The Shining Badge (28 page)

Billy Moon came hurrying in, his dark eyes bright and a smile on his lips. “Well, it looks like the new man’s going to work out.”

Jenny and Ruby had been going over the new budget, trying to find a way to make it work. Both of them were surprised by Billy’s abrupt entrance, and it was Ruby who said, “You talking about Clay?”

Moon came to stand in front of them, and he seemed more pleased than either of the women had ever seen him. “Arp and Pender aren’t gonna like it. They wanted to see Clay fail ever since you took him on, Sheriff.”

This was true enough. The two deputies had been sullen and resentful of Varek ever since Jenny had brought him into the office a few weeks ago. They had been free enough with their remarks that what was not needed in the sheriff’s office was another Yankee! Clay had not responded to the two but had gone about his duties in a serious and professional way. He had been a great help already to Jenny, for he had a steady, confident way of doing things that pleased her. They had spent a great deal of time talking about the organization of the office. Jenny had waited for him to comment on Pender and Arp, but his only remark had been, “
You had to have somebody, and they know the country.
”

“What did Clay do, Billy?” Jenny asked now.

“I don’t guess you know Clyde Wiggins, do you?”

“No. Who is he?”

“Aw, he’s a sorry fellow that lives over by Judkins Creek. Been in about almost every kind of trouble there is.”

“That’s right. He’s a hard one,” Ruby said, nodding. “He’s been in jail more than once, but nobody’s been able to pin anything serious on him. Did Clay have trouble with him?”

“No, I think he had trouble with Clay.” Billy laughed softly and leaned forward, putting his fist on the desk. “I just stayed back. I really wanted to test him out. Wiggins is a tough one, and I wanted to see how Clay would handle him.”

“What was the charge?”

“Oh, he was drunk, as usual. We caught him with two gallons of moonshine whiskey. He couldn’t drink it all. He’s bound to have been peddling it. We found him in Tal Holbert’s place, the same place you got your famous black eye, Sheriff.”

Jenny did not like to be reminded of that. “What happened?”

“Oh, Clay told him he was under arrest, and Wiggins pulled out that big pig sticker of a knife he always carries. He’s cut more than one man open with it.”

“What did Clay do?” Jenny demanded.

“Well, I couldn’t really tell. He walked straight up to Clyde, and when Clyde pulled that knife back to cut Clay, things got sort of blurred.”

“Blurred! What does that mean?” Ruby demanded.

“I don’t know. It happened so fast. I tell you that Varek is quicker than greased lightning. All I know is one second Wiggins was standing on his feet trying to put that knife in Clay, and the next he’s on the floor hollerin’ and screamin’ that his arm is broke. And it was too.”

“Good!” Jenny said with intense satisfaction. “Where is he now?”

“Oh, Clay took him to Doc Peturis to get his arm set, but he’ll be doin’ some time for this one, I think.”

“I doubt it,” Ruby shook her head doubtfully. “He’s one of Max’s friends. I expect he’ll get bailed out tomorrow.”

“Maybe so, but he won’t be goin’ full speed. I put him in
the backseat with Clay, and he got clear over on the far side of the car. He kept watchin’ Clay like Clay was gonna eat his gizzard or somethin’. I hope we can put Wiggins away where the dogs won’t bite him. Wiggins is meaner than a junkyard dog himself, and Clay sure took his measure. He’s a nervy cuss, the kind that takes chances. Walked right up to Clyde like he was holdin’ a broom straw instead of a razor-sharp knife.”

Jenny said no more, for she was both pleased and worried. She could not help but think of Kermit Bing, and she was terrified that someone else would get killed and another death added to her conscience. Later when Clay came in, he acted as though nothing had happened, and when she asked him about Wiggins, he said merely, “Oh, he’s not really rough. He just smells bad.”

****

Clay had come to pick up Jamie and take her home, but the Winslows insisted that he stay for supper. The table was filled with heaping platters of fried fish, fried potatoes, and hushpuppies. There was also yellow squash, crunchy fried okra, purple-hulled peas, and fresh-baked bread.

“I caught most of these fish,” Kat announced to Clay. She insisted on sitting next to him, and now she picked up one of the fish that had been fried whole. “Look, you hold the fish like this and you start at the front and you just pull this top fin out.” She demonstrated how to eat the fish. The entire fin came out, exposing steaming-hot white meat.

“Now, you just put your teeth against the top. See, like eating corn on the cob. This way you don’t get any bones in your throat.”

Clay winked at Lewis before saying to Kat, “I guess you’ve mastered the art of eating fish.”

Kat dominated the conversation. “Tell me about breakin’ that old Clyde Wiggins’s arm.”

“Nothing much to tell,” Clay said, helping himself to a
fresh mound of hushpuppies. “These are good, Mrs. Winslow.”

Missouri Ann beamed. She was holding one of the babies, as usual, and shifted him to her other arm before answering. “Anybody can make good hushpuppies.”

“Hushpuppies aren’t as good as these crawdads,” Kat announced. “Try some of them. I caught ’em myself, Clay.”

Clay eyed the crawdad étouffée. “I never ate crawdads before.”

“You’ll like ’em,” Clint said. “I cooked ’em myself. I was a short-order cook one time on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Maybe I’ll go back there and become a famous chef.”

Kat said, “No, you can’t go back. You’ve got to stay here and take care of your family. You’re going to have a baby.”

The meal was delicious, and finally Lewis said, “I understand you’re doing a fine job. We appreciate it, Clay.”

“I was the one that made him become a deputy,” Kat announced loudly.

“You are the one who eavesdropped on me and your sister—and stop bragging.”

“It ain’t braggin’ if I can do it, Daddy. And I did it, didn’t I, Clay?”

“I reckon you did.”

Everyone was amused by Kat’s pronouncement. The talk then went around to the problem with the bootleggers, and Jenny shook her head, a cloud coming into her eyes. “It’s so hard to catch them, and when you catch one there’s always another one to take his place.”

Lewis smiled. “I remember a fellow once in our county. He was overrun with blackbirds, and he set out to shoot ’em. He killed three with a shotgun, and I asked him, ‘You think that discourages ’em?’ He looked right at me and said, ‘It discouraged those three.’ ”

“I don’t see why the federal officers can’t help,” Missouri Ann said. “It’s really their job, isn’t it? I mean it’s a federal offense.”

“There just aren’t enough of them. They’re overworked,” Jenny said.

Clay chewed thoughtfully on a morsel of fish and swallowed it. “What we need is a good undercover agent. I had a good one in Chicago. He was right on the inside, knew every crook there. He’d tell us about a job that was gonna be pulled, and we’d be right there.”

“Well, is he still there?” Lewis asked with interest.

“No,” Clay said, and something came into his face. “They found out he was an undercover man, and we found him dead in an alley.” He shook his head and added, “It’s hard to find a good undercover man. The trouble is you have to find someone that the crooks trust—but who’s honest. There aren’t many like that.”

“There must be someone around here that could do that,” Missouri Ann said. “I’ll pray on it.”

Lewis reached over and squeezed Missouri Ann’s neck. “I’ll bet you will,” he said, “and you’ll probably get an answer.”

After the dessert, which was an apple pie Hannah had made, Clint said, “Come on out. I want to show you one of my newest inventions.”

Clay got up and walked outside. Clint led him around the house to the barn, and when they stepped inside, he said, “I’m not quite through with it yet, but I think it’ll work.”

Clay looked down at the invention, which he recognized at once. “Why, it’s a three-seat baby carriage.”

“Hard to go anywhere with three infants. I couldn’t decide whether to make it where they’d all three lie next to each other or in tandem, so I finally compromised. Two in the back and one in the front. That makes it narrow enough to maneuver.”

“Why, this is great! Where’d you get the parts?”

“Oh, buggies from the junkyard. There was an old one up in the loft somebody left. Anyway, it’ll make life a little easier on Lewis and Missouri.”

“That’s a great job. They’ll love it.”

“Clay, do you reckon I could become an undercover agent?”

Quickly Clay looked up. “Not a chance in the world,” he said. “Everybody knows you’re tight with the sheriff. You wouldn’t get anywhere. Neither would I. Nope, I respect Missouri’s praying, but I doubt if it’ll do any good. There aren’t many people that can live that kind of life. You have to be one of them. That means doin’ what criminals do on one side, and they do some pretty rough things. I couldn’t handle it, I don’t think.”

“Well, don’t put it by Missouri to pray one up. That woman is a powerful woman of prayer.”

****

Lewis maneuvered the carriage down the sidewalk, conscious that everybody who passed stopped to stare.

“That’s what I like, wife, everybody looking at me. I always like to be the center of attention.”

“You do not! You hate it.” Missouri walked alongside Lewis and took his arm. “Isn’t the carriage wonderful?”

“It really is. That Clint’s a wonder.” He leaned forward and looked at the three infants—Temple in the front with Samuel and Michael in the back. “I don’t know how that man does it, but it’s easier than trying to carry them in your hip pocket.”

“What did you think about what Clay said, about an undercover agent?”

“I don’t think they’ll find anybody. It’s hard to sneak up on bootleggers. They’re crafty, violent people and so are the men who traffic the stuff. As a matter of fact, I hear some racketeers are filtering in from the North to do just that.”

The two walked along, stopping from time to time as people came over to look down into the carriage. Most of them smiled and reached in to touch the infants, and for once all three of them seemed happy and content.

Missouri watched Lewis’s face as they walked along the street. Finally she said, “Lewis, you don’t really mind having three babies, do you?”

“Mind! Why, I’ve never been so proud in my life.”

“I was afraid you’d be upset.”

“Not a bit of it! I wouldn’t turn back the clock for anything.” Lewis was very much aware that, although Missouri never mentioned it, she was intimidated by the thought of his first wife, who had been a cultured woman. Missouri was learning to speak with a little better grammar, but she still was not entirely secure.

“Nope, I wouldn’t go back,” Lewis said. “You can’t live in the past. You can go back to a place you once knew, but all you can do is say, ‘Oh yes, I know this place.’ You may remember it, but it won’t remember you. These boys, I want to pour my life into them.” He turned to her and added, “And into you, wife.” He saw tears come into her eyes and put his arm around her. “God has given us three wonderful children, and we’re going to raise them and love each other, and I don’t want to hear any more about it. Look, let’s go into the sheriff’s office and see how many criminals my daughter’s caught.”

The visit to the sheriff’s office turned out to be a huge success. Ruby came over at once and stared down at the babies and then picked Temple up and cuddled him. Billy Moon was standing beside her. “You like babies?” he asked.

“I like to hold them and play with them, but I guess it’s a little bit different from taking care of one full-time, isn’t it, Mr. Winslow?”

“It sure is,” Lewis said. “I’ll be glad when the grandchildren come along. Then I can just spoil them and give them back to their mamas.”

At that moment Jenny came out and greeted them. “What are you two up to?” she asked, smiling.

“I’m out showing off my sons. I bet there’s not another man in the county who’s got three sons like this.”

“You’re getting foolish, Dad.”

Missouri watched as Jenny spoke to her father. As always, she admired the closeness between the two and was pleased with it. Finally she said, “Jenny, I’ve got a name for you.”

“A name, Ma? What kind of a name?”

“For the kind of thing that Clay talked about. What did he call them?”

“An undercover agent?”

“Yes.”

Jenny looked around. “Come on into the office.” She led the way, and when the two women were alone, she said, “You really think you know a man who might do this work?”

“I prayed hard, and the answer came right sudden. I had a cousin named Maybelle Johnson and she married Chester Hagan. She married young, and she had one son, but she died when he was born. He kind of raised himself. His pap wasn’t much good. He got kilt in a fight over at Bald Knob when the boy was only six or seven. He’s been in a passel of trouble, but I think he’s basically a good man. Anyhow, the Lord put his name in my heart, and I think you ought to go see him.”

“What’s his name, Ma?”

“Hooey Hagan. His real name is James, but nobody calls him anything but Hooey. He lives all by himself out in a little shack he built, and to tell the truth I know he’s done some bad things. But I’ve been prayin’ that he’ll get saved, and maybe this is the way God will work it. If he can do this thing for you, it might make a difference.”

“I’ll go talk to him.”

“Take Clay with you. He lives right in the heart of that bootleggin’ country. Here, I drawed you a map.” Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a folded sheet of paper and said, “You just tell him that I sent you.”

“All right, Ma. We’ll go see him.”

****

“I’m not sure this is a good idea, Jennifer.” Clay stopped, and when Jenny turned to face him, he shook his head doubtfully. “We don’t know anything about this fellow Hagan.”

“But Missouri does. He’s her nephew.”

Clay and Jenny had made their way through the woods in
the car until the road practically played out, and they were afraid to drive any farther. The road was a gauntlet of mud puddles left by recent rains, and Clay had warned, “If we get this car stuck here, we’ll never get it out.”