Lon switched the matchstick in his mouth from one side to the other, letting his temper cool before he spoke.
“All right,” he said smoothly. “You’re the boss.”
But not for long, you son of a bitch. I do the work around here and I’m sick of bein’ talked down to by you.
After Lon stalked off toward the little cabin set alongside the bunkhouse, Ocie sat on the porch watching the bats flit here and there and remembered when Lon had come to the ranch some fifteen years ago. He had been a cocky kid who liked to be the center of attention. More than once Temple would have given Lon the boot if he hadn’t been a relation.
Gradually over the years Lon had settled down, become a good hand. After Temple died and Bobby had turned out to be such a disappointment, Lon had stepped in and filled a void. Ocie had had no reason to doubt his loyalty until now.
Was he vindictive enough to pin a lie on a man that would send him to prison because of something that had happened when he was a kid?
Doctor Morris had gone out to a ranch to deliver a baby, and it was nearly noon when he arrived to see Dolly.
Mary Lee was sitting with her mother when Trudy brought the doctor to the bedroom. He placed his bag on the foot of the bed and nodded to Mary Lee when she stood to relinquish her chair beside the bed.
“Bad night?”
“Yes, sir. I got a little bread and milk down her, but all she’ll drink is the tequila Jake brought.”
“I thought that would be the case.” Doctor Morris pulled down the sheet. His fingers swept lightly over Dolly’s distended belly.
“We tried to change the bed, but it hurt her too much to be moved.”
“Keep a dry towel under her. It’s all you can do.” He covered Dolly and put his hand on her forehead. “Are you awake, Mrs. Finley?”
The sunken eyes opened slowly. The lids were as thin as paper.
“Playing possum, are you?” Doctor Morris asked lightly. “Am I dyin’?” Dolly spoke so low, he had to bend his head to hear.
“I won’t lie to you, Mrs. Finley. You’re on the road.”
“Yeah? Well, it don’t matter.”
“The sheriff would like to talk to you. Do you feel up to it?”
“I ain’t got nothin’ to say to … that shithead.”
Mary Lee cringed, but the doctor didn’t seem to mind the crude language.
“Will you talk to me?”
“Yeah. Whis … key first.” She struggled for each breath. Doctor Morris nodded at Mary Lee, and she left the room.
“Don’t want her … to hear.”
“All right.”
Mary Lee returned and held her mother’s head while she drank from the glass.
“When you leave, Mrs. Clawson,” the doctor said kindly, “will you please close the door?”
Mary Lee returned to the kitchen, where Trudy was peeling potatoes from a bushel basket, and sank down in a chair. She had managed to avoid Jake since he brought the tequila. He was out now, talking to Sheriff Pleggenkuhle, who had been waiting for the doctor, hoping he could calm Dolly enough for her to give a statement.
“Where did the potatoes come from?” Mary Lee asked. “Mama. Deke brought them when he went to tell her about Mrs. Finley and get a can of peaches for a cobbler. She’s afraid they’ll spoil before she can use them.”
“Trudy, am I so stiff-necked that you have to lie to me?” “Sometimes,” Trudy said with a grin.
“Keep a list of who brings things so I can thank them later.”
“I already started it. You want some tea or somethin’?”
“Not now. Did you turn the ice card?”
“We’ve got a chunk, so I turned it to twenty-five pounds.” After a silence, Mary Lee said, “The doctor told her that she’s dying.”
“She knew it already. Poor thing. She told me last night that she’s known it for a while.”
“I wish things could have been different between us.”
“The whiskey got such a hold on her that she didn’t care about anything else. Men will lie and steal to get it. I guess it happens to women too. Your mama wasn’t strong enough to resist it.”
“Daddy told me that. He loved her anyway.”
“My mama has never got over losin’ my daddy. I see her lookin’ at his picture sometimes.”
“Trudy, you’re the best friend I ever had. I don’t know how I would have managed without you.”
“You’d a got by.”
“At times I think that God has forgotten me; then I think of you and Eli.”
“Just hush that or you’ll make me bawl. Eli don’t know what to do with himself. I thought of sending him up to the creamery to get us a pail of buttermilk.”
“We won’t be cooking for our stopover people for a while. I’ll not be able to hold on to the court, Trudy. What money I’ve saved will go now.”
“Maybe not. The doctor will let you pay later.”
“I can’t let the county bury Mama. The county buried Bobby and it was so … heartless and businesslike. It was like he was some unwanted garbage they needed to get rid of.”
“Don’t worry about it now. You’ve got six weeks before you have to pay the loan.”
Mary Lee looked out the window to see Jake and the sheriff beside the water pump. Jake was filling a bucket for Eli to carry to the small garden.
“I wonder when the sheriff will let us clean the cabin so we can rent it.” Trudy poured water over the peeled potatoes and set them on the stove.
“We’ll have to buy another new mattress,” Mary Lee said worriedly.
“Two new mattresses,” Trudy corrected. “Hon, you can’t use the one your mother’s on ever again.”
“I know, but I wouldn’t have to do it right away.” Mary Lee watched Trudy when Deke rode in on his cycle and stopped beside the washhouse. “You like him, don’t you?”
“Yeah. He’s like nothin’ I’ve met before. I don’t think he minds that I’m … the way I am.”
“He sees what you are on the inside the same as you see him. I like him, Trudy. He’s genuine.”
“Yeah, he is.”
“I hope he stays around here.”
“He’s not ready to settle down.”
“Has he said that?”
“No. He hides his true self behind his glib tongue.” Trudy laughed. “You should have seen Mama’s face when he called her ‘darlin’.’ ”
“Does she like him?”
“Loves him.” Trudy laughed again nervously. “She thinks he’s cute. Says he reminds her of a cocky little bantam rooster.”
“Jake thinks a lot of him.”
“Jake’s in love with you.” Trudy dropped the bomb into the quiet kitchen.
Mary Lee’s head and shoulders swiveled around to where Trudy stood beside the window.
“You’re … crazy! He feels sorry for me. He has a soft spot for pregnant women. Especially those who find themselves in a bind like I am.”
“Mary Lee Finley, the man is crazy about you.”
“Hush saying that! There’s no way a man like Jake would fall in love with a woman pregnant with another man’s child, especially Bobby Clawson’s child.”
“Then why does he watch you like a hawk watchin’ a chicken? Why is he layin’ off work to stay here in case you might need him? Why’d he sleep on that hard porch last night?”
“Well, for goodness’ sake, I didn’t ask him to.”
“I know that. He did it ’cause he’s crazy about you.”
“He’s a nice man. He’d have done it for anyone.”
“Are you holdin’ it against him ’cause he’s been in prison?”
Mary Lee opened her mouth to make a firm denial, but the doctor came into the kitchen before the words could leave her mouth.
“Would you like a glass of tea, Doctor?” Trudy was already getting a glass out of the cupboard.
“That would go down real good. I doubt she’ll last the night, Mary Lee. Will you have someone here with you?”
“Yes, sir. Trudy will be here.”
“I’ll come if you can get word to me.”
“I will appreciate it. Is there something you can give her for the pain?”
“I gave her morphine. She may wake up again and she may not.” He took the glass of tea and headed for the back door. “I’ll be back in before I go,” he said.
As he stepped off the porch, Doctor Morris motioned to the sheriff. They moved out into the yard. The doctor spoke for several minutes. Sheriff Pleggenkuhle listened intently, then took off his hat, scratched his head and put it back on. He went to where Jake, Eli and Deke were waiting beside the water pump and told the boy to bring him the garden rake.
The men went around the house to the front porch. Eli, followed by the doctor, came into the kitchen.
“The sheriff wants a couple of paper sacks.”
“What for?” Trudy asked while tugging the neatly folded sacks from behind the icebox.
“He didn’t say, but I reckon we’ll find out.”
After Eli left, the doctor said, “Mary Lee, there is no way to put this except to come right out and tell you. Your mother confessed to me that she killed Frank Pierce.”
Chapter 24
MARY LEE WAS SO SHOCKED by the doctor’s calm words that she was unable to utter a sound for a minute. Then she gasped, “That’s impossible.”
“She told me that she had cleaned the cabin for Frank when she could hardly stand on her feet. I believe that. I don’t see how she could have done it in her condition. She said he was mean to her, refused to give her a drink from his bottle and said he’d not ever marry her. Called her vile names and told her to get out. When he lay down on the bed to go to sleep, she cut his throat with a knife, then buried the bottle she had broken earlier in his throat.”
Mary Lee began to feel dizzy. She felt for the back of a chair and eased herself around and onto it. The reasons why it was impossible for her mother to do such a thing began to spew from her mouth.
“She wasn’t … strong enough. She was too sick. She wanted to marry him. She couldn’t … have done it unless she just went … crazy for a minute. She was a … drunk, but she wouldn’t kill anybody.”
“It didn’t take much strength to do what she did,” Doctor Morris said gently. “And it’s very possible that she just went out of her mind and wasn’t aware of what she had done until it was over.”
“Maybe she’s just saying she did it to protect … someone else.”
“She threw the knife under the porch. Her dress, too, because it had blood on it. The sheriff is fishing them out with the rake.”
“Will everyone have to know?” Trudy came to stand behind Mary Lee’s chair.
“I’m afraid so.”
“Could the sheriff wait until after … the funeral?”
“I can’t speak for the sheriff.”
“It would make things … easier,” Trudy said.
“I’ve got to move along. Call me.” The doctor placed a comforting hand on Mary Lee’s shoulder when he passed her.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
Mary Lee went into her mother’s room, sank down in the chair and looked at the pitiful creature that was her mother. How unreal it seemed that this woman had carried her in her body for nine long months, felt her move inside her as she felt the baby she was carrying.
Dolly nourished me. She had to have loved me a little.
Her mother was dying, and there was no one to mourn her except the daughter she had resented from birth. She picked up her mother’s limp hand and held it.
“You’ll not be alone, Mama. I’ll be here.”
The day seemed endless. Mary Lee sat beside her mother’s bed all afternoon, aware that Trudy had prepared a meal and that the sheriff and the deputy were no longer there. Eli came in and squatted down beside her. He kept his worried eyes away from the woman on the bed, looking only at Mary Lee.
She stroked the hair back from his forehead, then hugged his head to her.
“I’m so glad I’ve got you, Eli. We’ll be all right. We’ll just have to figure out what to do after we lose the court.”
“Ya think we will?”
“I don’t see how we can scrape up the money now with this added expense and having to close the court for a while.”
“Can’t we open it tomorrow?”
“No, but we can open it in a few days though. We’ll save every cent we take in and not be completely broke when we leave.”
“I’ll get a job and take care of you.”
“We’ll take care of each other.”
“You still like Jake, don’t you?”
“Of course. He’s been a good friend.”
“He says he’ll move up into number one because when word gets out that someone was killed in that cabin folks might not want to stay there. Is that all right with you?”
“I don’t suppose it makes much difference.”
“We’ve been cleaning the cabin. Jake and Deke burned the mattress. We’ve scrubbed everythin’ with lye soap. Jake fixed the door.”
“I’m sorry he and Deke have lost work to stay here.” “Jake’s worried about you.”
“Did he say that?”
“No. But I can tell. He watches the house all the time, especially —”
Mrs. Santez came into the room, cutting off the conversation, and Eli left hurriedly. Trudy brought a chair for the gas station owner’s wife. During the half hour she was there nothing was mentioned about Dolly being the one who killed Frank, for which Mary Lee was grateful.
When Mrs. Santez left, she assured Mary Lee that she and Mr. Santez were there for her if she needed them and that she would be back the next day.
Later, Ruby, Trudy’s mother, came. By the time she left, it was dark and the bedroom was illuminated only by the light coming from the living room. Dolly’s breaths were so shallow that at times Mary Lee leaned toward the bed to make sure that she was still breathing.
When the light coming from the living room dimmed suddenly, Mary Lee looked up to see Jake’s big form filling the doorway.
“Are you all right? Do you need anything?” His voice was strained, husky.
“I’m all right, and no, I don’t need anything.”
He hesitated and turned as if to go. The light cast shadows on his cheeks and softened the lines of his mouth. He looked younger and so vulnerable that a pain clutched Mary Lee’s heart. She thought suddenly of the boy who had come hobbling up to the water pump, exhausted and thirsty but too proud to take the water until he asked permission.
“I’ll sit with you, if you want me to.” His eyes were bleak, questioning.
“Yes,” Mary Lee said in a strangled whisper.
He came into the room, moved the chair Trudy had brought in closer, and sat down. He reached for her hand and held it tightly between his.
“You’ve been in here all day.” “I can’t let her die alone.”
“Did you eat?”
“A little. It’s hard to.”
“Yeah, I guess it is. How is she?”
“Just hanging on. The doctor said that she probably wouldn’t wake up.”
“That’s the best way … if you have to go.”
“Sometimes I’m not sure she’s still breathing.”
“Put your fingers here on the veins.” He moved her fingers up to Dolly’s wrist. “Do you feel the pulse?” he asked in hushed tones.
She looked at him with big, solemn eyes bright with tears and shook her head.
He took Dolly’s hand and pressed his fingers to the veins in her wrists. “It’s there, but it’s faint.”
When she took her mother’s hand again, he put his arm around her and pulled her close. He heard her sniff and turned his head to put his lips to her forehead.
“Try to think that this is the best under the circumstances. She’s been sick and unhappy for a long time. She’ll not have to suffer a trial.”
“Doctor Morris said that the reason she told hi
m she’d killed Frank could be that she didn’t want me to be blamed for it. Do you think that means that she loved me a little?”
“I’m sure of it. There would be no reason for her to tell otherwise. She drank rotgut whiskey all through Prohibition, and what you get now is not much better. The drink warping her mind is the reason she said mean things to you.”
“I … can’t imagine my not loving my baby.”
“How is Gaston taking all of this?”
“He’s been active. I’ve sat today more than I have since I came from Tulsa on the bus. I don’t think he likes it.”
It seemed natural for Jake’s big hand to rest lightly on her rounded belly. It occurred to her that he was the only one who had touched her there except for the doctor.
“He’s acting up a bit now. Maybe you should get up and walk around the room until he settles down.”
“I can’t leave her.”
“Then lean on me, scoot down and stretch your legs. It’ll give him more room.”
His voice was the softest of sounds. He searched her face for assurance that he’d not been too bold. When she obeyed his instructions and nestled trustingly against him, his heart turned over.
Caught in sudden yearning, she held tightly to his hand as if he were a lifeline and she were being swept to sea. Her emotions were mixed. She was scarred from battling with her mother and from her struggle to keep the court going. It was comforting to pretend for a little while that Jake really and truly cared for her.
“That does feel better.”
Time ticked away slowly. They didn’t talk. There was no need for words. The house was quiet. A tightness crept into Jake’s throat, and he thought how foolish he was to think that she’d even consider letting him hold her like this if not for the present circumstances. But he would take what he could get and store up precious memories for later.
It could have been minutes or an hour when Jake leaned toward the bed and took Dolly’s hand from Mary Lee’s. He held it for a minute, then stood and passed his palm back and forth across her open mouth.
“She’s gone, querida.”
He covered Dolly’s face with the sheet, then reached down and lifted Mary Lee to her feet and into his arms.
Song of the Road Page 25