Alafair Tucker 01 - The Old Buzzard Had It Coming

do to make up for not keeping Daddy from killing her in the first place.”
    “Oh, honey!” Alafair choked out.
    Josie put a hand on Alafair’s arm. “Well, when did you manage to shoot him without anybody seeing you?” she asked Naomi.
    “Middle of the night. I don’t like to use the night jar, so I got up to go to the outhouse and seen him there by the house. He was laying right close to my hiding place. It wasn’t hard to pull it out and load the little pistol. I only had but one bullet in the bundle, but it was easy enough. Wasn’t even hardly loud enough to wake a bird.”
    “But your mama and John Lee both said you were all together in the parlor that night and nobody stirred that they saw,” Alafair said.
    Naomi shrugged and almost smiled. “I did. Nobody ever notices whether I come or go or anything.”
    Naomi gazed up at the two women trustingly, relieved to have it out at last. Josie was pale as a ghost, absently stroking the girl’s hair. Tears of grief and rage were rolling down Alafair’s cheeks.
    “He had it coming,” she whispered to Josie through clenched teeth. “The old buzzard had it coming.”
    ***
    Three hours later, a solemn group of women sat in a circle of cane-bottomed chairs around the Franklin stove in the Day parlor, waiting for Naomi and the men to return from the woods with news of Maggie Ellen Day. Alafair sat nearest the front door with Phoebe, and Phoebe’s chosen support, Alice, next to her. Josie had positioned her chair close to the kitchen, holding Frances on her comfortable, well-padded lap. Mrs. Day was next, twisting her handkerchief in her lap and staring blankly at the floor. Mary was in the kitchen with the younger Day children. Martha was at home with the younger Tucker children.
    There was nothing to say. This was hardly the resolution anyone expected, or wanted.
    “What will happen to Naomi?” Mrs. Day wondered, out of the silence.
    “I don’t know, Miz Day,” Alafair admitted. “But under the circumstances, I can’t imagine it will be very bad.”
    “I expect not,” Josie agreed. “Even if she weren’t so aggrieved, she’s only thirteen.”
    Mrs. Day glanced up at them from under her eyebrows. “I hope not,” she said dully. “I depend on her quite a lot.”
    They all sat up straight at the sound of the men tramping into the yard and up the porch steps. Phoebe leaped to her feet and opened the door to admit them. Mary appeared in the kitchen door, holding Alfred Day on her hip.
    The sheriff entered first, and Mrs. Day stood up. “Maggie Ellen?” she asked anxiously.
    Scott glanced toward the Day children gathered around Mary’s skirt, then gave Mrs. Day an almost imperceptible nod.
    Mrs. Day nodded back at him. Her eyes filled and she sat back down heavily. “My baby,” she said. The tears flooded down her cheeks, and she emitted a thin moan. Alafair moved over to her side and began helplessly patting the woman on the back.
    Shaw had followed Scott in, shepherding Naomi by the shoulders. Close behind him were a white-faced, red-eyed John Lee, and Gee Dub. Alafair hadn’t wanted Gee Dub to go on this detail, but he was fifteen now, and in his father’s charge. He had held the horses while the men dug. He didn’t look as though he had enjoyed it any.
    Alafair signaled Mary and Alice, who relieved Josie of little Frances, and the two young women herded the children back into the kitchen and out of earshot.
    “We found her right where Naomi showed us,” Scott began. “Doctor Addison and Jack Cecil are still out there getting her arranged decently in a box and all. I expect we’ll have to take her into town, Miz Day, for a while, so that the doctor can examine her and see if he can determine what happened. She’s been in the ground a long time, ma’am, so he may not be able to tell.” He looked down at Naomi. “It’s just as Naomi said, I’m sure,” he acknowledged.
    “Miz Day wants to know what will happen to Naomi, now?” Alafair asked for the mother.
    Scott placed his hand on Naomi’s head. “Yes, she asked me that herself,” he told her. “I’m going to talk to the city judge, Mr. Sutton, tonight, and maybe Lawyer Meriwether. Miz Day, you and Naomi may have to come back to Muskogee with me in a day or two so she can tell the county judge the story herself. But I’ll be surprised if any charges are filed, under the circumstances.”
    ***
    Shaw unobtrusively slipped out the door to go back out to the woods, and he