Chapter 27

Paul and Mike McPherson stood side by side in front of Sammy and Polly as the pine box carrying their mother's remains was lowered into the red clay earth. When the workmen started shoveling in the dirt, Paul turned and grabbed Polly's skirt and hid his face. Sammy took young Mike's hand and they walked back to the Dodge together. The boys sat on the back seat, silent and expressionless as the sounds of dirt filling the hole followed them, thump after thump.

The Washington police had questioned everyone, including Seth and Caroline, and had Tom McCullough in three times. He admitted taking Jenny for a ride, as he said he had several times before after the show was over for the night, and claimed she got out of his car halfway to Rockville when he made an improper suggestion to her. He said she took a swing at him and called him a name and that she was "mad as hell." He had been with another girl later that night, he said, at a trailer park in Bethesda. She was a rock-solid alibi and stuck to her story, proud of being thought the director's "scarlet woman." The Herald published her name but the other city papers only made a general reference as the story faded. The motel owner where Jenny and Tom had made love several times said he remembered Tom but never saw the woman with him.

The murder did not hurt business at the summer theater; in fact it might have helped since it generated a lot of publicity for a few days. As time passed, other events, including the continuing scandals of the Harding administration and exploits of some daredevil aviators, crowded in, and the file on Jenny's murder sat in a wooden cabinet in a D.C. police station and was seldom opened.

The boys came to live with Sammy and Polly and their two much younger children after Polly and Caroline had a long discussion about what should be done. Caroline hated to admit that she was too old to raise any more children, but Seth helped convince her. Jenny's erstwhile husband was nowhere to be found and the murder news failed to smoke him out.

Seth agreed to contribute each month to the boys' food and clothing and said they could come visit and spend the night any time they wanted. Polly said that they really did not need the money because of her inheritance and that she would seldom work in the store until school started again and the two boys were safely ensconced in the Kensington elementary school where they both were well known by the teaching staff. Sammy and the boys had several rather short talks on the back porch about how things would be, and the youngsters seemed to agree that the arrangement was the best for all concerned. Sammy felt sorry for them, but he knew the doubling of his family meant a lot more work for Polly.

There were no more roles for Jenny's boys in the theater's plays and the water delivery business ended with the their mother's death although the pump was still available to the crew who now hauled their own water buckets. Paul had many sleepless nights, but Mike seemed to adjust to a new life and to his busy foster parents without much fuss. He was a particular fan of the store's penny candy jars until Sammy caught him at it after several warnings and whacked his bottom a couple of good ones and sent him home yelping.

The boys played in the grassy field and watched the actors' softball games and horseshoe matches, but because Sammy did not trust McCullough, he had ordered them not to approach the theater people, and they did as they were told. Both boys worked in the store regularly and both were paid for their efforts, at a nickel an hour in the beginning with regular raises when they proved to be valuable and diligent. Paul and Mike quickly learned to pump gas and stand on the customers' running boards to wipe windshields. They earned a few small tips that way.

The Red Barn Theater closed at the end of August after the third week of "A Murder in the Red Barn" sold out every night, and Seth gave the check for the family's share of the proceeds to Sammy for Jenny's boys, for "school clothes" he said although it was much more than was needed for that.