The Shining Badge by Gilbert Morris Read Free Book Online Page A

back, she saw that the truck was hidden behind the house and something of what was happening before her set off an alarm in her head.
    The two uniformed deputies were flanking Noah, and each of them had a nightstick in his hand. She had seen the deputies before but did not know their names. One of them was a large man with his belly hanging over his belt and tow-colored hair. The other was a much smaller man. His hat was pushed back on his head revealing black hair, and there was a sneer on his face as he stared at Noah Valentine.
    “Come on, nig, we know you robbed that store. You might as well ’fess up to it.”
    “No, suh, I ain’t robbed no store,” Noah protested, shaking his head vigorously. “I was here all night last night. You can ask my mama if it ain’t so.”
    The big deputy laughed, a raucous, cruel sound. “Well, how ’bout that, Arlie? His mama will tell us he was here all night. Now, ain’t that sweet!”
    The smaller deputy named Arlie grinned with a sharklike expression. “I guess we’ll just have to take her word for it, won’t we, Merle?”
    Jenny somehow knew what was coming, but it happened so fast she was unable to respond.
    The grin faded from the smaller man’s face. “You gonnaconfess to holdin’ up the store?” he asked. “You might as well, ’cause we’ll get it out of you one way or another.”
    “No, suh, I ain’t held up no store, Deputy Pender.”
    Arlie Pender, like many small men, felt the need to prove himself to those who were larger. “You callin’ me a liar?” he snapped.
    “No, suh, I ain’t.”
    “He called me a liar, Merle. I ain’t standin’ for that!”
    In a swift move, the small deputy lifted his nightstick and brought it down hard on Noah’s skull. Jenny gasped, the sound of the sharp blow nearly making her sick. It sounded like someone striking a watermelon with a blunt instrument. She saw Noah go down on one knee, his hands covering his head. The rich, red blood was coursing down his face when suddenly the large man raised his stick too and struck at him. Noah was covering his head, so the stick struck his thick arm, but then both the men began to rain down blows, cursing and shouting.
    Afterward Jenny did not remember making any conscious decision to interfere. She simply found herself running toward the trio and heard herself shouting, “You stop that, you hear me!” She came to stand before the two men, and Noah, who was now lying on his stomach trying to cover his head, rolled over and looked up at her, blood streaming down his face. He struggled to his feet, his eyes half glazed from the force of the terrific blows he had taken.
    “You’re interfering with a police action here, lady,” Pender said.
    “That’s right,” Merle Arp said. “He was resisting arrest.”
    “No, he wasn’t,” Jenny said. She looked up at the big man fearlessly, her eyes were flashing, her face pale. “You hit him without any provocation!”
    The small deputy laughed. “You must be a Yankee. I can tell from the way you talk.”
    “Doesn’t matter how I talk! You two struck this man without any cause.”
    “Well, now, that’s just your word against ours,” Merle Arp said. His eyes went over Jenny in a suggestive manner, and he said, “You ain’t bad lookin’ for a Yankee girl. Me and you might step out some night.”
    “But now just step back, miss. We’re takin’ this man in.”
    A movement caught Jenny’s eyes, and she turned to see a tall black woman wearing a faded brown dress come outside. She was holding a small child no more than three or four by the hand, and several other children gathered behind her. “He wasn’t doin’ nothin’ to you. I seen it all. You hit him for nothin’!” she said.
    “Get back in the house, Mama!” Noah said. He wiped the blood from his face and turned to the two men. “I didn’t rob no store.”
    “You’ll have your chance to prove that. Put the cuffs on him, Merle.”
    Jenny watched helplessly as