Allie's Moon (31 page)

“
Well, I know they hate me, but that’s
never been a secret. There’s more.” He sighed once, as if trying to
decide how to tell her.

“
M-more?”

“
Cooper told me that Olivia paid him
twenty dollars to come out here and do this.”

She stared at Jeff. “And you believe
him?”

He turned and looked directly into her eyes.
“Yes, I do. I think she did it to get even with me for throwing a
bucket of water on her. And probably just for being here. She sent
him a letter that she asked Seth Wickwire to carry back to town for
her.”

Allie sputtered for air and words, having
trouble finding either. The accusation was preposterous, and her
automatic defense of her sister jumped into play. “I agree that
Olivia has behaved badly, but I can’t believe she’d do something
like this! Jeff, she’s never even seen Cooper Matthews.”

“
I’ll bet she did the day he came out
here and raised hell because you’d given ‘his’ job to me, his boy’s
murderer. She’s even talked to him by now. I saw her running back
to the house last night while those two men were out here, and she
saw me. She waited on the porch.”

Allie opened her mouth to dispute his theory,
then closed it again. She remembered that Olivia had seen Cooper
that day, and heard him, too. She’d even overheard him promise
revenge against Jeff. Allie wished it wasn’t true, but she realized
it was.

“
Oh, God, oh, God. I’m sorry, Jeff. I’m
so sorry.” She lowered her head for a moment and gazed blankly at
the salt sack in her hand, ashamed of her sister and feeling as if
she bore part of that shame as well, simply by being related. Then
she looked at the garden again. Jeff had worked so hard out here
with Kansas, that balky mule, and the plow. He’d labored with pure
grit and determination to fix the seed drill. He’d planted each row
so carefully to satisfy her exacting demands. He’d planted the
border of violets to appeal to her heart. “All that work. For
nothing.”

He glared at her with rock-hard eyes. “I’m
not going to take this, Allie. Not for another goddamned minute. I
just can’t. I won’t be able to look at myself in the mirror if I
do. And if I let it go now, it will only get worse and worse.”

She turned away from his set face. Her heart
clenched, then sank from her knees to her feet. Of course, he
wouldn’t take it. Why would a man want to tie himself to a woman
who’d brought as much trouble to him as she had? She tried to
swallow the knot forming in her throat, but it remained there,
aching enough to bring tears to her eyes. She would let him go
without railing at him about broken promises. She’d been a fool to
think that she could escape to that life she’d envisioned for
herself.

Her throat was as dry as powder. “I-I
understand, Jeff. I’ll pay you for the whole season, just as if
you’d stayed till harvest time. If Sheriff Mason objects, I’ll
explain everything to him. You should get on with your life.”

He put a finger under her chin to draw her
face back to his. “What are you talking about?”

God, did she have to go into excruciating
detail and lacerate her heart even further? She gripped the salt
sack in her fist. “You want to go, so go. You’re right—this is too
much for anyone to take. You certainly have every reason to leave.
I won’t stand in your way.”

His expression melted and comprehension
softened the look in his eyes. “Oh, Allie.” He took her into a
fierce embrace and pressed her head to his shoulder. “Allie, honey,
no. I don’t want to leave. I can’t leave you.” He held her back at
arm’s length and peered into her wet eyes. His own voice was rough
with emotion. “Did you forget what I told you last night? I need
you beside me, Althea Ford. You made me remember what it means to
be a man. In every possible way.” He kissed her and pulled her back
into his arms.

“
Ohhhh . . . ” Her
relief was so great, her knees so watery, she would have fallen if
he hadn’t held her upright. She wrapped her arms around his slim
waist and gripped the back of his shirt in both hands.

“
What I meant was I’m not going to let
Cooper push me around anymore. Ever since Wes got killed, he’s
egged me on, trying to provoke a showdown. I’ve mostly let him get
away with it because I figured I was on borrowed time anyway, and I
felt so damned bad about his son. I still do, but I know I felt a
hundred times worse about Wesley than his own father did. I’m not
going to let him get away with it this time. Even if Olivia did pay
him to do this, you own half of this farm and you can press charges
against him and Floyd.”

“
Will I have to accuse Olivia too? I
won’t be able to do that, Jeff.”

“
No. They were trespassing. If they
bring her into it, no one is going to believe them. And if Will
asked her if she ordered this, what do you think she’d
say?”

Allie nodded, understanding his implication.
“She would deny it.” How had her sister gone so wrong? Worse yet,
how could Allie have been so blind not to see her true self? Amos
Ford may not have been much of a father to Allie, but he’d doted on
Olivia, and he’d set a good example by being forthright and
hardworking. Since he’d been gone, Allie had taken his place. She’d
tried to do her best by Olivia, to remind her to be respectful,
loving, and honest. She seemed to have learned nothing but
selfishness and treachery.

“
Come to town with me, then, and we’ll
talk to Will Mason,” Jeff said, looking down at her. “At least
you’ve got a good witness—me.”

“
We’ll go. But we might as well eat the
breakfast I cooked. The sheriff probably won’t be in his office for
another hour or so.”

Jeff turned her back toward the house with
his arm looped over her shoulders, leaving the garden that would
never see another harvest until the soil recovered from Olivia’s
latest shenanigan. The woman he would soon call sister-in-law was
filled with poisonous obsessions, Jeff realized, and to such a
frightening degree that it was impossible to predict what she might
do next.

The idea filled him with an icy dread, not
for himself—Olivia couldn’t hurt him. But
Allie . . . he wanted to protect her from any
more hurtful ugliness. The best way he could do that was to get
Allie away from here.

~~*~*~*~~

Just as Allie finished washing the breakfast
dishes, she heard Olivia come down the stairs. She slumped into the
kitchen, cool and pouting, and acting as though she’d been wronged.
She wore a dove-gray dress with a berry-colored sash and her hair
was tied up in a matching ribbon, but her face looked as though she
hadn’t slept at all. Well, if she’d been up and around in the night
conspiring with those terrible men, perhaps she hadn’t.

Out of habit long ingrained, Allie nearly
asked, “Do you want some toast?” But then the absurdity struck her.
Life couldn’t continue as it always had, with her constantly
scurrying and scraping to keep everything aright in her sister’s
cloistered little world. Olivia had done a terrible thing—an
unconscionable deed that could never be justified or explained, and
Allie was finished mollycoddling her like a spoiled child.

In a stern voice she couldn’t quite believe
came from her, Allie said, “You and I are going to have a long
talk, Olivia.”

Her sister gave her a startled, wary look.
“About what?”

Allie clenched her fists, scoring her palms
with her fingernails. “I can scarcely believe you have the gall to
ask.”

Just then, a knock sounded at the back door.
Expecting to see Jeff, Allie was surprised when she found Will
Mason standing on the porch.

“
Sheriff Mason, what a coincidence.
Jeff, that is, Mr. Hicks and I were about to come to town to talk
to you. We had some trouble out here last night.” She couldn’t help
but spare a glance at Olivia. Then she pushed open the screen door.
“Won’t you come in?”

“
Only for a minute, Miss Althea.” The
sheriff stepped inside, advancing no farther than the hooked rug in
front of the door. He peered at Althea so intently that she
wondered what he could be staring at. Then she remembered her
bruised cheek. Self-conscious, she put her hand over the bruise.
What on earth would he think?

Fortunately he shifted his gaze to Olivia and
dragged his hat off his head. He began rolling and unrolling its
brim. “Ma’am,” he intoned to Olivia. “I’m afraid this isn’t a
social call. I’m here to talk to Jeff Hicks. I heard about what
happened here. Floyd Endicott got me out of bed at daybreak to tell
me.”

His tone and manner made Allie think of man
who’d come to deliver horrible news, and she was immediately
uneasy. “Do you mean he actually turned himself in?”

“
Um, not exactly, ma’am. He admitted
that he and Cooper were here and did some damage to your
property.”

“
Indeed they did! They destroyed all
our crops and covered them with salt so that nothing will grow in
that field for who knows how long!” She cast another sidelong look
at her sister, but she didn’t even seem to be listening to the
conversation.

“
Yes, well, I haven’t had the chance to
talk to him about it much.”

Just then, Jeff bounded up the back steps.
“Allie, are you ready to—” He saw Will Mason then. “Will, we were
just about to come see you.”

The sheriff looked uncomfortable doubly. “So
I heard. Jeff, I need to talk to you about the murder of Cooper
Matthews.”

“
What!”

“
Murder?” Allie whispered in shocked
dismay.

“
Right now you’re the prime suspect,”
Will said, inclining his head at Jeff. “Floyd Endicott came to my
door this morning with Cooper’s body in the back of a wagon. He
said that the two of them were out here last night making
mischief—”

“‘
Mischief’ hardly describes it!” Jeff
barked.

“
He said you and Cooper scuffled and
then you split his head open with a pick. He showed me that pick,
Jeff. It’s all bloody. And Cooper’s head looks like a melon that
someone dropped.”

“
He’s dead?” What color remained in
Jeff’s face drained away.

“
That’s not the kind of injury a man
usually survives. Doc Brewster confirmed the cause of
death.”

“
Jesus Christ, Will, you must know
Floyd is lying! How the hell can you take his word against
mine?”

“
Maybe he is lying. But it’s no secret
that there has been bad blood between you and Matthews for a long
time. What were you doing last night?”

“
Sleeping, goddammit! What does
everyone else do in the middle of the night?”

“
Do you deny you confronted Floyd and
Cooper?”

“
No, I talked to them, but only for a
minute.” He went on to explain overhearing the two men argue, and
seeing Floyd take off with the wagon, leaving Cooper behind. “The
last time I saw Cooper Matthews, he was running across the field
he’d just destroyed, very much alive.”

“
So you spent only a minute with them.
And the rest of the night?”

“
I was in bed!”

“
I don’t suppose someone can verify
your story.”

“
No, Will, you’ll just have to take my
word for it,” Jeff snapped with sarcasm.

Allie opened her mouth to speak, but Jeff
sent her a look that froze the words in her throat. Don’t you dare
tell him you were with me, his eyes said.

Like a conjurer, Will produced a pair of
wrist manacles. “Well, it’s your word against Floyd’s. So we’re
going back to town to get this all straightened out. And until we
do, you’re going to sit in my jail where I can keep an eye on you.
Jeff, you’re under arrest.”

“
Arrest!” Allie cried.

“
Floyd is lying!” Jeff
repeated.

“
Mr. Endicott is not lying! I saw him
do it, plain as day.” All gazes turned to Olivia. Her eyes
glittered with sudden excitement, and she leveled an accusing
finger at Jeff. “I saw Mr. Jefferson murder that man.”

Allie had never seen the ocean, but she’d
read about it, and irrelevantly, she thought it must sound like the
blood rushing through her head at that moment, pounding at her
ears. She felt as if she’d been punched in the stomach, and her
heart thumped so hard she thought it might burst from her
chest.

She stared at her sister in utter horror.
With each passing day, Allie felt she knew less and less about her.
“My God, Olivia, how can you make such—”

“
Miss Olivia,” Will said, “I’ll need
you to come to my office and tell me what you saw.”

Allie struggled to subdue the panic rising in
her. “Sheriff, my sister is not well, as you know. I’m sure she’s
made some kind of mistake. Jeff was in the lean-to all night. He
could hardly have been in two places at once.”

“
I know what I saw, Althea! I saw this
man go out to the garden carrying a pick!” Olivia’s face was
flushed with color.

“
She’s lying, too!” Jeff
barked.

“
We’re not going to discuss this here,”
Will interrupted. His tone of authority silenced all other
protests. He put the manacles on Jeff, and watching, Allie felt her
heart squeeze painfully, and only with supreme effort was she able
to stifle the sobs threatening to erupt from her throat.

Jeff glared at Will, but the man remained
detached and emotionless. He ushered Jeff outside and down the
steps to two horses waiting in the yard.

Allie followed behind, watching as Jeff
struggled to climb into the saddle with his hands bound in front of
him. The sun reflected off the silver star on Will’s vest, making
it gleam like a mirror. A sheriff’s badge was supposed to represent
order and safety—defense against chaos and men like Cooper
Matthews. Allie looked at the blinding symbol and only knew that
the individual wearing it had the authority to take an innocent man
to jail for a murder he didn’t commit. Suddenly she thought she had
never seen anything more terrifying in her life.