Alafair Tucker 01 - The Old Buzzard Had It Coming

there. But it don’t matter now, I expect.” He leaned back in the chair, his blue eyes widening. “He apologized to me for hiding out, don’t you know. Said he thought at first that he really had shot his dad, but now he knows it wasn’t him, so there is no need to be afraid.” The look he gave Shaw spoke volumes about what he thought of the naivety of youth. He looked back at Phoebe. “You try not to worry about your friend, darlin’,” he soothed. “I already talked to Judge Sutton about getting him a lawyer. If he’s innocent, like he says, we’ll find out.”
    Innocent and naive herself, Phoebe was comforted by the sheriff’s assurances. “Thank you, Cousin Scott,” she said. “Will I be allowed to see him, you think?”
    Scott glanced at Shaw again, whose eyebrows disappeared up under the dark hair that had fallen onto his forehead. “Maybe in a few days, Phoebe,” Scott told her, “if your mama and daddy don’t object.”
    Before Shaw could tell them whether or not he objected, Alafair leaned over the table and put her hand on Scott’s forearm. “Have you told Miz Day that you got her boy?”
    “Not yet. I was just on my way out there. In fact, I’d better get.”
    “Would you let me tell her, Scott?” Alafair asked, her voice betraying some anxiety for the first time.
    It was Shaw who responded first. “What in heaven’s name is on your mind, Alafair?” he wondered.
    “I’m the one to tell her, Alafair,” Scott interjected. “I want to tell her what her rights and obligations are, here, and answer any questions she might have about what to do now.”
    Alafair nodded. “Yes, I guess you do need to do that. But still. That poor woman never had anything but a hard time. It would be a kindness to let me break it to her first, woman to woman, rather than have the scary sheriff do it. You can come along in a half hour or so. I’ll make you out to be just a big old angel in a badge.”
    Out of the corner of her eye, Alafair could see Phoebe gazing at her, perplexed. What is on your mind, Mama, Alafair could practically hear her say. Once again, Scott looked at Shaw, and they gazed at one another in silence for a moment, wordlessly commiserating about the unfathomable female mind. At long last, he looked back at Alafair. “I guess I could do that, if you think it’s important,” he conceded, as graciously as he could. “As long as you don’t go to questioning her or giving her legal advice.”
    Alafair jumped up out of her chair with such alacrity that her feet left the floor. “Thank you. It’ll be better this way, you’ll see.” She was halfway into the parlor by now, talking to them over her shoulder. “I’ll just run over there on Missy right now. You give me, oh, forty-five minutes, then come on over.” She was shrugging into her coat.
    “You want me to come with you?” Shaw asked, standing up.
    “No, no,” she called, impatient. “This is woman stuff.”
    “Mama?” Phoebe wondered.
    “You walk me out, Phoebe,” Alafair instructed. “You might as well start supper while I’m gone.”
    Phoebe flew to her mother’s side. Only one arm was in her coat when she and Alafair walked out onto the porch.
    “Now, listen, girl,” Alafair said to her, talking fast. “Something just occurred to me and I want to ask Miz Day about it before Scott gets to her. You offer Cousin Scott and your daddy some pie. Try to stall them a bit, give me some time. Just try not to act suspicious. When they start champing at the bit, let them go.”
    “What is it, Ma?” Phoebe huffed, straining to keep up with the longer-legged Alafair as they strode toward the barn. “What are you going to ask Miz Day?”
    “I’d rather not say until I know more.”
    “Ma, why did John Lee turn himself in? He was safe where he was. He could have let us find out who done it.”
    Alafair swung the barn door open. “He was trying to protect you, silly girl,” Alafair informed her sharply. “And he was probably smart to do it. If he’d been found out in that soddie with all our blankets and food, there’s no way he could say somebody in our family didn’t help him. And turning himself in makes him look less guilty, is another thing.” She slid the halter over Missy’s head, which was hanging serenely over the stall door, and led the mare out into the barn.
    “As soon as Daddy and Scott get completely gone, you rush on out to the soddie and get rid of every trace of John Lee.” The saddle