Fallout (Joshua Stokes Mysteries Book 2) (25 page)

Joshua showered, dressed, and then drove to the hospital. He hoped Emma was alone when he got there so that he could talk to her while everything he wanted to say was still fresh in his mind. The 8-track player played one of his favorite tunes by the Rolling Stones - ‘Sympathy for the Devil,’ but mostly went unheard as he drove the eighteen miles from his cabin to the Infirmary on Springhill. He liked the song for its sambaed beat and intelligent lyrics.

He stopped in the gift shop and bought Emma one of her favorite candy bars and a co-cola. He looked at the flower arrangements, but then decided that she might take it the wrong way and think that he was courting her.

The elevator ride up to the fifth floor seemed to take forever. When the elevator door opened and he stepped out, John Metcalf was walking toward him. He was glad that Metcalf was on his way out. He felt better about talking to Emma if he would be doing it one on one. An audience would make it that much harder to carry out.

“Evening, Sheriff.”

“Evenin’, John, How is she doing today?”

“Now that she can eat and drink without much complication, she seems to be doing much better. She was talkative today, at least until her mama came to visit. She just left a few minutes ago. I could tell that something about her mama’s visit had Emma upset, so I stayed until after her mama left.”

“I’ve been worried about her mental condition,” Joshua said frankly.

“She’s one tough cookie,” Metcalf replied. “There are not many that could have gone through what she has and still keep their sanity.”

“It must run in the family - her aunt Hannah survived something similar, and she seems to have recovered without losing her mind.”

“Y’all have a nice visit. I promised my folks that I’d be there for supper tonight and if I stand them up again, I will never hear the end of it.”

“Alright, John, give my best to your folks.” John got on the elevator and Joshua headed toward Emma’s room. He stopped at the door, took a deep breath, and then tapped on it. He heard Emma say, ‘come in.’ she was sitting in a chair by the bed looking out the window. The light in the sunlit room revealed how pale she was. Her eyes drilled his. Before he could speak, she said, “I’m ready to get out of here and go home.”

“What has the doctor said about releasing you?”

“He says that it’s too dangerous, that I could bleed to death if I busted a stitch open. The doctor said that I
have
to stay until a day or so after the stitches come out. It’s so boring here!”

John was right, thought Joshua. She is very talkative today
and
moody. However, her spunk made him feel better about her wellbeing.

“Mama even told the doctor that she would look after me and take care of me, but he still said no! It ought to be against the law to hold a person against their will even if it is a hospital!” Emma complained.

“Well, it’s not against the law
if
it is a hospital and it’s in the person’s best interest.”

“It’s not fair!” Emma exclaimed.

“Many things aren’t fair, Emma, but we have to cope with them,” he said handing her the bag with the co-cola and candy bar. “Emma, I hate to do it now, but I need to talk to you. When you’re released from the hospital, you need to go back to your mama’s house. I can’t have you staying at mine all the time, its too dangerous,” he said firmly.

Emma glared at him. He did not know what to expect, but like James had said, her being in the hospital was the best place for her to be when he talked to her about it.

“Well, I can’t
make
you let me stay there, no matter how much I want to…” she said her voice trailing off. “Did I do something wrong?” she asked seriously.

“No, not really; there are many reasons I don’t want you there.”

“I know that I practically raped you, but you seemed to enjoy it as much as I did. You did, didn’t you?”

“Of course I did. I already told you that once-”

“Obviously, you don’t think it’s safe, you said so,” Emma said turning her back to him. “First, I let the Dixons catch me there and take me back with them, and then I let that man walk right on in and he tried to kill me… that was my fault-”

“No, Emma, it was not your fault-”

“Yes, it was! I should have paid more attention to things instead of having my head stuck in the clouds, daydreaming that I was your wife or something…

I did not even
know
he was in the house until he had ahold of me. He threw me down on the floor and sat on top of me. Then I saw that he had the butcher knife I had left laying on the sink… He, I remember feeling the cold blade just below my ear and then on my neck,” Emma said, her hand at her throat. She turned toward him and said “Sheriff, when I looked into his eyes, I
knew
he was going to kill me. His eyes were lifeless, the way Vernon’s eyes were, but there was something else in them, it scared the shit out of me! He might not have cut me if I hadn’t screamed.”

“You don’t know that Emma-so far he has killed all but one of his victims. And the one that lived wasn’t from his lack of trying to kill her because he left her for dead, too.”

“So you knew about this man killing women and you didn’t tell me to keep the doors locked or anything!” Emma asked incredulously.

“It wasn’t like that, Emma. He rode the rails-I had just found out that morning that he was in Hattiesburg. I had no way of knowing that he was here,” Joshua responded.

“He was the same one that killed the Vices… I thought he was in Texas.”

“That’s what I was saying. We had just found out that he might be headed back our way. Emma, I did not know he was already here. Hattiesburg is only about sixty miles away…” Joshua felt that no matter what he said it was not going to be enough. However, he honestly felt as if he was at no fault in what happened to her.

“I’m beginning to think that I have some sort of curse on me. Maybe I was supposed to die when Earl and Vernon had me-”

“Don’t talk like that, Emma. No one is meant to die at the hand of someone else. There are just bad people in this world and why you keep getting on the edge of danger, I don’t know, but I don’t believe in curses.”

“Well, I do.” Emma said firmly, remembering when old Annie had cursed the members of the Copeland Gang as they killed Elizabeth Moffett and her family.

“There are a lot of things you don’t know, Sheriff,” Emma said solemnly. “I’ll go back to my mama’s when I get out of here. As far as that goes, you don’t have to bother to come to visit me anymore either. Thanks for the coke and candy bar,” she said, turning her back to him.

Joshua stepped over to where she stood, took her by the shoulders, and turned her to face him. “Emma, I don’t want you to be mad at me. I want us to stay friends. I just need to live by myself. It’s what I am used to; it’s what I want. You’ve done nothing wrong.” When he saw her eyes fill with tears, he hugged her to him.

“Everything will be alright,” he said. “You will still have me to talk to if you need me. You have your family… and you have John. John likes you a lot. He is a fine young man, Emma. You need to give him a chance.”

Emma looked up into his caring eyes and her anger abated. She buried her face against his shoulder and clung to him. He smelled so good and felt good in her arms. The memory of his skillful lovemaking caused her to tremble. She hated to release him, but she knew that in order to keep their relationship on a good level she needed to be mature and respect his wishes.

Joshua felt her tremble. “And, I will still come to see you. You know I care about what happens to you. Still friends?” he asked. Emma nodded her head, but did not immediately release him.

Joshua hoped that Emma could not feel how badly he felt having to tell her what he did. She felt good in his arms, the closeness of her body causing memories of their lovemaking to flash through his mind; however, he knew it was for the best as he eased himself out of her embrace.

Joshua stood on the courthouse steps smoking a cigarette. Just being there was an imposition. He felt it was a waste of his time and the taxpayer’s money. Why should he have to suffer through an inquisition in the first place? All he had done was uphold the law and attempt to arrest a double murderer.

If it were up to him, he would be sitting on his back porch with his feet propped on the railing, listening to music, and drinking a bottle of whiskey, which was exactly what he intended to do as soon as he was done with the business of defending himself in the killing of Tom Stringer.

He still did not understand why they were making a big deal out of it. Hell, he carried the scar from the bullet Johnny Treble put in him as he tried to arrest Tom. If he had not shot Tom, Tom would surely have killed him. Tom didn’t have anything to lose; he had already killed Cassie Bohannon and Joe Dyas.

Joshua had answered their questions as clearly and concisely as he could, now all he could do was wait. He had always heard that you had to play the hand you were dealt. He didn’t believe that,
everyone
has a choice. Most people choose their own fate.

He hated waiting on others to choose
his
fate. He would rather be at the head of the table dealing his own hand than allowing others to do it for him.

A sudden gust of wind whipped through the nearby trees and the call of an Indian hen that echoed with the wind caused him to smile. He felt that everything in
his
world was about to be righted. When the bailiff stepped out and motioned for him to return to the courtroom, he snuffed out his cigarette and hurried in. He was ready to get it over with so that he could go home.

When he entered the small courtroom where such proceedings were held, he could not tell by their faces whether his hand was a good one or a dud. He took a seat beside the representative for the sheriff’s office and waited for the appellate to speak. When told to rise, he did so and waited.

“Sheriff Stokes, it has been the decision of these inquisitors that you upheld your duty as sheriff of said county in the handling of the case at hand. You are hereby cleared of any wrongdoing in the death of one, Thomas Stringer. You are free to return to your duties in the great State of Alabama, as Sheriff of Mobile County. You are free to go, sir.”

Joshua nodded his head. He had never left his duties as the Sheriff of Mobile County, he thought to himself as he turned and walked out of the courtroom. He walked down the steps and across the street to his parked cruiser. He did not know if he even took a breath as he walked there, however, as soon as he sat behind the wheel, he let go a sigh of relief.

He lit a cigarette, dug through his collection of tapes, and inserted his Rolling Stones tape into the 8-track player. He cranked his car, left the downtown area, and headed straight for his cabin.

Rolling out Highway 98 toward the Mississippi State Line, he joined in and sang along with Mick Jagger’s ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ as if he knew every word by heart. He felt the weight lifting from his shoulders as he relaxed behind the wheel.

Everything was about right in his world. Tomorrow he would go to his grandfather’s old house and start digging through his mother and father’s belongings. He intended to find his mother’s journal, he had also had an epiphany about the dream he had of the scene on a levee, and some of the disappearances of people back in the thirties.

Joshua Stokes had a new mission - Hook’s planned getaway would just have to wait a little while longer…