May Cooler Heads Prevail (23 page)

Afterward, I just lay there with my eyes closed and my head cradled in my arms on top of the table. I really didn’t want to think anymore or even to feel anything at the moment. I knew I had to call Otis. I had to tell him about Latham. I didn’t know if he would believe me or not. My credibility
with the sheriff of Kenna Springs was probably at an all-time low.

I reached into my purse and grabbed my cell phone. Flipping it open, I realized it needed recharging. I had just thrown it back into my purse when Aunt Connie and Aunt Nissa came whizzing through the open doorway of the vending area.

“How’s Truman?” I asked

“Oh, he’s doing just fine.” Aunt Nissa waved a dismissive hand. “He woke up while we were with him. Sam’s with him now.”

“I’ll say he’s doing just fine! That drugged-up varmint woke up and asked me if I’d give him a little smooch,” Aunt Connie said. “I told him I’d give him a fat lip if he kept talking like that.”

“Oh, Connie, will you just let it go! I’ve already told you, Truman couldn’t help it, he doesn’t know what he’s saying.” Aunt Nissa frowned. “Anyway, it’s not Truman I’m concerned about right now. It’s Rudd and Freedom I’m worried about. They aren’t here yet, and they’ve had plenty of time to do you-know-what with you-know-who. I think something is wrong, and we need to go find them.”

Glancing at the clock on the wall, I realized that Aunt Nissa was right. They should have been here by now. Maybe they had trouble starting Freedom’s truck or got it stuck in the mud somewhere. It was probably nothing serious, but maybe they could use a little help.

Looking at Aunt Nissa’s face and seeing the fear in her eyes convinced me that my phone call to Otis could wait until morning. Relief visibly flooded through Aunt Nissa when I told her we would go and look for Uncle Rudd and Freedom.

Immediately, she took off through the doorway toward the elevators, leaving Aunt Connie and me to follow as best we could. Halfway to the elevators Aunt Connie poked me in the arm and said in a low voice, “That little toad Truman even made kissy noises at me.” Then she screwed her lips up like a fish and made quite a few kissy noises herself. I managed to keep a straight face as we headed into the elevator. At the pace Aunt Nissa set, it didn’t take us long to make it through the emergency room, out to the parking lot, and into the car.

Once we were on the two-lane highway, Aunt Nissa actually encouraged me to speed. Having a natural lead foot, I obliged.

Just a few miles outside of Brogan’s Ferry it started to sprinkle. By the time we crossed the bridge and got to the turnoff to Addison’s Mill, the rain was coming down hard and fast. I had to drive slowly down the dirt road that led up to the mill.

“We’ll never see Freedom’s truck or them, for that matter, in this terrible downpour,” Aunt Nissa said anxiously.

There was no way to get directly to the entrance of the mill by car. Years ago, when the mill was thriving, someone
had made a pathway to the mill through the woods from the road using flattened stones placed here and there in a haphazard sort of way. Since that was the only way to get to the mill from the road we would have to walk that well-worn stone pathway. Aunt Nissa grabbed a flashlight out of the glove compartment, and we got out of the car to make our way toward the mill.

The pathway wasn’t very long, maybe no more than a hundred yards, but the rain made the stones slippery and the going slow. Because of the downpour, we had to walk with our heads down, holding on to each other’s hands.

In between peals of thunder I heard Aunt Connie mutter, “Whoever murdered Aaron won’t have to hunt us down to kill us. We’ll all die of pneumonia.”

Her crack about Aaron’s murderer hunting us down reminded me that I hadn’t told either one of them about Latham Sheffield. I decided I would wait until all five of us were together to break the news to them.

We came out into the clearing by the front entrance. We didn’t see Freedom’s truck anywhere.

Pointing upward, Aunt Nissa said, “Look, I think I see a light on the second floor. They’re probably taking shelter from the rain in the mill. Let’s go on inside and see if we can find them.”

We could see the spot she was talking about. There was a soft glow shining from a huge hole in the second-story wall of the old mill.

Aunt Connie and I followed Aunt Nissa through the front entrance. The mill was old and rickety, but it did provide shelter from the downpour. I briefly wondered why Uncle Rudd and Freedom didn’t just stay inside the front entrance, considering how the stairway boards under my feet creaked and bent as I followed Aunt Nissa to the second landing.

The smell of decaying wood was so strong I kept my hand over my mouth and nose. Behind me, Aunt Connie sneezed several times.

Several times Aunt Nissa called out Uncle Rudd’s name, then Freedom’s, but there was no answer. I could hear the anxiety in Aunt Nissa’s voice. I didn’t know what to say to make her feel any better.

Apparently Aunt Connie did know what to say, because she passed me on the stairs, which was no easy feat, considering the slim width and precariousness of the steps, to get close to Aunt Nissa. Tugging at Aunt Nissa’s wet coat, she yelled, “Nissa, no use yellin’ for ‘em, they can’t hear you in this storm.”

Aunt Nissa nodded, and we climbed the last ten or so steps to the second floor in silence. We could barely see as we stepped on the floor from the stairs. The battery-powered light was placed on the other side of the huge second floor, giving off sort of an eerie, smoky light. Several feet away from the light, Freedom was sitting on the floor with Uncle Rudd’s head cradled in his lap. As soon as Freedom saw us, he started frantically waving and yelling, “Go back. All of
you get out of here. Run. Now!”

But it was too late. Latham Sheffield stepped out of the shadows with a gun in his hand. All three of us stood still, frozen.

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

I
n disbelief, Aunt Nissa asked, “Latham, what are you doing here?”

“He’s here because he killed Aaron and Dolly and tried to shoot Truman. I imagine he has the same thing in mind for us.” I edged slowly toward Aunt Nissa and Aunt Connie, closing the gap between us.

“Well, well, Dixie, you finally figured it out, did you?” Latham’s tone of voice sent a shiver down my back. “It was a good thing I kept an eye on you folks. It was right nice of old Rudd and his buddy here to bring Aaron’s body out to the mill. And now that you ladies have shown up… well, I can’t tell you how much easier that makes things. There is one thing I would like to know. Where did you put Aaron’s body all this time? I’ve had a few sleepless nights over that, I can tell you.” Latham reared his head back and laughed. It was a chilling, almost hysterical laugh.

His voice weak and breathless, Uncle Rudd ordered, “Don’t tell that polecat nothin’.”

“Rudd honey, are you okay?” Aunt Nissa started toward him.

Freedom waved her back. “Nissa, don’t come any closer! Stay right where you are. There’s a hole in the floor between us.”

Aunt Nissa stopped moving. Without taking her eyes off Uncle Rudd and Freedom, she announced, “All right, I’ll stay put. But something is wrong with Rudd. Tell me what’s wrong!”

Moving a few feet forward, Latham said, “Let’s just say that Rudd is in the shape he’s in because he needed a little convincing.” Then with his free hand, he turned on the second battery-powered flashlight. “Here, ladies, let me shed some light on your little problem.”

Latham had both lights sitting on a wooden barrel near Uncle Rudd and Freedom. We could see that they were sitting on a portion of floor that came out about five feet from the wall, and looked like it was about six feet wide. There was no floor whatsoever on three sides. Latham had them sitting on what was virtually a ledge.

Since it was too far to jump from the floor to the ledge, I wondered how Latham managed to get them on it until I noticed that on our side of the ledge were two board planks. Latham must have forced them over at gunpoint then removed the boards.

Aunt Nissa moved quickly to the edge of the gap between her and the men. It didn’t take but one look and she wailed, “Rudd, oh Rudd, you’re bleeding!”

Moving up right behind her, I took a good look myself.

Fresh blood covered the side of Uncle Rudd’s head.

“I’m all right, Nissa. The skunk shot me but just grazed my head. It looks a lot worse than it is.”

Turning to Latham, Aunt Nissa balled up her fists. “He needs my help. You tell me how I can get to him this instant!”

Latham started laughing that hysterical laugh again. It was unnerving. Then in a cold voice, he said very slowly, “You ladies really don’t get it, do you? Maybe if I spell it out in plain English, it will help. When I leave here not one of you is going to be left alive, so you don’t need to be too concerned about Rudd’s head.”

I tried to reason with Latham. “I think the gun in your hand makes it clear what you intend to do. But what harm can there be in letting Aunt Nissa go to Uncle Rudd or letting them come back over to us?”

Latham gave me a curt nod, did a little half-bow. “Point well taken. What harm is there? Let’s see… I could force you all on the ledge in hopes that it will just fall to the ground under your weight. Then it would look like a terrible and tragic accident. But that really wouldn’t do at all, because one or more of you just might live, and I can’t have that, now, can I? That would be like tempting fate. However, if all of you come over on this side, my problem would be that you might think that together you could overpower me. You see, Dixie, I know what you’re trying to do. But you really aren’t as smart as you think you are.”

Actually, I wasn’t nearly as smart as Latham gave me credit for. It didn’t occur to me that if we were all on the same side, literally, we could jump him.

A slow, nasty grin spread across his face. “However, as a businessman, I have to take a few calculated risks. You see, I have a particular place in mind for your, shall we say, eternal resting place. A place that has served me well in the past. To accomplish that, I do happen to need you all together. That’s why I didn’t kill Rudd and what’s-his-name before you got here. Not that I wasn’t tempted.”

Taking a few steps backward, he motioned with his gun. “Connie, you move over by Nissa at the edge of that rather large hole in the floor.”

Aunt Connie moved over by Aunt Nissa and the two of them wrapped their arms around each other.

“Very good, ladies. Now, Dixie, you go over there and move those planks so that Rudd and buddy boy can cross over. But let me warn you that if any of you try any heroics, I’ll shoot Nissa and Connie first. Understand?”

I nodded and made my way over to the planks. They were heavier than I had anticipated. After a good deal of pulling and shoving, I finally got them in place. When I started to cross over to help Freedom with Uncle Rudd, Latham yelled, “Halt, Dixie! Buddy boy helped Rudd over, he can help him back.” Then he told me to go over and stand by my aunts. I did as I was told.

We watched Freedom help Uncle Rudd up. Uncle Rudd
looked unsteady on his feet, but Freedom stood behind him and held him up by placing his hands underneath Uncle Rudd’s armpits. They started across.

I heard Aunt Connie gasp. Aunt Nissa grabbed my hand and squeezed it. I heard her whisper, “Merciful Jesus, please help them.”

Slowly, they walked on the bending planks. Once Uncle Rudd stumbled, but Freedom kept his grip on him. Stepping off the planks, Freedom moved to Uncle Rudd’s side, and they made their way over to stand beside the three of us.

Aunt Nissa went immediately to Uncle Rudd. After a quick look and a loving brush across his forehead, she turned to Aunt Connie. “If it’s clean, give me one of those handkerchiefs you always carry around in your purse.”

Aunt Connie opened her purse and produced a large white handkerchief. Handing it to Aunt Nissa, she asked, “How bad is it?”

Freedom answered, “The bullet just grazed the side of his head. We need to get him to the hospital as soon as possible, though. He’s lost a lot of blood and probably has a concussion.”

“Take Rudd to the hospital! Now that’s funny, really funny,” Latham said, only this time he wasn’t laughing that awful hysterical laugh of his. “You people aren’t paying a bit of attention.”

Freedom leaned close to me, keeping his voice soft. “The longer we can keep him talking, the better our chances.”

He was right! But before I could even begin to search my mind for something to say, Aunt Connie stepped away from us and moved toward Latham.

With a defiant look in her eyes, and as thunder pealed in the night sky, she yelled, “Why don’t you just go ahead and get it over with Latham Sheffield! Come on, you murdering little coward, if you think you have to kill us, then do it! Heaven’s a waitin’ on us, Latham! Go ahead, send us to our Maker!”

I don’t know how the rest of them reacted, but at the rate my heart was pounding, I didn’t think Latham would have to use a bullet to kill me. Aunt Connie was going to accomplish that before he could.

Once she finished taunting Latham, she started toward him, screaming as loud as she had it in her to scream!