Read Alafair Tucker 01 - The Old Buzzard Had It Coming for Free Online Page A

straightened suddenly. “I ain’t thought,” she managed. “I expect I have to plan, don’t I?”
    A sob escaped her, and tears spilled down her cheeks in a flood. “He’s really gone, ain’t he?” she choked out, her voice full of wonder.
    Not for an instant did Alafair imagine that Mrs. Day was overcome with grief at the realization of her loss. It was not grief that had overcome the woman, but profound, unspeakable relief.
    Alafair dropped her cloth and went to Mrs. Day’s side. “You just cry, now,” she soothed, gripping Mrs. Day by the shoulders. “He’s truly gone. He can’t bother you no more.”
    Mrs. Day’s eyes widened at Alafair’s perception, and she succumbed to more sobbing that took a few minutes to subside. Finally she wiped her face with the corner of her apron. “I expect you think I’m evil,” she said shyly.
    “I do not,” Alafair assured her. “Folks have to earn the love of others. I expect you done your duty by him and more than your duty. It wasn’t your fault that God decided to take him and free you and your kids.”
    “I could have gone looking for him.”
    “Phoo!” Alafair puffed her disdain. “He could have stood away from the corn liquor. Don’t you go berating yourself for anything, any more.”
    Mrs. Day gazed at her warily for a long minute before a small, unaccustomed smile formed on her lips. For a moment, she looked as young as she was. She began bathing her husband’s cold limbs again. “Maybe my Maggie Ellen, my gal that run off and got married, will come visit me now that Harley has gone. Me and the other kids miss her awful. Maybe I’ll pack up and head back to Idabel. My folks can’t take us in for long, but my ma’s a Chickasaw, so I’m half. I expect the Nation will watch over us ’til I can get on my feet.”
    “You won’t be trying to stay on here?”
    She shrugged. “I miss my folks.”
    “So you’ll be selling.”
    Mrs. Day looked surprised. It hadn’t occurred to her that she now owned something. “Why, I reckon I could,” she managed. “I’ll have some money then, won’t I?”
    If you can find a buyer before the bank forecloses, Alafair thought. “My husband can help you,” she offered, struck by sudden inspiration. Why not? The Day place adjoined theirs. It had buildings and woodland, one good plowed field, and Bird Creek ran right through it. If she knew Shaw, he had probably already considered buying, and would pay the widow a good price for it, too.
    “Thank you,” Mrs. Day was saying. “I don’t know nothing about them things.”
    Mrs. Day had finished washing the entire front of the body while Alafair was still working on the filthy hair and grimy face. “How’d Harley get this black eye and bruised jaw, here?” Alafair wondered. It hadn’t been apparent under all the dirt.
    “Oh, he was always getting in some scrape,” Mrs. Day told her dismissively. “Him and Jim Leonard from up the road a piece just had a set-to the other day.”
    Alafair pushed the head to the side so she could get to the back of the neck. She scrubbed a bit of black crud under the left ear, perplexed at its hardness. Her hand barely hesitated when she saw the dirt take on a rusty hue as it came off on the cloth. She stopped washing and straightened.
    “Are your husband’s good clothes ready, Miz Day?” she asked.
    “Oh, yes. I’ll get his clean shirt.”
    Alafair stood still until the woman had bustled out of the kitchen, then bent down close to examine the mysterious clot under Harley’s ear. She soaked her cloth and scrubbed vigorously. She stood up quickly when Mrs. Day came back into the kitchen.
    “He ain’t got no regular pants,” Mrs. Day said. “Overalls will have to do, though I don’t expect Harley would care.”
    Alafair dropped the cloth back into the bucket and rolled down her sleeves. “I’ll leave you to dress him. Do you need some help drawing them clothes on?”
    “No, I’m plenty strong.”
    Alafair nodded.