“Do you have a plan?” Millie said.
“I thought about it,” Willa May said. “A few times. Since Miss Evvie started pinching me. And she bit me once, hard enough to bleed.” Willa May was clearly angry when she thought about this. I was willing to bet this was a face Norman and Carolyn Ann Moultry had never seen.
“So what can we do to help?” Jerry said.
“You two are nice people,” Willa May said. “I don’t want to drag you into my trouble. Before Mr. Norman starts looking for me, I’m going to go home, grab my clothes, and head off to my cousin’s house in Arkansas. My brother will take me to the state line, at least. Maybe farther. Then I’ll decide what to do next.”
The girl sounded calm and sure.
“Here’s what we’ll do,” Jerry said. “You get in the back seat of my car, crouch down low, and I’ll run you home. At least no one will see you on the street.”
Willa May stared at him for a long moment. “No, sir. I appreciate you thinking of it, but I can get home without anyone seeing me. Or at least, anyone noticing me. Everyone knows your car: white people, black people. Someone will say you were out driving. It might get back to Mr. Norman. He’ll have it in for you. He’s already suspicious.”
“I thought as much,” Jerry said. He was trying not to be worried, but he was.
“Let me loan you a dress,” Millie said. “That uniform stands out.”
This offer really hit Willa May like a brick. Her mouth fell open. “All right,” she said, very slowly, as if she expected Millie to snatch back her offer.
“Come on,” Millie said, and off they went to look in Millie’s closet.
Jerry turned to us. He waited for us to say something.
“I knew they didn’t ask us over because we’re fun,” I said to Eli.
He laughed, and Jerry looked mortified.
“You know why I’m here in Sally?” Eli asked our host.
I was interested in hearing the answer, since I didn’t know myself.
“I’ve heard you’re here to help change things,” Jerry said.
“That’s a good way to put it. Did you put up some of the money?”
“I don’t really have enough spare money to make much of a difference,” Jerry said. “We gave what cash we could.”
Millie and Willa May came back in the kitchen. Willa May was wearing a dark blue skirt and a brown-and-blue patterned blouse. Better than the light gray uniform, if you wanted to blend in with the shadows.
Jerry did not look happy, though I didn’t know why. But he didn’t object, and with an awkward hug, Willa May thanked Millie and slipped out the back door.
Millie said, “What?” the minute the door closed behind her.
“Lots of people have seen you wearing that blouse,” Jerry said. “If she gets stopped, people are going to know who helped her.”
“I haven’t worn it in three months,” Millie said. “I’ll say I gave it to her when I cleaned out my closet last spring.”
Jerry didn’t look like he thought that would erase all doubt, but he shook his head and pushed away the worry. Millie went into the kitchen, and I hoped we were about to have some chess pie.
“So now you know way more about us than we know about you,” Jerry said to Eli and me. “You know if you talk about this to anybody here, we’ll get run out of town. Maybe not right away, but people will stop coming to me with their ills, and Millie and I will have to move. Our families are here.”
“I don’t know why you’d even imagine we’d tell anyone,” Eli said.
“It’s not like we’re so popular,” I said, and I had to laugh a little. “Especially after the Nellie incident.”
“Fool girl,” Jerry said, and he almost smiled. The air in the room lightened up a little.
“Let’s just carry on as we were,” I suggested. “Best thing is to look normal. Be normal.”
We all had pie. Millie and I washed the dishes while Eli and Jerry finished their drinks. After that, Eli and I took our leave.
He and Jerry didn’t finish their talk about change in Sally.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Walking in the dark with Eli was nice. Since I was supposed to be his wife, I could hold on to his arm. But I never forgot I was guarding him, too, and since the Willa May episode got me worried, I kept my gun in my hand. I hid it in the folds of the skirt. It would be better for someone to say, “Oh my God, that woman’s carrying a gun!” than for me to be caught unawares.
And it was lucky I did that, because two men came out of the hedge lining the yard of a big house. They positioned themselves right in front of us. Eli’s hands were ready and I moved a little apart from him, ready to bring up the gun and shoot. Wasn’t pointing it at them yet, but they weren’t armed. Not with guns. One had a length of wood.
“I’m Nellie Mercer’s intended,” the taller man said. The streetlights were on, and I could tell he was thin and broad-shouldered and a damn idiot. His buddy was shorter, broader, but no smarter.
“Listen, Intended,” I said. “No one can see us. Eli and I can kill you quick as quick, and no one will know. Why are you doing this?”
“Nellie got hurt,” Intended snarled.
“You two are a good match, ’cause you’re both dumb,” I said. He stepped back to get a good swing, and Eli hit him with some magic. While he went down, I put the gun to his friend’s head. “You want this fight?” I said.
“You’d really shoot me,” Friend said.
“In a heartbeat,” I said, and smiled. Because that would be his last heartbeat.
It was the smile that did it, I figure, because Friend broke and ran. He left Intended lying there on the sidewalk.
Eli and I circled the man sprawled on the sidewalk and went on our way. We were at the hotel in less than ten minutes, and then in our room with the door locked.
And then we were together.
Eli went to sleep right away afterward, but I was awake long enough to reflect. There was so much I wasn’t clear about.
There was some kind of rebellion brewing in the Negro community, and Eli had come to ignite it… with a person Eli’d been supposed to bring with him, and that had some relationship with the Lucky Team’s lost cargo. So why hadn’t Eli brought the cargo? Who was the person, and where was he hidden?
The Negro community had been waiting for the arrival of that person. They didn’t think their plan would succeed otherwise. Also, there were white people in Sally who were on the side of this rebellion. The Fielders were among ’em. Millie and Jerry were doing what they thought was right, though they stood to lose everything by doing so. And they seemed like good people.
I was getting used to not knowing what was going to happen when I was around Eli. That wasn’t a good thing. I wondered if we could ever start out completely honest with each other. And then I fell asleep, because he was beside me snoring just a little. For now, that was good enough. But just for now.
I slept all night for the first time since I’d left Segundo Mexia, and that helped. A lot.
We went down to breakfast the next morning, each in our own silence. I had no idea what Eli had planned for the day. I hoped some of James Edward’s amigos would report they’d seen the chest.