by Sharon Sala
Samuel kissed the side of her cheek and then walked a distance away, giving her some privacy to make the calls.
Leigh called Stanton’s sister, Polly Cyrus, first. Her thoughts were in a jumble as she tried to figure out how to tell her without screaming, and then Polly answered and Leigh’s eyes immediately filled with tears.
“Hello?” Polly said.
“Polly, it’s me, Leigh.”
Polly laughed. “Honey, I know your sweet voice.”
“I have something to tell you, and I don’t know how,” Leigh said, and then started to cry, soft, near-silent sobs.
Polly’s heart skipped a beat, and then she started to panic. Leigh was not the crying kind.
“Honey, just spit it out. What’s wrong?”
“Stanton’s dead.”
Polly gasped and then moaned.
“No, no, no. He was just here. What happened? Was it his heart?”
Leigh took a breath and then choked on her sobs.
“No, he was murdered. Shot in the back on his way home.” As she told Polly the rest, Polly went into hysterics.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” Leigh said. “If I could, I would die for him. I don’t know why it happened.”
Polly was sobbing. Leigh had started to hang up when Polly’s husband, Carl, took the phone.
“Leigh! What the hell happened? Polly’s done lost her mind.”
Leigh told it all over again, and Carl groaned.
“Sweet Lord, I am so sorry, honey. I’m so sorry. What can we do for you?”
“Nothing. I just had to tell you myself. Now I’ve got to call Thomas.”
“Do you want me to do it for you?”
Leigh wiped her eyes and then her nose on the back of her sleeve.
“Yes, I want you to, but I have to be the one to do it. I think Stanton’s family deserves to hear this from me.”
“All right, then, but we’ll be coming over to your house soon.”
He disconnected, which left Leigh with one more call to make. She punched in the numbers, dreading this call the most, because Thomas sounded so much like Stanton when he spoke.
Thomas Youngblood answered on the third ring.
“Hello, Samuel. How’s it going?” he said.
Leigh sighed. She’d forgotten she was using Samuel’s phone.
“Thomas, it’s me, Leigh. I’m just using Samuel’s phone.”
Thomas laughed.
“Well, you’re a lot prettier than my nephew, so that’s fine with me. What’s going on?”
“Is Beth there with you?”
“Yes, do you need to talk to her?”
“No, I called for you. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t alone.”
She heard him take a quick breath, and when he spoke again, his voice was deeper, even a bit nervous.
“What’s wrong, girl?”
She started all over again, saying the awful words: Stanton is dead. She ended by explaining what had happened, and that she bore the blame because it was someone from her family who’d done it.
Thomas was crying, but the whole time he kept trying to reassure her. Finally he handed the phone off to Beth.
“Leigh, it’s me. I am so sorry. I can’t believe this happened, but we’ll get justice for Stanton. We’ll be over to the house in a while.”
“Okay,” Leigh said, and started to hang up, but Beth stopped her.
“Leigh?”
“What?” Leigh said.
“I just want you to know how much we love you. You won’t go through this alone. You have a mountain full of people who love you and Stanton. We’ll stand beside you all the way.”
“Thank you,” Leigh said. “I love you, too.”
She disconnected and then waved at Samuel. He and his brothers came back on the run.
He could tell how hard it had been for her to make those calls. Even though he was broken up about the loss of his father, he was struggling with how to help her first. He picked a piece of vine from the tangles of her hair and then cupped the side of her cheek.
“Hey, Mama, how about I run up to the house and bring back Bella’s car so you won’t have to walk?”
Leigh glanced back into the clearing, to the huge dark blot on the ground where Stanton had bled out, and then shook her head.
“I need to be gone from this place. I’ll walk. Will you all walk with me?” she asked.
They gathered around her then, like the little boys they’d once been, fussing for a place in her arms. Only this time, they were the ones who were holding on to her.
“Yes, we’ll walk with you. I love you, Mama, and I am so sorry,” Samuel said.
“Love you, Mama,” Michael said, and slid his arm across her back. “Yes, we’ll walk with you. Just lean on me.”
Aidan cupped her face and then kissed her forehead. “We love you. Let us be strong for you this one time, okay?” he said.
Tears rolled down her face as her gaze moved from face to face, and then back to Samuel.
“Did you call Bowie?”
“Yes, ma’am, but he was unavailable. I left a message for him to call me.”
She nodded, leaned against Michael’s chest and reached for Aidan’s hand, and then said in a soft, shaky voice, “I want to go home.”
They started up the mountain with Michael and Aidan on either side of her, as Samuel led the way with the dogs. Despite Leigh’s determination to walk, she kept stumbling, until finally Samuel turned around, handed the dogs off to Michael and picked her up in his arms. She never said a word. She just leaned her head against his chest and let him carry her home.
* * *
The sisters-in-law had cleaned up the kitchen and were doing their best to keep Jesse entertained, but he was bothered, and they knew it. He kept walking out onto the porch and then back into the house. Finally they all decided to sit outside with him, and once he settled in his rocker, he seemed to calm.
Jesse was the first to see his brothers walking up the road. He abruptly stood.
“Mama’s not walking,” he said.
Before they could stop him, he was down the steps and running toward his brothers with a long, loping stride.
“Oh, boy,” Samuel said. “Mama, you need to wake up. Jesse’s coming.”
“I wasn’t asleep,” Leigh said, and quickly wiped her eyes as Samuel set her on her feet.
“Are you okay?” Michael asked.
Leigh fixed him with a look. “Are you?”
“No.”
She reached out and squeezed his hand. “Sorry. I’ve been emotionally gutted. I lose my manners when I feel threatened.”
“We know, Mama. Don’t apologize to us. Just brace yourself for Jesse.”
Leigh turned around just as Jesse came to a skidding stop and took her in his arms.
“Mama? Are you hurt?”
She took a slow breath, and then took his hand and laid it against her chest.
“No, I was just tired, and Samuel carried me so I wouldn’t have to walk.”
Jesse wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on the crown of her head.
“You are my mama. Did I make you sad?”
She knew he’d seen the tears in her eyes, and she hugged him fiercely.
“No, my sweet boy, you did not make your mama sad. Come walk with me. I need to talk to you.” She then took him by the hand and led him toward the house, talking all the way.
The brothers watched, but their hearts were breaking. They knew the minute their mother cupped Jesse’s face that she was saying the words. And they knew from the way Jesse flinched and doubled over as if he’d just been gut-shot that one of the legs to his world had just been cut out from under him.
“God Almighty, why is this happening?” Aidan asked, his voice thick with tears.
Samuel shook his head and then swiped a hand across his face, and when Jesse fell to his knees, he started crying again.
Michael wiped his tears and grabbed the dogs’ leashes.
“I’m gonna tie them to the porch. You guys go help Mama with Jesse.”
Samuel took two steps forward, and then his phone began to ring. He looked at it and groaned.
“It’s Bowie. You all go on. I need to do this alone.”
They patted him on the shoulder and then walked away.
Samuel cleared his throat and then answered. “Hello.”
“Hey, brother! It’s me.”
“Bowie, I’m not going to beat around the bush. We have bad news.”
There was a moment of silence, and then Bowie spoke, but this time the delight was gone from his voice.
“What’s wrong?”
Samuel tried to say the words, and then the crying got the better of him.
Bowie Youngblood couldn’t remember seeing Samuel cry after he’d turned eighteen. Now he was scared.
“Is it Jesse? Did something happen to Jesse?”
“No, it’s Daddy. He’s dead, Bowie. Mama found him shot in the back.”
Bowie’s knees went out from under him. He sank down into a chair inside the office on the drilling platform and then curled his fingers around the arm of the chair.
“What? What did you say?”
Samuel sighed.
“Daddy’s dead. Mama said to call you. Mama said to tell you to come home. She needs you.”
“God in heaven,” Bowie whispered, and felt like he was going to throw up. “How did it happen? You said someone shot him? On purpose?”
“Yes. He scratched a name in the dirt before he died.”
Bowie tried to speak, but the words wouldn’t come.
Samuel kept talking.
“The name was Wayne. I didn’t get the meaning, but Mama did. She’s certain the killer’s someone from her family.”
The shock of that reality transformed Bowie’s sorrow to instant rage. He stood abruptly.
“Why now? That was more than thirty years ago. What the hell’s happened now to start this up again?”
“I don’t know. It just happened a few hours ago. We just got Mama back to the house. She’s telling Jesse now, and I have a feeling it’s going to be a long night here.”
Bowie glanced at the clock. It was just after 3:00 p.m.
“I don’t know how long it will take to get a chopper out here to pick me up, but I’ll be there as soon as I can. Tell Mama I’m on the way. Will one of you come into Eden to pick me up when they drop me off?”
“Yes. I will. I’m so sorry to be calling with such bad news,” Samuel added.
“I’m sorry, too, for all of us,” Bowie said. “I love you, Samuel.”
“Love you, too, bro,” Samuel said.
The call disconnected, and Samuel was still standing there, staring at the phone, when he heard footsteps and looked to see Bella coming toward him. He walked into her arms and came undone.
* * *
Bowie came out of the office leading with his chin, and headed for the boss.
“Claude! Claude!” he yelled to be heard over the noise on the drilling rig.
Claude Franklin turned, saw the look on Bowie Youngblood’s face and knew something was wrong. He headed toward him at a trot.
There were tears still on Bowie’s face when he grabbed Claude by the arm.
“I need a chopper, ASAP. My father’s been murdered. There’s going to be hell to pay on the mountain. I need to get home as soon as possible,” he said, then began to explain.
Claude was speechless. In his whole life he’d never known anyone who was murdered, and to hear Bowie naming the other side of his family as the ones responsible was beyond understanding.
“Go pack. I’ll get you a chopper, son. Just get your head on straight.”
Bowie nodded and took off toward their sleeping quarters, the long black braid hanging down his back bouncing with every step.
* * *
By the time Bella and Samuel got back into the house, it appeared that Leigh’s momentary weakness had passed in her need to care for her youngest son. She was sitting at Jesse’s bedside, waiting for his meds to kick in as he cried himself to sleep.
The longer she sat, the angrier she became. By the time Jesse fell asleep, she was so mad she was shaking. She went through the house in search of her boys, calling them by name.
They came rushing out of the kitchen, thinking she needed them to tend to Jesse. He was a big strong man and, due to his head injuries, was hard to handle when he got upset, but when they saw she was alone they slowed down.
Leigh put her hands on her hips.
“I’m going to Eden. I want the killer to know before he lays his head on a pillow tonight that his days are numbered. Will you go with me?”
“Yes, ma’am,” they said in unison.
“What about Jesse?” Michael said.
“I gave him one of his pills. He’s sound asleep.”
“Do you want to change clothes or anything?” Samuel asked.
Leigh looked down at the shirt and jeans she’d been wearing in the garden. They had blood all over them. She thought of the scratches on her face and realized she hadn’t even pulled the leaves out of her hair, and then let it go.
“No. I’m not changing anything. I’m not hiding the hideousness of what was done.”
“You can ride with me,” Samuel said.
“Aidan and I will follow you in my SUV,” Michael said.
“Bring your rifles,” Leigh said.
Bella gasped.
Maura and Leslie looked anxious.
“Do you think you’re all in danger?” Bella asked.
“No, not unless we turn our backs,” Leigh snapped, and then grabbed her purse and the keys to her Jeep. “We won’t be long. Jesse isn’t going to wake up, so don’t worry.”
“We’re not afraid of him,” Maura said, and hugged Leigh.
“Be careful. All of you,” Bella said, as she hugged Leigh, too.
Leslie kissed her mother-in-law on the cheek and then squeezed her hand.
“Scare the shit out of them, Mama.”
“I fully intend to,” Leigh said, and went out the front door with her sons behind her.
She tossed the keys to Samuel and then got in the passenger seat as he slid behind the wheel.
Moments later they were gone.
* * *
Henry Clayton had been the police chief in Eden for more than fifteen years. He’d just gotten off the phone with Constable Riordan, who’d filled him in on the murder and the name Stanton Youngblood had scratched in the dirt before he died.
Clayton was shocked. He’d gone to school with Stanton and had always thought of him as a friend. He didn’t know what to think, other than that the Wayne family held sway over the town and nearly everyone in it, including him. The constable was in charge of the case, but he would be depending on Clayton for assistance when the investigation got under way. Before Clayton could formulate a plan for himself, he heard the sound of vehicles coming down Main very fast, and when he began to hear constant honking, he frowned.
“What the hell?”
By the time he got out to the street, a crowd of people were gathering to see what was happening.
The two vehicles he’d heard speeding and disturbing the peace were now illegally parked in the middle of the street.
He was all ready to start issuing citations when he realized whose vehicles they were. His pulse kicked into high, and he began to sweat.
It was already beginning.
* * *
Leigh Youngblood got out first and stopped just shy of the sidewalk, fixing Henrywith a cold, angry stare. When her sons fell into step and fanned out behind her with fire in their eyes and their rifles cradled in their arms, Henry felt like a cornered rat.
“Mrs. Youngblood, what—”
Leigh raised her arm and pointed straight at him. Henry had to look twice to reassure himself the only thing she was pointing was her finger. He was horrified at how many of the townspeople were gathering behind her. Now he had to be extra careful of what he let her say and do.
“You don’t talk. You just listen.” Leigh’s voice was loud and carrying, but she sounded entirely rational. “My husband was murdered this morning.”
The gasp from the crowd was loud but brief as they quickly silenced themselves to hear what else she had to say.
“Someone shot him in the back. But there’s something the killer doesn’t know. Stanton named his killer before he died. He scratched the name Wayne in the dirt!”
Leigh’s voice was shaking, but her rage remained strong.
“My people! My family! They took the man I loved away from me, just like they swore they would do years ago.”
Henry blustered, “But that was so long ago, surely you don’t—”
“You doubt the last word of a dying man?” Leigh demanded. “No matter. We didn’t expect anything more of you than this. You are bought and paid for by the Waynes just like half the people in this town. So I’m giving fair warning to you and to them. I will find out which one of them killed my husband, and when I do, they will pay.”
Then Leigh turned around and walked between her sons to face the crowd.
“Yes, look at me. Look long and hard, all of you. As for my so-called family, if any of you are hiding in the crowd, you best take a look, too, because this is what the devil looks like when he’s on your heels. When I find which one of you did this, you will wish you’d never been born. There isn’t enough money between you and God to buy your way out of this.”
Michael walked up to flank his mother on her left. Samuel and Aidan stepped into place on her right, and then Samuel slid an arm across her shoulders and raised his voice.
“The back-shooting coward and the family who harbors him best remember, you won’t catch us unarmed again.”
