The Sow's Ear

by E. Joan Sims

  “Well, maybe…”

  “Never mind, I know just what she thinks of me. And she’s right. I did behave badly. Very badly, as a matter of fact; but I had a reason, at least to my crazy way of thinking.”

  “Which was?” I asked, as my eyes quickly took in all the passing cars. I had assumed that William would be driving the same one he had come to dinner in—a light grey SUV with over-sized tires, but his sister might have a vehicle, too. He might have used Sandy’s for the date with Cassie—in which case I had no idea what to look for, except one with two people in the front seat. And that was only about every other car.

  “Didn’t want her to really fall for me,” he announced, self-importantly.

  I couldn’t stop the laughter, nor the comment that should have stayed unsaid.

  “No chance of that!”

  “Wow! Way to hurt a bloke. I’m not exactly a bluger, you know. I’m aces in Oz. Some sheilas would consider…”

  “Wait,” I cried. “There’s his car—parked over there by the lock.”

  “Lock? And you talk about not understanding my language!”

  “The lock! The lock that lets barges and boats go across the dam—from the lake to the river!”

  Andrew slowed down abruptly and turned around at the nearest wide spot in the road. He headed back towards the little park where tourists could leave their cars while they climbed up the hill to watch river traffic traverse the dam.

  At my direction, he pulled into the drive and parked behind the huge turbine which sat in the middle to remind visitors of what the dam created—electricity, from the turbines just like this one, inside the enormous structure.

  He turned off the headlights and we sat still until our eyes adjusted to the darkness. William’s SUV sat at the end of the lot, but Cassie and William were nowhere to be seen.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  The moon hid behind wintery clouds, obscuring everything on land. The night air had a chilly edge to it, and I wondered vaguely if we were going to have an early snow.

  “Do you see anything?”

  The dam stretched out across the lake in front of us wearing a string of lights like a diamond necklace. The reflection shimmered in the waves created from the water coming out of the one open spillway. On any other night and under any other circumstances I would have thought it a beautiful sight—the creative combination of man and nature. But tonight I was too terrified to think about anything but my daughter’s welfare.

  I had ignored Andrew’s question while I searched for any movement around us, but I didn’t see a thing, and neither, I was certain, did he.

  “I’m going up that hill,” he announced, pointing to the concrete steps that led up the hill and into the darkness beyond. “Maybe they’re up there.”

  “And what are we going to do if we find them? And I mean ‘we’ because I’m right behind you.” I hesitated for a moment. “Maybe this is the time we should call Andy and let him know where we are.”

  He shook his head. I could barely see him in the light reflected from the dam. But I could tell from the stern set of his face that he had no intention of waiting for anyone. A man after my own heart, I thought.

  “Let’s go then,” I urged. “But stick to what little cover there is and try to stay in the shadows.”

  “Don’t worry,” he chuckled. “What is it your cowboys say? ‘This ain’t my first rodeo.’”

  “Oh, really?”

  “Well, yeah, it is, but I’ve just always wanted to say that.”

  I patted his shoulder reassuringly and opened the door. “Good luck, Hopalong.”

  We crept around the car and hid behind the huge monument to the TVA project that had brought this system of dams to the area over sixty years ago—alleviating the terrible floods that had destroyed towns and farms for years.

  Whole settlements had been moved to higher ground to make room for the dam and somewhere beneath the dark waters abandoned homes and churches waited silently while they slowly decayed and filled with muck and algae.

  I shook off the feeling of dread and welcomed the rush of fear that made my heart beat faster as it prepared my body for flight or fight. I was ready for whatever it took to rescue my baby.

  “Well, hi, Mom! What in the world are you doing here?”

  Andrew and I turned around at the same time and painfully butted heads. I staggered back and shook off the blackness and stars that flashed before my eyes. Cassie was here—looking alive and well—and completely at ease.

  “Bloody hell…?”

  “Huntley, what are you doing sneaking around spying on me with my mom?”

  “It’s okay, Cassie. We’re not spying, we’re …well, I don’t exactly know what we’re doing, but it’s for your own good. I promise you that.”

  “Right you are, love. We’re here to…wait just a minute! Where is Simmons? Where is your, eh, date?”

  “Right here,” William answered as he stepped out from behind the monument. “I had a phone call from my sister. “What’s going on?”

  The moon chose that moment to come out from behind a cloud and illuminate William’s face. He looked worried and upset, and I knew his sister had called to warn him about the police. Andrew knew it, too, because he reached in his jacket pocket and pulled out a nasty little gun and pointed it straight at William’s head.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  “Hey, wait a minute,” I protested. “We didn’t say anything about bringing guns to the party. What do you think you’re doing?”

  Andrew ignored my question and took a step closer to William. “Come over here, Cassie. Get behind me,” he ordered.

  “Why…why should I?” she stammered, her face pale in the moonlight. “Mom, what’s this all about? Why is Huntley acting so weird?”

  “Tell her! Tell her what her fancy-man date has been up to, why don’t you, Paisley. Tell her about the money he stole from my Aunt Jane, and by all means tell her about how he murdered that poor old woman in cold blood!”

  “Mom?”

  “Do what he says, honey. Come over here by me.”

  “I think not,” William’s voice was harsh and stilted. “She’s coming with me.”

  “I’m not going anywhere with anybody until somebody tells me what this is all about,” declared my daughter.

  “Oh, I think you will,” Sandy Simmons uttered in a soft but deadly voice as she stepped out of the shadows. “I guess this is what they call a ‘Mexican stand-off,’” she laughed, as she pointed an equally deadly weapon at Cassie’s head. “Now, drop the gun and move it up that hill or I’ll shoot all three of you right here.”

  “Sandy! Why didn’t you let me take care of this like I told you I would?”

  “Ha! Like you ‘took care’ of the old lady? Fat lot of good that ‘little talking to’ did for us. She deserved to die, and you know it. We needed that money, William. I don’t know why you went so soft on those two old crones. If you’d listened to me in the first place we could have gotten that old woman committed and slowly bled her dry just like we have all the others. Instead, I had to teach her a lesson. I’ve been behind you two every minute since you left home. I knew I’d have to step in and take over like I always have.”

  She reached out and grabbed Cassie’s arm. I could tell she was leaving a bruise from the way Cassie winced. I started forward, but Andrew held me back. “Not now, Paisley,” he whispered, as our little party slowly began climbing the concrete steps up the hill to the observation platform.

  I searched the horizon for any sign of Andy Joiner and his troops, but I couldn’t see any flashing lights on the road. It looked like Andrew and I had truly botched things up and it was Cassie who would pay the price.

  We reached the wide concrete apron overlooking the lock in short order. Below were the huge gates that opened and closed to raise or lower the water level between river and lake to allow passage of barges and boats from one to the other.

  As we watched, the big gates slowly closed at o
ne end and the water began to rise in the lock. Sure enough, on the other side about a quarter of a mile away I could see the vague outline of a coal barge slowly making its way down the river.

  The sound of the opening of the valves and the rushing water made it almost impossible to be heard. Sandy motioned, instead, with the point of her gun and left no question about what it was she wanted us to do.

  “No bloody way, are we going to jump over the side,” shouted Andrew. “You’re nuts, lady! Bonkers!”

  She was fast for such a plump little woman, and Andrew didn’t have to time to duck. The gun hit him in the temple and he dropped like a rock to the ground. I knelt swiftly and felt for Andrew’s pulse. I found, one—a weak one, but there it was—at least for the time being.

  “For goodness sakes!” I cried. You don’t have to kill us, too! The police are on to you—well, at least they are on to William. They’ll be here any minute. I know! I heard Andrew speaking to Joiner about it.”

  Sandy’s voice sounded smug when she answered. “I know. I heard it, too. But they’re going in the wrong direction—to the wrong dam. We’ll be over this little unpleasantness here before they ever figure it out. And William and I will be halfway to Mexico and points south before they find your bodies in the filth and mire underneath these waters. God bless the TVA!”

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Cassie stepped over closer to my side, but I pushed her gently away. She looked scared and hurt, but when I made my move I didn’t want her in the way. I knew I would have to rush the crazy woman in front of me, and I also knew that probably meant a bullet in the gut. But I would do anything to keep Cassie safe.

  When Sandy urged us onto the ledge above the lock, I stepped out and in front of Cassie. Sandy stood just to my right holding her little gun so tightly her knuckles shone like little white knobs in the moonlight. I realized then that she was scared…almost as scared as I was, but she thought she had the upper hand. I was counting on that—certain that she would be completely taken by surprise if I rushed her. And I prayed that she would not have time to pull the trigger.

  I braced myself for what surely would be the worst pain of my life, and took a quick last look at my sweet baby’s face. But before I could take that step to knock Sandy Simmons off her feet and into the dark waters below, Andrew Alesworthy charged past me and plowed into her dumpy little body and over the side.

  “Sandy!”

  I made the most of William’s shock and horror by grabbing the gun out of his hand. He ran to the ledge and cried out for his sister. When he saw she was well and truly lost in the dark swirling rush of water below, he fell on the ground and sobbed. I made the most of the situation by grabbing Cassie’s silk scarf and tying his hands behind his back. Overcome by distress, he made no move to stop me.

  “Oh, Mom!”

  I hugged my daughter tighter than I ever had. She felt good and warm and alive. And I was so thankful I almost fell on my own knees right then and there.

  “Poor Huntley!” she sobbed. “He saved our lives, you know?” Her beautiful face was streaked with tears, and I could feel mine starting. Andrew had, indeed, saved our lives.

  “Joiner’s here,” I announced, my voice a bit muffled by her shoulder. “I’d better get you to his car. Maybe he has some blankets and some hot coffee. Don’t want you going into shock.”

  “Oh, pooh! I’m not some withering little violet, you know. I’m just cold.”

  Andy Joiner loped up the stairs three at a time and had William in handcuffs, before a shivering Cassie and I had wrapped ourselves in the blankets his deputies brought us. We all made a slow little procession back down to the waiting cruisers—their lights flashing blue and red in the parking lot. Andy had indeed brought lots of hot coffee and he poured us some while he asked the inevitable questions.

  “What the hell did you two think you were doing?”

  “Mmm, Andy…”

  “Does anything I ever say get through to you?”

  “But, Andy…”

  “Didn’t I warn you about this guy?”

  “I didn’t think…”

  “That’s the problem!”

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Mother and Horatio came home that same evening. They almost left again when Andy started yelling at Horatio about controlling the females under his roof. And that made me mad enough to throw off the Lakeland County issue blanket and tell him I was going to tell his wife and daughters that he was a Neanderthal—a throwback to the “little missy stays in the kitchen days.” And they would take care of him, in no uncertain terms!

  Before long we were all yelling and then the tears started again—first with Cassie, then Mother and finally me. Horatio glared at Andy for bringing all this about and Andy confessed he was just so darned scared when he heard he had gone to the wrong place. He was sure he would arrive too late to save us. And he started sniffing suspiciously.

  Horatio took the floor and declared all was well and forgiven and settled himself in his chair by the fire for a long overdue pipe. Mother broke out the wonderful little British tea cakes she had brought as souvenirs from the islands and Cassie made us some more hot coffee.

  Andy didn’t stay long. He got a call right in the middle of our little tea party that made him jump up and run out the door with only a cursory farewell. I was curious, but not curious enough to give up a hot shower and a warm bed.

  Cassie slept with me that night.

  Horatio had gone to pick up a seeming recovered Aggie early in the morning and she crept into my room and slept between us like a real dog and not the vicious little vixen she was.

  When Mother finally tapped gently on my door at noon the next day, I groaned and turned over—not knowing that Aggie was there. I felt the bite all the way through the blankets, quilt, and down comforter.

  “Damn dog!”

  “Really, Paisley! Do try and act more like a lady for once,” whispered Mother. “We have company, and I don’t want them to think you’re a total barbarian.”

  “Then get that little blankity blank beast off my bed! Damn that hurt! And who in the hell comes to visit so early in the morning?”

  She smiled brightly and held the door while Aggie marched smartly out—her morning duties done by spoiling my day.

  “It’s not that early, dear, and besides—I think it’s someone you’ll be very happy to see.” And with that cryptic remark she closed the door and left.

  Since I’d had my shower the night before, I threw on a faded old sweatshirt and some jeans—brushed my teeth, tried to brush my hair, and slipped on my loafers. And all this was while Cassie slept peacefully.

  I heard voices in the kitchen before I got halfway down the hall. One voice in particular stood out, but I couldn’t believe my ears until I rounded the corner and saw Andrew Alesworthy in the flesh—or rather—flesh, cast and bandages.

  “Huntley!” I shouted. “My God! You’re alive!”

  He tried to stand, but the crutch he had under his one good arm slipped on the kitchen floor and wincing, he plopped back down in the chair.

  “Of course, I am. I’m tougher than a boomer. Can’t kill me.”

  “Well, they certainly made a good try,” quipped Andy Joiner. “If it hadn’t been for that coal barge coming through the lock when it did…”

  “What happened?” I interrupted. “And where’s Sandy Simmons? Did she land on the barge, too?”

  “Well, almost,” admitted Andy. “Her head hit the corner and she fell back in the water. The divers from coast guard are still searching for her body this morning.”

  “So…”

  “So, she’s dead, Paisley. And William is in the cell that Billy has occupied for the last couple of months. And before you open your mouth—he’s free as a bird with all the apologies the city of Rowan Springs can offer.”

  “Thank God for that,” I sighed as I sank down in a chair next to Andrew. “Then it’s all over?”

  “All over,” said Andy with a nod. �
��Except for all the legalese—the charges, the trial, and the sentencing. William has accrued a whole bunch of charges. It’ll take a month of Sundays to figure all of them out, considering it’s back and forth from one country to another. The good news is that Miss Mary Jane Alesworthy—Andrew’s aunt will most likely be exonerated because of her mental status. And he’s offered to let her come live with him so he can watch over her himself.”

  “Why, Hunt…Andrew, dear,” offered Mother, “that’s lovely of you. The dear old thing sounds like such a lovely woman. I’d like to meet her sometime. Maybe she can…”

  “Maybe you can come and meet her sometime—in her new establishment,” announced Andrew rather grandly.

  “And that would be?” asked Cassie, yawning from the doorway.

  “Why, hello, Cassie, love,” said Andrew softly. “That would be at the opening of the brand new purveyor of Aussie-style shrimp on the barbie in Minton on the lake. It’s going to be called ‘Mad Queen Jane’s.’”

  Chapter Fifty

  We all relaxed for the next few days and did nothing but eat and sleep and enjoy each other’s company. Cassie was still a little shell-shocked, and I was beginning to wonder about my people-picker being a bit off. What was the matter with my intuition? Where had I gone wrong in thinking William was ‘Mr. Butter Don’t Melt In His Mouth,’ and Andrew was a nefarious villain? The only one who appeared to have flown beneath my radar was Mick, and we saw a lot of him that winter.

  It was fun having someone around who had no agenda. He was as uncomplicated and unsophisticated as the country his ‘oldies’ had come from. And we all enjoyed his ‘bonzer’ tales of the land down under—whether they were true or not. One tale in particular interested me. Seems a brumby got caught in some wire fencing—something not often used on a station, but this time a rancher, or station master, had been making a pen for his son’s new puppies. The pen was not to keep the puppies in, but to keep the dingoes out.

  The brumby reared up and fought the fence until he was well and truly entangled with the barbed wire. The barbs cut deep and cruelly, causing the poor animal to scream in pain. Like all good Aussie station masters, this one had a storehouse of meds to care for the various animals under his roof, so to speak—and he pulled out some local anesthesia to calm the horse so his men could cut him loose.