Aunt Ida Belle came into the living room. “Did something happen?”
All three women were staring at me and I grinned wider. “Wait a minute.” I enjoyed the moment, because I knew that in about two seconds I was gonna make their day. I held the receiver out and put one finger in my ear. “Which one of y’all wants to talk to Pepper?”
Chapter Seventy
It took longer than Cody had hoped to find a way back to the highway and on to Chisum. From there it was a short drive along the nearly deserted highway. Several Catholic sisters were waiting outside St. Joseph Hospital’s emergency room entrance along with a doctor when Cody came in fast and skidded to a stop in front of the emergency room.
Despite being highly trained and experienced nurses, Sister Angelica yanked the door open and hesitated, stunned at the sight of the bloody, half-nude woman in the arms of the black deputy. Anna’s clothes were tangled around her shoulders and when they reached in to take her from John’s arms, they rode up even higher. It took the sisters a full second to snap out of their shock and swing into action.
One of the nurses attempted to throw a blanket over her as they laid her on the gurney, but the doctor took immediate control. He pointed toward Anna’s chest. “What’s this tape for?”
“Lung wound.” Jim Ed climbed out of the backseat. He was as bloody as John. “She took a shotgun blast.”
The doctor studied Cody, then John. “Good work, men.”
With practiced moves, they all disappeared into the elderly hospital, leaving the three lawmen standing alone in the empty entrance. Protected from the rain by a large overhang, Jim Ed shifted from one foot to the other. “Well, I guess we can go back to see if your cars are there, but I wouldn’t bet a plug nickel on them be anywhere’s close by.”
“Not in this rain.” Cody shook his head. Torrents of water splashed off the roof and onto the pavement, running in streams under their feet and out the other side. “Could you take us by the courthouse? I need to get a shirt and then we can come back up here to see how she’s doing. She don’t have any family or anything, so I’ll need to hang around. Better get on the radio and tell dispatch where we are, and John, you can go on home if you want to. I bet Rachel’s worried sick about you. The water could be coming up y’all’s house, too.”
He nodded. He’d been thinking the same thing. “I can stay if you want.”
“We’ll get you a car so you can go on.”
“Ain’t you worried about your house, and Mister Ned’s?”
“Naw. Their house has never flooded up on that hill, and with the new dam in place, I doubt the Sanders bottoms on the other side of the new dam will flood anyway, unless the Red backs up.”
Jim Ed radioed in, telling them that all three were safe and Anna was in the hands of the hospital staff. “I’m bringing Cody and John in with me. They don’t have any cars.”
Instead of getting a response from Martha, Judge O.C.’s voice came on instead. “Sorry about Anna. Cody, you there?”
He and Jim Ed exchanged places. “Go ahead.”
“Good news! They found Pepper and she’s fine.”
“Thank God.” Cody wiped his face with suddenly trembling fingers.
John’s face broke into a wide grin.
“More news, too. If y’all are coming this way, I’ll tell you when you get here.”
Cody bit his lip, knowing something else was coming his way.
“Be there in a minute.”
Chapter Seventy-one
I thought there was going to be a fight to see who could get to the receiver first. Of course it was Aunt Ida Belle who wound up with it, ’cause she was her mama. She didn’t hog the phone, though, but tilted it upwards so we could all hear. All three of ’em were cryin’ and snifflin’ to beat the band, so loud I could barely hear.
When Aunt Ida Belle started talking, it was hard to understand her through the tears. “Where are you baby? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. I’m in Flagstaff in the Doo Bo Motel.”
Aunt Ida Belle drew a sharp breath. “Are you and Cale in the same room?”
“I ain’t with him at all, and what do you think, that I have money for a motel?” I could hear the old anger in Pepper’s voice. It made me so happy that my chest felt like busting wide open. “What? Oh, the manager says I said it wrong.” He spelled it for her, and she spelled “DuBeau” back to us. “I don’t even have enough money to make this phone call. I’m standing here in the lobby. The manager’s letting me call y’all.”
We heard him in the background for a second time. “Yeah, and that phone’s for paying guests, so you better get off pretty quick.”
The next few words were muffled, so I figured Pepper moved the phone, giving the guy a piece of her mind, or a good cussin’. I hoped it was a small piece so he’d let her keep talking.
Norma Faye leaned in. “Hon, is Cale all right?”
“I don’t have any idea. I’m worried sick about him. We got in a little trouble…”
“Trouble? Oh my God!” Aunt Ida Belle liked drama, and she was so scared of the least little things that she made you want to slap your head. She was afraid of kittens, because one jumped on her leg when she was little and it scared her so bad that she couldn’t even have one in a picture on a calendar. “You sure you’re all right?”
“Mama, I’m fine, and I don’t want to talk about it right now…”
“Is Cale in jail?”
I could hear the frustration in Pepper’s voice. “I don’t know. I don’t have any idea where he is. We got crossways with these guys on motorcycles and I busted one of ’em in the nose and some other kids in a van drug me away and took off like a bunch of stripe-ass baboons and they wouldn’t let me go back to get Cale because they were as afraid as we were of them bikers and the next thing I knew…well, there’s a lot that’s happened, but it wasn’t all bad. The thing is, I haven’t seen him since.”
“Don’t you take no drugs at any of them dope houses, hon.”
I’m sure my expression would have gotten my jaws slapped at any other time, but none of the three noticed it. “I ’magine she’s had every chance in the world to take…”
They shushed me like I was a little ol’ jabbering baby.
I heard Pepper draw a big sigh on the other end. “Did you miss the part about me being in this motel lobby? Can you have Daddy or Grandpa come get me, or send me some money to get home?”
Aunt Ida Belle shook her head like Pepper could see her. “They’re out there somewhere right now, trying to find you.”
“Here in Flagstaff?”
“They were, but the last we heard, they were in Barstow. Now, you stay right there, hon, until they come and get you.”
“This guy’s not going to let me stay here that long, and besides, I’m starving to death.”
“Give me the phone.” Norma Faye held out her hand. Her voice was strong and flat, like my teacher sounded when she intended to quiet the room down. She put the receiver to her ear. “Young lady, you get that manager on the other end of this line and stay right where you are.”
There was a pause and she raised her eyebrows at us. For the first time ever, I saw a redhead’s temper.
“Mister, I am Norma Faye Parker, wife to Sheriff Cody Parker here in Texas. That little girl there is his niece, so you give her a room and then you give her some money for food, and don’t you let her go wandering off to get it neither. I’m good for every penny. Do you have a diner around there?”
She listened for a second, and I could tell she cut the guy off.
“I’m sure you have a wife, or a maid, or a housekeeper, or a grandmother around there somewhere. Send one of them out to get it and bring it back to her. Now, I’m going to the bank right now to wire you enough money for two nights and a dozen meals and…” She listened for a moment. “No, I don’t car
e if she is fourteen, I don’t want her waiting at no police station. You heard me say our people are coming for her and one of them is a lawman, Constable Ned Parker. Now, you’ll have your money in an hour and after you take out for the room and food, you can keep whatever’s left over. Give me the name of your motel again and the phone number and the address.” She wrote it all down. “Now, give the phone back to Pepper.”
She passed the receiver to Aunt Ida Belle and gathered up her purse. “I’m going to the bank.”
She stomped out and was gone, and I had to listen to Aunt Ida Belle fuss over Pepper. “Is that motel a clean place? You know we’re clean people. Now, don’t you do nothing ugly with nobody, and don’t be drinking beer, neither. Drinkin’s a sin…”
I was thinking that when Pepper finally got home, everything wouldn’t be sunshine and roses, not once they got hold of her. Then I heard something that about broke my heart. Pepper was sobbing into the phone, saying she was sorry, and I knew my cousin had turned a corner.
Chapter Seventy-two
No one slept in the motel room that night in Barstow, over three hundred and fifty miles west of Pepper’s Flagstaff motel.
Ned was feverish, tossing and turning, tortured from within.
James worried all night on the other side of the bed, wondering if he’d made the right call not going in the house after Pepper, once he knew where it was.
Cale’s head throbbed behind his black eyes, making breathing difficult. He was afraid to ask anyone to take him to the doctor, so he endured the pain, figuring it was part of his punishment. Lying in the darkness, he vowed never again to think he was tough or above the law. The fight with the motorcycle gang proved to him once and for all that there were a lot of people in the world who were tougher than he’d ever imagined.
Shirtless, Crow sat in the courtyard, this time in a yellow chair, watching cars pass on Route 66. He was sure the Rattlers didn’t know where he was, but then again, he figured you never went wrong being extra careful. He threaded a needle from the motel room’s sewing kit and went to work patching the clean cut on the back of his still damp shirt that would soon dry in the desert air. The long slash across his lower back stung.
In a green chair, Rocky drank from a paper bag. “You gonna tell them?”
“I’ve told them enough. I’m gonna handle this myself, in my own way.”
“You didn’t say nothing about me?”
“Didn’t think they needed to know, and I wasn’t for sure you’d make it anyway.”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“We haven’t talked much in the last couple of years, and I barely knew where you were. I wouldn’t have, if Tammy hadn’t gotten that letter from you before she left.”
“Well, I’m here. Those guys are gonna be tough to handle.”
Crow angled the patch job toward the light over the playground. He took another stitch that would have made his mama proud. “Once I know she’s in there, we’ll handle whatever comes up.” He bit off the thread and held the needle out. “Here.”
“Bad?”
“Enough.”
“Stand up, then and turn so I can get the light.” Rocky took the needle. “Shoulda done this earlier. Might be too late.”
“No later’n the last time.”
Rocky handed him the paper sack. “Draw on this.”
Crow took a long swallow, the liquor burning all the way. He flinched at the first stitch in his back, but caught himself and remained still until Rocky finished. His stitches would have made their mama proud, too.
***
Rocky was long gone at daylight, so Crow didn’t know if he slept or not. They decided that Rocky should watch the house for a while, hoping to get a glimpse of the girl. Patience seemed to be the best option, and Crow had been patient for a long time.
When the sun rose, Crow stood and stretched, feeling tightness in his back.
The motel door opened and James stepped outside. “You ready?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s barely light, and those guys aren’t going to be up over there until later in the day.”
James rubbed at the back of his neck, an unconscious Parker mannerism that he never thought about. “So we have to sit around here some more?”
“At least until noon.”
“Why then?”
“Because that’s check-out time, and I don’t think we’ll want to spend another nineteen dollars on a room for no more’n an hour or two before we leave.”
“I was thinking we’d leave Ned here in bed. Cale can take care of him until we get back.”
“Nope. We’ll need to move fast, and I don’t know which direction. We can’t take a chance on coming back through here to get them. We take ’em with us and they wait in the car.”
“They might get hurt.”
“We all might get hurt.”
“I’ve been thinking. Let’s call the cops and have them go over there to check and see if she’s in there?”
“Good idea.”
James waited, frowning. “Is it that simple?”
“I’ve been thinking about it. What do we have to lose?”
“Well, all right. I’ll go in and call them right now.”
“Fine.”
“Somehow I think you’re not serious.”
“It’s your daughter. Do what you think is right.”
James hesitated. “I’ll go in and call them right now.”
“You said that. Go ahead on.”
James was barely inside when Rocky rolled up. “She’s there.”
Crow felt a prickle down his spine. “You saw her?”
“Yep. It was her. She came outside with another girl and they rode off with a couple of old boys I hadn’t seen in the bar. They met some hippies, sold ’em some grass, took the money, and got some groceries. I left ’em back at the house and came to get you.”
“All right. Let’s go.”
When James came back outside after making the call, Crow was gone.
And so was James’ car.
Chapter Seventy-three
It was still raining the next morning. The weatherman said it was about done, but we still had at least one more day and night before the storm passed. He warned that didn’t mean the flood was anywheres near over with. Water would continue to rise for days.
Uncle Cody spent most of the night at the hospital, waiting to hear about Miss Anna. She was alive, but the doctors still weren’t making any promises. It was daylight, or what there was of it on that rainy morning, when he got to the house. He and I were eating bacon and fried eggs at the table, talking about the dreams we still couldn’t figure out. I didn’t mind discussing it then, with him there with me.
While we talked, Norma Faye washed dishes and Miss Becky listened and cleared the table, happy that Pepper was found, but I could tell she was still concerned. She for sure knew something she wasn’t telling, and every time there was a mention of a horse, her eyes snapped like fire.
Aunt Ida Belle rocked back and forth in Grandpa’s chair, being mad. She’d already talked to Pepper and she was fine, but neither Uncle James nor Grandpa had called to check in. “If they don’t call in an hour, I’m fixin’ to fly out of Love Field and get my baby. She’s sitting in a motel room in a strange town.”
“Get two tickets,” Norma Faye said. “I’ll go with you.”
Miss Becky took down a red syrup can, removed the lid, and plucked out her butter and egg money. She counted it. “I have enough here for the two of you.”
They both started to argue, but Miss Becky shut them up with a frustrated wave. “I ain’t-a flyin’ with y’all, but I’m-a payin. Be careful. There’s a lot of dark places in this old world.”
I wanted to ask her if I could go, but I decided it’d be better if I
stayed right there and kept my mouth closed.
Uncle Cody knew better than to say a word.
***
The phone rang and Aunt Ida Belle answered it. “Cody, it’s for you. They was calling for Mr. Ned, but I told them you’re here instead.”
He took the receiver and listened for a couple of minutes. Then he drew a long breath. “All right. Thanks.” He came back and sat down to finish his coffee. “That was O.C. Said he heard John T. and Marty robbed a store in McKinney.”
Norma Faye raised an eyebrow to ask a question.
“They know we have Freddy. They’ll be hard to catch now with getaway money in their pockets.” Uncle Cody studied the yellow smears on his plate. “Marty’s not as bright as folks think he is. He’s such a mama’s boy, I bet he comes back sometime, at least for a minute or two. He hasn’t let go of her dress tail once in his whole life. He’ll be back.”
“Until then, what are you gonna do?”
Uncle Cody was surprised at the question. I’d never heard Norma Faye get into his business before. “Keep looking, I reckon, and keep trying to figure out this dream Top’s having. I’ve had a little of the same thing myself, and the whole thing’s sitting on the edge of my mind. It seems like a little bitty thing and…”
I piped in. “Like a little speck of dust out in space.”
“That’s right. A tiny speck of dust.”
“And at night, if you think about that little green speck out in the stars long enough, it gets enormous, like the biggest balloon in the whole universe that somebody is blowing up and it gets bigger and bigger until it makes your chest ache.”
Norma Faye put one fist on her hip. “What in the world are you two talking about?”
We said the same thing at the same time. “We aren’t sure.”
Chapter Seventy-four
Crow rolled past a police cruiser driving slowly through the biker’s neighborhood. He parked at the end of the unpaved alley to think. There were no fences, and little vegetation behind the houses. From the tracks, it was obvious that bikes routinely used the alley as well as the street out front. It was only three doors down from the corner, so anyone popping out the back was less than eighty yards away. He was confident that most of the people who might run would instinctively turn toward the shortest escape route, only to find the Bel Air blocking the exit.
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