The Saints of Swallow Hill(88)

Rae Lynn rubbed her hand across her forehead. Her head was starting to hurt.

She said, “Because someone does know. He saw me right after and has his own ideas about what happened. There I was, holding the pistol. And there was Warren. Twice shot. It didn’t look good.”

She ventured a peek at Cornelia, whose mouth hung open, speechless.

Cornelia said, “Oh.”

Rae Lynn looked away, her voice soft.

“His name’s Butch Crandall. He was a friend of Warren’s. He tried to blackmail me. Said unless I, you know . . . be with him . . .”

Cornelia gasped. “He wanted you to . . . ?”

“Yes.”

Incredulous, Cornelia said, “Why, what kind a friend asks such a thing?”

“He said he’d always cared about me. Sure was a funny way of showing it. He threatened to tell Warren’s son, Eugene, unless I did what he wanted. I was afraid I’d end up in jail. It would’ve been my word against his. It’s why I pretended to be a man, in case they put the law on me. And, well, these camps had places for workers to stay. It seemed like the perfect solution at the time.”

“But, how did you come to know about Swallow Hill?”

“It won’t nothing but chance when I think back on it. Butch told Warren about the turpentine work going on here in Georgia back when we were trying to get our small operation going. With it being so far away, I thought it could be a new start.”

Cornelia said, “It’s a shame he drove you away from your own home. What happened to it, you reckon?”

“I guess it’s Eugene’s. Warren never got around to changing his will after we married.”

Cornelia said, “I declare. Men like that Butch, and believe me, I ought to know, they ain’t nothing but trouble. Still, I’d bet not a soul’s been looking for you like you think.”

Rae Lynn said, “I ain’t taking no chances.”

“I reckon I wouldn’t neither. But now, take Del Reese. He’s different. We owe him. Just take him a little ways.”

Rae Lynn sat thinking and drumming her fingers on the steering wheel. Without a word, she turned the truck around and headed back the way they’d just come. Eventually a figure appeared.

She pointed and said, “Reckon that’s him?”

“Got to be.”

“Don’t say nothing about what I told you.”

Cornelia looked offended. “Of course not. I wouldn’t do that.”

Rae Lynn slowed down as she came close, then stopped.

She tried to smile when she asked him, “Wanna ride?”

He appeared surprised, but he didn’t hesitate. He quickly tossed his things in the back, before he came and stood by her window. He gazed down the road, where waves of heat made the horizon shimmer and dance.

He said, “Awful warm today.”

Rae Lynn said, “Sure is.”

“I ’preciate this.”

She said, “It’s fine.”

At least he didn’t ask why she’d changed her mind.

She said, “Where’s your family’s home?”

“Bladen County.”

Rae Lynn contemplated on what she knew. First, her house in Harnett County was a good hour away from there. Second, they didn’t have any other plans like Cornelia kept reminding her. It was true, if she were on her own, she wouldn’t have come nowhere near North Carolina. She’d have bought newspapers as she came to small towns in Georgia or South Carolina (to her mind, the closest she ought to get), search for jobs, rooms for let. That would have been what she would do, but who was to say she’d have found a thing. Not with the country still deep into this Depression. Well, they didn’t have to stay long, they could leave at any time, and it did solve their immediate problem. She felt their eyes on her, waiting.

“You said your sister would have room?”

Out of the corner of her eye, Rae Lynn detected movement. Cornelia, probably thanking the Lord she’d come to her senses.

Del said, “It’s a big ole farmhouse, got lots a room.”

“Thankee kindly for the offer. We’ll take you up on it.”

He smiled openly at her. “Sudie May will be more than obliging, I’m sure of it.”

His shadow cast long and lean against the ground in the twilight.

She gestured toward the front of the truck and said, “Them headlamps work all right, but I ain’t much for night driving.”

He said, “I don’t mind driving. We can keep going until we find a suitable spot to rest.”

Rae Lynn said, “Okay.”

She slid to the middle. It was cramped in the cab, but the work they’d done at Swallow Hill, along with the camp diet, meant all three of them were as stringy as backyard chickens. He turned the truck around, and they headed northeast once again, each minding their own thoughts. Rae Lynn tried to ignore the fact her hip and shoulder touched his, but each time the truck went over a bump, she felt him against her. Occasionally, Cornelia would point out something she thought interesting. People still fighting to save their cotton crops infested with boll weevil. A store selling watermelons out front, where Del, without a word, pulled in and bought one. He hefted it into the back, and as they continued on, they saw a man pushing a child in a homemade wooden cart. The child, a girl, rang a bell, and the cart had a sign attached to the front that said, JESUS IS COMING! ARE YOU READY? Next in sight were two boys, standing at the edge of a narrow bridge, fishing a creek with cane poles and a can a worms, while a man sat nearby directing them and drinking hooch out of a bottle.