Jubilee's Journey (The Wyattsville Series) (19 page)

“You got something else bothering you?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I suppose.”

He waited and said nothing.

Minutes passed before she spoke again. “If Paul ain’t dead, how come he don’t come back?”

Ethan had hoped she wouldn’t ask this question. He’d hoped she was young enough and gullible enough to simply accept that if the roof of the store was intact her brother would sooner or later reappear. She wasn’t.

“Maybe Paul had to run off, so he wouldn’t get caught,” he finally said.

Jubilee’s expression was one of bewilderment. “Get caught for what?”

Ethan turned to her. “Look, Jubie, I know you didn’t have nothing to do with it, but you gotta know there was a robbery in that store.”

She gave a reluctant nod.

“I’m betting your brother was in on it.”

“He was not!”

“Look, you said he went into Klaussner’s, and you ain’t seen him since. Well, two men went in there and robbed the store. They shot poor Mister Klaussner, and he shot one of them. The other one got away.”

“Paul ain’t no robber!”

“I ain’t saying for sure he is. But two men was in the store, and two men came out. One ran away; the other one got took to the hospital.”

“Paul ain’t no robber,” she repeated. This time her voice quivered, and tears had begun to well in her eyes.

Ethan scooted closer and put his arm around the girl. “It ain’t easy knowing your own kin did something bad. My daddy did way worse than Paul, but Grandma Olivia said that ain’t no reflection on me. So Paul being a robber ain’t no reflection on you.”

“He ain’t no robber!”

Moving on Ethan said, “You still got Aunt Anita, just like I got Grandma Olivia.  Not knowing a person beforehand don’t matter, they love you ‘cause you’re kin.” Ethan remembered Grandma Olivia was not actually blood kin and added, “Sometimes they love you even if you’re just kin to their kin.”

Jubilee listened but kept her eyes to the ground as Ethan spoke. When he finished, she turned to him. “I don’t want to find Aunt Anita. Paul’s gonna take care of me, and I gotta find him.”

“Jeez, Jubie, if Paul ran off I got no idea where he’d go.”

“What if he got shot?”

“He’d be in the hospital.”

“Let’s go see in the hospital.” There was a steely-eyed look of determination in Jubilee’s eyes, one Ethan Allen recognized right off.

He rolled his eyes. “The hospital’s way on the other side of town, and I ain’t supposed to cross Mercer Street.”

But when she said, “You gotta help me,” he knew he would.

After a considerable amount of back and forth, he elicited her promise that if the man in the hospital wasn’t Paul she’d try to help find Aunt Anita. They climbed back on the bicycle and headed crosstown. The plan was to say they were friends of the man who was shot and ask to visit him. Ethan advised against Jubilee mentioning she was his sister, because she might then be considered an accomplice. 

As fate would have it, Loretta Clemens was working at the Mercy General Hospital visitor’s desk, and she was a friend of Olivia’s. Ethan figured that to be in their favor and approached the desk with a big smile.

“Hey, there, Missus Clemens,” he said. “Mighty fine day, ain’t it?”

She eyed him suspiciously. “Ethan Allen, what are you doing way over on this side of town?”

“I’m watching out for her.” He shook a thumb toward Jubilee. “She’s here to see the guy what got shot.”

“Shot?” Loretta repeated. “She’s a friend of Sid Klaussner?”

“No, the other guy.”

Loretta raised an eyebrow. “What business has a kid got visiting a criminal?”

“He ain’t really no criminal,” Ethan said. “He’s a friend of Jubie’s brother, so she figured it would be neighborly to stop by and ask how he’s feeling.”

“Does your grandma know you’re here?”

“I can’t say exactly, but I sorta think she does.”

“Yeah, well, I sort of think she doesn’t,” Loretta said emphatically. “Now you kids get out of here and haul your butt back to the other side of town where you belong. Nobody’s seeing nobody, especially not that criminal.”

Until now Jubilee had kept quiet as Ethan told her to do, but as they turned to leave she gave Loretta a black look and said, “He’s not a criminal!”

“That’s for the law to decide, missy,” Loretta answered.

Ethan whispered something in Jubilee’s ear, and they turned as if on their way out. It was too late; Loretta had already seen the glint in his eye.

“Ethan Allen, I hope you’re not thinking you’ll sneak upstairs, because there’s a policeman standing guard and he’ll shoot your butt off the minute you step foot on that floor.”

“I wasn’t thinking no such thing,” he answered and kept walking.

“Does that mean we ain’t doing it?” Jubilee said in a too-loud whisper.

“Yeah,” Ethan answered, “it means we ain’t doing it.”

Before Ethan and Jubilee were back across Mercer Street, Loretta had telephoned Olivia and reported the incident.

Olivia

W
hen the telephone rang, I suspected it was going to be trouble. I rather thought it would be Missus Brown telling me Ethan had skipped school or, worse yet, brought Jubilee in with him. It wasn’t. It was Loretta over at the hospital.

Loretta’s a bit of a gossip and I knew she was itching to learn more about Jubilee, so when she started hinting around I played dumb. When she came right out and asked who the girl was and why the kids were chasing after that criminal, I opened the apartment door and pushed my own doorbell.
I’ve got to go,
I told Loretta,
somebody’s at the door.
  It may not have been the most honorable thing to do, but telling Loretta anything is the same as putting it on a billboard in the center of town.

At least Loretta didn’t let the kids in, which is something to be thankful for.

I’ve come to the conclusion that Paul is either in the hospital or running from the law. There simply is no other explanation for why he’d leave Jubilee and not bother coming back. I can’t for the life of me understand a boy who would carry a Bible around if he was planning to rob a store. Maybe he wasn’t planning it; maybe he just got to the point where he had no other alternative. If a person gets desperate enough, they’ll do most anything. Right now I’m feeling pretty desperate myself.

I’m fearful that without her brother’s help, I’m never going to find Jubilee’s aunt. If I could just talk to the boy I know he’d have the decency to give me Anita’s address. Even a criminal would do that for their baby sister. But if Paul is the one in the hospital and I show up asking to talk to him, somebody will put two and two together and realize I’ve got Jubilee. Once that occurs the authorities will scoop that child up and ship her off to an orphanage. I’m just not willing to let that happen.

Funny, I never thought I’d be the one taking in orphans and telling lies so they could stay safe. If Francine Burnam could see me now, she’d most likely laugh her panties off. Even I’m laughing…that is, when I’m not worrying.

Thank the Lord I’ve got friends willing to help. Fred McGinty said his niece works at the hospital, and he’s going to ask if she can get him to talk with Paul. George Walther is also going to help. He’s got a part-time job cleaning up at the police station, just the offices not the prison part. George said he’ll keep his eyes and ears open, but if I know George he’ll most likely do a bit of pilfering through the waste baskets before he empties them.

If neither of these things work out, there’s one more person I can call on. Of course, it’s been a while and I’m not sure Jack Mahoney will even remember me.

In the Wee Hours

W
hen Paul’s eyes fluttered open, the room was darkened. He saw little more than a blur of sights and sounds, none of them familiar. In the distance there were lights and people—ghostly figures that moved slowly and without sound. Strange whooshes of air sounded in his ear. The feel of it was close, too close. He listened for a moment. More sounds: whirring, beeping. Green lights bouncing and jumping. Smells: harsh bitter smells, like the lye used on wash day. Paul tried to call out for his mother, but there was only a raspy whisper in a voice that was not his.