Song of the Road (19 page)

“What is it?”

“They’re called brass knuckles, but they’re iron.” Eli fitted the contraption on his hand. “Jake thought I needed some-thin’ besides a stick. He said if I could get up close and hit ’em with this . . . they’d fold like Frank did when ya hit him with the plate.”

“Well, for goodness’ sakes! You’re just a boy. I won’t have you fighting —”

“I won’t, unless I have to.”

“Oh, Eli.” Mary Lee went to him, put her arms around him, hugged him, then leaned back and smoothed his hair off his forehead with her fingertips. “You’re so dear to me. I couldn’t bear it if you got hurt. Why did Jake think you even needed them?”

“That friend of Frank’s is still out in his cabin. I’m to stick to you till he leaves. I told Jake I would. He’s depending on me.”

“So am I, Eli. I couldn’t have stood it here these last weeks without you.”

“Nobody’ll touch ya while I’m here.” His arm went across her shoulders for a brief minute.

“Is Mama out there?”

“He brought her as far as the porch sometime after midnight. I helped her to her room. She didn’t even know it was me.”

“I didn’t hear a thing. Oh, I hate that. Someone could carry off the house and I’d not wake up.”

“I’ve been thinkin’ I’d bring my cot up to the back porch.” Mary Lee turned away before he saw the tears in her eyes. Damn! It made her so mad! Lately she bawled at the drop of a hat.

“The iceman’s here. How much did you want?”

“The card’s in the window. Fifty pounds, I think.” Mary Lee hurried and dried her eyes before she heard the heavy footsteps on the back porch. “Hello, Mr. O’Riley.”

“Howdy, ma’am.”

While he was putting the ice in the box, Mary Lee went to her suitcase and took out the envelope marked ICE. After taking out the change, she locked the suitcase and went back to the kitchen.

“Heard you had a little trouble here last night. You all right?”

“I’m fine.”

“That’s good. Nice woman like you ain’t ort to have to put up with no-goods such as Frank Pierce. Drunken deadbeat is what he is. Ever’body knows that.”

“Unfortunately not everyone, Mr. O’Riley.”

“Ya’ve done a good job turnin’ this place around.”

“Thank you.”

“Well, this ort to last ya till Monday. I’m leaving ya a new ice pick here in the other holder.”

“Thanks, Mr. O’Riley.”

Shortly before noon Ocie Clawson walked into the sheriff’s office. Pleggenkuhle was talking on the phone. He motioned for Ocie to sit down and continued his conversation.

“Ma’am, do you know for sure that she’s takin’ onions from your garden?” The sheriff paused to listen, his eyes on his boots propped up on the end of the desk. “Did you see her pull them up?” He lifted his eyes to watch a fly on the ceiling. “I realize you can’t see the garden from the house, ma’am.” The voice on the other end became loud, almost shouting. “Tell you what . . . find a good comfortable place outside tonight where you can see the garden. If you see anyone out there pulling your onions, call me and I’ll be there pronto.” Then, “Yes, I will. But I can’t arrest her and fine her unless we catch her red-handed. All right? Bye, ma’am.”

The sheriff hung up the phone and let his feet plop off the end of the desk. He eyed Ocie as he ran forked fingers through his hair.

“I wish that all I had to worry about was someone stealing onions out of a garden. What’s on your mind, Ocie?”

“I hear ya got Frank Pierce in your jail.”

“News travels in Cross Roads.”

“Heard he got hurt out at the motor court.”

“Yeah, he did. He’ll be a-walkin’ bowlegged for a while.” Sheriff Pleggenkuhle could barely suppress a grin. “Serves him right, I’d say.”

“Yancy Hummer is tellin’ folks uptown that Jake Ramero and my daughter-in-law attacked him, hurt him bad, and that you took their side.”

“Yancy Hummer doesn’t have as much sense as a cross-eyed polecat.”

“Well . . . what happened?”

“I’m not obligated to tell you what happened, but I will. Frank tried to draw Jake Ramero into a fight by talkin’ nasty to Mrs. Clawson so I’d arrest him and he’d go back to jail. Jake didn’t bite. So Frank pulled out his pecker right in front of Mrs. Clawson, moved over under the light from the window and pissed on the cabin wall. Mrs. Clawson had a cake plate in her hand. She whacked him a good one with the edge of it and did real damage to his pisser. Doc says he’ll not be using that pitiful pecker of his for anything but to pee out of for a good long time, if ever.”

By the time the sheriff finished, Ocie was laughing so loud he could be heard a block away.

“By God, that girl’s got grit,” he said when he finished laughing. “Tell Frank that if he goes near that girl again, he’ll not only be unable to use his pecker, he’ll have a fence post shoved up his ass.”

“Go back there and tell him yourself. He’s ripe for some good news.”

“I will.” Ocie got to his feet.

“Somebody wants Jake sent back to prison. Is it you?”

“Hell, no. But I ain’t wantin’ him hangin’ around Mary Lee either.”

“You better hope he stays. She needs someone out there to keep an eye on things. That mother of hers isn’t worth the lead it would take to shoot her, and she’s hangin’ with a bunch of trash that took her for every dime she had.”

“Rosen will take over the court in a few months, sell it for what’s mortgaged against it. They’ll get a little money out of it.”

“You’ll stand by and let that skinflint banker take that girl’s home?”

“It’s what I’m countin’ on.”

“Godamighty, Ocie! I’d of never thought it of you. She’s goin’ to have your grandkid.”

“I want her and the kid at the ranch. There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of her coming out there if she’s got that motor court.” Ocie paused and waved his head from side to side working out a kink in his neck.

“Now, how do I get back to the cells to say my piece to that shithead ya got back there?”

Chapter 13

L
ON
D
ELANO WAITED IN THE ALLEY
behind Pedro’s for Yancy. He had given him the nod to come out ten minutes ago. The fool was enjoying being the center of attention as he related how Jake Ramero and the Clawson woman had come upon Frank taking a piss behind the cabin. He figured Jake had held Frank while the woman whacked at his pecker with the broken edge of a plate.

Yancy described in vivid detail to the avid listeners how he had come running when he heard Frank screaming and discovered him holding his bleeding pecker and rolling on the ground.

“From what I could see, it was cut almost completely in two. Poor Frank was holding it together the best he could.”

“Goddamn!” the bartender exclaimed. “I almost puked thinkin’ about it.”

“Sure was a sight,” Yancy said. “That woman out there would put Bonnie Parker to shame. She’d stand up to a parcel of wildcats. Now she’s tied up with that thievin’ jailbird. He stands back and lets her take the lead, but he’s egging her on all the while. Threatened me, he did, when I mouthed back at her. Said he’d sneak up on me in the dark, break my legs and knock out my teeth. Next thing we know, that gal will be kickin’ Dolly out to root-hog-or-die and he’ll be movin’ in the house with her. She don’t give poor old Dolly the time of day and keeps every cent the cabins bring in.”

“If Dolly ain’t gettin’ any money, how’d she have money to treat the crowd the other night at the Red Pepper?”

“She told Frank it was money she’d hid back.” Yancy set his beer mug down on the bar. “Got to be goin’ fellers. Got business to tend to.”

He went out the door, hesitated to see if anyone followed him, then darted around the building to the alley.

“What the hell took ya so long? I ain’t got time to be hangin’ ’round waitin’ for you.”

“I couldn’t just walk out. The fellers wanted to know what had happened to Frank.”

“Well . . . ?”

“I told ’em. Spread it on thick.”

“Jesus. I send you two to pick a fight with Ramero. One of ya gets his pecker all tore up and the other’n gets to runnin’ off at the mouth. Now, goddammit, how hard is it to pick a fight with one hair-triggered ex-con?”

“That bloated-up cow twists him around her little finger. She says do this or that and he does it.”

“Are ya stayin’ out there?”

“No, I ain’t. I ain’t aimin’ to get my head bashed in and I ain’t aimin’ to screw an old drunk.”

“Why not? When’ve ya ever screwed anythin’ else?”

“Now see here —”

“You see here, you shithead. Yo’re workin’ for me, or have ya forgot it?”

“I don’t have to take that talk from you. I ain’t one of yore piss boys —”

“Ocie’ll fire ya in a minute if I say the word. Ya want a job, don’t ya?”

“Am I fired if I don’t stay out there and screw old Dolly?”

“No, of course not.” Lon softened his voice. “We got to see to it that that girl flushes the kid before its time. Ocie is all puffed up ’bout bein’ a grandpa. Ya got to understand that if he passes the Circle C on to her and her kid, we’ll all be out of a job.”

“Ocie don’t ’pear to me to be on his last legs.”

“No, he don’t, but accidents can happen. I need someone out there at that court keepin’ an eye on thin’s. Frank ain’t the smartest, ya know. Takin’ his pecker out in front of that woman showed him in a bad light. The sheriff ain’t goin’ to forget it.”

“How long’s he in for?”

“I don’t know. Ocie’s over there now. As soon as he heads back to the ranch, I’ll go over and find out. You’d better high-tail it out to the ranch so he’ll see ya around, but be back here tonight. We got to keep someone in that cabin to let us know what’s goin’ on, and keepin’ close to Dolly is the only way to do it.”

“Ya want me to stay out there tomorrow? What’ll Ocie say ’bout me bein’ gone?”

“Hell. Ya think he comes ’round lookin’ for ya? If he asks, I’ll tell him I sent ya out lookin’ for a lobo that brought down a couple of calves. Get on back, now.”

“I ain’t got a ride.”

“Go down to the livery stable. There’s two Circle C horses down there. Tell Smitty to give you one. Go cross-country. I don’t want Ocie passin’ ya on the road.”

In late afternoon, after the cabins had been cleaned and readied for occupancy, Mary Lee took a quick bath and, confident that Eli would look after the court for an hour, walked uptown to see Dr. Morris. After she had endured the embarrassing examination and was anxious to get back to the motor court, she paused beside the desk of his nurse.

“Doctor wants you back August fifteenth, Mrs. Clawson. Then every two weeks after that.”

“What do I owe for the office visit?”

“The office calls are included in the delivery fee.”

“And how much is that?”

“You’ll have to discuss it with the doctor.”

“Does he know that I’ll have to pay in installments?”

“I’m sure he does. Don’t hesitate to call or come in if you feel anxious about anything. And don’t forget to take the iron pills the doctor gave you.”

“I won’t, and thank you again.”

Mary Lee was smiling as she walked out onto the landing at the top of the iron steps attached to the bank building. The doctor had said that her pregnancy was progressing normally; her baby had a strong heartbeat and was in the correct position. He could see no reason why she would have any difficulty in birthing. Holding on to the railing, she hurried down the open iron stairs, her heels clicking on the steps.

It happened so fast that she had no time to do anything but hold desperately on to the railing. Something closed around her ankle and jerked her foot back through the opening in the stairs. She screamed. Her purse went flying out into space. Her knees hit the steps with a jarring force. Fear consumed her. She didn’t even feel the pain as the rough iron of the steps scraped the skin from her shin and her knees. Her one thought was to keep from landing on her stomach.

With all her strength she clung to the railing. Her hat was tilted down over her eyes. She was unaware of the frightened sounds that came from her, or the man who had raced up the stairs and was lifting her with his hands beneath her arms.

“Madre de Dios!”
Mother of God. The words burst from him. “
Señora,
are you hurt?”

Mary Lee burst into tears.

“You can turn loose of the rail,
señora.
I won’t let you fall.” On hearing the commotion, the nurse from the doctor’s office hurried down the stairs. “Is she hurt?”

“I’ll lift her if you can pull her leg up.”

“Careful of her knees. How in the world did her leg get back there?”

With cautious maneuvering, Mary Lee was lifted and set on the steps, her skinned and bloody legs stretched out in front of her. She was too hurt and shaken to be embarrassed at the scene she had created. She cradled her stomach with her two hands while the nurse lifted her skirt to look at her knees. She hurt so bad she was unaware of the attention she was getting.