Chapter 19, Sheriff's posse

Willie Shank brooded. As usual, Tate Sr. kept him waiting in the living room while he did who knows what upstairs. Willie's tag-along junior assistant in crime sat in his usual chair amusing himself with a toothpick that he sucked upon incessently and staring off into the wall behind Willie.

Willie went over what he would tell Ed Sr.
He would tell him he was finished with this buisness and that his debt to Ed was paid in full. He had done so this long out of fear of having Ed Jr. loosed upon him and his own, but after this morning he had seen enough of the Tate's grand plans for dominating the rest of the valley and the hill. It would end here and at this very moment. Ed Sr.'s plans and machinations where his own and he kept no council save for his own, only telling Willie to do this or that or to supervise Ed. Jr. to do it, and often enough he had to reign in Ed Jr. from perpetrating far worse upon people than had actually occured. He hated the young man now but feard him even more now that he had seen what he was capable of.

It had been two long years of being at Tate's beck and call and something that Willie was no longer able to stomach any longer. If he had to, he would stand guard over his farm to ward off and catch Deputy Tate prowling around if Ed Sr. decided to retaliate for Willie's planned defection. Nothing was worth all of this however, not even seeing the hill toppers pay for thier encroachment upon his way of life and the status quo that was now forever lost. It was ironic in a way then, that they should have had a hand in the commotion he had witnessed at the chemical plant. For all of his anger at Pembrook for even setting foot in his once quiet community and for all of the new people the now Village of Bumpersville brought to the hill, things were now getting out of hand.

Willie perked up as there was a rustling at the top of the stairs and he heard the labored breathing and heavy foot falls of Ed. Sr. moving towards him. Lumbering like a tired Oxen, Ed shuffled to his chair to Willie's left and sat. Willie swallowed and let out a slow breath to steele himself for the coming confrontation.

"Well boys, how'd it go?"

"I'm through with it, Ed. I'm through with this buisness and I'm through babysitting your barbaric son, that's how it went!" Willie trembled slightly as he tried to sound forcefull and emphatic.

"I'll tell you how it went! Jr. here insisted he be the one to shoot Hilcock and wouldn't allow me to do it, kept knocking the rifel every time I brought it up. So, what does he do? His first shot misses! In the process hitting something over at the chemical plant that later seemed to cause some ruckus over there. His second shot? Kills Hilclock! I should have shot the little bastard right then and there and exposed all of this to Sheriff Middlebrook and the Hilcocks!"

"Killed him, eh?" Ed Sr. commented. "Well, that weren't the plan but I suppose it'll do. We'll chalk the miss to serendipity and I'm sure that we can use what ever happened at the plant."

"That's it?" Willie jerked straight. "We weren't supposed ta kill Howard! Wound 'im, blame it on the hill toppers, that's it! We've taken it too far now, weren't no one supposed ta die outta this."

"Lucky shot I suppose," Ed Jr. chimed in and smiled.

"No, the lucky shot was whatever you did at the plant, Jr. Killin' ole Howard was just plain stupidity," Ed Sr. snapped.

"Well, I'm through with it regardless," Willie said and strode to the door.

"Sit down! You're not done until I say you are done. This is just beginning and soon it will be back to normal," Ed Sr. said and glared at Willie.

"No, you two can play your game by yourselves, I'm done with it and have done my part. Killin' Howard was the last straw and I'm done." Willie grasped the door knob and gave it a quick turn and swung the door open.

"Watch yer back, Cap'n," Ed Jr. said with a grin.

"It's too late for that now, Willie. In for a penny, in for a pound and yer in it up to yer cheeks. We'll be seein' you."

Willie hesitated then stepped through the door and gave it a hard slam behind him. The wind brushed passed him roughly in the wake and the odor of that house, those two men, all those years of evil and schemeing incarnate in that putrid smell turned his stomach. He knew Ed Sr. was right, he couldn't just walk away after all that had gone on and what he already knew and had done by his own hand or at his behest via his all to willing proxy. That's when an odor caught his attention, acrid and foul that wafted in the breeze that came from the direction of State15 and the trees by the bridge. From the Tate's porch, he could see the trees standing tall upon the horizon and the wind blew past him from thier direction. Somewhere behind those trees he knew the plant to be.

That something more than just a little spill was going on down there had not occured to him earlier that morning but now the smell was unmistakable and pungent. They were venting something out of the ordinary and it hit him that whatever it was, it might be more to it than just this odor. Willie pulled his pickup truck away from the Tate homestead and out ont o State15. On a lark, he pulled in to Robert Mumsford's path and up to his house. Robert's farm was across State15 as it curved to the east and along the mountain path and he was close to the Petro-Chem plant beyond the tree lined creek that bisected his property.

Without even stepping out of the cab Willie could smell how strong the odor was here and it had a burning tinge to it, a feel of dry suffocation and it burned the ends of his nose slightly. Willie knocked on the front door and was soon greeted by Robert's wife, Mindy and she held a wet handkerchief over her mouth.

"Mindy, is you ok?" Willie asked.

With blood shot eyes and a hoarse voice she rasped a quick no and motioned out by the back sheds and barn as if anticipating Willie's next query.

"Shouldn't you be gettin' out of here?" Willie asked.

"Yes," Mindy rasped in response then leaned back out of the doorway to close it.

Willie didn't blame her, the odor and the effects were strong outside. He walked back downt he steps and around the corner of the house to the back lot where Robert kept his vehicles and livestock in the barn. The barn door was ajar and Willie peeked in. The barn was dark and covered in shadow and was strangely silent. A coughing and hacking sound came from the back corner stalls and Willie walked toward the sound.

"Rob, you ok?"

"Willie, uh, no I s'ppose not, neither is any of my livestock," Robert answered.

In the stalls that Willie passed where the supine forms of several horses collapsed on the piles of straw that served as bedding and catch all for thier buisness. Most where breathing in labored huffs and Robert had a wild look in his reddened eyes.

"They was like this when I got back here," Robert moaned. He stood in the farthest stall by a still form of a black mare that Willie knew was called Sam, a gift from Robert's father after Robert came back home from occupation duty in Germany at the end of the war. It was the symbol of his returning back to civilized society and his start on his very own property and farm to manage. Sam was deathly still and Willie didn't need to ask if she was dead.

"We'd better get the rest of 'em outta here, dontcha think?" Willie asked.

"It might be too late, an' where'd we go? Whole valley smells of it, animals down all over!" Robert sputtered.

"That plant's venting something, something bad," Willie said then felt odd at having stated the obvious. "Mebbe you an' Mindy ought ta get outta here then, if it bad fer them it bad fer you too."

"Mindy's packin' up sum stuff, hear it aint that bad up on the hill," Robert replied. "Was up there earlier an' couldn't smell a thing. Howard Hilcock was shot this mornin', talked ta Jim at Hubie's."

"Yeah, I was there this mornin' when Doc. Robinson examined him. Was on my way t' the store when I noticed somethin' was up at the Hilcock's." Willie really had no excuse to have been at the Hilcock's or even anywhere near there save for his being with Tate when Tate shot Howard. Inscenced and needing to find out what Tate Jr. had done had gotten the better of his judgement.

"They know why?" Robert asked as he stood and wiped his hands on his pants.

"No, but I heerd ole Howard warn't to pleased with them Petro-Chem folks an they weren't livin' up to the contract what with that spill a couple months back." Willie paused. After all of his bluster in front of Ed Sr. about being through, he couldn't help but keep feeding the lies Tate had told him to spread. It was coming out now like it was gospel truth and Willie wondered if he really believed it. A simple misdirection to the truth would have been far easier to retell.

"You thinkin' someone from the hill shot 'im?"

"Lookin' that way," Willie spat. "Bastards don't play right."

Robert looked hard at Willie. "They's already cost me a couple seasons in livestock an' my mare!"

Willie sensed the opportunity to let Robert settle or to keep pushing the line that Ed Sr. had pre-prepared in the eventuality events allowed him to pull opinion and anger towards the hill toppers. Willie could bite his tongue and help Robert get away from the fumes and not help Ed Sr. bring his power to completion. Like a compulsive gambler, Willie couldn't resist the urge to turn his own long lived agitation and anger towards George Pembrook and Benton Shields and anyone else they had brought into Happy Valley into another convert.

"I thinks it's time they paid fer they's ruinin' our valley," Willie spat. "Bastards!"

****

"Benton, what's going on down there?" Theresa's voice squacked over Benton's telephone reciever. It was 1 PM and things had gone from bad to worse to unimaginable since the line had ruptured. The office was buzzing with activity and a group of men from the corporate offices in Charleston had driven down and were locked in George's office most of the time. The odor was strong but the filtration systems had done thier job in keeping the worst of the burning chemicals from the Petro-Chem air supply. Outside, it was pungent but had been deemed tolerable to humans but the shopfloor had been in thier portable respirators since the accident and the break room had been turned into a rest area for those who needed a break from thier masks.

"Sorry honey, I didn't have time to call earlier, but we had a line burst from an outside storage tank that sprayed chemical into the Hilcock's field. But we had to vent one of our vats into the atmosphere to prevent an explosion, so the air outside is a little pungent."

"Valley people are running around with rifles and several families have checked into the hotel because they can't breath at thier homes. Livestock's been dying all over the valley."

"What? It shouldn't have been dangerous event o animals, just an irritant," Benton replied.

"Then you'd better verify what's going on outside, people up here are getting tense."

"Ok honey, uh, let me call you back. Do you want me to come up there?"

"No, you'd better stay down there. I don't like the looks of some of the people up here."

"What do you mean?" Benton asked.

"There's been a crowd of men with rifles gathered at Middlebrook's store since ten this morning."

"Have they done anything yet? Where's the Sheriff?" Benton asked then remembered all of the meetings in Huebner's living room and realized it wouldn't do any good to have their sheriff do anything.

"He's been with them, and all the deputies. I can see them from the window at the hotel office."

"Wait, they're all walking across the street now."

"Are they leaving?" Benton was getting worried. If everything they suspected about the Tate's and the current sheriff was true and the valley people in general then an armed crowd of them couldn't come out very positive.

"No, they're headed towards Huebner's Hardware store."

"Oh boy, ok you stay clear of all of that, hide or do whatever to stay out of sight, I need to tell George and the others what's going on," Benton said as he stood.

"I won't let them take the hotel, Benton!"

"Don't worry about that, just keep out of sight until we get up there, I'll see you later." Benton hung up and motioned to Micheal Strood to follow him. The two of them walked to George's office and Benton rapped lightly on the door. Benton knew George had other fish to fry with the big-wigs crawling all over the plant and the accident, but this also struck him as something George would want a hand in.

George opened the door and looked at Benton with tired and worn out eyes. "What?"

"Can we talk in my office?" Benton asked.

"Can it wait, you know what's been going on around here."

"You will want to hear about this, George. Something's going on up on the hill," Benton pressed.

"Ok, gimme a moment," George said and dissapeard back behind the door.

Micheal looked at Benton confused and worried at his last statement. Benton then lead him to his office and closed the door.

"They're starting it, right now and they're starting it with Steven," Benton said once Micheal had settled into the visitors chiar in the corner of the office.

"Who's starting what?" Micheal asked.

"Tate and some of the valley men, they've armed themselves and have moved on Steven Huebner's store. I don't know what they are doing, but it don't sound good."

"What who's doing?"asked George as he closed the door behind him. He looked haggard and tired.

"I think we'd better get up the hill quick, George. I think Steven could be in trouble if what Theresa told me on the phone is true. A mob of armed valley men was advancing on his store while we where on the phone a few minutes ago. The Tate's were with them plus Sheriff Middlebrook," Benton said.

"We don't have time for this!" George shouted.

"Time or not, something's going on that we ought to look into all the same," Benton responded.

"We just going to leave Steve up there to deal with them alone?" Micheal asked.

"No, but dammit we can't really deal with that and this mess here either!" George sputtered.

"I'll go, I wasn't doing much at the moment anyway," Micheal said and pursed his lips.

"I don't know Mike, from what Theresa told me it looked like a big crowd," Benton stated.

"Well, someone's got to do something to put things right up there," Micheal protested.

"Damn that Tate!" George exclaimed.

"Well, we'd better do something quick instead of just sitting here debating it," Benton said. "How about the two of us go, George you can stay and finish dealing with the mucky-mucks from Charleston."

"No, we'd better all three go," George ran his hand through his thinning hair.

Set upon thier course, the three men stared at each other for a few moments, each undecided as to who should lead the charge out the door. Benton still heard the concern in Theresa's voice and the admoniton to stay where he was warred with thier combined desire to help thier friend. He didn't really want to get up from his desk but as if each man wanted to see who would take up the dare, waiting for one of the other two to nudge in the direction of the door to get himself moving the awkward game ran its pace. Micheal broke the deadlock by rising from his chair and George and Benton took thier que.

The trip up the hill was short, a mere ten minute drive if traffic allowed one to pull onto State15 right away. There was a difference this morning. On any other morning the one horse village of Bumpersville would be buzzing with two way traffic comging and going and an occasional face would be seen exiting a car for one of the buisnesses that lined the road now for a mile and a half from Middlebrook's grocery all the way down the slight undulation of the road. As if a parade where being executed, the traffic was stopped and people where standing outside thier buisnesses and thier patrons curiously watching what was happening at Huebner's Hardware store. A deputy car blocked traffic near the stop light and it was here that the trio were stopped just short of thier goal. Benton jogged across the street from where they were stopped to the hotel and found Theresa peering out the glass window of the front door. She looked worried and then angry that Benton was there at all.

"I told you to stay away from here!" Theresa snapped.

"We're worried about Steven and from what I see it is for good measure. You go and get Billie and have Maggie come with you, Michael wants to have her stay here with you and whatever you do, don't leave this place." Benton turned and quickly ran out the door to put paid to any counter argument Theresa might have had. George and Michael were trying to get passed the Deputy blocking thier way.

"Posse? That's nuts, I don't know what you valley people think you are getting away with, but this won't stand!" George shouted.

"I tole you, he's the one what shot Howard Hilcock this mornin', so if you dun want ta find yerself cuffed too, then you'd better back off," the deputy returned.

"What's going on?" Benton asked as he jogged up to George and Michael.

"They're blamin' Steve for the shooting an' are tryin' to take him to the station," Michael replied.

"You can't keep blockin' this road, State15 is a state road you fools," George said with a snarl. "If you don't want the state police pokin' their nose around here, you'd better all get the hell off the road!"

"We're authoritized fer the safety of the general public ta conduct matters of law enforcement, hill topper," the deputy replied with an equal look of anger.

"Don't give me that crap, you probably don't understand what half of that even means," George replied and started to brush passed the deputy who stepped in to block George's progress with a meanicing hand upon his holster and a look that meant buisness.

From thier vantage point they could ounly see the crowd of armed men in front of Huebner's Hardware and the few uniformed village deputy's milling about in the crowd. The posse, really just select men from the valley armed with shotguns and hunting rifles acting only under the flimsey aegis of the village Sheriff and but for his own word thier legal functionality was suspect as was thier peaceful intentions. There was an angry and smoldering hatred that animated the mob and Benton wondered if but for lack of convincing pretext that they did not just start shooting hill toppers just for being caught up on the hill. He saw it in the deputies eyes and wanted to draw back from him and the mob.

"I don't have time for this!" George hissed at the deputy. "If you're going to shoot me, then you'd better shoot me because I'm stepping passed you."

George was halted once again by a stiff arm to the shoulder as the deputy drew his revolver and pointed it at George's head.

"Back off hill topper! Get back into your car and drive away, we aint finished here yet!"

George froze, his bluff called; a glint of eagerness shown in the deputy's eyes to rid Happy Valley of it's worst enemy. Though no one would call what was happening controlled nor lawfull, the man with the gun was nonetheless remarkably controlled and focused, something that seemed to convince George that he was out of his league. Without saying a word, George backed away with his body while his eyes burned with indignation and shame at being forced to back down. It was the capping off of George's disenfranchisement from his own schemes for respect and power that he should have been forced at gunpoint to backaway by a man who by rights should have been answering to him.

Benton felt his heart jump when the deputy drew his revolver and he knew that if ever his in-laws were right about anything about him, it was that he had drug both his wife and now newborn baby daughter into something and someplace that none of them belonged in. It was epiphany that meant but little; stroke of truth that finally dawns upon the condemned at the last moments of thier life where confession and repentance has its final tug and draw upon the soul soon to be leaving this earth for eternal reward. It didn't console Benton much nor endear him to his in-laws at thier prophetic remonstrances, but it did open his eyes and they where fully open now. Theresa had seen it all along and had occasionally tried to tell him, perhaps all the hill topper women saw it where he and others had not. It went beyond the rape of Steven Huebner's daughter that had started the four of them to watching Ed Tate Jr. and it appearantly ran deeper than some disgruntled farmers who didn't like change.

Stymied the three men stood in a growing crowd of people wondering what was going on up ahead of them, travelers on State15 trying to go south and unable to progress further. New faces, curious stares, whispered speculation, and general indifference save for the surprise stares at George and the deputy after thier confrontation. They were far enough away from Huebner's that nothing could be divined from the happenings inside. If negotation or confrontation was happening, the men outside showed little sign of revealing the inside activity. Angry and brandishing rifles like they were clubs the mob stood with thier backs to the store, facing outward so all who watched the spectical got the picture that each and every one of them had deadly buisness in mind.

Mintues drug onward and speculation from the crowd of curious spectators grew. A dangerous man hunt, a criminal on the run, justice being served by a diligent populace, a shoot out in the making, a modern day dilinger cornered. Benton heard the speculations and wished he could convince the indifferent crowd that it was the opposite of what they thought they saw, that an innocent man being accused by an hysterical famer population. An hysterical famer population who unfortunatly, either by design or by luck managed to hold the riegns of power and authority to bend anyone to its own will.

A stirring from the crowd of men in front of Huebner's store drew Benton's attention. From behind the cordon came Sheriff Middleton and Steven Huebner in handcuffs and looking distressed. There wasn't a moment of doubt in Benton's mind as to Steven's innocence of whatever it was they were attempting to serve upon him. Although it was clear, there was the nagging doubt, the realization that one cannot really know what one has not been witness or privy to. The three men exchanged worried glances one to the other. There was really no other way it could have ended even if the three of them had forced thier way in through the crowd of armed men. A bloodbath or a peacefull though distorted execution of justice were the possibilities and the overwhelming force displayed dispelled the former from ever being a serious option.

"If it isn't Mr. Pembrook an' Mr. Shields," said Ed Tate Jr. as he walked up to the crowd. "Come to watch a killer be brought to justice I see, Cap'n. How did you like the show?"

"This your idea, Tate? Raping Steven's daughter wasn't enough for you or shootin' his dog? Now you have to add this insult?" George replied.

"He did it, that's all you need to hear from me, Cap'n." Tate nodded to the other deputy keeping the crowd back and the two of them headed for thier cars.

"You won't make this stand, Tate," George returned. "You've messed up somewhere and it'll be found out."

"You people better disperse now, go back to yer stink factory," Tate chortled.

George bit his lip and glared at Tate. Tate smiled in return and winked. George turned to Micheal Strood and motioned he and Benton to follow him back to his car.

"I don't know what Tate Sr.'s game is, but we all know Huebie had nothing to do with shooting Howard Hilcock, but that repobate Tate Jr. is getting his jollies. I don't think there is anything we can do about it right now, not without challenging them directly." George looked off down the road and sighed.

"Well, we got problems still at the plant, we should just get back to that and figure out what we can do about this in the mean time," Micheal said.

"That's the problem, the accident is going to take all of our attention for the next several days while they plant and trump up whatever they are planning on Steve," George replied.

Benton became acutely aware that the posse instead of dispersing was loitering around the area buisnesses and migrating towards them; angered looks and threatening stances displayed. Theresa's warnings finaly registered with him.

"I think we had better get out of here," Benton whispered.

"Sheriff wants ta have y'all patrol the area an' keep the peace fer awhile," Ed Tate Jr. said aloud. "We're takin' Huebner ta Charleston fer safe keepin'."

"Keep the peace? What disturbance?" George shouted. "You can't have these people acting as legal law representatives!"

"Village charter 'llows fer it, any able bodied man can serve on a limited basis as posse," Tate replied.

"This seems to be it," George said quietly to Micheal and Benton. "They are going to take over the hill and by hook or crook get rid of everyone up here."

Benton frowned at the suggestion. George was intense at times and not used to losing, but the thought of something following a conspiracy or what he was suggesting didn't make sense to Benton. There were rules to society and rules to life and this didn't fit.

"Yeah, I think we ought to get back to the plant," Michael replied and nodded in agreement.

The hard looks and glares directed at them from the men passing around the small group went by like a wave washing over them. Anger, loathing, seething rage, and an intense focusing of many years of grievance piled upon grievance in the person of both George and Benton. Even on thier own turf, on the hill where they had thier homes and thier friends they were suddenly outsiders again.

"We'll see what the county Marshall has to say about this," George shouted back. "That and the judge. If I see any of these thugs running around like they own the place without official supervision of the Sheriff, I'll bring the county into this! And maybe while he's here, he can look into a few irregularities that you two putz's and our sheriff can't seem to figure out!"

"George, don't egg them on," Benton hissed.

"Carry on, we'll be back soon enough." Ed Tate Jr. shouted to the posse and got back into the front of his car.

"Let's get back to the plant, George. Whatever you want to do you can do better there anyway," Benton urged.

The armed farmers continued on thier way, scattering across the road and filing down the road, some taking station in front of the diner and the gas station and the other buisnesses along State15. They stood in front of windows and open doors with weapons held at ready or slung over shoulders.

"Maybe we'd better check up on our houses and families before we go back," Micheal stated.

"Theresa seemed fine earlier," Benton replied.

"I'm just wondering about Maggie and the kids."

"Maybe I'll see if Theresa can stay for Maggie's shift at the hotel," Benton said.

"Ok, can we stop by my house anyway before heading back down?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, it's on the way. If we can, perhaps we should release who we can for the day, others may want to get to thier families if this continues," George said as he pulled the car out and made a U turn. The sheriff's posse was spread out along the road meanacing anyone who dared to pull into a buisness. Worried faces peered out of windows as they drove back towards the residential area just before the hill dipped down into the valley. Something told Benton that it would be a long day still.