“If you elect me sheriff,” she said clearly, “I will treat all people equally. That means if you are poor, I will give you exactly the same treatment I’d give a rich man. A woman will be heard exactly the same as a man. Black people or people of Mexico, people of any race or religion can come to me without fear. I know this will not please all of you, but I’m not here to please the crowd. I stand on one fact—the law must be the same for all people.”
Clint let out a ringing yell and stood and began clapping. All over the bridge voices rang out, and the sound swept against Jenny. At that moment she knew she had done exactly the right thing. I may lose this election, Lord, but these people deserve good government.
“Now,” she said, “my opponent did not ask for questions, but I will take them if you will give them clearly one at a time.”
Simon Skinner was near the front of the crowd. He called out roughly, “What are you going to do, missy, when a man comes at you and takes that little gun away from you that you claim you’re gonna carry?”
Jenny, for a moment, could not answer, but suddenly a man that towered over Skinner grabbed him by the back of his collar. It was the blacksmith Jude Tanner, and he squeezed and lifted Skinner until the tall, lanky man cried out and struggled, but he was like a child in the grip of the blacksmith.
“I will hire good, honest men such as Jude Tanner to handle that question, Mr. Skinner.”
Applause and laughter went up, and Jenny knew she had won the point.
The questions went on for some time, and to her amazement, Jenny found that most of them were good questions from people friendly to her. She was not afraid to say, “I don’t know,” and she said it often. “I will have to be educated,” she said finally before stepping aside. “But as I’ve said before, I don’t think brute force or a vast knowledge of the law is what this county needs. We need justice for all people, and I might as well be honest with you. There are forces outside this county moving in. Racketeers from the North intend to use Georgia and other southern states as a source for their bootleg whiskey.” She hesitated and then lifted her hand and said, “I pledge to you they will not use our land for their evil purposes.”
The applause began then, and Jenny turned and went back to her seat. Her face was flushed, and her knees felt weak. The applause went on for a long time, and finally the lieutenant-governor came to the microphone. He was a Conroy supporter, but he was too wise a politician to attack a woman who had received an ovation. “We’re grateful for our candidates, and we ask that you all come out and vote on election day. It’s your chance to speak up for what you want.” Luke leaned over and touched Jenny’s arm. “You did fine, Jenny,” he said. “You couldn’t have done better.”
“Thank you, Luke. Do you think we have a chance?”
“Yes, I think you’ll be the next sheriff. And then you’ll really need prayer.”
****
The day had been long, and Jenny had spent it as she had every other day since starting her campaign. She had made it a point to go to every small town in the county, going to every business she possibly could. She could not argue politics, for she was not well enough versed, although Luke Dixon was bringing her along in that matter, educating her until late at night on the issues of the day and the way the county machinery ran.
By now Jenny was almost blind with exhaustion as she drove the truck along the highway and thought of what a tough campaign it had been. She had received threatening phone calls, for she’d had to have a phone installed at Luke’s insistence. Some of the calls had been obscene. She had simply hung up, but they had troubled her.
Now the election was only two days away, and her mind was swept as if by a hurricane.
She had gone home but had been so disturbed she had to get away for a while. She had remembered promising Jamie Varek to bring her a doll, and she had picked one that she had brought from New York with her, a treasured relic of her childhood. Now as she pulled up in front of Varek’s house, she noted with approval that he was making progress on the house. It was looking better all the time. It was painted now, and the yard was cleaned up and even a few flowers were planted under the windows.
She picked up the paper sack containing the doll and went up the walkway. Jamie came bursting out the screen door to greet her, followed by Clay.
“Hello, sweetheart,” Jenny said.
“Did you bring me a doll?”
“She gets right to the heart of it,” Clay said, smiling. He came down the steps and nodded. “I hear you’ve been busy.”
“Pretty busy.” Jenny handed the sack to Jamie and watched the girl strip it away, then hold up the doll. It was a beautifully made doll with blond hair and blue eyes, and when you squeezed it, it made a sound vaguely resembling a baby’s cry. “Squeeze it, and she’ll cry for you, Jamie.”
Jamie squeezed the doll and cried out in delight. “I’m going to name her Jemima.”
“She loves Aunt Jemima’s pancakes, which is about the best of my cooking, I reckon. So I guess Jemima’s a good name,” Clay said. “Come and sit on the porch for a while.”
Jenny went up and sat down in one of the rockers, and Clay took another. Jamie crawled up in his lap, cuddling her doll and stroking its hair. She was astonished to find that the eyes closed when you laid the doll back and opened when you sat her up.
“You couldn’t have brought her anything that would have made her happier,” Clay said quietly. He was studying Jenny’s face and said, “You look exhausted. Campaigning is pretty hard work, isn’t it?”
“The hardest thing I’ve ever done,” Jenny admitted. She laid her head back against the chair and rocked slowly. There was the smell of honeysuckle in the air, and the quietness fell on her like ointment. She had talked so much and listened so much and traveled so much, and now just to sit here in the quietness was a luxury.
The two sat there listening and smiling as Jamie played with the doll, and finally she ran off, saying, “I’m gonna put her on my bed and sing her to sleep.”
“You’re about played out,” Clay observed once Jamie had gone.
“I don’t know what makes me think I can do it. I think I’ve lost my mind. I let Luke Dixon talk me into it and a few others.”
“Do you want to do it, Jennifer?”
Jenny looked up and studied Clay Varek. He made an arresting figure as he sat there, his white shirt fitted snugly against his shoulders and chest. He smiled at her then, and the smile took the rough edges from his face. He bent over and put his elbows on his knees, his shoulders loose. His tawny hair made a line across his forehead, and his mouth was wide and firm. The chin below was rather sharp, and there was something almost wolfish about him, Jenny noticed for the first time.
“I think you’re doing a good thing,” he said unexpectedly.
“You do?” Jenny was amazed, for he had never commented one way or the other on her campaign.
“Yes, and I guess I haven’t been quick enough to tell you that. But I was in law enforcement for a long time, and it’s a bad situation in this county.”
“You were a sheriff?”
“I was a detective on the Chicago Police Force for eight years.”
Jenny stared at Clay in shock. He had never spoken of his past, and now she knew that he was breaking some rule he had made for himself. “Why did you quit, Clay? Didn’t you like it?”
“I liked some of it, but there’s a lot of corruption out there. A man has to fight it all the time. People shoving money at him and wanting him to do the wrong thing.” He hesitated, then passed his hand in front of his face in a helpless gesture. “But that wasn’t why I quit.” He sat still for a moment and then clasped his hands together, and his voice was summer soft on the air. “I had a good friend, Jennifer. His name was John Summers. He was my partner. He had a wife who gave him a child and then died, and he was trying to raise her. The two of us got caught in a shoot-out. We went down an alley together, and a gunman from a second-story window was about to shoot me.
John leaped in front and took the bullet. I got the man who fired it, but Johnny was bleeding to death. I knew he was a goner.” Clay Varek hesitated, and his voice seemed to break. “He asked me to look out for his little girl.”
“And so you took Jamie to raise?”
“Yes. She had no kin, so I adopted her legally. But I couldn’t stay on the force and take care of her. Besides, I couldn’t face it after John died. I sold everything I had, which wasn’t much, and came down here to try to start over again and give her a good home.”
Jenny felt compassion for this strong man and a great admiration. “Not many men would do that, Clay.”
Clay looked down at his hands. “John would have done it for me.”
Jenny resisted the urge to reach over and put a hand on his shoulder, to try to comfort him somehow. Instead, she stood up, and Clay rose to stand beside her. “Thanks for the doll. It means a lot to Jamie.”
“She’s a wonderful child. I know you’re very proud of her.”
Clay’s eyes clouded for a moment. “A man makes a sorry mother.”
“Why don’t you bring her over to our house sometime? My sister Kat would love to play with her. Kat may seem sort of wild, but she’s very responsible.”
“All right. I’ll do that. And thanks, Jennifer.”
****
On election day, Jenny looked up and saw Clay Varek walk into campaign headquarters. She greeted him at once, then asked, “Where’s Jamie?”
“I left her with your folks. She’s having a great time. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your putting me on to that. She had gotten lonesome, and I hadn’t recognized it.”
Jenny was very pleased that Clay had taken her up on her invitation. “I’m glad to help.” She looked up at the clock and the wall and sighed, “Well, it will all be over by midnight.”
“I think you’ll win, Jennifer.” Clay had insisted on calling her Jennifer, which pleased Jenny quite a bit. It didn’t sound formal when he said it, and he was the only one who did. But she liked it.
“You mind if I make a suggestion? I’ve been around quite a few elections.”
Luke Dixon had come up to hear him say this. “We need all the help we can get, Clay.”
“Well, I think you need to put one of your people at every polling spot, and I think they ought to accompany that box of votes all the way back to headquarters, where they’ll be counted.”
Jenny stared at him. “You think they would try to steal the votes?”
“It’s been done before.”
“That’s a good idea!” Luke exclaimed. “I hadn’t thought of that. There’s one box way out in the county right in the heart of moonshining country.”
“You’d better go to that one yourself, Jenny. I’ll go with you if you’d like.”
“That’s a good idea,” Luke said quickly. “I’ll assign someone to go to every box. It’s going to be a close race.”
****
The day went slowly for Jenny, and the boxes were counted from the county seat of Summerdale, where they were easily accessible, and the count was very close. “It could go either way,” Luke said, a worried expression on his face. “It all depends on the outlying stations. You’d better go see about that box of votes over by Cartersville.”
Jenny nodded. “Clay said he’d go with me.”
“Not a bad idea. That’s rough country around there. We’ve assigned an older couple to watch the box. I’m not sure they’re able.”
Jenny went at once and found Clay, and the two of them got into his car. By the time they made the trip, darkness had fallen, and when they reached the polling place, they saw that there were crowds still milling around in front. When they got out, there were catcalls and some rather obscene shouts directed toward Jenny. “What’s the matter? You afraid you’ll lose a vote? Well, you won’t get any around here! Get your skirt out of here!”
The speaker was a fat, red-faced man who had obviously been drinking. Clay Varek stepped in front of him and said, “Shut your mouth!”
Clay’s tone was soft, and the big man blinked at him and started to speak. But something he saw in Varek’s eyes stopped him. He stared a moment longer at Clay and then turned and walked away unsteadily, muttering under his breath.
“Come on, Jenny, it’s almost time to take the box in.”
They entered the schoolhouse where the election was being held, and Jenny looked around. “The Parsons were supposed to be here watching the box.”
“Mrs. Parson got sick,” a hard-eyed woman said. “But we didn’t need ’em anyway. Her husband took her home.”
“That’s right.” A short, muscular man with a droopy mustache moved over toward the box. “We’ll take the box in.”
Jenny saw several of the men moving toward the stubby man and did not know what to say. Varek stepped forward and said, “That’s fine. You can hold the box, and we’ll go right along with you.”
“We don’t need your help!”
Clay swept back his coat and revealed the pistol stuck in his belt. “We’ll go with you,” he said softly. “You don’t mind, do you?”
The muscular man stared at the gun and then lifted his eyes to Clay. “I guess it’ll be all right,” he muttered.
“You can ride in our car. Bring anybody you want,” Clay said.
Jenny’s heart was beating fast as she looked around and saw that there were some hard-looking men there. But Clay stood firm, and although he did not pull out the revolver stuck in his belt, there was something about him that kept their strict attention.
“Let’s go,” Clay said.
Jenny felt weak-kneed, but she got into the car in the front seat with Clay. The muscular man got in the back holding the box, along with one of his friends. “You didn’t need to come all the way out here for this,” he said weakly.
Clay turned and smiled at him. “We appreciate your help. You just hang on to that box, buddy.”
After they returned, the vote counting went on for over an hour as they waited for all the outlying districts to report in. Jenny was standing outside along with a host of others, including Max Conroy. A silence had fallen over the crowd, and Jenny had never felt so helpless in her life. Finally Gerald Thackery, the clerk who was in charge of the count, stepped outside. It was his moment of triumph. He was a small man, with thinning blond hair, and he held a paper in his hand. Deliberately he stopped, and somebody hollered, “Well, what is it, Gerald? Spit it out!”
“The new sheriff, according to the full vote, is . . .” He paused dramatically and said, “Miss Jennifer Winslow!”
A howl of anger went up from many, but there were riotous cheers as well. Jenny felt people around her patting her shoulder and shaking her hand, but she looked over the crowd and saw Max Conroy glaring at her. If she ever saw hatred in a human face, it was written on his, and she knew that the election might be over, but that the job was just beginning. He came forward and smiled, but when he leaned toward her he said in a voice so low that only she could hear, “You won, but you’ll wish you lost before it’s over.”
Dixon appeared and hugged Jenny, saying, “Well, you’re the sheriff, but we’ve got a lot to do.”
And Jenny knew then that somehow her life could never be the same. She felt totally inadequate and whispered a quick prayer. “Lord, you’ll have to help me because I can’t do this alone!”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Sheriff Winslow’s First Day
Standing in front of the narrow full-length mirror fastened to the wall of her bedroom, Jenny stared fixedly at her image. The first rays of the early sun slanted in through the window, throwing pale rays of light on the turkey-red carpet beside her bed, and reflected on the red of her hair as she stood staring at herself.
“I never thought I’d be putting on a thing like this,” she muttered and shook her head in utter disbelief. There had been no uniforms designed for women, for all of the deputies in the sheriff’s department were male. Jenny had worried over the problem for
some time, and finally she and Missouri had come up with what seemed to be the best solution. She wore a light khaki tailored shirt with a straight skirt to match that fell just below her knees. A wide belt circled her waist, and a narrow leather belt crossed her chest from her waist to her right shoulder, fastening in the back. She wore calf-high dark brown boots, and at her side, in a polished brown holster, was the thirty-eight she had been issued. Turning to the bed, she picked up the fawn-colored felt hat with a stiff brim and a low crown, settled it squarely on her head, and then let her hands fall to her side.
For a long moment she stood completely still, staring at herself. I feel ridiculous, and I hate the way I look, but there’s no help for it. Lord, I don’t know why you put me in this place. It’s going to be harder than anything I’ve ever known, and I can’t do it without you. So, I ask you to keep me safe and to let me be a blessing to the people in this county. She took one more look at herself, then had to smile. She had always been a young woman with a keen sense of humor, and now somehow she seemed like a comic character in a very bad play.
Suddenly the door flew open, and Kat came bursting in. “Hey, you look great!” Kat said, staring with admiration. Her eyes went to the holster on Jenny’s right side, and she said, “Can I hold the gun, Jenny?”
“No, you can’t hold the gun.”
“You gotta let me shoot it sometime. I ain’t never shot a pistol.”
“You have never shot a pistol! And you’re not shooting this one. Come on, let’s go downstairs.”
The two went downstairs, and when they reached the dining room they found Lewis and Clint seated, with Hannah and Missouri serving the meal.
“Well, look at you!” Clint grinned. “I’ve never seen such a pretty policeman.”
“I wish I were in China!” Jenny said vehemently. She went to her chair and plopped down. She put her hat down on the floor beside her and waited until Lewis asked the blessing.
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