The Ridge: The Whisper of the Leaves - Chap. 39

“Can I have a drink of water.” Jenny Bentwood asked Katie Lawrence her guard at the moment.

“Ya don’t need no water,” Katie snapped. “Gotta carry ya to outhouse too much as it is. So just shut up and go back to sleep.”

“But, I can’t sleep,” Jenny said. “It’s not night time and I can’t......”

“Well then don’t sleep, I don’t care. Just keep that trap shut or I’ll shut it.”

Jenny’s eyes moistened slightly, but she was determined not to let this one see her cry. She lay down on the dusty bed, facing the wall of the room that had been her home for the last few days.

Jenny didn’t know it, but Katie didn’t like being in the room either. It had been her mother’s and it brought back too many memories. And she didn’t have time for memories, not even of her mother. She loved her mother dearly, but she was dead and gone, so why even think about her? What was the point?

Like her daddy always said, “Ya can’t live on memories, no matter how pretty they are.” So she didn’t……or at least she tried not to. Being in her mother’s room made it hard, though. And that’s why she hated baby-sitting this kid.

Sally, of course, was a different matter all together. Sometimes she would get all doe-eyed and Katie would know that she was off in another of her sappy dreams or memories. She had always been like that, though.....soft, tenderhearted, understanding….stupid. As far as she was concerned, people like Sally were just a suckers waiting to be taken.

Her sister had all the traits Katie hated in a person. All the traits that made a person worthless in her book. If she wasn’t her sister, in fact, she would have drop-kicked her out her life long ago. But she was her sister, so she had to tolerate her, and she did usually.

At the moment, though,Katie was just wishing Sally would hurry up and get back from wherever her father had sent her. It was an errand of some sort. Katie didn’t know what, but it probably had to do with the kid or her brother. One thing she did know for sure, though, was that she was tired of baby sitting. So, sucker or not, the sooner Sally got back the better.

“Sheriff’s office.” Jodie Adams answered the phone.

“Can I speak to the sheriff, please.”

“I’m sorry, he’s not in this morning,” Jodie said. “I’m the sheriff’s assistant, though. Maybe I can help you?”

“Well, you might be able to,” The voice sounded reluctant, but continued. “My name’s Cindy West and I’m a reporter with the Press Scimitar in Memphis. I was just calling to try to follow up on the murders you’ve had in the county there.”

“I should be able to help ya with that.”

“Well good,” The woman said. “ Have there been any developments in the case since last week? That’s when I talked to Sheriff Talmadge.”

“Well, you know about the kidnapping.”

“Oh, yes, right, the kidnapping. One of the other reporters was covering that. Any word there?”

“No, I’m afraid not.”

“What about the suspect. The one that’s missing. Bentwood, Marshall Bentwood. Any information on him.”

“Not since last night when that ranger called from Texas.”

“Texas, you mean they found him?”

“Why, yea they......Uh, Who did you say you were with?”

“The Press Scimitar in Memphis. Ya know, we’re the afternoon paper.”

“Well, I’m not sure that the sheriff wants me to say anything about this,” Jodie was suddenly as cautious as he knew she should have already been.

“Oh. Okay, I understand. But, off the record can ya tell me when he’s supposed to get into town cause I’d sure like to be there to cover the story first? Ya know I haven’t been here at the paper very long and a scoop like that just might get me noticed around here. I don’t think I have to tell ya that women have a hard enough time as it is. So what da ya say?”

“I, uh, I don’t know....”

“Look I give you my word. I’ll keep it out of the paper until the Sheriff lets the news out to everyone. It won’t matter then, will it? So how about it?”

Jodie thought for a moment then decided the woman at the other end of the line sounded honest enough to tell he just a little more.

“Well, the Sheriff said he’d be in between eleven tonight and one tomorrow mornin’ dependin’ on how the roads are from the south.”

When Jodie said this she suddenly became very nervous. She thought, what if I’m throwing a wrench into the whole plan? What if I get that boy and his sister killed?

“That’s all I can tell ya.” Jodie said. “Sorry! Good bye.”

She slammed the phone down and didn’t hear the woman say, “That’s all I needed to know.”

Sally made the call to the Cross County Sheriff’s Department from a pay phone at the train station in Forrest City, a town just south of Wynne. Over the last twenty-four hours, she had made it her goal to get the girl out of danger. To get her home safely.

She didn’t care about Jenny’s brother. He’d killed Al so whatever happened to him, she figured he deserved it. But, his little sister didn’t have anything to do with what had happened. She was innocent and Sally was determined that nothing was going to happen to her.

And knowing when her brother was going to get in, as far as she was concerned, was the first step in setting her free. So with the needed information, she drove back the twelve miles home where her father was waiting.

“Well!”

He barely gave her time to get out of the car before he threw the question at her.

“They found him in Texas.” She said. “He’s on his way home right now and should be here late tonight or tomorrow morning.”

Lawrence nodded slowly, contemplating his actions.

“She have any idea which way they were comin’ in?

“She said from the south, so probably through Forrest City.”

Lawrence pulled out and opened his pocket watch.

“It’s 12:30 now,” He said, closing the watch. “I want him dead before this time tomorrow.”

“What about Jenny?” Sally asked.

“Don’t call her by name,” He said as he turned to walk back to the house. “‘At’ll make it too hard for ya.”

“Too hard for what?” Sally wanted to scream at his back, but she knew exactly what he meant and she said nothing. He’d always said she was too soft. Too much like her mother. She knew he was just making her do this to try to toughen her. He had done that her whole life.

In fact, Lawrence had done many things over the years to try to toughen his daughters up. And it had worked with Katie, but not Sally. Not yet, anyway. He still had hope, though, that he could get that weak streak out of her.

Even if he couldn’t, though, she was still his daughter and he wasn’t going to put her out. That didn’t stop him from continuing to try to change her, though, and make her more like he wanted.

As he walked into the house, he thought how this would be a good test.

“They found him,” Lawrence said to Katie who was in the kitchen cutting a couple of slices of bread to make a ham sandwich. “He’ll be in tonight ‘round midnight. We’ll be there to meet ‘im.”

Katie chomped down on the sandwich then gave her father a curt nod.

“Yessir,” She said around the bite of food, smiling. “What about the kid?”

“Sally’ll handle that.”

“Sally?”

“Sally!”

“Yessir!”