The Plague Doctor

by E. Joan Sims

  “You haven’t heard from Ethan. Act surprised and run out crying when he tells us!”

  “Gotcha!”

  Mother watched our performance with unveiled curiosity, but she had no time for questions. Chief of Police Joiner was already knocking on the back door. Mother turned with quiet dignity and smiled at him through the glass panes before she got up slowly and let him inside.

  “Good morning, Andy. To what do we owe this pleasure?”

  “Now, Miz Sterling, you know…”

  She quickly cut him off. Mother hated being approached in a blustery way.

  “Calm down, Andy. It’s not good for your blood pressure.”

  “Look here…”

  “Excuse me, Andy, but we are having our breakfast. Would you care to join us? When we’ve all finished, then perhaps we will be able to give you our undivided attention.”

  He knew when he was licked. Mother’s home was her castle, and she was decidedly the queen.

  “Ah, just a cup of coffee, if you please.”

  He laced the coffee Cassie gave him with a heaping spoonful of sugar and a generous dollop of fresh cream. I had to give it to Cass. She was all sweetness and light.

  “Cinnamon bun, Mr. Joiner?”

  “Why, yes, thanks. Cassandra have you heard…”

  “Andy, please, you’ll spoil your digestion,” chided Mother. “How are Constance and the girls? We stopped in at the bakery last week, but I didn’t see them.”

  Joiner looked miserable. I was hard put to keep from laughing. He was getting redder by the minute. He choked down the cinnamon bun in two swallows and took a swig of coffee that was obviously still too hot to drink. I got happier and happier as I watched him struggle to swallow the burning liquid. Surround my Mother’s house, will you, I thought. She’ll fix your wagon!

  Cassie cleared the table and made a special task of wiping up the sticky crumbs that Andy had dropped. All the while she gave him an running exhibition of her most dazzling smiles. When she was finished she sat back down next to me in preparation for the next act.

  “Now, Andy, dear,” invited Mother, tell us the reason for your very early morning visit.”

  She was good. She even made him apologize.

  “I am sorry about the hour, Miz Sterling, but you gotta understand that I’m just doin’ my job.”

  “And what job would that be, Andy?”

  “Why, uh, protecting you.”

  I couldn’t resist. Mother was having all the fun.

  “From what Chief Joiner? Have the Martians landed?”

  I wasn’t as daunting as my mother. He didn’t mind staring me down. I wished I had kept my mouth shut.

  “Ethan McHenry has escaped.”

  Cassie jumped up right on cue. She screamed loudly in Andy’s ear and ran from the room. It was a bit overdone, I thought, but it got the correct response. Andy shook his head to stop the ringing in his ears. “I guess she didn’t know.”

  Mother hadn’t move a muscle. I couldn’t tell if she had known about Ethan or not.

  “Why, of course, not!” she affirmed. “It’s preposterous even to suggest such a thing. I’m sure that young man has better manners than to involve a young woman of my granddaughter’s caliber in such a sordid affair.”

  Coming from Mother, it sounded perfectly reasonable.

  “I guess you’re right,” he admitted sheepishly. “He did seem to be very fond of her, and I guess you could call him a gentleman. Especially now that we know he didn’t kill Hayes.”

  “What?” I was astounded. “Why didn’t you let him go sooner? Did you at least tell him he was cleared of murder?”

  “That’s just the thing. I ordered the deputy to fetch him from Teddyville in the prison van. The Hayes girl told her aunt she wanted to speak to me this morning. The aunt hinted that she was gonna take back her story about being raped. I was hoping I could give the boy the good news in person. Doc Baxter went on ahead to give him a standard prerelease physical so he couldn’t make any claims later about abuse or anything. When the guards took McHenry to the prison hospital to meet the Doc, he got away somehow. We’re still not sure how he did it.”

  “But if he’s done nothing wrong, why are you looking for him? Why are you camped out here?”

  “Paisley, this is a whole new ball game. Now he’s wanted for jailbreaking. He also managed to slug one of the guards so that’s assault. We gotta bring him in again.”

  “Well, I can assure you, Andy, that you will not find him skulking around here. I imagine he’s half way to Atlanta by now.”

  Joiner wasn’t going to be dismissed quite as easily as Mother hoped.

  “Just the same,” he insisted, “I’ll leave some of my men here. If you don’t mind, Miz Sterling. For your protection, of course.”

  “I’m quite sure we need no protection, but if you are adamant about it, there’s nothing I can do. You are the law, until the next election, of course.”

  Mother gave him a very direct and meaningful look.

  He cleared his throat and stood up. His face was even redder than before.

  “Ahum, yes, of course, he mumbled. “See you later, M’am”

  Chapter Thirty

  Cassie decided that she had recovered enough from her emotional outburst to drive us to Mabel’s. I had to poke her twice in the ribs on the way to the car to keep her from laughing out loud in front of the watching policemen. When Andy had gone, I found her in my bedroom in a state of great hilarity. She seemed to have grown into my unfortunate habit of laughing uncontrollably under stress. Oh, well, I thought, it was better than crying.

  As we pulled out of the drive, I noticed one of the police cars circle around to come after us.

  “That bastard is following us!”

  “Paisley, please.”

  Mother turned and looked out the rear window.

  “Well, I’ll be damned!”

  “Like mother, like daughter,” laughed Cassie.

  “This is intolerable. I will not stand for it. Put the pedal to the metal, Paisley, dear. Let him eat our dust.”

  “You’ve been watching too many old movies, Mother. Besides, we’re almost there.”

  The Jones’ homestead was already beginning to give little hints to stress in the family. For the first time in my memory the grass on the five acres around the house was high and needed cutting. The fast-growing weeds were poking up along the picket fence in patches, and toys were scattered around the front steps.

  “Looks like Apollo has his hands full.”

  “I’ll send Billy out to cut the lawn this afternoon. He won’t mind. He thinks the world of Apollo.”

  “Great idea, Mother. From the looks of him I don’t think Mr. Jones is going to argue with you.”

  Apollo was standing at the open door with his youngest on his hip and the other two at his knees. The children looked like they were glued in place. Their eyes were big and frightened. Something was wrong.

  I parked quickly and jumped out of the car.

  “Apollo, is Mabel….?”

  He smiled tiredly, “She’s fine. Don’t worry about her. The baby’s fine, too. He’s been kicking up a storm.”

  Apollo stood aside and ushered us in the house. I wouldn’t say it was in shambles, but it was obvious that the woman of the house was out of commission.

  Mother and Cassie stayed in the living room with Apollo and the children for a moment to hand around some games and puzzles we brought for them, but I was anxious to see the patient.

  Mabel was sitting up in bed working on some mending. The color was back in her cheeks and she looked one hundred percent better. She put her work down and smiled up at me.

  “Oh, it’s good to see you, Miss Paisley. Thanks for coming. Sorry for the bother.”

  “You look great, Mabel. How’s the soccer player?”

  She smiled and patted her middle. “If he’s this active when he’s born, then we’re in big trouble!”

  Apollo came in the bedroom a
nd went around to the other side of the bed to sit beside his wife. That’s when I noticed the window on the other side of the bedroom had been forced open. The lock was hanging loose and the screen had a big hole in it.

  “Apollo! What happened? Did you have a break in?”

  “That’s why we called you, Miss Paisley. We didn’t know whether or not to call the police.” He looked down and studied the bed quilt with great interest.

  “Why wouldn’t you call them?” I asked in surprise.

  “Yes indeed,” agreed Mother, as she entered the room and heard our conversation, “you simply must call them. It’s about time they chased after a real criminal for a change.”

  “Well, we heard on the radio this morning that Miss Cassandra’s young man had escaped from the prison in Teddyville. You all have been so kind…there’s no way we would cause you any more trouble.”

  “Oh, Apollo, Ethan wouldn’t have tried to break into your house. He would never endanger you or Mabel. That’s something I’m sure of,” I insisted.

  “Then who could it have been?” asked Mabel. “I didn’t see a thing. It was too dark, and Apollo was sleeping with little Isaiah. He’s frightened because I’ve been sick, you know. Anyway, I heard a sound and looked up and saw a man climbing in the window. He almost got inside. I started screaming and Apollo come running in and scared him away.”

  “By the time I got outside, he was gone. I never seen where he come from or where he went,” admitted Apollo with a shake of his head. “We didn’t hear no automobile, that’s why we thought it might have been young McHenry. They said he escaped on foot.”

  “There’s no way Ethan would do such a thing. It must have been just a plain thief.”

  I tried to convince them of that fact, but I was beginning to think something entirely different myself.

  “Apollo, you look like you could use some help,” said Mother in an attempt to change the subject. “I’m sending Billy Bennett out here this afternoon. He’s got some free time until my back field has to be cut. I’m sure he be more than happy to take care of your lawn and maybe help some with the animals.”

  He raised his hands in protest, but she was insistent. “Never mind arguing with me. You know me too well for that.”

  Mabel laughed, “I told him this morning when he brought me breakfast in bed that he was gettin’ properly henpecked.”

  Her husband looked at her fondly, “There ain’t nothin’ wrong about bein’ henpecked if you’re pecked by the right hen.”

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Since Mother didn’t know how long she would be at Miss Lolly’s, Cassie and I decided to take her back home so she could take her own car and not have to worry about us. We said goodbye and headed towards town. The police car stayed persistently behind us at every turn. I wondered if one would follow Mother, too.

  “Damn! He’s on my tail tighter than a tick.”

  “Want to have some fun, Mom?”

  “Sure. Tell me how.”

  Cassie looked back at the policeman trailing us in the squad car. “Turn down West Market Street and pull into the gas station on the corner.

  I followed her instructions exactly. The car behind us followed me.

  “Now pull into the car wash.”

  “But Watson doesn’t need…”

  “Just do it, Mom, please.”

  She unbuckled her seat belt and got up on her knees to see out of the rear window. Her eyes were sparkling with mischief.

  “He’s right behind us. This is going to be great!”

  “I hope so, we’re about due for some fun. What now?”

  “I’ll run in and pay for the wash. But wait for me to drive inside, okay?”

  She was in and out and back in two seconds flat. We pulled slowly into the entrance of the car wash until the red light turned on. Water and soap started raining down in great quantities on Watson’s roof.

  “It’s so hard to see. Wait a minute.”

  She crawled quickly over the seat into the back and peered out of the rear window.

  “Yes!” she shouted. “He’s pulling around to the exit of the car wash on the next street over. That’s where he’ll wait for us. It’s on the other side of the building. The schmuck will never see us leave. Wait a sec, Mom, and then back out fast and go the other way.”

  “But won’t it hurt something? I mean, those brushes are huge. We could get stuck.”

  “We can wait until the rinse cycle. The brushes will go up then. I’ll tell you when.”

  We waited for a moment in delicious anticipation.

  “Now! Now! Back out now, Mom!”

  I threw Watson into reverse and screeched out of the car wash. One of the big revolving brushes started descending, but we got out from under it just in time. We flew out of the gas station flinging soap suds and water in our wake. Cassie was laughing hysterically in the back, but I was too busy trying to see through the suds on the windscreen to share in the hilarity.

  “Turn on the windshield wipers, for God’s sake!” she laughed.

  “Oops! I should have thought of that. I must be getting old.”

  Cassie climbed back in the seat beside me. She was wiping tears of laughter from her eyes.

  “You’ll never be too old for anything, Mom. That’s what’s so great about you.”

  “Just remember that when you have to roll me to one of your capers in a wheelchair.”

  “Any time, Mom, any time.”

  She settled back down in her seat and buckled her safety belt.

  “What now?” she asked. “It’s your turn.”

  “I’ve been thinking.”

  “That’s another thing I love about you, Mom. You’re just like Winnie the Pooh. You think and think until you’ve thunk it through.”

  “Seriously, Cassie, remember the other night-time intruder in Baxter’s office?”

  “The mysterious arsonist?”

  “Exactly! I think it was Dr. Edgar Baxter himself.”

  “Doc Baxter? But why would he set his own office on fire? For the insurance?”

  “I don’t think so. I’m not sure why, but I believe he was trying to destroy evidence.”

  “Evidence of what? He hasn’t done anything wrong, has he?”

  “Let’s go ask him. Are you up for it?”

  “Wahoo! Lay on, MacDuff!”

  Thirty years ago, Edgar Baxter and his wife Julie built a lovely home on fifty acres of rolling farm land between Rowan Springs and the lake. Julie had been a fine arts major in college, and she was an avid collector. The large modern cedar shake home was a series of boxes on many levels, with lots of windows to let in light from all directions. Julie hated artificial light. “It changes one’s perception of colors,” she had once told me. “I like to see things as they were meant to be, not as they appear under the glare of one hundred watt bulbs.”

  As we came closer to the big house on the hill, I realized that Winston Wallace had made a poor attempt at copying this imposing structure when he had designed his office. He must have either admired, or envied, Edgar Baxter a great deal.

  I was startled for a moment as a police car suddenly appeared behind us with siren blasting and lights flashing.

  “Damn! We didn’t lose him for long.”

  “Is that for us, Mom? Does he want you to pull over?”

  “I don’t…No! Look, he’s pulling in front. He must have been called to an accident. Good riddance! I was wondering how we were going to be able to talk to the doctor in private.”

  The car in front of us sped away and then braked in the distance and turned into the driveway leading to the big house on the hill.

  “For pity’s sake. What’s he doing that for?” I wondered. “Great! Now we’ll have to explain why we brought along our little escort.”

  “Do you think Dr. Baxter will talk to us with the police here?”

  “All we can do is try, hun.”

  We followed the police car into the driveway and up the hill. We were not
the only visitors Edgar Baxter had that day. The asphalt apron in front of his garage was full of vehicles, including an ambulance. One of Rowan Springs’ finest came over to my window as I pulled up to park.

  “‘Fraid you’ll have to leave, Miss. There’s been an accident. This here is an investigation.”

  “But, Officer, I’m a friend of Dr. Baxter. Perhaps I can help.”

  “Can’t nothin’ help him no more, if you get my drift. Now turn around, please, and go back where you came from.”

  I was stunned. This morning I had convinced myself that Edgar Baxter was the mastermind behind a lot of the weird things that had been going on. Mother hadn’t seen him enter his office the night it burned down because she left to answer a call of nature, but I was positive that he was the one who had walked down that dark hallway and set the fire. There must have been incriminating evidence in his office that he needed to dispose of. He had to have something to do with Ethan’s mystery. Why else would he have refused to talk to a colleague from the Centers for Disease Control? That was a big opportunity for a doctor from a small town. He might have gotten his name on paper in a famous medical journal. Now he was dead, and my theory was shot to hell.

  “Oh, my,” breathed Cass. “This will really upset, Gran. She liked that old man”

  I struggled to extricate Watson from the tangle of cars in the driveway without scraping any fenders. That would be a bummer. A fitting end to my morning.

  “Hey! Hey! Stop that car!”

  I heard the shouting over the sound of the engine and looked in the rear view mirror. Andy Joiner was running after us.

  “Terrific! First he sends a cop car to follow us and now he’s doing it on foot!”

  “I think he wants you to stop, Mom. Better do it before he has a heart attack. I don’t think he’s really in shape to run much further.”

  “Let’s see,” I teased.

  “Oh, Mom, don’t be mean.”

  “Yeah? And what if he tries to pin Doc Baxter’s ‘accident’ on your little friend Ethan.”

  “Then, I guess we’d better stop and let him tell us what happened.”

  “Oh, well,” I sighed, “you may be right. Let’s see what he wants.”