Pearl River Junction Read online

49

  Shaye and Cotton left Thomas and James at the café and walked to City Hall.

  “You know what these people are like, don’t you?” Cotton asked.

  “Oh yes,” Shaye said. “They’re the same in every town. They think because you have a badge on your chest you’re used to being a target.”

  “They’re paying you to do a job and you better do it without complaining,” Cotton said.

  “And don’t ask for more help.”

  “Well,” Cotton said, “today we’re gonna ask. I don’t know what good it will do, except that after the fact we might be able to say, ‘I told you so.’”

  They reached the building and entered.

  “The bank manager, Brown,” Shaye said, “he’ll be against us already.”

  “There are four other people on the town council,” Cotton said. “I’ll have to talk directly to them.”

  They went up the stairs to the second floor and Cotton led the way to a closed door.

  “This is where they meet,” he said. “They should all be inside already.”

  “Want me to come in with you?” Shaye offered.

  “Why don’t we start with you out here?” Cotton asked. “This part is really my job, isn’t it?”

  Shaye nodded and said, “And you’re welcome to it.”

  “What’s this town council meetin’ supposed to be about?” James asked Thomas as they left the café.

  “Cotton wants to try to hire new deputies.”

  “I thought he had the power to do that?” James asked. “He gave us badges, didn’t he?”

  “Yeah, but we’re not gettin’ paid,” Thomas said. “He needs more money to pay more deputies and that has to be approved by the town council.”

  “And why wouldn’t they?”

  “Because they’re politicians,” Thomas said. “It’s their job to say no.”

  They crossed the street and started walking toward the sheriff’s office and City Hall.

  “The five of us can probably handle things,” James said. “Don’t you think, Thomas?”

  “I think there’s safety in numbers, James,” Thomas said. “That’s why Collier’s comin’ here with eight men and that’s why we could always use more.”

  “But if we don’t get them,” James argued, “we can handle it. I know we can.”

  “Well,” Thomas replied, “I did say you’re the smart one, James, so I guess I’ll take your word for it.”

  But there is smart, Thomas thought, and there is naïve. He thought James had a bit of each.

  Occasionally, Shaye could hear raised voices from inside the meeting room, but he was never able to make out any words. Eventually, when the door to the meeting room opened, Shaye expected Cotton to ask him to come in. Instead, the sheriff stepped into the hall and pulled the door closed behind him.

  “You look frustrated,” Shaye said.

  “Then I feel the way I look,” Cotton said. “To a man—and the only woman on the council—they feel that the bank would be able to handle any robbery attempts.”

  “So no money for more deputies?”

  “No money,” Cotton said, “but they commended me for being able to get three new deputies for free.”

  “So what if we took off our badges?” Shaye asked. “Would they give you money to hire more deputies then?”

  “No. They stood their ground and the mayor stood with them.”

  “And I’ll bet bank manager Edmund Brown had a lot to do with it too,” Shaye said.

  “Oh yeah,” Cotton said. “He had a lot to say. They also suggested that if I felt like I couldn’t handle the job I should step down.”

  “Maybe you should,” Shaye said.

  “What would that accomplish?”

  “They sure wouldn’t be able to hire a new sheriff in time,” Shaye said. “That would teach them a lesson.”

  Cotton shook his head.

  “That would leave the town defenseless,” he said. “I couldn’t take my frustration out on the people of this town.”

  “Go around and try to recruit volunteers to stand with you, Riley,” Shaye said, “and then decide whether or not you can take it out on them.”

  Cotton looked at the closed door and, for a moment, they could both hear laughter from behind it.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Cotton said. “I can’t think here.”

  “Can’t blame you for that,” Shaye said and followed the sheriff down the steps and out of the building.

  “I guess it’s up to us,” Cotton said some time later as the two men leaned on the bar at Bo Hart’s Saloon. “That is, if you’re still willing to help.”

  “I can’t very well leave town knowing that you and your deputy would have to face the gang alone.”

  “It’s our job, not yours,” Cotton said.

  “That may be,” Shaye said, “but my sons and I are here and we know what’s going to happen. We can’t just walk away.”

  “Integrity.”

  “What?”

  “You have integrity, all three of you,” Cotton said. “It’s rare to find that, these days.”

  “If that’s true, it’s a shame,” Shaye said, “but I don’t think it’s integrity…it’s just common sense.”

  “I can’t believe this is all going to happen because of Belinda.”

  “If that was the case, you could just send her out of town,” Shaye said.

  “You mean…run her out of town?”

  “That’s what I mean,” Shaye said, “then when Collier gets here and realizes she’s not here…but that’s not the case, Riley. They know about the bank now. If they get here and Belinda’s not here, they’ll just hit the bank.”

  Cotton nursed a glass of whiskey, then asked the bartender for a second. Shaye was holding a half-finished beer.

  “You got money in that bank?” he asked suddenly.

  “What? Well, yeah, I do,” Cotton said.

  “Is there another bank in town?”

  “Used to be, but eventually everyone just moved their money to this one.”

  “So anybody in this town or in the surrounding area who has money in a bank has it in that bank?”

  “Yup.”

  “Well,” Shaye said, “I guess there’s one thing you could do right away.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Get your money out of that bank and stick in under your mattress.”

  50

  Belinda Davis had heard Riley Cotton telling his wife how the deputies were going to split up their shifts to make their rounds of the town, and how the next day they were going to start taking turns on the roof of City Hall again. The only name she was really interested in was James Shaye’s. She had seen the way the youngest of Dan Shaye’s sons looked at her the day they met and she knew he was the weak link among the Shaye men. Thomas was the one she would have been interested in if she was simply looking for a man, but she didn’t think she’d be able to control him any more than she would his father. Both of those men seemed immune to her charms, which was quite a new experience for her.

  When Riley came home for supper, Belinda knew that James would be making rounds of the town. She told the Cottons she’d be having supper with a girlfriend in town and that she might be home late. With that she left the house in such a hurry that she slammed the front door behind her.

  “What do you think she’s up to?” Marion Cotton asked her husband.

  “I don’t know,” Cotton said. “I don’t know what goes on in that girl’s head.” He looked at Little Matt, who was sitting in Marion’s lap, being fed. “Sure ain’t you, is it, little fella?”

  “I’ve been having some horrible thoughts, Riley,” Marion said.

  “What kind of thoughts?” Cotton couldn’t imagine his wife having horrible thoughts of any kind.

  “I was thinking that if those outlaws came here and they killed Belinda…I was thinking then Little Matt could be ours.”

  “Oh.” Well, he thought, those were horrible thoughts, al
l right, but not any he hadn’t already thought himself.

  James came around the corner and ran right into somebody—someone soft and sweet smelling.

  “Oh!” Belinda Davis said, staggering back from the impact.

  “Oh God,” James said. He reached out for her, grabbed her shoulders to steady her. “I’m real sorry, ma’am.”

  “‘Ma’am’?” Belinda asked. “Don’t you remember who I am, Mr. Shaye?”

  “Oh,” James said, releasing her. “Course I do, ma’am. You’re Belinda.”

  “And there’s no need to apologize,” she said. “I believe I ran into you.”

  “Oh no, ma’am—”

  “Please,” she said, “call me Belinda.”

  “Uh, Belinda,” he said. “I ran into you. I’m just…clumsy.”

  “Well, then,” she said, “if you insist on taking the blame, then you must make it up to me.”

  “Ma’am?” he said. “I mean…Belinda?”

  “You must let me treat you to supper.”

  “Oh, but I couldn’t,” he said, “I’m on duty.”

  “Aren’t you to be relieved within the hour?” she asked. “Or have I memorized the wrong schedule?”

  “Um, you memorized my schedule?”

  “Shamelessly,” she said, “I admit that I did. I heard the sheriff telling his wife.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “So that we could have supper together,” she said. “You see, I must talk with you, James. I simply must!”

  “Easy, ma—Belinda,” he said, moved by her agitated tone. “Everythin’s gonna be all right.”

  “I don’t think so, James,” she said, a single tear rolling down her smooth cheek. “I’m so afraid it won’t. Can’t you…please let me buy you supper and…and talk with me?”

  “Well…”

  “Oh, I knew you would,” she said, “I knew I could count on you. Do you know the café down the street?”

  “Yes,” he said, “I was there this mornin’—”

  “Please meet me there when you’ve been relieved.”

  “Well…all right.”

  She grabbed his arm, her strength surprising him.

  “Please don’t tell your brother or father,” she said. “They don’t like me or approve of me.”

  “That ain’t so—”

  “Oh, it is,” she said, “but you’re different. I could tell that from the moment we met.”

  “Belinda—”

  “Please,” she said, lowering her voice, “don’t tell anyone. Promise!”

  “All right,” he said. “I promise.”

  She released his arm, said, “Thank you,” and hurried off.

  Belinda ran to the other side of the street, stepped into the shadows, and then covered her mouth with both hands and laughed. James Shaye would prove so easy to manipulate, indeed.

  James watched her cross the street and lost her in the shadows. He knew he shouldn’t have agreed to meet with her, but there was just no way he could refuse her.

  Thomas was to relieve him soon. He thought about breaking his word to Belinda and telling his brother, but in the end decided not to. At least, not until he heard what she had to say.

  51

  Thomas found James checking doorways a few streets from the sheriff’s office.

  “Are you working your way toward or away from the office?” he asked his brother.

  “Away,” James said. “Sorry, but I did the other side of the street already.”

  “No problem,” Thomas said. “I can use the walk. It’s gettin’ dark, brother. You better get somethin’ to eat and head back to the hotel. You’re gonna need a lot of rest for tomorrow.”

  “I was plannin’ on eatin’ anyway,” James said. “I guess Thad’ll be up all night?”

  “Yep,” Thomas said. “He says he don’t mind stayin’ up most of the night.”

  James was fidgety. He wanted to get over to the café before Belinda decided he wasn’t coming and left.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Thomas asked, noticing. “You look antsy. You’re not gettin’ nervous, are you?”

  “I’m not gettin’ nervous,” James said, slapping his big brother on the back. “I been nervous for a while.”

  “Pa would say that makes you a smart man,” Thomas said, “but we already agreed on that, didn’t we?”

  “I’ll see you in the mornin’,” James said. “Try not to wake me when you come in.”

  “I’ll walk soft,” Thomas promised.

  James entered the café. It was open late and Belinda was the only customer. She was talking with the waitress when he approached the table.

  “This the fella?” the waitress asked.

  “This is him, Connie,” Belinda said, “and he looks hungry.”

  “You were in here this morning, weren’t you?” the middle-aged woman asked. “With two others?”

  “My father and brother.”

  “You had steak and eggs. Ready for a steak tonight?”

  “Sure,” James said. “Thanks.”

  “Sit down, I’ll bring some coffee. Belinda?”

  “Just coffee and a piece of pie, Connie.”

  Connie nodded and went to the kitchen. James sat down across from Belinda, placing his hat on an adjacent chair.

  “Thank you for coming,” she said.

  “Somehow it didn’t seem right not to.”

  “James,” she asked, “do you believe that Little Matt is your brother Matthew’s son?”

  “I—I just ain’t sure, Belinda. I’m sorry.”

  “That’s all right,” she said. “I knew it would be a hard sell if your pa didn’t recognize the resemblance right off.”

  “The only resemblance any of us can see is the baby’s size,” James said. “He’s a big boy.”

  “That he is.”

  “What about this other man, Jeb Collier?”

  “What about him?” she asked. “He’s no good. He’s a thief and a liar. They should have kept him in Yuma Prison.”

  “What I meant was,” James said, “was he a big man?”

  “Are you asking me if Jeb Collier is really my son’s father?” she asked.

  “I guess I’m askin’ if there’s a chance.”

  She frowned and looked away.

  “You’re not sure, are you, Belinda?” James asked. “You’re not sure who the father is.”

  Belinda looked across the table at James. Already this conversation was not going as planned. She didn’t want to think of Jeb Collier as her baby’s father. She wanted to steer the conversation in a direction that would benefit her.

  Connie came out of the kitchen carrying a large plate and a smaller one. She set them down and then went back for the pot of coffee and two cups.

  “Thank you,” James said.

  “You folks take your time eatin’,” Connie said, “I’m just gonna close the kitchen down.”

  “Thanks, Connie.”

  She went back to the kitchen and James cut into his steak. Belinda thought that maybe Connie’s interruption would help her get the conversation back on the right track.

  “The only thing I know about Jeb Collier is that he’s coming here and he’s going to bring trouble. I need protection.”

  “My protection?”

  “I was hoping it would be the protection of you, your father, and your brother,” she said. “I was hoping you’d want to protect Little Matt.”

  “Belinda,” James said, “my pa, my brother, and me—and the sheriff—we want to protect the whole town.”

  “That may be,” she said, “but the whole town doesn’t have as much to fear from Jeb as I do.”

  “And why’s that?”

  “Jeb loved me once,” she said. “He’s not going to let me go so easily.”

  “You think he’s comin’ ’cause he wants you back?”

  “He wants to know if the baby’s his,” she said.

  “How will he be able to tell any better than we can?”
<
br />   “He won’t,” she said, “but if he decides it’s his, he’ll want it just because.”

  “And if he decides it isn’t his?”

  She sat back in her chair, stared at him, and hugged herself as if she’d just been overtaken by a chill.

  “If he decides it’s not his, he’ll kill me for having a baby with another man.”

  James knew that his brother and father not only didn’t believe Belinda when she said her son was Matthew’s, they also didn’t like her. But he didn’t see how he could possibly leave her to her fears that Jeb Collier might kill her.

  He reached across the table, placed his hand over hers, and said, “I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Belinda—whether you’re the mother of my brother’s child or not.”

  She turned her hand over and clasped his. “You have no idea how comforting that is to me, James.”

  52

  Thomas stood across from the café and watched as his brother held hands with Belinda Davis. Initially, when he’d walked past the window and saw them sitting together in the empty café, his impulse was to rush in and interrupt them, find out what the hell James was doing. On second thought, however, he thought he might learn more by just watching. After all, James’s intention was to eat and he might have run into the girl by accident.

  So he melted into a dark doorway, folded his arms, and waited.

  “I should be getting back,” Belinda said after James had finished his steak. “Riley and Marion will be getting worried.”

  If his father and brother were right about her, she probably wouldn’t have cared if they worried. He wondered why he saw a different woman than they did when they all looked at her.

  “I’ll walk you back,” he said, standing up.

  “That’s not necessary—”

  “Yes, it is,” he said. “It’s getting’ dark.”

  “All right,” she said, “but I’m paying for supper, remember?”

  “But I can’t—”

  “Or I won’t let you walk me home,” she said playfully.

  “Well…okay…”

  Connie came out of the kitchen to collect the money for the meal, wished them both a good night, and locked the door behind them as they left.

  Belinda linked her arm in James’s and asked, “Do you mind?”

  “No,” he said, “not at all.”