“Have you had many run-ins with the Johnsons?” Jethro asked in the silence that followed.
“With Walter Johnson a time or two. Nothing that amounted to much.” Corbin’s eyes followed Julie.
“You will. He’s been trouble around here for the past twenty-five years.”
“I was surprised to meet his son. He’s nothing like his father.”
“Yeah, well, who can tell?” Ending the subject, Jethro turned to his younger daughter. “Help your sister, Sis.”
When the meal was over, Corbin thanked Julie before he left the kitchen.
“Best meal I’ve had in a while, ma’am. Thank you very much.”
“You’re welcome. We Joneses think it’s best to stay on the good side of the law.” She smiled and a dimple appeared in one cheek. “Not that we’ve got anything to hide,” she added quickly.
Out on the porch, Jack, the one with the freckles, asked him why he liked to run.
Corbin explained that when he was a kid he helped his father chop wood and got used to exercise. When he went away to school, he was on the track team and discovered he liked to run.
“I want to play baseball with a big league. Do you think running would help me?”
“It wouldn’t do any harm, that’s sure. But you probably get more exercise working here on the farm than I get walking the streets of Fertile. Did you know that a league is coming to town for an exhibition game?”
“When?” Jack’s eyes lit up.
“I’m not sure of the date. The advance man came though the first part of the week. In a few days they’ll be putting up notices.”
“Who’s the league gonna play?”
“A team from right here in Fertile. Ron Poole is in charge of the team. Why don’t you get in touch with him and try out? He’s got a bunch of fellows together and they’ve been practicing a couple nights a week.”
“Do you think I could?”
“You never know until you try.”
After the lawman left, Joe and Jack came back into the kitchen to get a mason jar to hold water to take to the field. Julie went to the pantry to find a lid.
Julie had been proud of the family during the meal. For the most part they had used the manners she had tried to instill in them. Even Joy’s exuberance hadn’t risen to the high pitch it usually did when a stranger was present. Jill had been careful to not irritate her father who was as edgy this morning as an old tomcat with a burr under his tail.
Yeah, well. Who can tell?
Her father’s words about Evan reverberated in her mind. He didn’t like Evan! What was she going to do? She had to tell him by this time tomorrow that she had agreed to go out with Evan. Julie dreaded making the announcement and was anxious to get it over with.
The only bright spot on the horizon was Jack’s excitement about the minor league baseball team coming to play in Fertile.
“Here’s the lid. Wet that old piece of blanket on the porch and wrap it around the jar. Jack, you should go to town and talk to Mr. Poole at the hardware. Ask him to let you try out for the town team.”
“That’s what I been telling him.”
“Will you go with me, Joe?”
“Sure. I’ll even go to the game if you play,” he teased.
“If you play, we’ll all be there, proud as punch,” Julie assured him.
She smiled fondly at her two brothers. Joe was the handsome one. Jack, less handsome and charming than his brother, needed to excel at something. Baseball was his love. She hoped that he would be allowed to play on the Fertile team.
“I’m going to town tonight with Evan,” Joe announced. “Sissy-britches can come along and we’ll stop and see Mr. Poole.”
“Watch out who you’re callin’ sissy,” Jack sputtered.
Surprised, Julie looked quickly at her brother, who avoided looking at her.
“You didn’t tell me Evan was coming by.”
“I didn’t know until this morning. I met him out along the fence line. Guess he’d been riding down by the river.”
“Papa?”
“Papa and Jack were up in the woods.”
Jack’s interest perked up. His eyes traveled from his brother to his sister.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothin’ you’d be interested in, ball-brain.” Joe grinned and hit his brother on the shoulder.
“I would, too. What’s goin’ on?” he repeated.
“Julie thinks Papa has it in for Evan for some reason.”
“He’s jealous,” Jack said quickly. “He’s got a crush on Mrs. Stuart, and he’s afraid Evan will beat his time with her.”
“Well, what do you know, Sis? Our brother isn’t so dumb after all,” Joe exclaimed.
Julie looked around quickly to make sure the younger children were not in hearing range and cautioned her brother.
“Be careful what you say, Joe. Jason and Joy have big ears.”
“And bigger mouths,” Jack added.
“I hope Evan does beat his time with her. The Humphrey boys say that she’s a pain in the butt. They can’t wait to get her and her brat out of there. Why couldn’t Papa like someone like Miss Meadows? She’s a nice woman.”
“You boys goin’ to lollygag in there all day?” Jethro called from the yard.
“Comin’,” Jack answered and went out the door.
Julie put her hand on Joe’s arm. “Tell him tonight that I’ve changed my mind.”
“Not until noon tomorrow,” Joe said firmly and went out onto the porch.
* * *
Corbin was glad circumstances had forced him to stop at the Jones farm. When Ira Brady had given him a rundown on the families living on the farms surrounding the town, he had merely mentioned the Joneses as well as the Humphreys and the Birches. He had spoken at length about Walter Johnson, as had Marshal Sanford. Not much had been said about the son.
Evan Johnson was a surprise. Why would an educated, world-traveled man be satisfied to spend his time laboring on a Missouri farm? Corbin couldn’t see that the father and son had a single thing in common. Or had they? He had the impression that Jethro Jones had his doubts about the son.
Corbin’s thoughts lingered on Julie Jones as he parked the car in front of the telephone office. He had liked looking at her, liked her lack of pretension. She was a girl, yet she was a woman, too. He doubted that she was even aware that she was warm, pretty and fresh as a summer breeze. He wondered if she had a steady beau and how long she had been tied down taking care of that family.
Inside the telephone office, the mayor was talking to Frank Adler, the druggist, and old Doc Curtis. The doctor was stoop-shouldered, cantankerous and tired.
“Doc went down to see Mrs. Bloom’s little boy this morning and says Mrs. Bloom has two black eyes. The woman was so crippled up she could hardly get up off her chair.”
“There’s nothing I can do if the woman won’t file charges,” Corbin said angrily. “I’d like to get that man of hers behind a barn somewhere and give him some of what he’s been giving that woman.”
“He’s Wood’s man,” the druggist said quietly.
“What’s the matter with Wood that he lets him get away with beating his wife?”
“I asked her why she stayed with him. She says she has no place to go.” Doc threw up his hands.
“She’ll be going to the cemetery if she isn’t careful.” Corbin wiped his brow with his handkerchief. There wasn’t anything that riled him as much as a man beating a woman or a child.
“What’s the matter with her boy?” Ira asked.
“I’m pretty sure it’s diphtheria. I’m going back when I leave here. I came back to the office to get some antitoxin.”
“Good Lord, Doc. Could we have an epidemic on our hands?”
“Could be several cases before it’s done. Seldom have I seen a single case without others popping up.” Doc Curtis shrugged. “I’m putting a quarantine sign on the house.” He went to the door. “By the way, I’ve got a young fellow coming in today or tomorrow. If he likes it here he might stay and give me a hand until I kick the bucket. Then he’ll take over.”
“I didn’t know you wanted to retire, Doc,” Frank said.
“I didn’t say I was goin’ to retire. I said I was going to get some help. By jinks damn,” he snorted, “I’m not ready for the grave yet!”
The druggist followed Doc Curtis out, and Ira asked Corbin, “Find out anything at the Johnsons’?”
“Walter’s son, Evan, and three of the Jones boys said he was home.”
“Hell. I’da sworn it was him.”
“I’m reasonably sure it wasn’t him this time. I want to talk to Doc Curtis about it but not in front of Frank.”
Corbin had his chance to talk to the doctor when he followed him down to the Blooms’, where he tacked a red quarantine sign on the front of the house. Corbin stood in the yard with his foot on the edge of the porch and watched the doctor.
“How about Bloom?” he asked.
“If he goes into the house, he stays.”
“I’d better go up to the bank and tell him.”
“Good idea.”
“Doc, a girl was attacked down by the river the other night.”
Doc Curtis turned. His sharp eyes caught Corbin’s. “Raped?”
“Yeah. She’s about fifteen, I’d say.”
“Son-of-a-bitch,” Doc swore. “Who’s the girl?”
“Holstead. Her father hauls coal for the railroad.”
“I know her. Name escapes me—”
“Fern. She was really scared—said her father would blame her.”
“Ignorant shit-head. Guess there’s no chance that the girl will come to see me.”
“None.”
“I’ll go by there today—talk about the diphtheria, and maybe she’ll tell me something.”
“He came on to her from behind, covered her eyes and her mouth and threw her to the ground. When he left, he took whatever he had used as a blindfold.”
“It’s the same. He’s done it four times before …that I know of. No telling how many I don’t know about.”
“Four times that you know of? Gol-damn, Doc. How long has this been going on?”
“I suspected it …’bout six years ago, but what the hell could I do about it? Pregnant girls hustled out of town and folks depending on me to keep my mouth shut.”
“Do you reckon it’s one man, or is this the horniest town in northern Missouri?”
“He likes ’em young … fifteen or sixteen. One was fourteen. None had a clue as to who he was.”
“I’d no more than hit town when I heard of Walter Johnson. Could it be him?”
“Could be, but I doubt it. Walter isn’t smart enough to get by with it all this time.”
“Thanks for the chat, Doc. I’d better get up to the bank and tell Bloom about the quarantine.”
* * *
During supper Joe casually mentioned that he was going into town with Evan and suggested Jack should come along and that they would go see if he could try out for the Fertile baseball team.
Julie held her breath when her father asked, “What’er ya goin’ to town for?”
“Kick up my heels.” Joe laughed. “I’m not a kid anymore, Pa.”
“I forget about that, son. Look out for your brother.”
“Can I go, Joe?” Jason spoke up.
“Not this time, birdbrain. We might play a few games of pool, and the billiard parlor is no place for a squirt like you.”
“I’d wait in the car.”
“Can I go, too? Ple-ase, Joe—” Joy smiled her sweetest smile.
“You’re too little,” Jason said with disgust.
“So are you, so there!” Joy stuck her tongue out at Jason.
“Julie,” Jill wailed. “That’s disgusting! She’s got food in her mouth.”