”
Jake had been thinking fast since James had told him his idea and had formed a plan. “Okay, Andrew. Here’s what we’ll do. Go to the district attorney in the mornin’ and git your warrant from the judge. Bring three or four deputies with you when you come lookin’ fer me and James, you know, like you’re afraid we won’t go easy and you might need help. You ain’t gonna find us, of course. About four o’clock tomorrow evenin’, we are gonna turn ourselves in. We are gonna say that just as soon as we heard you were lookin’ fer us, we wanted to come in and clear our names and git to the bottom of this. Make sure the word gits around the county good, too. You know, newspaper folks and the like. If we’re in jail when something happens to them boys, they can’t charge us with it.”
The sheriff looked at both men for a long minute and then got out and drove away in the borrowed car.
“I hate like hell to git the doctor and nurse involved in this,” Jake said to James.
“You got a better idea?”
“No. No I don’t, but I wished to hell I did. It will work better than anything I could come up with. Them damned brothers of yours. I almost wish Miss Lena had shot ‘em that day in her store when that Patrick boy kicked Bruce in the nuts and put him on the floor. Now, I’ll never git a chance to thank the boy fer it.”
“It would serve ‘em right if we got Andrew to arrest ‘em fer burnin’ the William’s house down,” James said. “Of course they’d be charged with murder too, since poor old Frank was in it. How much prison time do you think they’d git?”
“A helluva lot of time. Everybody feels sorry fer that William’s family. ‘Specially that boy that’s left. Hell, I feel sorry fer ‘em. And now we gotta do away with the one that’s left. You’re right though. Burnin’ that house was just pure, downright meanness and it would serve ‘em right to have their asses thrown in prison. But it would kill your momma if that happened and I ain’t gonna cause her any more grief. Hell, she gits enough from me.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Me and Daddy got the news the next morning that the search was on for Jake Bullard and his oldest son James. I hung around Aunt Lena’s store all morning because news came in there much faster than it did on any radio or television. The news was sometimes twisted and required some verification and a lot of revisions and editing when it arrived, but it usually had at least originated from facts. To my surprise, Daddy got somebody to fill in for him to do the evening milking. It usually took a death in the family, and they had to be pretty close kin, to get Daddy away from that dairy barn. We drove up to the sheriff’s office and waited. The place was packed with people from all over the county. It was like the circus had come to town. There was even a television crew from Huntsville there with cameras and equipment spread out everywhere. I figured if one TV station was there, all the other news media couldn’t be far behind. They couldn’t let their competition outdo them.
Sheriff White would pace around nervously when he would emerge from his office. He didn’t look like he was enjoying all the attention at all. He kept telling everyone to please go home and that they were interfering with official police business. He knew he couldn’t get the TV or newspaper people to leave no matter how much hell he raised, but he was trying to avoid them at all costs. When a reporter did manage to corner him he did answer their questions cordially, however. He acted as though he wanted the media to hang around and at the same time wished they weren’t there.
The crowd began to thin down some around the middle of the afternoon. I was standing with Daddy who was talking with Sonny Collins, the mayor of Fort Kane. Just as Daddy was in the middle of one of his animated stories, there was a big commotion outside in the parking lot. I pushed my way through the people and over to one of the new storefront windows that had recently been installed. It felt as though my stomach dropped completely to my feet when I saw what I first thought was a mirage. But I knew my eyes were not playing tricks on
me, though I wished they had been. What I was seeing was Jake Bullard’s pickup truck surrounded by a mob of shocked people. A deputy was trying to push his way through the crowd but wasn’t having much luck. Jake and James couldn’t even open their doors there were so many people clinging to the truck. It reminded me of seeing famous celebrities or rock stars in their limousines on TV being mauled by adoring fans.
A gunshot rang out and people scattered like a covey of quail that had been flushed out of a clump of sage grass. I jumped like I had been hit by the unknown gunman’s bullet. I looked and saw the deputy holding his service revolver over his head. Jake and James were finally able to get out of the truck and the deputy immediately told them to put their hands above their heads. They complied, and Jake yelled to the deputy and whoever was listening, that they were there to turn themselves in and get this misunderstanding straightened out. The deputy walked cautiously toward the two men as three other deputies quickly joined him. One of the deputies told them to put their hands on the truck and to spread their legs. They capitulated without any argument as two of the deputies quickly put cuffs on them and started leading them around the building to a side door. The TV crew sprung into action, maneuvering themselves through the crowd and toward the door that Jake and James were about to enter.
As soon as the door opened, microphones were thrust in front of Jake as the reporters pushed past the deputy who was leading the way, almost knocking him off his feet.
“Mr. Bullard, what did you do with Gloria Reeve’s body? Mr. Bullard, why did you kill Gloria Reeves? Mr. Bullard, is it true you run an illegal whiskey still and sell illegal liquor? Mr. Bullard, how is your son involved?”
The questions were coming rapidly from all angles and Jake wasn’t sure who was asking what or which one to address first. Finally, his patience ran out and he yelled in a loud voice that sounded like a bear roaring, “I am innocent of any wrongdoing concernin’ this poor girl. Me and my boy came here to clear our names as soon as we heard that the sheriff was lookin’ for us. We will cooperate in every way we can in tryin’ to help the sheriff find out what really happened to the girl and we want her momma and daddy to know how terrible we feel for what they’re goin’ through. We’re a-prayin’ for them and prayin’ that the girl is found soon, safe and unharmed.”
Long Holler Road - A Dark Southern Thriller Page 16