Morning Ran Red by Stephen Bowman

Author:Stephen Bowman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: literature, crime, suspense, murder, mystery, literary, historical, true, villisca, unsolved, bowman
Publisher: Stephen Bowman

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Carl Gast returned to his farm where he lay in the hayloft of the barn. He had been sleeping, but now he became aware of the sound of a rattling engine on the lane to his home. He pulled himself across the loose hay to the edge of the loft where he pressed his face against the sideboards in time to see Albert Gardner and Burt McLean climb out of the car. They were both drunk now and they laughed loudly as they stumbled against the front fender to support themselves. Soon Alice Gast stumbled from the rear seat. The two men climbed back into the car and sped away down the lane.

Instead of going to the house, Alice walked limply to the barn. From his position in the loft, Carl watched her enter and latch the large barn door behind her. Thinking that she was alone, she went to the water tank and in one quick sweep she grabbed the lower hem of her dress and stripped it over her head. Naked against the loose hay on the barn floor, her wet body shone in the dull light as she stooped to the tank and brought a handful of ice cold water to her hot body. He heard her gasp as she splashed the water into her crotch and again when she wiped the insides of her legs.

After she was gone, Carl waited silently in the hayloft. He lay there wondering how his family had become so low. But he knew the answer to his question. The Gardner family had ruined the Gasts. And, somehow, he would get even with the Gardner family, he vowed to himself. Somehow.

It was evening and he sat on the floor near the open fire with Lorraine beside him. She was quiet. The light from the fire danced in her watery eyes and bounced from her face like two soft moons of yellow. He had been gazing at her with remorse while he thought of leaving her again.

“You know that I must leave tomorrow?” he asked.

“Yes. It is something that you must do.”

“I have waited here too long.”

“I know.”

They gazed at the fire together not having to speak until John Morgan asked a question that had been bothering him.

“I wonder if you will have the courage to stand what might hap pen if Frank Gardner discovers what we have been to each other.” He laughed when he saw her eyes turn from warm complacence to hot defiance. Morgan moved the rough tips of his fingers gently down the side of her face, “We are going to expose Frank Gardner all the way down to his bare butt. He will have to fight back if he wants to beat us. And if he finds out about you, he will use you to fight me.”

“And you?” Lorraine asked. “What will you do?”

“You mean — if it does happen?” Morgan shook his head. “I don’t know. I could say that I will stand by you, but if it comes to the point where I could lose this case against Gardner — I don’t know.

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