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“They had a hijacking, but I guess they didn’t want it on the
record,
” Kathleen said drily. “Johnny will find out what happened to Clara. He worked with my uncle to track Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow and the result was—”

“Kath! Hush!” Johnny hissed.

“What’s this?” Claude said.

“Nothing. She’s been listening to her uncle’s tall tales.”

“I thought for a minute we had us a hero here.”

Kathleen was almost giddy with embarrassment. Her eyes glittered with both anger and despair. A customer came in, and Claude moved away. She couldn’t look at Johnny. With fingers that trembled, she picked up a slice of pickle Claude had placed on her plate.

“People around here don’t know anything about that part of my life.”

“Why? Are you ashamed of it?” Kathleen pressed her lips tightly together and half turned so that he couldn’t see her face.

“I just don’t want my business spread around.”

“Do Adelaide and Paul know that you’ve worked with the Federal Bureau from time to time?”

“They know that I go away sometimes for a while.”

“I’m proud of what you did. I didn’t think that I would offend you by telling Claude. Evidently I was mistaken.”

“Let’s drop it.”

“There is a lot we have to learn about each other.”

“Yes,” he said dejectedly.

They finished the meal in silence. Kathleen decided that this man she loved was far more complicated than she had imagined. It wasn’t until they were walking back toward the
Gazette
that Kathleen spoke.

“I don’t understand why it’s so important to Doc Herman to hush up what happened to Clara. Could he have had anything to do with it?”

“Stranger things have happened.”

“I keep thinking about the baby buried out on the Ramsey plot. It was buried before Hazel knew anything about it.”

“I see the wheels turning in your head right now.”

When he grinned down at her with that unfettered look of love in his eyes, happiness flowed over her. They would have their ups and downs, but if they loved—

“Do you think we should—?”

“Look in the box? I thought about it.”

“Oh, my. It gives me goose bumps to think of it.”

“I’m thinking Clara came home pregnant and had her baby at the clinic. Doc paid her for it and she left town again. Didn’t Hazel say that someone owed her money?”

“She did. Do you think Clara went back to the clinic to hit them up for more?”

“She could have.”

They were so absorbed in their conversation that they didn’t notice the man who got out of a car parked in front of the
Gazette
and stood waiting for them. With her hand tucked into the crook of Johnny’s arm she felt his steps slow, looked up, and saw Barker Fleming.

“Hello, Mr. Fleming.”

Barker tipped his Stetson. “Hello, Miss Dolan. Johnny.”

Kathleen wasn’t sure, but she thought Johnny grunted a reply.

Barker stepped over to the car and opened the door. A small dark-haired boy slid off the seat and got out. Two girls several years older than Emily got out of the backseat. One girl wore a pink-checked gingham dress, the other blue-checked. The boy was dressed in duck pants and scuffed shoes. All had the dark hair and eyes of their Cherokee ancesters.

“These are my three youngest,” Barker said proudly. The flickering of his eyes from the children to Johnny betrayed his nervousness. “They’re having a holiday from school. This is Lucas.” He touched the boy on the head. “The girls are Marie and Janna. This lady,” he said to the children, “is Miss Dolan, who works for the newspaper. And this is Johnny Henry, the
All-’Round Cowboy,
I told you about. I saw him ride at the rodeo.”

“Gol . . . ly!” Lucas took a couple of steps forward and looked up at Johnny with hero worship in his eyes. “Gol . . . ly!” he said again. “Can I see your spurs? Do you have a lasso? Gol . . . ly!”

“Daddy, can’t he say anything but Gol . . . ly?” the older girl complained. “He’s so . . . dumb.”

“Yeah, he’s dumb,” the younger girl echoed.

“He gets carried away once in a while,” Barker explained patiently to the girls, “But he is
not
dumb.”

Lucas didn’t seem to care if his sisters thought he was dumb. He was still looking expectantly up at Johnny.

“Yeah, I got a lasso,” Johnny finally mumbled. He reached out and tousled the boy’s hair.

“Can I see it . . . sometime?”

“Sure.”

“Daddy! I can see his lasso . . . and his spurs.” Lucas grabbed Barker’s hand.

“He didn’t say anything about spurs,” Marie said irritably, and rolled her eyes.

“The girls are tired from the trip. Lucas slept part of the way.” Barker opened the car door. “Hop in,” he commanded. “I’m taking them out to stay with Mrs. Howland—”

“Daddy, it stinks out there,” Marie whined.

Barker ignored his daughter’s complaint. “Howland is manager at the tannery. They live about a quarter mile south of the plant. I’ll be back in say . . . an hour?”

“Daddy—”

“Girls, we had this settled before we left home. Hush your complaining and get in the car. We’ll eat dinner at the restaurant and spend the night at the hotel.”

“Oh . . . goody.” Janna clapped her hands.

“I want to stay with Mr. Henry,” Lucas said.

“Some other time,” Barker said patiently.

Kathleen moved away from Johnny and went to the car. She leaned down to speak to the girls.

“’Bye. Nice to have met you.”

“I wanted to see your typewriter,” Marie said sulkily.

“You can see it when your daddy brings you back.”

“’Bye, Mr. Henry,” Lucas called. “Ya won’t forget?”

“No.” Johnny shook his head as he spoke. He stood as if his feet were stuck to the sidewalk.

After the car moved away, Kathleen put her arm through Johnny’s.

“You can say one thing for Barker Fleming, he has beautiful children.” Her eyes laughed up at him. “Let’s go tell Adelaide and Paul about our idea.”

“What idea?”

“About what’s
not
in that box out at the cemetery, my dear and beautiful man.”

“Now I know your brains are scrambled.” His voice was stern, but his lips were smiling.

• • •

If Adelaide and Paul noticed that Johnny didn’t address any of his remarks to Barker Fleming during the afternoon session in the pressroom, they attributed it to the fact that he was jealous of the man.

After being introduced to Barker, Judy had gone upstairs to Adelaide’s apartment to bake a cake.

“She took homemaking in school and is a good cook,” Adelaide explained, and sat down where she could see if anyone came into the office.

Kathleen started from the beginning and told Barker about being hijacked before she reached town and about the sheriff refusing to arrest the men despite the fact that she and Johnny could identify them. She related every encounter she’d had with the sheriff, the doctor, and the records clerk at the courthouse.

“Birth, death, and arrest records have not been made available to the paper,” Paul explained. “Time and again Adelaide has tried to get these records only to be told they are not yet recorded. They haven’t been sent over, and at times the records office door has been locked. I think Kathleen took them by surprise when she got in the other morning.”

Kathleen’s chart showing the names and dates she had copied from the public birth records was placed on the table. The discussion then centered on the unusual number of women who came to Rawlings to have their babies.

“Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Fort Worth; Denver, Colorado? All these women came to Rawlings to have their babies? Unbelievable,” Barker exclaimed.

“Almost two hundred over a fifteen-year period,” Kathleen said. “Mr. Dale Kilburn was in this morning. He’s sure that Clara didn’t die from being hit by a car. During the conversation he told me that it had been rumored for years that unwed girls came to the clinic to have their babies.”

“We need to have more than rumors,” Barker said. “It seems to me Dr. Herman has a stranglehold on the whole county. Do you have an extra copy of the names and dates of birth you got from the records department?”

“Judy made a copy for you. Her parents, or rather the people who now say they are not her parents, Mr. and Mrs. DeBerry, live in Fort Worth. They were disappointed in Judy when it became apparent that she had Indian blood. Judy said she heard Mr. DeBerry say something about getting his money back.”

“She’s a sweet girl. Paul and I have become quite attached to her,” Adelaide added.

“They told her that they’d gotten her here?” Johnny asked.

“She had seen her birth certificate and heard Mr. and Mrs. DeBerry discussing the fact.

“Her name is there on the list.” Kathleen said, pointing to it. “Baby girl born to Mr. and Mrs. Donald DeBerry, Fort Worth, Texas. Attending physician, Dr. Darrell Herman.”

“Darrell Herman and Louise Munday are selling babies out of that clinic,” Adelaide said staunchly. “I think that’s why he wants Clara’s murder declared an accident. He’s afraid that the state or Federal Marshals will get wind of it, come here to investigate, and maybe turn up something about what they are doing.”

“Doc Herman goes to Oklahoma City quite often for medical meetings. There may be a connection there,” Paul said.

“That’s right.” Adelaide said as she suddenly remembered. “Flossie said he was there last week.”

Barker made a few notations in a small pad.

“We’ll not get any help from the sheriff, Mr. Fleming.” Kathleen folded her notebook. “He’s in the doctor’s pocket.”

“Grant Gifford would be interested in this. He was elected attorney general a year ago. He’ll know what to do.” Johnny dropped this bit of information into the conversation.

“I heard that he was a crackerjack lawyer and straight as a string,” Barker said.

“He is.”

“I’ll get in touch with him when I go to the city. I know a good man up there who will investigate the doctor’s background and look up the parents of some of these babies born here. We could find a few more cases like the DeBerrys.”

Kathleen was burning with the urge to ask Johnny if he knew the attorney general and was relieved when Adelaide did it for her.

“Do you know Mr. Gifford, Johnny?”

“Yeah. He taught me how to pick out a tune on a guitar. He’s good, too, at lancing boils, milking, and chopping cotton among other things.” Johnny was trying not to smile.

“The state attorney general lances boils?” Kathleen asked.

“Among other things.” Johnny’s lips quirked with a supressed grin. “Don’t get in a snit. I knew him when I was a snot-nosed kid who didn’t know straight up. He’s as good a man as I ever met.”

Barker refrained from asking Johnny any questions. The relationship was fragile, and he didn’t want to put a strain on it.

Paul went to the front office, where Adelaide was collecting for a subscription.

“My father wants me to take over the running of the tannery here,” Barker said when the three of them were alone. He folded the papers Kathleen gave him and put them in his pocket.

“Will you be moving to Rawlings?” Kathleen asked.

“Not until after the first of the year. The children are in school in Elk City, and I don’t want to disrupt them.”

“They are beautiful children, Mr. Fleming. You must be very proud of them.”

“I am. They are usually well behaved. I feel that I should apologize for Marie’s and Janna’s behavior. They’re at the age where everything that Lucas does is dumb and stupid. But Elena, their sister in high school, thinks everything
they
do is dumb and stupid. The one in college thinks they all are dumb and stupid. So it evens out.” Barker’s eyes smiled as he talked of his children.

“I never had a brother or a sister. They don’t know how lucky they are.”

Barker threw up his hands. “Try and tell them that.” He stood and reached for his hat. “I’d like to take the two of you to dinner if you think the bickering between the girls and Lucas wouldn’t ruin your appetite.” He looked directly at Johnny.

“I’ve got chores out at the ranch.”

“And I’m going with him,” Kathleen said quickly. “But thanks anyway.”

“I’ll leave early in the morning and get the kids back to Elk City. I’ll be back when I have some news. I take it you don’t trust the telephone operator not to listen in.”

“You take it right.”

“I’ll figure out another way to get in touch. Good-bye, Johnny.” Barker held out his hand.

BOOK: Dorothy Garlock - [Dolan Brothers]

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