wasn't a soul here," said the deputy. "I saw Vilate Franker go in with a pie - "
"Sheriff, what's he talking about?" said Alvin. "I saw him come in here not five minutes ago and start yelling and running down the hall. It scared poor Vilate so she took on out of here like she had a bear after her."
"He was not here, I'd swear to that before God and all the angels!" said Billy Hunter.
"I was right here by the door," said Alvin.
"Maybe he was bending over to get the pie and you didn't see him," said the sheriff.
"No sir," said Alvin, unwilling to lie. "I was standing right up. There's the pie - you can have it if you want, I told Miz Vilate that I didn't finish the last one."
"I don't want none of your pie," said Billy. "Whatever you did, you made me look like a plain fool."
"It don't take no help from Alvin to make you look that way," said Slieriff Doggly. Marty Laws, the county attorney, hooted at the joke. Marty had a way of laughing at just the right time to make everything worse.
Billy glared at Alvin.
"Now, Alvin, we got to put you on your parole," said Marty. "You can't just go taking jaunts out of the jail whenever you feel like it."
"So you do believe me," said the deputy.
Marty Laws rolled his eyes.
"I don't believe nobody," said Sheriff Doggly. "And Alvin ain't taking no jaunts, are you, Alvin?"
"No sir," said Alvin. "I have not stirred from this cell."
None of them bothered to pretend that Alvin couldn't have escaped whenever he wanted.
"You calling me a liar?" asked Billy.
"I'm calling you mistaken," said Alvin. "I'm thinking maybe somebody fooled you into thinking what you thought and seeing what you saw."
"Somebody's fooling somebody," said Billy Hunter.
They left. Alvin sat on the cot and watched as an ant canvassed the floor of the jail, looking for something to eat. There's a pie right there, just a little that way... and sure enough, the ant turned, heeding Alvin's advice though of course the words themselves were just too hard a thing to fit into an ant's tiny mind. No, the ant just got the message of food and a direction, and in a minute or two it was up the pie dish and walking around on the crust. Then it headed out to find its friends and bring them for lunch. Might as well somebody get some good out of that pie.
Vilate's hexes were for concealment, all right, and they were aimed at the door. She had got him to stand close so that he'd be included in her strong overlook-me, so Billy Hunter had looked and couldn't see that anybody was there.
But why? What possible good could she accomplish from such a bit of tomfoolery as that?
Underneath all his puzzlement, though, Alvin was mad. Not so much at Vilate as he was mad at himself for being such a plain fool. Getting all moony-eyed about a woman with false teeth and vanity hexes, for pete's sake! Liking her even when he knew she was a plain gossip and suspected that half the tales she told him weren't true.
And the worst thing was, when he saw Peggy again - if he saw Peggy again - she'd know just how stupid he was, failing for a woman that he knew was all tricks and lies.
Well, Peggy, when I fell in love with you you were all tricks and lies, too, you know. Remember that when you're thinking I'm the biggest fool as ever lived.
The door opened and Billy Hunter came back in, stalked over to the cell door, and picked up the pie. "No sense this going to waste even if you are a liar," said Billy.
"As I said, Billy, you're welcome to it. Though I sort of half-promised it to an ant a minute ago."
Billy glared at him, no doubt thinking that Alvin was making fun of him instead of telling the plain truth. Well, Alvin was, kind of. Making fun out of the situation, anyway. He'd have to talk this over with Arthur Stuart when the boy came back, see if he had any idea what Vilate might have meant by this charade.
The ant came back, leading a line of her sisters. All they found was a couple of crumbs of crust. But those were something, weren't they? Alvin watched as they struggled to maneuver the big chunks of pastry. To help them