Chapter Eleven

Iris had never been so glad to see another human being. She sat in the weather-bleached wooden rocker on the porch while Granny Pearl gathered the eggs. The wizened little woman had practically carried her to the porch. She was incredibly strong for so small a person.

Iris sipped from the old tin cup of cool water she held in her still-trembling hands. Her eyes kept darting to the huge brown mound in the field. She placed one hand on her belly, hoping to reassure the little one.

“We made it. We’re safe now.” She was repeating this over and over when Granny’s voice startled her.

“Child, who you talking to?”

Iris jumped and dropped the cup, spilling the sweet water over her feet.

“Lawd, child, you still tremblin’? Well, I’m guessin’ I would be too, iffen I’d come that close to dyin’.”

Iris started to babble. “I’m so sorry. So sorry I dropped the cup. So sorry…”

When Iris’s voice trailed off and her eyes took on a faraway stare, Granny knew just what was needed. She walked over to the hand pump and refilled the cup, then walked back to Iris and threw the cool water in her face.

The girl jumped, spluttered, then burst into tears.

“That’s right, honey, you go on and cry that scared right out. You just wail and howl ’til it’s all gone. We got all day, if need be.” Granny sat on a stool at Iris’s side and patted her shoulder while the girl sobbed into her hands. It took a goodly while for the poor thing to let it all out. As the sobs softened to whimpers, Granny finally spoke.

“Now, honey, you need to tell ole Granny a few things. I been here on this piece o’ ground for nigh onto sixty-five years. Aside from my nephew, Leon, who comes round about once a year, you the first living soul I seen since my Mason passed on, about twenty of those years ago. I know they ain’t nobody just up and moved into the area, so where you come from? And what you doin’ with that chain on your leg? You one of them indented folks, and you done run off?”

Between sniffling and blowing her nose on Granny’s apron, it took Iris a good hour to tell her story. She finally ran out of strength and leaned back in the rocker, pale and weak, though the trembling had stopped.

“Lawd-a-mercy, child.” The old woman shook her head in disbelief. “You done had you one adventurous life to be so young.”

“Granny, can you get me into Tallahassee? Do you know where it is? I have to take the dress to the law and let them know where he is.”

Granny had already walked across the field and recovered the pack and the lantern. She’d stopped on the way back and taken a good look at the bear and chuckled to herself. “Mason, you’d a been proud o’ yor ol’ lady. I hit that sucker with all three o’ them shots. And a mighty good thing, or that little girl would a died for sure.”

Now Granny looked at the pack lying on the porch floor, then back at Iris. “Child, I believe it’s east o’ here, but I ain’t left this place since Mason passed. Like I said, Leon comes round ’bout once a year and brings me bullets for the rifle, but he ain’t due for three or four months. And you ain’t fit to go nowhere just now. You need some food, and some sleep, and then we can talk about what we gonna do.”

****

Samuel was deep in thought as Zeus made his way west. The cabin where he’d found Mary Elizabeth had been a good mile off a dirt track, and that was another mile or so off the main east/west road. The new cabin would be just as well hidden. If the killer left his place near dusk, was back home by daybreak, and was hauling a full wagon one way, he couldn’t be much more than ten miles out of town. So…he’d head west and keep a sharp eye out for any wagon tracks leading off the main road.

As he rode, Kathleen filled his mind. He hoped she understood how serious he was about locking up at night and keeping the pistol close. He had no idea where the killer was, what he might be planning, or just how desperate he might be. That lack of knowledge made the man all the more dangerous.

****

Nash was sitting at the table with all his money in front of him. The second wad he’d taken from the cinnamon man’s pockets had been almost two full payments, but it was still not as much as he’d hoped to have when he headed west. It was pretty near two hundred miles to Pensacola, with very little between here and there. He’d be trackin’ off the main road, just in case the woman made it out of the woods alive. He needed extra bullets for his rifle if he was gonna be livin’ off the land for a while. He’d make a run back into Tallahassee tomorrow night and visit Mercer’s shop. He’d been in and out of there a couple of times at night, with no one being the wiser. Then he would head west. Best to travel at night for a while.

He shoved all the money into a rawhide pouch and then stretched out on the bed. He could smell the woman. The woman. He’d still love to find her and beat her to death. He was surprised she had lived as long as she had. She’d been puny when he first found her, and she’d never gotten much stronger over the years. He needed a strong woman, a large woman; one that could bear a healthy boy and take a beatin’ once in a while. His mind strayed to the schoolteacher. She’d been so small as to be about useless. He hadn’t actually meant to kill her, but she’d scratched his eyes. When he became lucid again, she was limp as a rag. As he drifted off to sleep, his mind held the vision of him running his hands through red hair.

****

The evening sun was low on the horizon when Samuel started looking for a place to bed down for the night. When he rode up on a small creek, he nudged Zeus off the road. He followed the creek about a hundred yards north to where it opened to a small pool.

“Well, boy, this is as good a spot as any. Let’s call it a day.”

By the time darkness set in, he’d hobbled Zeus, laid out his bedroll, and feasted on the supper Mae had insisted he pack. The night air was cool, but he built no fire. There was no need to let anyone know he was in the area.

****

Granny Pearl had killed a hen and made dumplin’s for supper. Iris had not eaten so well since she was a child, and now she was curled up on a quilt in the corner of the kitchen. Granny sat on the back porch, drawin’ on Mason’s old pipe, while she contemplated what to do about the girl. It was clear she was quick with child, and it must belong to the beast that had kept her chained. Granny had rubbed a poultice on that poor ankle, but it was gonna be a while before she could put any weight on it. And how, in the name of Jehoshaphat, was they gonna get that thing off? Well, they’d worry about that tomorrow.

****

Iris woke to the smell of strong coffee. She stretched her curled body and lost her breath at the pain. Fire engulfed her left leg. She sat up and looked at it, which added fear to the fire. The foot was one large purple bruise, and the ankle was swollen so badly it nearly filled the cuff. She could only hope it would not get any larger, as that would cut off the blood to the foot. She looked up as Granny entered through the back screen door.

“Well, you finally waked up. I was afraid you was gonna sleep all day. But then, you is sleepin’ for two now.”

Iris was surprised. She didn’t realize it was that obvious. “Well, I haven’t done any serious work in the last two years, and I must have rowed that canoe at least four hours the other night. Not to mention that foot race I had with a bear.”

Granny gave a big whoop. “Yeah, you was moving at a fair pace when I first spotted ya’.” Then Granny caught sight of the ankle. “Lawd, chile, we better pray that ankle don’t spread much more, or you gonna lose that foot! Let me help you up, and let’s get it up in the air, maybe put some cool, wet compresses on it. Then we’ll get you some breakfast.”

****

Samuel walked down to the water’s edge and filled his canteen, then led Zeus down for a long drink. While Zeus grazed nearby, Samuel ate the last of Mae’s offerings, secured his bedroll, and headed out. He loved this time of day, when the birds were spreading rumors from tree to tree, the dew was like liquid silver in the spiders’ webs, and the deer pranced to the open fields to wait for the sun. It was all the proof Samuel needed in order to know that the Lord had created all this for man to enjoy.

He’d been back on the road for about an hour when his attention was caught by a break in the foliage to the north. Yep, it was a wagon trail, but it was overgrown and probably hadn’t been used in months. Still…he nosed Zeus to the right, and started down the trail.

****

Nash woke with a start, just as he had as a small child. He could still hear the screams from his dream. He could see his father standing over the woman, striking her again and again. The woman had stopped pleading and hung limp in his father’s hands. He finally dropped her body to the ground. As his father walked away from the teepee, Nash could see the woman. She had no face, just a bloody spot surrounded by her hair. That blood red hair. Nash would always remember his mother as having red hair.

He shook his head, loosening the last of those visions from his memory. He staggered to the table and held the jug with both hands as he guzzled the white spirits. Enough of the fiery liquid would drive the dreams of women with red hair from his conscious mind. Then he could sleep.

****

Samuel had gone nearly a mile. It was obvious this lane hadn’t been used in quite some time, but Samuel had a feeling. He was arguing with his insides when he caught a faint whiff of smoke. Ahh…all right, he’d keep going. The lane had been angling west for some time when it suddenly opened to a large field. There was a small cabin with a thin trail of smoke from the chimney, but what caught and held his attention was in the middle of the field.

A child was trying to hook up a mule to something large. The mule was not happy and was near to dragging the poor child around in circles. As Samuel started out across the field, he kept one eye on the cabin. The mule was snorting and beginning to bray when the “child” caught sight of Samuel. She dropped the reins, grabbed a rifle up off the ground, and pointed it straight at Samuel.

“Ya’ll just stop right there. What you doin’ trying to sneak up on a ol’ woman?” The voice was a little high, but definitely not a child.

Samuel would have laughed if that rifle hadn’t been pointed right at him.

It was an old woman, and that thing on the ground appeared to be a dead bear.

“Morning, ma’am. My name is Samuel Hinton. I’m a deputy with the Leon County Sheriff’s Office. Ma’am, if you could just lower that rifle, please? I’m gettin’ off my horse now, real slow, so you just be careful with that gun.”

Samuel slowly dismounted, then kept both hands in the air as he approached. He could see the white hair now, and the lined face that had been shielded by a large sunbonnet. The rifle was beginning to waver as those thin arms strained to hold it.

“Ma’am, I promise you, I mean you and yours no harm. I’m just in the area searching for a bad man. I’ve got a picture here in my pocket. If you could just take a look at it and tell me if you’ve seen him?”

Between holding the rifle and tilting her head so far back to look up at the man, Granny was getting a little dizzy. She had to lower the stock to the ground and lean on the barrel to get her head to stop spinning.

“All right, young fella, you just don’t make any quick moves. You the first man I seen here in years, exceptin’ for my nephew, so I reckon I ain’t seen whosever you be lookin’ for.” Granny looked him up and down. He seemed clean and neat. Not like he’d been living off the land. And his horse was in good shape. Maybe he was who he said.

“Now, you tell me, you said you was a lawman? That mean if’n a body had a problem a’ sorts, you supposed to help ’em, right?”

Samuel smiled. “Do you have a problem I can help you with, ma’am?”

“Well…” The old woman stopped to cackle. “I sure could use some help convincin’ that mule to help drag this carcass back across into the wood-line afore those buzzards overhead start feedin’. It’s gonna take ’em a few days to finish him off, an’ I ain’t lookin’ forward to the smell. But that ain’t the main problem.”

Samuel waited for her to get to her main point.

She looked him up and down again. “I’ll tell you what. You help with this carcass, and I’ll fix you a good breakfast, and let you in on a little somethin’ you might be interested in.”

Samuel was in no hurry. She was an interesting soul, and she might just know something. So…

“Well, ma’am, between my horse and your mule, we ought to be able to move that carcass.”

A half hour later, Samuel was pumping water for Zeus and the mule, and the buzzards had started to check out the carcass in its new location.

“Ma’am, I didn’t catch your name.”

“You can jest call me Granny Pearl. That’s what all the young’uns call me. And can you pump that bucket over there full, and tote it in when you come inside? I’d appreciate it.”

Granny entered through the back screen door while Samuel washed up at the pump and filled the tin bucket.

He took a good look around the place. Someone was obviously keeping the place up. The chicken house was in good shape, and the wire around the coop was drawn tight. No sagging to let the possums and ’coons in underneath. Granny must be near ninety years, and while she moved like a younger woman, there were just some things she couldn’t have done. Like those newer boards on the roof of the barn.

Samuel took off his hat, knocked twice, and then entered through the front door. His gaze took in the inside in three seconds, and then settled on the young woman sitting at the table, her badly swollen foot resting on a chair. But, it was the cuff and chain around her ankle that held his attention.

No one spoke for several heartbeats.

Finally, Granny Pearl lifted the coffeepot she’d been holding. “You want some coffee, son, afore we get to the main problem?”

Samuel gave his almost smile and nodded. “I think that might be a good idea, Granny.”

He took one of the ladderback chairs, turned the back toward the woman, and straddled it, folded his arms across the top ladder, and got comfortable.

“Good morning, miss. That’s a mighty painful-lookin’ foot you got there.”

“My name is Iris,” was all she seemed able to get out while keeping her eyes downcast.

Samuel waited. He was good at waiting.

The woman tried to sit a little straighter and grimaced with the pain. She finally met Samuel’s gaze.

“Are you really a lawman?”

“Yes’m, I am a sworn deputy with the Leon County Sheriff’s Office. My name is Samuel Hinton, and I’m thinkin’ you have a story you’d like to tell me. Is that right?” Samuel took the cup of coffee Granny handed him and settled back to listen.

A half hour later, Iris ran out of steam. Samuel had listened carefully, but quietly, while she related how she came to be here with Granny Pearl.

Samuel stretched his long legs out, set the now empty coffee cup on the table, and reached into his pocket for the folded paper and the pouch of Perique.

“Ma’am, I’m gonna ask you a few questions now. You just answer the best you can. Is the man about my size?”

Iris nodded yes. “But bigger, you know, broader.”

Samuel nodded. “All right. Does he have a scar on his right upper arm?”

Iris’s eyes opened wide as she nodded, “Yes. I always believed it looked like a bullet wound.”

“Well, ma’am, you thought right. Now, did he smoke a pipe, and did it smell sorta like this?” Samuel stretched out an arm with the pouch of Perique.

The woman recoiled when the pouch got close enough for her to catch the scent.

Samuel could see the same fear on her face he had seen on Emma’s.

He slowly unfolded the wrinkled flyer, and turned it around for Iris to see.

The blood quickly drained from her face, leaving her pale and shaking.

That was all the answer he needed.

He folded the paper and returned it and the pouch of tobacco to his pocket.

“Well, I’d say the first thing we have to do is get you to a doctor. That chain has to come off soon. Just so happens my brother-in-law is a doctor, and my sister is the woman you were searchin’ for when you left Pensacola two years ago.”

An hour later, Samuel had harnessed the mule to an old but still sturdy wagon and laid a pallet on the back for Iris to rest on. The only hard part was Granny Pearl.

“Granny, that man has already killed one woman, and I suspect him of three others. Ma’am, my mama in heaven would have my head if I left you here and somethin’ happened to you. Now, let’s just think of this as a big adventure. Haven’t you ever wanted to see the city? I promise that as soon as we get this man, I will personally bring you home, if that’s what you want. I’ll put out plenty of water for the chickens, and when I come back for the man I’ll run by here and check on them. Please, gather up a few things, and let me put you in the wagon.”

It finally took Iris’s pleading that she was afraid to go alone that moved Granny. By noontime, Samuel had the ladies loaded, Zeus tied to the back of the wagon, and was headed home.