That Night at the Palace (29 page)

Gemma stepped up to her mother, who was standing next to Peterson, who was now tossing softballs. “Mom, is it okay if I go ride the Ferris wheel with Jesse?”

Jesse was white as a sheet as he nervously watched Anna-Ruth look at him and then back at Gemma. “Okay, but come back here when you’re done.”

Gemma turned and joined Jesse, who was smiling in relief. As the two walked together toward the Ferris wheel ticket line, Peterson looked back at Jesse.

“It’s okay,” Anna-Ruth assured him, sensing her husband’s disapproval.

As the kids were walking away, Irwin and Sarah Stoker were casually walking down the midway to where Jewel and Cliff and Chief Hightower were standing. The tension from earlier in the evening had subsided and Sarah, though not necessarily enjoying herself, did look less troubled.

Over at the softball toss, Richard Crawford glanced over his shoulder and spotted Sarah. He gave her a big smile, but she turned and tried to ignore him. Richard then motioned with his head for Peterson to look over. When Peterson looked over, Sarah was purposely looking away, but Irwin noticed.

On the Ferris wheel Jesse and Gemma sat without either saying a word. Jesse was nervously searching his mind for something to say. Gemma just sat there enjoying the ride. Finally, Jesse broke the silence. “Are you having fun?”

Gemma giggled and wrapped her arm around his. “You don’t have to be afraid, Jesse.”

Jesse looked at her, obviously not understanding.

“I like you too,” she said softly.

Jesse, still not knowing how to respond, just sat there as the ride turned. Finally after a long pause he thought of something. “Do you like RC Cola?”

She smiled. “Yeah.”

“Sometimes we take an RC break on the curb across the street from your mom’s store.”

“You mean every afternoon between one and two?”

Jesse looked at her in surprise that she had seen them, but Gemma just giggled at him.

He sat there for a few seconds in thought and finally said, “I can bring you an RC sometime, you know, if you want to come out and join us.”

Below, Cliff was standing next to Jewel as Richard kept glancing over at Sarah. Jewel didn’t seem to notice, but Sarah was becoming visibly uncomfortable as she made every effort to ignore the two brothers. Regardless of her efforts to not look, the man kept smiling and looking over at her, trying to make eye contact. Irwin occasionally glanced back at the Crawford brothers and then at his wife, becoming more and more agitated. Finally Irwin lost control.

From above on the Ferris wheel, Jesse and Gemma watched as Irwin roughly grabbed his wife by the arm and pulled her away. Jewel left Cliff and followed her parents without saying a word.

When Irwin grabbed his wife, Cliff looked at the Chief as if he should do something.

“It’s not our business, Cliff.”

“It’s okay for a man to shove his wife like that?”

“Legally, yeah. Unless she wants to press charges.”

Jewel followed as Irwin took Sarah behind the tents. With all the noise of the carnival, Jesse and Gemma couldn’t hear a thing, but from their perch they could see Irwin yelling at his wife.

Behind the tents Irwin still had Sarah by the arm. “Who was that, one of the guys you’ve been whorin’ with? We can’t go anywhere without runnin’ into one of your friends.”

“Let’s talk about this at home,” Sarah pleaded.

“I want an answer now. Did you whore with those two? ‘Cause it sure looks like it.”

Sarah looked over at Jewel. “Irwin, watch your mouth.”

“Answer me.”

“Irwin, let’s go home.”

“Not ‘til you tell me the truth. You whored for those two, didn’t ya?

“No, I’ve never done that.”

“Then who were those two? ‘Cause they know you!”

Sarah yanked her arm free. “I’m not going to do this here. Come on, Jewel,” she said as she began to walk away.

Irwin grabbed her as she began to go and hit her hard on the side of the head. Sarah fell to the ground.

On the Ferris wheel, Jesse and Gemma froze as they watched. The ride began to turn just as they saw Jewel run away from her parents, but as they got to the bottom of the wheel they lost sight of her.

The two kids got off the ride without saying a word and walked back into the crowd.

“I’ve got to go back to my parents now,” Gemma explained.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll see you Monday?”

Gemma smiled and said, “Okay.”

“I’ll bring you an RC.”

“I like Dr Pepper better,” she said with a smile as she walked back to her family.

Jesse watched Gemma walk away, then headed back to where Cliff and the chief were standing. He motioned for Cliff to come with him.

“I’ll see ya later, Jefferson,” Cliff said as he joined Jesse.

The Chief looked down at the boy and smiled. As long as he could recall he had never heard Cliff Tidwell call him by his title like everyone else in town. “I’ll see ya later, Cliff.”

Cliff began walking alongside Jesse and asked, “What’s up?”

“We got to find Jewel,” Jesse answered as he looked everywhere for the girl.

“Something wrong?”

“Her folks had a fight. It was really bad. It was like that day we saw Mr. Crawford and Mrs. Stoker in the alley. Jewel went runnin’ off.”

“That guy with her dad.”

“What about him?”

“We were all standing by Jefferson and that guy kept lookin’ over at Mrs. Stoker. Jewel’s pa was getting’ really mad.”

“She’s got to be here somewhere. Let’s split up,” Jesse said as he looked through the crowd.

Gemma’s father and uncle were playing another game. She went directly to her mother. “Mom, I’m gonna go to the bathroom.”

Anna-Ruth looked at her daughter. “Take your sister with you.”

Gemma looked at Jettie and imperceptibly shook her head.

Anna-Ruth didn’t catch the nonverbal exchange. The two girls had been perfecting it all of their lives. They were to the point that much of their communication was done more with the eyes than anything else.

“I don’t need to go, Mama. I want to stay and watch Daddy and Uncle Rick,” Jettie argued.

“Okay. Hurry, and be careful,” Anna-Ruth said to Gemma as the girl was already leaving.

She immediately saw Jesse and Cliff looking through the crowd for Jewel.

Boys are so stupid.

Gemma walked between some of the tents and came out behind them where the carnival trucks were parked. She heard the faint sound of crying and looked around and saw Jewel sitting in a shadow against a truck tire with her face buried in her hands. Gemma went to the girl and sat down.

“I saw y’all from the Ferris Wheel,” Gemma offered tenderly.

Jewel looked at her as she wiped her eyes.

“My parents fight too,” Gemma added.

Jewel sat there for a moment and wiped her eyes and nose, “Not like my parents.”

Gemma looked at her, tears swelling. “Yeah. Exactly like your parents.”

The two girls stared at each other, both with tears rolling down their cheeks.

Jesse and Cliff met in the middle of the carnival; neither had seen any sign of Jewel.

“Are you sure she’s here?” Cliff asked.

“They were behind a tent and she came runnin’ out.”

“Then she must be in one of the side shows or on a ride.”

Jesse looked at Cliff. “She was way too upset to get on a ride.”

Irwin Stoker was searching through the crowd as well. When he saw the boys he went directly to them.

“Where’s Jewel?” he demanded.

“We don’t know, Mr. Stoker,” Cliff replied.

Across the way Jesse spotted Jewel and Gemma coming from between some tents. “There she is.”

As the two girls approached, Stoker went quickly to Jewel, grabbed her arm and began leading her away.

“We’re goin’ home,” he said harshly as he pulled her away.

“Where’s mama?” Jewel asked.

“Who cares?” he muttered as they went.

All three of the kids watched Irwin pull Jewel through the crowd. When they were out of sight, Gemma looked at Jesse and then headed back to her family. Jesse watched and then noticed Mrs. Stoker standing next to the man who was with the Crawfords. She was there only a moment and then began running away through the crowd.

“We should tell Cherokee about this,” Cliff said, “but I really don’t know what happened.”

“Neither do I.” Jesse replied.

“What should we do?”

“Where’s your folks?”

“They’re on the kiddy rides with Rachel and Amy.”

“You should probably go join them. Tell ‘em that I went home. I’ll go out and talk to Cherokee.”

“Okay.”

When Jesse walked out of the carnival, Cherokee-One-Leg was still sitting on the tailgate of his truck, just as he had been when the boys went in. Jesse went directly to him and hopped on the tailgate.

“Been a busy night around here, ain’t it, boy?” Cherokee asked.

“Yeah.”

“That Stoker fellow came out with his girl and got in his truck and left. His wife came out a little later and run up the street. She turned the corner down there past the picture-show,” the old man explained.

“That man that was with Mr. Crawford. He was standing next to Mr. Crawford the day they hanged Bucky. While I was on the Ferris wheel, Cliff said that he kept lookin’ at Mrs. Stoker, and Mr. Stoker got mad. While I was up there I saw Jewel’s dad drag Mrs. Stoker behind a tent and hit her. After that he grabbed Jewel and came out.

The two were silent a moment while Jesse looked down the street at the theater.

“Stay clear of Crawford and that other fellow,” Cherokee said.

“I’m gonna go down the street to see where Mrs. Stoker went,” Jesse said as he hopped off the tailgate.

Cherokee looked at him. “Be careful. Stay in sight.”

When Jesse got to the alley just past the police station, he heard a noise and stopped walking. He could hear all the various noises of the carnival, but faintly down the alley he heard an entirely different sound. He looked into the darkness and then crept softly in the direction of the sound. When he got to the end of the alley he paused next to the rain gutter that he and Cliff had climbed a few weeks before. He then heard the noise again.

He slowly peered around the corner of the police station and saw Sarah Stoker sitting on the little step at the back door of the movie theater crying. He squatted in the shadow and watched her.

At the south end of Main Street, Cliff came walking out of the carnival entrance with his family. His parents were carrying the two girls, who were fast asleep. As they turned to head down Main Street, Cliff looked over at Cherokee sitting alone on the tailgate.

“Mom, I want to go visit with Cherokee. He looks lonely.”

“Don’t bother that man,” Suzie pleaded, but Cliff was already halfway across the street.

“Be home in an hour, son,” Ned said in a firm tone that Cliff knew to be an order and not a suggestion.

“I will, Dad,” Cliff replied as he walked up to the old Indian.

“Where’s Jesse?” Cliff asked Cherokee as he climbed onto the back of the truck.

“He went to check on the Stoker woman,” the old man replied with a nod in the direction Jesse had gone.

The Crawford family came walking out of the carnival.

Cliff looked toward them. “Did Jesse tell you about that man with them?”

“Yeah. He said that they were both at the lynchin’.”

Gemma looked across at Cliff and smiled as she and her family turned down Main Street to head home. About a block away the family stopped. Anna-Ruth and Peterson seemed to be arguing as the brother was getting into a car. Finally Mrs. Crawford led the two girls away while Peterson got into the car with his brother.

In the alley Jesse crouched low in the shadow of the police station watching Mrs. Stoker weep. Part of him felt like he should leave and let her shed her tears alone. The mother of one of his best friends was having a very emotional moment, and he knew that it was not any of his business. But, he also felt that it was very much his business and she needed someone to look after her.

He watched as she wiped the tears away with both hands. She sat up straight and looked both ways down the alley as if someone might be watching. She then, convinced that she was alone, reached into her purse and pulled out a handgun. She lifted it out, checked the cylinder and then put it back into her purse.

Jesse froze. He’d been around guns all of his life. Everyone in Elza owned at least one. His father kept half a dozen guns in his study at home. Murdock and a group of his work buddies took a regular trip to Colorado each winter to hunt elk. Mr. Tidwell had taught Jesse and Cliff all about how to safely handle and shoot a gun. Jesse, in fact, was a pretty good shot with a revolver, but Cliff was much better with a rifle.

This, though, was entirely different. It was one thing to shoot at bottles on a fence post. But Jesse sensed, accurately as it turned out, that it wasn’t bottles that Sarah Stoker was planning to shoot. His heart began to beat faster and his breathing sped up so much that he was afraid Mrs. Stoker would hear him.

Suddenly, the headlights of a car flashed into the alley from the North. It turned into the alley from the highway and slowly crept toward him. He crouched low in the shadow hoping that the car lights wouldn’t shine on him as it passed. Sarah stood as the car came toward her. She had the purse hanging on her left forearm with her right hand buried inside.

The car moved slowly and passed the side alley where Jesse was hiding and pulled to a stop, with the back door right in front of him and the car directly pointed at Sarah. Jesse’s heart was pounding, as somehow he knew what was about to take place.

The headlights went off and Richard Crawford got out from the driver’s side, just a few feet away from Jesse. Peterson got out on the opposite side from where Jesse was crouched.

“Well, Sarah, what was so important that you wanted to meet me in this dark alley?” Richard asked with a broad smile.

“It looks to me like she had a good time. She probably wants another round, Richie boy,” Peterson said with a big smile but a nasty look on his face.

Jesse was a little behind Richard and could barely see him in the darkness, but something in his manner made him despise the man. Mrs. Stoker was terrified but also looked determined. To Jesse, Peterson and the other man looked nothing short of evil.