by Jackie Lynn
“Well, dig in,” Rose said. And the two of them started their evening meal.
“Pot roast was Jason’s favorite,” the young woman noted.
Rose watched the tears fill her eyes. She leaned over and squeezed her on the arm. They paused and then kept eating.
“Rhonda said that you saw the guy who shot Jason,” Rose said. “She said that you were with him at the apartment when the killer was there.” She was passing the bread basket over to Chariot. She wondered if she was pushing too hard.
Chariot nodded without seeming to mind the questions. “I saw him as he left. I just saw his back. He was on a bike,” she noted. “I also saw him on the road before I got to Huron.”
“Did he see you?” Rose asked.
Chariot shook her head. “But he’s looking for me,” she added.
Rose waited for more.
“Jason told me before he died that they thought I was at work and that I had it, or something like that.” She took a bite of roast beef. “Jason was the one who told me to leave. He thought I was in danger. Then when I was driving out of town, I saw the guy on the road following me,” she added. “I know it was the same guy.”
“What do you think Jason meant, that you had it?” Rose asked. She took a sip of tea. “Do you think he had taken something from somebody or had something this guy wanted?”
Chariot shrugged. “I don’t know,” she replied. “He never told me anything that he had stolen. And I’ve looked everywhere in the car and in the stuff he packed. I haven’t found anything that looks important or different or anything that somebody would want.” She continued to eat.
“Did you know these other guys that he was with?” Rose asked.
Chariot shook her head. “Not really. Jason never mentioned their names, but I think I know who they are. I thought maybe I should try and contact them, see if they know anything; but I’m afraid they’re the ones behind Jason’s murder.” She put down her fork, appearing a bit distressed at the conversation.
Rose thought about the story that she was hearing. She guessed that Chariot’s boyfriend had been murdered because of something he had done with this group of guys. It made sense that he had taken something from the house that they robbed or that he had threatened to go to the police about the others. She wondered about Jason, about what had happened on the night he was killed. And she was still curious about the young woman’s path from Pierre to West Memphis, Arkansas.
“Did you stop somewhere else in South Dakota before coming here?” Rose asked, still pushing Chariot.
Chariot nodded. “I went to my grandma’s,” she replied. “She has this way of helping me see clear,” she said. “She was really more of my mother than my real one,” she added. “But I saw my mama, too.”
“Chariot, did you bring that paper from South Dakota, the one that was in the recycling bin?” Rose asked, wondering if the young woman understood that she was listed as wanted by the police.
Chariot looked confused. She thought about the question. “I purchased a paper before I left Mitchell yesterday. I never read it, though,” she said. “Why? Did you read it or something?” she asked.
Rose could tell that Chariot did not fully understand her situation, that she had not read the paper at all. “Then you don’t know, do you?” she asked.
Chariot dropped her hands in her lap and looked intently at Rose. “Know what?” she asked.
Rose was just getting ready to explain the charges that were being held against her back in her home state when they both were startled at what they heard. Police sirens were blaring and they were heading in the direction of Shady Grove.
ELEVEN
What’s going on?” Rose asked Lou Ellen after she had walked up to where everyone was standing.
She had convinced Chariot to stay at Thomas’s while she went to the office to find out what had happened. Once they heard the sirens, Chariot had immediately jumped up to run, explaining that it was a policeman who had killed Jason, that she had seen him following her while she was still in South Dakota.
She was getting ready to run out the door, certain that the policeman-murderer had found her, that he was driving into the campground, creating a lot of commotion, calling a lot of attention to himself and his authority, but that he was there for her, to take her into custody and kill her.
Rose was confused by Chariot’s story and knew she needed some time to sort through everything. She explained that she needed to go and check on things and she thought that she had convinced the girl to stay where she was and give Rose the chance to find out who was at the office and why they were there. She tried to calm Chariot by saying that the arrival of police officers at Shady Grove could be something completely unrelated to her and her situation and tried to persuade her just to wait until she found out what was going on. Rose assumed Chariot was obeying her instructions.
Rose walked the length of the path trying to figure out what she would say when she got to the office, if in fact the police were there for Chariot. A policeman had killed her boyfriend. Rose knew it would be difficult to protect her. She wasn’t sure what she was going to say if the sheriff was indeed looking for her. Even though she hated the thought of telling Sheriff Montgomery where the young fugitive was hiding, she also understood the great penalty involved in failing to disclose the whereabouts of someone in trouble with the law.
Rhonda and Lucas were on their way back to Shady Grove and if they had seen the parade of police cars coming into their campground, Rose hoped that she would find them at the office before she arrived. When she got to the steps of the empty office, she realized that the Boyds were still in town at their church meeting. She was going to have to manage this crisis by herself.
She walked over to where two patrol cars were parked, just at the campground entrance, and found Sheriff Montgomery and two deputies standing outside talking to Ms. Lou Ellen. Rose took in a deep breath and pretended not to be worried or upset by their presence.
“It seems they think we have a murderer in our midst,” Ms. Lou Ellen announced, stepping over to Rose. She had been standing in the path with her dog, Lester Earl, blocking the cars. The officers were standing by their cars; Sheriff Montgomery and one deputy by the first one, and a very young officer standing alone at the driver’s side of the second vehicle.
Rose couldn’t see below his waist, but noticed that he seemed particularly nervous. She wondered if he had his hand on his gun.
Ms. Lou Ellen had already put on her robe and pajamas, a matching silk set with large red roses set against a background of rich emerald-green. Ms. Lou Ellen loved her nightclothes and she had some beautiful sets of pajamas. Rose noticed this particular outfit and even remembered when it had arrived with the mail one evening, a purchase from some catalogue.
Rose glanced at her watch and noticed that it was after 8:00 P.M. and that Ms. Lou Ellen’s attire was actually quite appropriate, even if it did seem to make the sheriff a bit uncomfortable. The dog snarled a bit at Montgomery.
Ms. Lou Ellen reached down and petted her dog and then shook her head at the three officers and spoke loudly enough for them to hear her. “Thank you, Lester Earl,” she said to the dog.
And then she spoke to Rose. “I told them that if that was the case, that a murderer was in our midst, I would have certainly read it in my horoscope this morning and called them first to report it, but they didn’t seem too interested in my opinion.”
Rose glanced over at Sheriff Montgomery who was walking closer to her.
“Rose,” he said as a greeting. He nodded.
“Sheriff,” she said with a smile. “What’s all the racket about? Are you trying to hurt our business?” she asked.
They both looked toward the river to see the campers standing outside their rigs, curious about all of the commotion. A few of them were walking toward the office. Old Man Willie, one of the full-time campers who lived at Shady Grove, had left his trailer and was standing behind the office listening. He didn’t see
m to want to come too close, but he was certainly curious.
Sheriff Montgomery shook his head. “Look, I know she’s here,” he said without addressing her concern about the others in the campground. “Chariot Stevens, age twenty-two. I need to take her in. She’s wanted in Pierre for the murder of her boyfriend.”
“Twenty-two years old?” Rose said, sounding surprised. “What would a twenty-two-year-old girl be doing camping in West Memphis?”
Montgomery studied Rose. “I knew something was up with you-all this afternoon. I just didn’t put my finger on it until I went over to visit Jimmy at his station. He mentioned the girl again, said she was real skittish-acting and then I took a look at the surveillance video at the station. And I agreed with him. Something just didn’t seem right. So I decided to run her South Dakota plates. And then, well, we know what I found then.”
“Sheriff, I thought you were softening up. Do you really enjoy making trouble for people?” Rose asked.
“That’s a fine question,” Ms. Lou Ellen chimed in, stepping close to Rose, forming a kind of alliance. “Leon, I bet you’re a Scorpio, aren’t you?” She eyed him closely. “Scorpios are like unexploded bombs, just waiting to go off. They’re always planning something to do,” she explained. “Sounds like you.” Her voice was strong, but managed just the right tone of sweetness. She held the robe together under her chin with one hand on top of the other.
He waved her off without answering. Ms. Lou Ellen just smiled.
“I knew it,” she said, taking his silence to be her confirmation that she was right. “Three moons in your Saturn and you question every detail in life.” She was studying the lawman. “Or maybe you’re a Cancer. Do you feel let down about everything?”
“Where’s the girl?” he asked Rose, still ignoring the older woman’s astrological reading.
“Who?” Rose asked, trying to appear as if she wasn’t understanding him.
“Look, Rose, I know she’s here. I saw her at her tent when I left a few hours ago. I drove past her campsite on my way out that side road. I saw her car. I recognized the automobile in the video.” He sighed, growing more and more impatient with the women blocking his way. “Is she at her tent?” he asked.
Rose shrugged. “Let’s just go inside and I’ll check the reservation log,” she said. She turned to walk to the office. “What did you say her name was?” she asked. And then, “Aren’t you supposed to have a search warrant before you come blasting up on private property demanding to bother our guests?” She figured that would be something that Mary might say and she thought it sounded good.
“I’ve already talked to Rhonda and Lucas,” he explained, his voice sounding restless and tired. He didn’t follow her up the steps to the office, just remained standing in the path in front of Ms. Lou Ellen.
Rose turned around and looked first at Ms. Lou Ellen and then at the sheriff. The older woman rolled her eyes as if there was nothing else to be done.
“Where are Rhonda and Lucas?” Rose asked, surprised that her friends would have confessed such a thing to the sheriff and then not get here first to explain things to everyone, especially Chariot. She suddenly felt disappointed in the two people she admired the most.
“They’ve gone to fetch Lionel Kearns,” Montgomery replied.
Rose nodded, suddenly understanding that they were doing the right thing. They were lining up an attorney for Chariot.
Lionel Kearns was a good man and a very good lawyer, the best defense lawyer in West Memphis. He had been a friend of the Boyds for a long time and he would be more helpful than anyone for the camper from Pierre, South Dakota.
Even if they didn’t know the news that Chariot had just told Rose—that a policeman was the real murderer—Rose realized that Rhonda and Lucas were smart to think of contacting a lawyer and cooperating. They understood that the sheriff was a reasonable person and that he wouldn’t hurt Chariot, but that he would not be turned away or sidetracked. He was a very efficient lawman. They also understood that they really had no choice other than to tell the truth and to help the sheriff obey the law and deal with the charges Chariot faced back in South Dakota. Hiring a lawyer was the best thing they could do in this situation.
Montgomery had met Rhonda and Lucas as they were coming out of church, had been kind enough to wait until after the service and generous enough to tell the campground owners before he conducted the official business of picking up Chariot.
He had explained to them about the police report he had received over the wire. Murder was a serious allegation. He knew when he saw the girl’s picture and a description of the car she was driving that it was the girl who had been seen at Jimmy Novack’s service station. When he ran her plates and got the report, he knew what had to be done.
“She’s just a kid, Leon,” Rose said, coming back down the steps and trying to soften the man a bit.
“She’s also wanted by the state police in South Dakota. I have to take her in,” he explained.
Rose blew out a breath and folded her arms across her chest. “She’s up at Thomas’s. We were eating dinner,” she said. “Just stay here and I’ll go get her.”
Sheriff Montgomery considered the idea. In spite of everything he and Rose had been through together, all of her meddling in police business with the murder of Lawrence Franklin almost two years earlier and then the man from New Mexico who had been murdered at Shady Grove, he trusted Rose. He liked her and he knew she meant no harm. He chewed on the inside of his bottom lip and narrowed his eyes at her.
“No monkey business,” he said. “You go get her and bring her right to me,” he instructed. “You can let her get her personal things from her tent if she needs anything,” he added. “No need to bring too much though, it’ll just be confiscated when we get to the station.”
Rose nodded. “Yes, sir,” she said. “Thank you,” she added.
“Just do the right thing,” he said and stepped out of her way.
“Okay,” she replied. “Do you think you could shut off the lights?” she asked. She turned to look at the two cars behind them, the blue lights still swirling. “And is he going to shoot anybody?” She gestured toward the deputy at the last car.
“Martin, take your hand off of your weapon!” he yelled.
“Now, that’s something I have always wanted to say,” Ms. Lou Ellen said. She winked at the sheriff when he turned around to face her.
Sheriff Montgomery shook his head and looked around again at his deputies. He lifted his chin toward the cars and the deputy at the front car leaned inside and turned the lights off. The deputy then walked over to the second vehicle and did the same thing. Rose watched as the young man stood up from the car in the rear and raised his head as if he understood the purpose of their arrival had been completed.
“Just bring her here,” the sheriff said again to Rose.
Rose nodded and began moving down the path to Thomas’s trailer.
“Find out her sign,” Ms. Lou Ellen instructed her. Rose turned to her friend and rolled her eyes.
“We might discover something important,” she said.
“Okay,” Rose finally said and started walking down the path.
Rose moved slowly in the direction of Thomas’s trailer. She thought about how drastically this young woman’s world had changed in the last few days. Her boyfriend had been involved in some sort of shady arrangement, she had seen him die, she had been followed by the murderer who she said was an officer of the law, and now, she was being charged with homicide.
Rose realized that in all of her bad times—the affair that Rip had, the rocky and difficult relationship she had with her father, the legendary police captain Morris Burns, the early death of her mother when Rose was so young, even in all of those difficult circumstances—she had never had to deal with what the young Chariot Stevens was getting ready to face.
Rose walked in the darkness, the path lit only by the new evening moon and a few distant stars, and wondered about this mystery camper a
t Shady Grove. She wondered how well Rhonda and Lucas really knew her, if the story she was telling them was true.
Maybe, Rose thought as she moved away from the office, the girl was guilty. Maybe everything she was telling them at Shady Grove was a lie. Maybe she came home from work and there had been some argument with her boyfriend, some fight over money or another woman, maybe even a baby, even though she had told Rhonda that she wasn’t pregnant, and in the heat of that moment Chariot had shot and killed her boyfriend.
Rose shook away her doubts about Chariot. She knew that there was something Chariot wasn’t telling, some secret, but Rose didn’t think it was that she had murdered Jason. Rose trusted that the young friend of Rhonda and Lucas was telling them the truth and Rose was going to continue to try and help her as much as she could.
After all, she thought as she made the turn up the driveway that led to Thomas’s trailer, she had been trusted and believed when she arrived at Shady Grove. Even when the sheriff was questioning Rose about her interest in the death of a local funeral home owner, Thomas, Rhonda, Lucas, Mary, and Ms. Lou Ellen had never doubted her, had never been suspicious of her.
Rose remembered the extravagant hospitality and acceptance she had received when she was first a camper at Shady Grove and she understood that she had to offer that same kindness and acceptance to Chariot. She would support her in whatever way she could.
When she opened the front door, Rose was startled to find Thomas sitting at the table in his usual spot—the very place Chariot had been sitting when Rose had left—eating dinner. He looked up and smiled and then immediately seemed to sense that something was wrong.
“Where is she?” Rose asked, glancing around the room and starting to feel a little nervous.
“Where is who?” Thomas replied.
“Chariot,” Rose said.
Thomas shrugged and then shook his head. “There was nobody here when I got home.”
And Rose stepped forward, slumped in the chair across from him, and dropped her face in her hands.
