Dead to the World (5 page)
Authors: Susan Rogers Cooper
BACK HOME
Bess realized she hadn’t taken a breath since Logan’s announcement. She sucked in air and looked at anything other than the boy sitting next to her, while avoiding her sisters’ eyes. ‘I didn’t know y’all were dating,’ she finally said. She felt the weight of the world on her shoulders and knew it would be a long while before she could look at another boy with affection. Maybe a really long while – like forever. At that moment, she vowed to be a terrific aunt to her nieces and nephews, and to find herself a fulfilling career. She was glad she was a good student; there could be a scholarship in her future. To a campus as far away from Black Cat Ridge as she could get. She could feel tears gathering behind her eyes and willed them to go away.
‘We had two dates,’ Logan said. ‘And her brother met me. But I swear to God, Bess, I never touched her. Never even kissed her!’
Bess took her first long look at Logan. Those blue eyes, so honest, so trustworthy – or were he and his eyes just very good liars? ‘Then why would he think …’
‘Because Harper must have told him so. God only knows who the real father is. On our last date, way before Christmas, she left me in the theater to go to the bathroom and never came back. I’ll bet she left with whoever the real father is that night.’
‘Did she say anything to you at school?’ Bess asked.
‘Yeah, on the Monday – the date was on Friday night – on the Monday she acted like everything was cool. Even asked where we were going the next weekend!’
‘What did you say?’
‘I told her there wasn’t going to be a next weekend. That I didn’t like the way she ditched me at the movies.’
‘What did she say?’ Bess asked, beginning to buy his story.
‘She goes, “Oh, I’m so sorry! I got sick and had to leave!”’ Logan rolled his eyes. ‘As if,’ he said.
‘And now she says she’s having your baby?’
‘First I heard about it was tonight when her brother made me go outside with him. He goes, “You’re gonna marry her right now!” Like that. And I go, “Huh?” ’cause I’ve got no idea what the hell – sorry, heck – he’s talking about!’
Bess rubbed Logan’s arm. ‘There are paternity tests,’ she said.
‘You can’t have that done until after the baby’s born,’ Alicia said.
Bess and Logan quickly turned toward the sound of Alicia’s voice. Somehow, they’d forgotten they weren’t alone.
‘I know that because one of the girls at one of the foster homes I was at got pregnant and said it was the father of the house who’d done it. But nothing could be done and the social worker didn’t believe her. She moved her anyway, and about six months later we all were moved out of that house. Pretty sure the paternity test was done – as was the father of the house. If you know what I mean.’
‘Everyone knows what you mean,’ Megan said from her end of the bar. ‘So, Logan, who’d you knock up?’
NOVEMBER, 1941–DECEMBER, 1941
On Thursday, November 27, 1941, Edgar and the rest of the first element of the 4th Marines left Shanghai on a gray and gloomy morning. Edgar was not happy to be boarding yet another boat to be taken to yet another ship for yet another sea voyage – albeit a short one, although he had no way of knowing that at the time. Only high-ranking officers knew where the ship was headed.
The ship, the SS
President Madison
, docked at Subic Bay, Philippines, three days later. Edgar did not make many friends aboard ship – actually, he made a few enemies. Poker was the game of choice aboard the
President Madison
, and Edgar had honed his poker-playing skills (and learned a few not so kosher tricks) after four mostly leisurely years in Shanghai. No one knew how short their trip was going to be, so it was with some shock that the other participants watched Edgar Hutchins leave the ship with over a thousand dollars of their hard-earned money.
Edgar’s accommodation once he reached the Philippines wasn’t exactly the mansion he’d shared in Shanghai. No, this time his billet was a tent he shared with several other Marines on the rifle range of the Olongapo Navy Yard. Unfortunately, some of those in his tent were the same men he’d beaten at poker on the ship. Since Marines believed wholeheartedly that one good beating deserved another, Edgar emerged from his tent the second day in the Philippines with two black eyes, a busted lip and bruises in places his uniform artfully hid. Luckily for Edgar, he was moved to the First Separate Marine Battalion that was based on Cavite Navy Yard. He was one of seven hundred who were organized both as a defense and an infantry battalion, and were armed with three-inch dual purpose guns, three-inch anti-aircraft guns and fifty-caliber machine guns. Although Edgar had never done well at the gun range back on Parris Island, he found an affinity for the fifty-caliber machine gun.
Training went on for several days, but on December 8, 1941, while Edgar was walking to the mess hall, a major rode by in the side car of a motorcycle, shouting, ‘War is declared! War is declared!’
Edgar couldn’t help thinking now would be a good time to try to make it home, but the First Battalion was ordered to move to Mariveles, where Edgar was too busy to even think of a way to get out of what he assumed was going to become a hellish situation. He was ordered to prepare positions in the surrounding jungle, and ended up working ten to twelve hours a day unloading the many barges bringing in rations, ammunition and equipment. The next day, one of the brass ordered that the regiment be fed only twice a day, which made Edgar consider his idea of going AWOL more seriously.
Although the Japanese were bombing U.S. airfields and the capital of Manila, the Marine positions at Mariveles were not immediately attacked. Unfortunately an average of six air-raid alarms a day tended to shake up the Marines, whose commander ordered them to scatter at the sound of an air-raid siren. This order had to be rescinded as no work could be done. So Edgar and his fellows continued to work.
On the tenth of December, unbeknownst to the Marines in Cavite, two Japanese combat teams came ashore in northern Luzon, not far from the base at Cavite. They seized airfields for their army to support more landings of troops. But civilian workers continued to come into the Navy yard. The only sign of war at that time was an air-raid trench in the yard of the admiral’s headquarters. Only the anti-aircraft weapons had been revetted. There were now four three-inch anti-aircraft guns mounted at the ammunition depot in the yard, as well as numerous fifty-caliber machine guns mounted around the yard – one of which was to be manned by Edgar Hutchins.
At a little past noon on the tenth, Edgar and his company heard the droning of numerous aircraft engines, followed by the air-raid siren. They all ran outside to look into the sky and watched as fifty-four aircraft in three large ‘V’ formations approached the camp. There was some confusion – first all Marines assumed the planes were Army Air Corps, but when they started dropping what was at first believed to be leaflets it wasn’t long before the company realized the planes were Japanese and what they were in fact dropping were bombs. Since there were no completed trenches or any formal shelters available, the Marines, sailors and civilian personnel crouched under the nearest cover.
The Marines ran to their stations at the anti-aircraft positions and the fifty-caliber machine-gun stations. The anti-aircraft guns did no damage as the planes were too high, and the fifty-caliber machine guns were of little use. But even so, people were too keyed up to notice that one fifty-caliber gun was not manned. Edgar Hutchins was cowering under the veranda of the mess hall, where he remained huddled.
The barrage of bombs continued, starting fires all over the base. The Marines not on duty, still in their billets, were called to draw ammunition and to get outside to fire on the enemy aircraft. This unfortunately happened just as Edgar was attempting to sneak into the billet, so he too was back on duty. He stood in line at the quartermaster’s office to receive ammunition. As the bombs continued to fall, the Marines dove for cover, then returned to the line, a procedure that continued through the afternoon. As the bombs struck close to them, Edgar could hear them coming down and hunched his shoulders, as if to keep one from going down the back of his neck. But the small arms efforts proved fruitless as the buildings restricted the fields of fire. By the time the Japanese planes left, over one thousand civilians were dead and over five hundred injured. As the hospital had received a direct hit, a makeshift aid station was set up in the base library to treat the injured.
The Marines were evacuated out of the Navy yard and taken by truck to a site on the road leading to Manila, where the battalion set up camp. Edgar was one of the Marines sent back to the Navy yard the next day to bury the civilian dead. A bulldozer was used to dig a trench and Edgar was one of a working party on burial duty. Over two hundred and fifty corpses were buried in a mass grave. The only thing that bothered Edgar about this assignment – other than the hard work, which he was definitely opposed to – was the smell.
The Cavite area was hit again on the nineteenth of December. The bombers hit the radio towers and the fuel depot. Fuel drums stored in the hospital compound were hit, forcing an evacuation of the wounded.
On Christmas Eve, the Japanese again struck with a major force, their Sixteenth Division, and landed just sixty miles from Manila. It was at this point that General Douglas MacArthur knew the situation was hopeless. He withdrew all American and Philippine forces to the peninsula of Bataan, where they would make a final stand.
T
he police chief of Peaceful, Texas, a small man named Rigsby Cotton whose cowboy hat was too big for his head, was the first to show up, along with his one police officer, a very young woman introduced as Mary Mays. There didn’t seem to be a lot going on in Peaceful that night. Or maybe ever. Second to show up was the sheriff of Toledo County, Omar Gonzales, a much larger man than his townie counterpart, who wore his beige uniform and beige Stetson well. He had two deputies with him, neither of whom were introduced. They stayed stationed at the front door, as if on sentry duty.
‘Miz Hutchins,’ the sheriff said, elbowing past the police chief. ‘What seems to be the problem?’
‘As I was telling Rigsby,
Sheriff,
’ she said, with a sort of sarcastic emphasis on the ‘sheriff,’ ‘we have a dead body in the living room. He’s a guest by the name of Humphrey Hammerschultz. If you two will behave, I’ll lead you in there.’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ Rigsby Cotton said, just a split second before Omar Gonzales said the same thing.
I went with her as she led the authorities into the living room. Humphrey Hammerschultz was still in the same position, his head and arms aiming for the floor, his oversized abdomen and large ass anchoring his body on the sofa.
‘Who moved the body?’ Gonzales asked.
‘My husband and I found him,’ I said, speaking up for the first time.
‘And who the hell are you?’ Gonzales said, not the least unkindly, although the words were not particularly kind.
‘Jeez, Omar,’ Rigsby Cotton said.
‘My husband and I are also guests,’ I said. ‘My name is E.J. Pugh. As I was about to say—’
‘What does the E.J. stand for?’ Gonzales interrupted.
‘Omar, for God’s sake, let the lady talk!’ Cotton said, turning a mean eye on his colleague.
‘I said y’all could come in if you behaved! I don’t think either of you is behaving!’ Miss Hutchins said with just a little heat.
‘Sorry, Miz Hutchins,’ Cotton said, hanging his head.
‘Me, too,’ Gonzales said, although his stance said he was anything but sorry.
‘Ma’am,’ Cotton said, addressing me, ‘please go on.’
Gonzales glared at him, but Cotton didn’t even look his way.
‘I was just going to say,’ I said after heaving a giant sigh, ‘that my husband and I found him in this position when we walked in here.’
‘Seeing that it’s almost five o’clock in the morning,
ma’am
,’
Gonzales said, and I do believe the ‘ma’am’ was said with some sarcasm, ‘what were you and your husband doing down here?’
I looked at Miss Hutchins. I hadn’t told her about the
grrrrrrrrrr-plop
as yet. Would she want me to? After a slight pause, I decided to be as honest as possible without saying too much. I’m good at that – just like my neighbor, Elena Luna, police sergeant for the Codderville police department. So I said, ‘I heard a sound in the hallway outside our room. It woke me up, then I woke up my husband, and we decided to see what it was. But when we got to our door, the sound was going down the stairs and, by the time we got there, it was already out the door.’
‘The sound was out the door?’ Gonzales repeated with a sneer.
‘Ma’am, what kind of sound was it?’ Police Chief Cotton asked.
I looked at Miss Hutchins, whose eyes were big. Then she narrowed them and nodded her head slightly. I sighed again and said, ‘It was sort of a
grrrrrrrrrr-plop
.’
‘
Grrrrrrrrrr-plop?
’ Cotton repeated.
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Like someone dragging something down the hall.’
‘And what was that something?’ Gonzales asked, again with the sneer. I was beginning to think I wasn’t Sheriff Gonzalez’s favorite person – but then again he was rapidly heading to the top of my shit-list.
‘Like I just said,
Sheriff
,’
I said, using the same sarcastic emphasis Miss Hutchins had used only moments before, ‘we didn’t
see
anything. We just heard the noise but it was gone by the time we got there.’
‘We, you say?’ Gonzales said. ‘And where is this mythical husband of yours?’
‘I’m right here,’ Willis said, coming in the room carrying a small tray with what was left of the whiskey and the white wine I’d been drinking earlier. Two shot glasses and a small wine glass also adorned the tray. ‘And if you insist on my mythology, please call me Zeus. I’ve always wanted to be Zeus.’ He set the tray down on the coffee table and said, ‘Sorry, gentlemen, ma’am,’ nodding at Chief Cotton’s patrol officer, ‘but there’s not enough left for y’all to imbibe. Although you’re both on duty anyway, right?’
‘Nobody should be
imbibing
any alcohol right now, Mr …’
‘Pugh,’ Willis said. ‘Willis Pugh.’
‘What were y’all doing down here at such an ungodly hour?’ Gonzales demanded.
Willis straightened his shoulders – and magnificent shoulders they were too. ‘I think my wife just told you all that. But I will disagree with her on one issue – the sound was more of a
rrrrrrrrrr-thump
.’
‘You’re totally wrong,’ I said to my husband.
‘No,
you
are,’ he said.
‘OK, OK,’ Chief Cotton asked. ‘Can any of y’all tell me anything about this guy? Other than his name?’
Willis and I turned as one to Miss Hutchins. It was up to her to spill the ghostly beans, as it were.
Miss Hutchins followed Willis’s lead and squared her shoulders, standing as tall as a five foot even woman of a certain age could. ‘Mr Hammerschultz was a psychic detective. He and his partner—’
‘Bullshit!’ Gonzales said. ‘What is this horseshit?’
‘Omar, there are ladies present!’ Chief Cotton chastised. ‘Sorry, ladies. You started to mention his partner, Miz Hutchins?’
‘Yes, Diamond Lovesy, she’s—’
Gonzales let out a bark of a laugh. ‘You’ve got to be fuckin’ with me!’
‘Omar!’
Gonzales just shook his head and gave Cotton the floor. ‘And where is this Miz Lovely?’
‘No,’ Miss Hutchins corrected. ‘Lovesy. L-o-v-e-s-y.’
‘And she’s a psychic detective too?’ Chief Cotton asked.
‘No, she’s a medium.’
‘Ma’am?’ Chief Cotton said, cocking his head to one side like an inquisitive bird.
‘A medium,’ Miss Hutchins said, speaking slowly and succinctly. ‘She can feel if spirits are in the house and can sometimes contact the dead and let them speak through her.’
‘Well, ain’t that grand?’ said Gonzales. ‘And you buy this bullshit, Miz Hutchins?’
Again, the old lady stiffened her body. ‘I do believe there are spirits in this house, and they’re not all benign.’
Ignoring her, Gonzales turned to Rigsby Cotton. ‘Well, now we have it,’ he said. ‘The rumors are true – she’s nuttier than a fruitcake.’
‘Omar, this is my jurisdiction, being as it’s in the city limits and all, and I’m gonna have to ask you and your men to vacate the premises immediately,’ Chief Cotton said.
Gonzales barked out another laugh. ‘With pleasure. Hope you find the ghost that offed this guy!’ he said, and went up to his two men at the front door, slapped them both on the back and laughed long and hard. The two men managed to laugh with him, although their hearts didn’t seem to be in it.
After the door closed behind the sheriff and his men, Chief Cotton turned back to Miss Hutchins. ‘Ma’am, where is this Miz Lovesy now?’
The old lady pointed up the staircase. ‘Upstairs. Asleep. She drank a great deal tonight – excuse me, last night, and she’s probably still passed out.’
Chief Cotton nodded his head. ‘Were they – excuse me, ma’am, but I gotta ask – were Miz Lovesy and Mr Hammer …’
‘Schultz,’ all three of us said in unison.
‘Mr Hammerschultz – were they staying together in the same room?’
‘Oh, good heavens, no!’ Miss Hutchins said with some indignation. ‘They weren’t married!’
‘So could I get a look in Mr Hammerschultz’s room?’ he asked.
‘Of course,’ she said.
‘Chief, Hammerschultz never went upstairs tonight,’ Willis said. ‘E.J. and I saw him getting very comfortable on the sofa as we went upstairs. He’d also had a great deal to drink.’
‘Still and all,’ the chief said.
‘E.J., dear, would you mind taking Rigsby to Humphrey’s room? I just can’t face those stairs right now,’ Miss Hutchins said.
‘Of course,’ I said, and turned to Rigsby Cotton. ‘Chief?’ I said, and headed for the stairs.
BACK HOME
Logan quickly tried to defend himself against Megan’s question, but Bess interrupted. ‘Megan! Enough! Logan didn’t do anything! Harper lied!’
‘Harper Benton?’ Alicia inquired. ‘We were on the same volleyball team last semester. She’s very sweet! I just can’t imagine her doing such a thing!’
‘Humph,’ Megan said. ‘Harper’s always thought she was hot stuff.’
‘That’s not true—’ Alicia started, but Bess interrupted.
‘Enough!’ she said. ‘Why are we arguing about Harper Benton’s worthiness? She obviously lied to her brother about who … ah … you know …’
‘Knocked her up?’ Megan provided.
‘Did the deed?’ Alicia suggested.
‘Whatever. She obviously lied,’ Bess said.
‘Maybe Logan’s the one who’s lying,’ Megan suggested.
Bess stood up, hands on hips and glared at her sister. ‘Megan Pugh! How dare—’
‘No, no,’ Logan said, also standing up. ‘Megan has every right to say that. I mean, y’all don’t really know me all that well. I could be an ax murderer for all you know.’ He sank back down on his bar stool. ‘But I’m not. And don’t tell any of the guys this, but I … you know, I never, well …’
‘You’re a virgin?’ Megan supplied.
Logan’s face was defensive as he said, ‘I wouldn’t say that exactly! Jeez!’
‘Have you ever had sexual relations with another person?’ Megan demanded.
Logan’s face began turning several shades of crimson. ‘That depends on what you mean by sexual relations,’ he said.
‘Oh, for the love of God!’ Megan said, then made an impolite gesture with the index finger and thumb of one hand while poking it with the index finger of the other hand.
Although it would have seemed impossible to an observer, Logan’s face brightened in hue. ‘Ah, no,’ he finally said. ‘I’ve done some heavy petty,’ he said in his own defense, ‘but never, you know, that.’
Bess, also several shades of crimson, still standing with hands on her hips said, ‘Well, Megan, are you satisfied?’
Megan shrugged her shoulders. ‘He could be lying now. We don’t know.’
‘Well, I do,’ Alicia said, getting up to stand next to Logan. ‘No boy would admit to that unless it were true!’
‘Are you saying Graham’s done the nasty with some girl we don’t know about?’ Megan demanded, her eyes lighting up with the chance of good gossip to come.
‘Megan,’ Alicia said, teeth clenched, ‘I’m never speaking to you again!’ With that she stormed from the room, her angry footsteps being heard as she stomped upstairs.
‘What’d I say?’ Megan asked.
Humphrey Hammerschultz’s room was a complete mess. Clothes were strewn across it and his bedclothes were at the foot of the bed in a heap, possibly from an earlier nap since it was quite obvious he’d never gone to bed that night. Willis and I stood in the doorway of the room while Chief Cotton and Officer Mays went in. Using a pen, Chief Cotton picked up certain articles of clothing, put them back down then picked up others. Toiletries were scattered atop the dressing table, some lids not on properly. I worried about damage to the patina of the wood. I know, I know, a man was dead downstairs and I was worried about the antiques. Let’s face it: I’ve seen a lot of dead bodies in my time, but not that many really good antiques.
‘Mary, take a picture of the top of the dressing table then clean that mess up before it hurts the wood,’ Chief Cotton said, making me feel less guilt over my earlier thought.
‘Yes, sir,’ the officer said and pulled her cell phone out of the Sam Brown belt she wore around her slender hips. She took several shots from different angles, then set about clearing away the toiletries. I went into the bathroom across the hall where I’d found cleaning supplies earlier when Diamond and I had been getting their rooms ready, and found some Pledge and some rags. I went back and handed them to Officer Mays.
‘Thanks,’ she said, smiling at me. She was a pretty young woman, probably in her mid-twenties, with pale, natural-looking blonde hair, saucer-like green eyes and a smile that would make any orthodontist proud.
‘Can I help?’ I asked.
She shook her head, although the smile remained. ‘The chief doesn’t like civilians in his crime scenes.’
‘This isn’t the crime scene,’ I reminded her.
She shrugged. ‘Better not,’ she said and headed to the dressing table to clean up the mess.
The chief got up from where he’d been squatting, checking to see what was under the bedclothes scattered so haphazardly on the floor. By the look on his face when he stood up, I could only assume he found nothing.
‘’Fraid we’re gonna have to wake up Miz Lovesy,’ he said. ‘Miz Pugh? Would you do the honors? I don’t wanna scare the woman.’
‘Certainly, Chief,’ I said, and headed across the hall to Diamond Lovesy’s room, which was next to the bathroom. I knocked then tried the door, but it was locked. I looked back at the chief.
‘Just keep on knocking,’ he said.
So I did. I knocked four times before I heard a bleary reply. ‘What! Humphrey, if that’s you, I’m gonna kill you!’ came a gravelly voice as the door was flung open.
Seeing me standing there, she looked surprised, then frowned. Looking beyond me to Willis then the chief, who was clad in civilian clothes, appeared to tell her nothing, but seeing Mary Mays in her uniform brought her up short. Her hand shot to her throat and she said, ‘What’s wrong?’ I couldn’t help noticing the Minnie-Mouse voice was totally absent.
The chief stepped forward. ‘Miz Lovesy, ma’am, my name is Rigsby Cotton, and I’m the police chief of Peaceful. May we come in for a moment, ma’am?’
‘I haven’t done anything!’ she said, her eyes going slightly wild. I had to wonder if she was still somewhat drunk. Or if she was afraid her con was coming to a bad end.
‘No, ma’am, it’s nothing like that,’ the chief said. He stepped into the room as Diamond opened the door further.
Willis and I started to step through, but Officer Mays smiled at us kindly, held up a hand and shut the door in our faces. All I could think was: how rude!
