“Where did you hear that hogwash?” Cotton asked.
“Thomas and James heard it from Simon,” Shaye said. He went on to explain how.
“Why didn’t you tell me that before?” Cotton asked.
“What difference does that make to what we’re doing?”
“Well, it makes a difference now,” Cotton said. “We don’t know which man she went to see.”
“Doesn’t really matter,” Shaye said. “We can just wait here for her to get back.”
“Marion,” Cotton said, “why don’t you put the boy to bed and make some coffee?”
“I’ll make the coffee,” Shaye said.
“No,” Marion said, “that’s all right.” She stood up. “I’ll put the baby down and then make coffee. It’ll give me something to do until Belinda gets back.” She started from the room, then turned back. “I assume we’re going to get the truth out of her tonight?”
“We’re gonna try,” Shaye said.
68
Shaye and Cotton were sitting in the living room with coffee cups when the front door opened and Belinda came in.
“Well,” she said, “nice of you to wait up for me. I’ll be going to bed now.”
“Don’t you want to check on your son?” Shaye asked.
“I assume Marion has put him to bed. Good night, gentlemen.”
“Sit down, Belinda,” Cotton said.
She stopped short.
“We’ve got some talking to do, Belinda,” Shaye said. “Do like the sheriff said and take a seat.”
She turned, stared at them defiantly for a few moments, then dropped her shoulders and walked to a chair. She sat prim and properly, with her hands in her lap. She was wearing a dress Shaye had seen her wear once before.
“Where’ve you been?” Cotton asked.
“Out walking.”
“All this time?”
“I had a lot to think about.”
“I’m thinking,” Shaye said, “that you went to talk to Collier or Simon. Which was it?”
“Simon?”
“Yeah, we know about Alvin,” Cotton said. “He says he loves you. What do you say?”
She shrugged. “He’s well fixed. He’d make a good husband.”
“But you don’t love him,” Shaye said.
“No.”
“How could you marry a man you don’t love?” Marion asked, entering the room.
“It’s not like I have a lot of choices, Marion.”
“You’re young,” Marion said. “You’ve got your whole life ahead of you.”
“Who’s gonna want a girl with a child?” Belinda asked.
“What about the child’s father?” Shaye asked. “It wasn’t Matthew, was it?”
Belinda hesitated, looked away, then said, “No, it wasn’t.”
“Did you ever know my son?”
She smiled.
“I met him once,” she said. “He was nice, gentle. We hardly spoke, but I remembered him, remembered his name and who is father was. So when I knew I needed help…”
“You lied to this man and his sons and made him come hundreds of miles?” Marion said. “To fight for you?”
Belinda lifted her chin and said, “Yes.”
“And you’re proud of it?”
“Well…I’m not sorry.”
Marion stared at Belinda, shaking her head, and then said, “I don’t know you at all, do I?”
“Nobody does, Marion,” Belinda said. “Nobody ever has. I’ve been on my own since I was fifteen. I have to look out for myself first.”
“And what about your baby?” the sheriff’s wife asked as Cotton and Shaye sat back to watch and listen. “Don’t you think you should think of him first?”
“Why should I?” Belinda asked belligerently. “My mother never thought of me first. When is it my turn?”
“You give up your turn when you have a child!”
“How would you know?”
The two women were shouting at each other now, so Shaye got between them.
“Okay, that’s enough,” Shaye said. “Belinda, did you see Jeb Collier tonight?”
“No.”
“What do you intend to do about him?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Is he your baby’s father?”
“I—I don’t know.”
“Apparently he thinks he is,” Cotton said. “Are you willing to leave here with him—with your baby?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I might be willing to leave with him, but I don’t know if I should take the baby.”
“Don’t take him,” Marion said. “Leave him here with us. We’ll raise him right, Belinda.”
“I don’t even know if I’m going!” Belinda shouted. “Maybe I’ll stay and marry Alvin—if Jeb doesn’t kill him or me.”
“Jeb’s not going to kill anyone, Belinda,” Shaye said. “We’re not going to let him.”
“That’s what you say,” Belinda said. “How do I know you can stop him?”
“You don’t know,” Shaye said. “None of us do, for sure.”
“Can I go to bed now?” Belinda asked. “I’m tired.”
“Are you having breakfast with Jeb in the morning?” Shaye asked.
“I think I should, don’t you?” Belinda asked, getting to her feet. “I have some decisions to make.”
“You wanted protection from Jeb Collier,” Cotton said. “How could you even consider leaving with him?”
“I have a lot of thinking to do, Riley,” she said. “I have to decide what’s best for me.”
“Go on to bed, Belinda,” Shaye said. “We’ll talk tomorrow—after your breakfast.”
Belinda left the room without saying good night to anyone.
“I don’t understand her,” Marion said.
“And you’re a woman,” Shaye said. “If you don’t understand her, how do you think we feel?”
69
Thomas was awake when the sun came up the next morning. James and Thad were both upstairs in empty cells, sleeping. He stood up from the desk, stretched, and walked to the front door. He opened it and took a deep breath, wondering what the day was going to bring. What he wanted was for this whole business to come to an end so he and his brother and father could get on with their lives. They all had decisions to make when they left Pearl River Junction, which couldn’t happen soon enough to suit him.
Sunlight came through the cell window and a stripe of it struck James right in the eyes. He woke and sat up on the pallet, rubbing his face vigorously. In the next cell Thad was snoring. Across from them, in another cell, the two prisoners were also sawing wood.
