by Rhett DeVane
Kathy rested a hand on my shoulder. “You did the right thing, Hattie. When you come to a door that’s open when it should be locked, and you at all suspect that security has been violated, you need to get the police as soon as possible. Yeah, Jake could’ve been in there hurt. By the same token, you could’ve walked in on the suspect and it would have been your blood on the floor.”
“It’s good to have your input, officer.” I mock saluted her. She’s fond of that.
Kathy explained the intricacies of working a crime scene and the semantics involved with coordinating different levels of law enforcement. We turned toward the door when the metallic click of a walker sounded in the hall.
Dressed in a mid-calf length floral moo-moo, my aunt leaned into the room. “Is this a private waitin’ room, or can just any ol’ body off the street come in?”
Evelyn walked in behind her. “Joe’s hunting for a parking space. That garage is nearly full. It’s a marvel there’s so many sick people in the world!”
“Look at you, Miss Kathy!” Piddie said. “You always look so imposin’ in your po-leese uniform!”
Kathy hugged my elderly aunt. “Yeah, old woman. You give me any lip and I’ll run you in.”
Piddie’s blue eyes twinkled. “That’d mean I’d get to ride in the back of a squad car like a common criminal!”
Evelyn sat down. “There’s nothing common about you, Mama.”
Piddie’s hair reached new heights. To match her bright floral shift, she had stuck small, fuzzy, black and yellow pipe cleaner bumblebees between the lavender curls.
I smiled. “Your hair is a work of art today, Pid,”
Evelyn snorted. “Don’t encourage her, Hattie. If Jake were to wake up and see that hair, he’d think he was being attacked by killer bees!”
“You leave my bees alone, Evelyn.” Piddie patted her hair. “Jake ordered these bees ’specially for me outta one of his florist magazines! He has supplied me with tiny tree frogs, butterflies in every color of the rainbow, and these adorable bumblebees. It’s becomin’ quite the thing in town, you know. Mandy over at the Cut ’n’ Curl has asked Jake to order a few for her to have at the shop.” Piddie smoothed her dress. “When can we see our boy? Are they allowin’ us family members in?”
I checked my watch. “I was getting ready to go back in shortly. Two of us can go in at a time for only ten minutes.”
Evelyn glanced up as Joe entered the waiting room. “We’ll just sit and catch up, then, while we’re waiting.”
Piddie studied me closely. “You don’t look as wore out as I thought you would.”
I pushed a limp hank of hair behind one ear. “I went to the townhouse and took a quick nap and showered.”
Piddie’s eyes watered. “How is our boy?”
“Stable. Pretty bruised up. He’s still unconscious.”
Piddie shifted and arranged her dress. “You should have heard Elvina Houston carrying on. She swears on a stack of Bibles she had some kinda spell about dark-thirty. Said it was like the claws of death gripping at her heart. Now, she’s calling everyone in the Big Bend, telling them she had a premonition of the evil that got a’holt of Jake Witherspoon the night he was taken. She just can’t stand it when she’s not the absolute first to know something! That old woman wears me out.”
Evelyn shook her head. “Everything wears you out, Mama. I think we need to focus on one thing, don’t you?”
I glanced at my watch. “It’s been long enough. I think we can go in, now.”
Evelyn nodded. “Why don’t you take Mama on back? Joe and I will sit and pass the time with Kathy.”
We checked in with the Gadsden County Sheriff’s deputy at the door to the unit. Piddie shuffled slowly toward Jake’s glass-walled cubicle. Several of the nurses looked up from their monitors, and she nodded hello as she passed the main desk.
Piddie circled the bed and stood by Jake’s left side. Her blue eyes watered.
“Talk to him if you want, Piddie. The doctor and nurses all said it was a good thing.”
Piddie touched Jake’s hand tentatively. “What have they done to my boy? Huh?” Her voice shook. “Now you listen to me, Jake Witherspoon. You’re gonna wake up soon, when you’re good’n ready. We’ll be waitin’ right here for you. Don’t you worry about a thing! I got it all figured out. I’ll make you some cathead biscuits, chicken ’n’ dumplin’s, and one of my best damn chocolate iced layer cakes!”
She paused. Her eyes strayed to Jake’s tightly encased leg. “Your leg’s gonna take a little time healin’, honey. I’ve got a pearl-handled cane I’ll give you, and I’ll teach you how to use it right. I don’t use it since my balance’s gotten so bad. If I can get up and go after all the fallin’ out I’ve done, so can you. Hattie told me I can’t stay so very long, or I’d think of a story to tell you. Next time I see you, you’ll be good’n awake. I’m gonna send up some prayers for you. I’m asking my Carlton to put in a good word from the other side. He didn’t know you, but he’d like you if he was able to be here.”
Piddie leaned over and pecked Jake softly on the cheek. Her lower lip started to quiver. She nodded, and we left the bedside.
“It just near’bout tears me to pieces to see him all beat up and hurt. How could anyone do that to him—such a sweet lovin’ man never did nothin’ unkind to nobody!” she said as we entered the hall. “I’d take it all on myself if I could.”
“Kathy had to go,” Evelyn explained when we came into the waiting area. “She said she’d stop back by later on.”
I settled Piddie onto a chair. “What’s going on at home?”
Joe pulled his reading glasses off and folded the daily copy of the Tallahassee Democrat. “It’s just getting cranked up over there. We passed three TV vans getting off the Interstate when we started over here.”
Evelyn inched forward until she balanced on the edge of the vinyl chair. “And you wouldn’t believe Jake’s shop! They won’t let anyone within ten feet of it. All kinds of law officers coming and going!”
Piddie began, “Stephanie at the Homeplace said she served up breakfast for a couple of G-men this mornin’. Said they had black suits and sunglasses on just like in the movies, and she nearly passed out when one of ’em looked her right in the eye. Said it was almost like they could stare right through her and see she hadn’t reported all her tips for the last few years.”
“Joe keeps telling us that it’s only just begun,” Evelyn said. She stood and smoothed the wrinkles from her pale blue dress. “Hattie, Joe and I have decided to wait to see Jake when he’s a little better. He needs his rest.”
“We’re gonna take Mama to eat at the Golden Corral on Monroe Street before we head home,” Joe said. “Can we bring you anything?”
I shook my head. “No, I’ll be going back to the townhouse later on tonight. I want to get a good night’s sleep so I can be up here first thing in the morning. They may move Jake into a regular room tomorrow. Piddie, could you tell everyone to hold off on sending flowers and cards until after he’s in a room? There’s no place to put them right now.”
“I’ll call Elvina Houston as soon as we get home. Saves me a lot of breath.”
Excerpt from Max the Madhatter’s notebook, July 4,1959
I see the map of a person’s life written on him like a see-through film. Not always, but often, for just a brief blink of time. Hidden secrets glow like the light from a dim candle—buried deep. Secrets ready to rise up and cause hurt. Or heal it.
Chapter Ten
THE REVELATION
Shortly after Jake was settled into private room 4411 around 10:30 AM, Mary Mathues knocked softly on the door. “I’m glad it’s the same officer as yesterday,” she said. “She didn’t give me the third degree for trying to visit you guys today.”
“I know a few more police people now, that’s for sure. I’m glad they’re here, though. Actually, I know Kelly from the days I used to work with the state. My building wasn’t in the city limits—that was before Tallah
assee decided to annex everything within forty miles—and she worked our part of Leon County. She came on duty about the time I left the building after working late, so she’d drive by and keep an eye out for me getting to my car. She’s great!”
Mary leaned in close to Jake, her calm green eyes echoing concern. “Any signs that he’s coming around yet?”
“He’s moaned a couple of times this morning,” I replied as I straightened his sheet.
Officer Kelly Powers stuck her head in the door. “Hattie, there’s a Mr. Thomas Thurgood here from Chattahoochee.” She wore the dark green uniform of Leon County Police Department.
I shot a puzzled look toward the door. “That’s odd. He’s not particularly someone I would think of as one of Jake’s friends. I’ll come out there, Kelly.”
“I’ll stay here with Jake,” Mary said.
The tall fifty-ish man in the hall stood with his Atlanta Braves hat in his hands, “Miss Hattie,” He dipped his head in greeting. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but I need to speak to you in private…if I may.”
After making sure Mary could stay with Jake for a while, I returned to the hallway. “Why don’t we go down to the cafeteria on the first floor and get a cup of coffee.”
We rode the elevator in awkward silence. Thomas Thurgood didn’t speak until we were seated with our mugs at a corner table away from the milling nurses, staff, and visitors.
“I just did the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my entire life.” He stared absently into space. The loose skin bagged around his rheumy brown eyes. “I turned my son over to the police in Chattahoochee. I thought you’d want to know. I’d tell Mr. Jake if he were awake. I understand he hasn’t come around yet.”
I frowned. “Are you telling me that your son did this to Jake?”
Thomas sighed deeply and his thin shoulders drooped. Deep creases formed around his mouth. He ran a hand through his unkempt thinning dirt-brown hair. “No, Matt didn’t do the beatin’, Miss Hattie. It’s a long story.”
I sat back and crossed my arms. “Seems I have the time to hear it, and if you can tell me anything that can make this nightmare make sense to me, I’m certainly willing to listen.”
He fortified himself with a long swill of black coffee before speaking. “I’m a twin, so’s my wife Lottie. She and her sister, Louise, are from over near Bonifay. My brother and I married them in ’80 in a double wedding. Tim and I were almost thirty by that time. It was a mistake for my brother from the start. You see, the whole family knew he was a homosexual. You just didn’t admit that, ’specially if you’re from a small town. We railroaded my brother Tim into getting married.”
I quickly did the math. It was difficult to fathom that the sad-faced man in front of me was only six or seven years my senior.
“Louise and Tim had their son, Marshall, first. Matthew, our son, came almost a year later. Couple of years after Marshall was born, Tim ran off. Louise said my brother told her it was to go ‘find himself’. I hadn’t seen him for years until Mama Thurgood, our mother, passed, end of last year. He called me at work, and I met him at a little truck stop outside of Tallahassee to talk.” He paused to take a sip from the mug.
“He didn’t sit with the family at the funeral. They didn’t even know he was in town. He said he was afraid of what Louise and Marshall would do if they knew he was around. Someone told me later that they saw him slip into a pew after the service started. But, I knew he was there. I could just feel his presence. Then, just like he appeared, he was gone. He’s livin’ somewhere on the west coast. Says he’s happy.” His thin bottom lip quivered slightly. “I miss my brother.”
Thomas swallowed hard. Tears formed at the corners of his eyes.
“Louise went to drinkin’ heavy after Tim left her. She was a mean drunk—always carryin’ on about Tim in front of Marshall. There were a couple of times when it got real bad, and we’d take Marshall to live with us. Louise would make a big play like she was dryin’ out, and she’d come and take him home with her. We heard that there was a parade of no-account men in and out.
“Marshall grew up hating his daddy. Louise always threw it in Marshall’s face that he was a son of a fag, when she was dead drunk. Marshall was bad seed from early on—mean as a cut snake, a bully, and vicious to anything smaller and weaker than him—animals and people. Hated black folks, too.
“I prodded Matt to spend time with him. Thought he could be a good influence. I can see that was my mistake, now. Marshall stayed in trouble with the law, drinkin’ and fightin’, but always shy of ending up in jail. I even heard rumors that he was involved in runnin’ drugs up in south Georgia.”
He sighed deeply and dissolved into a fit of phlegmy coughs. “Louise cleaned up when the boy was around fifteen, but, by that time, it was too late for Marshall. His hatred had ruined him. I always feared he would come to no good one day.”
Thomas stared blankly across the room before continuing. “I’d heard the boys talking before about that flower faggot uptown. I told them to hush. So, when I heard about Jake, I had a sick feeling deep inside my stomach. Matt wouldn’t admit to having anything to do with it at first, but I could tell something was eatin’ at him. Finally, last night I cornered him. ‘Son,’ I said, ‘these federal fellas are gonna find out who did this terrible thing. They’re talking kidnapping and murder now, ’specially if Jake dies. You know anything, you best come clean to me now. ’Cause, you’ll be knee-deep in it when it comes out if you don’t.’ ”
Thomas took a noisy drag from his coffee cup. “He told me everything about how he and Marshall jumped Jake going into the back of the flower shop, bound and gagged him, then rubbed cow manure all over the walls. Marshall was the one who wrote the bad words all over the place. They were both dead drunk.
“Matt wanted to untie Jake and leave him be. Marshall said it would teach him a lesson if he woke up and was tied up and couldn’t talk—he would be so embarrassed when someone found him the next mornin’, he would surely tuck his tail ’twix his legs and hightail it outta Chattahoochee.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. God help us.
“Marshall drove Matt home and dropped him off. We figured Marshall doubled back, picked up Jake, and took him off over the Florida border to the lake.”
He fidgeted in his pocket for a worn pack of cigarettes and grimaced when he noticed the no smoking sign. “We called Louise from the police station. Marshall’s not been home since the night of the fourth. He goes off for days at a time. She’s lost all control over him, so she didn’t think a thing of him not being around. There’s a manhunt on now for Marshall. Your brother’s helpin’ the law to try to find him.”
I cocked my head. “Bobby?”
“He volunteered. He knows every pig trail and huntin’ camp for miles. From what Matt told us, Marshall was dead drunk. He had no money on him to amount to much, so they figure he’s probably hidin’ out somewhere close-by.”
I felt faint. “I don’t know what to say to you, Mr. Thurgood.”
Thomas shrugged. “I don’t expect understanding. I feel the weight of a lot of this. My whole family does. We tried to make Tim into somethin’ he wasn’t, and forced him into a marriage he couldn’t live in. Oh dear God—now, look what’s come of it.”
He started to cry, then stopped and blew his bulbous nose loudly. “I can’t say as how I understand Mr. Jake or Tim. I wasn’t raised that-a-way. Then again, neither was my twin brother. I reckon a person can’t much help what they are. Can’t judge either of them anymore. Nobody deserves what was done to Mr. Jake. When Mama Jean Thurgood had her knee replacement right before the stroke took her home to her rest, Jake was good to her. He brought her fresh flowers every couple of days and called to see how she was getting on just about every day.”
Thomas stood to leave. “I just wanted you to hear it from one of us. My family will be prayin’ for Mr. Jake’s recovery.”
He walked away, his wrinkled clothes hanging on him as if they belonged t
o a taller, heavier man. I sat in stunned silence, oblivious to the clanging of utensils and conversations around me. I checked my watch and rose to find the elevators. A wave of nausea hit me in the hall. Fortunately, I found a vacant women’s room. The coffee went first. When nothing else remained for my stomach to repel, I endured the dreaded dry heaves for a couple of minutes. I eased down to sit on the commode and hugged my midsection. The events of the past few months came crashing down: my mother’s death, the loss of my damaged relationship with Garrett, Jake’s abduction and assault, and Thomas Thurgood’s revelation. Although I fancied myself as a resilient steadfast forty-year-old woman, I wished desperately for the comfort of someone’s arms—just to hear, it’s going to be okay.
Excerpt from Max the Madhatter’s notebook, September 9, 1956
Nurse Marion sat by me in the common room today. I had one of my spells, and I was feeling like the world was closing in on me. She said some folks go through life never feeling a thing. They are like ghosts moving in time, taking up space.
No matter how bad I feel, at least I feel.
Chapter Eleven
THE AWAKENING
As if someone had launched a flare over Tallahassee, flowers and cards started to arrive with a steady stream of pink-lady volunteers in attendance. The first massive arrangement came from the owner of Blossom’s Flowers, a florist whom Jake knew well and frequently called for phone orders. Soon, every corner and shelf was filled with cut flowers in vases, ferns, towering prayer plants, and silk arrangements. Visitors came and went during the day: Reverend Ghent and his wife Clarice, Mrs. Lucille Jackson and her son, and several nurses from the neuro ICU.
I settled into the vinyl upholstered chair beside the bed. “Remember how your mama and Aunt Piddie used to get together to do their art? Who else? Oh, yeah, Sissy Pridgeon and Elvina Houston. The four of them. Mama still has one of the god-awful paint-by-numbers pictures Piddie did during that time. It’s hanging front and center in one of the back bedrooms. Your mama would always shoo us away when the girls were coming over. I think they took a little nip in their tea, the way those paintings turned out!” I laughed, then clasped my hand over my mouth. “They’re going to throw me out of here if I don’t pipe down. Anyway, you had the good taste to make Betty Lou hang her beloved landscapes upstairs where nobody could see them.”
