Obedience, in her nightcap and bedclothes, was the first to notice the stranger standing in the bedroom doorway. “Heaven protect us,” the woman exclaimed as she pulled the comforter up to her double chin. Her eyes grew wide and her breath fluttered as she struggled to regain her composure. Her husband rubbed the sleep from his eyes and finally managed to focus on the man in the greatcoat looming over them, a lamp in his hand. The yellow glare set Jesse’s chiseled features in stark relief. The interior of the mercantile was warm, thanks to a Franklin stove still glowing with red oak logs. Tendrils of steam began to rise from Jesse’s rain-soaked coat. Water dripped from the hem and left a puddle on the bedroom floor. Edwards, Mississippi, consisted of a mercantile and a one-room train depot. Spivey’s mercantile furnished necessities for the plantation owners and for the farmers who populated the land between Vicksburg and Jackson. And when there were passengers for the railroad, Spivey hung a red lantern on a post by the tracks.
