Chapter 53

Tom decided that it was time for bed. Mei, Su and Janet were in Tom's bedroom and Wei and Jess were sharing a room, beside Toms. Tom didn't know how the others were arranged but he didn't think that it mattered. As it turned out John was beside Tom and Peter was across the hall, with Robert beside him. They positioned themselves so that a person would have to come through all of them to get to Tom.

Janet was a little distant, but the other women soon had her forgetting her troubles. They showed her that she was loved and appreciated. Tom drifted off to sleep and was soon cuddled by soft female forms.

He woke with the dawn and made his way down to the kitchen. He found Nana directing an army of kitchen slaves, and wondered if it was a normal occurrence, he didn't think it was an efficient utilization of people, but he decided to wait and see. He was greeted to chicory coffee. He wasn't sure that he liked it, but decided to give it a real try before he demanded his coffee.

Tom wasn't surprised to see the other warriors and women making their way down to the kitchen. Nana told him that he wouldn't be seeing the children, as they were never up before nine. Tom was stunned at the news but decided that it wasn't his problem.

Some of the house slaves were shocked at the women sitting and cuddling with the men at the table, but only whispered between themselves. Tom and the warriors discussed what they wanted to get done that day and Nana intruded into their conversation, "Master Tom, before you can go telling the slaves what to do, you need to talk to Mr. Storey, he's the overseer. He would be right vexed if you started working his slaves without him knowing."

Tom looked at Nana and noticed the look on her face. "Tell me about Mr. Storey, Nana." Tom watched as the other house slaves suddenly looked for things to do as far away as they could get, and the information wasn't wasted on him. Nana looked at him hard before she spoke so softly that it was almost a whisper, "He's a mean one, Master Tom. He carries his whip everywhere and looks for any reason to use it. He takes the girls for his pleasure, and if they complain he whips them, too. He even takes the ones that ain't started their time yet. Hell fire master Tom, but he even takes the married women, and if their man complains, he has him tied up outside his house. When he ain't using the woman, he is outside whipping the man. He says that is makes the woman try real hard to keep him happy."

Tom looked around the table at the other warriors. There were nods from each of them. Tom turned his attention back to Nana, "You are right Nana, we should see to Mr. Storey before we start any new projects. Now, why don't you get us fed so we can get our day started?" Nana turned and barked out orders and food was quickly on its way to the table. Wei tasted everything that they made and some of it she liked and some she didn't.

After breakfast was over Tom heard Wei telling Nana that she was one of Tom's cooks and that she would be fixing their lunch. He saw the concerned expression on Nana's face, but figured that Wei could handle herself. Tom and the warriors left from the back door to go see Mr. Storey.

His house was easy to find. It was a small stone cottage set apart from the slave quarters but close to them. It had a low stone wall that surrounded the house. They knew that they had found the right place when they saw the man tied up in front of the house, from a low hanging tree branch. He had been severely beaten and wasn't conscious. Tom nodded to the man and Peter cut him down. One of the other slaves was quick to tell them, "If ya cut'm down Massa Storey will beat 'm again." Tom smiled and shook his head, "I don't think so. Have you got a moss woman that can take care of him?" The young man nodded his head, "Yesa Massa, I'll go fetch her right'way." The young man was off at a run. Tom decided to wait until they had seen to the man and sat on the low wall.

It was only a minute before the young man was back and he had an older woman with him. She walked slowly and carried a cloth sack. Tom watched her checking over the man and hissed, "He should have known better and kept his mouth closed." He saw her taking out a salve and covering the open wounds. When she had the wounds covered she motioned to the young man and told him to take him to put him in his bunk, on his stomach. Tom noticed him motion to another man and they each took and arm and carried him away. When Tom turned his attention back on the old woman he found that she was watching him closely. He smiled and raised an eyebrow. She shook her head and just stepped back, but she didn't leave.

Tom motioned to the door and Robert walked up and opened it. They found that he was still eating his breakfast. He had a young woman sitting across from him, who obviously wanted to be somewhere else, and two young girls that were acting as his cooks. He glared at the men, "This is my house and you should knock before you come barging in." Tom considered that and said, "You're right we should have knocked, but since you don't live here anymore we didn't think that it mattered." Mr. Storey looked at the men and nodded, "You the new owners?"

Tom nodded his head, "That would be me." Mr. Storey nodded his head and continued to eat. Tom thought that he was a pretty cool customer. Tom took the young woman and raised her to her feet, pointed her toward the door and gave her a push. She didn't look back and was gone at a run. Mr. Storey snorted, "You might want to have some of that one yourself. She was a real pleaser."

Tom nodded his head, "Yes, I can imagine how hard she tried to keep you inside." Mr. Storey grinned, "Yes, that does seem to work out well." Tom couldn't believe the attitude of the man and made no pretense of understanding him. They heard a noise and all eyes turned to the doorway of the bedroom. They noticed a girl that couldn't have been more than ten. Tom saw her limping and could guess, from the blood on her thighs that her short dress didn't cover, why she was limping. He looked at Mr. Storey for an explanation.

Mr. Storey looked at her and shrugged, "She should be back to work in the fields by tomorrow. I'll let her rest today, but by tomorrow she should be fine. Tom nodded to Peter and then the girl, and watched as he gently took her hand and led her outside to the old moss woman. Tom looked hard and spoke quietly, "Storey, I want you off this Plantation by noon, or I'll kill you where I find you." Mr. Storey grinned at Tom, "Boy, don't try to scare me. You ain't enough of a man to do that."

Tom's expression never changed as he looked Mr. Storey in the eye, but his hand closed around the handle of his knife. Before anybody had seen what happened, Tom had put it through Mr. Storey's hand, that he had resting on the table, and buried the knife well into the wood. Mr. Storey screamed and looked at his hand pinned to the table. Tom's voice still hadn't changed, "Storey, I wouldn't waste my time trying to scare you, but if I find you on this plantation after noon, I will kill you." Tom jerked the knife hard and it slipped from the wood table and back through Mr. Storey's hand. Tom casually wiped the blade before he slipped it back under his coat. Mr. Storey looked at him with more respect, as he moved to pack what few possessions that he owned.

Tom turned to leave and softly said, "Make sure that Mr. Storey is off the plantation by noon, but you can take your time making sure that he leaves." John nodded his head and followed after Mr. Storey. Tom noticed that all of the warriors followed after him.

Tom motioned to the two girls that had been cooking for Mr. Story and led them out to the old moss woman. "He won't be needing anybody to cook for him any more either, since he will be gone from here today. But why don't you have the girls cleanup around the outside of the house this morning. They might just feel better after they have everything cleaned up." The old woman looked at him curiously, but nodded her head. Tom knew that the girls would feel better when they saw Mr. Storey leave. Tom headed back toward the main house, and he distinctly heard a scream coming from somewhere in the Storey cottage. It brought a smile to his lips.

Tom busied himself going through the accounts for Magnolia House. He found a lot of things that he knew were errors, but he also found some outright theft. He knew who had to have been responsible, but he wasn't sure what he wanted to do about it. He was glad when Wei called him to lunch. It was as good as she had ever made and Tom loved it. Even Nana had to admit that there were some things about cooking that she could learn from Wei. Chinese cooking was something different, but there weren't any complaints.

It was well after lunch that Tom was called out onto the porch. When he got there he saw the sheriff and Mr. Storey. Tom nodded to the sheriff and took out his pistol and put a bullet in the head of Mr. Storey. He then turned his attention back to the sheriff, "What can I do for you today sheriff?"

The sheriff was still staring at the dead body that had fallen off the back of the horse. He turned his attention back to the young man that had just shot Mr. Storey out of the saddle when he noticed that the pistol that he held was now pointed at him. There were a lot of things that he wanted to do, but he calmed himself, "Young man, I think you better give me that gun and come along with me."

Tom smiled at the sheriff as he eased his pistol back into his shoulder holster. As he sat in one of the chairs on the porch Tom casually said, "Just what do you think that you saw sheriff?" The sheriff sputtered a couple of times before he said, "You just killed a man in cold blood. I saw the whole thing."

Tom shook his head, "Sheriff, that man is wearing a gun. He started to draw on me, just look beside his body you can see that his gun is out of his holster." The sheriff looked again and saw that his gun was indeed lying beside the body, but he knew that it had fallen there when the body hit the ground. The sheriff sighed, "Now son, that's a good story, but we both know that ain't what happened."

Tom smiled and waved at the warriors sitting on the porch, "If you don't believe me sheriff, just ask any of these fine men that saw the whole thing." The sheriff knew what they would say just looking at them, and knew that he would never get a judge to hang this man.

The sheriff took another tact, "Why would he ride all the way into town and back out here just to pull a gun?" Tom looked thoughtful, "Well, we ran him off this morning for damaging some of my property. We didn't know at the time that he was a thief, too. I didn't find that out until I was checking the accounts. He probably figured that if he killed me, he would be able to keep his job and keep stealing. I imagine that he brought you along because he didn't think that you would do anything to him, for killing somebody from Washington."

The sheriff looked hard at Tom, "Well, you were right to think that I wouldn't have done much about him killing you, but you had better be able to prove to me that he was a thief." Tom smiled and waved the sheriff in the house. He took him into the library and showed him the account books. He pointed out that the books went back to when Senator Thurston was alive and he pointed out the discrepancies. He showed the sheriff the receipts that Mr. Storey had signed and the amounts he took, and there was never any money coming back. Tom suspected that the Senator or his son was keeping the money, but it was never put back in the books.

The sheriff shook his head and closed the books. "Okay, you showed me he was a thief and I know that he was a hard on the slaves, so I won't doubt that he did damage your property, but that aint no reason to kill a man." Tom looked at the sheriff and wondered what kind of a man he was. He decided to find out. Tom stood and motioned to the sheriff to follow him. He led him back through the house to the kitchen and found Nana. He whispered to her, "Take the sheriff out to see the girls that Mr. Storey hurt. Make sure that he sees what was done to them." Nana looked hard at Tom and nodded her head. Tom asked the sheriff to go with Nana to see the damages that they were talking about.