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Episode Nine concluded with:
“Say, Rance,” Clarence
spoke as the detective started to walk off. “How’s that kid doin’?”
“I saw her about an hour ago. Pixie isn’t talking yet, but she looks more
relaxed. Being with the Harpers seems to be doing her a lot of good.”
“Bring her by again, soon as you can,” Clarence implored. “She might be wantin’
some more candy.”
Dehner shrugged his shoulders. “She didn’t want any today.”
“Yeah, but you paid for it!” Clarence raised an index finger. “That’s what
counts!”
“Businessmen has got to put first things first!” Rupert declared in an
officious manner.
Dehner laughed as he continued his walk to the livery. The sense of merriment
stayed with him until he drove the buckboard out of town. He then remembered
that he was off to retrieve a burnt corpse.
Episode Ten
***
Enoch Harper lay in bed and listened
carefully to his wife’s breathing. He was certain she was now asleep.
The day had been long and the night
even longer. He and Kate had been saddened and shocked to hear of what had
happened to the Thompsons. For such fine people to be brutally murdered was a
horrible tragedy.
Kate had said nothing to him yet,
but Enoch knew that his wife wanted to keep the child. It made sense in a way.
While in the store buying things, Gerald Thompson had said that neither he nor
his wife had family living back in Indiana. That was one reason they had come
west.
What would become of Pixie? Kate had
been fussing over her all evening, listening to make sure Pixie was sleeping
and getting up to sing to her on the many occasions the little girl woke up.
Enoch sighed. Why hadn’t he and Kate
been able to have children of their own? He wanted a daughter as well as a son
but, Enoch admitted to himself, he didn’t want a silent child, a Pixie, who
might remain a strange creature for the rest of her life. But there were Kate’s
feelings to consider, what--”
Enoch suddenly became tense. He
thought he heard the sounds of an intruder. Lack of sleep can do things to a
man’s imagination, he mused, but it sounded as if someone had forced open the
side window and crawled inside.
The store owner remained frozen, his
ears alert to any foreign sound. A faint squeak wisped from the store area.
Enoch pegged it as someone slowly opening a drawer.
He slipped out of bed and into the
pants which were lying on a nearby chair. As Enoch picked up the Henry that was
propped in the corner behind the chair, he turned and saw his wife sitting up.
Her eyes were questioning and alert.
He placed a finger to his lips, then
pointed toward the store area. Kate nodded her head, quietly left the bed and
rushed over to the pile of blankets where Pixie was sleeping. She gently awoke
the child and then pulled back part of the rug, revealing a trap door. She
lifted the door, wrapped Pixie in a blanket and carried her into the
basement.
Enoch knew his wife wouldn’t be down
there long. She would make sure Pixie was comfortable and then come back up. He
needed to act fast. Enoch entered the store area where an intruder awaited him.
Monday: Episode Eleven of The Silent
Child
