and their tactics. He knew they would do whatever it took to protect the boys. Rice was no longer worried about what Hunter would do to the boys, but what that family would do to the Hunters to keep them from pressing charges. And file charges they would, if he was any kind of decent judge of character, and he was great at the art. He had to think - and think quickly - of a way to protect this family. These would be some serious charges, and the boys would be put away for a long time. He knew that the Johnsons were not going to let that happen. He would be damned and everything he ever prided himself on being would vanish if he were going to be just a bystander while the Johnsons destroy such a decent family. He knew he cannot get through to the Johnsons, but he would try his best to get through to this man standing before him.
Eudean Rice would have been embarrassed if he noticed Austin Hunter studying his emotions and the turmoil he was feeling. He was saved by the door to the emergency room opening. The doctor came out.
Rice was a familiar face to the doctor. He immediately looked at Austin, addressing him.
“Mr. Hunter, we are not finished with your family yet, but I wanted to let you know that we tended to most of their injuries and they are stable. I just wanted to assure you that they will be all right.”
On hearing the news, Austin collapsed on the floor, covering his face with both hands, and started sobbing. For once he did not care who saw his weaknesses, he was just relieved and thankful that his loved ones were staying with him.
Detective Rice did not know how to react to this burst of emotion. He was looking at a man who looked strong enough to take on anyone, but fragile and vulnerable enough to break down in tears. He knew he was looking at a very good man and instantly made up his mind to help him any way he could. This decision could mean a lot of trouble for him, and possibly his own death, but that was a chance he was willing to take. He had to make a stand and choose a side. It was no choice really; he knew what he had to do.
By the time the Johnson boys got home that night after trying everything they could to stay out of the way and try to treat some of their wounds, all three elders were waiting impatiently on them.
“Hi, Uncle Tommy. Hi Uncle Butch,” greeted Randy with a shaky voice. “What’s going on?”
Unexpectedly, the sheriff slapped Randy for the first time in his life. “What happened to your face, boy? You look like you have been in a fight and got the short end of the stick. As a matter of fact, you all look like it. You want to tell me what happened and who beat you up like this?”
“Nothing, Uncle Butch. We were not in a fight. We were just fooling around with each other and fell in some brier bushes and got all scratched up.”
It was Al who slapped his son this time. “You want to try again and tell us the truth this time or shall we beat it out of you? That woman and her daughter you raped and beat up are still alive, and from the gossip we picked up from town and what the two deputies that saw them afterwards said, you probably tried to kill them and failed.”
“We all know that they will probably file charges against the three of you, and with your history of all the fuck ups, we have no doubt that you will wind up serving time. Your uncle Tommy doesn’t think he can protect you this time. This will bring the state’s law enforcement agencies on us.”
The two younger boys were ashen with fright and worry. So was Randy, but he was the oldest of the three and it was up to him to do the talking. Besides, those were his instructions to his younger cousins.
“Impossible, they can’t be alive,” he said. They were dead when we left them. No one could have survived what we did to them. Ask Jeffrey and David,” he pleaded.
“How in hell could you let two little women do so much damage to your faces,” asked the sheriff? “They were girls, for Christ sake.”
“It was the younger one that put up most of the fight,” said David. “No matter how much we beat her, she kept coming at us, but we showed her,” he continued with some satisfaction in his tone.
“You showed her all right, you idiots. You have forced our hand and now we have to think of something to clean up your mess. Even though everyone in town thinks that you three did this, it’s only the women’s word against yours and from what we hear, they are not talking yet and won’t be for a while. Now get out of here and you’d better stay indoors until your faces heal, and I mean if you hear someone coming to visit, you’d better get back in your rooms and hide. Don’t even let the help see you this way. You will be eating in your rooms until all the scars are gone.”
“But that could be days,” said Randy.
“You will do what I said even if it takes months, you understand me, boy?” said the sheriff with a tone that brought immediate compliance from the three.
“What do you intend to do?” asked the judge when the boys cleared the room.
“I have an idea. I have someone that will take care of it for me. You don’t need to know, judge. Just don’t worry about them. It may take a few days, but I will take care of the problem.”
Over the next three days, Megan and Marina were regaining their strength. Austin spent every moment he could with them. He would only go home at night to sleep, and only after the hospital staff practically threw him out by telling him that his family needed their rest and as long as he was there, they were not getting enough. They also knew that this would be the only way Austin himself would get any well-deserved rest.
What Austin did not want his family to know was that even with going home, he was not getting the rest he should. Ever since the incident, every night, someone - and he had a pretty good idea who it might be - would cruise by, shining some mighty powerful light beams at his house to keep him awake, and when he would come out of the house in the morning to head for the hospital, he would find all kinds of immoral graffiti on his front and garage doors.
Every morning he would clean the filth off the doors, wanting to make sure none of it was there in case his wife and daughter came home that day. And although he did the cleaning alone the first day, every day since, his neighbors would arrive with their own buckets and cleaning material and work alongside him in total silence. No one knew exactly how he felt, even though they all had an idea how they would feel if the same thing had happened to their families. They did not want to intrude on his feelings or his thoughts. Some would come by with a dinner plate when they saw him pull up at night, but he thanked them and told them he won’t be eating at home. He felt close to his neighbors and never appreciated them more, even in total silence.
The whole town was enraged when they found out about the graffiti, and it only stopped when the townspeople took it on themselves to start patrolling his neighborhood at night.
The district attorney was building a strong case against the young Johnsons and he needed the statements and testimony of Megan and Marina. He was determined to finally put a stop to those boys and their atrocities. He never had a chance like this to do it. Powerful family or not, there was no way out of this one.
Dr. Shirley, Megan’s cousin, took over the girls’ care. Her real name was Shirley Swan but everyone referred to her as Dr. Shirley after the movie starring Dolly Parton. It was a small country hospital and they all knew and were friendly with each other so that almost everyone had their own nicknames. Shirley didn’t mind, she even thought it was amusing. What was real important to her at this time was that her relatives would receive the best possible care. She also wanted to keep an eye on Austin. She knew that his wounds, though psychological, needed just as much attention, especially when she heard him on several occasions blame himself for the whole
