The Right Side of Wrong (29 page)
Read The Right Side of Wrong Online
Authors: Reavis Wortham
Television and newspapers the next morning were filled with news of the jailbreak across the river. For the first time since the late eighteen hundreds,
Las Células
was closed and all the remaining prisoners housed elsewhere.
Newspapers reported the rioters somehow freed themselves from the cells, took guns from the guards, and killed more than a dozen
policia
, including the
Capitán
himself, Fernando Guerrera, and nearly burned the place down.
Mexican officials hailed Guerrera as an honest, dedicated officer and a great man who would be missed by those who loved him.
In a bizarre circle, this time it was Ned in the hospital bed with everyone gathered around. Out of danger two days later, he opened his eyes from a brief nap and for a long moment studied the large needle in his left arm. Shivering slightly because of his dislike of needles, he traced the tubing up to the glass bottle suspended above his head.
It seemed as if everyone he knew was gathered around his south Texas hospital bed. “We all made it?”
Cody felt empty. The man had given his life to save Cody a second time. “Tom Bell didn't.”
“Have they brought him back over here?”
“No one has heard a word, but a lawyer and a Texas Ranger named W. B. Graves came by yesterday with some papers to sign. I don't know how he knew we were here in Hembrillo, but he did.”
Ned closed his eyes and waited, recalling W.B. Graves as the Ranger who'd investigated Cody's attack back in the winter.
“Graves said Tom was a retired Texas Ranger for sure. He knowed him most of Tom's life and served with him here in the Valley for years.”
Ned wondered why Graves had kept quiet about Tom's history. It didn't make any sense.
Cody continued, as if talking to himself. “The lawyer said Tom left a will, and for some reason, the house he almost finished, and the land in Center Springs, goes to me and Norma.”
Miss Becky sniffled and wiped her nose.
“Where's John?”
Cody jerked his head toward the north. “They're out there in the waiting room. He's been there since your fever spiked and they thought you was gonna die from the infection you got from that river water. He's chomping at the bit to leave though, now that you're betterâ¦said something about visiting a new friend of his when they get back. Miss Sweet gave him a funny look, and then hugged his neck like they hadn't seen one another in a year.”
“He has a girlfriend,” Norma Faye clarified. She knew the road would be hard for the two of them, but time and understanding changes opinions. Miss Becky's new wedding ring quilt spread over the bed she and Cody shared was evidence enough for that.
Cody absently rubbed his throbbing split lip. “How do you know?”
“I heard.”
Doing their best to stay out of the way in the corner of the hospital room, Pepper and Top scrunched together in a chair, looking through small yellow folders of pictures he dug from his back pocket. Kids deal with death differently. They were immensely sad their friend had died, but their response was to look back at happier times. Top had captured some of those moments with his spy camera.
Cody watched them for a moment. “Tom left a savings account for Top and Pepper's college.”
When Cody stayed silent for a long while, Ned opened his eyes. “Anything else?”
“Yep. He left a folder with some information that makes me pretty sure Sheriff Donald Griffin is behind the drug smuggling. J.T. Boone's in jail, because O.C. caught him in a lie about when he was supposed to come help us in the army camp and he didn't. They found a thick envelope full of money in the trunk of his car and put the screws to him. He confessed to working with Whitlatch to keep the law away from what was going on. They may have him on the attempted murder of y'all, too, because of being in on the army camp ambush.”
Cody paused, absently watching the kids. “I guess the last thing we need to wrap this up is more evidence against Griffin, but it might be a long time coming. None of what we have will stick right now, even though I have a strong suspicion he's behind everything that happened.”
Ned moved the arm attached by a clear hose to the last of many bottles hanging above his bed. “We'll get him, when I get out of this damn hospital.”
“That's a fact.” For the first time in his life, Cody hoped he'd have a dream that would tell them what to do.
“Watch your language Daddy.” Miss Becky patted his hand. “The kids are right over there.”
They snickered.
Ned coughed and grinned at them. “What's so funny, you two?”
“The look on Pepper's face laying there in the snow.” Top angled the little booklet to show the adults. “I took these with my secret agent camera when Uncle Cody was in the hospital.” He passed the packet of photos to Cody. “Here's some of you when you didn't know I took 'em.”
Miss Becky asked Ned if he was comfortable and Norma Faye rose to adjust his pillow. Distracted, Cody took the packet and absently flipped though the shuffled photos. There was one of him the day before the accident, walking across Miss Becky's yard in a blur of motion. He flipped past one of the kids playing in the snow outside of the hospital while they waited for their turn to visit Cody. His gaze lingered on a photo of Tom Bell standing in front of his house, staring upward at the new roof. Others were of Tom in his hat, in the yard littered with lumber scraps, and kneeling to pat Hootie. The next to last shot showed the snow-covered statue of the Confederate Soldier in front of the courthouse.
The last picture of two men standing at the base of the statue made Cody feel better than he had since the ambush. “Top, where are the films to these pictures?”
“In a shoe box in the bottom of Miss Becky's chifferobe.”
“Do you like that one?” Norma Faye leaned over his shoulder.
“Sure do!”
Ned adjusted himself in the hospital bed to settle his pillow. “Oh, I got something else for you to do, Cody.”
“What's that?”
“Call and tell O.C. he needs to forget where them fruit jars full of money are buried.”
As everyone laughed, Cody stared downward at the surprisingly clear black-and-white photo of Sheriff Donald Griffin handing a thick envelope to the recently deceased Whitlatch.
The hospital phone rang. Norma Faye answered, because she was closest. “Well hidy, O.C.”
She fell silent and listened. Cody slipped the packet of photos into his shirt pocket. “I see. All right, I'll tell them.”
Norma Faye gently replaced the receiver in the cradle. “I don't believe this.”
“What?”
“Mr. Ned, you have kinfolk down here in the Valley?”
“I don't know. There's some family that split off and came down this way back in the Indian days. They mixed in with some colored folks, too, out near Hondo. We call them the Black Parkers.”
“Well, I believe this is a different line. Mr. Bell's daddy was a Parker, one of your grandaddy's boys. Mr. Bell dug around these last few years and found all that out, and Judge O.C. figures that's why he came back to Center Springs after he retired.”
“The good Lord brought him back to us for a reason, Ned. That's why you're a-layin' in that bed.”
“Might be.” Norma opened the blinds to let in a little more of the south Texas light. “Judge O.C. also said he left an envelope for you back home. Said it's what you're gonna need to clear all this up.”
“Does he know what's in it?”
“Nope, just what's wrote on the outside. It said, âTo Ned. The dreams told me to find you. Inside is what you want to know about Griffin. It's signed by him in his legal name. Thomas Belton Parker.”
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