Free Blood and Justice by Rayven T. Hill Page B

threat?
    She looked up and shivered slightly, and then looked at him, instantly realizing who he was. She’d heard about that woman who’d hanged herself in a barn. This barn. This is the place mentioned in the papers, and on the lips of everyone in town for several weeks. She hugged herself and took a step backwards, stopping with her back against the wall of the barn. What is he going to do now? She quivered in fear, expecting at any minute he would throw a noose around her neck and hang her from the very spot his mother had hanged.
    He laughed. “I’m not going to hang you. Just do as you’re told now.”
    A length of chain was fastened securely to an upright post against the barn wall. Jeremy picked up the chain, testing it in his hands. The end of the chain had a wide leather collar. “We had a dog once,” he said. “She went crazy. Father wanted to shoot her, but I didn’t want him to, so he chained her up here so she wouldn’t hurt anybody. But then, the stupid dog bit me. Not hard, but still it hurt. So then, I knew Father had been right when he said we should shoot it, so I killed it. But I used a board to whack it, then my knife. There was a lot of blood. It’s buried now, you know. It can’t hurt anybody now.”
    He snapped open the collar and removed a padlock hanging through a hoop in the leather band, the key still in it. “Hold still,” he said. She meekly obeyed. He wrapped the collar around her neck, and fastened the lock through a metal loop, clicked it shut, and removed the key. He stood back and surveyed her, cocking his head to one side, stuffing the key in his pocket.
    “That should do it,” he said.
    “Are . . . are you going to leave me here?” she managed to ask, looking at the floor, avoiding his eyes.
    He raised her chin so she was forced to look at him. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. You have to stay here for now. Maybe not long. Maybe a long time. I don’t know. It’s your fault, you know.”
    He grabbed a horse blanket tossed across a stall door, and threw it her way. “This will keep you warm. You need to keep warm. And you’ll need to sleep.”
    In a moment, he was gone, his short legs carrying him swiftly across the barn floor, closing the door behind him as he left.

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 12
     
     
     
    Thursday, August 11th, 6:00 PM
     
    JAKE plopped the packet of steaks down on the end of the barbecue. He admired them. Red juicy and thick, just as he liked them.
    The Master Chef barbecue was already hot, flame licking at the grate, the smell of charcoal filling the air. A container of tangy barbecue sauce was ready when needed. A pot of coffee was busy percolating on the side burner.
    A few feet away, a solid homemade picnic table was covered with a plastic cloth, the table piled high with paper plates, utensils, salads, and other summertime treats.
    A pair of large speakers on the deck was softly pumping out the mellow voice of Johnny Cash singing about a ring of fire. Somewhere far away the rumble of a lawnmower could be faintly heard.
    Matty was running around the back yard, chasing a soccer ball. Annie and her mother stepped out the back door, carrying more plates of food. They arranged them on the already over-loaded table.
    “There’s enough food there for an army,” Jake said, eyeing the table.
    Andy Roderick glanced over to where Jake was looking. His wife and his daughter were both good cooks, and he always enjoyed these little get-togethers. Of course, lots of food was always a bonus. He grinned at Jake. “Well, I for one am going to eat more than my share.”
    Annie’s father was fairly tall, unlike Annie and her mother Alma. And, unlike his wife, he spoke softly most of the time. His looks were a bit deceiving. He could be mistaken for the CEO of a major firm, a banker, or a high-flyer on Wall Street. He was none of those, but content to manage his small trucking company, doing mainly local deliveries.
    Matty came running up.