The plan was simple enough. Hick took Jake back to his office with instructions to wait for the arrival of the coffin. In the meantime, at 9:45 p.m., Adam would hurry from the station with the squad car’s lights and siren blazing. Presumably, Wayne Murphy would follow. If Hick knew Wayne, he would be waiting for just such an occurrence. But if he didn’t take the bait, they would be in trouble.
“He’ll follow come hell or high water,” Adam said with a laugh. “I’ll lead him on a wild goose chase he won’t soon forget.”
“Where you gonna go?”
“I reckon he’ll follow me all the way to Pocahontas. Once I get there, I’ll just switch off the lights and get a cup of coffee. That’ll make him madder than hell and ought to give you plenty of time to get the coffin to Doc’s office.”
“Seth McDaniel’s got the back hoe ready,” Hick said. “I’m sure he finds this all a little strange, but I trust him.”
To pass the time, Hick lit a cigarette and began looking through the box they had taken from the school. Susie Wheeler’s student file was there and seemed intact. Thumbing through it, Hick saw she was an exceptionally good student and well liked. She had few absences, good grades, and was involved in several after school programs, including the Music club, Pep club, and student council. He held up the picture clipped in her student record, the last photo made of Susie. There was a sweetness in her expression, a child-like innocence. How could someone like Susie end up murdered?
“Hick.” Adam’s voice said cutting through his musings. “It’s time.”
“You ready?”
“Yeah. Let’s do this.” Adam’s eyes shone with excitement. “I’ve been waitin’ for a chance to teach that bastard a lesson.”
With that, Adam took a deep breath, winked, and rushed from the building, making as much noise as possible. He opened the trunk, for no good reason, and let it fall with a bang. Then, he climbed into the driver’s seat, started the car, and turned on the lights and siren. He revved the engine and let the siren wail for a minute, then took off down the road, fast enough to be interesting without being dangerous.
Hick stood back in the shadows and watched through the window. For a moment, he feared their plan hadn’t worked because the newspaper office remained dark, quiet. Then the door opened and Wayne Murphy emerged, hobbling out to his car, stamping his shoes on his feet, and buckling his belt. Murphy dropped his car keys and Hick imagined him cussing a blue streak. He climbed in his car, slammed the door, and sped off after Adam. Hick watched the car until it was out of sight and then slipped out the back door of the station and walked to the cemetery.
Seth McDaniel, the undertaker, waited with his two oldest sons. “You sure ol’ man Wheeler’s okay with this?” Seth was wiry, with dark eyes, sallow skin, and few teeth.
“He don’t like it much,” Hick said. “But he signed the affidavit to exhume her.” Hick produced the affidavit with the angry signature of the Reverend Ted Wheeler. Once the autopsy was complete it would be as if Susie was never exhumed. She would be back in the grave, and Hick would make the affidavit disappear.
“Why can’t it wait until morning?”
“Seth, I can’t tell you anything yet. Just make it so nobody knows Susie ain’t here anymore. Cover this up the best you can. Hopefully, Susie’s back at rest before anyone notices she’s gone.”
Seth spit a stream of tobacco juice onto the grass and screwed his face up. “I don’t like it one bit, but I abide by the law.”
Seth took the backhoe and began to remove dirt. The smell of soil filled Hick’s nostrils and his feet grew cold standing in the wet grass. The damp settled through the seams in his leather shoes and into his socks. Luckily, disinterring the coffin took very little time. The delta soil was so sandy it was harder to keep dirt from washing away than from settling in. Many of the tombstones were sinking at odd angles and several graves appeared as if their inhabitants had tried some sort of escape.
“There it is,” Seth told Hick after several more scoops of sandy dirt were removed. Hick watched as Seth’s son Ben climbed down into the grave and put two ropes around the coffin. He climbed out and the four men stood silently, peering into the hole where the coffin rested in a muddy pool of water.
Seth McDaniel told Hick, “We’re gonna do this respectful but quick. You stand up straight and lift hand over hand. You feel your feet start to slip or like you’re fixin’ to fall, you signal and we stop until you get your footing. We drop the coffin, it’s gonna bust and I don’t treat my people like that. Got it?”
Hick licked his lips and nodded. The situation was unsettling and he felt a chill prick at his spine. Grasping the rope, he began lifting. The coffin was heavy and the rope burned his hands. The McDaniels were used to this sort of work, but Hick would have blisters in the morning. He slipped one time and bent over. “Stand up straight,” Seth barked. “You’ll throw your back out.”
After what seemed a very long time, but in reality was only minutes, the coffin was up from the hole. The four men shifted forward, the box dangling from the ropes and sat the casket on the grass in front of the grave. Then, using the handles on the sides, they lifted it into the waiting hearse.
Hick wiped his hands on his pants and shook Seth’s hand. “I appreciate you keeping this quiet.”
“I don’t like it none, but I like I said, I abide by the law. I’ll take her to doc’s office and leave her there. I’ll be back to get her tomorrow at dawn. Won’t need you to put her back.
Got a machine for lowering ’em. Ain’t all that often we lift ’em up.”
Hick nodded and watched as Seth climbed into the hearse and drove away. His sons wordlessly turned and walked away leaving Hick alone in the middle of the graveyard. As he stood there he couldn’t decide which would be better, to discover Susie was pregnant or that she was not. Either way, the business had been distasteful, and he was glad to begin the walk home in the moonlight.
He put his hands in his pockets as he walked down the gravel road. The sun had dropped below the horizon and the hum of crickets and toads filled the air. Hick enjoyed the nighttime. In spite of the fact that he never carried a gun, he felt safe and peaceful in the darkness. The darkness quieted his thoughts and stopped them from swirling and tormenting him.
As he neared the house, he was surprised to find Maggie sitting on the porch swing, cradling the baby. She looked rattled, her face was flushed and her eyes were red when Hick got to the porch.
“What’s wrong?” he asked alarmed at her appearance.
She forced a smile. “Nothing, Hickory. I just got startled.”
Hick was unconvinced. Maggie was not easily frightened. “What startled you?”
She sighed. “I just came outside to watch the last piece of the sunset and to get some air. I heard something and that Delaney boy, the twin, came creepin’ around the corner. He purt near scared me to death. I hollered and I reckon I scared him too ’cause he took off running.”
Hick felt his stomach tighten. It had been a long day, he had not slept, and he was irritable and on edge. His blood raced through his veins and his heart began to pound. “Get in the house,” he ordered through gritted teeth.
“What?” Maggie asked with wide eyes.
“Get in the house! I’m goin’ after that little bastard.”
“Hickory,” Maggie began, but he interrupted her. “That boy’s got no call to come skulking around here when I’m not home.” He turned and headed toward the car.
“Hickory,” Maggie protested. “He didn’t do nothing. He just frightened me, that’s all.”
“Scaring you is enough,” he said slowly. “Lock the doors.”
With shaking hands Hick guided the key into the ignition, started the car, and sped off down the gravel road. He watched in the rear view mirror as Maggie stood helplessly watching, then she turned and went inside.
Hick’s heart thudded in his chest and blood throbbed at his temples. How dare that kid come onto his property and scare his wife? What was wrong with these people? Was the whole tribe murderous? He remembered Job’s surly face the day he and Adam visited their shack. What if he had hurt Maggie? What if he had laid a hand on her? His face flushed with anger, his jaw clenched, and his breath was coming in gasps. As he sped along the road a familiar figure came into view in the line of his headlights. He raced the car ahead of the boy and turned sideways into the ditch blocking him. The he jumped out of the car and pounced on Job Delaney, slamming him into the back quarter panel.
Holding him roughly by the shoulders, Hick growled, “Tell me why I shouldn’t beat the hell out of you right here and leave you bloody in the ditch?”
Hick’s eyes settled upon Job’s face, swollen and red, and he realized the boy had been crying. An overwhelming feeling of shame swept over him, and he was filled with horror. Reverend Wheeler’s disease had afflicted him as well.
He loosened his hold on Job. “I shouldn’t have done that. What’s happened, Job?”
The boy ran his sleeve under his nose and sniffed. “It’s mama. Doc Prescott’s at the house and told me to fetch you.” His eyes welled. “She’s dyin’. Doc says she wants to talk to you.”
“To me?” Hick asked in some surprise.
The boy nodded.
“Get in the car. We’ll go together.”
Job rubbed his shoulders as he climbed in the car which only made Hick more disgusted with himself. He gripped the steering wheel and turned to look at the boy. “Job, I’m sorry about that.” The boy didn’t turn, didn’t say a word, just continued to peer out the window. An occasional sniff was the only sound he made.
The coal oil lantern was burning in the front room as Hick and Job arrived. Mourning was crying and when she saw her twin she rushed across the room and clung to his neck. Doc Prescott turned and shook his head. Pearl Delaney was dead.
Her two children were crying softly in the corner. “Do you know what she wanted to see me about?” Hick asked the doctor in a quiet voice.
“She told me she needed to tell you something about Susie Wheeler.”
“Susie Wheeler?”
“She wouldn’t tell me what it was. Said she could only talk to you.” Doc shook his head sadly. “Pearl maintained Abner’s innocence until her death. I reckon her last thoughts on earth were about her boys and their safety.”
“I can understand that,” Hick replied remembering his own quickness to judge Job Delaney.
The doctor indicated the twins. “What do we do about those two? They can’t stay out here alone.”
At thirteen, Job and Mourning Delaney were too young to care for themselves. Hick turned to them. “Ya’ll got kin that can look after you?”
Mourning shook her head. “No, Sheriff. Our kin disowned us when Daddy went to the pen. We ain’t seen hide nor hair of none of ’em in years.”
As Hick looked at the children he thought of his encounter with Job and saw the shock and terror in the boy’s eyes. Unlike most of Cherokee Crossing, he didn’t believe the Delaneys were trouble and yet, even he had rushed to judgment. As he thought all this over he made an uncharacteristic, impulsive decision. “Get what you need. You’re coming with me.”
Job and Mourning stared wide-eyed at Hick and turned to each other. Then they went to the back of the house to gather what little clothing they owned.
Jake Prescott looked surprised. “You think Maggie will be alright with that?” he asked after they left the room.
Hick nodded. “You know Mag and kids. If I don’t bring ’em back with me, I’ll get an earful.”
“But with the baby …” Jake questioned.
“Doc, I gotta help her more. I know I gotta help her more. These two will only be with us until Eben and Jed get back. Eben’s seventeen so I reckon he can care for ’em.” He indicated the wasted state of Pearl Delaney. “He’s been carin’ for ’em for years.”
The doctor nodded and Job and Mourning came out of the back room each with an armful of old clothes. “You takin’ us to jail?” Mourning asked wide-eyed.
“I’m takin’ you to my house,” Hick replied.
“Your woman ain’t gonna want us there,” Job said cautiously.
“My ‘woman’ will be fine with it. You just scared her earlier, that’s all.”
The twins looked at one another. “But what about mama?” Mourning asked tears beginning to puddle in her eyes. “What will happen to mama?”
The doctor patted her shoulder. “Mourning, I got some money set aside. I’ll bury her for you.”
Now it was Hick’s turn to be surprised. The doctor just shrugged. “Pearl Delaney has been my ‘colleague’ in this town for decades. There was more to her potions than most people would have guessed.” He looked at the wasted face on the pillow. “She had my respect.”
Mourning dropped her clothes and ran to the bed, clinging to her mother. The doctor helped her up and together he and Hick put the Delaneys into the car.
In spite of a warm welcome from Maggie and a clean, comfortable bed, when Hick woke before dawn the next morning, the children were already gone.