Read Online The Dead Man: Hell in Heaven by Lee Goldberg, William Rabkin - Free Book Online Page A

do it, flashing her titties and batting her eyes at him. She wanted him from day one and he wouldn’t touch that dirty Vetch skin. So she made him do it!”
    “That’s enough from you,” Orfamay said.
    “I can prove it,” Mouse said between sobs. “You get out the boards and the stones and she’ll confess faster than she could pull off her drawers!”
    One of Arno’s brothers reached down and swatted Mouse across the face, sending her sprawling on the floor. “Miss Orfamay told you to hush, Gilhoolie.”
    Mouse pulled herself up on her hands and knees. “Do something, Vern,” she pleaded. “You’ve got to do something.”
    Vern had only gotten paler during the inquisition. When Orfamay turned her ferocious gaze on him, he looked like he wanted to pull his chinless head down into his neck like the turtle he resembled.
    “We’ve got laws,” Vern said. “We’ve got a system of justice. We can’t just take this on ourselves.”
    “There’s no question here,” Arno said. “You heard—”
    Orfamay held up a hand, cutting him off. “Vern Gilhoolie is right,” she said. “This is the kind of thing we no longer handle among ourselves.”
    She turned to Matt. “What are you waiting for?”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
     
    Matt had been watching with increasing horror as the inquisition proceeded. When he’d first seen the people of this town he’d been concerned they were some kind of religious cult, but he hadn’t imagined it could be like this. Maybe it was the residual effect of living with Joan. Maybe her hate and evil had infected all of them, although he hadn’t seen a single sore or tumor, not even on the two who’d been trying to kill each other over a pig and a bunch of chickens.
    Now they had all turned back to him. It took him a moment to understand why. “Me?”
    “Who else?” Orfamay said.
    “How about the police?” Matt said. “Is there a sheriff in town?” Even as he said the words he realized he hadn’t seen a trace of law enforcement since he’d gotten to town, not even a forest ranger’s truck. “We can radio for the state patrol. I think there’s a station twenty miles from the turn-off. They can get troopers here in an hour.”
    “Troopers got nothing to do with our law,” Orfamay said.
    “It’s not your law,” Matt said. “If there’s been a rape, there’s a state law that covers it. This boy needs to be arrested by a law enforcement officer and held by jailers until he can go to trial under the supervision of a judge. And he’s got to have a lawyer. I’m not any of those things. Are you?”
    “That’s not our way,” Orfamay said.
    “I don’t care if it’s your way ,” Matt said. “It’s the law. You can’t just choose to ignore it and write your own legal code.”
    “Our law is laid down by the lawgiver,” Orfamay said. “You killed her. Now you are our lawgiver. “
    Matt tried to understand what he was hearing. They’d referred to Joan as a queen, but he hadn’t thought for a second they meant it literally. He stared at Orfamay, then turned to see the entire assembly staring back at him. “That thing made your laws?” he said finally. “She ruled over you?”
    “We had to do what she said,” Vern said. “We didn’t have any choice.”
    “Now you do,” Matt said. “She’s not here anymore. She’s not coming back. You can go back to settling these things the way you did before she came.”
    There was a roar of approval from both sides of the room. Vetchs and Gilhoolies and Runcibles and Hogginses pounded their plates and silver against the table.
    “No!” Mouse shouted from across the room. “We can’t! Don’t let them!”
    “I don’t understand,” Matt said, shouting to be heard over the din. “You don’t think he’s guilty. You want to see him protected. I want the same thing.”
    Mouse didn’t say anything, just put her head on her arms and wept.
    Matt looked from one side of the hall to the other. The people were all standing,