Summer of the Redeemers (17 page)

She took the baby in her arms and led the way toward the church. We had both changed. Alice had gained guts and I had lost them.

We hadn’t gone too much farther when we heard the voices. The boys again. It was crucial that we kept Maebelle V. quiet, and Picket too. She was straining at the leash again and growling low in her throat. She hated those boys, and if anyone doesn’t believe a dog is a good judge of character, they just haven’t known any smart dogs.

Alice slung Maebelle V. back in her papoose, and I kept one hand on Picket’s back. It seemed to keep her calm to feel my touch. Like some soldiers in the war movies, we crept up the bank and fell on our elbows to spy on the boys.

They were in the old church cemetery. Alice and I exchanged looks, and if I had the same wild-eyed stare she had, we were a fearsome-looking duo. The boys had a shovel, and they were going to town on a hole.

Jim, the blond boy, was digging while Greg supervised. At first I didn’t see Georgie, but I heard him. There was this soft choking sound coming from behind one of the old tombstones, and it took me a minute to locate Georgie sitting there, crying. The worst sensation ran down my spine.

“They’re burying her,” Alice said, awe and terror in her voice. “They killed her and they sent the boys to bury her.”

“That’s impossible.” But I knew it wasn’t. One thing I’d learned this summer was that anything was possible. People could be as nice or as mean as they could think up to be. They didn’t need a reason to be either one.

“Bekkah, they’re digging a grave.”

“Maybe it’s treasure.” I wanted it to be treasure. I hoped they found a million dollars each. I didn’t care how rich they became, I just didn’t want them to be digging a grave.

“In a cemetery?” Alice scoffed. “Not much chance of that.”

“Alice, if they’ve killed her …” We would have to call the police. “Let’s just watch for a minute.” The time before, I’d run off without my evidence. This time I wanted to see for sure.

Jim dug the hole diligently. He was knee-deep and working it into a square about three by four. But we couldn’t be sure of the size of the hole, because our view was on the same level.

Alice’s fingers were digging into the dirt of the bank, and to my complete relief Maebelle V. had dozed off in her papoose. Even Picket was lying right beside me, her eyes alert and watching but her mouth closed.

From the woods near the boys there was the sound of terrible weeping. Alice gripped my shoulder and nearly broke the bone she squeezed so hard.

I wanted to break free of her, but I was afraid to move. A white
shape flitted through the woods. My heart notched up to a faster rhythm, and I had to force myself to hold my ground and watch. The white shape came closer and closer.

The boys didn’t seem to notice it. Jim kept digging. Greg supervised right on, and Georgie sat behind his tombstone with the other two boys. He was still crying, and they were talking to him.

None of them acted as if they heard whoever was coming through the woods crying like they’d lost their only friend. It was a terrible sound, that crying. I’d never heard anything like it. It was so sad that it tore at me. I looked at Alice and there were tears in the corner of her eye.

“We’re a fine pair, crying over God knows what,” Alice whispered.

“Who is that and what’s wrong with her?”

All we could tell was that it was a female. She was draped in white and she wore a veil that obscured her face. She went to the edge of the grave where the boys were working. She stood for a moment, looking down into the hole and crying.

Jim got out of the hole, and the boys over by Georgie pulled him to his feet. When he turned toward us, he was holding a blood-soaked towel in his arms. There was blood on his face where he’d rubbed his hands at his eyes. Beside me, Alice made a dry, retching sound. I gave her a hard elbow in the ribs and stopped her before she could start vomiting.

“What is it?” she asked weakly.

“Shusssh!”

The boys and girl gathered around the grave. Georgie, crying loudly this time, still held the bloody parcel. I could see by now that it was something wrapped in the towel.

Out of the clear blue, the girl’s voice rose in a hymn. The words of “Softly and Tenderly” floated from the graveside in a tone so pure that it made my skin jump. She sang one verse and the boys took the bloody towel and put it in the hole in the ground. Without another word Greg took the shovel and started covering it up.

Georgie and the girl we both recognized now as Magdeline broke into fresh tears.

“They didn’t kill her,” I told Alice, though she could plainly see it for herself.

“No, they didn’t kill her.”

Her voice let me know she was thinking of something almost worse than killing her. “What are you thinking?”

“Maybe she
had
been fornicating, and she was pregnant. Maybe they beat her until they killed the baby.”

“You think they were burying a dead baby?” That idea was more horrible than anything I could ever have thought of.

“Not a complete baby.” Alice slipped back into the creek where we could talk easier.

“What are you getting at?” I wasn’t following. It was either a baby or it wasn’t. Unless someone had cut it up!

“Well, babies grow. If they don’t get a chance to grow enough, they come out, and they aren’t real babies. They’re just part of a baby. If she was pregnant and not too far along, she could have lost her baby when they hurt her.”

“This is crazy, Alice. Where did you learn all of this?”

She dropped her head and turned away from me.

“What?” I was getting upset. Where had Alice heard these things and why hadn’t she told me before? We’d never had secrets. “Where did you hear all of this stuff?”

“Jamey Louise.”

I couldn’t believe it. “Jamey Louise Welford?” I was completely betrayed.

Alice nodded. “Jamey and her sister, Libby.”

“While I was gone to Missouri?”

“Yes. Jamey came over and asked me to go bicycle riding with her. She wanted to come down here to the creek, but her mama wouldn’t let her come by herself.”

“So she asked you to be her nanny?”

Alice frowned. “She was lonely. She’s not as bad as you think, Bekkah. That Libby is something else. She knows everything there is to know about sex and boys and that kind of stuff.”

“Libby said they could beat Magdeline and kill her baby if she was pregnant, right?”

“That’s what she said. That’s why I’ve been so worried.”

“What if she wasn’t pregnant?”

“Then what were they burying?”

“I don’t know, Alice. Why don’t you ask Jamey Louise? She seems to be quite an authority on these things.” Before she could respond, Picket and I started back up the creek to the point where we’d entered.

Sixteen

B
EHIND
me, Alice called my name once, then fell into her own angry silence. I could hear her splashing after me, but I only pushed harder to leave her behind. Picket was an asset, straining forward and pulling me. Alice had the baby to drag along. By the time I left the creek bed, she was far behind.

I got on my bicycle and pedaled fast toward home. My heart was burning with a strange emotion. It wasn’t fair to get mad at Alice for being friendly to Jamey Louise, especially not when I had been off in Missouri. But it was so hard. And they’d been talking about the Redeemer girl. Alice had told our secrets. The pain in my heart barely left enough room for my lungs.

When I got to Nadine’s driveway, I didn’t even hesitate. I rode straight in. The barn doors were open wide, and I dropped my bicycle in the shade by the chinaberry and ran toward the barn. I was panting when I stopped in the dim coolness, a bit startled by the sudden quietness.

Cammie’s head was hanging over her stall. There were more horses, but I ignored the new arrivals and ran toward Cammie. I wrapped my arms around her neck and buried my face. She was damp, and I drew back to take a look at her.

There was a light blue sheet over her. I slipped the latch and went into her stall. I felt her all over. She was wet, but a cool wet. Not the sweat of being heavily blanketed.

“I gave her a bath.”

Nadine’s voice shocked me, but I didn’t let it show. I walked back
to the stall door and looked down the hall. She was sitting on the cement block, just as she had the first time I met her. Her legs stuck out of a pair of short, short cutoffs, and she wore a tiny top, like part of a bikini. Her skin was very white and her dark eyes watched me closely.

“How often do you bathe them?” I asked. Every week or two we gave Picket a bath, which was quite a chore. I couldn’t imagine that Cammie would like it any better.

“Once a week, at least. It depends on show season. The fall circuit will be coming up soon.”

I counted nine heads of horses, and I latched Cammie’s door and walked toward Nadine, taking in the little I could see of the new horses.

“I went to Missouri and rode,” I told her. “I learned how to post properly.”

“I thought maybe you’d moved away.” Nadine stood up. “Since you didn’t show up to work for lessons, I hired someone else.”

A giant rock plunged through me, knocking my already injured heart around. All of my summer dreams disintegrated. I’d gone to Missouri for one week, and Alice had a new friend, and Nadine had found someone else to work. Greg, the Redeemer boy, hadn’t lied.

“Is Greg a good worker?” My voice trembled, but I was trying hard to be polite. I was also looking for any cracks there might be in this new arrangement.

“Greg? Why do you ask?”

“Didn’t you hire him?”

“For labor. I hired Jamey Louise Welford to help with the horses. Her daddy farms and they own stock.”

I could have swallowed my tongue. “Jamey Louise is a moron,” I said sharply. “She hates animals. She doesn’t care two figs for the horses.”

“Maybe not. But she doesn’t come in my barn and take the blankets off without permission.”

Nadine’s voice had a snap to it, but she was still smiling. At least it looked like a smile.

“They were sweating. I thought I was doing the right thing.”

“You could have given them pneumonia, Bekkah. They got too cool too quickly. They could have gotten very sick.”

“They were sweating! Cammie was trembling!”

“If you knew the first thing about horses, I might be interested in hearing your opinions. I think, though, that if you’re going to come on my property, you need to realize that I know what’s best for my animals.”

Of all the things I’d expected to find at Nadine’s, a reprimand wasn’t one of them. I’d only been trying to help. I thought I’d done something she’d thank me for.

“I didn’t mean any harm.” I forced the words out. It was all so unfair! Alice and Jamey Louise, and now this! No matter what I did, it was wrong.

“I know that, Bekkah. It’s just that in acting without knowledge, you could have killed Cammie or one of the other horses.”

Her hand on my shoulder was small, but the fingers gripped hard.

“It’s okay. I’m not angry and no harm was done. Maybe if I explained about the blankets you’d understand.”

I nodded. I needed a few minutes to compose myself, so I walked back to Cammie’s stall. Her forelock needed straightening, and I reached up to comb the tangle of hair with my fingers.

“Show horses can’t have winter coats. They have to be very thin-skinned. They can’t get out in the sun and get bleached out either. They have to look perfect. Sometimes, in a ring, there’ll be two horses tied for first place. When the judge hasn’t got any other criteria, he’ll use appearances. That gleaming coat may be the only thing that gives me a blue ribbon.”

“And the blankets keep the hair thin?”

“Right.” I started to tell her what Mama Betts said, but I knew my grandma didn’t know anything about show horses. Nadine’s horses were special animals with special needs. Mama Betts only knew about ordinary stock.

“Where have you been today?” Nadine asked. She slipped Cammie’s halter over her head and lead her to the cross ties. “Tell me while you groom Cammie for a ride. I think it’s time for your lesson.”

“I can’t take lessons…. I was going to work them off, remember?”

“There’s plenty of work for you and Jamey. In fact, she should be arriving just about the time you finish riding. You two can clean the stalls together.”

I’d rather have danced with the devil, but I wanted to ride so bad
I couldn’t complain. After I thought I’d lost my chance, I wasn’t going to say anything else about Jamey Louise. Nadine could find out on her own.

Cammie was drying out, and as I ran the stiff brush over her body I told Nadine about going down to the creek with Alice and Maebelle V.

“It’s a wonder you two don’t kill that little baby,” she said. “I saw y’all bumping down the road with her.”

“Maebelle’s tough. She can take it.”

“Tell me about the Redeemers.”

“Greg should be the one to tell you.” I didn’t know what to say. There was a lot I wanted to tell Nadine, but since Greg was working at the barn, it didn’t seem right.

“Greg won’t talk about the church people at all.” Nadine laughed. “His lips are tighter than the cheeks on an elephant’s behind. You’d think they were all a bunch of cannibals, the way he acts.”

“I don’t know about cannibals, but they’re some mighty strange folks.” The image of those kids standing around the grave with that blood-soaked towel came back to me. Right along with the thought of Mr. Tom, his brains bashed out. “Alice and I went down there to check on a girl we thought might be mistreated.”

Nadine’s voice was conspiratorial when she spoke again. “I saw Greg’s back. I didn’t comment on it, but somebody beat the bejesus out of him.”

I swallowed. Like everything else that had gone wrong this summer, that could come roosting at my door too. “Yeah, I saw his back.”

“Tell me about the girl. What did you see?”

While I put the saddle and bridle on Cammie, I told her about the singing dwarf and the hair shearing and Magdeline’s confession, and then about the screams. I finished off with the burial scene we’d just witnessed that morning.

“Was it a baby, do you suppose?”

“Alice said it might be, or at least part of a baby. Like before it’s a real baby.”

“A fetus,” Nadine supplied. “If they beat her hard enough, she could abort. With a horse, sometimes a storm or some severe excitement can result in miscarriage. People aren’t any different.”

It was a gruesome thought, and Nadine’s willingness to believe such a thing had happened made it seem more probable.

“Should I go to the police?” I asked. “Alice wanted to.”

“You don’t have any evidence. Maybe you could sneak to the cemetery and dig up whatever they buried.”

“It’s right by the church! They’d catch us in a minute. Why don’t you ask Greg?”

“That boy wouldn’t tell the truth, not about that.” Cammie was perfectly tacked up, and we walked outside into the hot afternoon sun. “More than likely it was some dead animal they found. Maybe a pet.”

I hadn’t thought about it until Nadine spoke. “They don’t have pets. I haven’t seen a cat or dog around that place.”

“Well, I’ll gladly give them a few,” she said. “Those dogs are driving me crazy.”

I hadn’t seen a trace of them around the barn. I wondered if they were house dogs.

“The cats have all gone wild.” She shook her head with a bemused look on her face. “I’m having more success taming the rats in the barn than I am my own dogs and cats.”

I laughed. The idea of tame rats was funny.

“You think I’m kidding, don’t you? I’ve tamed two of the rats in the barn. I’ll show you after we finish your lesson.”

“Yeah, you can tame rats, but the real question is can you make Jamey Louise work?” I thought I scored a good one with that remark.

“Oh, Jamey will work.” Nadine smiled a Cheshire cat smile. “I have something she wants very badly. Very badly indeed. And Jamey will work when she’s motivated.”

“What do you have?” I knew it wasn’t horses, cats or dogs. I couldn’t imagine what Nadine would have that would interest Jamey Louise. I mean Nadine did dye her hair and all, but she didn’t wear gobs of makeup or dress all frilly.

“I have Greg,” Nadine said softly. “Greg the Redeemer.”

Now, that was something Jamey Louise would relish. Time alone in the barn with the Redeemer boy. I was awed by Nadine’s brilliance. She had read Jamey through and through. Poor Greg, though. If he didn’t know any bad habits, Jamey Louise would sure enough teach him a few.

Before I had a chance to answer, Nadine gave me a leg up and told me to put Cammie into a working trot. Since my three rides in Missouri, I had a lot to show her.

At the end of the hour-long lesson, my legs were trembling but my
heart soared. I’d ridden a canter, and Cammie had taken a two-foot jump, all with Nadine’s plentiful praise. Alice and the burial and even Jamey Louise’s imminent arrival were forgotten—at least for the moment of glory.

It didn’t last long, though. I had just untacked Cammie and was brushing her down when I heard Jamey Louise’s sugary voice.

“Well, well, Bekkah Rich, how did you ever talk Miss Effie into letting you around these horses? Or does she know?”

“It was a family decision,” I answered. “When I was in Missouri, I went to a stable and started my lessons. Now I’m taking from Nadine.” Bravado was my only weapon. If Jamey Louise thought she had me squeezed up, she’d either try to blackmail me or simply go to Effie for the sheer pleasure of making my life a living hell.

“I’d like to hear Effie’s side of this.”

I looked up at Jamey for the first time. My mouth fell open. She was wearing a sun dress, a straw hat with a pale blue ribbon and white sandals. Her chest had been growing.

“I hope you brought work clothes,” Nadine commented as she walked by leading Caesar. “You’ll get worms working in the stalls in those sandals. You need some good solid shoes like Bekkah’s. And by the way, Jamey Louise, not a word of what goes on here leaves the place. If you go running up and down the road gossiping, I’ll have to fire you.” She snapped the two cross ties. “And I suppose Bekkah would have to entertain Greg then.”

I wanted to dance. I wanted to sing. I would have kissed Nadine. She’d put a wooden stake in Jamey’s black little heart, and she’d driven it in with a sledgehammer. I turned back to grooming Cammie so Jamey couldn’t see my smirk.

“I thought I’d help Greg in the loft today,” Jamey said sweetly.

“You can play in the loft with Greg after you’ve cleaned the stalls. Bekkah will take the right side and you the left. The first one finished gets a free lesson.”

Jamey had one less horse than I did, but I knew I’d beat her. The idea of shoveling horse manure would slow her down considerably, especially in open-toe sandals.

“Greg!” Nadine called. “Greg!”

I’d left him back in the church cemetery. During our lesson I hadn’t seen him arrive either.

“What is it, Nadine?” His head came over the side of the loft, just above Jamey Louise. A little landslide of hay fell onto Jamey. She brushed at her chest and giggled.