Now Playing: The Silent Child
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Episode Eleven concluded with:
Enoch told himself
that he had not lied to his wife. He didn’t know for certain if the man he had
shot was alive or dead. Still, he thought there was little chance the intruder
had any life left in him. The body lay still on the floor. There were no
painful moans.
Pixie’s screams sounded closer. Lamp in one hand and the rifle cradled in his
arm, Enoch approached the body on the floor.
“What?!” One glance convinced Enoch that he had
been right. The man was dead. Still, the store owner placed the lamp down and
picked up the wrist of the corpse, feeling for a pulse that wasn’t there.
“Enoch…”
The store owner looked back at his wife, who
stood a few feet behind him holding the child. Pixie’s face was pressed into
her chest. “Dear God, Kate, I just killed a deputy sheriff.”
Episode Twelve
***
Sheriff
Clint Bolger looked down at the corpse. A myriad of emotions played across his
face. Dehner understood. Bolger hadn’t gotten along well with Emory Logan, but
the man had still been his deputy. He had been responsible for him.
After
returning to Candler, Dehner had left the body of Gerald Thompson with the town
doctor. He had then reported to the sheriff’s office. He and Clint Bolger were
discussing the murders when Enoch Harper arrived with the announcement that he
had just killed the deputy sheriff of Candler.
“Let’s
go over this once again,” the sheriff spoke to Enoch. “You have no idea why Logan
broke into your store?”
“None.”
“Are
you certain he was going for his gun?”
Enoch’s
voice had a pleading quality. “He wouldn’t keep his hands up like I told him!”
“But
are you sure he was going for his gun?”
“I
think so, but…I don’t know…I just don’t know…”
Enoch
looked downward and ran a hand through his hair. His wife looked on
sympathetically. Dehner noticed that Pixie remained silent but seemed less
trance-like. The little girl held Kate’s hand and her eyes seemed to reflect
some comprehension of what was happening.
Sheriff
Bolger continued his questioning. “Now,
just one more time, tell me what Logan said before you shot him.”
The
store owner lifted both arms and gestured with them in exasperation. “He said
that I had ‘kept company’ with Judy Thompson. Nonsense! I only saw Mrs.
Thompson once in my whole life!”
“That
was when she and her husband came here to buy stuff for the ranch they were
startin’?” the sheriff asked. “That’s when I met ‘em.”
“Yes!
And Mrs. Thompson wasn’t even here the whole time. She went across the street
with her little girl to buy her some candy.”
“Guess
I don’t have any more questions,” Sheriff Bolger sighed as he spoke. “Rance, I
know you’ve already carried one corpse, tonight. Would you--”
“Sure,
I’ll help you carry the deputy.”
Tomorrow:
Episode Thirteen of The Silent Child