Chapter 12
Chapter
The small crowd gathered on Main Street near the Dog drew Bernadine’s attention as she drove up.
A large flatbed truck was also on the scene.
On top of it stood a huge, carved, white stone hog that she estimated to be at least seven feet tall.
It was decked out in a toga, of all things, and sunglasses, and sported a woven circlet of laurel leaves as if it were some kind of piggish Roman emperor.
She was not amused. She parked Baby and got out.
Riley, dressed as always in his signature black suit with a fake red carnation pinned to the lapel, stood near the truck talking with a man wearing a red Kansas City Chiefs T-shirt and jeans.
From his angry face and exaggerated hand gestures, he didn’t appear amused either.
Two other men got out of the truck and joined the discussion.
Ignoring them for the moment, she spotted Mal among the people viewing the statue. She walked over.
“Have to admit this isn’t something you see every day,” he said to her as she stood beside him.
She eyed the statue critically and wondered what the price tag might’ve been for such a monstrosity.
“Do you think Cletus’s corpse is inside?” Mal asked.
“I don’t even want to think about that.” With Riley, anything was possible, though. “This was not on my list of things to deal with today.”
“Riley certainly makes life interesting around here, if nothing else.”
“I’d settle for him leaving town again and never coming back.”
“If wishes were horses, doll.”
She sighed. “I suppose I should go find out what he thinks he’s going to do with it, because it’s not staying here. Tell Barrett if there’s any dynamite or plastic explosives in town to keep them away from Genevieve. She’ll blow that thing up and not think twice.”
He smiled. “Will do.”
The crowd of onlookers continued to swell. Folks who’d had lunch at the Dog walked up to see what was going on, as did people coming from the coffee shop. People driving down Main gawked at the statue, parked their cars, and got out to get a better look. Most were left speechless.
“Why is it wearing sandals?” Bernadine heard Bing ask TC as she walked by. “It’s not like pigs wear shoes.”
TC replied, “Who knows. They don’t wear sunglasses, either, but here we are.”
Bernadine paused at the sight of a car emblazoned with a decal from one of the Topeka television stations as it pulled up to the curb and parked.
A blond woman holding a microphone got out and made a beeline over to where Riley stood talking with the men from the truck.
Bernadine didn’t put it past Riley to have called the press to tout whatever his plans were.
The Topeka reporter was soon joined by others from stations in Hays and Wichita.
“You either pay me now, or I dump the hog in the street!” the man in the Chiefs shirt shouted at Riley as she walked up.
Riley yelled back, “I told you I need to switch my banking to a bank here before I can write a check. I’ll send payment asap. I’m scheduled for a press conference right now, so unload my statue. I don’t want to keep these good people waiting.”
“The agreement was payment on delivery, Curry.”
Bernadine wasn’t surprised to learn what the arguing was about. Nonpayment was Riley’s middle name, and if the trucker believed he’d be paid, she had a lake in the Sahara she’d like to sell him. “Excuse me, gentlemen. Hello, Riley. What are you planning on doing with this statue of Cletus?”
“I thought we’d put it in front of the rec. A place of honor for Henry Adams’s most famous resident.”
“No.”
“What do you mean, no?”
“No, as in you’re not putting that statue anywhere in Henry Adams.”
The reporter from Topeka stuck the mic in Bernadine’s face. Bernadine politely but firmly pushed it aside and punctuated it with a look that dared her to do it again. The woman backed off.
“And you are?” the trucker asked her.
“Bernadine Brown. Town owner.”
“He told me the town commissioned this.”
“Veracity is not Mr. Curry’s strong suit.”
He glared at Riley before asking, “So, I’m assuming you aren’t paying me either?”
She shook her head. “Sorry, but no.”
The crowd had now encircled Bernadine and the others standing near the truck.
The huge replica of Cletus loomed over everyone, and the more Bernadine saw of it the more she hated it.
An up-close inspection showed one ear higher than the other, and they were two different sizes.
The snout was too small for the face, and the front legs were off center.
Whoever created it needed to be arrested.
It was not well made. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Genevieve talking on her phone, but she refocused on Riley when he called out in a loud voice, “I want to thank the members of the press for coming out. After the passing of our town’s beloved Cletus, I thought this statue would be a fitting memorial to someone who meant so much to everyone here. ”
Bernadine wondered if she should step aside to avoid the lightning about to strike Riley for lying so blatantly.
“If everyone would follow me over to my RV, I’d like to introduce you to someone who will one day eclipse Cletus in both talent and charisma.”
She’d been too focused on the statue to notice his RV parked across the street.
He’d purchased it at Christmas last year with a portion of the lottery money he’d won.
It no longer appeared brand-new. The left front headlight had a huge dent that matched the damage to the wheel well.
She hoped he hadn’t been involved in a hit-and-run.
Instead of following the press and some of the crowd over to the RV, she stayed where she was, as did the fuming men from the truck.
Riley emerged from the RV and held up a tiny brown-and-white piglet for all to see as if he were re-creating the scene from The Lion King.
It was wearing sunglasses and a camo onesie.
Some people stared in awe, others like Bernadine sighed and shook their heads at this new chapter in Riley’s never-ending story.
Riley called out, “Meet Albert. Named for the brilliant Albert Einstein. He’s Cletus’s grandson and destined for greatness.”
The truck guy turned to Bernadine. “He’s kidding, right?”
“I wish.”
The press people made their way to where Riley stood holding Albert. He answered their questions with the aplomb of a seasoned politician. Bernadine wondered how slow a news day it must be for them to be present.
He was answering questions and posing for pictures with Albert when two county sheriff cruisers arrived on the scene. Sheriff Will Dalton stepped out of one, and Deputy Sheriff Davida Ransom exited from the other.
Will walked over to where Riley was holding court and said, “I have a warrant for your arrest, Mr. Curry.”
Appearing genuinely confused, Riley asked, “What for?”
Bernadine hadn’t seen Franklin’s mayor Lyman Proctor arrive, but he suddenly appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and shouted, “For that ten-thousand-dollar check you bounced, you bum.”
Chatter swept through the onlookers. The trucker beside Bernadine asked, “Is it always this exciting here?”
She tried not to smile and failed.
Will added, “There’s also an active arrest warrant for you from the state of Texas for theft of property.”
“I didn’t steal anything.”
“You don’t know a woman named Eustacia Pennymaker?” Davida asked. “She said you stole a piglet. Is that it?”
The now terrified-looking Riley quickly hugged the piglet against his chest as if to protect it. “I didn’t steal Albert. He’s the grandson of Cletus and by all rights mine.”
Will said, “You have the right to remain silent . . .” When he finished reciting Riley’s Miranda rights, Davida said, “Hand me the piglet, Mr. Curry.”
“Why?”
“So it can be looked after by the Department of Agriculture people while the court sorts this out.”
“No! He’s too young to go into foster care. He needs to stay with me.”
Will said, “He can’t go to jail with you, Mr. Curry.”
“Jail!”
“Yes, jail.”
“I’m not going to jail!”
“Yeah, you are.”
“I demand a lawyer.”
“You can call one once we get you booked. Now hand over the piglet so I can cuff you and take you in.”
“No!”
“You don’t have a choice, now turn around.”
Rather than be involved in an all-day negotiation session, Davida held out her hand. Her stern face said it all, so Riley handed over Albert, then turned to be cuffed. “I’m going to sue you all!” he promised. “Just you wait! I know some very powerful lawyers in Hollywood.”
Will didn’t appear impressed. He marched Riley over to the cruiser and helped him into the back seat. Moments later, he and Davida were on their way out of town.
The sound of the winch on the flatbed drew Bernadine’s attention, and at the sight of the truckers slowly guiding the statue down the ramp her eyes widened. “What are you doing!”
The man in the Chiefs shirt was in the cab and behind the wheel. He leaned out the window and yelled over the sound of the ramp gears. “Leaving this with you!”
“No! Take it back where you got it. We don’t want it!”
“Sorry, ma’am. Just talked with my boss. He’s going to sue Curry. Told me to leave the pig here.”
Bernadine was furious. She didn’t want a badly rendered, seven-foot-tall hog wearing a toga on her main street. A microphone was stuck in her face. “What do you have to say about all this, Ms. Brown?”
“No comment,” she snarled.
The hog was left near the curb in front of the refurbished Henry Adams hotel. As the truckers drove off, she was so angry she wanted to cuss and punch something—mostly Riley.