Sheriff Carl Jenkins sat at his desk pondering possible ways that would give him access to Malcolm's property.
The main problem was that Malcolm Matheson was a white man, a well respected white man from a well respected family with strong ties to the community.
If he was a colored man the Sheriff could pretty much handle the situation anyway he saw fit. There wouldn't be any cries of unfair treatment because not too many whites cared about the colored people in Culbert County or how they were treated.
This situation wouldn't allow him to just barge on to Malcolm's property throwing out the law as he saw fit.
Doing such a thing in this case could and would raise the ire of the local citizens and his Uncle the Mayor.
No, he had to come up with something or visit the property at a time when Malcolm wasn't going to be there.
'That's it,' Sheriff Jenkins thought to himself. 'I'll visit the ranch when Malcolm isn't there, or maybe I'll catch his guest out and about alone on the ranch.'
The Sheriff smiled as another idea took root in his mind. 'Maybe I can find out about his guest by talking to Mabel, Frank or one of the other ranch hands. Yes, I'll talk to the people who work for him.'
Sheriff Jenkins stood up from his desk, put his hat on his head and headed out the door. He smiled because he now had a plan, a way of solving his problem, and he knew the best place to start was the easiest and that would be with Mabel.
Because everyone knew that if you wanted to find out what was going on in a bachelor's house all you had to do was talk to the housekeeper.
Carl Jenkins sat outside the local grocery store in his patrol car awaiting Mabel's arrival. He expected to see her there because it was Friday the day she did her weekly grocery shopping.
He smiled when just as expected Mabel pulled up to the grocery store in her trusty old pickup truck, turned off the engine, exited the truck, locked the doors and made her way to the front entrance of the grocery store.
Sheriff Jenkins waited until Mabel entered the store and grabbed a grocery cart making her way over to the produce section before he exited his care and made his way inside.
He stood in the front of the store watching Mabel in the produce section checking out the tomatoes, holding them, squeezing them slightly and smelling them checking their freshness.
Jenkins decided to approach Mabel as she made her way out of the produce section towards the back to the meat counter. As he walked up Sheriff Jenkins heard her place an order for six steaks.
"Malcolm having guests?" the butcher asked noticing that Mabel had doubled her usual order.
"Why can't you just fill my order without being nosy Max?" Mabel said to the butcher.
"Just making conversation, Mabel," Max said. "Not my intention to be nosy."
"Six steaks, Max, three pounds of ground beef, a slab of bacon, two whole chickens, a rump roast and six pork chops, please," Mabel said.
"Company going to be staying awhile?" Max asked.
"Charge it to Malcolm's account," Mabel said ignoring Max's question. "I'll pick it up after I've finished with the rest of my shopping."
"Alright," Max replied.
As Mabel turned to leave, she bumped into Sheriff Jenkins, who had purposely positioned himself so that she would bump into him.
"Excuse me, Mabel," Sheriff Jenkins said reaching out and placing his hands on Mabel's shoulders to steady her in case she fell.
"I didn't expect to see you standing there, Sheriff," Mabel said.
"I guess not," Sheriff Jenkins said chuckling. "I came over to see if Max had any decent steaks for sale today."
"The steaks are always decent," Mabel said. "It's putting up with Max that you have to decide if you want to put up with."
"I heard him asking if Malcolm had company as I was walking up to the counter," Sheriff Jenkins said chuckling once again.
"I'm going to finish my shopping Sheriff," Mabel said pushing her cart away from the meat counter. "I'll talk to you later."
"Okay," Sheriff Jenkins said amazed that Mabel hadn't taken the opportunity he'd given her to gossip about Malcolm's guest. "I guess you have to get back home and take care of Malcolm and his guest," the Sheriff said unwilling to give up on getting the information he was seeking.
"I do have to get back to work," Mabel said leaving the Sheriff standing at the meat counter with as much information as he had when he bumped into her.
"How many steaks do you want Sheriff?" Max asked.
"None," Sheriff Jenkins said as he left the meat counter.
It was when he was leaving the grocery store and saw Carolyn Winters heading for the entrance that another idea popped into Sheriff Jenkins mind. He couldn't get the information he wanted from one woman he'd send in another woman to get what he wanted.
"Hello Carolyn," Sheriff Jenkins said reaching up and touching the brim of his hat as he greeted her.
"Hello, Sheriff," Carolyn said. "How are you today?"
"I'm fine," the Sheriff replied. "I'm a little disappointed though, I came over thinking I would have a steak for dinner only to find out that Mabel ordered the last six steaks Max had for Malcolm."
"Six steaks for Malcolm," Carolyn replied finding it strange that Malcolm would order so many steaks just for himself.
"I guess he's planning a nice evening for the visitor, that's been staying with him," Sheriff Jenkins said innocently knowing that he had piqued Carolyn's interest.
"Malcolm didn't say anything about expecting a visitor," Carolyn said.
Sheriff Jenkins smiled. Carolyn's reaction was just what he expected it to be.
"Maybe the woman is an old friend of his," Sheriff Jenkins said giving into his desire to further flame the flames of Carolyn's curiosity.
"She?" Carolyn questioned.
"Yes," the Sheriff replied. "I stopped by Malcolm's place to see how he was doing when Frank came out and asked him about someone named Sabella. Very pretty name don't you think?"
"What does this Sabella look like?" Carolyn asked.
"Don't know," Sheriff Jenkins replied. "I never got a chance to meet her."
"I wonder how long she's been visiting?" Carolyn asked.
"I stopped by Malcolm's place on Monday," Sheriff Jenkins said.
"And today is Friday," Carolyn murmured. "If she's still there, she's been there almost a week. I wonder why Malcolm didn't mention having a guest before I left to visit my grandparents? I could've delayed my trip and been here to help him entertain his guest and introduced her to people around town."
"Maybe Mabel can answer those questions for you," Sheriff Jenkins said as he fought to keep a smile off his face that was trying to break free. "She's inside doing Malcolm's weekly shopping."
"Thank you, Sheriff," Carolyn said. "I think I will have a talk with Mabel and find out what's going on."
"Goodbye, Carolyn," the Sheriff said stepping aside so Carolyn could enter the grocery store.
He smiled thinking that he would soon have all the information, he wanted, using the most powerful weapon in the world a jealous woman protecting her territory.
Carolyn Winters a twenty-eight year old, brown haired version of Marilyn Monroe stands five feet six inches tall, weighs one hundred twenty-five pounds, with eyes just as brown as her hair was what everyone in Culbert County considered to be Malcolm's perfect match.
She was beautiful, smart and she came from an established, respected, wealthy family all things that everyone thought made her the perfect woman for Malcolm, and it was for that reason it was expected that Malcolm and Carolyn would one day get married.
It was so expected that most of the single women in town consider, Malcolm to be off limits, so off limits, they turned him down whenever he asked them out.
Most of them because they didn't want to deal with Carolyn's reaction when she found he'd asked them out, and they'd accepted.
Carolyn went into the grocery store searching for Mabel hoping Mabel would tell her about the woman staying in Malcolm's home.
'What is wrong with that man?' Carolyn thought to herself as she searched. 'He's going to make me the laughing stock of this town. How is it going to look, him, a single man, allowing a woman to stay in his home?'
How would she explain it to her family and friends?
'He better have a good explanation for doing such a thing,' Carolyn thought to herself.
Carolyn, knew and understood that as far as Malcolm was concerned the only thing they shared between them was friendship. Malcolm had told her, that he wasn't interested in her romantically.
When Carolyn suggested they give dating a try Malcolm insisted, it wasn't a good idea, he told her it would be the same as dating a family member for him.
Malcolm also told her, he couldn't date her because of her elitist attitude. Her opinion that there was a place for everything and everything had it's place and that included people.
Carolyn and Malcolm had,had countless talks, arguments about the way Carolyn treated people she considered not in her social class.
People who worked for her family, served others, weren't as educated as she was or who wasn't the same color as she was she considered beneath her. She couldn't understand Malcolm's problem with the way she thought.
Especially when it was clear (at least to her and others like her) that people were of the manor born.
Meaning she was born in a wealthy family with power, a family that wasn't afraid to use that power. Hence this was where God wanted her to be.
It was the job of her family and families like her's to look out for things, to keep things as God intended.
That meant when the lower classes or colored got uppity it was their job to remind them to stay in their place. Doing so kept order, kept things calm and running smoothly.
That was why wealthy families only married into other wealthy families. They all understood how things were done, how things were run. At least that was what her father told her and her father would never lie to her.
