A Man With a Pure Heart Read online

  Sgt. Wilkes let out a long, exasperated breath. “Harris was making hourly rounds. The last time he was by there was ten thirty. He was due back at eleven thirty, but he thought he’d run home for supper first. Then he walked up on a domestic argument about midnight, and didn’t make it back to McDuff’s until almost two. He found the door to the storehouse open, which was not like McDuff, so he checked inside and found the man dead.”

  “How?” Samuel rapped out. “How was he killed?”

  “His back appears to have been broken, as well as his neck. Don’t worry. We have a man standing by outside the building so you can do…whatever it is you do.” It was common knowledge among the force that Samuel Hinton would visit every murder scene. Not everyone understood why, but Wilkes was aware that Samuel had keen instincts about these things. Wilkes looked at Samuel now. Word had already spread that he “talked” with the dead. Wilkes wasn’t one to gossip, but there was something odd about the way Samuel seemed to know things.

  Samuel said, “Thanks, Sergeant, I’ll head on over there now.”

  The sky had begun to lighten, but the man guarding the warehouse still had a lantern lit, as if holding off spirits with that yellow light. Samuel nodded to the deputy and took the lantern.

  “No one has been in, sir, not since he was found.”

  “Thank you,” Samuel said, pushing open the door.

  Hamish lay in the back corner of the windowless building. His head was at an odd angle, and there was a look of surprise on his tired old face. Samuel held the lantern high and searched the floor. It was not terribly dusty, and there had been at least two people inside since the killer left. He was unable to distinguish any shoe or boot marks, or moccasins, for that matter. He squatted by Hamish and set the lantern on the floor. He spotted a sliver of something white under the body. Samuel gently rolled Hamish to his side and extracted a piece of crushed paper from under him. He turned it over and immediately recognized Edith’s flyer.

  “So, old man,” Samuel whispered, “you tried to warn him.”

  Samuel gently closed Hamish’s clouded green eyes. He hesitated, his palm resting on the old man’s forehead.

  He whispered, “Hamish, Hamish, you should have told me. What can you tell me now?”

  Samuel was completely motionless, staring into the dark corner. He closed his eyes, and after a time he envisioned Nash, standing in a small clearing, his head thrown back and his mouth wide open in a scream. There was a small building with one high window. Nash stepped to the doorway, and Samuel could see the inside of the one-room cabin. There was a bed with a broken length of chain attached.

  Ahh. So the big man has lost something, or someone.

  Samuel stood and looked down at Hamish one last time.

  “I hope you knew the Lord, old man. I hope he is welcoming you now.”

  ****

  “Well, Samuel, what do we know?” Captain Lance sat back in his chair.

  “Sir, I believe Hamish tried to warn the killer. He was probably the only one in town who has seen the man in years. There were fresh wagon tracks behind the warehouse, and Hamish’s foreman confirmed that there has always been a shipment of moonshine that showed up on the dark of the new moon. Hamish always took delivery himself, and no one else knows where it comes from.”

  The captain waited. Samuel probably had more information, but whether he would share it or not was always left up to Samuel.

  After a few minutes, Samuel met the captain’s stare.

  “He’s west of us. He has a one-room cabin in a small clearing. He’s not happy. I think he’s lost a captive.”

  Captain Lance nodded but did not speak.

  After a few moments, Samuel stood and said, “I’m thinking I’ll need a few days off. Might do some fishing over near the Ochlockonee.”

  “Going to take some buddies with you?”

  “No, sir. I wouldn’t want to drag anyone along. What if the fish aren’t biting?”

  Captain Lance stood, leaned across the desk, and shook Samuel’s hand.

  “You have a good trip. I expect you back in four days, whether the fish are biting or not. And if I don’t hear from you by Saturday, there’s going to be a search party out. Do you understand, son?”

  Samuel gave his half smile. “Yes, sir, you’ll have my hide if you have to come looking for me.”

  The captain nodded solemnly. “Damn right!”

  ****

  Samuel caught the children on their lunch break.

  Several of them gathered around his motorbike when he stopped in front of the school, but he eventually made it to the front door, where Kathleen met him.

  “Hello.” She smiled tentatively. “How are you?”

  Samuel motioned her back inside. “Are they all outside?”

  “Why, yes, they are,” she answered with a questioning look.

  Samuel reached behind him and closed the door with one hand while the other arm scooped Kathleen against his chest. She raised her gaze to his and then slowly closed her eyes as his mouth cut off any questions.

  The kiss was long and slow and so sweet it frightened her.

  “What’s going on?” she asked as he lifted his mouth from hers.

  “I’m going to be out of town for a few days, and I wanted to say goodbye before I left.” Samuel brushed several stray curls from her face. “I wanted to remind you to be safe, to keep the pistol with you at all times, and to miss me while I’m gone.” He gave her that slow half smile, and she melted against his chest.

  “Oh, I think I can manage to miss you.”

  Samuel let her go, but kept her hand in his. “Seriously. Where is your pistol?”

  She couldn’t quite meet his eyes. “I’m sorry. I left it at home this morning.”

  “Kathleen, you listen closely. There was a murder last night. I think it was done by the man who killed Mary Elizabeth. I’m searching for him, but I need to know that you are safe. Would you consider staying at the manor while I’m out of town?”

  Kathleen paled visibly at his words.

  “You are going to search for him? Who is going with you? How many deputies are you taking?”

  “Slow down, now. Take a deep breath. I am going alone. I will be fine, but the one thing I don’t need is to worry about you. Now, how about staying with Mae?”

  Kathleen had recovered, and her eyes had taken on the steely green color. The one that meant she was digging in her heels.

  “I’ll be fine in my own home. I will keep the pistol with me at all times. But you, you had better take care of yourself, because I…well, I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you.”

  Warmth settled in his midsection. It was pleasing to hear her say that. He exhaled slowly.

  “All right. Just promise to be sure to lock up at night and keep the pistol by the bed. Now, I have to hit the road. So…” He gave her a hard quick kiss.

  “I’ll see you Saturday.”

  Kathleen stared after the motorbike until there was only a dust trail visible.

  ****

  Samuel had just finished tying his bedroll when Garth stepped into the doorway.

  “Mae says you’re going fishing.”

  Samuel raised his head. His chest tightened at the sight of the worry lines visible on his pa’s face.

  “Yes, sir, I might spend a few days over near the Ochlockonee. See if I can’t snag a bass or two.”

  Garth slowly nodded. “Don’t suppose you’d like some company?”

  Samuel picked up the bedroll slowly, trying to choose the right words before he spoke.

  “It’s all right, son. I heard about Hamish McDuff. I’m guessing you need a little time to yourself, right?”

  Garth didn’t fully understand the workings of Samuel’s mind, but it wasn’t the first time the boy had gone off alone. He always returned with an answer to whatever problem he was trying to work out.

  Samuel’s love for Garth was reflected in his eyes as he spoke. “I’ll be back soon, si
r. Maybe Saturday we can fit in a game of horseshoes?”

  “I think we can arrange that, son.”

  Garth stood, unmoving, as Samuel and Zeus faded into the distance. He hadn’t said a word when his son rode off with a rifle instead of a fishing rod.

  Chapter Eleven

  Iris had never been so glad to see another human being. She sat in the weather-bleached wooden rocker on the porch while Granny Pearl gathered the eggs. The wizened little woman had practically carried her to the porch. She was incredibly strong for so small a person.

  Iris sipped from the old tin cup of cool water she held in her still-trembling hands. Her eyes kept darting to the huge brown mound in the field. She placed one hand on her belly, hoping to reassure the little one.

  “We made it. We’re safe now.” She was repeating this over and over when Granny’s voice startled her.

  “Child, who you talking to?”

  Iris jumped and dropped the cup, spilling the sweet water over her feet.

  “Lawd, child, you still tremblin’? Well, I’m guessin’ I would be too, iffen I’d come that close to dyin’.”

  Iris started to babble. “I’m so sorry. So sorry I dropped the cup. So sorry…”

  When Iris’s voice trailed off and her eyes took on a faraway stare, Granny knew just what was needed. She walked over to the hand pump and refilled the cup, then walked back to Iris and threw the cool water in her face.

  The girl jumped, spluttered, then burst into tears.

  “That’s right, honey, you go on and cry that scared right out. You just wail and howl ’til it’s all gone. We got all day, if need be.” Granny sat on a stool at Iris’s side and patted her shoulder while the girl sobbed into her hands. It took a goodly while for the poor thing to let it all out. As the sobs softened to whimpers, Granny finally spoke.

  “Now, honey, you need to tell ole Granny a few things. I been here on this piece o’ ground for nigh onto sixty-five years. Aside from my nephew, Leon, who comes round about once a year, you the first living soul I seen since my Mason passed on, about twenty of those years ago. I know they ain’t nobody just up and moved into the area, so where you come from? And what you doin’ with that chain on your leg? You one of them indented folks, and you done run off?”

  Between sniffling and blowing her nose on Granny’s apron, it took Iris a good hour to tell her story. She finally ran out of strength and leaned back in the rocker, pale and weak, though the trembling had stopped.

  “Lawd-a-mercy, child.” The old woman shook her head in disbelief. “You done had you one adventurous life to be so young.”

  “Granny, can you get me into Tallahassee? Do you know where it is? I have to take the dress to the law and let them know where he is.”

  Granny had already walked across the field and recovered the pack and the lantern. She’d stopped on the way back and taken a good look at the bear and chuckled to herself. “Mason, you’d a been proud o’ yor ol’ lady. I hit that sucker with all three o’ them shots. And a mighty good thing, or that little girl would a died for sure.”

  Now Granny looked at the pack lying on the porch floor, then back at Iris. “Child, I believe it’s east o’ here, but I ain’t left this place since Mason passed. Like I said, Leon comes round ’bout once a year and brings me bullets for the rifle, but he ain’t due for three or four months. And you ain’t fit to go nowhere just now. You need some food, and some sleep, and then we can talk about what we gonna do.”

  ****

  Samuel was deep in thought as Zeus made his way west. The cabin where he’d found Mary Elizabeth had been a good mile off a dirt track, and that was another mile or so off the main east/west road. The new cabin would be just as well hidden. If the killer left his place near dusk, was back home by daybreak, and was hauling a full wagon one way, he couldn’t be much more than ten miles out of town. So…he’d head west and keep a sharp eye out for any wagon tracks leading off the main road.

  As he rode, Kathleen filled his mind. He hoped she understood how serious he was about locking up at night and keeping the pistol close. He had no idea where the killer was, what he might be planning, or just how desperate he might be. That lack of knowledge made the man all the more dangerous.

  ****

  Nash was sitting at the table with all his money in front of him. The second wad he’d taken from the cinnamon man’s pockets had been almost two full payments, but it was still not as much as he’d hoped to have when he headed west. It was pretty near two hundred miles to Pensacola, with very little between here and there. He’d be trackin’ off the main road, just in case the woman made it out of the woods alive. He needed extra bullets for his rifle if he was gonna be livin’ off the land for a while. He’d make a run back into Tallahassee tomorrow night and visit Mercer’s shop. He’d been in and out of there a couple of times at night, with no one being the wiser. Then he would head west. Best to travel at night for a while.

  He shoved all the money into a rawhide pouch and then stretched out on the bed. He could smell the woman. The woman. He’d still love to find her and beat her to death. He was surprised she had lived as long as she had. She’d been puny when he first found her, and she’d never gotten much stronger over the years. He needed a strong woman, a large woman; one that could bear a healthy boy and take a beatin’ once in a while. His mind strayed to the schoolteacher. She’d been so small as to be about useless. He hadn’t actually meant to kill her, but she’d scratched his eyes. When he became lucid again, she was limp as a rag. As he drifted off to sleep, his mind held the vision of him running his hands through red hair.

  ****

  The evening sun was low on the horizon when Samuel started looking for a place to bed down for the night. When he rode up on a small creek, he nudged Zeus off the road. He followed the creek about a hundred yards north to where it opened to a small pool.

  “Well, boy, this is as good a spot as any. Let’s call it a day.”

  By the time darkness set in, he’d hobbled Zeus, laid out his bedroll, and feasted on the supper Mae had insisted he pack. The night air was cool, but he built no fire. There was no need to let anyone know he was in the area.

  ****

  Granny Pearl had killed a hen and made dumplin’s for supper. Iris had not eaten so well since she was a child, and now she was curled up on a quilt in the corner of the kitchen. Granny sat on the back porch, drawin’ on Mason’s old pipe, while she contemplated what to do about the girl. It was clear she was quick with child, and it must belong to the beast that had kept her chained. Granny had rubbed a poultice on that poor ankle, but it was gonna be a while before she could put any weight on it. And how, in the name of Jehoshaphat, was they gonna get that thing off? Well, they’d worry about that tomorrow.

  ****

  Iris woke to the smell of strong coffee. She stretched her curled body and lost her breath at the pain. Fire engulfed her left leg. She sat up and looked at it, which added fear to the fire. The foot was one large purple bruise, and the ankle was swollen so badly it nearly filled the cuff. She could only hope it would not get any larger, as that would cut off the blood to the foot. She looked up as Granny entered through the back screen door.

  “Well, you finally waked up. I was afraid you was gonna sleep all day. But then, you is sleepin’ for two now.”

  Iris was surprised. She didn’t realize it was that obvious. “Well, I haven’t done any serious work in the last two years, and I must have rowed that canoe at least four hours the other night. Not to mention that foot race I had with a bear.”

  Granny gave a big whoop. “Yeah, you was moving at a fair pace when I first spotted ya’.” Then Granny caught sight of the ankle. “Lawd, chile, we better pray that ankle don’t spread much more, or you gonna lose that foot! Let me help you up, and let’s get it up in the air, maybe put some cool, wet compresses on it. Then we’ll get you some breakfast.”

  ****

  Samuel walked down to the water’s edge and filled his canteen, then led
Zeus down for a long drink. While Zeus grazed nearby, Samuel ate the last of Mae’s offerings, secured his bedroll, and headed out. He loved this time of day, when the birds were spreading rumors from tree to tree, the dew was like liquid silver in the spiders’ webs, and the deer pranced to the open fields to wait for the sun. It was all the proof Samuel needed in order to know that the Lord had created all this for man to enjoy.

  He’d been back on the road for about an hour when his attention was caught by a break in the foliage to the north. Yep, it was a wagon trail, but it was overgrown and probably hadn’t been used in months. Still…he nosed Zeus to the right, and started down the trail.

  ****

  Nash woke with a start, just as he had as a small child. He could still hear the screams from his dream. He could see his father standing over the woman, striking her again and again. The woman had stopped pleading and hung limp in his father’s hands. He finally dropped her body to the ground. As his father walked away from the teepee, Nash could see the woman. She had no face, just a bloody spot surrounded by her hair. That blood red hair. Nash would always remember his mother as having red hair.

  He shook his head, loosening the last of those visions from his memory. He staggered to the table and held the jug with both hands as he guzzled the white spirits. Enough of the fiery liquid would drive the dreams of women with red hair from his conscious mind. Then he could sleep.

  ****

  Samuel had gone nearly a mile. It was obvious this lane hadn’t been used in quite some time, but Samuel had a feeling. He was arguing with his insides when he caught a faint whiff of smoke. Ahh…all right, he’d keep going. The lane had been angling west for some time when it suddenly opened to a large field. There was a small cabin with a thin trail of smoke from the chimney, but what caught and held his attention was in the middle of the field.

  A child was trying to hook up a mule to something large. The mule was not happy and was near to dragging the poor child around in circles. As Samuel started out across the field, he kept one eye on the cabin. The mule was snorting and beginning to bray when the “child” caught sight of Samuel. She dropped the reins, grabbed a rifle up off the ground, and pointed it straight at Samuel.