The Ridge: The Whisper of the Leaves - Chap. 33

Thursday, March 18

“We need to feed her somethin’,” Sally Lawrence told her sister.

“Well, feed her then,” Katie said. “Don’t matter ta me whether she eats or not.”

Katie and her father were sitting at the kitchen table finishing off a breakfast of sausage and fried eggs when Sally came in. Lawrence made no comment either way concerning the verbal exchange by his daughters.

“Daddy,” Katie said. “Ya think that boy’ll turn up.”

“Don’t know,” Lawrence said after draining his coffee cup. “Better, though, if’n he wants to see ‘at sister uh his again.”

Sally wanted to reaffirm with her father that he would not really harm the girl, whether the boy showed up or not. But she said nothing. She knew her father never bluffed.

“What time ya’ll deliver da message?” Lawrence asked.

“’Bout nine-fifteen,” Katie answered.

“And they didn’t see ya.”

“No, sir.” Katie nodded. “We high-tailed it outta there. What’re ya gonna do to ‘im if he shows up.”

“Same as he did Alvin. Bullet ta the head.”

Lawrence showed no emotion as he delivered this news.

Wednesday night, Marshall and Parker had gotten as far as Lufkin where they got rooms in the Lufkin Arms Hotel and turned in for the night. Parker, however, couldn’t sleep and had wandered into the hotel’s lounge where he discovered a low stakes poker game going on. He didn’t return to bed until after 3 a.m. It was no surprise, then, that Marshall had to wake him up.

Parker opened his room door to find Marshall standing there dressed and ready to go.

“What time is it,” Parker yawned.

“Ten-fifteen. I waited, but I didn’t know if you’d died or what.” Marshall grinned.

“Naw, but I guarantee ya my head’d feel better if I were dead. Come’on in while I wash up and get dressed.”

By eleven, they were getting into the car.

“With any luck,” Parker said as he started the car. “we should be in Dallas by around dark.”

“We’re that close?” Marshall seemed surprised.

“Yea,” Parker said as he pulled onto Highway 343. “New London is maybe two and a half or three hours and Dallas is maybe three hours from there.”

“Not gonna give ya much time with ya girlfriend.”

“That’s all right. I’ll be comin’ back Saturday mornin’ after I check in at the office and find an apartment. I just wanted to see her a minute.”

“How far out of the way are we goin’ so ya can see her.”

Parker turned and noticed the grin on Marshall and couldn’t help but crack a small smile himself.

“Maybe two hours.”

“She must be somethin’ then,” Marshall grinned once more.

“She is.”

They rode for a time in silence then Parker tried his recruitment push once more.

“Like I said, Jackson,” Five days on the road together had given them both a measure of familiarity. “I may join someday, or I may get drafted, but I just want ta see a little of the country first.”

“Haven’t ya seen plenty on this little trip of ours?

“Yea, I have,” Marshall nodded. “But there’s still more out there.”

“Was you’re dad in the military?” Parker asked, trying another tact.

“Yea. Army.”

“In the war?”

“Rainbow Division.”

“Is that right?” Parker was impressed. “They saw a lot of action, I hear.”

“Never talks ‘bout it much.”

“Yea, most of ‘em don’t.”

“Is he in good shape?”

“What’da’ya mean?”

“Did he get wounded or anything?”

“No,” Marshall answered. “Got out without a scratch.”

“Good.” Parker nodded in a satisfied way. “A bunch of ‘em didn’t.”

Even though Carl had told Edna they would find Marshall, he didn’t have a clue as to how they were going to do it. His only thought at the time was to calm her nerves and fears.

He had considered the situation virtually all night long and the only thing he could conclude was that he needed help. Even though his nature was to never ask for help, he could see that this was one time he had to have it.

That’s why he was headed to the police station that morning. He knew what the note said, but what good would it do to follow the directions if he could not find Marshall. The results would be the same. So going to the cops seemed like the only thing to do.

“Carl,” Lampkin said when Carl came through the door of the police station. He stood and shook his hand. Then motioned to a chair. “Have a seat.”

Carl sat down across from Lampkin, took the note out of his shirt pocket and tossed it on the desk. Lampkin picked it up, read it and stared at Carl.

“When did’ja get this?”

“Came through the window about 9:00 last night. Tied to a brick.

“Why’d’ja wait this long?” Lampkin’s exasperation was evident. “It’s nearly 11:00.”

“You see what it says.” Carl nodded at the note in Lampkin’s hand. “It made it clear. We come to ya’ll and they’ll kill Jenny.”

When Carl said his daughter’s name his voice broke and his eyes welled up.

“What can you do,” Carl said after clearing his throat. “I gotta find Marshall somehow.”

Lampkin stood up and walked to the window of the office and looked out.

“We’ve had an all-points-bulletin out on ‘im since last Friday.” Lampkin said without turning around. “He’s spotted in DeQueen on Saturday afternoon. Monday, the police in Biloxi, Mississippi stopped a car with a boy inside that fit Marshall’s description. Only problem was, the officer didn’t see the APB description til he went inta the station that night. The driver was a marine.”

“A Marine?”

“Yea,” Lampkin turned to face Carl. “I don’t know if that means anythin’, but I called the Naval base down there and they said that there was a number of recruiters who came in over the past week to get new orders. They thought it might have been one of them, but they had no idea which one, ‘cause they were scattering in all different directions before going to their bases.”

“So, what does all of that mean,” Carl said. “Can that help us find him?”

“I don’t know, Carl,” Lampkin sat down across from Carl again. “But, I’m gonna talk to Sheriff Talmadge and see if maybe he’s got some ideas. I just hope ya know that we’re gonna do everything we can.”

Carl didn’t say anything. Lampkin looked closely at the man he had known since they were kids and And willsaw he had grown a lot older in the past two weeks.

“Why don’cha go home and see about Edna,” Lampkin said. “I know she could use you bein’ around right now. I’ll send word if we see or hear anything.”

Carl nodded, stood and walked out of the door.

Joseph Loman watched as the gas man knelt over the possible line leak, studying the situation. The water puddle had dried up over the night, but Loman had set a stake in the ground at the spot where the gas was escaping.

“Ya got a leak, all right,” the service man said. “Can’t tell exactly where it is, though, without tearin’ into the ground.”

“Is it dangerous like it is, Jerry?” Loman asked.

“Na,” Jerry said, then pulled a cigar from his shirt pocket and lit it to prove that the danger wasn’t imminent. “Ya got plenty uh open space here. Not confined or anythin’, so it’ll hold till tomorrow. Can’t get a line crew here before that, anyway. Ya know with all the buildin’ goin on we’re schedulin’ these guys two, three weeks in advance.”

“Well,” Loman said. “If ya think it’s safe for another day.....”

“Trust me, it’ll be no problem.” Jerry said and began writing his finding in his service log as he walked back to the parking lot. “I’ll check on ‘em when they show up tomorrow. See ya then.”

Loman stood looking at the spot noticing how it was only ten feet or so from the end of the campus’ main building. He looked up and into a classroom where one of the newest teachers, Miss Neal, was going over something she had just written on the blackboard.

Pretty girl, Loman thought. Just then she happened to turn and look directly at him. Her mouth formed into a barely perceptible smile and was accompanied by a slight nod. Loman returned the smile and nod, then tipped his hat and walked away.