Markers (Joshua Stokes Mysteries Book 3) (5 page)

Eight

Aces and Eights

Joshua hung up the phone and turned toward his cruiser. Cook was still sitting in the parking lot awaiting orders on what he needed to do. Joshua was not worried that Cook might have overheard his conversation; he appeared to be interested in something he was listening to on the radio.

Joshua walked up to Deputy Cook’s window. Excitedly, Cook told him they were talking about the kidnapping on the news. Joshua told him not to worry about what was going on downtown; he needed him to stay on patrol. He was sure there was already enough law enforcement at the hospital. It was located within the city limits and therefore the city’s responsibility. He could tell that Cook was disappointed, but he had other stuff to worry about; he had just realized that the doctor’s residence was also located inside the city limits and he could not stake it out or anything else. Sure, he had the run of the entire county, but the city police department’s detectives should be the ones investigating McIllwain.

Joshua began chewing the inside of his lip as he got behind the wheel of his cruiser. Then it hit him; nothing like a good game of poker. He would play his hand close to the vest and bluff until he got what he needed out of them. He knew many of the detectives and they had helped each other out on more than one occasion, an ‘I’ll wash your back you wash mine’ sort a thing. He would stay on top of what was going on until told different by someone who was higher than he was on the totem pole. Besides, he still had the upper hand. His department was still over the investigation of Lita McIllwain’s accident and death that happened outside the city limits. Who’s to say it was not an accident? Maybe someone ran her off the road while chasing her… he could always deal McIllwain a dead man’s hand… he would figure out a way to remain in the loop.

Joshua lit a cigarette, picked Eric Burdon and the Animals from his collection of tapes and shoved it into the 8-track player, it was what he was in the mood for. In his opinion, Eric Burdon had one of the best voices in the industry. He had heard that Burdon did some weird shit, but didn’t everybody.
Hell, if he had been younger during the sixties and had the fame and money Burdon did, he probably would a done the same
.

As the beginning of ‘House of the Rising Sun’ began playing, it automatically took his thoughts to the funeral home in Citronelle and the heads of the women they found there, when they rescued Emma Carr from the Dixon brothers. He had not thought of his mother’s mode of death in several days-the death of the McIllwain woman and trying to protect the child had at least taken his mind off her…

Joshua slowed down and pulled into Shoney’s Big Boy Restaurant. If he was going to be stuck downtown for several hours, he needed to get something into his stomach. He could not afford to lose any more weight; he would have to buy new jeans if he did and the ones he had were just old enough to be really comfortable.

Joshua walked in, ordered a ‘Big Boy Burger and fries’ and then took a seat in a booth to wait. A petite waitress dropped several quarters into the jukebox and then began dancing around the tables as she cleared them of plates, cups, and other assorted remains. She looked vaguely familiar, but he was having trouble placing her. She was definitely drawing the attention of the male patrons. Joshua watched as one teenage boy’s girlfriend, punched the boy in the arm for looking at the waitress and then stormed out of the restaurant and went to stand beside a car in the parking lot.

Joshua could tell the girlfriend was fuming, but the boy just chuckled and acted all nonchalant as if it was not a big deal at all. At his age, it probably wasn’t. Joshua himself was well aware that teenage boys usually go through several girlfriends before settling on one in particular; he knew he had at that age.

When the waitress glanced over at the boy, he pointed to her and then to himself. The waitress gave him a smile and a wink, but then shook her head no. The boy shrugged his shoulders, got up and walked out into the parking lot. Joshua watched. The boy took his girlfriends hand and the angry girlfriend smiled and hugged him. Joshua thought to himself that she might not be so forgiving if she had seen what he just saw.

The waitress had gone back to clearing tables and dancing and Joshua watched, still trying to place her. He heard a bell ding. She walked to the counter, retrieved a tray that held a platter and a drink, and brought it to his table.

“Here ya go, Sheriff. I hope you enjoy it,” said the girl, giving him a flirtatious smile that showed a dimple in each cheek; that was when he recognized her. It was the Cox girl from Semmes. If her hair had been down, he would have recognized her sooner.

“Where’s your running buddy?” he asked, referring to Snake'um Hawse’s baby girl, Joy. The girl grinned and winked.

“Why? You wanna have a threesome?” she asked, grinning mischievously.

“Don’t you think I’m a little too old for you young gals?”

“You’re a good-looking man, Sheriff Stokes,” she said, chewing the end of her pencil. “You know you can park your boots under my bed any night you want. You are sweet, you’re sexy as all get out, and you aren’t stuck on yourself. You being older is just icing on the cake.”

“It’s icing alright;” Joshua joked, removing his hat. “A couple more years and my roof will be covered in snow.”

She leaned in a little closer and said, “Me and Joy, we’ve already talked about it several times... we wondered what it would be like doing with you. I bet Joy a hundred bucks that you could make her squeal out-loud. I bet you could do it too, you’ve probably got tons of experience satisfying women in bed.” Her tone remained serious as she continued. “Lots of men don’t care one way or the other if the woman is satisfied. I don’t like to be left hanging to finish the job myself and I am sure most women feel the same…” Joshua wondered what someone her age would know about being left hanging. “I bet you don’t leave women hanging, do ya Sheriff?” It was more of a statement than a question and really did not require an answer. Joshua could not help but blush at the girl’s forward nature. She was usually quiet and not talkative at all.

“Well ain’t you cute, blushing and all that,” she grinned, poking his shoulder with her pencil. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you, Sheriff. I figured you’d be alright with me flirting with you.”

“I don’t mind flirting,” Joshua replied. “You’re young. You need to be concentrating on boys your own age; and you and Joy, y’all need to stay out of beer joints; they’re dangerous places even for grown women.”

“Boys my age ain’t worth a doggone flip, Sheriff. Like the one that just walked out of here. He’ll probably swear up and down that I flirted with him and tried to get him to go out with me, when you and me both know he would have dropped that girl like a hot potato, if I had paid him five cents worth of attention when he wanted me to. I don’t like that. Boys that age, they don’t know what the hell they want, Sheriff. All they want is anything that has a split between their legs.”

“Yeah, you’re right about that, but don’t try growing up too fast; you’re gonna miss out on a lot of things you’ll regret later in life.”

“Thanks for the advice,” she said wryly. “I’ll consider it but I’m not likely to follow it. It’s too much fun dancing at the juke joints… I am not naïve, Sheriff; I had to grow up fast so I could dodge the unwanted advances of lecherous old men. Most of ‘em my kinfolk or married to my kinfolk,” she chuckled. Joshua immediately remembered what Hook had told him about catching Leonard with Addie Mae’s daughter up against the wall feeling of her young breasts. This girl
was
Addie Mae’s daughter. He knew that, but it just had not clicked in his mind until that moment.

“I’m sorry you’ve had to endure such as that. Not all men are like that.”

“Aw, I know that, Sheriff. But in the sixteen years I’ve been on this earth, I have encountered quite a few of the ones who are. Sixteen years may not seem like a long time to you, but it seems a lot longer when you are on this side of the equation. I feel as if I have been in this world for many more years than I actually have.”

Joshua did not know what else to say. The air around him had grown heavy. He thought he would try to lighten the mood a little. “Ask me again in a couple of years,” he grinned. “Then maybe we can discuss that threesome again.”

She grinned and winked at him. “You’re alright, Sheriff. I will certainly keep that in mind, and you can bet I won’t forget about it either.”

“I bet you won’t” Joshua grinned. “You’d make a hell of a poker player,” he said as he picked up his burger and sunk his teeth into it. By now, it was only lukewarm.

The Cox girl went back to clearing tables and serving patrons; Joshua finished eating his hamburger and fries. He dropped a two-dollar bill on the table, tipped his hat to the girl when she hollered “See ya later, Sheriff” then walked out the door. He got into his patrol car and headed toward the courthouse.

Nine

I’ll Take You There

He knew it was only about a six-minute drive from there to the courthouse, so Joshua turned on the radio instead of putting a tape in the 8-track player; he tuned it to WBLX Radio. He did not want to listen to country music nor rock-n-roll; he was in the mood for something different. The soulful sounds of ‘I’ll Take You There’ by the Staple Singers flowed from the speakers. Joshua lit a cigarette, inhaled deeply, and then relaxed and let the music soothe his soul. As he listened, his mind traveled back to his encounter with Carolyn de Iberville. He had intended to call Carolyn and invite her out again, but it seemed that everything that could go wrong had gone wrong and he just had not gotten around to doing it. And, even though he had had several one-night stands over the years, he hoped that Carolyn did not think he was the type to use a woman for a good time and then not call again. She was not the type of woman a man could bed only once and then forget about her. She was very different from other women he had slept with.

After the Staple Singer’s song finished and a short commercial break, Rufus and Chaka Khan’s ‘Tell Me Something Good’ came on. Its smooth sensual sound really took Joshua’s mind to the gutter. He imagined what it would be like to make love with that song playing in the background. However, it was not Carolyn whom he made love to; it was Emma’s young lithe body atop him in his imagination. The rhythm of the music and the background vocals were what brought Emma into his thoughts. He took a long drag off his cigarette and changed the station. Enough of this shit, he thought to himself. I have to get my mind on what it needs to be and not in the bedroom.

Joshua turned right onto Broad Street and then two blocks further took a left onto Government Street. He still had several blocks to go and it was all he could do to get in the right frame of mind before reaching Metcalf’s office. Now that he had little Anna Leigh in a safe place, the rest did not seem as important.

He wanted to go home, sit on his porch, and drink whiskey until he was good and drunk. However, he knew that was not an option. He had to concentrate on what was happening now. He needed to help get the good doctor into custody and out of the picture; and, he needed to make sure Anna Leigh remained in a safe environment. When he walked through the department on his way to Metcalf’s office, Ida Mae called to him to get his attention.

“Sheriff, Joe Barnes called and left a message for you to give him a call as soon as possible. Something to do with a kidnapping case, I believe he said.” Joshua could see the curiosity in Ida Mae’s eyes; she liked to know everything that was going on. She was good with details and did not forget anything. That was why she was such a good dispatcher. Joshua just nodded his head that he got the message, but other than that did not say anything. He could tell that it irked her not to know what was going on, but he was not saying what was on his mind because the less said, the better-he did not want to slip up and say anything that might shine the light of suspicion on him.

Metcalf’s description of the “kidnapper” came to mind, but Joshua shrugged it off. Plenty of men wore blue jeans, cowboy boots and hats; he was not the only man in the county to do so.

John Metcalf grimaced when Joshua walked into the lab, which was where he had gone to when John was not in his office. The grimace did not slip past Joshua’s notice.

“You disappointed to see me, son” said Joshua, lighting a smoke as he stopped.

“Not really,” Metcalf replied. “It’s just that I never would have thought you’d take that child from the hospital like that.” his tone irked Joshua.
There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me son
, he thought to himself, but remained quiet. “You’re going to fool around and get into trouble,” Metcalf said sternly.

John Metcalf’s tone and manner reminded Joshua of his granddaddy when he reprimanded him for coming home with whiskey on his breath; he was a junior in high school at the time. It was the first and only time he had disappointed his grandfather.

“I did what I thought was best for the child,” Joshua said defensively.

“I like working with you, Sheriff. I wouldn’t want you to lose your job.”

“I like you too, John, but I don’t want to see that little girl grow up to be bought and sold like a piece of meat to some pervert that wants to molest her. To use her for his perverted pleasure and then trash her somewhere when he’s finished with her…”

Joshua’s mind traveled back to the summer of 1962. “You’re young son - you think you’ve seen some bad shit-you haven’t seen bad shit until you’ve seen a baby that’s been raped and murdered and then thrown in a pile of trash!”

Joshua did not mean to explode as he had. Moreover, it was not until he did that he realized what happened in the summer of ‘62 had a lot to do with why he was so dead set on keeping little Anna Leigh safe. He did not want to go there; he had shoved that event far out of his mind for years, but he had gone there. Even as an officer of the law, some things happen that are just so horrible that you push them to the back of your mind and then block them from your memories, so that you don’t have to relive the event or deal with the feelings it caused at the time.

Without a word to anyone, Joshua turned and walked out of the building. He got into his patrol car and drove straight home. It was the first time in years he had driven home in complete silence. There was no song in the world that could sooth his soul, at least not right then…