Dark Witness (20 page)

Hannah had been running through the dark forever and now she was seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. Billy couldn't see it, he didn't even believe it was there, but if Hannah could then that was cool. Maybe a few months here would be okay. Hannah might decide she didn't like it. Or maybe she wouldn't want to leave. Whatever happened, they would each have to choose whether to stay or whether to go.

He ate a piece of chicken but admitted he was kidding himself if he thought he had a choice when it came to Hannah. He would never leave her, not even if she told him to go away. He was thinking he could pretend everything was cool for the next few months, when Melody stood up. One by one, the people around the table got quiet as they noticed her. Duncan was so involved with his conversation with Hannah he was the last one to look at her.

"Melody?" Duncan said.

"Duncan." She clasped her hands to her breast and looked around the room. "Everyone."

Beside her, Teresa reached up and put a warning hand on Melody's hip. Billy put his fork down. Robert's mouth fell open, and Glenn asked 'what's going on?' even though it didn't really sound like he wanted an answer. Foster stuttered and the two little people exchanged a look that wasn't good. Melody was oblivious. She only had eyes for Duncan now. He started to rise but what Melody said next kept him in his chair.

"Oh, Duncan," she breathed. "Pea spoke to me."

CHAPTER 15

Hannah sat on her bed with her legs up and out in front of her. Billy sat on her bed, too, but his feet were on the floor, his head down, and his eyes on a knot in the wood that was black with age. Melody had been up to fill the water glass and put something on Hannah's stitches, but she was silent and looked sicker than her patient. Billy and Hannah hadn't spoken since she left, partly because they weren't sure what to say and partly because there was a shared sense of caution. When Billy figured no one else was coming to check on them, he said:

"That was weird."

"No kidding." Hannah hitched her skirt up and over her cast. She popped the top buttons on her blouse and rolled up the sleeves.

"That's better," Billy said.

"What's better?"

"Those clothes look better now. You look like yourself. Kind of like you're cool Amish."

Hannah shrugged. She didn't know what 'herself' was anymore. Before they went to dinner she was all in to spend the next few months in this peaceful place. It wasn't so peaceful anymore.

"He was so mad." Billy put his hands behind him and rested on them. He kicked out one leg and then the other and then got tired of that. He scooted back, crossed his legs, and faced Hannah. "It would have been better if he yelled or something, but it was like his guts were kind of all over his face. Did you ever see that movie where there are these huge cocoons, and people get duplicated in them, but they have all this slime all over them and they can't really talk or anything? Body Snatchers! That's the movie I was thinking about." Billy was pleased with himself for remembering, but he couldn't help shaking his head. "Duncan was so mad at Melody. Man, she looked like she was going to puke."

"It wasn't her fault. I mean, if that Pea person said something to her then she did," Hannah said. "Do you think it's a rule that she can't talk to anyone else but Duncan?"

"No, I think Duncan was the big cheese because that lady talked to him. Didn't I tell you he was weird? Didn't I, Hannah?"

"Maybe Pea is weird," she shot back. "I mean, what kind of person only talks to one person?"

Hannah looked at her nails. She had broken them all over the last few months. In the last week while she lay in bed, they had started to grow back. Funny how seeing those little white half moons made her feel well. She dropped her hands.

"Do you think he's keeping her a prisoner?" Hannah asked.

Billy shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think so. Maybe. I mean he locked the door when he left me that first night. He said it was an accident, but maybe not. Maybe he's locked her in."

"Nobody locks my door," Hannah said.

"Like they couldn't hear you coming?"

"Good point," Hannah said.

"We would have been able to tell if there was something really bad like that going on, don't you think? I mean, we would have felt it, wouldn't we?"

"Yes. I suppose," she said. "Do you think they'll let you stay in here, tonight?"

"No choice." Billy moved around again, trying to get comfortable on the narrow mattress. "I'm moving in. That's just . . ."

Billy stopped talking. He put his finger to his lips. He inclined his head toward the door. Hannah looked, but there was nothing to see. She listened and that's when she heard the doorknob jiggle. Billy got off the bed slowly, and Hannah sat up straighter. She threw the skirt down over her knees and buttoned up her blouse again.

"Billy. . ." she whispered.

"Shhh," he hissed.

Tiptoeing across the room, he stopped long enough to take the pitcher off the dresser and emptied it into the bowl where it was nestled. For a second it seemed whoever it was had gone away but then the knob jiggled again. Billy scooted the last few feet and flattened himself against the wall. He held the heavy pitcher high with one hand and reached across his body for the doorknob with the other. Counting to three, he threw it open, ready to strike.

"What? What?"

Outside the door, a horrified Glenn dropped the pile of logs he was carrying and stumbled back. His scarred hands went across a face so plain even terror couldn't make a mark, and his saddle-stitched body jerked as he tried to move away from Billy.

"Don't hurt me," he called. "Don't. . ."

"Oh, man, I'm sorry. Sorry, man." Billy pulled back. He put the pottery on the floor and scrambled for the logs, apologizing as he scooped them up. "We didn't know who was out here. Sorry, man. We just didn't know."

"Isn't it just me? Isn't it time for the fires?"

"Yeah. I forgot. Come on in."

Billy held the door. Glenn came in looking as if he'd prefer to be going out. He nodded at Hannah, but still gave Billy the eye.

"You want me to do it? I can do it if you're not up to it?" Billy offered as Glenn let the wood roll off his arms and onto the floor near the stove.

"No. I have to do it," Glen said. "That's the way it is. That's the rule."

Billy gravitated back to Hannah's bed.

"Why can't he help you?" Hannah asked.

Glenn hunkered down and opened the grate as if he hadn't heard her.

"Dude?" Billy nudged him. "Why can't I help you make the fire if it would be easier all around?"

Glenn put the first log in and then the second, and still he didn't speak. Hannah and Billy exchanged a look. When the third log went in he swiveled on the balls of his feet and looked at them from behind the rise of his shoulder. His eyes glinted and in that second his face was one Hannah would never forget.

"Because that's how I got burned. Starting fires."

***

Duncan pulled his scarf up over his lips and his nose. The cold in the hidden room was almost beyond bearing, but he was in too much of a hurry to warm it. All he needed was light. Yes, he needed light to see the word of God so he could make some sense of this. . . this. . .blasphemy.

Never, not in all his life, not even the first time Pea had spoken, not even when he realized what his mother had done, not even when he had first understood his gift, not even when he had been entrusted with the first of his broken, battered, doomed flock had Duncan felt such horror. He had lived his whole life with a grace that allowed him to meet each test and trial calmly.

Until now.

Until Melody announced that Pea had spoken to her.

Until Melody looked at him as if she were his equal.

Which she was not.

Which she would never be.

Duncan was so upset that he started to upset everything in his ordered room. He banged his legs and his pen fell off the table. He lunged to get it and the table jolted. That caused the blessed book to fall to the floor, face down, pages bent and scored.

Duncan nearly wept when he picked it up and saw the damaged pages. He lifted the book and put it back on the table. He smoothed the pages knowing he could never look at it again without thinking of this night.

Damn Melody.

She must have done something to cause Pea to betray him or, perhaps, Melody was lying. But that made no sense either. Melody would not jeopardize her healing with such a grandiose lie; with any lie for that matter.

Duncan settled himself back in his chair. He pressed the scarf to his face. He must be calm. There could be no emotions as he put Melody's revelation to the test. He waited, and waited until he was as
Within
as he could make himself.

He was not, after all, Pea.

Just then, thinking about his sister and her gift, Duncan understood that there might be another explanation for what happened in that room: What if Pea were
Without
? What if Pea was becoming one of the flock? If that happened then he would be alone among them all and that thought was crushing.

His head fell forward the way a condemned man's will when the executioner tilts it to bare the neck.

How could he live if Pea were
Without
? How would God speak to him? How would he know when the time was right to heal them all? Did it follow that Pea would have to be healed? How oh how would he find the answers?

It was only when Duncan felt a tear run from the corner of his eye, when he heard it drop onto the book, when he opened his eyes and saw the spot it made on the blessed page, that Duncan righted himself. He was the brother and he was strong. If he had not been, none of them would have come this far.

Pulling the scarf from his face, Duncan wiped his tears. He needed to see clearly, think clearly, and act decisively. If the connection between Pea and God was broken, Duncan needed to know.

He opened the Bible.

He turned the pages.

He came to the passage Melody had so proudly – even arrogantly – announced to the stunned congregation.

Numbers 12:1

Duncan read the passage once.

He read the passage again.

He read it once more, using his finger to follow each word so that there would be no mistake. When he was finished, Duncan sat still for a very long time. He was warm despite the cold, filled with purpose, awed by the glorious simplicity of it all.

"Thank you," he murmured, and he had no doubt that God heard.

He closed the book. Pea was blessed and still
Within
. He was the brother who was
Without.
He was the man
who interpreted God's design and Pea's words led him on the right path as always. Nothing had changed except one thing; this time Melody had received the message because the message was for him, Duncan.

The tears of despair he had shed were now tears of joy. They spilled from his lazy eyes and ran cold down his cheeks. He had been waiting so long for this. Now, no matter what, even long after the healing, he would not be alone. He would be blessed beyond his wildest dreams.

Everyone, including Duncan, would be at peace.

***

Josie sat cross-legged on her sleeping bag and Nell lay on the other side of the tent, her head cradled on her upturned palm, watching the tall woman pour over a map.

"You're not going to find anything else. You know that, don't you?"

"Maybe," Josie muttered. "Maybe not."

Nell rolled onto her back and looked up at the dome of the tent. It was close quarters, but she didn't mind. What surprised her was that Josie Bates didn't seem to mind either.

"I wouldn't be able to make heads or tails of some lawyer thing so you'd probably tell me to give it up if I kept trying. I'm the expert here, and I promise you won't be able to tell anything by that map."

Josie picked the map up, folded it part way, and floated it toward Nell. The woman caught it and opened it up as Josie scooted over and got on her knees.

"Look over here." Josie poked the map. "What are these Xs? They have to represent something."

"Native summer camps. They stock up for the winter and then go back to their villages until the ice breaks up again and they can get back to the river."

"Do they do that every year?" Josie asked.

"Every year since the beginning of time. Now the government gives them all sort of paperwork, permits for subsistence harvesting. Stuff like that makes me mad. It used to be so easy, so natural. Boy, we screwed them up."

Josie took the map back and folded it in half. "It's the law. You've got to follow the law."

"So you say."

Josie laughed, "It's not me. People vote, politicians make the law, and there are courts to hear cases. There are cops to enforce laws. Look at Andre."

Nell barked a laugh, "I love to look at Andre."

"He is easy on the eyes," Josie admitted. "Still, he enforces the law."

"That he does. But the law he enforces can sometimes be a little different than what's on the books. So can justice, and politics, and religion, and the whole ball of wax." Nell turned on her side and cradled her head in her upturned hand. "Look, Alaska isn't California. We don't have the population you do for one thing. People aren't living on top of each the other. That alone creates a whole new dynamic. Frankly, we're all happy to get away from people like you."

"How do you really feel about us?" Josie asked.

"Honest to God truth." Nell raised her fingers in the Girl Scout salute. "We do pretty good on our own. The only thing we get all hot and bothered about is when you all come in and tell us we've got to do something different when it's been working fine the way it is."

"Like looking for Hannah and Billy?"

"Yeah, like that. Want a drink?" Nell sat up and reached for her pack and took out a flask.

"What have you got?" Josie asked.

"Scotch."

Josie shook her head and Nell kept talking.

"It's not that we don't care, it's just we know the lay of our land. When you went over Andre's head, you might as well have just kicked him in the gut. So much for his expertise; so much for his authority. I'd like to see what you'd do if someone walked into your office, went to your boss, and said you didn't know what the hell you were doing."