Lucinda (3 page)

“’Pears to me you was askin’ fer it, girlie,” one old man chortled, and the murmurs of the crowd were in agreement with the man.

“Thanks, Abraham,” Henry nodded to the toothless man.  “Your next visit is on the house,” he added generously.

“Well, thankee, Doc Z!” the man beamed with pleasure.

“He’s a murderer!” Lucinda screamed at them, trying to keep from crying.  Henry was hurting her!  Her poor bottom was still tender from the spanking he gave her on the stage yesterday, and he was spanking even harder this time!

“Doc didn’t murder your brother, Miss Jacobs,” another voice spoke with authority.  “Doc, let her up now.  She’s had enough, I reckon.”

“I don’t think so,” Henry argued.

“Well, I do.  Let the lady up right now and let’s move this discussion to my office.”  Mac was firm, and fully prepared to stop Henry if necessary.

Henry gave the rounded backside one more hearty whack and then got to his feet, dumping Lucinda on the sidewalk, right on her stinging butt.

She gasped in outraged dignity, and slapped at the hands trying to lift her to her feet.  “I can get up on my own, thank you very much!” she snapped, scrambling to her feet and tossing her hair back to look up at the Sheriff, who was regarding her soberly.

“Maybe I should have let Doc finish what he started, Miss Jacobs?” Mac’s dark eyes were snapping.  He wasn’t used to women who didn’t know how to say please and thank you, and Miss Jacobs was doing nothing to endear herself to the people in this town.

Lucinda wanted to rub her backside, but simply couldn’t with all the people standing around staring at her.  “My apologies, Sheriff.  Thank you for stepping in on my behalf,” she belatedly remembered her manners.  This man looked as capable of spanking her as did the Doctor!

Mac nodded.  Doc Z was already half way down the street, and he said, “Let’s get going, Miss Jacobs.  We need to have a talk before something like this happens again.  Folks, go on about your business now.  There won’t be any more entertainment today.”  He waited, looking at people until they realized he meant what he said and went on with what they were doing before their Doctor lost his temper and spanked the strange lady wearing boy’s britches.

“Have a seat, Miss Jacobs,” Mac pointed to an empty seat in front of his desk.  Henry was already seated and didn’t rise when they walked inside.  Mac knew that Henry meant it as an insult to the young woman, but she ignored him.

“I want to press charges, Sheriff,” Lucinda declared.  “You, yourself, witnessed this man assaulting me!”

“He didn’t assault you, Miss.  He gave you a spanking you had coming.  Women in this town do not wear pants, and since he gave you a tanning, I won’t fine you… this time.”

“That is the most preposterous thing I have ever heard!” Lucinda stomped her foot and put her hands on her hips.

“If you had a husband or father here, I’d turn you over to them and insist they do their duty,” Mac stated with a straight face, enjoying himself.  The little lady was in serious need of some discipline and for two cents ‘he, himself’ would pick up where Doc Z left off.  “Now sit yourself down on that chair so we can talk about this mess you’ve created here in my peaceful little town.”

“I have no desire to sit down!” Lucinda stated furiously.

“Too bad.  You earned the spanking, now you’ll deal with the consequences of it.  SIT DOWN!” Mac ordered, raising his voice, something he rarely did.

Lucinda reminded herself that she couldn’t follow through with her plan to kill Doc Z if she was locked in jail.  She gingerly sat on the wooden chair and gritted her teeth, pointedly ignoring the snicker on Henry’s face.

“Now, Miss Jacobs, what evidence do you have to support your claim that Doc Z murdered your brother… and just for the record, how do we even know that Jake Thomas was your brother?  Doc says you referred to your brother as Philip Jacobs.”

“Jake was Philip’s nickname in school.  They had too many ‘Philips’ in his class.  Thomas was his middle name,” she explained.  “He did not want our Father following him here to insist he come back to Boston.  Father could not accept that Philip was ill and needed treatment.”

“All right.  I’ll allow that makes sense, but it doesn’t explain why you think Doc had something to do with Jake’s death.  He and Doc were great friends.”

“Philip wrote to me and told me Doc Z claimed he could make him well!  It was all lies!”

“That’s not true, Miss Jacobs,” Mac said matter-of-factly.

“I have the letter in my room at the hotel!” she was insulted at being called a ‘liar.’

“I didn’t mean that you don’t have a letter.  The part about Doc telling Jake that he could fix him isn’t the truth.  I sat with Doc and Jake many nights and Doc never lied to Jake about his condition.  He was too far gone when he got here for Doc to do much but keep him as comfortable as he could while nature took its course.”

“I might have known that you would lie for this man!” Lucinda stated, and then promptly walked out of the office, slamming the door so hard the windows rattled.

“She’s going to be trouble,” Mac said quietly.

“I’m not going to put up with it, Mac,” Henry replied, then got to his feet.  “I have patients to see.”  He slammed the door, too.

Mac shook his head.  Perhaps he should toss Miss Lucinda in jail and send for her father…?  Or at least threaten her with that unless she caught the next stage headed east…?  One thing was certain; if he caught Doc tanning the little hellion again, he was going to walk the other way.

* * *

Lucinda hated crying.  It was a useless waste of time, and not something she indulged in very often.  She was so angry that the Sheriff was defending Doc Z she just didn’t know what to do.  Not one person in this town seemed inclined to believe her.  She took out Philip’s letters and reread them all.  Even in the last one he told her not to worry, that he was getting stronger every day!  Clearly something the Doctor did changed all of that and killed Philip.  He was going to pay for it, too!

She gathered her courage around her like a mantle and then made herself as presentable as possible.  She found the newspaper office and was pleased to learn that the paper came out the next afternoon.  She wrote an article denouncing Doc Z and paid handsomely to have it printed, word for word.  Her only obstacle was the newspaper owner’s niece.

“Uncle Jerry, you can’t print this!  It could destroy Henry’s career, and it’s not true!”

“It’s up to folks to decide to believe it or not,” the man said stubbornly, his mind on the money the young lady was willing to pay to place the article, and it was considerable.  Henry could look out for himself, but the newspaper was hanging on by a string, and the cash from Miss Jacobs would carry them the next few months.  He couldn’t afford to turn down the business because Millicent wanted him to.

Millicent understood her Uncle’s worry.  She wasn’t completely blind to their finances, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t print her own article right beside the other woman’s!  And since she did most of the type-setting and printing while her Uncle tended to other matters, he wouldn’t learn of it until the paper was on the streets and for sale.  He might end up taking a strap to her bottom, but she had to do what she knew to be the right thing.  Doc Z took good care of her Aunt when she was ill and dying, and she owed him her support.

Henry was out of town tending a birthing when the article came out, and he was unaware why people were looking at him so strangely when he got back late that night.  He tended his horse, and tiredly walked from the livery toward his place.  Mac stepped out of his office and said, “Doc, could I have a word with you?” he held open the door to the jail and invited Henry inside.

“Is it important, Mac?  I’m bone tired and I need sleep before I get called out again.”

“It’s important, Henry.”

When Mac used his given name, Henry knew that something was very wrong.  He followed the other man inside and took a seat.  “What’s up?”

“I guess there’s no putting this off.  Read the article on the front page.”  Mac handed the Doctor the newest edition of the town’s one and only newspaper and waited for Henry to lose his temper.  The man had red hair, and the temper to match.  He wouldn’t blame the good Doctor if he cut a switch or two and wore them out on that sassy Lucinda Jacob’s rear end, but he couldn’t very well let him throttle her.  He waited until he saw Doc’s blue eyes fill with anger and said, “Folks ain’t a bit happy with that girl, Doc.  No one believes it, and if you look right next to that piece of trash, Miss Millicent wrote in your defense, and it is a right nice article, too.  Miss Jacob was displeased, and Jerry came close to giving Miss Milli a strapping, but she stuck up for herself and reminded Jerry of how you took care of Mrs. Jerry, and he nodded and give his niece a big hug instead.  He feels bad for taking Miss Jacob’s money, and was shamed to tell me the paper was close to shutting down because of money.  He wants you to know that.”

Henry nodded, and then asked, “Is Lucinda still at the hotel?”

“She’s got a room there, but Bucky said he ain’t seen her all day.  If she’s in there, she’s not answering the door.”  He looked at Henry’s unreadable expression and then asked, “What are you planning to do, Doc?”

“Get some sleep, Mac.  I’m too tired to deal with that brat tonight.  Come tomorrow, she’d best have her butt on the stage and headed home, or we are going to tangle.”  He got to his feet and this time Mac was ready when the door slammed, shaking the windows.  The town wasn’t going to be happy when they had to pay for new ones, and it was just a matter of time before either Doc or Miss Jacobs shattered the windows into tiny pieces.

Henry meant what he said.  If he encountered Lucinda Jacobs right now he wouldn’t be responsible for his actions.  He hadn’t slept a full night in over a week now, and his body was warning him that he needed to get some rest.  He wasn’t going to be of use to anyone if he didn’t.  A few minutes later, he was in his bed, and sound asleep, his dreams taking him to places he didn’t want to go.  One of them found him taking a buggy whip to her creamy white skin, which he wouldn’t do!  Another found him bedding her, and that wasn’t likely to happen either.  The worst, however, was having the townspeople turn on him and run him out of town, calling him a murderer.  Finally, he did fall into a sound sleep of exhaustion, and the sun was bright when he finally woke.

Henry was quick to realize he was late to open his office, and he hurriedly washed up and shaved, and then rushed to see if anyone was waiting outside the door to his waiting room.  There wasn’t, but a glance down the stairway told him that Lucinda had been up to more mischief.

He made his way downstairs to find a coffin planted in front of his steps.  There was a bouquet of flowers lying on top, and a wooden cross resting on the bottom step.  The sign above that asked, “Do you want to meet this fate?  Doc Z is a murderer!”

“Doc Z, what did you ever do to that girl to make her hate you so much?” Banker Adams asked curiously.

“Nothing, Mr. Adams,” Henry replied truthfully.  “Her brother was Jake Thomas, and she is blaming me for his death,” he said quietly.

“That’s preposterous,” Mr. Adams answered, shaking his head.  “Someone needs to set her straight.”

“Mac has tried, and so have I.  She doesn’t want to hear the truth.”

“She must have loved him very much,” Jessie Waldrup sympathized.  “Now don’t you worry, Doc Z.  We all know the truth,” she patted his shoulder comfortingly.

“I think you need to take a hair brush to her hind, son,” his former father-in-law said seriously.  “You don’t deserve to be treated with this disrespect.  I didn’t realize what she was about when I sold her that tub and those baby ducks the other day… or the gun,” he added meaningfully.  “If you want, I’ll have a talk with her, Henry.”

“Thank you, sir,” Henry said respectfully, “But, I think it best that I handle the situation myself.  Lucinda has a rotten temper, and I don’t want anyone getting hurt because she’s mad at me.”

“Have you sent for her Pa?” Jessie asked.

“No ma’am.  I don’t think it would do a bit of good, based on the things Jake told me about his Father.  I doubt he would even reply to the telegram asking him to come.  He is not a caring individual.”

“What a shame,” the banker shook his head again.  “I’ll help you move this out of the way, Doc.”  He suited actions to his words, and once again people were free to climb the steps to see the Doctor.

Henry had three people waiting for that opportunity, and he decided to go and tend to his patients before dealing with Lucinda.  He didn’t want to be rushed when he got his hands on her.  This time she wasn’t getting off his lap until she was through with her foolishness and ready to listen to reason.

Lucinda watched the scene unfold from her rented room above the Dress Shoppe and was a bit disappointed by the reaction to her clever plan.  Rather than be upset and concerned that their Doctor was a murderer, the townspeople seemed to feel sorry for Doc Z.  When she saw three different patients precede him up the steps and into his office, she wanted to scream in frustration.  Why was no one heeding her?  Was she going to have to give up on destroying him before she killed him?  She wanted him to lose everything, feel loss and shame.  That wasn’t happening.  People kept defending him and it wasn’t fair.  Philip was dead, thanks to Doctor Z, and it was not fair!

* * *

It was an interesting morning.  His patients seemed to know more about Lucinda’s vendetta than he did.  She seemed determined to discredit him wherever she went, and folks were supporting him.  It made Henry feel good.  When he’d replaced Doctor Morton, folks were slow to accept him, preferring their old doctor to the new one he’d talked into coming to Snowfall to take over for him so he could finally retire at the age of eighty.  It was satisfying to Henry to know that folks were supporting him now.  It went a long ways toward reining in his temper with the feisty young woman… even though he was still going to set her butt on fire the first chance he got.