Her hand went to the wall phone when she saw the dark figure of a man step out of the passenger side of the truck and walk toward her stairs. She quickly dialed 911 and waited for the operator to answer.
He was on the stairs now and she couldn’t wait. She rushed as quietly as she could to the door and flipped the outside light on. It illuminated the man as he was coming up the stairs. He was dressed in dark clothes and wearing a Halloween mask. As soon as the light came on, he turned and jumped the three steps he’d just climbed and ran to the truck.
Jo went back to the window but couldn’t see anything else as he jumped into the passenger side of the truck and it drove off, again with the lights off until they were on the street, too far away for her to get the plate number.
She went back to the phone and the operator sounded frantic as she shouted into the phone. “It’s okay, now. There was a guy coming up my stairs but he ran when I turned on the light.”
She was still talking to the 911 operator when her parking lot filled with police cars. Floyd was the first one up the stairs and as she let him in, Jo thought that she’d never seen her big macho cousin so scared before. He was almost hyperventilating by the time he made it to the landing where she was now waiting just inside the door.
“Jo, you’re okay?”
“Yes, Floyd, I’m okay.”
She grabbed him by the arm and led him to a chair at the table. “Here, Floyd, sit.”
“Carla? Is she okay too?”
Jo hadn’t thought about Carla and felt ashamed. She turned to go to Carla’s bedroom but almost collided with her.
“What’s with all the noise out here?”
Jo couldn’t help it. She wrapped her arms around her sister and let the tears go. That alarmed Carla even more and she looked over at Floyd who was still trying to calm his breathing.
“Will somebody please tell me what’s going on?”
Jo wiped her eyes on her housecoat sleeve and said, “Someone was coming up the stairs just now and I scared him off when I turned on the light out there.”
Carla paled and fell into a chair at the table next to Floyd. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
The sound of a man clearing his throat brought all three heads around to stare at the door. A deputy was standing there. He had latex gloves on and was holding a piece of cardboard.
Floyd was the first to recover. “What you got there Nathan?”
There was a piece of paper taped to the cardboard and the deputy held it out so Floyd could read it with both Jo and Carla leaning over his shoulder.
Carla read it aloud, “Stay away from the enemy or else you’ll get what he does!”
She looked at Jo. “What does that mean Jo?”
Floyd turned from Carla to Jo. “Didn’t you tell her?”
Jo shook her head and turning back to her sister, she reached out for Carla’s hands. “Floyd and I are working together with Gil Turner, the new preacher, to try and put a stop to all this nonsense.”
Another deputy appeared in the doorway. “Sheriff, we just got another 911 call. This one’s at the preacher’s house over behind the Baptist church.”
“What is it?”
“Doesn’t sound too serious. Just another rock through his window.” He chuckled. “The hardware store sure is making out on glass sales lately.”
With that, he disappeared from sight.
Floyd turned back to Jo. “Did you get a good look at the guy or his vehicle?”
Jo shook her head. “I saw him pretty good when I turned the light on and he was on about the third step of the stairs coming up but he had on a Halloween mask. About all I could tell was that he was dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt. He wasn’t very tall and a little overweight with a beer belly.”
Floyd snorted. “That would describe almost half the men over thirty in this county. Did you see his vehicle?”
“Yes, I did but all I could see was that it was a dark pickup. He wasn’t driving. He jumped in on the passenger side. They drove through the parking lot with their lights off until they got out on the street, too far away for me to see anything.”
Floyd frowned and slapped his palm on his knee. “Well that gives us exactly what we had before . . . nothing.” He quickly added. “But it’s not your fault Little Bit. You did good by scaring the lousy varmint off.”
After Floyd left, Jo and Carla went back to bed. Jo didn’t sleep much and from the looks of Carla at breakfast, she hadn’t either.
“Jo, what’s going on? Is someone trying to hurt us?”
Jo didn’t know how to answer that. She didn’t think they were in any real danger, but she couldn’t be sure of it. But what could she tell Carla?
She opted for somewhere near the middle. “Carla, I would like to tell you that we’re not in any danger, but I’m not positive. I don’t think we are, although I do think that Gil, the preacher, may be in danger. Whoever is doing this seems to have targeted him more than us.”
“But why? He hasn’t done anything, has he?”
“No, at least not that I know of. If anything, he seems to be trying to keep everything peaceful around here.”
Jo’s astute sixteen-year-old sister surprised her. “I don’t think they care if he’s causing trouble or not. I think they want to cause trouble and blame it on him.”
Jo couldn’t believe she’d missed that possibility. “You know, Carla, I think you might be right. I need to talk to Floyd about that later.”
After Carla left for school, Jo continued to think about what Carla had said. The more she thought about it the more she was sure that was what was going on. Buy why? Why would they want to cause trouble? The only thing she could think of was that maybe they were trying to lead the sheriff’s department away from something else that they might be getting too close to.
That, she needed to talk to Floyd about too. And the sooner the better. If he didn’t come in this morning, she’d have to call him.
Just as she made that decision, her phone rang.
* * *
Gil was concerned about Mary Jo Early, but he waited until nine o’clock to call her. He had to keep thinking of her that way, not just as Jo. That seemed too personal and he didn’t know her that well and probably shouldn’t try to get to know her any better. Mainly because she owned a bar and he was the pastor of a church that was against drinking. That was a dead-end street if there ever was one.
Anyway, he wanted to make sure she was all right. He had hardly slept after he went to bed that morning. He knew he would probably run down before the day was over so he was already planning on going home early this afternoon.
Finally, it was nine o’clock and he hoped it wasn’t too early to call her.
When she answered on the second ring, he was relieved and said, “Mary Jo, this is Gil Turner. The sheriff was here when he was called over to your apartment this morning. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
He couldn’t tell for sure, but he thought her voice changed in tone and became friendlier when she said, “That’s nice of you Gil, but I’m okay. It was just a guy coming up my stairs apparently to put a sign on my door and he took off when I turned the light on.”
“What did the sign say?”
“It was just another warning to stay away from you and for me to join in the fight against you and your church.”
Somehow, Gil wasn’t sure she was telling him everything. Suddenly, he was more concerned than ever about her welfare.
There was a pause on her end and then she said with a tentative voice, “Are you at your office now . . . and is Betty there?”
That surprised him a little. “Yes, we’re both here.” He didn’t know what else to say.
“I think we need to talk some more. Apparently what you and Floyd tried last night isn’t going to work.”
He was surprised at the smile that came over his face. “Yes, of course. Would you like to come over here now?”
“Yes, I think so.” There was anothe
r pause then, “Okay, I’ll be over there in a little while.”
When they hung up, Gil had a stray thought. He couldn’t help wondering what she meant by a little while. Since he’d been in Crowleyville, he’d heard numerous people use that phrase and he’d begun to realize that it could mean anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours or even a few days. Which was it in Jo’s case?
Gil sat there thinking about Mary Jo Early for a few minutes. He had noticed yesterday when she was in his office that she seemed to avoid getting too close to him or even looking at him directly, especially when he was looking at her. And on top of that, Betty had come into his office with Jo. Why?
Well, he decided that he needed to find out before she arrived.
When he sat down in a visitor chair in Betty’s office, she looked up at him and smiled. “Mary Jo Early sure is just about the nicest woman in this town.”
So much for private phone conversations, but that was exactly the opening that Gil needed. “She’s coming over here again and we’re going to try to figure out something else we can try to do to stop all this harassment.”
“That sounds like a good idea.”
Here was his chance. “Betty? Why did you come into my office with Jo yesterday? Did she ask you to?”
Betty’s smile disappeared and he knew she didn’t want to answer him. She fiddled with some papers on her desk then finally looked up at him and said, “Mary Jo’s terrified of men.”
That shocked him. There had been several possibilities floating around in his mind but none of them were even close to that one.
“What? But . . . she runs a bar. Most of her customers are probably men. Not only that, but there must be some rather rough characters coming in there sometimes.”
Betty just kept nodding her head.
“But why?”
Betty shook her head. “She’s been hurt badly and that’s all I can tell you. Anything else, you’ll have to get from her.”
Just as he had decided to do exactly that, Betty said, “But please be careful and don’t ask her until you know she’s ready to answer.”
She was giving him such a serious, pleading look that Gil was glad he was sitting down. As it was, it almost knocked him out of his chair.
“What could be that bad?”
When Betty continued to shake her head without answering, Gil began to put two and two together and he was afraid that he was coming up with forty. He could only think of one thing that could happen to a woman that would cause that kind of fear. He shook his head. He didn’t even want to think that word much less say it.
He went back to his office and almost fell into his desk chair. He leaned forward and placed his hands on the desk to get them to stop shaking. How was he going to be able to make her feel comfortable around him?
Gil was still deep in thought when he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye and looked up to see Jo standing in his doorway.
“Good morning Jo. Come on in.” He motioned to the chairs in front of his desk and she took the one closest to the door without looking at him.
Okay, he was going to have to be very careful now. He noticed that Betty didn’t come in with her this time. Maybe that was a good sign.
“Would you like a cup of coffee or a glass of water?”
She darted her eyes up at him then, quickly looking back down at her hands in her lap. “Yes, coffee would be nice, thank you.”
Before he could rise from his chair, Betty called out, “I’ll get it Gil.”
Once they both had a cup of coffee, Gil knew he needed to start the conversation but all he could think of was what she must have gone through to be so afraid of men.
She took the initiative for him and said, “I understand from Floyd that nothing happened last night. Are you going to try it again?”
“No, I don’t think so. I guess I must have been a little too obvious with my driving back and forth through town several times the way I did.”
“Do you think they knew why you were doing it?”
He laughed. “Oh yes, they threw a rock through my bedroom window afterward. It had a note on it saying they knew what we were doing.”
“Oh my. What can we do now?”
Gil didn’t want to get crossways between her and her cousin so he tried to cover himself. “What does the sheriff say?”
She giggled this time. “I don’t think you want me to repeat anything that Floyd said last night.” She looked up at him for a second. “He’s not too happy about either of the incidents that happened last night. He’s just so frustrated right now.”
That was his opportunity to ask, “Exactly what did happen at your apartment last night?”
When she told him, he grew angry. One look at her anxious face when she noticed his anger deflated him. He didn’t want to scare her or push her away. They needed to work together on this.
He smiled and softened his voice. “How can I help, Jo?”
Her smile was back even if it was only a timid one. Gil knew now that he was going to have to earn her trust. And suddenly he also knew that he wanted her to trust him more than anything else right then. He wasn’t about to stop and analyze those feelings though.
They talked about different ideas of how to stop the harassment and catch those doing it. Jo was getting ready to leave after telling Gil that she would get back to him once she had a chance to share their ideas with Floyd.
When she rose, Gil knew he had to ask her now or lose his opportunity.
“Jo?”
When she turned back, her eyes were on his desk not him.
“I noticed that you and your hairdresser friend were in church last Sunday. I was wondering if you might be coming again tomorrow.”
He knew she was going to say no until she looked at his face and into his eyes. She must have seen what she was looking for.
“Are you sure it would be okay with your church people?”
“Yes.”
That was all he could get out before Betty was standing next to Jo with her arm wrapped around her shoulders.
“Most people will be thrilled to see you Dear. But when you do the right thing, Hon, it doesn’t matter what a few small minded people may think.”
Jo looked back at Gil and into his eyes again. “Okay.”
With that, she was gone and Betty was giving Gil a big smile.
Gil sat back down at his desk wondering if it was a good thing or a bad thing that Betty seemed to hear every conversation he had even on the phone. Not only that, but she just popped in whenever she felt the need. So far, though, it had been helpful to him especially when Jo was involved.
* * *
Once she was back at the bar, Jo stayed busy getting ready to open. She wanted to think about how to stop all the harassment but all she could think about was Gil Turner.
Why? He was a man, wasn’t he? She hated all men! Didn’t she?
But he was different . . . or was he? A man was still a man whether he was a farmer, a teacher, or a preacher. They were all the same, weren’t they?
Then she remembered the fact that she had told him she would go to church again tomorrow. Why had she done that? She knew why. It was because when he asked her, she had looked into his eyes and saw genuine caring, nothing artificial like most people, especially all other men.
Shortly after she opened, her first customer came through the door. But when she turned and looked at him, she knew he was no customer. It was Clyde Jenkins. Why would he be here? Well, Earl had already tried to talk her into helping them. Maybe Clyde was going to try now.
“Jo.” He came up to the bar but didn’t sit on a stool. “I suspect you know why I’m here.”
She continued to stare at him without speaking. He didn’t say anything for a moment. She was sure he was trying to intimidate her with his silence and the glare he was giving her.
She looked him over quickly. He was about five eight and slightly overweight with a noticeable beer belly. He had to be about the age of her pare
nts.
A stray thought hit her right then. Clyde was about the size and shape of the guy she’d chased off her steps last night.
It didn’t look like he was armed, but she deliberately stood in front of the place where they kept a pistol under the bar. It was only loaded with wax tipped cartridges though. After all, she really didn’t want to kill anyone, just stop them. Floyd had told her those bullets would knock most men down and stun them temporarily. He had laughed when he’d said that they would be plenty sore for a while afterwards too.
Clyde’s glare turned ugly. He grunted and said, “Why won’t you be reasonable Jo and come in with us to run that new preacher out of town?”
Jo didn’t think it would do any good to argue with him so she simply said, “I don’t think that’s the right thing for me to do, Clyde.”
When she didn’t say anything else, his face turned red and he placed his left hand on the bar between them. His right hand was moving toward her when the door opened and several customers came in.
He leaned back, put his hands on his hips, and glared at her. She had picked up the gun with her right hand but didn’t put it back down, just kept it hidden under the bar.
“You’ll be sorry for not working with us on this.”
With that, he turned and stormed out the door. She was glad her waitress had arrived and was waiting on the customers. She couldn’t move. She looked down at her right hand that still held the gun. After carefully placing it back under the bar, she leaned on a stool that was there for her to use when she did some paperwork on the bar during slow times.
She was still sitting that way, staring at the door when it opened again and Floyd rushed in. She didn’t even look up at him.
“What was Clyde doing in here? Did he bother you, Jo? Did he threaten you?”
Jo finally looked up at Floyd as he stood over her with his hands on her shoulders. When did he come behind the bar? He squeezed her shoulders lightly, and then shook her gently.
No Easy Solution (Crowley County Series Book 1) Page 11
