“Yeah, the big friendly guy,” he said sarcastically.
“You know who I mean,” Megan said. “Well, he’s not particularly happy about the time you and I have been spending together.”
“I guess that’s his problem.”
“No, you don’t understand,” Megan said. “He and I have been dating since last summer and well, the other night he got a little upset about you and me.”
“What you and me? We just went fishing!”
“I know, but you have to know Rick,” she said.
“So, why are you telling me this? You don’t want to see me anymore?” he asked.
“No, it’s not that. I tried to reach Rick earlier, but he hasn’t called me back. This stolen car thing…”
“What about it?” Will asked.
“I told you I went to see Melissa tonight and she was just so weird about the whole thing and when I confronted her on it, she got all defensive and upset with me.”
“Why would she get mad at you?”
“Well, I guess I implied I didn’t believe her story.”
“So, what do you think’s going on here?” Will asked.
Megan turned in her seat to face him. “It’s just so weird her car would end up down here and then get reported stolen. I can’t help thinking Rick was involved in this to get you in trouble.”
“You’re kidding?”
“He’s good friends with Melissa, too and…”
“That sonofabitch!” Will said.
Megan put her hand on his arm. “Will, I really didn’t want to say anything until I was sure, but…”
“We need to go back to town to find this guy,” Will said, clearly irritated.
“No Will, let’s wait until…” She stopped when she saw headlights pulling up behind her on the road. The vehicle came to a stop, but the lights continued to shine brightly through the back window of the Jeep. Megan and Will both looked back, squinting, trying to see who it was.
“What the hell,” Will said and turned to open his door. He got out and started to walk back around the Jeep. Megan jumped out too and met him at the back of the car. They stopped when both doors on the vehicle in front of them opened. The lights still shined in their eyes and Megan couldn’t see who it was at first until Rick Brandtley walked up into the light and stopped in front of them. His friend, Jimmy Norton, came around and joined him.
Megan was shocked to see the two of them. “Rick, what…”
“Megan, you need to leave. We’ll talk later,” Rick said in a low and threatening voice.
Megan was immediately irritated by his tone and said, “Rick, I just gave Will a ride home.”
“Yeah, I know. I saw you pick him up in town. Jimmy and I were sitting over in the park.”
Will stepped forward and stood between Megan and Rick. “So, you followed us out here,” Will said.
Rick seemed surprised at the question and hesitated a minute before answering. “Yes, we followed your ass out here.”
“Rick, you need to settle down,” Megan said.
“Megan, you need to get in your car and go home,” Rick said. “I’ll call you later. Jimmy and I need to have a few words with your friend here.”
Will started toward Rick until Megan grabbed his arm. “Will, don’t! Rick, this is ridiculous. Nothing’s happened here. Will and I are just friends.”
“Yeah, I’ve noticed,” Rick said. “Megan, you and I can talk about this later, but now you need to leave!”
“I’m not going anywhere!” she said, pushing Will back to get in Rick’s face. “What do you know about Melissa’s stolen car?”
“What are talking about?” Brandtley said.
“How convenient for Melissa to leave her keys in the car and then it ends up out here in Will’s drive.”
“Because he stole the damn thing!” Jimmy Norton said.
“Rick, if you had anything to do with this, I swear…” Megan started before Rick interrupted.
“Megan, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rick said.
“Brandtley, you need your friend here for this little discussion we need to have?” Will said, slowly pushing Megan aside. He got within inches of Rick Brandtley’s face and said, “Why don’t you and I step around back and have this discussion alone.”
Rick pushed out suddenly with both hands and knocked Will back into Megan.
“Rick, stop it!” she screamed. “Both of you, stop it!” She couldn’t help herself, but she started to cry. She wiped her tears away with both hands and then said, “Rick, you and Jimmy get out of here, now. I’ll be back to town later and we can talk.”
“No, we’re going to...” Rick started.
“Rick! I’m serious, if you ever want to see me again you better leave now!” Megan said.
He hesitated for a moment, looking back at her and then over at Will Truegood. “Okay Jimmy, let’s go.” Then he pointed at Will. “You need to stay out here in the sticks where you belong. Stay away from Megan, you hear me?”
“I’ll go wherever I want, you asshole, and get off my property!”
Rick started back toward him and Megan jumped between them, holding him back. “Leave now!” she screamed again.
Rick reluctantly backed away and both he and his friend got back in the car. As he turned around, he rolled down his window. “I don’t know what’s up with you this summer, Megan, but this shit has got to stop.”
She didn’t answer him. He looked at her for a few seconds and then jammed the transmission into Drive and spun the wheels of his car in the loose gravel as they left. Megan and Will stood together watching as the red taillights sped out through the trees to the main road.
“Megan, you didn’t have to stand up for me there.”
She turned to look at him. “Are all men as stupid as you two?”
“What?”
“This is so ridiculous,” she said, turning to walk back to the Jeep.
“Megan, I’m sorry, but I’m not going to take crap from that guy and if he had anything to do with this car theft….!”
“Well, we’ll have to see about that,” she said.
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know!” she said, sniffing and wiping away more tears.
Will grabbed her by the arms and held her close. He just looked at her for a moment and then said, “Megan, thank you for what you’re doing to help me.”
“Yeah, a lot of good I’m doing.”
“You really shouldn’t be risking your friendships like this. I can take care of myself.”
“What, by beating up Rick Brandtley? That’s going to do a lot of good.”
“I don’t know…” he responded.
Megan looked at this boy she had known for such a short time. She couldn’t deny her feelings were growing for Will Truegood. Great Megan, this is a going to a real fun summer! She realized he was holding her, and she slid her hands down to take his. “Will, I don’t want anybody to get hurt, particularly over me.”
“I know.”
They stood looking at each other. Megan felt his hands in hers and the warmth of his touch was soothing and reassuring.
“Megan Clark, you’re a special girl,” he said.
She just kept looking at him in the dim light shining around the side of the Jeep.
He leaned forward slowly, and she knew he was going to try to kiss her and in that split second, she decided things couldn’t get any crazier, so why not. She closed her eyes and felt his lips touch hers. The cool wetness of it surprised her and she pulled back and looked at him and then kissed him this time. They stood together then and only the sounds of the motor running and a few crickets in the weeds broke the stillness of the night.
“I better go,” she said.
Chapter Twenty
Jonathan McKendry and I have been through enough together, I should never be surprised by how he reacted to things. I guess he was about as headstrong as I am and when it comes to Emily, he was never one to think
too clearly.
… the summer of 1952.
Jonathan put the phone down in the kitchen and started back to the bedroom to check on his wife. He had just spoken to Sheriff Willy Potts to tell him Harold Slayton was back at the farm. Potts asked him how he knew where the man was. Jonathan told him what happened when he went out to the farm and the old sheriff had yelled at him to stay away from Slayton and let him and his men take care of the situation.
Yeah right, Jonathan thought to himself as he walked back along the hallway. He remembered the look on Slayton’s face when they had confronted each other. He also remembered the two barrels of the shotgun staring back at him. When he got to the bedroom, Emily was asleep. He was still furious Connor Harris had come into their home. I don’t care what happened to his sister, that asshole needs another board across his head, Jonathan thought, remembering the night his brother Luke had come to his defense and attacked Connor Harris. Jonathan had been pleased to hear Sammy Truegood had landed at least one good shot on the sonofabitch.
The nurse was sitting next to the bed reading a book.
He turned to leave and whispered, “I’ll be back in a bit.”
He drove out to his boatyard on the road south of town to East Jordan. He pulled up and parked in front of the low building that held his office. A large boathouse and storage facility sat behind it, painted white with a sign over the big front door that read, McKendry’s Boatworks. His employee’s cars were parked over on the side, but there was one other car parked in front of the office. He went inside and his assistant and bookkeeper, Tracy, was at her desk. She nodded over to the right where he saw a customer sitting in his office, Mr. Tom Fitzgibbons from Detroit. They were about done working on his new boat.
He walked into his office. “Tom, how are you?” Jonathan reached out to shake his hand.
Fitzgibbons stood, and Jonathan could tell from the look on his face something was wrong. “Morning, Jonathan.” He was a big man, several inches taller than Jonathan and probably twice as big around. His white shirt was crisply starched, but not tucked in, probably because his belly stuck so far out over his belt. Jonathan noticed the big gold ring on his right hand with a fraternity sign of some kind etched on a blue stone.
“What’s up, Tom? Your boat should be ready in a couple more days.”
“Jonathan, I don’t know if you’re aware, but we are close with the Harris family, Jennifer and Connor Harris’s parents.”
“No, I didn’t know that. It’s really too bad about Jennifer,” Jonathan said.
“Yes, it really is and that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”
Jonathan was immediately concerned. He walked around his desk and sat down. “What’s the problem, Tom?”
“This boy, Sam Truegood, works for you, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah, for over a year,” Jonathan said. “He’s been doing a great job.”
The man squirmed a bit in his chair. “You know what he’s done, with Jennifer I mean?”
Jonathan sat forward and crossed his hands in front of him on the desk. “Now Tom, you know that hasn’t been proven yet and from what I’m hearing from my friend George Hansen who is defending Sammy, there’s little or no evidence he had anything to do with it.” Jonathan could see Tom Fitzgibbons was getting more and more irritated.
“That’s the thing here, Jonathan,” Fitzgibbon’s said. “You and your friend Hansen are defending this boy and he should be rotting in jail for what he’s done!”
“Now wait a minute, Tom…”
“No, you wait a minute, McKendry. People in town are all talking about this and no one can believe you’re taking the side of this Indian kid.”
“Tom, you need to stop right there,” Jonathan said.
“No McKendry, you need to stop. You need to stop and think about what you’re doing. Is that kid still working here?”
“He sure is. He’s out on bail and he’s welcome to work here as long he wants, or until a court of law says otherwise.”
“That’s a real bad decision, Jonathan. You’ve got a business to run here and if you want any more business from the people of this community, you better think again about how you’re protecting this boy.”
Jonathan felt the anger burning inside him and he tried to keep calm with this man who was not only a very big customer, but also quite influential with the summer families who came up to Charlevoix each year. “Tom, listen to me on this. George Hansen and the sheriff have done a lot of work and the facts are just not adding up.”
“The boy was charged with sexual assault against Jennifer Harris!” the big man bellowed, his face turning red.
“Charges are one thing, Tom, proof is another.”
Tom Fitzgibbons stood and looked down at Jonathan. “I’ll say it again. You’re making a bad decision about this boy, McKendry. If you and your friend Hansen want to keep working in this town, you should really reconsider how you’re handling all this.”
Jonathan stood up quickly. “Tom, I appreciate your business. I’ll have your boat for you in a couple of days and I hope to build another one for you someday, but I will not condemn a young kid who may very well be innocent!”
Fitzgibbons shook his head in disgust as he got up to leave. “That’s a real shortsighted decision, McKendry.”
George Hansen walked into the drugstore and up to the lunch counter. He ordered a cup of coffee and a donut to take back to his office. As he was walking out the door, he ran into an older woman he knew from some legal work he had done this past year. Her name was Howard and then it occurred to him she was Elaine Howard’s mother, Jennifer Harris’ friend from the beach. Oh great!
“Good morning, Mrs. Howard,” he said, holding the door for her. She was a slight woman, barely coming up to his chest and rail thin. Her clothes were cut elegantly and the hat on her head had a small pheasant tail feather that brushed his chin as she walked by.
The woman looked up and recognized George and immediately got a sour look across her face. “George Hansen, I need to speak with you!”
He stepped back into the store with her. “How are you today, Mrs. Howard?”
“Do you have any idea what you’re doing?” she said loudly.
George knew where she was going with all this, but said, “What’s that, Mrs. Howard?”
“How can you stand up for this Indian boy?”
“You mean Sam Truegood.”
“Yes, and you’re defending this boy who attacked little Jennifer and could have just as well had his way with my Elaine!”
“Mrs. Howard…”
“Listen George, I just saw your wife Elizabeth down the street, and I told her the same thing. You need to think twice about helping this boy. The whole town is not looking very favorably on your decision.”
“The whole town,” he repeated, trying to remain calm. “The whole town, or just you and the Harris family?”
“George…!”
“Mrs. Howard, please. I can understand how you feel, particularly with your daughter involved in all this, but this is what I do. This is my job. I’m a lawyer. I defend people.”
“You don’t have to defend anybody if you don’t want to!” she said and then walked away quickly to the back of the store.
He watched her leave and then turned to go out the door. He noticed the young girl behind the counter was watching him. She wasn’t smiling either.
Sheriff Potts drove Agnes and Sara Slayton out to their farm. They sat in the back and he looked at the little girl in his rearview mirror. She was reading a book and except for the nasty bruise across her cheek, she looked like any normal little girl. He felt his anger boil as he thought about the way Slayton was treating his family.
A deputy sat beside him. They had received Jonathan’s call earlier in the morning that Slayton had been back at the farm. He doubted he would still be there, but decided it was best to bring along some additional help.
“Sheriff, this is awful nice of you to bring us out here,” Agnes
Slayton said.
“Not a problem, Mrs. Slayton,” he said, looking at her in the mirror. “I’m not sure this is such a good idea, but I’m going to leave Deputy Jurgenson here with you for a few hours to help you get settled in and to talk to your husband if he happens to stop back.”
“You’re going to arrest him, aren’t you,” she asked.
“Well, yes we are, mam. A man can’t go around attacking people like he did with Dr. McKendry and we can’t have him treating you this way either.”
“Sheriff, I’m sorry about what happened to the doctor, but we can take care of ourselves out here.”
“With all due respect, ma’am, it doesn’t look like you’re doing a very good job of it,” the sheriff said.
The Slayton mailbox was up ahead on the left and the sheriff slowed the patrol car to pull into the road back to the farmhouse. The rain had stopped, but big puddles of brown water and mud covered the old road. He turned to his deputy. “Keep a close eye now.”
The sheriff drove slowly over the bumpy road and as the farmhouse came into view, he scanned the area to see if there were any signs of Slayton. Jonathan had said his truck was parked out behind the barn, but he couldn’t see back there yet. He pulled up to the side of the house and turned off the car. They all sat quietly for a moment, looking around the house to see if anyone would come out. There seemed to be no sign of anyone around. He turned to the backseat and said, “Okay, let’s get you going here.”
Everyone got out of the car and Potts watched as his deputy walked with Agnes Slayton and little Sara into the house. He walked around to the back and he saw the old sagging barn, but as he came around to the backyard there was no sign of the truck. A few chickens came out from the other side of the house. He kept walking back to the barn, his boots sliding in the fresh mud from the rainstorm. As he came up to the big door that was closed on the front of the barn, he saw tire tracks around to his left. He walked over, and it was clear in the mud that a truck had pulled in, then backed out and left. The tracks looked like they had been made recently.
The Summer Town Page 19
