The Switch (16 page)

Chapter 28

The wagon pulled into the
parking lot of the old airport at about noon and everyone piled out. There were
tables set up along each side of the runway and a double row of more tables
down the center.  The tables were loaded with merchandise of all types.

Sue Renee and Lynn led the
kids towards the nearest table. It was an exciting time for the entire family
for a couple of reasons. It was the first time they had the opportunity to mingle
with people outside their own family and possibly trade for items they needed.

A very pleasant surprise was
a large white tent with four doctors present giving free exams to those in
need. They also provided the address where medical attention could be obtained during
other times. It was a big relief to know doctors were available.  

They walked together among
the people and tables looking at the goods and listening to conversations. They
were surprised to hear that all of the local stores were still closed. Lynn
listened to a man explaining that those trying to ship merchandise from one
city to another were being stopped and robbed by roving gangs. This was
verified when a local Sheriff’s Deputy made his way through the crowd handing out
flyers.

David took one of the flyers
and the faces of ten men. The flyer stated that the men were wanted for highway
robberies and murder.

David’s first thought was
about the family’s safety on the trip back to the lake. He asked the Deputy, “Where
are the robberies occurring? Are any happening on highway 41? What is being
done?”

The Deputy held up his hand
indicating David needed to slow down with the questions.

“Slow down son, let me answer
one question at a time.” Several people moved closer to listen.

“We have not had any
incidents on Highway 41. Most all are happening on highway 78 and 22. We are
doing what we can but we have several problems, the first is a lack of
manpower. We have deputized some residents along 78 and given them training on making
arrests. But the problem is incarceration. If an arrest is made, there is no
way to get the bad guys to jail. A couple of weeks ago two of the deputized men
witnessed a robbery and arrested three young men. But before they could get the
men to jail, there was a fight and both deputies were shot, one died, the bad
guys escaped.”

The Deputy pointed to the top
three pictures, “These are the three involved in that case.”   

David studied the faces
before folding the paper and placing it into his breast pocket. The Deputy moved
on through the crowd handing out the flyers.

David stayed close to the
family as they moved from table to table looking at the items for sale and
trade. They made purchases of a couple of toys for the kids and a large amount
of vegetable seeds for the garden and were able to trade many of the things they
had brought with them. Sue traded two boxes of writing and typing paper from
John’s office along with a section of chain, for a hoe, two rakes, and a
shovel.

David traded some firewood
for a nearly new ax. He tried to trade for a large cross buck saw but the man
who owned it wanted only cash, no trades. David finally gave in and gave the
man the one hundred dollars asking price. He knew that this saw would make the
cutting of more firewood much easier and firewood for cooking was a
never-ending responsibility. A nice sharp saw would free up some of his and
John’s time.

It was about three in the
afternoon before they gathered the group together to leave. The day had warmed
with the afternoon sun but would soon be cooling and they did not want to
expose the kids to too much cold air.

As they were walking to the
wagon David noticed two men standing at a nearby table watching the loaded
wagons as people left. When he saw one whispering to the other, he knew they
were up to no good. He stepped to the far side of their wagon and got a better
look at their faces. He took the flyer from his pocket and compared it to the
men’s faces..

“Holy shit” he said under his
breath. 

He turned towards the girls,
“I’ll be right back.”

He walked back into the crowd
straining his eyes trying to find the deputy. He found the deputy on the
opposite side of the medical tent.

“I think two of the guys on
this flyer are near the gates watching the wagons leave.”  

The deputy quickly went into
the medical tent and came out followed by another deputy and two other men. David
watched as the four split up and calmly moved into a position to surround the
two bad guys.

David returned to the wagon
and said softly, “Keep your eyes on the two men by the gate.” Before anyone
could ask why, the deputies had their guns aimed at the men who were ordered
onto the ground. As one deputy stood over them with his pistol, the other
deputy handcuffed them.

Chapter 29

Neither January nor February
were exceptionally cold months but it was difficult for all of the family to
stay comfortable. It seemed that all John and David did most days was cut and
stack firewood for the fireplaces. Keeping the fire burning during the day was
not much of a problem, but the nights were more difficult. Wood had to be added
to the fire several times during the night, which meant someone had to stay up and
feed the fire.

Many nights John slept on the
floor in front of the fireplace. As the fire died down and the room became
colder it acted as an alarm clock awakening him so he could add more logs.

In Lynn’s house both she and
Cameron had turned into night owls. Cameron had two reasons to stay up at
night. The combination of the need to keep the fire burning and Cameron’s new
desire to stay up to read resulted in a change in their sleeping habits.

During Cameron’s early school
years he had struggled with reading. Lynn had tried hard to pull him away from
his video games to work on his reading but her efforts were like pulling teeth.
The boy hated reading and loved the video games. But since he now had no video
games and no TV he became more responsive to his mother’s encouragement to
read.

During the early fall Lynn
and Renee had spent several afternoons searching the abandoned houses around the
lake for any kind of books for the kids’ education. While at the trade day they
were able to obtain nearly a dozen school books. Those efforts combined with not
much for the kids to do during winter evenings except read were now paying off,
especially for Cameron.

Something that the adults had
found as a pleasant surprise is the lack of illness. Other than John having a
minor cold and runny nose for a few weeks, everyone had stayed healthy.

The water systems had
functioned all winter and there had been no frozen pipes. While the water
temperature in the hot water system was less than it had been during the
summer, but it at least kept the water warm enough to take a quick shower.
Everyone agreed that staying clean was a factor in maintaining their health.

John was able to provide
rabbit, squirrel and venison for meat, and they had no shortage of fresh fish.
There only fruit and vegetables was what they had in cans, but no one
complained. Everyone knew they were lucky to have it.

During October and December
John had taught the kids how to gather acorns and hickory nuts. They had
compiled dozens of buckets and bags full. No one ever expressed the opinion
that the nuts were delicious, but again, no one complained.

One element that had been
observed and discussed during the past months was especially apparent during
the winter, darkness.  It seemed that darkness during the winter was somehow
darker. With no lights at night except star and moonlight, and the early sunset,
it seemed impossible on some nights to see to walk. This intense winter
darkness combined with the now total lack of sound or noise was welcome to the
adults but caused the kids to be uncomfortable.

Chapter 30

Spring came early in Alabama.
By the end of February the gardens where tilled, all by hand using hoes, and
the seeds were planted. Daytime temperatures were in the sixties and seventies
nearly every day by mid-March.

John had been taking the kids
fishing every day and teaching them all he knew about the lake and how to catch
the spotted bass and crappie. The fishing was getting better as the water warmed.
His assumption was that the fishing was better because of the lack of fishing
pressure during the past months and the fact that the water level was steady
and high. The water being up into the shore line brush was providing excellent
habitat for the minnows.

He had been catching two and
three pound bass with regularity. In past years the average fish had been less
than two pounds. One afternoon both Cameron and Megan had caught bass over five
pounds. Whatever the reason for the improved fishing, everyone was happy about
it. Catching enough fish for dinner was an easy thing to do.

Another nice benefit of their
new life style was that eating so much fish and the increase in daily physical
work, all of the adults had lost weight and toned their muscles.

Late one afternoon in late
march John was paddling the jon-boat north along the shore so the kids casts
could reach the shoreline weeds he noticed David and three unknown men standing
on Rockford’s dock. He was not sure but he thought he recognized one of them as
a member of The New Law. A cold chill ran down his spine.

His first thought was self-defense
but he had no weapons on him or in the boat. He took a deep breath and tried to
remain calm as he steered the boat towards the dock. When he climbed from the
boat he told the kids to go play in the yard so he could talk to the men.

He smiled as they exchanged
introductions and shook hands. He was right, he had met one of the men, Lecil
Gainey, a short man with long brown hair, during his first meeting with The New
Law. The other two men were Al Rockford, Bill Rockford’s brother. The other man
introduced himself as Barney White. John knew without being told that they were
here looking for Bill.

Al was quick to get to the
point of asking about his brother.

David looked to John to
answer. “We have not seen him since October. I came here looking for him last
fall but could not find him. At the time I assumed he was in the woods hunting.
His boat was tied to the dock. I checked the house and his .22 rifle was not in
the cabin. I didn’t think much about the situation at the time.

Al was paying close attention
to every word.

John continued, “I came back
a couple of days later and he was not here again. I got a little worried about
him so I came back again later that afternoon but he was still not here. I came
back after dark that night and the house was dark. He was still not here.”

John pointed to David, “I
told David that night I thought something had happened to him.”

David followed the lead
nodded in agreement and added, “The next morning, and for a few days after
that, we searched the woods but found no signs of him.

Al looked around the yard and
into the trees to his left. “Had he been ill?”

“Not that I know of.”

Al looked down at his feet,
“Had he been acting unusual in any way?”

John was suspicious of the question
but answered as calmly as he could. “He had kept to himself most of the time. Sometimes
we would not see him for a couple of weeks.

This time Al asked a more
specific question, “Had he been doing anything to bother anyone?”

John was now sure he knew
where Al was headed with his questions but played dumb, “What do you mean by acting
unusual?”

Al did not answer, he seemed
to not be able to find the words. Finally, he asked, “Do you know if he had met
any women here? Did he have a girlfriend here?”

“The only single woman here
is my youngest daughter. As far as I know they have only talked a few times
when we all got together for thanksgiving dinner. I don’t think he was ever at
her house or her at his.”

David confirmed the
statement.  “I agree, if they had been seeing each other, I would have known.

John continued his lie, “I did
not say anything about him being missing to the women or kids. I did not want
them to get worried about bears or some type of foul play.

The man named Lecil asked,
“Are there bears around here?”

John smiled, “No, but we tell
the kids there are so they don’t go wandering off in the woods without us.”

“Did he ever say anything
about leaving?”

“No, as far as I know he
liked it here.”

Al looked back towards the
trees again. “What do you think happened to him?”

John said, “I don’t know. I
thought that maybe he had a heart attack while in the woods. As David said, we
searched for a few days but did not find any sign of him.

Al looked to John, “If you
have no objections, I’d like to look through his cabin.”

John led him to the cabin and
held open the door for the group. He was confident they would find nothing to
lead them to believe anything bad had happened to Bill.  As the men searched
the cabin, he thought about the last time he saw Rockford.

He had knocked on the cabin
door about an hour after dark. Bill answered the door and they exchanged
greetings. They talked a few minutes about his success at fishing and hunting
before John told him he was concerned about the condition of his boat.

“I was walking the bank and
noticed your boat might be sinking, it’s full of water.”

Bill had shown surprise and
wasted no time getting out the door to the dock. John followed close behind,
his right hand was in his pocket, on his pistol.

When Bill got to the dock he
bent over and looked down into the dark bottom of his boat. He stood up and
stated there was no water he saw the pistol pointed directly into his face.
John could tell even in the dark that Bill’s face turned white.

His voice trembled, “What is
going on?”

“I want to talk to you about
your night time activities. Before you say anything you need to listen really
well to what I have to say. This is the only warning you are going to get, if
you lie I will kill you on the spot. I want you to understand that if you lie,
you die. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Tell me about your walks in
the dark.”

Rockford said nothing.

John repeated his statement. “Tell
me about your walks in the dark. John’s hand tightened on the pistol.”

Rockford hesitated, “I don’t
know what you are talking about”.

John moved the muzzle of the
pistol towards Bill’s right temple, “You lied”.

John squeezed the trigger and
Bill fell to the dock, blood gushed from the hole in his head.

John pulled on the dead man’s
shoulders and positioned the body so his head was leaning over the side of the
dock and the blood was falling into the lake. He untied the boat and pulled it
into position beside the body. He rolled it into the boat with Bill’s bloody
head hanging over the side of the boat so the dripping blood fell into the lake
and not into the boat.

John picked up the boat’s
bailing pan from the floor of the boat, dipped water from the lake, and poured
the water onto the dock to wash off all visible signs of blood. He repeated
this process until he was sure there was no blood remaining.

He walked to an old shed at
the side of the house and found two concrete blocks and a section of rope. He
put the blocks and rope in the front of the boat and went back for two more
blocks. He paddled the boat to the middle of the lake and tied a block to each
of Rockford’s legs and arms. He pushed the body over the side of the boat, but
the body was not heavy enough to pull the blocks out of the boat. John pitched
two blocks over the side of the boat one at a time but the two remaining blocks
did not follow. When he lifted the third block up to drop it over the side of
the boat, it jerked from his hand and the fourth block was pulled over the side.
He watched the body sink out of sight.

He returned to the dock and
dragged the boat up the bank onto the grass. He pulled out the drain plug from
the back of the boat and used the bailing pan and water from the lake to rinse
the inside of the boat. The boat stayed there, being rinsed by rainwater, until
John pushed it back into the lake and retied it to the dock in late December. In
the weeks since then the boat had partially filled with rain water and was near
sinking.

When the three men had
finished looking through the cabin Al sat on the couch and was quiet for a long
minute. He then said, “If it is ok, we will spend the night here and gather
Al’s belongings.”

“That’s fine. I’d like to
invite you to come have dinner with us tonight.”

Al stood and held out his
hand and shook John’s and then David’s. “Thanks for the offer but I want to use
the time to walk the woods to see if I can find any signs of him.

“Would you like for us to
come with you?”

“Naw, you folks have already
done your share. You go on home to your families. I appreciate what you have
done. If we don’t find anything this afternoon, we might search again in the
morning. If you want to help then, that will be appreciated.”

“Ok, we’ll see you in the
morning.”

When he got home he casually told
Sue about Bill being missing, the visitors, and their plans. She showed no
signs of suspecting anything was wrong.

He was sitting alone on the
porch just before dark when David came across the yard and told him he needed
something from John’s shed. John knew that was an excuse to be alone and talk
about what has happened.

Once in the shop David asked,
“Is everything ok.”

John smiled, “Don’t ask,
don’t tell.” He did not want David to know any details of what had happened to Bill
Rockford. The less David knew, the better it was for him.

David said, “Gotcha boss.”