Three Times as Deadly

by Erin Wade

  The door of the house opened, and an elderly woman stepped onto the porch, a shotgun leveled at us. “Lonso, come here!” she yelled to the dog. “Leave those girls alone.”

  “She’s going to shoot us,” Alex whimpered.

  “Good evening, ma’am,” I called to the woman. “We were hiking the Appalachian Trail and got lost two days ago. Can you point us in the right direction to town?”

  “Come closer,” the woman yelled as Lonso decided to sniff us in the usual places dogs stick their noses. He was particularly enamored with Alex, as she tried unsuccessfully to shove his nose from her crotch.

  I fought the grin that threatened to take over my face.

  “If you laugh,” Alex growled under her breath, “I will kill you.”

  We walked closer to the porch, our hands in the air.

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake,” the woman said., “Put down your hands. This thing ain’t even loaded. You two are a fright, but you look harmless.”

  Still trying to avoid Lonso, we walked up the steps to the porch. The woman kicked at the hound dog, still right on our heels. “Leave those girls alone,” she hissed. “Just like a male . . . always sniffin’ around beautiful women.”

  She flashed a toothless grin and held the door open for us. “Come in! Come in.”

  The woman headed straight for the sink, took a set of dentures from a glass on the counter, and slid them into her mouth. “Sorry. I wasn’t expecting company,” she said.

  Alex was still behind me with a death grip on my arm. I shook her loose and held out my hand to the woman. “I’m Judy Lane and this is my . . . uh, friend, Alice Lewis.” Alex held out her hand too.

  The woman shook our hands and scrutinized us for several seconds. “Why don’t you girls go clean up, and I’ll fix you something to eat. If you’ve been wandering around for two days, you must be starving.”

  She pointed to a door off the kitchen. “I’ve only got one extra bedroom, but you’re welcome to use it for the night. There’s a washroom connected to it.

  “You’ll have to sleep together. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “That should be interesting.” Alex giggled. “It’s been a long time since I went to a slumber party.”

  “There’s a bunch of my daughter’s clothes in the closet and the dresser,” she added as we moved toward the bedroom. “Feel free to use any of ’em. She won’t be needing ’em. God rest her soul.”

  We stopped and turned to commiserate with our hostess. “I’m sorry for your loss,” I put on my saddest face.

  “Oh, she ain’t dead. She ran off with that good-for-nothing traveling preacher that passed through here last summer. Left me with all the chores around this place.”

  We thanked her again and went into the bedroom. As soon as I closed the door, Alex was in my arms. She blew out a deep breath and hugged me.

  “Why don’t you wash up first?” I pointed to the makeshift shower that seemed to hang off the side of the room.

  “It won’t hold both of us,” I added when Alex grabbed my hand and tried to tug me along with her. She pretended to pout and stripped off her clothes.

  “God, you are one beautiful woman,” I enthused.

  The sparkle in her eyes told me the feeling was mutual.

  ##

  When we returned to the kitchen, something delicious-smelling was bubbling on the stove.

  “I hope you girls like stew,” our hostess said as she ladled a thin soup into bowls for us and cut a pan of cornbread into squares.

  “We love stew,” I said.

  “This looks wonderful,” Alex said as she dipped her spoon into the watery stew. “Oh my gosh! It tastes as good as it looks.

  “Your daughter’s clothes fit us perfectly,” Alex commented between bites. “Thank you for letting us borrow them.”

  “You can have ’em,” the woman muttered. “They ain’t doing nobody any good sittin’ in that closet. You two sure make ’em look better than Bridget ever did.”

  “May we know your name?” I asked as I finished the last bite of my stew.

  “Oh, where are my manners?” She wrung her hands and pushed her hair back from her face. “My name is Marguerite Johnson. You can call me Mazie. Everyone does.”

  “I like the name Mazie. It sounds happy.” Alex offered he woman her million-watt smile and Mazie blushed.

  As we visited with Mazie, we learned that she was a widow.

  “Do you live out here alone?” Alex inquired.

  “Oh, no,” Mazie said. “My two sons live with me. They work in the fields. They’ll be home any minute now.” She placed two more bowls on the table, along with spoons and glasses of water.

  As if on cue, heavy boots stomped up the stairs and to the door. Two burly men clamored into the room, arguing about whether it would rain. They stopped in their tracks and stared at Alex. Men and women always reacted to Alex that way.

  I rose from the table and waited for Mazie to introduce us. Both men licked their lips as they stared at Alex. Having experienced that same reaction, I knew what they were thinking. My hand rested on the grip of my whip.

  Mazie broke the silence. “Boys, we have guests, Alice and Judy. They wandered off the Trail and have been lost for two days.”

  Both men snatched the caps from their heads and nodded at us. “These are my boys,” Mazie continued. “They’re twins, Colt and Sig. Ain’t they pistols?” Mazie burst out laughing at her own little joke.

  The men blushed and hung their heads for a second before joining their mother in raucous laughter.

  I moved around the table to stand between them and Alex as I extended my hand to shake theirs.

  “Your mother was kind enough to take us in for the night and feed us,” I said. “I apologize for not waiting on you to eat, but we hadn’t eaten in two days.”

  The men shook our hands then looked at their mother as if asking for guidance. I noticed they both reeked of marijuana, but they didn’t have the glassy-eyed gaze of one who had been smoking it. I wondered if they were mj farmers.

  “Don’t just stand there like dolts,” Mazie chided them. “Wash your hands and join the ladies and me for dinner.”

  The two practically knocked each other down getting to the sink to wash their hands. They sat in the chairs across from Alex and me, while Mazie sat at the head of the table.

  “You give thanks, Colt,” Mazie instructed.

  Colt mumbled a few incoherent words, followed by a loud “Amen.”

  I am certain the men had been identical twins at some point in their lives, but fist fights or other altercations had changed that. Colt had a broken nose, and Sig was missing his two front incisors. Both had various scars and cuts on their faces. They were six feet tall and weighed over two hundred pounds.

  “I thought you boys could drive these ladies into town in the morning,” Mazie said as she passed the cornbread to her sons and cut slices of apple pie for Alex and me. “Maybe take them to the train station or the bus station.”

  “You got any money?” Colt asked.

  “Enough for a bus ticket,” I answered.

  “Where you headed?” Sig said.

  “Nashville,” Alex interjected. “We’re supposed to meet our friends in Nashville.”

  “Huntsville is the closest town with a bus station,” Sig informed us. “It’s on the other side of Punkin Hollow Cemetery.”

  The two brother exchanged glances. “We’re going to a barn dance in Punkin Hollow tonight.” Colt’s broad smile revealed yellow teeth that had never had a relationship with a toothbrush. “You girls should come with us. We’ll show you a really good time.”

  “We’re exhausted,” Alex said. “We must have wandered ten miles today before your mother was kind enough to take us in and feed us.”

  “Aww, come on,” Sig wheedled. “We’d be so proud to show up at the dance with lookers like you two on our arms.”

  “That is very kind, but honestly, we’d much rather sleep than dance. We truly are
worn out.”

  I stood and began clearing the table, signaling the end of the meal and the conversation. Alex joined me at the sink carrying the rest of the dishes.

  “You girls leave those dishes,” Mazie said. “I ain’t got nothing else to do. You get some sleep. Boys, you need to clean up if you’re going to the dance. No gal is gonna look at you twice the way you look now.”

  The men shuffled from the room, mumbling about how unsocial we were. I was glad they left without causing us trouble. Mazie had been nice to us. I didn’t want to hurt her sons.

  We finished cleaning the kitchen, and Colt and Sig returned dressed for the dance.

  “You boys are just too handsome,” Mazie said, her facing glowing as she looked her sons over. “Don’t you think so, girls?”

  We nodded and then stood around until the men left, again refusing one last invitation to join them.

  Mazie listened as the pickup pulled away from the house. “Don’t you like my boys?” The painful look on her face made it clear we had hurt her feelings.

  “They are handsome fellows,” Alex said.

  “I thought they were very nice and polite,” I added.

  “Then why didn’t you go to the dance with them? It would have made them so proud.”

  “We are so tired we can barely make decent conversation,” I sighed as if it took more energy than I had to talk.

  Mazie narrowed her eyes and scrutinized Alex and me. “Nah,” she snorted. “You’re both too pretty to be lezzies. You ain’t lezzies, are you?”

  “Lezzies?” I raised my eyebrows as if I didn’t understand her question.

  “You know,” Mazie grunted. “Girls who have sex with other girls.”

  “Is that even possible?” I looked at Mazie as if she had sprouted another head.

  Mazie studied us for a minute then burst out laughing. “You wouldn’t even know how, would you?”

  We shook our heads as if we had no idea what she was saying. “Would it be okay if we go to bed now?” Alex asked.

  Mazie settled into a chair with a book. “We don’t own a TV,” she informed us, “but you’re welcome to my books if you see anything you’d like to read.”

  “That is kind of you but I would fall asleep before I read a page,” I admitted. “We’ll just go to bed now, if that is okay with you.”

  “Of course, sweetie.” Mazie nodded as she turned a page of her book.##

  I locked the door and pushed a rickety chair under the door handle. When I turned around, Alex threw herself into my arms.

  “Oh Lord, I wanted to touch you,” she said. “I hate being near you without touching you.”

  “Wait,” I whispered. “You’re not one of those lezzies, are you?”

  “Yes,” Alex hissed. “I’m in disguise as a real woman.”

  I buried my face in her thick, luxurious hair to keep from laughing out loud. Alex was an armful of woman, and I loved every voluptuous inch of her. The way she felt against my breasts and in my arms was pure heaven.

  “We should sleep in our clothes,” I told her. “I don’t trust the pistol brothers. We need to be able to fight our way out of here if necessary.”

  Alex rolled her eyes “I’ve been dying to get you naked,” she said, moaning.

  I put a finger to my lips to shush her. “These walls are as thin as tissue.”

  Alex turned back the bedspread and slipped off her shoes, still scowling about sleeping in clothes.

  We took turns in the small washroom and then slipped into bed. The sheets were rough and the mattress was lumpy, but it was much more comfortable than the boxcar where we’d spent the previous night.

  Alex snuggled into me, and we quickly fell asleep.

  ##

  Soft kisses on the back of my neck woke me as the sun was rising. Naturally, I turned over and pulled her into my arms.

  “Shh,” she whispered. “Mazie and the two shotguns are in the kitchen.”

  “Pistols,” I said, chortling. “They’re named after pistols.”

  “We should get out of bed.” Alex continued to whisper. “Unless you have something better in mind.”

  “No, you make too much noise.” I grinned.

  “I promise to be quiet,” she whispered.

  “A promise you can’t keep. We need to get moving.” I slid from the bed and held out my hand to her.

  I slipped on my boots and silently thanked Bridget for wearing the same size jeans as Alex and me. I draped the whip around my hips and listened at the door as Mazie assured her sons that Alex and I were not lezzies. “They’re girly girls,” I heard her say.

  I opened the door and entered the room that served as a combination kitchen and living area. “Good morning,” I said with a smile. “Mazie, thank you so much for letting us sleep here. I feel much better.”

  “We were wondering if you would sleep all day,” Colt said, his yellow teeth on full display as he poured two more cups of coffee for Alex and me.

  “What time is it?” I asked.

  “Seven,” Sig barked, “but we got up at five thirty.” He puffed out his chest like a proud peacock.

  “The early bird gets the worm,” Mazie said. “My boys don’t let no moss grow under their feet. They’re really hard workers. They’ll be real good providers for some lucky gals.”

  I agreed.

  The men’s eyes swung to Alex as she entered the room. I hated it when men—or women—looked at her that way. I took a deep breath and sipped my hot coffee, ignoring the urge to throw it on Sig and Colt.

  “After breakfast, we’ll take you girls to the bus station,” Sig informed us.

  “May I have your mailing address?” Alex asked Mazie. “Y’all have been so nice to us. I want to send you something when I get home.”

  “You don’t need to do that, dear,” Mazie said as her cheeks reddened. “We were glad to help two ladies in distress. Weren’t we boys?”

  The men nodded and looked us up and down. I had an uneasy feeling.

  We started to help clean the kitchen, but Mazie shooed us away. “You best be going,” she said. “The next bus from Huntsville leaves at noon.”

  We thanked her again, said our goodbyes, and followed the pistol brothers to their pickup. Sig opened the rear door and I climbed in. I scooted over to make room for Alex, but Sig jumped in beside me.

  “You ride up here with me, pretty lady,” Colt said to Alex, grinning as he patted the bench seat beside him.

  Alex looked at me as if expecting me to do something then shrugged and jumped into the truck.

  “That’s more like it.” Colt laughed as he shifted gears and gunned the truck.

  “Do you fellows know Mary Jane?” I asked as Colt pulled onto the highway.

  “I might know her,” Sig said. Colt’s stern glance in the rearview mirror silenced him.

  “I wasn’t born yesterday, guys,” I said with a chuckle. “I smell it. We could get high just sniffing your upholstery.”

  Colt squirmed in the driver’s seat. “We may have transported it, but we never keep it in the truck. Ma would kill us.”

  “But you do grow it, don’t you?” My treasury agency training kicked in, as I tried to find out how much of the cannabis the boys produced in a year.

  “We grow it,” Sig volunteered. “But we don’t use it. Ma would skin us alive and feed our bones to Lonso.”

  “So if that highway patrolman behind us pulls you over, we’re good?” As I finished my sentence, red and blue lights started flashing.

  “Shit!” Colt said, his eyes on the rearview mirror. “Pardon my French, ma’am.” A sheepish look crossed his face as he apologized to Alex.

  “You have no weed in this vehicle, right?” I reiterated.

  “None,” Colt and Sig chorused.

  “It’s that son of a bitch, Leon.” Sig grunted. “He’s gonna shake us down.”

  Colt slowed down and pulled the truck off the road. “Stay in the car with the girls,” he said to Sig. “And y’all keep
your mouths shut.”

  A highway patrolman walked to the truck as Colt rolled down his window. “Please step out of the truck, sir,” he said.

  Colt complied.

  “Put your hands on the hood and spread ’em,” the officer directed. Colt obeyed.

  The patrolman frisked Colt, and then pulled his nightstick from his belt and placed it between Colt’s legs. “I believe I have probable cause to search your vehicle,” he barked as he lifted the club against Colt’s crotch.

  Colt stiffened and stood taller, trying to avoid the club between his legs.

  “May I search your car?” the officer growled.

  Ignoring Colt’s warning to stay out of it, Alex rolled down her window. “What is your probable cause, Officer Leon?” she asked as she read his name tag.

  I dragged my hands down my face, trying hard to think of a way out of the situation headed our way.

  “Maybe you should step from the vehicle too.” Leon leered at Alex. “Let’s see if the rest of you is as pretty as your face.”

  “Leave her be,” Colt growled. “You can search my truck. I ain’t got nothing to hide.”

  Leon glared at Colt. “I need all of you to get out of the truck,” he snapped. “All of you, out!”

  Sig got out and offered Alex his hand to help her down. As I slid out of the back seat, another patrol car pulled in front of our truck. A short, scrawny officer—Titus, as per his name tag—got out and swaggered toward Leon. A younger man dressed in Levi’s and a sweatshirt followed him.

  As the officer approached, Leon pitched a Ziploc baggie full of marijuana onto the floorboard of Colt’s pickup.

  “What’s up, bro?” Titus asked as he scrutinized Alex.

  When Leon turned to answer the man’s question, I grabbed the baggie and tossed it from the vehicle.

  “I believe these folks have marijuana in their vehicle,” Leon blustered. “Help me search it. You take the front, and I’ll take the back.”

  Leon pulled the floor mats and back seat out of the truck. He searched through the seat pouches and, of course, found nothing. He straightened and looked at the other officer.

  “Nothing here,” Titus said as he completed his search.

  “Did you do a thorough search?” Leon frowned as he moved to the front of the pickup.