by Donis Casey
Scott was so lost in his own thoughts that he flinched when Johnson opened the screen and stepped out onto the porch.
“My wife wants to talk to you while she still can.” Johnson did not look happy. “Lucy is near the end and I do not expect her to live but a few more days. So I’m warning you, if you upset her unnecessarily I will report you to the police and have you barred from speaking to us again.”
“I understand,” Scott said.
Johnson stood aside and Scott preceded him into the house, but when Alafair took a step forward, Johnson blocked her with an arm. “Who are you? You came to the house with Charles Tucker and his wife after Dan’s funeral.”
A salty word crossed Alafair’s mind. She had hoped to remain invisible and anonymous for as long as possible. There was no getting around it now. “My name is Alafair Tucker. I am cousin to Scott Tucker and the mother of the man falsely accused of murdering Dan.”
She half-expected Johnson to toss her off the porch on her ear. Instead he sagged, defeated. “Oh, Lord Jesus,” he murmured.
***
Lucy Johnson had shrunk to almost nothing in the few days since Scott saw her last. If Johnson hadn’t told him that his wife was at death’s door, Scott would have known it after one look. There was hardly any body left to contain her soul. She was seated on one of the wingback armchairs beside the settee, wrapped chin to toe in several quilts and blankets. A hand-knit wool cap on her head was pulled down almost to her eyebrows. If it hadn’t been for the gray, skull-like little face peeking out from all the coverings, one would never know there was a person in the chair.
Her gaze went immediately to Alafair. “Your son is the young man they have in jail up in Muskogee?” Her voice was weak and papery.
Alafair knelt down on the floor in front of the other mother and put gentle hands on her knees. “I am. But I know my boy did not kill your boy, Miz Johnson. Surely the most important thing is to be sure that Dan’s true killer is brought to justice. My son had no reason on Earth to harm Dan. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. All I want in the world is to clear his name and find out who really shot Dan.”
Scott was impressed. He knew that Alafair didn’t care in the least who shot Dan Johnson as long as she could save Gee Dub. But one would never know it from her sincere delivery. Scott didn’t think Lucy was fooled, but that didn’t seem to matter. She listened impassively while Alafair spoke, then drew a shaky breath before she said, “Miz Tucker, I don’t know if your son killed my Dan or not. I hope, for your sake, he did not. There is no pain like losing a child.”
“I do know, Miz Johnson, I do. And there is nothing that will make that pain better but time. Even then.…”
“I have no time. But I do have the knowledge that I will be reunited with my boy directly.”
Considering the way Dan Johnson had conducted his life, Alafair wasn’t entirely sure that was so. But she said, “Praise the Lord. Still, there is no room in the heaven-bound heart for vengeance. What we must seek is true justice.”
Scott was standing quietly by the front door, interested to see where Alafair was going with this.
Lucy looked up at him. “Mr. Tucker, I don’t see how it will help the investigation, but if there is a slim chance that I can provide you with some clue that will help you find out who killed my boy, even if it is this lady’s son, I will tell you what I know. Besides, it’s high time I unburden myself. ”
Fern Johnson frowned. “Mother, you’ll just tire yourself out. What can you possibly say…?”
Lucy ignored him. “Yes, I knew Dan was alive.”
Alafair sat back on her heels and Mr. Johnson made an unintelligible noise. Lucy continued. “Fern had no idea Dan was alive, Sheriff Tucker. Not then. I was the only one who knew that it wasn’t him buried up in Boynton. Dan came to Okmulgee back in December, snuck into town and came to the house while Fern was at work. He told me that when his dad wired him that I was sick, he requested leave to come home. But before his leave was granted, he got in a fight, and the other man fell and hit his head and died. So Dan ran away. He was afraid that if he got arrested, if he stood trial and went to prison, he’d never be able to get home and see me before I pass over Jordan. He traveled a ways with this fellow Harvey Stump, but then Harvey died of the grippe and all of a sudden Dan had the means to start a new life. He begged me not to tell his father that he was alive. I should have. I should have told Dan to do the right thing and pay for his mistakes. But I couldn’t do it. He was my child and I couldn’t stand to see his life ruined. As best I could, I helped him set himself up as Harvey Stump. He never told me he had married that other woman in New England, but he did say that he wanted to let Pearl go so she could find a better husband. I told him when she got engaged to the Stryker boy, and he said he was happy for her.”
Scott thought it was suspicious that Dan had benefited so handily from a couple of mighty convenient deaths. The way that Dan had manipulated his mother did not sit well, either. “Miz Johnson, he was living so close. It would have been easy for somebody who knew him as Dan to pass through Council Hill and recognize him. Didn’t it cross your mind that someday he’d be found out and poor Pearl’s second marriage would be null and void?”
Lucy’s lips twitched. “Mr. Tucker, a lot of things crossed my mind in the three months Dan was in Council Hill. But he was just staying there temporarily. I’d already told him to head for Mexico as soon as I quit coming to see him. I never told another soul where he was, so there was no other way to let him know when I pass. I was so upset after you and that dark-haired girl came looking for him. I was afraid that you would find him out then, but when I made it over to Council Hill to warn him, he told me not to worry. He said you had no idea who it was that you buried and there was no way you could find out. Dan had taken all the identification off of Harvey’s body and replaced it with his own. So how could you possibly figure out that Dan Johnson had become Harvey Stump?
“So I felt better, then. Until a few days later, Fern told me that you had traced the dead man’s name through something you found in his pocket before you buried him. I knew Dan was caught then, and I would have driven over to warn him. But that was a bad day. The pain was so bad I could hardly stand. I didn’t have any choice but to tell my husband that Dan had been living in Council Hill all the time.”
Mr. Johnson had taken a seat in a kitchen chair by his wife’s side, and Lucy’s head slowly, slowly turned to give him a tender look. “Fern was terribly upset with me, but I told him how Dan had taken a God-given chance to make up for all his sins. To make up for all the years of grief he’d given us. He was doing it, too. Fern would be so proud of the man Dan had become. He was helping his neighbors and going to church and all. It would have been a tragedy if he had gotten arrested. I begged Fern to go to Council Hill and help Dan escape. He called Miz Clay to come over and stay with me that evening and rode over to Council Hill. I was on pins and needles until Fern came home. I knew I’d never set eyes on my son again, but I was so relieved when Fern told me that Dan was leaving Council Hill that very night. Dan told his daddy he’d contact us somehow when he got settled in Mexico. But you already know what happened instead. He never made it out of town. He got ambushed and shot dead before he could get away. When Chief Bowman came here the next day to tell us that our son had been murdered, I would have died right then and there if it hadn’t been for Fern. Our poor son. I’ve cried more tears over my child than any mother ought to. Dan will never break another heart, and soon I will have no more tears, no more pain, no more sorrow.” She shifted in her chair to face Alafair. “I’m not long for this world, and I expect that in the next world I’ll have to pay for what I did. All I wanted was to protect my son. You should understand that.”
Mr. Johnson put his arm around his wife’s shoulder. “That’s enough, Mother. Try not to fret yourself any more. Come and lie down, now. There is nothing else you need
to say.” He helped Lucy to her feet and carefully supported her as they walked back to the bedroom. Scott and Alafair sat in silence until Johnson returned several minutes later.
He took a seat in a vacant armchair. “She’s asleep now.”
“Mr. Johnson,” Scott said, “when you went to Council Hill to warn Dan that night, did you stop at the cafe on Main and ask for directions to Oak Street?”
“I did.”
Alafair looked at Scott, confused. Fern Johnson was the man in the black suit?
Scott’s expression was unreadable. “Mr. Johnson, did you shoot your son?”
Johnson leaned back, crossed his legs, and sighed deeply. “I wondered how long it would take for somebody to figure it out. My wife doesn’t know I shot him, or pretends not to. From the way she talked to Miz Tucker, I reckon she has an idea. I didn’t tell her, at least. It was an accident, Sheriff.”
Alafair gasped. She had hoped that the Johnsons might provide a lead that would help clear Gee Dub. This was not at all what she expected.
Johnson sighed again. “It happened like Lucy said. Dan told no one but his mother about his new life as Harvey Stump. She kept a good secret, too, because I sure thought he was dead and buried. When she finally had to come out with it, I told her I would drive over there and warn him. I was really aiming to force him to turn himself in. I never wanted to hurt her, but she’s spent her life protecting that boy from the consequences of his bad behavior. The only way he was ever going to really get a fresh start in life was to come clean and finally drink the bitter cup of justice to the dregs.
“Lucy gave me pretty good directions and I recognized the house once I found out where Oak Street was. Nobody answered when I knocked, so I went inside and looked around. He had packed his gear. He had already found out that the law was on to him and he was getting ready to hit the road. I didn’t know it then, but that very day he had met with Miz Thornberry and she had already let the cat out of the bag. I found him in the garage, sporting a black eye, with a steamer trunk in the back of his auto and a tote full of money. He was mighty shocked to see me, especially when I told him I wasn’t going to let him get away again.
“His mother thinks he changed, but he didn’t. He might have spent a few minutes considering the noble idea of atonement, but when it came right up to it, he didn’t have the spine. I asked him why he risked staying in Council Hill so long. He said it was because of his ma, and besides, it took a while for all of Stump’s inheritance to get through probate court.
“I think when Harvey Stump offered to pay his way home, Dan decided he could kill two birds with one stone—see his mother one last time, and talk her into giving him enough money to get to Mexico. Then Stump died, and he came up with a better plan. He laughed when I pointed the rifle at him. ‘You ain’t going to shoot me, Pa,’ he said. He was right. I wouldn’t have. But when he laughed at me I saw red. I aimed to fire at the wall behind him, put the fear of God in him. He must have seen it in my eyes, the fury for all the years of misery he put us through, because he grabbed the rifle by the barrel. I expect he meant to jerk it away from me. But it went off.”
Johnson leaned forward suddenly, doubled up with pain, his head over his knees as though he had been punched. He emitted a sob, and Alafair had to stop herself from reaching out to put a hand on his back. She glanced at Scott. He did not appear to be particularly sympathetic to the man’s agony.
Johnson pulled himself together and sat up. “He lived long enough to say ‘Don’t tell Ma.’” He pressed his hands over his eyes. “He really did love his mother, in his way.”
“Mr. Johnson,” Scott said, “if it was an accident, why did you not come forward? And why not come forward when you heard that a man had been arrested? Did you intend to let Miz Tucker’s son go to prison for a homicide he did not commit?”
Johnson was looking at Alafair when he answered Scott’s question. “I wouldn’t have let your son go to prison. I’m sorry you’ve had to go through this. But Lucy cannot live another week. I wanted to spare her the knowledge that I had killed our son. I wanted her to go to heaven believing that he really had changed, that she had not wasted a lifetime of love on an unworthy son.”
Chapter Thirty-one
It was long after suppertime when Alafair and Scott showed up on Charles Tucker’s doorstep. The idea of driving back to Boynton from Okmulgee in the dark didn’t appeal to either one of them. After all her hours of hard travel and her emotional exhaustion, Alafair could have sworn the day had been at least twice as long as normal.
Lavinia and Charles were more than happy to put them up for the night. Aside from the fact that they were kin, they had a riveting story to share. Scott telephoned his wife, Hattie, and asked her to inform the family that they’d be back in the morning, after a detour to Council Hill to retrieve Alafair’s horse and buggy. Alafair took the opportunity to have a bath and a change of clothes before Lavinia had a supper of leftovers ready for her guests.
Once the four of them were arranged around Lavinia’s mahogany dining table, Scott managed to talk and wolf down his sandwich at the same time. “After he confessed, Johnson telephoned his lawyer to meet us at the police station. Then he walked next door to the neighbor’s house and asked the lady to come sit with his wife while he went to turn himself in. He even took the rifle that shot Dan to give to Chief Bowman.”
Charles shook his head, amazed at the turn of events. “What do you suppose will happen to him?”
“Well, that’s up to the District Attorney over in Muskogee County.” Scott paused long enough to let Lavinia fill his iced tea glass from the pitcher. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if he got off pretty light.”
Lavinia looked up from refreshing Alafair’s drink. “Will Gee Dub be released now?”
“Chief Bowman sent the wire to the District Attorney’s office while we were there,” Scott said. “The boy will likely be back in Boynton by the time we get home.”
“I must say, Alafair, you should be walking on air right now.”
“Well, I am, Lavinia. I’m so relieved that I can barely stand up. But I can’t help but feel sorry for Dan’s parents.”
“Now, you do surprise me, Alafair,” Charles said. “If the mother hadn’t tried so hard to protect that scalawag son and the daddy hadn’t tried to so hard to protect her, this whole mess would never have happened.”
Alafair didn’t reply to Charles’ observation. She didn’t want to say right out loud that if she could have she would have done the same and worse to protect Gee Dub, or any one of her children. Instead, she turned to Scott. “Thank you for not giving up, Scott, no matter how bad it looked for Gee Dub.”
Scott smiled. “Well, of course. No matter what happens, we Tuckers have to stick together.”
***
After Gee Dub finally got home from Muskogee, there was a giant family celebration at his grandparents’ farm, where he endured the hugs and congratulations of his entire extended family and ate from a spread that would have fed his old regiment. Alice had brought Holly to the welcome home party, but she and Gee Dub didn’t say much to one another. They simply exchanged a few knowing looks, and that was enough. Private Moretti hung around in a corner and said nothing at all. When the party ended, Holly went home with Alice. Gee Dub made his way to his solitary room at the back of the toolshed and slept for twenty hours. The next morning he went up to the house long enough to let his mother fix breakfast for him and briefly discuss the future with his father. He and Private Moretti and Charlie Dog spent the rest of that day in the woods behind the farmhouse, doing nothing but walking among the trees. The grapevines were budding and little white flowers were poking up through the litter on the ground. What peace there was here. It was likely that the mockingbird would raise her family under the eaves of the toolshed undisturbed.
Everything was fine. This strange state of being was so fragile that Gee
Dub was almost afraid to breathe for fear of ruining it.
Moretti followed Gee Dub along the well-trodden path the family had used for years to traverse the woods on the way to Grandma and Grandpapa’s house. They didn’t speak for a long time, but Gee Dub was well aware of Moretti’s presence.
They came to a place in the woods that was fairly clear of brush yet canopied over by the budding branches of hickory, elm, and burr oak. A wild grapevine as thick as a man’s wrist looped down off of the branches of an ancient oak, forming a natural swing that the Tucker siblings had taken full advantage of when they were children. And still did, truth be told. Gee Dub sat down in the grapevine swing and spent a moment watching Moretti and the dog wander through the clearing.
“You know, Moretti, it took me a while to remember just how it happened. I even got it in my head that you might have done Johnson in. But of course that’s not the way it happened. If it hadn’t been for you, I’d have killed him.”
Moretti looked up from his handful of last year’s acorns. “Yes, sir. I know.”
Gee Dub sat in his swing and looked at Moretti for…he didn’t know how long, exactly. Quite a long time. Finally he said, “You ought to go home, Private. It’s time to try and let go of the war.”
“I doubt if that can be done, Lieutenant.”
Gee Dub smiled. “Well, yes, I guess that is wishful thinking on my part. Still, maybe it’s time for you to finally meet my folks.”
“Yes sir, Mr. Tucker, I think it is.”