by Rita Kano
Nash placed his hand against Shirley’s back. “Joe… Sheriff Pate… Miss Shirley just happened to stop by my place the night my granddaughter was there with me. Lizzie had really took a liking to this nice lady and it weren’t long before she was begging to go home with Shirley… ah… Miss Foster. And ah… I knew Joe and Arlene wouldn’t agree, so at first I said no. But Lizzie kept begging… you know how good she is at begging, Joe… and… and I gave in. There weren’t no harm in it that I could see… just for one night. I’m sorry, Joe. I’m really sorry. I reckon that… that was the worst decision of my life. I can’t say how sorry I am.”
“Mr. Britt,” said Sheriff Pate, “if I’m getting the gist of this… you’re saying Miss Foster didn’t kidnap Lizzie, but somebody kidnapped her from Miss Foster’s home?”
“That’s what I’m saying. That’s right. That’s what happened.”
“That same night?” said Joe. “Why you…”
“No! Nash, I won’t let you do this,” interrupted Shirley. “That’s not how it happened. Nash isn’t to blame. Taking Lizzie home with me was my idea. Nash and I have been trying to find Martha Ann and… and certain information we came upon led us to believe that Lizzie was in danger too. I… we can explain all that later. But for now, Joe… Joe, you and Arlene can’t blame Nash. It wasn’t his fault. I left Lizzie alone for a few minutes,” she explained, “to get ice cream and…”
“Hold on. Hold on. I think I’m getting this,” said the Sheriff. “That’s when you stopped by my office with the fake story about kidnappers and the article you wanted printed in the Purity Post. Ain’t that right? Ain’t that right. Lady… you are one hell of a…”
“Yes. But I wasn’t gone long. Lizzie was having so much fun playing with my cat. I thought she would be fine. She should have been fine. How could I ever… ever have imagined… I… I’m so sorry. Someone must have followed us and… saw me leave the house.”
“Don’t blame Nash?” said Joe. “He’s every much to blame as you. He called that same night and told me and Arlene that Lizzie had never got to his house.” Joe turned his rage back to Nash. “You were lying! You made us think Lizzie was… was out there… out there somewhere in the… you… you son of a bitch.” Joe took a swing at Nash and missed. Joe tried again. Nash being a head and a half taller than Joe held him off.
“Joe! Joe,” shouted Nash. “Joe. Stop. I ain’t denying I deserve every bit of your anger, but we can settle it later. Not now.”
Joe swung again.
Sheriff Pate stepped out of the way, doing nothing to stop Joe’s assault.
“Joe!” Nash shouted. “Calm down. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I lied. But the harm was done and I needed to protect Miss Foster. She hasn’t done nothing wrong. I thought Lizzie was safe. We just needed more time. Ain’t nobody here done nothing wrong.”
After more missed swings, Joe stumbled backwards and slumped against a porch pillar. On coarse, rapid breaths he stared at Nash.
“Mr. Lovett,” said the Sheriff, “I don’t know about you, but I’m not buying a word of what either of these two are saying. I’m sorry to say this as… being it relates to your father-in-law and all, but these two are up to something. How about that cockamamie story in the Post this morning? There’s a whole lot more going on here than they’re telling… a whole lot more.”
“I know,” said Joe. Joe raised both arms and gripped his fingers across the top of his head.
“Good,” said Sheriff Pate. “Then I’ll be arresting them both for… for withholding vital information about your daughter’s disappearance.” This time the Sheriff reached for his gun.
“What the hell are you doing?” snapped Joe. “Put that damn thing away. Let me tell you something, Sheriff.” Joe scrambled to his feet. “I sure as hell don’t know what’s going on here. But what I do know is this. Martha Ann’s still missing and you ain’t done nothing whatsoever to help find her. And I don’t recall you lifting a finger when Sable disappeared either.” Joe brushed himself off and walked over to Sheriff Pate. “Where were you the night me and Nash went out looking for Lizzie? It doesn’t matter now that the story wasn’t true. You didn’t know that. Did you, Sheriff? No. And what I know is that you ain’t standing here now because you’re wanting to help find Lizzie. I’d like to put a fist down your throat, instead I’m going to give you a mouthful of truth. I don’t know what it is that runs your motor or how you’ve managed to hold a position of justice keeping without the feelings that go behind upholding the law.” Joe inched forward until he was only a breath away from the Sheriff’s face.
The Sheriff took a step back and stuffed his gun back into its holster. “Well, if that don’t beat all. You’ve… you people… every last one of you done fell from the same nut tree. I ain’t got no doubt about that, Mr. Lovett. Those two,” he said, pointing a wagging finger at Nash and Shirley, “ain’t told just one lie. There’s more. I guarantee you that.”
“Have a safe ride back to town, Sheriff,” said Joe.
Sheriff Pate’s chest puffed out as he headed back to the patrol car mumbling between breaths.
Arlene, who had been watching from a window, rushed out the door, “Where’s he going? Sheriff? Where are you going? That witch Shirley Foster took my baby girl. Ain’t you going to arrest her? Arrest her. Sheriff? Arrest her.”
“Talk to your husband,” the Sheriff shouted back over his shoulder. “I ain’t wasting no more of my time here at this lunatic asylum. You all oughta be up in Dix Hill. Locked up tight.”
“Get him back here, Joe,” demanded Arlene. “You said you and Papa would handle this. You get him back here.”
“Arlene. Arlene, calm down. You ain’t doing nobody any good like this. I’ll explain everything to you inside.”
“No. No,” Arlene pushed on Joe’s chest. “You said you’d take care of everything. Look what you’ve done. I can’t stand to even look at you.”
Arlene ran inside the house. Joe followed, pointing a finger at Nash informing him that they had a lot to settle when the time was right.
Nash breathed a sigh of relief. Shirley shook her head and couldn’t seem to stop shaking it.
“Tadpole, you poor baby,” said Nash, “you’d better come home with me and Shirley for a while.
Sue Bell shook her head and held out the blue Mason jar. “I don’t want to go there, Grandpa. I’m scared to go there.”
“You’ve stayed at my house a gazillion times before, baby. You’ll be safe with me,” said Grandpa Nash. “I won’t let nothing happen to you.
“You won’t put me in the jar?” Sue Bell said.
“Sugar baby, grandpa don’t know what you’re talking about.” Nash tickled Sue Bell’s tiny bare feet, “little girls don’t fit in Mason jars. You know that.”
Sue Bell shook her head, again.
“Baby…” Nash tapped on the jar, “look in there. Look in the jar. There ain’t nothing in there. See. It’s empty.”
“I know, Grandpa,” said Sue Bell. “That’s why they’re in the jar.”
Nash scratched his whiskers. “Miss Shirley, do you have any idea what this grandchild of mine is talking about?”
“No. I’m afraid I don’t. But, whatever’s going on… it’s clear to me Sue Bell’s genuinely afraid of something.”
Nash lifted Sue Bell up over his head. “My little tadpole don’t have nothing to be afraid of. Do you, sugar baby?”
Sue Bell’s cheeks drained their rosy color. “Put me down, Grandpa.” She tried to wriggle out of Nash’s grip. “Don’t do to me what you did to Lizzie. Let me down.”
Nash Britt couldn’t have been more undone. “Shirley, I… Miss Shirley, I don’t have the slightest notion what she’s saying.”
Shirley reached both arms out to Sue Bell. “Of course you don’t. Let me take her, Nash.”
Once in Shirley’s arms, Sue Bell relaxed.
“Sweetheart… sweetheart, look…” said Shirley. “Nobody’s going to put you in the blue jar. Not you
r grandpa. Not your mama or your daddy… or me. Nobody’s going to do that. Do you believe me?”
“You won’t take me to the tree, either?” Sue Bell said.
“Oh, my Lord! Oh, my Lord in Heaven!” Nash reached out for Sue Bell. His words pitched from low to high as unspeakable images unraveled his world. “What’s happened to you, baby? What’s somebody done to you?”
“No!” Sue Bell resisted her grandpa’s touch and clung to Shirley tighter.
“Nash. Leave her be. She doesn’t know what she’s saying. But I think I do. The tree,” said Shirley, “Nash, did you hear your granddaughter? She knows something about the tree.”
“The tree? The hanging tree?”
“Yes,” said Shirley. “What else could it mean? Give me just a minute with her. Okay?”
Nash shrugged, waved his arms in the air and let them drop back to his side.
“Sue Bell…” said Shirley, “I think… I think I remember Lizzie saying that the things in your jar are a secret. You know what? I like secrets. Your Grandpa does too. We sure would like it if you let me and your grandpa be part of yours and Lizzie’s secret?”
Sue Bell looked at Shirley and pinched her lips together.
“Oh, yes you are.” Shirley touched the tip of Sue Bell’s nose. “Yes, you are a good little secret keeper. I like that. Don’t you too, Grandpa Nash?”
“I do. I do, baby.” Nash snapped and unsnapped a strap of his overalls as his imagined fears turned over and over.
“But we,” Shirley flashed a reassuring smile at Nash, “me and your grandpa, are good secret keepers… real good secret keepers. Wouldn’t the secret be more fun it we knew it too?”
Sue Bell’s willowy body stiffened. “I’d have to ask Lizzie.”
“Of course. That would be the right thing to do. I should have thought of that. Where is Lizzie? Sue Bell, do you know where Lizzie is?”
“No.” Sue Bell’s forehead crinkled and a breath on the verge of tears shot out.
“What are you afraid of, baby?” asked Nash. “You can tell your old grandpa.”
“I don’t want Lizzie to be at the tree like Martha Ann,” said Sue Bell.
Nash and Shirley put a clamp on their tongues and stared into each other’s eyes.
Shirley pressed two fingers against Nash’s lips as his mouth dropped open.
“You saw Martha Ann?” she said to Sue Bell.
Sue Bell nodded.
“Okay,” said Shirley. “Did you see Martha Ann at a tree and… and you didn’t tell anybody because… because you had to put her in the jar and everything in the jar is a secret?”
Another nod bobbed Sue Bell’s head.
Shirley stroked the child’s thick, black hair. “You’re a good girl and a real good secret keeper. I’m not going to ask you about what else is in the jar, but there is one other question I’d like to ask. Will you answer it if you can? Will you answer one more question if I say please?”
Sue Bell nodded again.
“Martha Ann and the other things in the jar… I don’t want to know what they are… I just want to know one thing. Are the things in the jar all things you can’t see any more?”
Sue Bell looked at her Grandpa and then back at Shirley. She didn’t answer Shirley’s question. She didn’t have to.
Tears welled up in Shirley’s eyes. Finally, she knew Sue Bell’s secret and why she was so afraid to tell anyone.
“Why are you crying, Miss Shirley?” asked Sue Bell.
“Because you are so beautiful,” answered Shirley, placing a peck kiss onto Sue Bell’s cheek. “These are tears that make me smile.”
Sue Bell smiled. “Is Lizzie coming home now?”
Shirley gave her a squeeze. “Yes, sweetheart. Lizzie will be home very soon. If you… if you can just tell me one more thing.” Shirley closed her eyes fearing the question she was about to ask and its answer.
“What’s wrong, Miss Shirley? Are you afraid of something, too?”
“Not any more. No, I was… but I’m not going to be afraid any more. Are you ready for that question now?”
Sue Bell nodded.
“Can you tell me and your Grandpa where that tree is? The one where you saw Martha Ann?”
Desperation chopped at the silence as Shirley and Nash waited for Sue Bell’s answer. Shirley’s heart pounded in her ears. She glanced at Nash and back to Sue Bell. Nash stared at his granddaughter.
“No,” answered Sue Bell.
Shirley and Nash’s last clinging hope drained out with their last drop of strength. Their eyes closed. Their heads dropped forward.
“I can’t tell you, but I can show you,” said Sue Bell.
Two heads popped up. “You can show us? You can show us?” said Nash and Shirley.
“Uh-huh,” she said.
Nash placed a big kiss on Sue Bell’s cheek and glanced at the front door of the Lovett house. “Shirley, we’d better get out of here, before Arlene comes back. Which, by my feeling, won’t be long. Sugar baby, are you ready to go to Grandpa’s house now?”
“I’m ready, Grandpa. Can I ride on your shoulders?”
“Sure you can, tadpole. Let’s get out of here.”
Chapter 21
Into the Woods
“There’s a nip in the air tonight. Looks like it’s going to turn cold again,” said Nash closing the door behind them. “Just like the Almanac said. Miss Shirley, you and tadpole make yourselves comfortable. I’ll start a fire to knock the chill out of the room and then make us up some smoked ham sandwiches. How about that? Are you hungry, sugar baby?”
Sue Bell gave an affirmative nod and Nash went about starting a fire.
Once the wood began burning Shirley and Sue Bell sat on a rag-tied rug directly in front of the fireplace while Nash prepared sandwiches in the kitchen. Sue Bell stared into the flames watching the flickers and leaps. She had nothing to say. Neither did Shirley. The answers she and Nash sought were tucked away in Sue Bell’s head. She had been dealing as best a child can with a horrible and terrifying reality.
Poor baby, Shirley thought as she gazed into the fire, listening to the wood pop and crackle. How easy it is to forget how complicated a child’s world can be when adults get wrapped up in their trivial games and ego.
In a few minutes, Nash poked his head around the kitchen door. “Sue Bell, baby? Do you want mayonnaise on your sandwich or mustard? I can’t remember.”
“I don’t like mayonnaise, Grandpa. Lizzie does. I like mustard.”
“That’s right. That’s right. When is your old grandpa ever going to get that straight?”
Nash brought the sandwiches and three glasses of cola in on a folding TV tray. “Here we go. I’m going to sit right down on the floor beside you ladies. We’re having ourselves a picnic.”
“Which one’s mine, Grandpa?” asked Sue Bell.
“This one, sugar,” Nash handed the sandwich to Sue Bell. She took a bite that wasn’t much more than a pinch.
“Yum. Yum. Grandpa,” she said, “you’re a good cook.”
Nash laughed as soft as the light from the fireplace. “Miss Shirley, if Pepsi ain’t okay with you, I have some sweet tea in the refrigerator.”
“Oh, Pepsi’s fine. I actually prefer it with ham.”
Nash bit into his sandwich and turned his attention to Sue Bell as she started to take a swallow of her soda.
“Watch out, baby. That fizz will jump up your nose and tickle your brains if you ain’t careful.”
A snort of laughter burst out of Sue Bell with a spray of Pepsi Cola. Her face lit up. “I know, Grandpa. You don’t have to tell me. I’m not really a baby just ‘cause you call me one.”
Shirley feared that truer words had never been spoken. A fuzzy silence packed the next few minutes around ice tinkling, soda fizzing and whispering flames. Shirley stared into the fire as she ate, letting the embracing glow renew her sense of hope.
Sue Bell put half of her sandwich back on the tray. “I’m full, Grandpa. Can we
go get Lizzie now?”
“Not quite yet,” answered Nash, brushing a bread crumb from his shirt. “Me and Miss Shirley need to hear a little more about what you saw at the tree.”
“Okay, Grandpa,” said Sue Bell, bobbing her head up and down.
Shirley and Nash looked at each other and braced for what they might hear.
“It was the day it snowed, Grandpa. You remember that day don’t you?”
“I sure do, baby. I remember Lizzie talking about my hair being as white as the snow on the ground.”
Sue Bell’s eyes brightened. “That’s right, Grandpa. That was the day.” Sue Bell reached for her sandwich and took another teensy bite.
“Did you go somewhere that day?” asked Shirley.
“Uh-huh. I was playing outside… building a snowman. Mama told me to stay in the yard and out of the fields, but…” Sue Bell looked up at her Grandpa, “is Mama going to give me a good whipping if I tell?”
“Come here,” said Nash. He scooped up his granddaughter and placed her on one knee. “Nobody’s going to whip you. I promise. And when Lizzie comes home she’s going to be so happy you found her, she’s going to slap slobbery wet kisses all over your face… just the way Rufus does.”
“It was Rufus that took me there,” said Sue Bell.
“Rufus? Rufus took you to the tree?” Nash confirmed.
“Uh-huh,” said Sue Bell. “I think it was ‘cause I was wearing Martha Ann’s old coat.”
“What do you mean, baby?”
“Rufus kept sniffing at Martha Ann’s coat and barking, Grandpa. And when he ran off, I ran after him telling him to come back ‘cause I wanted him to play with me.” Sue Bell placed one hand against her Grandpa’s cheek. “Are you sure Mama’s not going to take a switch to me?”
“I’m absolutely positively couldn’t be more sure, she ain’t.” answered Nash. “There ain’t going to be no switch whippings on my little precious baby. Grandpa ain’t going to let that happen.”
“And not daddy either?”
“Not daddy either.”
“Okay,” Sue Bell agreed with an exhale. “Rufus ran across the corn field and the tobacco field. I followed after him yelling. Rufus. Rufus. Come back. But he kept on running and barking. Just running and barking. I said stop running, Rufus… but he wouldn’t, Grandpa. He wouldn’t stop. And then he ran into the woods. I knew mama and daddy would be real, real mad if I went into the woods, but I was afraid Rufus wouldn’t come back. Rufus…” Sue Bell stopped and the light in her eyes dimmed. “I ran after him and… and I caught up with Rufus ‘cause he stopped running and was barking at something on the ground beside a big old tree. He could see what it was, but it was too far away for me to tell what it was. I told Rufus to come with me so I could see, too, but he wouldn’t. He just kept barking and turning around and around in circles, so I went up the hill by myself.” Sue Bell wrapped her arms around her grandpa’s neck and began to cry.