“But Pocahontas was such a great opportunity.”
“So we thought when he left. But if you read the letter you see he actually took a pay cut and a lesser position. He went from high school to grade school and he was forbidden to take part in after school activities. Dad told the Pocahontas principal enough to make him not trust George around students. What George did was wrong. Dad should have exposed him for what he was rather than just send him away.”
“Exposed him as what? Your dad didn’t know Susie was pregnant or that anything had actually happened. Remember, the letter says ‘suspicions’ not allegations.”
“My dad always thought the best of everyone. For him to even have a hunch that something like that was taking place … no, he had to have had a pretty good idea. In his wildest imaginations, he would never dream up something like George sleeping with Susie unless there was a reason.”
“Which is why I don’t think he believed anything really happened,” Adam countered as he glanced through the yearbook once more.
“It was his job to protect his students—” Hick rubbed his chin and started pacing.
“Which is exactly what he thought he was doing.”
“But what about the students at the other school? Didn’t he care anything about them? He was putting them in danger.”
“Your dad passed his suspicions on to the other principal and the fact that George was never in trouble, that there was never as much as a whisper about him doing anything wrong at Pocahontas, and that he was eventually promoted to vice-principal of the high school … doesn’t that justify what your dad did?”
“There weren’t any whispers here either, and yet we have a dead girl who was four months pregnant and a dead secretary. Jesus Christ, Adam, Susie was only seventeen.”
“Hick, George Shelley was closer in age to Susie Wheeler than I am to Pam.”
“True, but he had a wife. How could my dad not see how wrong it was? How could he just pass him to another school and let him get away with it? Did he wonder when Susie died if George killed her or did he assume like everyone else that Abner snapped and killed her for no reason?”
Adam pointed at a picture of Ronnie Pringle and Susie
Wheeler at a class barbecue. “What about Ronnie? What if he found out about George and Susie? Jealousy is a strong motive.”
“I’d buy that, but Ronnie’s dead so how would Gladys fit in?” Hick sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Hell, maybe she doesn’t fit in at all. Maybe we’re just barkin’ up the wrong tree with all of this.”
“I don’t know,” Adam said. “But we’ve got to go talk to George, find out what he knew about Susie … about her pregnancy. We need to see him.”
“Yes, we need to see him. But damn, why does it always have to be so hard?”
“Your mama’s house just burned, Hickory. What’s so important that you need to leave now?” Maggie stood with her hands on her hips, obviously frustrated that Hick was, once again, heading out of town.
“She’s with Pam and the house will be fine.”
“I know, but she thinks you’re staying there.”
“What do you want me to do?” There was a sharp edge to Hick’s voice that he regretted immediately.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,”
“Nothing?” She picked up Hick’s thermos and poured coffee into for the third time this week.
“Maybe I’m just tired from all this traveling.”
“I’m glad you’re taking Adam this time. Let him drive.”
“Yeah,” Hick agreed. He glanced out the kitchen window to see Mourning Delaney rocking the baby on the porch swing. He hadn’t realized he was staring until he felt Maggie’s fingers cup his chin, directing his gaze toward her.
“Hickory, what’s happened?”
He recognized the tightness in her voice. The sound that crept up when she was trying to get him to speak, to tell her something, anything, and the weariness and exhaustion of it all was too much.
“Just something I found at work.”
Her fingers dug a little into his chin and her gaze held his relentlessly. “What did you find?”
“A letter.” His eyes trailed away.
“A letter?”
He nodded and moved away from her grabbing boot covers for his shoes in case it rained.
Maggie crossed the room and closed the front door so Mourning couldn’t hear. “Hickory?” She sat at the table and patted the chair beside her. “Talk to me.”
He sighed and sat across from her putting his elbows on the table wearily. “I found a letter from Jerry Knowles, the old principal at Pocahontas.”
“And?”
“He was talking about George Shelley.”
“George Shelley? What about him?”
“Apparently my dad thought George was having an inappropriate relationship with one of the students. That’s why he transferred mid-year.”
Maggie knit her brow in thought. “Pam said all the girls were in love with him. He was young and good looking. They called him Professor Dreamboat.”
“Yeah?” Hick answered, his voice rising slightly. “Well, apparently ‘Professor Dreamboat’ and Susie Wheeler were a bit of an item.”
Maggie’s eyes widened. “Susie Wheeler? You’re kidding.”
“I wish I was.”
“I still don’t understand …” Maggie sat back in the chair as if she’d been struck. “Poor Elizabeth,” she breathed.
Hick traced a pattern on the kitchen table with his finger and said, “I’m hoping I never have to tell her. There’s no point in telling her anything at all.” He closed his eyes. “Unless … I hope to God we’re wrong … about all of it.” He looked into her face. “You know, my dad probably knew all about Susie and George and never did anything about it. Adultery with a student and he just passed George along, reputation intact. And Susie died and I have to wonder if all this is connected with Gladys.”
“What?” Maggie’s mouth opened and her face whitened. “Hickory, what are you saying? You don’t think George …”
“I don’t know, Mag, but Adam and I need to talk to George. George is apparently not the man I thought he was and neither was my dad.”
“Oh, Hickory,” Maggie said, her voice soft, comforting. “Don’t do this. Don’t do this to yourself or to your dad.”
“What am I supposed to think?”
“Don’t think anything, until you know the truth. You don’t know what happened, what George told your dad. Get all of your facts before you make a judgment. You’ve always done that before, and I love that about you. You never jump to conclusions. You didn’t jump to conclusions about Jed and Eben Delaney. Give your dad the same benefit of the doubt.”
Hick exhaled loudly and nodded his head. “You’re right.” He rose from the table and bent to kiss Maggie’s forehead. “I need to get going.”
“Thank you,” she said, standing and wrapping her arms around his neck.
“For what?” He asked, breathing in her smell. The same perfume she’d always worn, but now mingled with the scent of motherhood.
“Thank you for telling me. For talking to me.”
He pulled her close, kissed her hair. “Are you going to be okay here alone with Mourning?”
“We’ll be fine. I think being around Jimmy helps to take her mind off … off everything.”
“Okay. I should be back by bedtime.”
He kissed her, one long good-bye kiss and headed out the door to meet Adam for the long drive to Tennessee.
It was close to four o’clock when George Shelley greeted Hick and Adam with a surprised smile after answering their knock on the schoolhouse door. “Hickory Blackburn and Adam Kinion, what a surprise.” They all shook hands and he ushered them in. “Come in. Come in.”
Turning, he walked into the school saying, “Liz just made a huge batch of her famous chicken salad. She’ll give it to me good if I don’t bring you boys home for some of it. What do you sa
y?”
“George, this isn’t a social call.” Adam’s voice was low, firm.
George’s brow lifted. “Oh?”
Hick glanced at the janitorial staff waxing the wooden floors. “Can we speak somewhere in private?”
“Of course.” George led them into his office and closed the door. He motioned to a couple of chairs and leaned against his desk. “What can I do for you?”
Hick hesitated. “We need to ask you some questions of a delicate nature.” George nodded and Hick continued. “It has to do with Susie Wheeler.”
The color drained from George’s face and his mouth crimped into a thin line. “I see.” His voice was barely audible.
“When did you find out she was pregnant?” Adam said.
George’s knees buckled and he grasped the edge of his desk. “What?”
“We need to know when you learned she was going to have a baby … your baby.” Hick watched George’s expressions, his every movement, the intake of every breath.
“My baby?” he repeated and raised a trembling hand to his face. He stared down at his shoes and said nothing for a long while. Finally, he looked up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Why don’t you sit down,” Hick suggested. “You need to tell us the whole story.”
George obediently sat and then looked up at Hick. “Why was there no mention of a baby before now?”
“Information has come to light,” Hick said carefully. “But we need you to tell us everything that happened between you and Susie. Everything.”
“But why bring this up … now?”
“We need answers, George,” Adam said. “How long were you and Susie Wheeler involved sexually?”
George stared at Adam a moment as if waking from a nightmare. “Not long,” he replied. “It started out innocently enough. These things always do. We were together three or four days a week. She always stayed longer than the other kids at the after school functions. Wasn’t in a hurry to get home to that dictator of a father, you know.” He rose from his chair and looked out the window with his back to Hick and Adam. “She confided in me. She was lonely. Her parents didn’t give her much leeway. She didn’t have many friends. It’s hard to be a teenage girl that is expected to stay at home every night knowing the other girls are out having a good time. I wanted to help her. To give her someone to talk to. I felt sorry for her.”
He sighed. “Strangely enough I started confiding in her. Liz hated Cherokee Crossing at first, and she hated me for taking her there. We went days without speaking.” He laughed bitterly. “Susie would tell me a woman should support her husband. But Liz …” He shook his head and turned to face Hick and Adam. “Susie and I were two unhappy people who found a little happiness in each other. Is that such a bad thing?”
“Bad enough to get you transferred and demoted. What were you thinking, George? She was a student and you were a married man.” Hick shook his head and swallowed hard. He hesitated before asking, “How much of this did my dad know?”
“Enough to get me moved, but not enough to get me fired.” George ran his hands through his hair. “He never had proof, but he noticed Susie stayed around after everyone else went home. He noticed we were together more than he thought was normal for a student-teacher relationship. When he transferred me he told me it was for my own good. He said I was in danger of doing something I’d regret for the rest of my life. He never knew the damage had already been done.”
“What did you think when you heard Susie had been killed?” Adam asked.
George closed his eyes and tilted his head back. “I couldn’t believe it. I had seen her alive and full of laughter just two months earlier. When I went to the wake and saw her in that coffin my heart broke. I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to hurt such a sweet, giving woman.”
“She was just a girl, George,” Hick said. “Just seventeen.”
“Did you think Abner Delaney did it?” Adam said.
George bit his lip. “Honestly? I didn’t imagine who could’ve done it, but something about it didn’t seem right.”
“What do you mean, ‘right’?”
“I just couldn’t figure out what Abner would gain from killing her, or what would put it in his head. She could never have done anything to anger him. But then, I couldn’t see anyone wanting to hurt Susie. I guess that’s why I just accepted the fact that it must have been Abner because he didn’t know her, didn’t know the kind of person she was. In a way, I reasoned it made as much sense as anything else. But I guess deep down I never really believed Abner Delaney killed her.”
“Did Susie often walk around Jenny Slough?” Hick asked.
“Never to my knowledge. I couldn’t fathom why she would have been there in the first place.”
“What about Ronnie Pringle?” Hick asked. “Could he have found out about you and Susie and become jealous?”
“Ronnie Pringle didn’t care any more for Susie than she cared for him. It was their parents who arranged that little ‘courtship’. Ronnie didn’t mind sitting with Susie in that front room under ol’ man Wheeler’s watchful eye because when he was done there he could go raise hell in town. No, Ronnie was probably glad to be rid of Susie. But I don’t think he had it in him to murder her.”
“Did anyone else know about you and Susie?” Hick asked. “Did Gladys Kestrel know?”
“Gladys? Of course not. No one knew.”
“Was there anyone else in Susie’s life? Any one else … she saw?”
George Shelley’s face grew taut with anger. He turned hardened eyes on Hick. “Susie wasn’t that kind. What we had was real. It was special. It wasn’t tawdry.” His nostrils flared and his lip twitched with rage. “You don’t know what it is like to mourn in silence … to lose someone you love and be unable to speak about it to anyone. I have lived with this for over fourteen years and have been unable to show anyone my pain. And now you tell me I lost a child?” He sunk down in his chair. “Must’ve been about four months …” He covered his face with his hands. “My god.” His voice cracked and his shoulders shook.
Hick looked at Adam and nodded toward the door. He crossed the room and placed a hand on George’s shoulder. “I realize you were young and you made a terrible mistake. But it was wrong any way you look at it.”
George turned reddened eyes up to Hick. “Please don’t tell Liz. There’s no point hurting her, too.”
“There’s no call to tell Mrs. Shelley or anyone else. The three of us in this room, Doc, and Rev. and Mrs. Wheeler are the only ones who know about the baby and Doc and the Wheelers have no idea you’re involved.” They left George sitting at his desk with his head in his hands. Walking back out into the sunlight, Adam asked, “You believe him?”
“Yeah,” Hick replied.
“Me too,” Adam agreed. “Which puts us back to square one.”
16
Shafts of sunlight cresting the early morning horizon caused the dew on the grass to sparkle like diamonds. Hick sat on the edge of the porch, his knees drawn up, smoking his third cigarette of the morning. He had stayed in bed until the panic was unbearable. Unable to get comfortable, unable to breathe, his heart hammered so erratically he felt his chest would explode. Gasping for air, he’d tried to calm himself by imagining himself singing the nursery song Maggie sang to Jimmy, but his mind wouldn’t concentrate and wouldn’t calm. He couldn’t form a coherent thought except that he’d been “Private First Class Andrew Jackson Blackburn, 37615944.” All those things he’d done, the mistakes, the fear, they emerged from the darkness, just beyond the reach of reason. They danced at the periphery of his consciousness and taunted him, making rest, or peace, impossible. When he squeezed his eyes closed, the image of Job Delaney, a gaping hole in his back and dark, jelly-like blood everywhere, flitted across the back of his eyelids followed by the tiny bones sitting in a metal pan at Doc’s house. Gladys caught in a tree, her mouth half gone. Finally, at four o’clock, he slipped out of bed and dressed.
He
inhaled the cigarette deeply; the smoke filling the empty spaces in his lungs where the air had been pressed out. The cigarette gave him something to think about, something to do with his hands, and it regulated his breathing. He stared at it between his fingers and felt curiously disconnected.
Something brushed his arm and summoned his mind back to the present. “Hickory?” Maggie sat beside him, shivering in her sleeveless nightgown.
He tossed the cigarette into the yard and wrapped his arm around her. “What are you doing up?”
“I could ask you the same thing.”
He shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep and didn’t want to wake you. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she whispered. “It’s almost time to get up anyway. It’s pretty this time of day, ain’t it?”
He nuzzled her hair and murmured. “Very pretty.”
She leaned into him and he felt her warmth against his chest. He breathed in her smell, kissed her ear, and wrapped both arms around her, pulling her close. She was tangible, she was real, not a terrifying ghost that loomed in the night, but a flesh and blood woman whose very presence helped to chase away the shadows. Her lips brushed against his shoulder. “Come to bed, Hickory,” she whispered.
“You said it was time to get up.”
She rose and took his hand. “Come with me,” she said in a voice that helped Hick forget, at least for awhile, all that had happened.
The morning light poured through the window of the station and across the stacks of letters from Susie, the yearbooks, and personnel and student records from the school. Hick was unclear what he was searching for because, in spite of the fact that George Shelley fathered a child with Susie Wheeler, it was not apparent that this had anything to do with the murder of Gladys Kestrel. In fact, the more they investigated the less clear everything became. He knew in his bones that Abner Delaney had been unfairly convicted which meant Susie Wheeler’s killer had walked away. But did this have anything to do with Gladys?
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