Jubilee's Journey (Wyattsville #2)(11)

Ethan Allen left for school at 8:40. It took ten minutes to get there and he had ten minutes to spare, so when he bicycled across Ridge Road and saw the flashing red lights a block down on Main he turned and headed in that direction.

Leaning his bicycle against the lamppost, he edged his way into the crowd and looked for a familiar face. Seth Porter’s was the first one he saw.

“Hey, there, Mister Porter,” he called out.

Porter turned and scanned the faces in the crowd.

“It’s me,” Ethan Allen called and pushed past a hefty woman who’d been blocking his view. “What’s going on?”

“Ain’t you supposed to be in school?”

“Yeah, I’m on my way.”

“Then you’d better get moving.”

“What’s going on?” Ethan Allen repeated.

Porter glanced at his watch and thumbed his finger in the direction of the school. “Get going. It’s five ‘til nine.”

“School don’t start ‘til ten today,” Ethan answered. “So what’s going on?”

“A robbery,” Porter finally said. “Sidney Klaussner got shot. They’re saying he shot one of the bandits, but the other one got away. ” He eyed Ethan Allen suspiciously. “You sure school don’t start ‘til ten?”

“Positive.”





Moments later Carmella Klaussner jumped out of Henrietta Banger’s car and pushed her way through the crowd screaming, “Sid! Sid!” The poor woman was almost hysterical, and it was all anyone could do to hold her back. She screamed, cried, and pleaded, but still Ed Cunningham refused to allow her past the barricade he’d set up. It was Ed’s third day on the job, and he was starting to think that maybe being a policeman wasn’t what he was cut out for.

“This is a crime scene,” he kept repeating, “and no one except the police and medics are allowed in.”

Of course the crowd of onlookers sided with Carmella.

“Let her in!” somebody shouted. “She’s got a right to see her husband!”

“Yeah!” several others yelled. “Let her in!”

“Nobody’s allowed in,” Cunningham repeated, but by then beads of nervous perspiration were building on his forehead. He wanted to explain how the police were trying to collect the sort of evidence they needed to find the perpetrator, but the crowd was obviously not in the mood to listen.





It was after ten-thirty when the medics carried out the first stretcher. Cunningham pushed the crowd back to clear a pathway to the ambulance, then helped Carmella in so she could be with her husband. As the doors slammed shut, the last thing he heard was Carmella’s voice crying, “Say something, Sid, say something…”

The second stretcher was carried out minutes later, and when the medics went by an angry rumble rolled through the crowd.

“Murderer!” someone yelled; then others echoed the word. Once the gurney was locked in place, the second ambulance sped off.

“You should’ve just let the hoodlum die!” somebody shouted. After that a loud and angry discussion ensued about what was right and wrong.

“If someone repents of their sin, the Lord forgives them,” Pastor Brian argued.

“An eye for an eye!” Bob Ballard yelled.

“Yeah,” several people agreed. “An eye for an eye.”

Cunningham started to sweat profusely. “Let’s all calm down. There’s nothing more to see here. Just go home and let well enough be.”

After a lot of arguing and yelling, Pastor Brian left the group and made his way back across the park. Little by little the others began to drift away.

Only then did Seth Porter realize he’d lost track of the time. It was well after eleven when he finally shooed Ethan Allen off to school.

Making his way through the now-thinning crowd, Ethan Allen noticed the girl sitting on the bench. She was a little kid, sitting there all by herself. She probably should be in school too, he thought, but nobody’s telling her to scram. As he pedaled past the bench, a fleeting twinge of resentment caught hold.

“How come she gets to stay here?” he grumbled as he turned the corner and headed toward Wyattsville Junior High.





Jubilee remained on the bench throughout the morning. She’d heard the gunshots, but she’d heard gunshots before. In Coal Fork it simply meant the men had gone hunting. Even as she watched the crowds gather she was not alarmed. This was the city. Paul had warned her things were different in the city.

When several hours had passed and he still hadn’t returned, she began to search the faces of the stragglers standing in front of the store. The expressions were hard and the voices angry, so Jubilee remained where she was. She thought back on Paul’s words.

“You can’t go talking to strangers,” he’d said. “People in the city ain’t like us. They got their ways, and we got ours.” So far, Jubilee was none too fond of their ways.

For a brief moment there had been a boy who seemed different—someone she might ask to go in search of her brother. The boy looked at her for a moment, then climbed onto his bicycle and pedaled off. Once he rounded the corner and disappeared, Jubilee knew it was a foolish thought. He was like all the others.