Rocky Mountain Justice (The Legend of Camel's Hump) (14 page)

Then the sheriff came out the door of the home, dragging something. It took a moment for the scene to come into focus for the silent watchers. Then both Red and Dawn let out low exclamations. Red’s “Holy Shit!” came out simultaneously with Dawn’s “Oh God, No!”

A dark-skinned girl was being half-dragged out of the house behind the sheriff. Her hands were loose, but there were leg irons on her feet and a gag was in her mouth. Her torn shirt and unbuttoned jeans told the watchers all they needed to know about what had been happening in the house.

Dawn sat back, dropping her binoculars. She was crying, silently but violently. Under her breath, she kept repeating, “Oh my God! Oh my God! What have we done? What have we done?” She crumpled until she was prone in the dirt, her shoulders shaking as she kept repeating her litany. Red glanced at her, then grabbed the camera and began taking pictures, keeping his focus on the scene below them.

Sheriff Montgomery threw the girl into the stone building, but they didn’t lock it immediately. Red could see the two men talk quietly about something for a short time. Then Ike left and went into the house. He came out with a small stack of blankets. The two on the hill could see through the open door that the stone building had been furnished with a cot and some rudimentary furniture since they had noticed it before. The sheriff closed and locked the door and the two went back to the porch, sat down and lit cigarettes.

Red put the camera down and turned to Dawn, saying, “C’mon, let’s get out of here. We need to talk to Jerry.” She nodded and, still crying silently, began the walk back to the road. She didn’t – couldn’t – look back. Red followed in her wake, completely lost in thought.

They found Jerry and Ray working on the house, painting walls. Other workers were installing trim around the floors and ceilings. The house hadn’t been finished in time to move in on the celebration day, but it was almost complete

This time Dawn and Red were more subdued when they interrupted the workers. They walked in and purposely admired the completed work, giving congratulations to the people who had accomplished this small miracle. Finally, Dawn was able to catch Jerry’s eye and she nodded toward the door, trying to signal him. But she didn’t have to make any signals. After one look at her face, even though she was trying to hide her thoughts, Jerry knew something was wrong. “Can I finish this last wall? That will complete the place and I can get away then.” He only had a small part still to do, so Dawn nodded, “We’ll wait for you out on the porch.” Jerry redoubled his efforts and was soon outside with them. Ray followed a moment later.

Dawn couldn’t wait to tell the story. She started to say something as soon as he walked out the door, but he put his finger to his lips and walked off the porch, away from the house and its workers. The other three followed him.

He stopped a few feet from the house, about where the old lilac bushes had once grown, and said, “OK, what happened?” That opened a flood of words from both Dawn and Red. Jerry laughed at their excitement. “Slow down, Guys. I can’t understand a thing.” That was the last time he laughed for a long, long, time.

Dawn then started talking, with Red only interrupting occasionally to clarify points that she made. Soon the whole story had poured out. Jerry and Ray were startled by the developments, but secretly they had been expecting something like this. During these long summer nights, while they had been sharing the bedroom at Jerry’s home, they had been staying awake a lot, talking and speculating about the sheep ranch and its habitants. Secretly they had quietly agreed that they didn’t think that Annette had ever been taken back the Big River jail. They had decided that the truth was far worse and they had made plans to begin looking for her body. Thinking ahead, they had agreed that it wouldn’t be long before something else would happen at the ranch. Now it was here and they were ready.

Jerry spoke first. “It’s happened. We knew something was gonna break loose, and it has. We’ve gone as far as we can without help. I think that we need to tell some grown-ups about this. Do you guys agree?” The other three teenagers looked at one another and slowly came to an agreement, nodding their heads and chorusing “Yeah”. Dawn put the question that was on all of their minds into words, “But who do we tell?”

“That’s a tough one,” Jerry said, “We can’t tell too many people or it’ll be a mess. We don’t want Ike to hear about anything until we’re ready to move. And we don’t want anybody else hurt while we’re getting our act together. So we have to be careful. But Ray and I have talked a lot about this and we think that there are two people in town that have the ability to put together a battle plan and keep the secret until the time is right. Those people are Dawn’s Dad and mine. I think that we need to get them together and tell them what we know right away.” This proclamation caused Dawn’s mouth to fly open in protest. But she stopped herself and closed it, thinking hard. Red nodded his agreement and the three boys looked at Dawn, waiting for her comments.

Dawn looked from face to face, wanting to protest, but knowing that Jerry was right. She shuddered, thinking about the evil she might be unleashing on her beloved family. She took a very deep breath and steadied herself. “You’re right. It has to be them. Let’s get them together tonight or tomorrow morning before the festivities start.” With that, the plan was done. Now they had to get the two men away from all of the Labor Day partiers somehow.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:

Adult Intervention

F
inding the two men turned out to be impossible that evening. But the next morning they found them sitting together on the porch of Honest Tom Cochran’s bar; sipping coffee and watching the world go by. Jerry and Dawn joined them and, when there was a lull in the conversation, asked them if they would come over to the Parker home. They knew they would have privacy there because Mrs. Parker was working in a children’s game booth at the celebration. Both men immediately agreed, although George Parker had a very strange, apprehensive, look on his face.

The four walked together down the street to the Parker home, finding Ray and Red waiting for them, setting at a picnic table in the yard. They joined them and Big George opened with, “All right, we’re here. What’s so important?” But the look on his face told them that he really didn’t want to know the answer. The four teenagers looked at one another for a long moment before Jerry nervously blurted out, “We have to talk about something we’ve learned about Sheriff Montgomery and Ike Schumann.”

A look of total relief came over George Parker’s face. “Thank God!” He paused for a long moment, sat back and visibly relaxed his big body. “When you kids told us that you needed to talk, all I could think of was that you” he looked at Dawn, “might be pregnant. Thank God it’s only those two idiots on your minds.”

Both Jerry and Dawn started talking at the same time, both sputtering denials. Finally Jerry broke through. “Mr. Parker, I wouldn’t do anything that would ever cause Dawn that kind of shame. We’ve agreed that we’re waiting until we’re married and we really mean that.” Dawn backed him up. “That’s right, Dad. I can’t believe that you would think so little of me – or us!” She was mad and it showed. George fell back on his seat with his hands up in front of his face. “OK, OK. I surrender!” He was laughing so hard he could hardly talk. Then Wayne picked up on the humor and made his contribution. “Yeah, George. You are a paranoid butthead! How could you have so little faith in these two innocent children?” He was laughing as hard as George. It became contagious and soon the whole group had joined in. The laughter was long, hard, and cleansing. When it finally died to a trickle, much of the initial nervousness had abated and the four teens were feeling a lot more comfortable.

Jerry started the tale. “We’ve been keeping an eye on Ike’s place for the past few months, since the big blow-up with the sheriff.” At that, the two fathers exploded with each trying to out-shout the other. The four teen-agers waited for them to stop yelling, but it went on for minutes. They were mad, especially at Jerry, for taking this kind of risk.

Finally Dawn couldn’t take it anymore. “God Damn it! This is too important. Shut up and listen!” That stopped them and shocked everyone. Jerry looked at her and said “Wow!” before he continued with the story. After Dawn’s outburst, the two men sat silently as the tale unfolded. When Jerry got to the part about Dawn’s talk with Annette, Dawn chimed in with some details and the men asked questions, but then they fell silent. Jerry continued until he got to today’s revelations. When he told them about seeing the new girl being dragged out of the house, Wayne stood up. He looked at George Parker and, in a very low, casual, voice remarked, “I’m gonna get my rifle. Care to join me?” “Not yet, Wayne. Let’s put our heads together for a few minutes. There has to be a better way than just running out there and shooting the place up.” Wayne had turned crimson and he was visibly struggling with his temper as he answered George. “What do you have in mind. We can’t just leave that girl out there. She may be an Indian, but she’s also a human being and nobody deserves this kind of treatment.” “Yeah. I agree. But maybe we can get the State, maybe the Highway Patrol, to help us. We need to get more people involved. We don’t want a murder rap hanging over us when this is over. Unless we catch them red-handed, with a bunch of witnesses present, they’re gonna twist this back on us somehow.” Wayne calmed himself and sat back down. “You’re right. Let’s get a plan together.”

After a moment, George opened the discussion. “I know one of the Assistant Attorney Generals over in Helena. I don’t dare just call him and tell him about this because the telephone operator would have it all over town right away. But I could drive over and see him. He’s a good guy. I know that he’d get something going for us.” Wayne came back with, “Yeah, but by the time the Helena wheels get turned, it could be too late. We’ve all seen how slow those bureaucrats can be. I don’t think the girl can wait that long. What if we just get a bunch of townspeople into this? We could move right away.” But George didn’t like this idea. “Wayne, we would probably get half the town killed. The guys in this town would follow us to hell and back, but they aren’t gunfighters. They’ll just get themselves killed.” At that Dawn chimed in with, “We have to be careful. All Karl and Ike do is set around and shoot targets. They can really shoot.”

Silence fell over the group as they tried to think of alternatives. Finally, Wayne said, “You know, I have an old friend over on the reservation. He’s on the Reservation Police Force over in Pablo. Actually, I think that he’s the Chief of Police over there. I could go over and tell him about this. I know he’d do whatever it took to get his girl back.” That caused everyone to start talking at once. The four teenagers liked this solution, but George wasn’t convinced, “That would be putting him in the same spot we’re in. I wouldn’t want to see him in jail or dead either.”

At that point, they were interrupted by Hilda Moore, who came around the corner of the home, moving faster than any of them could remember ever seeing her move. “Thank God, you’re all here!” Her brother had jumped up at seeing her. “What is it, Hilda?” Wayne had never seen her act like this and he was worried. She was excited and stammering, but she managed to get out, “It’s the sheriff. He came to the house looking for Jerry. He says that Jerry burned down my place and now he’s going to arrest him! He says that he has proof that Jerry set the fire and tried to kill me. He’s filed arson and attempted murder charges against Jerry!’

She paused to catch her breath and then went on. “I told him to get out, but he barged through the house looking for Jerry before he left. I think he’s out at the Labor Day Celebration now, still hunting for Jerry.” She was crying so hard now that the words stopped coming and she sat down heavily.

Jerry was stunned. “I didn’t do that! I couldn’t have. That was the night the sheriff hit me.” He stopped, unable to comprehend what was happening. George took charge then. “We know Jerry. This is more of the same garbage. They probably spotted you guys watching them and this is how they’re fighting back.” Then he looked at Wayne. “Well, we don’t have the luxury of time anymore, but I still don’t want our people killed needlessly. Let’s get Jerry hidden away and then we can figure out the next move.” Wayne agreed. “OK Jerry. I don’t think those two know anything about the mine. We should trade clothes. Then you go get in my truck and head out to the cabin, pretending to be me when you go through town. I’ll put on your clothes and take your coupe for a spin. By the time they figure it out, you’ll be out of sight.

The two went in the house and hurriedly changed clothes. Jerry’s were a tight fit for Wayne, but they were close enough to make it work. As they changed, Wayne instructed Jerry on the next step. “Hide the truck behind the cabin and stay low. There’s a 30-30 carbine in the truck gun rack and an old Army.45 pistol in the cabin pantry. Load them and keep them with you. Stay ready for anything.” Jerry replied, “Got it. I’ll be OK. But what’re you guys gonna do about them and the girl?” “I dunno, Son. But we’ll be doing something. We’ll have this solved before anyone finds you up at the Lake. Just go, now.” With that, Jerry put on his father’s snap-brim hat and went into the living room. Ignoring everyone else, he made a beeline for Dawn who he kissed soundly. Then amidst a chorus of well-wishes from the assembled family and friends, he turned and left.

After a long struggle, Wayne finally got his pants zipped and came into the living room. While the father and son had been changing, Dawn and George had brought Hilda up to speed on the story about the kidnapped girls and she was questioning them about their plans. George was telling her his idea about going to his friend, the Assistant Attorney General in Helena. Dawn had already told her about Wayne’s idea of going to the reservation. She questioned both plans carefully.

When Wayne came into the room, she asked him immediately who it was on the reservation that he had in mind. When he replied, she said, “Oh yeah, I remember him. He’s a good man. We could trust him on this.” Then she lapsed back into silence as George finished talking about his Helena idea.