The Ridge: The Whisper of the Leaves - Chap. 32

“Have ya made the note yet?” Lawrence asked Sally.

“I was just about to, Daddy. “

“Well, hurry up. I want ya’ll down there not long after dark. The sooner this matter’s settled the better.”

“Yes, sir.”

Sally wrote a simple note on a sheet of ruled school paper:

The girl is safe. Want to keep her that way, find your son. Call the cops, she dies. Try to get her, she dies. When the boy shows, tie a red ribbon on your mailbox post. If boy don’t show by 6 Saturday night she dies.

Sally showed it to her father. He nodded curtly in approval. Just as he did, they saw a car coming up the quarter- mile long gravel drive.

“Where’s Katie and the kid?” Lawrence asked hurriedly.

“She’s tied up in her bedroom.”

“Git in there an’ tell her to keep ‘at kid quite. Don’t care if’n ya hafta choke ‘er.”

Sally rushed in to relay the message while Lawrence walked out to a nail keg next to the pump in the center of the dusty yard. He plopped down on it, much of his ample seat hanging over both sides and waited.

Barnes rolled the sheriff’s car to a stop some 20 feet from Lawrence then cut the engine and slowly got out.

“Afternoon, Mr. Lawrence,” Ralph said as he walked toward the huge man.

“Almost evening now.” Lawrence said.

Barnes looked up at the sky, still walking, “Yea I guess it is. Evenin’ then.”

“Evenin’. What kin I do fer ya? You a ways from town ain’t ya?”

“Oh,” Barnes squatted down in front of Lawrence. “Just wanted to come out and give ya an update. Ain’t talked to ya since ya came to the office last Friday.”

“Fine, start updatein’, them girls gonna have my supper ready directly.”

“Well,” Barnes picked up a tiny branch by his foot and began drawing in the dirt. “We ain’t got a bead on the Bentwood boy yet. We’ve got an APB, all points bulletin, out on ‘im and the only word we got is that he was spotted in DeQueen over close to Texarkana.”

“I know where it is. Where ya think he’s headed?”

“Don’t know for sure, but a good guess is Texas or somewhere farther west.”

“You come all da way out here and ‘at’s the best ya can tell me. All your sayin’ is dat he’s probably somewheres out west. Now ‘at’s some fine p’lice work.”

“Well,” Barnes stood up and tossed the stick away. “We do the best with what we have.”

“Don’t have much, then, do ya?” Lawrence said and stood up to tower over Barnes. “Like ah said, ma supper’s almost ready. I’d invite ya in to eat wit us, but we only got enough for them two girls an’ me.”

“No problem,” Barnes smiled. “Wife’s probably gettin my supper ready right now.”

“Okay,” Lawrence said and turned to walk into the house. “Let me know if......”

“I do have a couple of more questions for ya, though.”

Lawrence turned back to Barnes slowly. It was obvious he didn’t like being cut off in mid-sentence.

“Like what?” Lawrence growled and cocked his head back slightly.

“You do know that Marshall Bentwood’s little sister was kidnapped yesterday afternoon, don’t ya?”

“Yea,” Lawrence showed no reaction to the question. “One uh my girls tol’ me when she got back from town ta’day.”

“Ya have any idea why somebody would do that?”

“Well, I can’t say ‘at I’d have a clue,” Lawrence said. “Don’t people usually do at fer money?”

“Yessir, that’s usually the case,” Barnes nodded. “But the Bentwoods are far from rich. Their ‘bout like the rest of the country.”

“‘At’s what they want ya ta think,” Lawrence tried to sound wise. “I can tell ya, though, ‘at some’a them dirt farmers got more money’n ‘ey let on. ‘Specially if they own they’re own land like Bentwood. ”

“How do ya know he owns his own land?”

“I got ears. Word gets ‘round.”

“Well, that’s something we need to look at,” Barnes smiled patronizingly. “But, anyway, we don’t think money has anything to do with it.”

Barnes waited for any response from Lawrence. There was none.

“We’re thinkin’ that it’s more a case of revenge.”

“Zat so?”

“Yessir, that’s what we’re thinkin’.” Barnes began now to measure his words very carefully. “Well, since I’m sure you don’t have any personal knowledge about the girl’s kidnappin’; and since you’re in one of the most secluded areas of the Ridge, I was wonderin’ if you’ve seen anything suspicious around up here in the last twenty-four hours or so?”

Lawrence eyed Barnes carefully before he spoke.

“No. Can’t say ‘at I have.”

“What about your girls, Ya think they’ve seen anybody around here that don’t belong here.”

“You’re tha only one at fits’at bill.”

Barnes smiled. Lawrence didn’t.

“Just to ease the minds of a lot’a people, where were the three of ya yesterday mornin’?”

“Right’cheer,” Lawrence pointed toward the ground. “One’o dem sows had her litter round 9:30 and we were watchin’ her an da pigs ta make sure she didn’t roll over on ‘em.”

Barnes must have had a quizzical look on his face because Lawrence felt the need to explain.

“Ya gotta watch a sow. She’ll roll over on her pigs and not even know it. ‘Ey’re too little to get outta da way so she just smothers ‘em to death. Don’t guess ya ever worked any hogs, did’ja?”

Barnes ignored the question.

“It’s bad when little ones are in danger ain’t it?” He asked.

“Yea, tis.” Lawrence said. “So!”

“Just hope whoever has that little girl knows just how far people’ll go to find and protect her. The way ya’ll protected those little pigs ain’t nothin’ compared to what people’ll do to protect her, especially her family. And most especially, that older brother of hers.”

Barnes let the words hang in the air for just a moment then continued.

“Ya know, revenge ain’t good. It’s got a lot of people killed in this world for a bunch of stupid reasons. I hope and pray that this ain’t one of those situations.”

Lawrence stared at the officer for a moment then turned and walked into the house leaving Barnes standing in the yard.

It was just after 9 p.m. when the sock covered rock came through the front window of the Bentwood house. It produced a scream from Edna, Miriam and Alice who was the youngest girl still at home at eleven. They were sitting in the living room where the rock sprayed them with tiny shards of glass before glancing off the floor and hitting a roaring pot-belly stove at the back of the room.

Carl was behind the house at the pump when he heard the crash and the screams. He broke into a run and came around the corner of the house just in time to see the tail lights of a car speeding down the gravel road toward Wynne.

“Edna,” He yelled as he rushed through the door.

“We’re all right,” Edna said. She was standing in front of her chair. The bulky black sock on the floor at her feet. She pointed at the sock. “Someone just threw that through the window.”

Carl noticed his wife’s hand was shaking as she pointed toward the object at her feet. He picked it up just as Lee and Evan came wandering into the room.

“What happened? “ Lee asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“Both ya’ll get back to bed,” Miriam said as she stood to put more force to her words.

“That’s all right,” Edna said as she sat back down and rested her head in her hand. “Let ‘em stay up a while if they want to.”

During this exchange, Carl had taken a third of a brick out of the sock. A note was tied to the brick. He unfolded it and read it.

“What does it say,” Edna said flatly. Any emotion had been wiped out by the events of the past week or so.

“Says we gotta get hold’a Marshall and get him back here by Saturday night.”

“Daddy, how can we,” Miriam asked. “We don’t even know where he is.”

“I don’t know,” Carl shook his head, the finality of the note almost bringing tears to his eyes. “We gotta figure out somethin’, though.”

“What’ll happen if we don’t?” Edna stared at Carl.

“We will.” Carl said folding the note up and putting it in his pocket. “One way or ‘nother, we will.”