The Cast Net

by Mille West

  “Mills, I want you to stay inside.”

  “Cooper, dueling is illegal, even in South Carolina!”

  “Come on Murphy—I’m not planning to shoot anyone.”

  Cooper walked out onto the front porch of his home, leaving the front door open. “I’m Cooper Heath. What do you want?”

  Peering out the window of the study, Mills could see the man had stubble on his face and was wearing a tank shirt with another shirt on top of it. His face was contorted with anger, and he appeared to be dressed for a construction job.

  “Come down here; I want to talk to you.”

  “Go ahead and say what you’ve got to say. From there.”

  “I’m Lee Roy Mullinax, you blue-blooded son-of-a-bitch. What are you doing interfering with my woman?”

  “I don’t know who you’re referring to.”

  “My woman—Eula, Eula Mullinax!”

  Cooper paused for a moment and then said, “I am helping her, along with others in our community, so that she can go to school and work.”

  “That’s not all you done. You know what I mean—and you know how I know it? I beat it out of her. What are you doing interfering with my woman, when you don’t even know where your own woman is—or maybe you do? And what in the hell are you doing arranging for niggers to come inside my house?”

  Mills’s breath hitched as she listened to the man. Murphy left the study and within a few moments, returned with a shotgun—Marian was right behind him. She briefly studied the situation and then hurried to the back of the house. Murphy stood behind the front door and without thinking, Mills walked into the foyer.

  The man narrowed his eyes at her from the base of the front steps and started to put his foot on the stairs. “Well, now, who’s this? She is mighty pretty. Is this your new woman?”

  Cooper glanced over his shoulder at Mills and gave her a warning look. “That’s far enough, Mullinax.”

  “What are you going to do—shoot me?”

  “Are you sure you want to find out?”

  Charles walked up behind Mills in the foyer and said, “Excuse me, Miss Mills, but I need to come around you.” He continued out onto the porch and stood beside Cooper.

  “You know, I believe you would shoot me,” Lee Roy said, withdrawing his foot from the bottom step. “But—let me tell you something. I ain’t afraid of you, or your big driver—and you stay the hell away from my woman. You and that goddamn woman doctor—you two mind your own business!”

  He shook his finger at Cooper and then climbed back into an old Chevrolet, flooring the gas pedal and scattering dust as he left.

  Cooper looked at Charles. “Thank you for joining me on the porch.”

  “You’re welcome—I didn’t care for his behavior.”

  “I’m going to call Williston to make sure she’s all right.”

  When Cooper entered the house, he looked directly at Mills and said, “I wish that Lee Roy hadn’t seen you. He’s trouble.”

  “I’m sorry—I just stepped to the door without thinking.”

  Looking into her eyes for a moment, he responded, “It’s okay.”

  Cooper turned around and addressed Murphy, who still stood behind the door. “Murphy, you’re very frightening, hiding behind the door with an unloaded shotgun.”

  “How did you know that I didn’t load it?”

  “You left the chamber open.”

  “Uh oh. I didn’t have time to load it.” He took three shells out of his coat pocket and placed them on the table in the foyer.

  “How about closing the chamber for me? You’ll wear out the spring if you leave it open.”

  Murphy and Mills followed him into the study, and Cooper phoned Williston, allowing it to ring for some time. When she did not answer, Cooper said, “I’m going to ride over to Williston’s and make sure she’s all right.”

  “Why are you wasting your time on people of that caliber?”

  “What am I supposed to do, Murphy? Tell Eula that I couldn’t help her—go see her church outreach ministry? She asked for help, and I gave it to her.”

  “Yes, but this particular experiment with poverty has a big problem named Lee Roy.”

  “I didn’t think of my assistance to Eula as an experiment—she’s a human being with hopes and dreams, just like you and me. Lee Roy is the problem that holds Eula back from the success that I think she can be—she just needs a chance to prove herself.”

  “Lee Roy is the kind of guy who will show up at your property at three in the morning with a gas can and burn your house down—with you in it.”

  Mills shuddered.

  “Murphy, guys like you and Jeff—you well-educated charlatans—worry me as much as Lee Roy. Thank you for coming by with the legal documents. I’ll see you later. Mills, thank you for your help.”

  Cooper left the room with the gun still in his hand. He stepped back onto the porch to speak with Charles. Mills ran out the door and stopped him as he descended the staircase.

  “I’d like to go with you. Lee Roy said that he beat Eula—her children might also need aid. Please let me help.”

  “I think it’s a bad idea. There’s no way to know what we’re going to find.”

  “Please.”

  He stopped abruptly and said, “All right, Mills, but if I tell you to go sit in the Suburban, please listen to me.”

  When they reached Williston’s clinic, she was sitting at her front desk and Cooper told her, “I just had a visit from Lee Roy Mullinax, and I was worried, because I couldn’t get you on the phone.”

  “Mr. Mullinax has just left here after spewing filth. I’ve called the police, and they’re going to meet me at Eula’s. Would you like to drive me?”

  “Yes, let’s go.”

  Williston directed Cooper to where Eula lived with her children. There was a group of mobile homes that barely looked habitable. Dr. Will directed him to park in front of one of them. When there was no answer at the door, Williston called out, “It’s Dr. Will. Please open the door for me.”

  Within a few seconds, the door slowly opened. The oldest of Eula’s children stood before them.

  “Billy, where’s your mother?”

  “She’s on the bed. She’s not feeling too good this morning.”

  “Show me where she is.”

  The boy led them through the musty, dark trailer to one of the bedrooms where Eula sat on the edge of the bed. Her clothes had been ripped down the front and her right eye was swollen shut.

  When she saw Dr. Will, she began to cry while attempting to speak. “Lee Roy got mad at me, and he’s taken off again.”

  “Eula, Lee Roy has hurt you many times. Don’t you think that you should put a stop to this kind of treatment? You don’t deserve it—I’d like to call an ambulance for you.”

  “No, ma’am, I don’t want to go to no hospital.”

  Dr. Will pushed her hair back and started to examine her bruises. “Eula, I called the police, and they should be here any time now.”

  �
�Oh, no. I don’t want the police to come here. Lee Roy won’t like it.”

  “You need to stop worrying about what Lee Roy wants and think about your welfare and your children. Reverend Smalls has told me that you’re doing well with your classes and your work. We can help you get a lawyer, and a judge will issue a restraining order.”

  “All due respect to you, Dr. Will, but ain’t no restrainin’ order gonna stop Lee Roy if he wants to get near me.”

  “Don’t you have somewhere you can go live, perhaps with relatives?”

  “My sister lives in Tennessee, and she really ain’t got room for us. Lee Roy’s parents? They’re lint heads—that’s where Lee Roy learned about beatings. His pa would come home from the mill and drink, and then beat Lee Roy and his mother. I can’t go live with them. My own folks are dead. We ended up here near Charleston when the mill closed in our town. Lee Roy works construction jobs and we been livin’ hand to mouth—he’s all right until he starts drinking.”

  Cooper spoke up, “Eula, I’m sure that we can help you leave here if you’d like. I can help you financially, and you can pay me back when you get the job that you’re training for.”

  “Mr. Heath, you’ve already been generous with me. I can’t take any more of your money. I didn’t want to tell him how I use your financial help, but he choked me and hit me with his fists—I’m so sorry. I hope I haven’t caused you trouble.”

  “Eula, he choked you?”

  “Yes.”

  “That worries me a great deal. Why don’t you let us take you to a women’s shelter? You can get help in Charleston. Please file a police report and have Lee Roy arrested.”

  Eula’s baby daughter started to cry from the next room and Mills went to check on her. Wearing a soiled diaper that sagged on her slight frame, she continued to cry after Mills picked her up. What do I do now? She was thankful when Cooper joined her in the bedroom. His eyes scanned the room, and he retrieved a box of diapers from a corner of the room. “Lay her on the bed, and we’ll change her.”

  When the little girl wore a fresh diaper, Cooper handed her back to Mills, but once again, she began to cry. Someone knocked at the front of the mobile home, and Williston passed by to answer the door.

  “Cooper, what am I doing wrong with her?”

  “Nothing, she’s probably just hungry. I’ll hold her and you see if you can find some food in the kitchen.”

  As soon as Mills handed him the little girl, she stopped crying and began to touch Cooper’s face. In a soothing voice he said, “Now, now, you’re all right. You’re all right.” He lightly bounced her in his arms and joined Mills in the kitchen.

  A sheriff’s deputy entered the home and joined Williston as she directed him to where Eula rested. Mills found packages of macaroni and cheese in the kitchen and began to prepare food for the children. She watched as Cooper talked to Eula’s children in a calm voice, while the youngest child ran her fingers through his hair. After Mills placed bowls of macaroni and cheese on the table with glasses of milk, she went into their bedrooms to look for clean clothes. She heard Billy tell Cooper, “We hate to see him comin’ through the door, ’cause we know what’s gonna happen.”

  When the sheriff’s deputy finished talking with Eula, Cooper drove the group to Dr. Will’s clinic and checked the premises before he and Mills continued home.

  “Williston is going to take them to a women’s shelter this afternoon. I’m afraid that Eula feels trapped.”

  “What was the secret that Eula was keeping from Lee Roy that would have caused him to beat her?”

  He looked at her before responding, “I have every confidence in you. Reverend Smalls arranged for women in his congregation to stay with Eula’s children, so that she could work and go to night school. I helped with a financial commitment to pay the sitters, her tuition, books—the church helped with food and clothes. The women who assisted with her children are all black women who attend his church. The one thing that Eula was the most upset about . . .” he paused, gathering his thoughts to explain. “Do you remember the day we gave blood, and she was in Williston’s clinic and in tears?”

  Mills nodded. Cooper continued, “Eula had just found out that she was pregnant again, and she was upset by the thought of having another child that she could not afford, or was physically unable to carry. Williston said that she shouldn’t have had the last child. Lee Roy had forced sex with her.”

  “He raped her?”

  “Yes, she has said that. She took some of my financial assistance and terminated her pregnancy. I certainly would not judge her because of her decision. Lee Roy beat her because of her choice—she needs to get away from him.”

  “Cooper, that’s terrible.”

  “I agree.”

  The next morning, on her way to appointments, Mills noticed Charles and Cooper near the old barn at the entrance to his property. Written on the side of the barn that faced the road was the word, “Merderer,” spray-painted in red. Cooper and Charles surveyed the situation, and Mills parked her Volkswagen, entering the pasture through an open gate.

  She joined Cooper and he said, “It looks like Lee Roy paid me a visit last night—he spelled most of it right.”

  “I’m worried about this man.”

  “He does get your attention, doesn’t he?”

  Charles began to paint over the graffiti with an off-white color, and Cooper added, “I’m afraid he paid Williston a visit as well. She has ‘Baby Killer,’ painted on the side of her clinic. As soon as we get this painted over, we’re going to see her.” He paused for a moment and then looked intently into her eyes. “I’m sorry that you’ve been subjected to these events. I hope you’ll bear with me.”

  “You have my support,” she responded and patted him on the back. That was the way he expressed friendliness toward her, so she thought it would be all right.

  When she arrived in Alston Station, Reverend Smalls and several local residents were already painting over the words scrawled on the side of the clinic; written in red were the words, “Baby Kiler.”

  Mills parked her car and asked Williston if she could help, but she responded, “I think the folks who are here will take care of this, but thank you for asking. I was able to convince Eula to go to the women’s shelter. She’s been encouraged to relocate and I told the staff that she has financial assistance available to her. Let’s hope for the best. I’ll talk to you later, there’s a patient waiting for me inside the clinic.”

  Her first stop of the day was at the Low Country Gourmet and, as Mills entered the business, she saw Melea Butler at the front counter. “Greetings, Miss Mills,” she called out as soon as she noticed her. “I have written down the names and contact information for several people who asked about your educational foundation.” She handed Mills the list, and continued, “I hope that everyone on the list will become a donor.”

  “Thank you. Where is Paul today?”

  “He is with a friend who, I fear, is very ill. I think you can reach him at home.”

  While they talked, several customers entered the store and Mrs. Butler excused herself to serve them.

  The day turned out to be a warm one, and that afternoon, as she returned to Edist
o, Mills let down the roof on her Volkswagen and tied her hair back, allowing the wind and sun to come in around her. As she passed the side of Cooper’s house, he came out through the screen door, dressed in a black tux. He walked toward his Suburban.

  Stopping her Beetle, she said, “Wow, where are you going?”

  “I’m attending a function for the Society of St. John’s Parish. My ancestors were members that date back to the early 1700s. Jeff and I make a date of it,” he said with a smile. “Oh, I almost forgot—Dr. Warren made appointments for us to speak at several schools on Thursday. How about meeting me in my kitchen at seven-thirty, and we’ll go together?”

  “Sounds good—have a wonderful time tonight.”

  He smiled and waved goodbye as she continued to her cottage.

  That evening, Joshua White phoned Mills from Washington, DC, where he was engaged in taking depositions for an upcoming court case. “I’m going to be up here for several weeks, but I know I’ll be in Charleston this weekend—how about dinner on Saturday evening?”

  “Where would you like for me to meet you?”

  “Come to my office at six, and I’ll show you our rooftop.”

  “What’s up there?”

  “Let it be a surprise—listen, I have to go. See you on Saturday.”

  CHAPTER 10

  Lantern Lights

  O n Thursday, Mills and Cooper visited four middle schools and two high schools in the area. Cooper addressed each assembly and told the students how important it was to finish high school and earn a higher education degree. He explained the terms of the Heath Scholarship award, and Mills spoke to the students about why she had wanted to become the director of the Heath Foundation. She discussed how fortunate she was to attend college on an academic scholarship and how she wanted to help other people succeed. Dr. Warren and Mills handed out brochures to the young people who were interested and planned to follow up with each child and his or her parents. Cooper’s speeches are so inspiring.