Spare Change (Wyattsville #1)(72)

Seeing the tears in the boy’s eyes, Mahoney waited a long while and then sympathetically said, “So I guess your mama got hurt pretty bad when she fell down, huh?”

Ethan nodded.

“What happened then?”

“Daddy picked her up and put her in bed.”

“You know if she was still alive?”

Ethan shrugged and kept picking at the thread.

“Scooter Cobb, was he there?”

“Not then,” Ethan said, “he came late at night.”

“Were you in the house when he got there?”

“Uh-uh.” Ethan shook his head. “I was out back in the woods.”

“How’d you know it was Scooter?”

“I heard the car. At first I figured it was Mama. I thought she might of felt some better and was leaving, so I snuck close by the yard to see. But it wasn’t Mama, it was Mister Scooter getting out of his car.”

“You sure it was him?”

“I’m real sure.” If Mahoney had looked close enough he might have been able to catch sight of the image flickering across the boy’s eyes, a memory-movie of Scooter Cobb heaving a bloodied Benjamin across the yard. “It was him alright,” Ethan said, “He was driving his big white car. I seen that car plenty of times. One time I even seen him and Mama parked out back of the diner in that car…”

“Ethan…” Olivia warned with a raised eyebrow.

“After Scooter got there,” Mahoney asked, “what happened?”

“He went in our house; then he started screaming that Mama was dead. He called Daddy all kinds of names and said he’d killed her. Then he beat him up.”

“Scooter beat up your Daddy?”

“Yeah. Daddy didn’t even fight back, he just stood there and let Mister Scooter pound on him. I wanted to go help Daddy, but I was too scared so I stayed hid.”

“In a situation such as that, keeping yourself safe is usually the best thing.”

“It didn’t feel like the best thing,” Ethan replied sorrowfully.

“But, it is a lot safer to stay hidden,” Mahoney said, “besides, if it was Scooter Cobb, I doubt there’s anything you could have done to save your Daddy.” He went on with a number of questions as to where exactly the fight had taken place; then reiterated, “Now Ethan Allen, you’re absolutely sure it was Scooter Cobb, right?”

“I told you I was.”

“You’re sure you ain’t just making up this story, to get back at Mister Cobb for his taking advantage of your Mama?”

“I didn’t say none of Mama’s other boyfriends did it.”

“That’s true,” Mahoney replied, nervously pushing his fingertips back and forth across his forehead. “Okay, I’m gonna take you at your word.”

“Now, you’ll arrest Scooter Cobb?” Olivia asked.

“We’ll see,” Mahoney replied.

“See?” A frown drifted across Olivia’s face. “What is there to see?”

“Every accusation has to be investigated; proven meritorious.” Mahoney pulled his handkerchief from his pocket and swabbed his eyes, “We’ve got procedures,” he said, “we don’t go around arresting every person rumored to have done something.”

Olivia bent forward and studied his eyes—the light was gone. There was not even a trace of glimmer; they were dark and dry. She had mistaken faulty tear ducts for the light of God, how absolutely stupid. “Don’t think for an instant that I’ll allow you to take this boy back with you,” she said in a manner concrete as the building cornerstone. “Do whatever investigating you need to do, but expect nothing more from either of us.”

Ethan sensing a heavy duty argument hanging in the air slipped behind Olivia. Clara and Barbara Conklin moved forward to the edge of the sofa. A click sounded from the bedroom, where Seth Porter had cocked his rifle even though he had no bullets. “Let’s just calm down and take it easy,” Mahoney said, extending out the palms of his hands, “I’m not here to take Ethan Allen back. He’s where he belongs. There’s simply some groundwork to be done before I arrest anybody. The law states a man’s innocent until proven guilty—the proving, that’s my job.”

“How can you possibly suggest that Scooter Cobb might be innocent? Ethan Allen saw him do it!”

“If we have nothing but the boy’s say so, it’s simply one person’s word against the other. That’s why we’ve got to substantiate his claim with actual evidence.”

When Mahoney finally took his leave, Olivia was not feeling one bit good about convincing Ethan to tell what he knew. In fact, she was considering taking Fred up on his offer of marriage and the three of them moving off to Baltimore, Maryland.

Mahoney was feeling no better about the situation. “Hell’s afire,” he moaned as he slid behind the wheel wishing he didn’t know what he knew. He was suddenly wishing that he’d simply left well enough alone and settled for having an unsolved murder on the books. If the boy didn’t want to be found, what business did he or anybody else have in finding him? Long before the ferry docked on the Eastern Shore, Jack Mahoney decided to do a bit of behind-the-scene investigating before he said anything to anyone, especially Sam Cobb.