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"Why, she's just a Negress. They can't hang me for that." Entrenched behind a false barricade that no one could hang him for such a feat, he stared with empty eyes at the crowd that was coming ever closer to him now.
"Don't be a fool. She's a woman, and they can hang you right here if they choose to."
"She was a bloody whore, why would anyone care?" Banks protested loudly, like a man lost in his own delirium.
Tal jerked him up by the front of his shirt and frowned mightily at him. "You're in deep shit boy. You better get going while you still can."
The warning bounced off him, as he shook his head.
"I ain't runnin'. They won't hang me." Banks protested as the unruly crowd came closer, he seemed to blank them out entirely.
"I warned you," he shoved him back to the floor. "That's all I can do."
It only took minutes to surround Banks, who sat in a corner now, as the crowd converged on him.
Ferg waited until they all came to stand in front of Banks.
The crowd of men stared with displeasure and disgust.
An inkling of shame and despair crouched closer now, as their eyes bore down on him with contemplation. Their silent mockery angered him.
Banks saw the look of murder on some of the men's faces. He finally realized he was in trouble. He should have run, when he had the chance, he thought as a sense of reality hit him. Now, his only recourse was to talk them out of their foul moods.
Raz and Coon saw Rose and their eyes widened. They came storming back inside, their blackened glaring eyes made Banks scrunch down in his blanket, covering himself from them.
Ferg made the announcement. "Rose is dead, knifed, in the back and left out on the porch overnight. We'll bury her in the snow out back until it thaws. Anyone wants to check for themselves, better go now, we're about to bury her in the snow for now."
The few that hadn't seen her, went.
"It ain't right, it just ain't right. She never did nothing wrong." One man hollered as he cast a devilish glare at Banks.
Ferg stared down at Banks. "It has been witnessed that it was your knife in her back. Do you deny it?"
At first Banks didn't say anything, he waited, cowing down and trying to shield his face and eyes from all the stares and accusations. What could he possibly say to discourage them now? "So, what if it was, don't mean I killed her."
"You threatened her just a couple of days ago. You deny that?"
"Naw…but that don't mean I done it either." Banks swore beneath his breath.
Matt looked down at him and then shook his head, "Maybe not, but that blood all over your boots says you did."
Banks glanced at his uncovered boots, and suddenly he knew just how deep a shit he was in.
Even Tal couldn't deny it was Joe Banks knife. They all watched as Coon, Doolin, Raz and Colby gathered the body and took it outside where they quickly buried her in the snow. Coon said some pretty words over her. Then after a moment of silence they walked back inside.
Some of the men inside hollered, "Amen."
There was a lot of talk among the men, but it was Matt and Ferg who singled Banks out as the crowd of men kept gathering about him. Men were snarling and stood menacingly over Banks now.
One wrong word and he'd be a dead man.
"You killed her," Matt pointed his finger at Banks. "You got her blood on your boots and your knife in her back. You can't deny it. Some of us heard you threaten her."
"Anyone could have taken it!" Banks cried out.
"Maybe they could have, but you are the only one here that wanted her dead, Banks, and it is your knife and you can't point anyone out that stole it, can you? Most every man here liked Rose. Except maybe you! I'm sorry, there's too much evidence to the contrary to defend you."
"Well I didn't see…"
