Ozark Sweetheart

by Helen Gray

  No longer uncertain, Callie’s heart leaped to her throat. She looked around in panic. Where had Clem and Delmer gone?

  Chapter 4

  Trace started to leave, but hesitated when he saw Callie Blake come around the corner of the school building with a cup in her hands and come to a stop. Then he saw her go rigid and almost drop the cup. He followed her line of vision and shared her reaction. A man was walking among the cars. The brim of his hat hid his eyes, but his body language said he was on the hunt.

  In a flash Trace understood. This man matched the description of the one who had shot Riley. He had to be looking for Delmer—who could identify him.

  Trace backed off the running board and raised his hand in a signal to catch the man’s attention, walking at a fast clip toward him. In his peripheral vision he saw Callie take advantage of the distraction, gather her wits and dash across the front of the building. She ducked down behind a car, worked her way around it and made a running beeline for her brother and sister at the edge of the yard.

  The man halted and aimed a dark glare across the yard at Trace. Then he spun and headed back toward his car. Trace glanced over to see that Callie had reached her siblings and was talking heatedly to them. For a second it appeared that Delmer would take off after the man, but Callie’s grip on his arm prevented such a foolhardy action. The three of them ducked down behind a car.

  Trace started to pursue the man, but it was too late. He had reached his car and jumped inside. As he started the motor, Trace spun and ran back to his truck. By the time he got it started, the car had backed out into the road and taken off. He put the truck in gear and followed.

  He drove as fast as he could, but lost sight of the car about a half mile from town. Scanning the countryside either side of him, he considered that it must have turned off onto a side road. He smacked the steering wheel in frustration. But then he considered the fact that the man carried a gun, and decided to drive on into town. He reported what he had seen to Leon and headed back to his truck. When he got behind the wheel, he bowed his head.

  Lord, the Blake family has always needed Your help, but they especially need it right now. Please watch over them and protect them.

  Trace hoped God would listen to his plea. After Joanna’s death he had failed to pray as he ought. In his grief and loneliness he had strayed from God and made some very wrong decisions.

  Please forgive me, Father.

  He raised his head and started the engine. When he reached the school, there were only four cars left in the yard. He parked and went inside, but didn’t see Delmer and Clem.

  Jolene and Callie were helping a woman fill a sack. Elderly with no family left, Mrs. Brown could undoubtedly use the extra food.

  Callie came around the table to meet him, and he said, “Let’s go outside where we can talk.”

  They made their way outside and stood beside his truck in the schoolyard. “Where are your brother and sister?”

  “I sent them home and told them to stay there.” Her eyes searched his face. “Did you catch him?”

  He shook his head. “No, I lost him just this side of town. I went on to the jail and told Leon about him.”

  “What did you tell him?” Her speech came out uneven and tremulous.

  Trace studied her expression. She tried to hide her fear, but the worry in her eyes gave her away. “I told him I thought Riley’s shooter had returned. Am I mistaken?”

  Her hands clenched, and her breathing sounded shallow. Finally she nodded.

  Frustration coursed through him. He had to make her open up to him. “That man is looking for two things. He wants to know if Riley’s dead. And he wants to silence Delmer because he’s a witness. Is that all?”

  When she still didn’t speak, he studied her white face. “Callie, you have to tell me why you’re so afraid. What is that man after?” His tone bordered on anger. Couldn’t she see the danger she was putting her family in if she knew something that would help stop a gunman and didn’t tell it?

  She swallowed and gnawed at her lip. A film came over her eyes, squeezing his heart. He stared into those shiny orbs and wished he could wrap her in his arms and comfort her.

  She gulped and visibly fought back the tears. “It should have been me,” she said, the words so low and strained he could hardly hear them. She slumped back against the truck.

  He took a step nearer, then tamped down on the impulse to reach for her. “What do you mean?”

  Callie stared at him, her chin quivering. “I saw something I shouldn’t have. That’s why I came home. I ran.”

  His mind raced ahead as the puzzle started to fall into place. “Tell me about it,” he urged, no longer angry.

  Her breathing pattern changed, quickened, and a look of resignation came over her face. She crossed her arms and tugged at the sleeve of her dress. Then she took a deep breath and pulled herself upright. “As you know, when I was eighteen I went to work in Saint Louis. My parents were having a real hard time, and I couldn’t find work here.”

  “You sent them money,” he prompted when her words trailed to a halt.

  She nodded. “I sent them everything I had left after expenses.” She paused, and then produced a wobbly smile. “But I wanted to buy a car.”

  “A car, huh?” What irony that she dreamed of the very thing he took for granted.

  “I got a second job so I could save for one.”

  “What kind of work did you do?”

  “When I first got to the city, a cousin helped me find a room in a boardinghouse. Right after I moved in, I found out that the woman who ran it needed a maid. I applied, and she hired me. I worked for two years before I got the other job.” She ran her tongue over her lips.

  “A night job?”

  She nodded. “Styles had changed. Girls wore different clothes and hairstyles. I cut my hair shorter and got some boy’s clothes from a thrift center. Then I went to the hotel a few blocks from the boardinghouse where I had seen a sign advertising for a bellhop. I applied, using the name Cal, and told them I wanted to work nights and weekends. They hired me.”

  Trace had no trouble visualizing a twenty-year-old Callie posing as a boy. Slender and dark haired, and with her country background, she would not only have looked like a boy, but she would have worked like one.

  “Everything went fine,” she continued, as if she couldn’t tell it fast enough now that she had started. “I would work all day at the boardinghouse, get something to eat and take a bag of boy clothes down the street to a gas station with a restroom. I would go in there and change. Then, at the hotel, I would change again, into the uniform the hotel provided.”

  She paused, and her voice softened with regret. “I wanted a car so much that, instead of asking God for one and trusting Him to show me how to get it, I set out to get it on my own.”

  “What happened?” he asked when she stopped, her hands clenched together in a knot.

  It was several seconds before she swallowed and continued. “One night I took a couple and their luggage up to the third floor. They were in a hurry to leave and asked me to put their bags away and call a cab for them. They went back downstairs while I was making the call.”

  “So you were alone.”

  She nodded. “When I got done, I left the room. As I rounded a corner to the stairs, I saw two men at the end of the hall. They were arguing, and suddenly one of them pulled out a gun and shot the other one.”

  The final piece clicked into place. “Did he see you?”

  Her face went even whiter. “He looked up just as I got to the corner of the hall and saw me. I turned and ran down the stairs. I heard him coming after me. Fortunately, I was faster than him.”

  “So you packed up and left town,” he finished for her. He understood so much now. Scared, she had run home, the only haven she knew
. Now that she had been found, she felt responsible for putting her brothers in danger, yet she couldn’t run again and abandon them. “You need to stay hidden as much as possible.”

  “I won’t do anything foolish,” she promised in an unsteady voice. “But I have to help Mom and Dad all I can now that I don’t have a job. Right now I need to get home and be sure Riley and Delmer are all right. Keeping them out of sight won’t be easy.”

  “I know they have to work, but surely they’ll be careful if you explain it to them. I’ll go back to town now and tell Leon what you just told me.”

  * * *

  As he started to walk away, Callie remembered something else. “I, uh...if you should happen to know who sent those groceries that Delmer and Clem carried in, would you tell him...or her...that Jolene and I thank them on behalf of the people who received them?”

  He hesitated, his eyes staring over her head and beyond. She took that as confirmation that she had guessed right.

  “I’m sure you girls found places where they would help most,” he said, clearly uncomfortable.

  “Yes, we did,” she assured him. “Jolene knows which students would benefit the most. She made sure that those of them who showed up got extra stuff.”

  He ran a hand over his face. “Good. You have generous hearts. I wish you continued success in this.”

  Callie watched him drive away. Then she went back inside and helped Jolene push the desks back into place and tidy the room.

  When they finished and Jolene drove away, Callie walked the short distance home, her mind in a whirl. She had a gangster after her. Trace was free, but his life was still a world away from hers. It was foolish to waste time dreaming about him.

  * * *

  Trace drove home, oblivious to the blur of brown fields and dust-filled air. His thoughts bounced from Callie Blake, to her brother, to what she had told him. The gunman had mistaken Riley for her. Which meant she and her brothers were all in danger.

  He drove straight to the jail. Seated behind a small table he used as a desk, Leon looked up from studying a paper. “What’s wrong?”

  Trace dropped onto the chair by the door. “I’m worried about the Blake family. That gunman was looking for Callie and mistook Riley for her.” He repeated Callie’s story.

  Leon shook his head. “She could be right, but if she can’t positively identify him I can’t rule out the possibility that someone is trying to cut in on the local bootlegging business.”

  Trace sighed in frustration. “She’s really scared, and if she’s right they’re still in danger. I think he’ll hang around to make sure Cal’s dead.”

  “And to shoot the other brother,” Leon added.

  Trace raised another point. “From what Callie said, I don’t think the man saw her, but there’s always a chance he did. If he finds out Riley’s alive, he’ll try again.”

  Leon rubbed a hand back and forth over his chin. “I’ll call a friend in Saint Louis law enforcement and see if he can connect Callie’s story to any killing up there. While he’s at it, I’ll also ask if he can put out the word up there that Cal—” he stressed the name “—died. I can’t do that down here, but we can do our best to convince the family to keep the boys out of sight, maybe even say the younger boy got so scared he left town.”

  Trace nodded. “It can’t hurt.”

  Leon eyed him carefully. “You’re the perfect person to keep an eye on them. Hate to run out on you, but I have a meeting. I’ll get to a phone while I’m out.” He picked up his hat and left.

  Trace stopped at the diner for a sandwich. Then he spent the afternoon at the business. His dad no longer worked every day, so a slow day like this one was a good opportunity to catch up on book work and miscellaneous chores. He stared at the back wall and mentally planned the display case he wanted back there.

  Three years ago the Ford Agency building had been built down the street. It gave them some stiff competition, but they had held their own. Sales had fallen off this past year, though. He needed to turn that around, run some kind of special. But nothing came to him.

  * * *

  When Clem and Delmer didn’t show up for supper, Callie worried about them. The look on her mother’s face told her that those worries were shared. She didn’t argue when Mom suggested they go to bed early.

  Lord, watch over Clem and Delmer, she prayed silently as she lay there unable to sleep. They’ve been taught to live by Your word, but they seem to have turned their backs on You. Please work in their lives. Show me if there’s something I can do.

  Callie didn’t know how long she had slept when sounds woke her. The bedroom door eased open, and then she heard sounds of Clem getting ready for bed. Not wanting to wake their parents—if they were sleeping—Callie kept silent.

  At breakfast the next morning, Clem and Delmer ate quickly and darted outside to do the chores they should have done earlier.

  Mom drew a deep breath. “I hope they aren’t involved with the wrong people.”

  Callie did, too, but her gut tightened. “I’ll do the dishes. You go on and get ready for church. I’ll catch up.”

  Mom didn’t argue, which Callie took as an indication of her worried state.

  “Callie.”

  Callie looked up from wiping the table minutes later. Her mother stood in the doorway. She came to the table and held out two five-dollar bills. “Take this back, dear. It was hard enough taking money from you when you had a job. Don’t give me what you must have struggled to save.” Her voice quavered.

  Callie stepped back, palms up and shaking her head in denial. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Mom’s face drew into a frown, gauging Callie’s sincerity. “You sure?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Mom turned her hand over and stared at the money. “I found this in my purse. I know it wasn’t there the last time I had it open.”

  A look of possible understanding flashed across her face, and a hand went over her mouth. “Do you think Clem or Delmer put it there?”

  Callie shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “But where would they get it?” She spoke more to herself than Callie.

  Callie had an idea, but she didn’t want to voice it. “You’ll have to ask them.”

  As they rode in the wagon, Callie smoothed the skirt of her blue gingham dress and tried not to worry about Riley. He had insisted he was strong and they should all go to church. She wished for the umpteenth time that her parents could afford a car. The possibility of buying one of her own moved farther beyond her reach every time she had to dip into her little savings.

  A cool breeze came up. The leaves had not started changing colors yet, but would within a week or two. Right now the countryside was still beautiful with its rolling tree-covered hills and splashes of lush greenery. Farm ponds and parched hay fields dotted the landscape. The serenity of the familiar scenes normally would have brought a sense of calmness to Callie and eased the turmoil inside her. But today nothing soothed her troubled spirit.

  While in Saint Louis she had come to rely on her own strengths, while growing lax and ceasing to consult God about her decisions. The weekend-evening job had not left time for regular church attendance. Over time she had stopped going altogether. Since coming home, she had begun attending again.

  It only took fifteen minutes to drive to the small frame church about a mile from the house. It had stood in that grove for over twenty years, but Dad, Riley and Delmer had cut the lumber and built the porch across the front of it only three years ago.

  Although it felt good to be back in church, Callie continued to worry as she and Jolene shared a hymnbook. After the song service, the pastor read from the Book of Ruth.

  “A lot of people are having a real hard time now. We need to take a lesson from Naomi. She never lost sight of
the fact that God is capable and faithful. Remember that Naomi’s God is also your God. Let’s be about our work and not worry about tomorrow. The scripture says tomorrow will worry about its own things, sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

  Callie drew a deep breath. Constant worry wore her down. Could she really keep from it, with so little money to buy what they needed? They had chickens, raised a big garden and had some fruit trees. This fall they would butcher a pig, and Dad and the boys hunted wild game. They didn’t always eat well, but they didn’t go hungry like they had back when Mom and Dad had seven small kids to feed. But the fear of going hungry always lurked in the back of Callie’s mind.

  Her sisters Cora and Celia now lived in neighboring small towns with their husbands. They just got by, but having them on their own meant two less mouths to feed here. Riley’s desire to earn some extra money didn’t shock Callie, but his apparent involvement in bootlegging did. She expected better judgment from him. His getting shot was her fault, but the risk of being arrested for peddling hooch was his.

  “Fear reveals our wish to protect the things in life that are important to us, rather than fully entrusting them to God’s control and care. When we allow fear to take over, it cripples us emotionally and saps us spiritually. A fearful spirit makes us vulnerable to the enemy, who tempts us to compromise biblical teachings and take matters into our own hands.”

  The biting truth of his words sank deep inside Callie. Fear had caused her to quit her job and flee home. Now fear had immobilized her. She didn’t know what to do.

  I want to trust You to take care of us, Lord. Please give me courage and help me not to worry so much. When I am afraid, I will trust in Thee, she quoted silently.

  After the benediction Pastor Denlow announced that the community swap meet would be held again the coming Saturday, and that items in addition to food would be welcome.