Southern Discomfort

'I finished,' he said belligerently.

'Then you've heard of the Emancipation Proclamation?'

'That the one that says women got the same rights as men?'

'No, Mr. Trogden, that's the one that says slavery is abolished. No one may own another human being.'

He subsided and I pronounced him guilty of assault.

'I ain't going to jail for just 'cause she marks easy,' he muttered.

'If I rule you in contempt, Mr. Trogden, I guarantee you will see the inside of a jail.' I looked at Tracy. 'What's the state asking, Ms. Johnson?'

She suggested that Trogden pay Ms. Epps's medical bills and be made to stay away from her permanently.

'Stand up, Mr. Trogden,' I said. 'This court orders that you be imprisoned for a term of ninety days, sentence —'

Before I could finish saying that the sentence would be suspended on condition that he pay court costs, a hundred-dollar fine, and Ms. Epps's medical bills, and that he promise not to go near her, Trogden roared to his feet and snatched up the Bible lying there in front of him.

'I ain't going to no jail!' he howled and reared back and heaved the Bible at me as hard as he could.

I ducked instinctively and it slammed into the wall behind me with so much force that one of the hard corners left a dent in the wood paneling.

Officer Mayleen Richards, a Dobbs police rookie, and an elderly bailiff wrestled him to the floor and snapped handcuffs on him.

'See?' cried Tammy Epps and promptly burst into tears in Lu's arms.

Trogden came up from the floor snarling curses for every woman that ever walked, and I changed his suspended sentence to an active one and had him removed from my courtroom.

'Court's adjourned till tomorrow morning,' I said.

'Oyez, Oyez, Oyez,' the bailiff intoned. 'This honorable court stands adjourned until tomorrow morning at nine o'clock. God save the state and this honorable court.'

“Good reflexes, Your Honor,' said Phyllis Raynor.

As I left the courthouse, I ran into Julia Lee and her miniature poodle. (Ever since Miss Sallie's Queenie disappeared, Julia stopped leaving CoCo unattended.) CoCo was happy to see me, but Julia was flushed with indignation. 'That Health Department man! I'm a good mind to have John Claude sue him for slander.'

'O'Connor? What's he done?' I asked, shaking the dainty paw that CoCo offered me.

'Somebody told him our Martha Circle catered Ginger McGee's wedding and he's over there in First Methodist's kitchen right this minute. He's even saying that if arsenic does turn up in Ralph's body, he'll want to know the names of all the women who did both your reception and Ginger's, too. A Martha!' She took a deep breath to steady herself. 'So what I need to know is was that Bannerman person at your reception? Gladys says he certainly wasn't invited to theirs.'

'I have no idea, Julia.' There had been such a crush of people and at that time I didn't know Carver Bannerman from Adam's housecat. 'It was a public event though, so I suppose it's possible he could have stepped in for a cookie if he was here at the courthouse. Want me to ask Annie Sue and her friends if they noticed?'

'Please,' she said crisply. 'The Martha Circle does too much good with the funds they raise to have its image besmirched. Heel, CoCo.'

Obediently, CoCo heeled and followed Julia on into the courthouse.

I continued down the side steps and in through the basement entrance to the sheriff's department to see if Dwight wanted to come have a quick drink before I had to drive Aunt Zell and Uncle Ash to the airport.

He was standing in the doorway of Bo Poole's office and he and Bo both grinned soon as they saw me. Might've known the bailiff wouldn't waste time telling them every detail.

'I know you're still new at the job,' Dwight said, 'but judges are supposed to throw the book, not duck it.'

'You laugh, but those hardback Bibles ought to be changed to paperbacks. I could have been injured for life. Any word from the lab yet?'

'Nope,' said Bo. 'They've got so much on their plate it looks like Friday before we hear for sure. How's Herman?'

'We're real worried about his legs,' I admitted. 'They still don't know if his nerve damage is permanent. He's getting therapy, but they're also teaching him how to maneuver in a wheelchair.'

'And that joker from Environmental Health still can't figure out where he got that arsenic,' Bo fumed.

'Got to give him A for effort though,' I said. 'Julia Lee's mad because he's over at First Methodist's kitchen right this minute.'

'How come? Was Bannerman at your swearing-in? Ralph sure as hell wasn't.'

I explained about how the Marthas had catered his daughter's wedding, and we kicked it around a few minutes.

'Y'all locate Bass Langley yet?'

'Tell you the truth, we hadn't been looking all that hard,' Dwight admitted. 'His brother doesn't seem worried, and Ava says she doesn't want him back.'

'Maybe you should take her up on her offer and check out that dumpster back of the Coffee Pot,' I said