"Jodie, what happened?"
"I don't know yet. Wes phoned me. He'd just heard it. Said
Ward was shot-stayed out in all the freezing drizzle last night.
His shotgun was lying on the ground by the barn fence, and Ned
told Wes it looked like maybe Ward was trying to crawl under the
barbed wire when his gun went off."
I wanted to tell Papa that Mister Ward wasn't even close to a
barn or a fence when me and Shoogie saw the blood leaking out of
his neck. But Shoogie had made me promise not to let Mister
Ward's name roll out of my mouth! So, I just looked back at the
icicles.
Mama sat down on the edge of my bed and started pulling my
nightgown up over my head. But I could tell she wanted to talk to
Papa, not me.
"Who found Ward?"
"Wes didn't say. 'Course Wes didn't know anything for sure. I
tried to phone you, but never could get you."
"I reckon I was still down at the cowpen."
"He asked me to call into town to get the county coroner
right away. I don't know why he didn't do it himself-he's the new
Justice of the Peace.
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