Sister's Choice by Judith Pella Read Free Book Online

friends.
    “Hey, Maggie, Zack!” he said, clearly thrilled to see them.
    “Now, you remember who brung your friends in when you open that there basket,” the deputy said.
    “What basket?” Tommy asked.
    “Mama made you some muffins.” Maggie held out the basket.
    Tommy grinned. “Thank you very much.” He glanced at the deputy. “Come on back later, Chet, and I’ll give you one. Mrs. Newcomb is the best cook ever, ’sides my mama, that is.”
    The deputy let the visitors into Tommy’s cell and locked the door behind them. With an apologetic shrug he said, “I gotta lock it.” Then he shuffled away.
    The other cells, three in all, were empty. St. Helens was a fairly peaceful town.
    There was one chair in the cell, and this Tommy offered to Maggie, doing his best to be a proper host. He and Zack sat on the cot, which sagged with their weight.
    “Maggie, I am mighty happy to see you,” Tommy said, “but I sure don’t like seein’ a well-brung-up lady like you coming to a place like this. You know, a jailhouse and all.”
    Maggie laughed, relaxing a bit seeing that Tommy was still the same old Tommy. “Whatever gave you the fool idea I was a lady?”
    “ ’Course you are! Ain’t she, Zack?”
    “Yes, she is,” Zack agreed. “But she is also your friend and is concerned about you.”
    “I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner, Tommy.”
    “I didn’t expect it. Like I said, this ain’t no place for a lady, even one who wears overalls.”
    “How are you doing?” she asked.
    “It ain’t so bad. They feed me real good. The food comes from Welton’s boardinghouse, and that Mrs. Welton is a fine cook.” Tommy scrunched up his face in thought, as though wanting to give a thorough reply. “It’s mostly bein’ cooped up inside that’s hard. And I get fearsome bored. Chet plays checkers and cards with me—he owes me five dollars, but I told him it’s just for fun, and he don’t have to pay me.”
    Maggie imagined how someone with Tommy’s limited interests could be bored absolutely silly in this situation. If she were in jail, she could read and even sew if it got really bad. Everything that interested Tommy was outside.
    “Have they set a date for your trial?” Zack asked.
    “They said the next time the circuit judge comes through.
    He was here last week, but my lawyer still weren’t here from Portland yet, so they had to put it off. I still don’t like my mama spendin’ so much on a fancy city lawyer. But Mr. Cranston has a bad touch of ague and ain’t up to a trial.”
    Mr. Earl Cranston was the only lawyer in the county, and even Maggie knew he wasn’t someone into whose hands you’d want to place your life. He spent too much time in the local saloons, so it was a blessing he was sick. Maggie wondered, however, if there was more to his reluctance to take Tommy’s case. Maybe he didn’t want to fight a losing battle. That worried her. She thought of Evan with his law degree from a fancy school. Maybe he would agree to help, but she decided not to say anything to Tommy, so as not to raise his hopes.
    “Your mother can afford it,” Zack said, “so don’t you worry.”
    “Yeah, ain’t that somethin’? Who’d a thought my pa had stashed away so much cash while we lived like poor folks?” He shook his head, looking bemused, then his eyes hardened. “I ain’t sorry he’s gone.”
    “That may be so, Tommy,” Zack said, lowering his voice and looking to the door that led from the office to the cells, “and no one has a right to blame you for feeling that way. But Chet gets bored and has a habit of eavesdropping, so it might be prudent to not say things like that before your trial.”
    “Prudent?” asked Tommy. “What’s that?”
    “Smart,” explained Maggie. “It means the smart thing is to be careful what you say. Folks who don’t know you like we do might take it wrong.”
    “I should lie, then?”
    “No. Don’t lie about anything,” Zack replied. “But . . .” He