Carol put her hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Lavenia, you didn’t do anything wrong. You didn’t kill Father Grant, your daddy did.”
“I shoulda quit workin’ here a long time ago. I knowed it made my pa mad when I worked for Father Larry, but we needed the money so what was I supposed to do? It ain’t like everybody in town is knocking down the door to hire a Skaggs. And I didn’t have no thought that my pa’d up and kill a man. And now he has.”
“There was no way you could know your pa would kill Father Grant,” Hick said. “It doesn’t do any good to blame yourself.”
“They ain’t been many good to me and now Father Grant’s dead, and I’m afraid for …” She wiped her nose with the back of her hand and said in a strained voice, “Anyway, that’s why I come to see you.”
“What do you mean?” Carol asked.
“I believe God put ya’ll in this town for a reason. I thought maybe it was to find out what happened to my pa, but now I think it’s to help—” Lavenia reached into her sock and pulled out a wad of soiled hundred dollar bills. She held them in her trembling fingers. “This here’s five hundred dollars.”
Carol’s eyes widened and she stared at Lavenia. “Where did you get all that money?”
Lavenia took a deep breath. “I got it from my brother, Matt.”
23
Friday, September 9, 1955
At the mention of Matt Noble, Hick and Carol exchanged glances. “Where would Matt get so much money?” Hick asked.
Lavenia bit her lip. “I don’t know, and when I ast him that question he said it’d be best not to ask. Said to not worry about it and that no one would miss that money or need it but he told me not to tell a soul and to put it away in case I had use for it someday. But I don’t want Matt to get into any trouble and I’m afraid he might. Since ya’ll were friends of Father Grant I thought you might help Matt.” Her mouth turned downward. “No one here is gonna take the time to help poor folks like us.”
“When did he bring you the money?” Hick asked.
“He brought it to me up at the church yesterday right before I left to go back to Grandpappy Lynch’s. Matt used to walk me home after work every day, but I ain’t seen him since daddy died so I was right glad when he showed up. He walked me partways home and asked me how we was doin’ at the Lynch’s and if they was treatin’ us right. I told him yes, because it’s the God’s honest truth. And then, just before we get to Grandpa’s, he stops and says, ‘Listen, Vinnie’. That’s what he’s always calls me. He says, ‘Listen Vinnie. I think ya’ll deserve this and I want you to have it.’ He put this money in my hand and told me, ‘You hide that in case you need it someday and don’t tell nobody where it come from or how you got it.’ And then he up and left.” Her eyebrows rose slightly and she swallowed before asking, “Do you think he’s in trouble?”
Carol turned to Hick. “How on earth could Matt Noble come up with that much money?”
“I don’t know,” Hick said with a shrug. “Think hard, Lavenia. Can you think of any possible way Matt could have come up with that much money? Could he have been saving it?”
She sniffed. “No, sir. Matt give me a little money here and there in the past ’cause he knew pa wasn’t feeding us right or taking care of us. But it was only five or ten dollars, and I knowed it was from the money he earned at Chet Miller’s place. He ain’t never had this much money to his name.” She gave them an imploring gaze. “Can you talk to him and just make sure everything’s okay? I’m afraid.”
“Well, we can’t just go back up to Chet Miller’s place,” Carol said. “It would look ridiculous us getting lost twice.”
Lavenia frowned with confusion but said, “He don’t work for Chet on Fridays. Chet does deliveries on Fridays so Matt gets that day off.”
“Deliveries, you say,” Hick said and gave Carol a knowing glance. “I reckon we could drive up to the Noble place and try and have a word with Matt.” He shook his head. “You know he won’t like that you told us about the money.”
“He’s my brother. I don’t care if he likes it or not,” Lavenia answered with her mouth set in a firm line. “I don’t aim for him to get hurt or in trouble on account of us. It’s bad enough Father Grant got kilt. I ain’t about to sit around and do nothing and let Matt get in trouble on account of me.” She held out the money. “Should you keep this? In case he done something wrong so he can return it?”
Hick shook his head. “Let’s not jump to conclusions. You hang on to it, and if I need it I know where to find you.”
She put her hand on Hick’s arm. “So you’ll talk to him?”
Hick nodded. “Yeah. But we can’t make any promises.”
“Thank you,” she said. She started to walk away and then stopped. “Please help him stay out of trouble. I know he ain’t my full blood brother, but he’s always been good to us.”
Lavenia walked to the church. Her long legs carried her quickly from their sight.
“I guess we need to have a talk with Slim before we go to Sheriff Lowell with the gun,” Carol said.
They grabbed a couple of cups of coffee and sandwiches before they drove back toward Eagle’s Knob. A chilly breeze whipped around them as they stepped out of the car in front of Clyde Noble’s cabin and gathering rain clouds made the place look even more bleak and gray than it had before. They followed the sounds of voices and hammering and found Matt on top of a rickety shed while Corleda stood at the bottom of a ladder watching.
His laughter carried to them and he said, “I know, Granny. I’m being careful. You know I …” his voice trailed off when he noticed Hick and Carol. “What do you want?” he asked in a short, tense voice.
“Matthew, that ain’t no way to talk to company,” Corleda admonished.
Matt regarded Hick and Carol through narrowed eyes. “They ain’t company.”
“We’d like to talk to you,” Hick said. He walked to the bottom of the ladder and looked up at Matt. “Your sister, Lavenia, sent us.”
At Lavenia’s name Matt seemed momentarily startled, but a slow scowl covered his face. “She told you.” He shook his head. “Dumb cluck.”
Corleda’s eyes opened wide. “Matt, that’s your sister!”
“Well, she done gone and done something real stupid.” He brought down the hammer heavily.
“Listen, Slim,” Carol said, “she’s worried about you.”
“Why is she worried?” Corleda asked, twisting her apron in her hands. She turned toward Matt. “You ain’t got yourself in trouble, have you?”
“No, and I told her not to worry.”
Corleda turned to Hick. “What is it you think he done?”
“I don’t know, but I’d like to ask him some questions. You got a few minutes, Matt?”
Matt left the hammer on the roof and climbed down the ladder. “I reckon you want to know about the money.”
“What money?” Corleda asked, her eyes widening. “Matt, what have you—”
“Granny, I don’t aim to have you worrying. I ain’t stole nothing, and I ain’t done nothing wrong.” He paused and turned to Hick and Carol. “And I’m fixin’ to make a few things right. You wanna know where I got that money from?”
Hick nodded.
“Then let’s take a little walk.”
Nicodemus Skaggs’s shack stood less than a half-mile from the Noble home. Even his house had a sullen and dismal appearance and looked as though it had been empty for longer than a few days. The crumbling wooden porch was propped up with a stack of bald tires and the holes beneath the rotten windows revealed dirty towels that had been stuffed into them to keep out the cold. The corrugated metal roof was rusted and asbestos shingles lay in piles where they fell.
Matt stood before the house, hands on his hips, and stared at it with obvious disgust. “Our pigs live better than this,” he muttered.
“It doesn’t appear that Nicodemus went in for home improvements,” Carol remarked.
“I didn’t realize the Skaggs house
was so close to yours,” Hick said to Matt.
“That’s how he knowed my ma. They was neighbors.”
“So none of this explains the money,” Carol began.
“I aim to show you where the money come from. That ways you’ll know I’m on the up and up with you.” Matt glanced at the sun. “I reckon it’s about time. I’m gonna need ya’ll to hide in the house.”
“What?” Carol asked.
“You want to know or don’t you?” Matt said. “I want you to understand that Lavenia and the kids is the rightful owners of that money. Not their Grandma and Grandpa Lynch. Not my Granny and Paps. It ought to be them kids and no one else’s.” He paused. “You goin’ in or not? Iffen I were you, I’d get out of sight.”
As he said this, the sound of a truck struggling up a steep and questionable road came from a distance.
“Come on,” Hick said to Carol. They walked into the house and, although the outside was in bad repair, inside, the house was clean and appeared comfortable. The truck drew closer and Hick stood by the window where he could watch outside without being seen. After a few minutes, the large truck that he and Carol had spotted at Chet Miller’s lumber yard came into view.
As it came around a curve in the road, Matt stepped out in front of it.
“Matt Noble, what in tarnation are you doing?” Chet Miller called, grinding the truck to a halt.
“I’m collecting the Skaggs tax.”
“Yer what?” he said, his voice rising.
“You heard me, Chet. I want that money.”
Matt stood, unmoving in front of the large truck and Chet scowled. “Listen, boy. Deem Skaggs is dead and gone and I ain’t beholdin’ to pay no one else to drive acrost this property. Get out the way or I’m liable to run you down.”
Matt crossed his arms. “My pa might be gone but he left plenty behind that be needing that money. I don’t count myself in that number, and you know it. I’ve worked for you for three years since Granddad got cut up at your place. I work hard and don’t say a cross word. But right is right and them young’uns still own this property. You ain’t gonna miss that money, but them kids could sure use it.”
Chet Miller’s color rose on his face and his eyes narrowed. He revved the engine and said, “Boy, I run you down and say it’s an accident and ain’t no one on God’s green earth ever gonna know better. Like I said, I ain’t beholdin’ to pay no one to drive across land that ought to rightfully be mine. And that extra money gonna come in handy. Now get out the way afore I put her in gear.”
He revved the engine again, and Hick heard him put the truck in gear. It inched forward, but Matt stood, unblinking, arms crossed, and legs apart glaring at the old man behind the wheel.
“Ain’t you gonna move?” Chet called in frustration.
“No, sir,” Matt answered. “Right is right.”
Chet shut the engine off. Hick could hear him muttering something unintelligible as he opened the door and swung down from the truck. He stomped to Matt and looked him in the eye. “Goddamit, boy, you want to get killed?”
“No, sir. I want what’s coming to my kin. Their daddy didn’t do a lick to care for ’em, and I don’t aim to be anything like that ne’er-do-well. I aim to get ’em what’s due ’em.”
Chet Miller spat tobacco juice on the ground and weaved his hands through the tops of his overalls, his face screwed in thought. “Deem charge me forty dollars a month. Forty dollars is a lot of money. I ain’t a rich man.”
“We ain’t none of us rich here, Chet, nor like to be. But we can be respectable as much as possible and do right.”
Chet shook his head. “Christ, boy, you sound more like your Uncle Ulredge everday.” He sighed heavily, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a ten-dollar bill. “You know the drill. You let me drive across the land, you never seen me, you don’t know what I’m hauling, where I’m going, and you keep your mouth shut.”
“You known me for three years, Chet. You can trust me.”
Chet looked him up and down. “I reckon I can at that.” He turned and went back to the truck. He paused before climbing into the cab and said, “I’ll see you first light tomorrow morning. And this, this never happened.”
“Yes, sir,” Matt said, pocketing the bill. He stepped off the road and Chet brought the lumbering old truck to life and drove out of sight.
As soon as he was gone, Hick and Carol emerged from the house. Matt wasn’t smiling. “I knowed pa got paid every week ’cause it was the only money that old fool ever had. And he sure as hell wasn’t spending all of it on his kin. One evening I was over here bringing Vinnie some money to pay Lettie Mae’s doctor bill.” He walked over to a tree in the corner of the yard and pointed to a hole. He frowned and added, “Money I worked my ass off for. I spied that old fool burying a mason jar in this hole. Once he was dead, I knew no one would know it was here so I come out and dug it up.” His eyes narrowed, “But I never dreamed he had that much money.” Matt frowned. “He coulda made them kids right comfortable with that kind of cash.”
“But Lavenia showed us hundred dollar bills, not tens. And at forty dollars a month I can’t believe he could save five hundred dollars,” Hick said. “He did have to feed those kids something. It would have taken him years to save that much.”
“I don’t know where it all come from. I just knowed where he hid it.” Matt frowned and wrinkled his nose as if he’d smelled something rotten. “That old fool would rather hide his money in the ground then take care of his own flesh and blood.” Matt’s mouth set in a determined line. “I don’t know where the money come from, but iffen it was his, I reckon it’s legally them kids now. I don’t aim to leave them uncared for. The Lynch’s is good people, but seven mouths is a lot to feed. They gonna need help, and I intend to see they get it.”
“Let me ask you,” Hick said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the pistol they’d found at the church. “You ever see this before?”
Matt bent over the gun and studied it. “No, sir. Can’t say I have.”
“Do you know if your father owned it?” Carol asked.
Matt rolled his eyes. “My pa never owned anything that nice. The only gun I ever heard about was filthy dirty and wouldn’t shoot.”
“What?”
Indicating the cabin and the disarray around them he said, “My pa didn’t take care of nothing. Not his house, not his property, and not his kids.”
“Wait,” Carol said shaking her head in disbelief. “You’re telling us your father’s pistol didn’t function?”
“Not to my knowledge.”
Hick caught Carol’s eye and she nodded. “Thank you, Matt,” Hick said. “We’ll be in touch.” He turned to Carol. “Let’s go see Lowell.”
24
Friday, September 9, 1955
“Forty dollars a month is a pretty good motive to get rid of someone,” Carol mused as they drove back to Birch Tree from Eagle’s Knob. “I guess this means Chet Miller just became a suspect.”
Hick pulled down the visor and removed his hat, then shrugged.
“Don’t you think he should be considered?” Carol asked.
“No,” Hick replied, shaking out a cigarette from the pack.
“Why not?”
“Chet Miller had plenty of motive for wanting Deem Skaggs out of the way. And I’ll go one step further and say it’s clear that Chet and Deem spoke at least once a week when Chet paid Deem his little fee to use the back roads.”
“But …”
“I don’t know. I can see Chet goading Deem for letting Lavenia work for the Catholic Church. But I can’t see him wanting to push Deem so far as to kill a priest. And for that matter how could he know about that case in Alabama?”
“Maybe Matt told him,” Carol offered.
Hick shook his head. “I don’t think so.” He lit the cigarette and looked out the side window. “We’re supposed to be whittling down suspects, not adding more to the list.”
“And the list is pretty sizeab
le as far as I can tell. I went ahead and sent some more names to Washington to check on. I guess I’ll go ahead add Chet to the list just to be sure.”
Hick glanced at Carol and his eyebrows rose in surprise. “List? May I ask who’s on that list?”
“Of course. Everyone we’ve come into contact with since arriving in Birch Tree. And I’m not taking anyone for granted. Even Corleda Noble and the Lynch family are being checked on.”
Hick removed his hat and scratched his head. “Maybe someone in Washington can help us solve this puzzle. What we need is a break.”
“And you think we’ll get one with Sheriff Lowell?”
“I’d like to see his reaction to the gun. I’ve know many sheriffs to look the other way when it comes to bootlegging, so even assuming he knows all about Chet Miller’s—let’s call them, business enterprises—even if he’s aware, that’s not really unusual. I don’t believe he’s as bad as the sheriff in Broken Creek. My gut tells me Lowell’s not dirty up to his eyeballs. But still, I want to be sure.”
Hick turned into the soggy parking lot at the Birch Tree police station, turned off the car, and they walked inside. Sheriff Lowell looked up from his hand of solitaire when they entered. “Well howdy. What can I do for ya’ll?”
Hick did not smile as he put the gun on Lowell’s desk. Lowell stared at it a moment and then looked up in confusion. “What’s this?”
“We found it at the church. It’s missing a few rounds.”
Lowell’s forehead puckered into a frown. “What do you mean you found it at the church? Where?”
“In the field out back buried near a tree,” Carol said.
“Why would a gun be buried behind the church?” Lowell asked in confusion.
Hick crossed his arms and looked down at Lowell with a blank face. “I’m gonna be square with you, Lowell. We know about the bootleggers in this town, and as big as their operation is, we figure you know about ’em too.”
Below the Surface Page 14