Sherryl Woods - After Tex

Tess trembled with indignation. “Oh, yeah, try telling that to him. He was about to slap handcuffs on me and take me to the slammer.”

Jake figured there was another side to the story that he’d better hear before he leaped too trustingly to Tess’s defense. “Bryce?”

The sheriff didn’t mince words. “Aunt Emma caught her shoplifting. Lyle called me to get over here. He tried to hold her till I arrived, but she made a break for it. I nabbed her out here.”

Jake turned to Tess. “Is that so?”

Tess’s gaze met his and never flinched. “I didn’t take anything from the old bat’s store. All she’s got is a bunch of junk, anyway.” Once again she cast a disparaging look toward Lyle. “He probably put her up to it. He’s mean as a snake and everybody in town knows it.”

“Why, you little punk,” Lyle began, taking a step in Tess’s direction. He backed off at a sharp look from his cousin.

Since Jake had had his own run-ins with the paranoid shopkeeper and her spoiled son, he would have been inclined to believe Tess, even if she hadn’t just hired him to be on her side. Lyle had always been eager to make trouble for anyone weaker than he was. In those days, Jake’s only weakness had been his lack of anyone to stand by him. He’d settled more than one argument with Lyle with his fists. Fortunately, he had grown out of the habit.

“What’d she steal?” Jake asked the sheriff.

Bryce rocked back on his heels and looked vaguely uneasy. “That part’s a little hazy, what with the commotion of catching up to Tess before she got away.”

“Then I suggest we all go inside and get our facts straight,” Jake said, starting for the general store, where Mrs. Perkins waited in the doorway just behind her son, hands on ample hips.

“I might have known you’d take the girl’s side,” she said, scowling at Jake with a sour expression before turning an equally sour look on Bryce Davis. “I expected more of you, Sheriff, especially since you’re family.”

“Nobody’s taking sides, Aunt Emma,” Bryce said soothingly. “We just need to figure out what happened here. What did you see?”

“She was right over there,” Mrs. Perkins said, gesturing toward a case filled with school supplies. “I looked up and saw her hand go in her pocket. When it came out again, it was empty. She stole some of them pens, or maybe the stickers the kids like so much.”

“Did you see her with either pens or stickers in her hand?” Jake asked.

Bryce scowled at him. “I’ll ask the questions, son.”

Jake shrugged. “Be my guest, but I reserve the right to ask a few of my own if you don’t get at the truth in a hurry.”

“Well, Aunt Emma, did you see the girl with those items, or anything else, for that matter?”

“No, but I know what kind of mischief her kind gets into.”

The hairs on the back of Jake’s neck stood up at the characterization, but he forced himself to deal with one thing at a time. Most important was clearing up whether or not Tess had shoplifted so much as a paper clip from the old bat.

“Tess, honey, did you ever pick up any of the things Mrs. Perkins mentioned?”

“Do I look like I play with stickers?” she shot back, giving the storekeeper a belligerent glare. “As for pens, Tex practically bought them by the case because he was always chomping off the end, once the doc told him he had to stop smoking cigars. I sure as heck don’t need hers.”

Jake hid a grin. “That’s not the issue,” he admonished. “Did you put anything into your pockets?”

“No. If you want to, you can check.” She shot a triumphant look at the shopkeeper, but when the sheriff stepped forward, she scowled. “Not you. Jake.”

“That okay with you, Bryce?”

“I suppose,” he said with obvious reluctance.

Jake emptied Tess’s pockets, turning them inside out for the sheriff’s benefit. He came up with a candy bar wrapper, a couple of pennies, some lint and a wilting daisy, which he suspected came from Tex’s funeral bouquet.

“Satisfied?” Tess demanded, eyeing them all belligerently.

“My apologies,” Bryce said, then looked toward Jake. “I had no choice. You know that, don’t you?”

“Can I sue him now?” Tess asked. “Her, too?”

“We’ll talk about it,” Jake said. When Tess appeared ready to balk, he added, “Over ice cream.”

She followed him docilely enough after that. When they were back on the sidewalk outside, he paused. “How’d you get into town, anyway? And why would you go into that store when you know how Mrs. Perkins is? She thinks every kid in town is out to rob her blind.”

“I came in with Megan. As for the other…” Tess shrugged. “I guess I just like to see her get herself all worked up watching me every second. That Lyle, though, he gives me the creeps.”

“Then I suggest you steer clear of the place. Now, where’s Megan?”

“Beats me. I pointed her in the direction of the new office-supply place, then took off. She didn’t seem real disappointed to see me go.”

“Did you arrange to meet her someplace?”

Tess shrugged. “I figured we’d both turn up at the car sooner or later.”

Jake sighed. Clearly Tess intended to make him work for his answers. She was volunteering nothing. “Where’d she park?” he asked next.

“A couple of blocks that way,” Tess conceded, jerking a thumb over her shoulder.

“Let’s go see if she’s there.”

“I thought we were going for ice cream.”

“We will, after we find Megan and let her know you’re okay.”

“Like she’d care,” Tess muttered.

Obviously things weren’t going smoothly with the bonding. “Don’t you think maybe you should give her a break?” he asked.

“Why? She doesn’t give a rat’s behind about me.”

“Maybe because she hasn’t had a chance to get to know you, any more than you’ve taken the time to get to know her.”

“What’s the use? She’ll leave.”

To his very deep regret, Jake’s heart thudded at that. “Has she said that?”

“No, but she will. Everybody does.”

Jake gave up trying to argue the point. All the evidence in her young life was on her side. It would take time to prove that Meggie was different, that she had staying power. For Tess’s sake, he prayed to God he was right about that. She was already jaded enough without another disappointment.

“Any idea what she was getting at the office-supply place?” he asked.

Tess shot him a disgusted look. “Duh! Office supplies would be my guess.”

“You know, kid, one of these days somebody’s going to take exception to that smart mouth of yours.”

“Oh, yeah? Who?”

“Lyle Perkins for one. You did your darnedest to rile him back there.”

She grinned. “I know,” she said proudly. “Who else?”

“Me.”

“And then what?” she asked, clearly unintimidated. “You gonna lock me in my room?”

“No. I’ll wash your mouth out with soap, the way my mama used to do with me.”

Tess’s eyes widened. “She did that? Oh, gross.”

“Gross pretty much sums it up, but it was effective. I cleaned up my language. Think about it.”

Jake fell silent, as did Tess, though whether she was actually pondering his warning was anybody’s guess. She trailed along a step or two behind him, scuffing the toes of her sneakers on the sidewalk.

He spotted Megan up ahead, looking predictably more impatient than worried.

“There you are,” she said, when she noticed Tess behind him. “Where on earth have you been? I’ve been waiting here for a half hour at least.”

Tess shot an imploring look his way. Jake relented and left the encounter with the sheriff and Mrs. Perkins unmentioned. “Visiting with me,” he said. “We were going for ice cream and came to ask you to join us.”