Know Your Friends
“Judah is up at the courthouse, in the jail,” Hope’s father said, his voice slightly sympathetic but still skeptical. “I tried to talk to him a few days ago, but he wouldn’t say anything to me either except for that he was so sorry you were hurt, and he’d take full responsibility. I asked him how you’d gotten hurt, and he wouldn’t say. Hope, are you sure you don’t recall anything?”
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to imagine herself with Judah. Had she been inside of his house or outside? Had she stayed to speak to him, or had she left right away? She took it no one else was home or else Ginny or George would’ve said something about what happened. Try as she might, nothing came to mind. “No, I can’t remember anything past finding Ginny’s book Friday afternoon.”
Cordia let out a sigh and looked at Will, and Hope felt tears coming to her eyes, thinking of Judah, down at the jail. He had to be beside himself, no matter what happened. He was innocent of any crime, she was sure of it. But for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why he wouldn’t explain what had transpired. Not that it mattered; they would still accuse him of trying to hurt her. None of it made any sense at all. If he’d been trying to kill her, why would he bring her to the doctor?
Before they could further discuss the situation, she heard her front door open and the sound of hurried footsteps. “Hope, oh thank God!” Nicholas exclaimed, flying in the door. “Why are you sitting up? You should be reclining.”
“Doc, I’m fine. Or I will be,” she insisted, wanting to ask him to tell her everything he knew, but he already had his medical bag open and was taking her mother’s place, pulling Hope’s eyes wide open and staring into them.
“How do you feel? Does your head still hurt?”
“Yes, but I’m fine.”
He shook his head, clearly not convinced and not liking whatever he’d seen in her eyes. “Look over there. Now back over here. Okay. Up, down.” Hope did as she was told. “I believe you still have fluid on your brain, Miss Hope. Your skull was fractured. It’ll take it a few months to completely heal. Until then, you need to be in bed.”
“In bed? For months? Surely you can’t be serious, Nicholas. I’m fine. It just hurts a little.” She wasn’t being completely honest, of course. Her head hurt almost as badly now as it had when she first woke up, especially since he’d let so much light into her eyes. But she needed to get out of bed and get to the jail to see what was happening with Judah. She certainly didn’t trust Sheriff Roan to handle anything judiciously.
“Hope, you just need to rest. Anna’s been teachin’ school and doin’ a good job. The sheriff is handlin’ the situation with that scoundrel Lawless. I’m sure the sheriff’ll wanna talk to you now that you’re awake. But you just need to rest.”
“Scoundrel?” Hope repeated. “Nicholas, does it make any sense at all that a person would crack me over the head and then rush me five miles to try to save my life? What kind of an imbecile would do something like that?”
He blanched slightly, but then shrugged and said, “I don’t know, Hope, but that’s what happened. I’ve been tellin’ you all along to stay away from him. No one said he was a smart murderer.”
“That’s absolutely ridiculous,” Hope said, wanting to shake her head but afraid to do so. “Why in the world did you call the sheriff?”
“What would you have me do? A known murderer brings in a woman bleeding from the head and won’t tell me nothin’ except for she was out at his place droppin’ off a book and fell. He wouldn’t even say what ya hit yer head on. I had no choice, Hope.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, thinking he most certainly had a choice. “He’s not a known murderer, Nicholas. He didn’t kill either one of those women.”
“How do you know that?” he asked, folding his arms.
“I have the newspaper clippings that say exactly how Sylvia Pembroke Lawless died.” It was the first time that Mr. Canton had spoken since returning with the doctor, and Hope turned her head a little too quickly to look at him, having forgotten he was in the room.
“You do?” Cordia asked for all of them, her eyebrows knitting in confusion.
“Course I do,” Mr. Canton nodded. “After all, if I was gonna trust my library and part of my funds for buildin’ this house to a man, I needed to know a little bit about him. I didn’t say nothin’ to Judah about it, but I sent for ‘em just the same.”
“Does it say that she died in a barn fire at a neighbor’s place?” Hope asked, certain Mr. Canton could confirm what Judah had told her.
“It does. Says the elderly neighbor set her barn a-blazin’ and Mrs. Lawless come over to try to help. By the time Mr. Lawless arrived on the scene, there was nothin’ anyone could do. He rushed in and tried to save both of ‘em, but they was already gone.”
Hope turned her eyes to Nicholas. He looked down for a moment, mulling it over. “That doesn’t necessarily mean anythin’.”
“It does. You know it does. And he didn’t kill his first wife either. Paul’s just mad because his sister passed away, and he’s tryin’ to blame someone. And y’all were foolhardy enough to take what he said in a drunkin’ rage and spread it all over town.”
“I didn’t spread nothin’,” Nicholas protested.
“Well, you didn’t do anything to stop it. Dr. Howard, thank you for everything you’ve done to help me when I was injured, but I assure you, I’ll be just fine. My mama’s here now, and she’s a trained nurse. I don’t think I’ll be needing your services anymore.”
“Hope, come on,” Nicholas said, shaking his head. “You can’t be serious.”
“I believe my daughter asked you to leave, Dr. Howard.” Will wasn’t messing around, and the doctor was smart enough to know better than to irritate an already angry father.
With a deep breath, Nicholas gathered up his belongings, pulling himself to his feet. “You’re gonna regret this someday, Hope, you should know that.”
“Don’t make this somethin’ it isn’t, Nicholas.”
He scoffed, stopping at the foot of the bed. “Ain’t it, though, Hope? You think I’m blind? You think Brady didn’t come back from that barn raisin’ and tell me the two of you was makin’ eyes at one another? I should’ve turned you in to Mr. Stewart right then. They’ll string him up; they’re already down there, you know? I’ll be there to pronounce him when it’s all over.”
Hope stared after the doctor with her mouth hanging open, unable to believe someone she’d counted as a friend for all of these months would say something so horribly ugly. Hope watched him leave the room, glad to see him go.
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