The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree (Berkley Prime Crime)

him to another tree, where they boosted him up high. Scooter ran off in one direction and Junior ran off in the other, circling around through the marsh and crisscrossing their trails until they got back home.
    This tactic naturally confused the dogs, of course, when they were brought in. They tracked Joey off the road and into the swamp, but when they got to the sweet gum tree, they lost the scent completely, circling around and sniffing. They never did pick up the trail. When the dogs were pulled off for the night, the boys went out and brought Joey back and hid him under Lucy’s bed.
    “So he wasn’t already here when Jed came,” Ophelia said, trying to get the sequence of events straight in her mind.
    “No, he was still out there in the swamp.” Lucy met her eyes. “To tell the truth, Opie, I wanted Jed here so that the sheriff wouldn’t suspect Scooter and Junior of having anything to do with Joey getting away. Jed doesn’t know anything about Joey.” Her forehead puckered. “Say you won’t tell him. Please!”
    Ophelia hesitated. She knew her husband, all too well. He took his duties as Darling’s mayor very seriously. She didn’t like keeping secrets from him—it made her feel disloyal. It made her feel ... Oh, it was hard to describe, almost as if she were disobeying one of the Ten Commandments. But if Jed knew, he’d insist that the boy be sent back to the prison farm immediately.
    “I won’t tell him,” she said at last. “It feels like being between a rock and a hard place, but I won’t tell him.”
    Lucy looked relieved. “You should have seen the poor boy, Opie,” she said soberly. “He was skinny as a fence rail, scratches all over him and welts on his back from the overseers’ whips. Wrists like sticks, too, and his eyes all hollow, and of course not a hair on his poor shaved head. Once I started feeding him, though, he began to look a little better.”
    Which must be why, Ophelia thought, Lucy had run out of food and had been desperate to get to the grocery store. “What are you going to do?” she asked. “He can’t stay here forever. Ralph will be back in a week or so, won’t he?”
    Lucy sighed. “Yes. Joey has to be gone before Ralph comes home. He’d be furious if he ever found out what the boys and I have done. They won’t tell, of course. They’d be scared of a thrashing.” She looked grave. “I have a plan, but I need help, Opie. Ralph’s Studebaker still isn’t running. I was going to take Junior’s horse, but that foreleg is still pretty bad. I need you to drive Joey and me to—”
    “No, no!” Ophelia protested quickly, shaking her head. “Not me. I can’t help, Lucy. Jed would ...” She shivered, imagining what her husband would say—and do—if he caught her aiding and abetting a convict’s escape. “Why, he’d be as mad as Ralph. Maybe madder.”
    “I don’t give a hoot about Jed Snow, Opie,” Lucy said fiercely. “And now that you’ve discovered our secret, you’re obligated. You are going to help me get Joey out of here, to a place that’s safe. It’s not hard—your part of it. All you have to do is drive the car. I’ll do the rest. And I don’t want to hear any excuses. Got that?” She leaned forward, looking stern. Her voice no longer sounded like lemon-meringue pie. “Got that?”
    Ophelia gulped. Lucy was much tougher than she had thought. “I guess so,” she said in a small voice. She heaved a heavy sigh. “Yes, I guess so. When do we have to do this?”
    “Today,” Lucy replied. “Like you said, he can’t stay here forever. Every day makes it more likely that somebody’ll stumble over him, the same way you did.” She pressed her lips together. “Next time, he might get shot, instead of just getting beaned with a jar of jam.”
    Ophelia pretended she didn’t hear that. “Today?” She gave a rueful little laugh. “Well, that lets me out, I’m afraid. If it’s a car you need, and if you want it today, you’ll have to find somebody else.”
    Lucy narrowed her eyes. “Why?”
    “Because the Ford has a flat.” Ophelia made a face. “I parked it beside the road and walked the rest of the way here. There’s a spare on the back but I have no idea how to change it—Jed always handles things like that. I was going to call him later today and ask him to send somebody out to do it for me.”
    “A flat?” Lucy laughed. “Is that all? Well, you can stop worrying your head about that. I’m a champion tire