Now Playing: The Silent Child
Episode Nineteen concluded with:
Rupert laughed. “You don’t sound very convinced,
Enoch. Sure we’ll get away with it. That picture of Mrs. Thompson in your
saddle bags sure has tongues wagging. The way we see it, people will think you
killed Mr. and Mrs. Thompson, then went plum crazy: set fire to the store,
killed your wife and the kid and, for an encore, killed yourself.”
Clarence smiled contentedly. “The town will be
talkin’ about it for years. A lot of that talk will take place over the cracker
barrel at Bushrod Brothers’ General Store.”
“We ain’t got a cracker barrel!”
“Remind me to order one.”
Episode Twenty
A
voice sounded from above. “Rupert, Clarence, gotta talk to you. It’s Laszlo.”
“Uh
oh,” Rupert said. “There’s the weakest link in the chain.”
“What
is it?!” Clarence shouted.
“Mr.
Runyon at the train station tole me somethin’ you need to know.”
Clarence,
the lantern still in his left hand, motioned with his gun hand at the Harpers
and Pixie. “All of you move back and keep silent. Rupert, talk to the town
fool, and find out what’s on his mind, which probably isn’t much. Keep your gun
pointed low. In the darkness Laszlo probably won’t spot it.
The
Harpers moved backward into the darkness as directed. Pixie was still clinging
to Kate. Clarence stood beside Enoch, holding the lantern in one hand and
pressing the barrel of a gun into Enoch’s side with the other.
“Lift
the trap door and come down, Laszlo,” Rupert shouted.
The
door opened. Rupert noted that there wasn’t much light from above but he wanted
keep his gun out of Laszlo’s sight. “Be sure and close the door behind you.”
Laszlo
stumbled in the darkness coming down the steps. “Hurt ankle!” He said as
reached the ground floor.
The
swamper began to stagger around the basement, whining like a child. He suddenly
slammed into Clarence, grabbing the gun from him as Clarence fell to the floor.
“Hold
him down, Enoch! Drop the gun, Rupert!”
Rupert
recognized the voice as coming from Rance Dehner. The lantern was now lying on
the floor, spewing a gush of light upwards. Rupert fired at what he thought was
a moving shadow, then immediately realized that he had made a mistake. The
orange-red blossom from his gun gave away his location.
In
a panic, Rupert turned and ran. His foot collided with the first step of the
stairway. He began to scramble up the wooden planks. He heard a few quick steps
behind him and then his neck was trapped in an iron vise. A tight grip wrapped around his gun hand.
“Give
it up, Rupert!” Dehner ordered.
Rupert
Bushrod was breathing in puffs. “Okay, okay, you got me. Guess Shakespeare was
right. The race is to the swift.”
Clarence’s
voice thundered from the floor of the basement. “That’s “The race is NOT to the
swift.” And it’s from the Bible, not Shakespeare.”
Rupert
sighed. Maybe my brother shoulda spent less time readin’ and more time tendin’
the store.”
Monday: Episode
Twenty-One of The Silent Child
