The Legend of Perley Gates by William W. Johnstone

Author:William W. Johnstone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-01-11T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

While Perley was locked in a cell on the second floor of the jail, Ethel presented herself to her parents, who welcomed her tearfully.

“Where were you?” Mary Steiner cried when her daughter walked in the door. “Are you all right? We’ve been worried sick. We even went to the sheriff when Callie came to the store and told us you had disappeared.”

“I’m sorry, Mama,” Ethel cried. “Martin Sumner found me and brought me back to town.” She was afraid to admit what she had done, thinking that her best bet was to stick to the story she had fabricated. “I didn’t know he was gonna grab me.”

“Who?” her father demanded. “Who grabbed you?”

“Perley Gates,” Ethel whimpered.

“That son of a bitch!” Steiner roared. “I invited him into my home. He broke bread with my family!” He took Ethel by her shoulders, looking into her eyes. “What did he do to you?” When she refused to answer, he shook her violently. “What did he do to you?”

“He had his way with me,” she lied. “I think he wants to marry me.”

Her father was beside himself with anger, unable to talk for a full minute. He sputtered and fumed while Mary took their daughter in her arms and held her.

“You’re safe now,” she said, “home where you belong.” She looked at her husband and confessed, “I’ve never been so wrong about a person in my life. I thought he was a decent young man.”

Able to think rationally again, Steiner questioned Ethel then. “You said Martin Sumner brought you back. Did he arrest Perley Gates?” Ethel, still in her mother’s embrace, nodded. “So, he’s in jail?” She nodded again. “I’m going up there,” Steiner told his wife. “You take her home.”

“We can’t both leave the store, Louis,” Mary responded. “What are you going to do, anyway?” When he insisted that he had to go talk to the sheriff, she said, “All right, but wait till I take Ethel home, and you can go when I get back.”

Although still fuming, he realized what she said was true—he couldn’t leave their store unattended.

* * *

Trapped in the web of lies she had created, Ethel went home with her mother, where she was welcomed with great relief by all her sisters. Mary told them what had happened to Ethel, and their reaction was total shock, just as it had been with their mother and father. When Mary left her in their care and went back to the store, they questioned her in depth about her abduction. She was inclined to be a little more explicit with the details of the incident than she had been with her mother, unable to resist an attempt to arouse envy. Instead of buying into her fantasy, however, they were inclined more toward skepticism, knowing their sister better than her mother did.

Virginia looked at Callie and winked, then addressed Ethel. “You seem like you’re feeling much better now.” When Ethel said that she was, Virginia said, “Good, ’cause we’ve got to take care of you, if he’s done everything to you that you’ve said.

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