Bent Creek (28 page)

“I can’t do that!”

“Oh, yes you can, and you will.
”  Sam picked her up and she grabbed hold of the rope. “Now go, I’m right behind you.” Each time she moved her hand up higher on the rope, she closed her eyes, knowing that at any minute she might fall backwards.

Grabbing for the large tree root that signaled the top of the ridge, Rachael could hear the sounds of water splashing.  It was Cooter and Norvelle running through the creek just below them. She rolled over onto the ground just as Sam reached for the tree root. Two more shots deafened her ears as Sam fell on top of her. He grabbed his arm and let out a low moan.  “Oh, my God, Sam, you
’ve been hit,” she yelled, forgetting to be quiet.

“I done heard her,” Cooter said.  “I shot somebody, but she’s still up thar.  Git up that rope, Norvelle, We’re on em now. Git yer ass up that rope.”

“Lay still.  I’m okay. It just grazed me,” he said.  Reaching into his pocket, Sam pulled out the boning knife and scooted close to the edge, watching as Norvelle shimmied up the rope like a monkey on a stick, while Cooter still waited at the bottom. He wanted them both on the rope, but it wasn’t going to happen. With one sharp flick of the knife the rope fell to the ground taking Norvelle with it. Screaming all the way down as his body bounced off the rocks and tree limbs, he landed with a splash in the creek. “Ow, ow, my leg is broken.  My damn leg is broken. Sumbitch I’m gonna die. Halp me.”

Cooter bent down and surveyed the damage done to Norvelle. His pants were torn away and blood ran down his thigh. He sat in the water cradling his bent knee.  “See if’n you kin git up,” Cooter said.

“How in the hell am I gonna git up, my damn leg is broken,” Norvelle whined.  With one jerking motion Cooter pulled Norvelle out of the creek and stood him on his feet, while Norvelle continued to howl.

“Yer leg ain’t broken, it’s jest busted up a little.” He cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled,

“We’re a comin’ up after you and when we git up thar you gonna be reel sorry and then we’re gonna go git the rest of yer family and take care of them, too.  It ain’t over.  You jest don’t know who yer messin’ with yet.”  Cooter was on fire.  No one ever got the best of him and he wasn’t going to let it start now.

Sam slowly sat up and looked over at Rachael. Both of her hands and knees were bleeding. She was crying softly. “Are you hurt?” he asked.

She wiped her nose. “Just a little scraped and bruised. How’s yer arm?”

“It’s all right,” he answered.  “Let’s go. My car is
parked right around this turn.”

Once in the car, Rachael said, “Do you think they gave up and left?”

“No. Cooter wants us dead. I figure with Norvelle having a bad leg, they probably went back up the ravine to get their car. If I can catch them before they get off the Post Fork road maybe I have a chance of stopping them.”

The car began to pick up speed making for a jolting ride down the old, logging trail. Once on the main road, Sam turned left and drove the twelve miles to Post Fork Road. He turned up the road and stopped. “We’re gonna wait right here for them. They can’t get pas
t me. When I see them coming I want you to get down on the floor and stay there until I tell you to get up. Do you understand?” Rachael nodded her head.

The gray dawn turned into a blue-sky day as they waited. She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered from the cold. She wanted to talk to him and tell him how sorry she was but he didn’t seem to be in any mood to make conversation. She sat quietly with her sore hands in her lap.  Sam got out of the car and paced back and forth across the road.  “Something
’s wrong. It shouldn’t take them this long.  I’m gonna chance it and go on up to the ridge.”

Passing by the shack where Rachael had been held cap
tive, there was no sign of Cooter or Norvelle.  Sam took his gun out of his holster and ducked low behind the car looking toward the spot where the car had crashed into the trees. Still nothing. A break in the trees drew his attention.  Walking toward the edge of the ravine, he could see a path of broken limbs and deep ruts in the soft dirt.  At the bottom of the ravine the black car laid on its back, a small trickle of smoke coming from the engine. There was no sign of life from the mound of twisted metal.

He called back to Rachael. “Looks like they must have got the car started and then tried to turn it around. It must have caught the soft dirt and it rolled right off the ridge.  I’m gonna climb down there and see if either of them are alive. You stay put. Keep the car
’s door locked. Here,” he said, handing her his pistol. You hang on to it. Anybody shows up you just fire off two shots in the air, that is unless you want to take aim at somebody.” She detected a small grin on his face.

She waited for over an hour for him to return and grew more and more worried as each minute passed. When she saw him coming toward the car she let out a sigh of relief.  “Well, that’s the end of that. They’re both dead. That only leaves Rooster to deal with.  I wish I knew if Rooster was around these parts. I’d go after him before he comes looking for you.”

“He’s dead, too,” Rachael said.

“What! How do you know that?” Sam was surprised at her statement.

“Cause Nevers killed Rooster and another man when they tried tah jump his claim up on the ridge. That’s whar Nev
ers had his still. They shot Nevers in the gun fight and he died the next day of his wounds and we buried em all.”

“When did all this happen?” Sam asked.

“Back in the spring. We found Rooster and another man dead and we brought em back tah Nevers’ place and buried em in the cemetery. Afore he got shot, none of us had any idée that Nevers wuz a big time moonshiner. We wuz still believin’ he wuz a trapper.”

“Whoa, wait a minute. I was told that Nevers just died a couple of months ago.  That doesn’t make any sense.”  He was completely confused.

“We had tah pretend he wuz still alive so Lily could keep the house. Then when it wuz safe and we had the still up and runnin’ in the smoke house, Old Joe Seminole pretended tah be Nevers and we covered him with blood and the sheriff thought he wuz dead, so we jest buried an empty coffin cause he really wasn’t dead. With Nevers really dead, Lily wuz free tah marry Ben.”

“Old Joe Seminole! How…damn this is getting more confusing. So, Old Joe was living at the farm? I thought he died years ago.”

“Nope, he wuz still livin’ up on this ridge.  I come up heah and fetched him. That’s another story.  Anyway, Old Joe died couply weeks ago. It wuz natural causes.  He must have been close tah a hundred years old.  So we dug up the empty coffin and buried him in it.”

Sam laid his head on the steering wheel. “How many people are bu
ried in that cemetery, Rachael?”

“Jest the four we buried, and Nevers’ first two wives, but we didn’t have anythin’ tah do with them.  You got tah believe me, Sam. We never killed nobody.”  Rachael decided she might as well tell him the rest of the story and get it over with. “We brought the still down from the ridge and that’s when we built the smoke house. It wuz our only chance tah make some real money and leave the hollow forever and make sure Lily could keep her house.”

“You knew it was against the law, Rachael. I can’t believe you thought you could get away with it,” Sam said.

“I reckon it really didn’t matter much tah me.  Prison couldn’t be any worse than livin’ here the rest of my life. Should be agin the law for men tah suffer a slow death from black lung and their wives widowed with a bunch of kids they can’t afford tah feed. Most of them youngins will die before th
ar five, the rest will grow up dumb because they don’t even have a coat tah wear tah school.  Life ain’t always jest about livin’, Sam. It’s knowin’ what you want and going after it. It’s thinkin’ about yer future and not worryin’ each day if’n yer gonna get caught. If’n yer daddy hadn’t died in the mine, who knows you may have been doin’ the same thing that I am,” she let out a deep sigh. “Are you gonna take me tah jail? If’n you are, kin I stop by the house and tell Lily, Ben and Jesse that I’m safe? Please don’t arrest them. This wuz all my idée. Cause if’n you do I reckon momma will have tah raise Violet.  Poor little kid, she won’t have a very good life ahead of her.  Do they have places for people in wheelchairs in prison?  Maybe Lily and I could be together in the same cell.”  She hung her head trying to look as pitiful as possible.

“Lord, Rachael, take a breath.  No, I’m not taking you to jail. We’re going to drive into Lynch so I can tell the sheriff I found the bodies of Cooter and Norvelle.  Then you’re going to get in your truck and go on home. I want you to dump out all that shine on the truck and wash them jars.  Then all of you get busy and dismantle that still. I don’t care what you do with it. Bury it up on the hill with everyone else.  You might want to think about what you’re going to do next, because your bootleg
ging days are over.”

“I guess you’re really mad at me?
” she asked.

“What do you think? All that time we were together you were running a still and lying to me.” He shook his head.

“That’s not entirely true cause you never told me you were a revenuer until a couply of weeks ago.  I know yer not goin’ tah believe me, but I only had one more run before I wuz goin’ tah leave here forever. Besides, I knew once yer work wuz finished here you wuz goin’ tah go off and leave me even though you knew I loved you.” She had to say something in her defense.

“How do you know that I was going to leave you? Maybe I was going to ask you to go away with me?”

Her eyes widened.  “Were you?”

“That doesn’t even matter right now, Rachael.  We have to get this mess cleaned up first.”

Once in town, Sam stopped his car outside of Clyde’s store. Clyde came running out the door.  “Oh, mah Lord am I glad tah see you two. What about them men?  Did you git em?”

“Everything is okay, Clyde. Just stay put.” Sam turned to Rachael. “Get in the truck and high tail it for home.  Clyde, you and I need to talk.”

Rachael hesitated for a moment before she started out the side
door. “Rachael,” Clyde said, “I sure do want tah thank you fer savin’ my life. That wuz reel brave of ya. Yer brother come in here last night lookin’ fer you and I told him what happened. He wanted tah go up tah the ridge, but I talked him outta it. I told him that Sam could take care of it and he would bring you back safe. Thanks agin, Rachael. Thar gonna be reel glad tah see ya.”

“That’s okay, Clyde,” Rachael said as she got into her truck. She would have liked to
have stuck around to find out what Sam planned to do with Clyde, but she didn’t want to press her luck.

“Okay, Clyde, here’s the deal. I’m not going to arrest you but when your customers from up north stop getting their deliveries they’ll probably come here looking for you.  I’ve seen what happens to bootleg suppliers when they don’t deliver and it’s not pretty. The lucky ones were dead; the others were missing body parts. I suggest you leave here for a good long time. Maybe in a year or so you can come back to your store. Are we clear?”

“I’m clear, Sam, reel clear. I’ve already got the beejee
zus scart outta me.”

“And no one is going to know anything about this, are they, Clyde?”

“Nope, no sir, no one is gonna know one thing.  Thank ya, Sam. Thanks a lot.” Clyde grabbed Sam’s hand and pumped it up and down. I’ll be leavin’ here in jest a few minutes. I got a cousin livin’ in Sevierville. I reckon I kin go stay with him for a spell.”

Clyde opened the front door and looked up and down the street. As usual, Billy Tate was sitting on the bench in front of the pharmacy.  Clyde let out a shrill whistle, which caught Billy’s attention. Loping across the street, his curiosity still peaked about all the goings on.  He was sure that Clyde was going to fill him in. Instead he got the surprise of his life.

“I got a deal fer you
, Billy. I’m fixin’ on leavin’ town fer a spell. Could be about a year or so. I wuz wonderin’ if’n you would like tah run the store fer me while I’m gone?  You kin keep all the profits you make so long as you keep the store open and the shelves full. I want it tah be jest about the same when I git back. You think you got enough smarts tah do that?”

Billy wore a grin from ear to ear.  “You bet I kin. I kin sure do that. I’m real smart in figurin’.  I’d be might proud tah run the store fer you, Clyde.”

“Good, here’s the keys tah the front and back doors, the combination tah the safe and a list of people I buy stuff from.  I’ll see you later.” Clyde stepped off the porch and headed down the street leaving Billy standing with his mouth open and hand full of keys.

Later that morning, Sam entered the sheriff’s office and made his report about Cooter and Norvelle.  He gave the sheriff directions to the area where the car went off the road.  “I guess that’s the end of them,” Sam said.  “I found their still and destroyed it. I’ll put it all in my report to the bureau.  I guess I’ll be leaving here sometime tomorrow.”  The sheriff seemed satisfied with Sam’s story. He was just glad he hadn’t got involved with the likes of Cooter and Rooster.

“You done a reel good job, Son. You better get that arm looked at,” the sheriff said. Sam had forgotten all about being shot in the arm. Suddenly it began to hurt.