Lee Goldberg - Hell in Heaven

Arno turned and lowered a finger toward the door, where two men who might have been his brothers were dragging a young man in by his arms. Matt thought he might have been as lovely as the girl at one point, although his face was so bruised and bloodied under his curling blonde hair it was no longer possible to tell. He was naked as well. His pubic hair was wet with sex and there was a dot of blood on his flaccid penis.

Matt heard Mouse let out a gasp. He turned and saw that she had gone pale. Her brother’s thin lips tightened until they nearly vanished, and if he’d had a chin it would have quivered in rage. He wasn’t positive, but Matt thought he knew who was supposed to have been sitting in the empty seat between them.

Arno gave a sign and his twins let the boy drop to the ground. He curled himself into a ball, as if taking this as the preamble to a stomping. Another stomping, if Matt could judge from the bruises across his chest and thighs.

“I stepped out to let my weasel free, and I heard noises coming from the hayshed,” Arno said. “Thought there might be a bobcat in there. So I flung open the door, ready to bash in its brains, and I found this vermin on top of my poor sister’s girl Tally. My poor, sainted sister who went to her grave begging me to keep her daughter from roonation.”

“What does the girl say?” Orfamay rasped angrily.

“Said she was walking to the supper and this pig of a Gilhoolie came up to her and started talking all sweet to her,” Arno said. “She told him she didn’t want anything to do with him, but he shoved her into the hayshed and slammed the door. Then he ripped her clothes off and forced himself into her.”

An angry murmur came from the Vetch side of the room. Arno’s foot lifted, ready to stomp down on the boy. But one look at Orfamay’s face brought it down again.

“He raped my sister’s girl,” Arno said.

“He didn’t!” Mouse was on her feet, about to run to the naked boy. “You all know Cal wouldn’t do that!” Vern grabbed her arm and pulled her back down into her seat. There was now an angry buzz coming from the Gilhoolie side of the room.

“I said, what does the girl say,” Orfamay said. “I want to hear it from her lips.”

Arno gave the girl a shake so hard Matt could hear her teeth rattle. “Tell her, girl. Tell them all about your shame.”

The girl stared down at the ground. Arno let her drop to her knees. Matt could see bright red stripes across her back.

“Go ahead, whore, tell Miss Orfamay what she wants to hear,” one of Arno’s brothers said, his hands clutching into fists. “Less you want more of what for.”

The girl tried to look at the boy on the ground, but Arno grabbed her head and forced her eyes up at Orfamay. “You know what happens to sluts here, girl,” Arno said. “And their families.

You wouldn’t bring that down on everyone you love. You wouldn’t blacken the name of your sainted mother like that. You go on and tell Miss Orfamay the truth.”

The girl’s lips moved, but no sound came out.

“Speak up!” Orfamay commanded.

The girl took a deep breath that nearly turned into a sob. “He raped me,” she said. “He forced me to do it.”

“That’s a lie!” Mouse shouted.

“Hush, girl,” Orfamay said, but even her ferocious tone couldn’t stop Mouse. She pulled free of Vern and leaped over the table, scooting between the legs of one of Arno’s brothers to cradle the boy’s head in her arms.

“You heard the girl,” Arno said. “You know the truth. You know what has to happen. We want justice.”

“She’s lying!” Mouse screamed, tears streaking down her face. “She made him do it, flashing her titties and batting her eyes at him. She wanted him from day one and he wouldn’t touch that dirty Vetch skin. So she made him do it!”

“That’s enough from you,” Orfamay said.

“I can prove it,” Mouse said between sobs. “You get out the boards and the stones and she’ll confess faster than she could pull off her drawers!”

One of Arno’s brothers reached down and swatted Mouse across the face, sending her sprawling on the floor. “Miss Orfamay told you to hush, Gilhoolie.”

Mouse pulled herself up on her hands and knees. “Do something, Vern,” she pleaded. “You’ve got to do something.”

Vern had only gotten paler during the inquisition. When Orfamay turned her ferocious gaze on him, he looked like he wanted to pull his chinless head down into his neck like the turtle he resembled.

“We’ve got laws,” Vern said. “We’ve got a system of justice. We can’t just take this on ourselves.”

“There’s no question here,” Arno said. “You heard-”

Orfamay held up a hand, cutting him off. “Vern Gilhoolie is right,” she said. “This is the kind of thing we no longer handle among ourselves.”

She turned to Matt. “What are you waiting for?”

Matt had been watching with increasing horror as the inquisition proceeded. When he’d first seen the people of this town he’d been concerned they were some kind of religious cult, but he hadn’t imagined it could be like this. Maybe it was the residual effect of living with Joan. Maybe her hate and evil had infected all of them, although he hadn’t seen a single sore or tumor, not even on the two who’d been trying to kill each other over a pig and a bunch of chickens.

Now they had all turned back to him. It took him a moment to understand why. “Me?”

“Who else?” Orfamay said.

“How about the police?” Matt said. “Is there a sheriff in town?” Even as he said the words he realized he hadn’t seen a trace of law enforcement since he’d gotten to town, not even a forest ranger’s truck. “We can radio for the state patrol. I think there’s a station twenty miles from the turn-off. They can get troopers here in an hour.”

“Troopers got nothing to do with our law,” Orfamay said.

“It’s not your law,” Matt said. “If there’s been a rape, there’s a state law that covers it. This boy needs to be arrested by a law enforcement officer and held by jailers until he can go to trial under the supervision of a judge. And he’s got to have a lawyer. I’m not any of those things. Are you?”

“That’s not our way,” Orfamay said.

“I don’t care if it’s your way,” Matt said. “It’s the law. You can’t just choose to ignore it and write your own legal code.”

“Our law is laid down by the lawgiver,” Orfamay said. “You killed her. Now you are our lawgiver. “

Matt tried to understand what he was hearing. They’d referred to Joan as a queen, but he hadn’t thought for a second they meant it literally. He stared at Orfamay, then turned to see the entire assembly staring back at him. “That thing made your laws?” he said finally. “She ruled over you?”

“We had to do what she said,” Vern said. “We didn’t have any choice.”

“Now you do,” Matt said. “She’s not here anymore. She’s not coming back. You can go back to settling these things the way you did before she came.”

There was a roar of approval from both sides of the room. Vetchs and Gilhoolies and Runcibles and Hogginses pounded their plates and silver against the table.

“No!” Mouse shouted from across the room. “We can’t! Don’t let them!”

“I don’t understand,” Matt said, shouting to be heard over the din. “You don’t think he’s guilty. You want to see him protected. I want the same thing.”

Mouse didn’t say anything, just put her head on her arms and wept.

Matt looked from one side of the hall to the other. The people were all standing, shouting at each other.

“Fucking rapist has to die!” shouted one Vetch.