Sabella & Malcolm Ch. 15

"I have other DVDs we can watch," Sabella said her heart going out to Malcolm.

"I want to see this one," Malcolm said giving Sabella back the Snow White DVD. "It'll be the first movie you, me and the twins will see together. And when I think about the movie now I'll still think of the memory with my friend, but I'll also have the memory of seeing it with you, my wife, Serena, my daughter, and Solomon, my son."

"You're going to make me cry," Sabella told him wiping a tear from her right eye.

"I love you," Malcolm told her leaning over and placing a kiss on Sabella's lips.

"I love you too," Sabella replied meeting him halfway and leaning into the kiss.

"We better get the movie started," Malcolm said looking down at his watch and seeing that it was fifteen, "I wouldn't want to keep you out pass your curfew and you and have some unfinished business to attend to when we turn in tonight."

Sabella laughed, reached up and pulled down the overhead screen, inserted the DVD, showed Malcolm how to adjust his chair so that it reclined. She then did the same to her chair, then they both sat back and enjoyed the movie.

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Mayor Jones looked at his watch and saw that it was nine forty-five. He was standing outside by his truck waiting for Ed, Bart and Slick to arrive. He hoped they wouldn't be late because after they took care of Malcolm, and his house guests, he had one more loose end he had to tie up before he would be satisfied that this thing would be over. Mayor Jones breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the rest of the men's trucks pulling up in his driveway.

"Is Thomas coming?" Ed asked as he exited his truck.

"No," Mayor Jones replied. "I called him and he said he meant when he said he wanted nothing to do with tonight."

"Do you think he'll tell anybody we're the ones who set Malcolm's house on fire?" Bart asked.

"I wouldn't worry about Thomas telling anybody, anything," Mayor Jones replied, a hint of anger in his voice. "The only thing we have to worry about tonight is Malcolm catching us starting the fire, and I've got something to handle that if he does," Mayor Jones said eyeing the shotgun hanging on a gun rack in his truck.

"I suggest we get this show on the road gentlemen," Slick said a slick smile on his face, arching his eyebrows, "I've got a date tonight, and I don't want to keep the young lady waiting."

"Sally's going to catch you picking cotton where you shouldn't, and she's going to leave you and take everything you've got with her."

"She has to catch me first," Slick said his voice confident, his stance self-assured.

"Are you sure we don't have to worry about Thomas telling anyone we're the ones who set Malcolm's house on fire?" Bart asked needing more reassurances that Thomas wouldn't betray them."

"No one will believe him if he says anything about it," Mayor Jones said.

"Why not?" Ed asked.

"Because there will be four upstanding citizens who will tell the police that he was the one who started the fire," Mayor Jones said smiling at the three men.

A smile appeared on everyone else's face as they caught on to what the Mayor was saying.

"Would we be those four upstanding citizens?" Ed asked pointing to the other men then himself.

"Yes, we would be," Mayor Jones said. "We'll solve two problems with one fire tonight. We take care of Malcolm, and Thomas is arrested for causing the fire, eliminating the need for any kind of investigation, of the fire."

Ed, Bart and Slick shook Mayor Jones hand congratulating him on his plan.

"We'd better do as Slick suggested and get a move on," Mayor Jones said, "it's getting late."

"I think we should only take two trucks," Bart said. "There's no way in hell I'm climbing onto the back of your truck Mayor, and we'll take my truck too."

Ed grabbed his gun out of his truck then he and Mayor Jones climbed into the Mayor's truck, Slick grabbed his gun out of his truck then he and Bart climbed into Bart's truck and they all drove over to Malcolm's house to carry out their deadly, murderous plan.

"Did you ask us to bring our guns because you didn't think we would be able to lift the big rocks we would need to block the doors?" Ed asked Mayor Jones as he pulled out of his driveway.

"Yep," the Mayor replied. "We need to be prepared to deal with them if they try to escape the fire."

Ed didn't want to do what they were about to do because Malcolm's father had been the closest he'd ever come to having a brother. Out of all the men in the Secret Brotherhood he and Malcolm's father had been the closest. They were so close that when Malcolm was born, Malcolm's father asked him to be the boy's godfather and when Carolyn was born two years later Ed asked Malcolm's father to be her godfather and he agreed.

As their children grew up the two father talked about how wonderful it would be if their children were to get married. Malcolm's father said that his son marrying Carolyn and becoming a member of the Secret Brotherhood would make him the proudest man in Texas. Malcolm's wouldn't have to go through the usual steps one would have to take to become a member of the Brotherhood because he would practically be assured a membership because his father was already a member making him a legacy.

But neither of the men's dreams were meant to be because Malcolm didn't share his father's opinion about the white race being the most superior race God ever created. The race meant to rule over the other races of the world. The race that should be kept pure and not mixed with the inferior races of the world. So he fought all his father's efforts to force or browbeat him into joining the Secret Brotherhood.

And Malcolm never showed any interest in dating Carolyn. He wouldn't even consider going out with her. Even when Ed and Malcolm's father tried to set them up on dates Malcolm would refuse to take Carolyn out. Ed became angry when he thought of all the tears his daughter cried because of Malcolm's rejection.

Ed became so angry he went over to Malcolm's house and demanded to know why he wouldn't date Carolyn. He wanted to knock the shit out of him when Malcolm said that he didn't want to date Carolyn because she was a spoiled, snobbish, bigot that he didn't think he could stand to spend any time with.

The fact that everything Malcolm said about his daughter was true did nothing to ease the anger flowing through Ed's veins.

Carolyn wasn't spoiled; she was just used to getting what she wanted, and she wasn't snobbish; she just thought that people of different social status shouldn't mix or cross social lines. She wasn't self-centered either; she just knew that she was beautiful, and she wasn't a bigot either; Carolyn was just proud of her racial heritage and agreed with her father that the white race should be kept pure no matter what it took to keep that way.

"Are you going to be alright doing this?" Mayor Jones asked Ed. "Malcolm is your godson."

"He stopped being my godson and I was no longer his godfather when he rejected my daughter," Ed replied. "I'll have no problem seeing that he gets what he deserves."

"I'm glad to hear that," Mayor Jones said breathing a silent sigh of relief. "I was worried about you."

"You have no call to worry about me," Ed assured told him.

The rest of their drive to Malcolm's house was silent both men thinking of what they were about to do.

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Sheriff Jenkins looked at his watch it was nine fifty. He was parked a mile down the road from Malcolm's house awaiting the arrival of his Uncle and the others. His Uncle ordered him to be there an hour before they arrived so that he could keep an eye on the house and make sure Malcolm and the others didn't leave the house. He thought Malcolm, Sabella and the brats were going to leave the house when he saw them coming out of the house carrying brown bags and baby bags. He relaxed when he saw them going into the garage instead of Malcolm's truck that was parked in the driveway. He watched the garage waiting for them to exit.

After waiting ten minutes and they still hadn't come out the Sheriff slowly, silently made his way up to the garage. As he came closer to the garage he saw that the side door was slightly ajar. Sheriff Jenkins eased the door open and saw the strangest vehicle he'd ever seen parked there.

"What the hell is that?" Sheriff Jenkins asked out loud his voice just above a whisper his mouth gaping opened as he stared at the tank-like contraption.

The Sheriff saw the door open on the passenger side of the contraption and managed to jump away from the door and hide before Malcolm could see him.

He watched as Malcolm went back inside of the house and came back out a few minutes later carrying something in his hands. Sheriff Jenkins made his way back up to the garage trying to figure out a way that he could eavesdrop on Malcolm and Sabella and find out what was going on. However, he couldn't think of a way of accomplishing that goal.

He was about to go in and order Malcolm and Sabella out of the strange contraption they were sitting in when he realized that them being inside the garage would be a perfect way for him to get what he wanted. Which was Sabella.

He decided that Malcolm, Sabella and the brats being in the garage would be the perfect way to fool his Uncle. His Uncle would think that they all were trapped inside the burning house, and he would hang around until the house was fully engulfed, and then he would leave.

When his Uncle left the scene to establish his alibi, the Sheriff decided he would shoot Malcolm, leave the brats in the contraption, and he would then kidnap Sabella and sneak her up to his Uncle's cabin without anyone finding out.

"I'm going to need your cabin after all, Uncle," Sheriff Jenkins said to himself thinking of all the things he would need to get after he took Sabella to his Uncle's cabin.

Still anxious to find out what was going on and not wanting his quarry to try to sneak out of town Sheriff Jenkins decided he would stay close to the garage until it was time for his Uncle's arrival.

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The Sheriff made it back to his car just as his Uncle's truck turned the curve that led to Malcolm's house. He began straightening up his clothes, wiping the sweat off his face and tried to control his breathing that he could appear as if nothing was wrong and his Uncle wouldn't become suspicious of him.

Mayor Jones drove slowly up to the sheriff's car hoping his idiot of a nephew had done as he'd been told and simply watched Malcolm's house and didn't try to figure out a way to save that nigger woman.

As he got out of his truck and approached his nephew he couldn't help but notice the stupid smile he tried to keep off his face.

'He's up to something,' Mayor Jones said to himself. The Mayor knew that only one thing could put a smile that big on the Sheriff's face. Malcolm, the woman and the brats were no longer in the house. 'I'm going to have to kill this fool.'

"Are they still in the house?" Mayor Jones asked the Sheriff.

"Yes," Sheriff Jenkins replied, the tone of his voice becoming snappy at the thought of his Uncle killing Sabella.

"Don't give me none of your attitude," Mayor Jones said getting in the Sheriff's face. The snappiness in the Sheriff's voice letting him know that the woman was still in the house.

Sheriff Jenkins moved away from his Uncle to his car, opened up the driver's side door and plopped down inside, his bottom lip sticking out in a pout like a little spoiled brat being denied something he wanted so badly.

"What's his problem?" Ed asked the Mayor looking over at the Sheriff.

"He's thinking with his dick," the Mayor replied disgusted with the way his nephew was acting over a colored woman. "Let's get this thing over with."

The men gathered everything they would need to do their deadly deed and quietly made their way up to Malcolm's house.

Once there Ed, Bart and Slick doused the front porch, the side and the back of the house with gasoline. After they were done and in an effort to make sure the house would burn the Mayor took gasoline soaked rags and jammed them against the front and back doors. Not wanting to set the fire himself he told Bart to go get the Sheriff.

The Sheriff walked up to his Uncle a worried expression on his face. The smile on the man's face told him that he was up to something and whatever it was involved him.

"I want you to do something for me," his Uncle said taking a match and lighting a Molotov cocktail he was holding in his hand.

"What do you want me to do?" the Sheriff asked swallowing the lump that was developing in his throat.

"I want you to have the honor of setting the fire," Mayor Jones replied.

"Why?" Sheriff Jenkins asked moving away from his Uncle.

"It's my way of making sure you don't get any ideas about turning us in," the Mayor said. "If you do we'll have to let everyone know that you're the one who started the fire.

"I can't do that," Sheriff Jenkins said.

Mayor Jones pulled out a handgun from a holster inside his jacket, brought it up, walked over and placed it against his nephew's head. "You'll either set the fire or join Malcolm and his guests. The choice is yours."

"But Uncle..."

"What's it going to be Carl?" Mayor Jones asked cocking the trigger of the gun.

Sheriff Jenkins took the Molotov cocktail from his Uncle's hand and threw it towards Malcolm's front door.

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Malcolm was watching the movie holding the hand of a sleeping Sabella when the smell of smoke reached his nose. He looked out the window of the Hummer and saw smoke seeping from under the garage door. The smoke reached Sabella's nose causing her to cough and wake up.

"What's going on?" she asked trying to wave away the smoke from her face with her hand.

As she spoke she looked around the garage and saw the smoke coming from beneath the garage door.

She was about to scream when Malcolm clasped his hand over her mouth, then he placed a finger against his lips signaling for her to be quiet.

"I heard voices outside," he whispered. "I'm going to get out and see if I can find out what's going on."

Sabella nodded her head.

Malcolm eased out of the passenger door of the Hummer and made his way over to look out of the side door window. He peeked out of the window and saw Sheriff Jenkins standing next to the door orange and red colors dancing off his body. He looked in the direction that the lights were coming from and saw that his house was on fire. He also saw Mayor Jones, Ed and Slick standing around watching it burn.

Malcolm was so entranced by the sight of his house burning that he was surprised when the Sheriff moved in front of the window.

Malcolm immediately ducked down and prayed that the Sheriff hadn't seen him. He kept low as he made his way back to Sabella.

"What's going on?" Sabella asked as soon as he opened the car door.

"Mayor Jones, Ed, Slick and the Sheriff are burning down my house," Malcolm said his voice dripping with anger.

"What?" Sabella replied panic overwhelming her. "We need to get out of here," she said reaching for the keys in the ignition.

"No," Malcolm said grabbing hold of her hand. "We're in the safest place we could ever be right now."

"What?" Sabella said looking at Malcolm as if he'd lost his mind.

"It's obvious the Mayor, and the others think that we're inside the house," Malcolm said. "If we stay in here and wait for them to leave, we can leave, and we won't have to worry about them coming after us or looking for us, because they're going to think we're dead. If don't think we're dead we'll have a good head start because they won't find out we're still alive until the fire department puts the fire out and the smoke clears."

"Suppose the garage catches on fire, or they decide to burn it down?" Sabella asked. "What will we do then? I don't think we should risk the twins' lives."

"It's going to be okay," Malcolm said trying to assure Sabella that they were safe. "If they decide to burn down the garage, we'll use your baby to bust out of here."

Sabella wasn't comfortable with Malcolm's plan, but she agreed to do things his way.

"I promise everything will be fine," Malcolm said a confidence in his voice that Sabella didn't understand.

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Sheriff Jenkins nearly had a heart attack when he looked over at the side door of the garage and saw Malcolm looking out of the side door's window. He wondered what the fool was thinking sticking his head up for everyone to see. He hoped by moving in front of the side door that Malcolm would realize he was in danger of being seen. He was relieved to look back and see that Malcolm's head was no longer in the window.

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"Where's Bart?" Mayor Jones asked realizing that his friend was missing.

"I think he went around the back of the house," Slick replied.

"Go get him," Mayor Jones ordered. "I want us to leave together so that we'll all be home when we're called as members of the Culbert County Volunteer Fire Department to put this thing out."

"Alright chief," Slick said making his way to the back of the house.

"You better get going Ed," Mayor Jones said. "You have further to drive than the rest of us."

Ed stood in the front yard watching the house of his best friend and godson burn to the ground. He couldn't believe things had come to this, Klan members burning another Klan member's house down. Anger began to boil inside of him at the reason, why it was happening. Malcolm and his father and the picture Malcolm's father took.

'Why didn't you give up the picture Malcolm?' Ed thought to himself. 'None of this would've happened if you had given up the picture.'

Of course, Ed was willing to overlook the fact that at the time the picture was taken, he, and the others happily posed for it. They were proud of what they were doing and they all wanted a memento of that evening.

"Ed!" Mayor Jones said shouting to get Ed's attention.

"What!" Ed replied still staring at the burning house.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Ed said eyes still trained on the fire.

"You need to head home," Mayor Jones told him. "You have further to drive than the rest of us and we want you to be home when you get the call about the fire."

"Alright, I'll..."

Mayor! Ed!" Slick shouted as he came running from the back of the house.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Mayor Jones asked.

"Bart's been shot," Slick said pointing at the back of the house, his eyes big as saucer fear covering his face. "He's dead. Somebody shot him."

Ed and Mayor Jones took off running towards the back of the house. Slick didn't follow them unable to look at the lifeless body of his friend again.

When they reached the back yard and saw Bart lying on the ground Ed and Mayor Jones stopped in their tracks their mouths gaped open. They looked at each other, then they moved slowly towards the body. They looked down at the body and knew without touching it that their friend was indeed dead.

"Who could've done this?" Ed asked staring at the bullet hole centered right between Bart's eyes. "And why we didn't hear a gun go off?"

"I don't think that Malcolm, the woman and those brats are in the house," Mayor Jones said looking around the back yard, searching for any sign of Malcolm.

"Of course they're in the house," Ed said looking at the Mayor as if he'd lost his mind. "The Sheriff was here watching them, if they'd left the house, he would've told us. It has to be somebody else."

"My stupid nephew wouldn't have told us the house was empty if he thought he could get his hand on the girl," Mayor Jones said. "You know how bad he wanted her. He almost begged me to let her live."

"Malcolm wouldn't let the Sheriff get within a foot of that woman," Ed pointed out. "He would shoot the Sheriff dead on the spot if he took one step in her direction."