The Shining Badge (13 page)

“And so you took Jamie to raise?”

“Yes. She had no kin, so I adopted her legally. But I couldn’t stay on the force and take care of her. Besides, I couldn’t face it after John died. I sold everything I had, which wasn’t much, and came down here to try to start over again and give her a good home.”

Jenny felt compassion for this strong man and a great admiration. “Not many men would do that, Clay.”

Clay looked down at his hands. “John would have done it for me.”

Jenny resisted the urge to reach over and put a hand on his shoulder, to try to comfort him somehow. Instead, she stood up, and Clay rose to stand beside her. “Thanks for the doll. It means a lot to Jamie.”

“She’s a wonderful child. I know you’re very proud of her.”

Clay’s eyes clouded for a moment. “A man makes a sorry mother.”

“Why don’t you bring her over to our house sometime? My sister Kat would love to play with her. Kat may seem sort of wild, but she’s very responsible.”

“All right. I’ll do that. And thanks, Jennifer.”

****

On election day, Jenny looked up and saw Clay Varek walk into campaign headquarters. She greeted him at once, then asked, “Where’s Jamie?”

“I left her with your folks. She’s having a great time. I
can’t tell you how much I appreciate your putting me on to that. She had gotten lonesome, and I hadn’t recognized it.”

Jenny was very pleased that Clay had taken her up on her invitation. “I’m glad to help.” She looked up at the clock and the wall and sighed, “Well, it will all be over by midnight.”

“I think you’ll win, Jennifer.” Clay had insisted on calling her Jennifer, which pleased Jenny quite a bit. It didn’t sound formal when he said it, and he was the only one who did. But she liked it.

“You mind if I make a suggestion? I’ve been around quite a few elections.”

Luke Dixon had come up to hear him say this. “We need all the help we can get, Clay.”

“Well, I think you need to put one of your people at every polling spot, and I think they ought to accompany that box of votes all the way back to headquarters, where they’ll be counted.”

Jenny stared at him. “You think they would try to steal the votes?”

“It’s been done before.”

“That’s a good idea!” Luke exclaimed. “I hadn’t thought of that. There’s one box way out in the county right in the heart of moonshining country.”

“You’d better go to that one yourself, Jenny. I’ll go with you if you’d like.”

“That’s a good idea,” Luke said quickly. “I’ll assign someone to go to every box. It’s going to be a close race.”

****

The day went slowly for Jenny, and the boxes were counted from the county seat of Summerdale, where they were easily accessible, and the count was very close. “It could go either way,” Luke said, a worried expression on his face. “It all depends on the outlying stations. You’d better go see about that box of votes over by Cartersville.”

Jenny nodded. “Clay said he’d go with me.”

“Not a bad idea. That’s rough country around there. We’ve assigned an older couple to watch the box. I’m not sure they’re able.”

Jenny went at once and found Clay, and the two of them got into his car. By the time they made the trip, darkness had fallen, and when they reached the polling place, they saw that there were crowds still milling around in front. When they got out, there were catcalls and some rather obscene shouts directed toward Jenny. “What’s the matter? You afraid you’ll lose a vote? Well, you won’t get any around here! Get your skirt out of here!”

The speaker was a fat, red-faced man who had obviously been drinking. Clay Varek stepped in front of him and said, “Shut your mouth!”

Clay’s tone was soft, and the big man blinked at him and started to speak. But something he saw in Varek’s eyes stopped him. He stared a moment longer at Clay and then turned and walked away unsteadily, muttering under his breath.

“Come on, Jenny, it’s almost time to take the box in.”

They entered the schoolhouse where the election was being held, and Jenny looked around. “The Parsons were supposed to be here watching the box.”

“Mrs. Parson got sick,” a hard-eyed woman said. “But we didn’t need ’em anyway. Her husband took her home.”

“That’s right.” A short, muscular man with a droopy mustache moved over toward the box. “We’ll take the box in.”

Jenny saw several of the men moving toward the stubby man and did not know what to say. Varek stepped forward and said, “That’s fine. You can hold the box, and we’ll go right along with you.”

“We don’t need your help!”

Clay swept back his coat and revealed the pistol stuck in his belt. “We’ll go with you,” he said softly. “You don’t mind, do you?”

The muscular man stared at the gun and then lifted his eyes to Clay. “I guess it’ll be all right,” he muttered.

“You can ride in our car. Bring anybody you want,” Clay said.

Jenny’s heart was beating fast as she looked around and saw that there were some hard-looking men there. But Clay stood firm, and although he did not pull out the revolver stuck in his belt, there was something about him that kept their strict attention.

“Let’s go,” Clay said.

Jenny felt weak-kneed, but she got into the car in the front seat with Clay. The muscular man got in the back holding the box, along with one of his friends. “You didn’t need to come all the way out here for this,” he said weakly.

Clay turned and smiled at him. “We appreciate your help. You just hang on to that box, buddy.”

After they returned, the vote counting went on for over an hour as they waited for all the outlying districts to report in. Jenny was standing outside along with a host of others, including Max Conroy. A silence had fallen over the crowd, and Jenny had never felt so helpless in her life. Finally Gerald Thackery, the clerk who was in charge of the count, stepped outside. It was his moment of triumph. He was a small man, with thinning blond hair, and he held a paper in his hand. Deliberately he stopped, and somebody hollered, “Well, what is it, Gerald? Spit it out!”

“The new sheriff, according to the full vote, is . . .” He paused dramatically and said, “Miss Jennifer Winslow!”

A howl of anger went up from many, but there were riotous cheers as well. Jenny felt people around her patting her shoulder and shaking her hand, but she looked over the crowd and saw Max Conroy glaring at her. If she ever saw hatred in a human face, it was written on his, and she knew that the election might be over, but that the job was just beginning. He came forward and smiled, but when he leaned toward her he said in a voice so low that only she could hear, “You won, but you’ll wish you lost before it’s over.”

Dixon appeared and hugged Jenny, saying, “Well, you’re the sheriff, but we’ve got a lot to do.”

And Jenny knew then that somehow her life could never be the same. She felt totally inadequate and whispered a quick prayer. “Lord, you’ll have to help me because I can’t do this alone!”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Sheriff Winslow’s First Day

Standing in front of the narrow full-length mirror fastened to the wall of her bedroom, Jenny stared fixedly at her image. The first rays of the early sun slanted in through the window, throwing pale rays of light on the turkey-red carpet beside her bed, and reflected on the red of her hair as she stood staring at herself.

“I never thought I’d be putting on a thing like this,” she muttered and shook her head in utter disbelief. There had been no uniforms designed for women, for all of the deputies in the sheriff’s department were male. Jenny had worried over the problem for some time, and finally she and Missouri had come up with what seemed to be the best solution. She wore a light khaki tailored shirt with a straight skirt to match that fell just below her knees. A wide belt circled her waist, and a narrow leather belt crossed her chest from her waist to her right shoulder, fastening in the back. She wore calf-high dark brown boots, and at her side, in a polished brown holster, was the thirty-eight she had been issued. Turning to the bed, she picked up the fawn-colored felt hat with a stiff brim and a low crown, settled it squarely on her head, and then let her hands fall to her side.

For a long moment she stood completely still, staring at herself.
I feel ridiculous, and I hate the way I look, but there’s no help for it. Lord, I don’t know why you put me in this place. It’s going to be harder than anything I’ve ever known, and I can’t do it without you. So, I ask you to keep me safe
and to let me be a blessing to the people in this county.
She took one more look at herself, then had to smile. She had always been a young woman with a keen sense of humor, and now somehow she seemed like a comic character in a very bad play.

Suddenly the door flew open, and Kat came bursting in. “Hey, you look great!” Kat said, staring with admiration. Her eyes went to the holster on Jenny’s right side, and she said, “Can I hold the gun, Jenny?”

“No, you can’t hold the gun.”

“You gotta let me shoot it sometime. I ain’t never shot a pistol.”

“You
have
never shot a pistol! And you’re not shooting this one. Come on, let’s go downstairs.”

The two went downstairs, and when they reached the dining room they found Lewis and Clint seated, with Hannah and Missouri serving the meal.

“Well, look at you!” Clint grinned. “I’ve never seen such a pretty policeman.”

“I wish I were in China!” Jenny said vehemently. She went to her chair and plopped down. She put her hat down on the floor beside her and waited until Lewis asked the blessing.

Afterward, Lewis smiled at his daughter. “You look fine, Jenny. Are you excited about your first day in office?”

“I’m scared green.”

Clint laughed then as he took a huge mouthful of scrambled eggs and asked, “Is that gun loaded?”

“I don’t know.”

Clint swallowed back a grin with a mouthful of egg, got up, and walked around to where Jenny sat. He slipped the thirty-eight out of the holster and glanced at it. “Nope. Where are the bullets?”

“I think I left them upstairs on my bedroom table.”

“I’ll go get them for you and load it.”

As Clint left, Jenny muttered, “I feel like a fool in this outfit.”

“You look very nice,” Hannah said. “We’re all very proud of you.”

Suddenly the sound of high-pitched squalling came to them. Lewis put down his fork and shook his head. “I think they’re all wired together or something. It’s never
one
of them that needs to be fed or changed. All three of them come due at exactly the same time.”

Everyone left the table and went into the parlor, where the three babies were lying together in a crib. Hannah, Lewis, and Missouri at once began changing a baby apiece, and Lewis grinned. “I wish some of my associates back at my old office could see me now.”

“Proud of yourself, aren’t you?” Missouri laughed. She reached over and tugged a lock of his hair and said, “Well, I’m proud of you too.” She turned then to Jenny, who was watching, and said, “I’ve gotta feed these babies. You go back and eat, Jenny, but I’ve been praying for you.”

“What did you pray, Ma?”

“I prayed that you’d survive. That’s what all of us have to do.”

All except Missouri went back to the table and finished breakfast. Clint came back and handed the revolver to Jenny. “Be careful. It’s ready to shoot.”

Gingerly Jenny put the revolver back in the holster. It hung there, an unaccustomed weight at her side, and Clint was very much aware of her discomfort. “Are they gonna give you a police car?”

“That’s what the county commissioner said.”

“Well, I’ll drive you in.”

The two finished breakfast quickly, and then went out and climbed into the truck. Jenny said little during the trip, for she was apprehensive in a way that she never had been in her whole life. From time to time Clint looked over at her and saw the strain etched on her features. Finally he said, “The first time’s always the worst.”

“I don’t think so. I think every day will be the worst.”

“That’s what I thought too until I swallowed my first lizard.”

Jenny looked at Clint in surprise. He always had tall tales to tell her, and now she stared at him, expecting some sign of laughter, but he seemed perfectly serious. “What are you talking about—swallowing a lizard?”

“I never told you about that?” Clint said. He shrugged and swiveled the wheel to dodge a pothole. “It happened when I was just a young buck anxious to prove how tough I was. I went around tryin’ to get people to bet that I wouldn’t do some outrageous thing. One day down at the general store a tiny lizard no more than three inches long popped out to sun himself, and I scooped him up. I looked around at the rest of the fellers on the porch there, almost as wild as I was, and tried to get ’em to bet that I wouldn’t swallow it whole.”

Jenny laughed. “Did you really do that, Clint?”

“Sure did. And that ain’t the point of it. I held that critter up by the tail and turned my head back and dangled him over my mouth. I just started to say, ‘Come on, you fellas, what’ll you bet I won’t swallow him?’ Of course, I didn’t have any idea in the world of swallowin’ that thing, but you know how lizards are. Suddenly his tail broke off, and he fell right down my throat. Before I knew what was happenin’ he was halfway down my gullet, and I swallowed kind of without meanin’ to.”