The Lighthouse Road(59)

"Good God almighty, let's speak our common language," the constable said.



But Rolf raised a hand as if to ask for silence. He touched Thea's arm and said, "What do you mean to tell us, child?"



Thea looked up at his kind words, at the gentle tenor of his voice. She whispered, "That man. Last night, he came. When the horse was out."



Rolf closed his eyes, then opened them and looked at Trond. He shook his head.



"What is it, old man?"

"If I understand her, we've got a heap of trouble. Sounds like maybe Smith paid her a visit last night."



"What does that mean?" the constable hissed. " Plain English. Tell me in plain English what happened."



Rolf looked disgusted with the constable. He turned again to Thea, who had startled at the constable's sharp words. "Do you mean to say the watch salesman Smith came here last night? When? Why?"



Thea offered the Bible again. She trembled, her fear was stupendous.



"Are you trying to tell me what happened?" He pointed to a word— skrek, cried out— and read to her the verse, "Han traff den trolovede pike ute på marken, hun skrek, men der var ingen til å hjelpe henne." And the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her. "Do you mean to say that man Smith lay with you?"



Thea put her hands over her face again.



"Child, did that man hurt you?" He took her arm and shook her. "Did Smith hurt you?"



Now she burst into tears and laid her head on the table. Rolf looked up, first at the constable and then at Trond. "We've got ourselves a hell of a mess," he said.



"What's wrong with the girl?" the constable asked. "What kind of a mess?"



"I gather Smith took what weren't his. Her Bible talks about a girl in a field and nobody to help her. I think she's meaning to tell me she were that girl, and Smith laid with her."



The three men sat in dumb silence, each of them looking blankly ahead. Thea sobbed silently, her head still on the table.



It was Trond who spoke first. "What does that have to do with the horse, though? How did the horse get into the paddock?"



They were rhetorical questions. He was thinking out loud. But Rolf misunderstood, and asked Thea if she knew of anything about the horse.



She looked up and said, "I saw a tall man leading a horse last night." She pointed outside. "Before the wolves."



Rolf translated.



"A tall man?" the constable repeated. "Leading a horse, she says?"



" Smith is a damn sight taller than six foot," Trond said.



The constable had taken his notebook back out and was scribbling furiously. "Ask her what time," he said.



Rolf asked her and Thea considered, she told Rolf.



"She says it was late, after ten or eleven. She was done with her chores and readying for bed."



"It makes no sense," Trond said.



"Ask her was it Smith leading the horse."



She couldn't say who it was, she only saw from a distance and through the darkness. She repeated that it was a tall man, that he led the horse by the bridle past the trough, where the horse was left.



There was a moment of confused silence before Rolf said, "He was looking to stir up a commotion. That horse was bait for the wolves."



The constable looked at Trond, "By God, the old man's right. Why else would he do it?"



Trond stood and walked to the door and looked out the window. He'd been in the woods for a long time, he'd solved his share of problems. More than a few of his crewmembers had been sent off the parcel for one misdeed or another, some of those had ended up in the hoosegow. But this was a full-fledged crime if Thea told true. There was a goddamn lawman in his mess hall to attest to it. He had a dead horse butchered; he had a young lady defiled. Things were entirely beyond his experience now. He turned back to the group. "What do we do?"



The constable rose. "I'll bring Jacque and the girl before the magistrate first thing in the morning. They'll give their testimony. We'll put a warrant on the watch salesman Smith. He'll be charged and sought. We'll offer a reward for his capture."



Trond walked back to the table. "If Smith is smart he'll be gone, to Canada or Chicago or goddamn Mexico."



"Then we'll find him in Mexico, Trond."



"What about my horse?"



Rolf said, "Your horse ain't quite as important as it was a few minutes ago, chief." He turned his attention to Thea. "The constable is going to bring you before Curtis Mayfair in the morning. You'll have to travel to town and make a testimony. You can't use your Bible to tell the story. You'll need to tell them what happened in your own words. I'll go with you."