Prairie Gothic by J.M. Hayes Read Free Book Online Page A

of our sexually active girls? Did you come here for rumors, Englishman? Are you that desperate?”
    Her voice got a little loud near the end. The sheriff could just picture the blond girl with her ear to the door. He held up his hands.
    â€œYeah, I suppose. But me getting there in a hurry might be important. If somebody disposed of an unwanted baby, there are people in this community who’ll want to punish her. Maybe she deserves punishment, but not without all the messy checks and balances our legal system has to offer. And then, Doc said some things that set me thinking. Had me worrying about our daughters.”
    Judy’s jaw dropped. “You think one of the Heathers…” She started to laugh, but something clouded her face. She shook her head emphatically. “No way. Not possible. They’ve both been on the pill for years.”
    â€œThe pill? Our little girls are on the pill?”
    â€œThey’re not that little anymore, or haven’t you looked lately. They’re both sixteen. How old do you think I was the first time we…”
    Picturing the blond at the door again, the sheriff waved her off. “You’ve made your point. But how long has this been going on? When were you going to tell me?”
    â€œMore than three years. Since Heather number two came to live with us. There’s a lot of sexual abuse in her background. Sometimes that gets inherited. I decided not to take any chances. Especially after I found some rubbers in her drawer. The girls are the same age. I couldn’t get pills for one and not the other. And, I was going to tell you when you asked, or when it came up, which it just did.”
    â€œAre they sexually active? No. Never mind. I’m not sure I want to know. “
    â€œI’d accuse you of a really irresponsible attitude, only I haven’t wanted to know either. I don’t think our Heather has gone that far yet. Two, though, I’d guess has had several partners already.”
    â€œCould she?” the sheriff began. “I mean, is there any way…”
    Judy bit her lip and ran her fingers through her thick hair, considering it a lot longer than he liked. “I don’t see how. Something like that would be almost impossible to hide and I think they would have told us. But you hear about parents being caught by surprise sometimes. Englishman, the girls didn’t come to school this morning. Two locked herself in the upstairs bathroom. She was still in there, being sick to her stomach, when I came in. One wasn’t feeling that chipper either, so she stayed home to keep an eye on her sister. I mean, I can’t imagine it, but all of a sudden, I can.”
    And that was the trouble with imagination. If Judy could, so could the sheriff.
    ***
    It was only a few blocks from the Buffalo Springs schools to the two-story frame house in which the sheriff, Judy, and a pair of Heathers lived. Judy and the Heathers usually walked to school, though not when the day’s high was threatening thirty and wind gusts made it feel like that should be thirty below. The sheriff dallied along the way more than he normally would. When you haven’t properly done the birds and bees bit, how do you walk through the door and ask your daughters if one of them has just secretly had a baby and then disposed of it? The closer he got, the slower his pickup moved.
    The sheriff was good at laying guilt on himself. It wasn’t like he and Judy had provided a June and Ward Cleaver atmosphere for the girls to grow up in. They fought all the time. Not knock-each-other-around fights, but arguments, most of which weren’t about anything and weren’t serious. But they’d learned how to hurt each other too. Enough that their marriage was on its second try. They’d divorced after their first eight years. Not a great example for One of Two, the only Heather they’d had at the time. Even after the divorce, though, their