A Deadly Shaker Spring (19 page)
Read A Deadly Shaker Spring Online
Authors: Deborah Woodworth
“I know you folks will understand. My wife is a sweet soul, and she just gets all upset at the thought of those Shakers and what they might be doing to Languor's children, not to mention the innocents who must live under the Shakers' control. I know y'all feel just the same.”
Heads nodded and voices murmured in assent.
“Then it's time we did something about it, isn't it? It's not just for our businesses, that put food on the table for our children, but for our children's very lives!”
A man across the aisle from Rose jumped out of his pew. “Darn right, it's time to do something!” he shouted. Rose slid down in her seat as she recognized the thin farmer who had challenged her during her meeting with parents after the rat incident.
“It was one of my kids in that schoolhouse with them rats. He coulda been bit to deathâone little girl was bit, you knowâand them Shakers just let it happen. I'm a poor man, but I protect my own. I'd shoot any rat that come near my kids. I'd never let 'em breed like that right on my land where they could hurt my family. That Shaker place is nothing but a filthy hellhole, and we oughta clean it up, get rid of those people forever.”
“Yeah, he's right,” said the man right next to Rose. Others jumped up, exclaiming and shaking fists in the air. People began to spill into the aisles. Rose stood, too, and began to edge out of the pew, keeping her head down to avoid being recognized. Moving
slowly, she eased backward through the growing crowd and reached the narthex, inside the entrance to the church. Just before leaving the building, she turned and glanced back at the people shouting and pushing toward the man standing in front of the altar. Kentuck's arms extended outward in a calming gesture, as if he had more to say. Rose longed to listen, but she knew this was her chance to leave. She began to turn again toward the front door. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone standing still, facing her. Without thinking, she looked at him. Richard Worthington watched her, his thin lips curved into a mirthless grin.
R
OSE SPED HOME FROM
L
ANGUOR, BARELY AWARE OF
the car bouncing over the rutted road. Disturbing questions flashed through her mind. Richard Worthington had recognized herâwhy hadn't he stopped her or called attention to her presence? Why had he merely smiled? Was it a smile of triumph, or something else? Whatever it meant, she could not seem to make her heart stop pounding. She wished above all that she had been able to remain and hear more about what Kentuck and Laura Hill had in store for the Shakers. Now she could only imagine, and she imagined the worst.
She went right to bed, but her fears refused to subside. Each time she drifted to sleep, nightmares jerked her awake. At 5
A.M
., she finally gave up and tossed off her twisted bedclothes. She slipped into her brown cotton work dress, pinned her hair against her head, and tied her cap over it. The worldly clothes she had worn the night before were hanging from wall pegs. She might as well return them now, before everyone got up for breakfast. She gathered them in her arms and eased quietly out of her room.
Rose paused on the top step of the attic staircase,
her feet refusing to move forward. The strain of the last few days was catching up with her, and suddenly the plain Shaker storage room sent a chill of alarm through her. Dawn's light filtered weakly through the attic skylight, leaving the corners dark. Her exhausted, overstimulated imagination saw moving shapes in the shadows. She closed her eyes and shook her head in irritation.
Some eldress I'm turning out to be
, she thought.
I can't even face a dim room without cowering
. She opened her eyes and headed straight for the built-in cupboards without another glance toward the shadows. The other sisters in the house would be rising very soon. She hurriedly stashed away the clothing, annoyed that her hands were shaking.
Once everything was back in its place, she hurried down the stairs to the main floor. She found herself running the last few steps. Closing her office door behind her, she leaned back against it, catching her breath. The curtains were drawn, the room dark. She reached for the light, then drew her hand back and yelped as, this time, a shape did move in the shadows. She flipped on a light, and Elder Wilhelm faced her, his mouth set in a grim line.
“Wilhelm, for heaven's sake, you startled me. What are you doing here at this hour, and sitting in the dark?”
“The Lead Society Ministry will be as interested as I in thy explanation of this,” Wilhelm said, waving a sheet of paper at her.
Rose took the paper and stifled a groan as she recognized the typeface. A “special edition” of the
Languor County Watcher
. They must have begun printing
it as soon as they returned from their public meeting. She sank into her desk chair and began to read.
SPECIAL EDITION
LANGUOR COUNTY WATCHER
Citizens of Languor County, this is to alert you to IMMEDIATE DANGER!! We have shocking information about the Shakers, our close neighbors and our enemies, who threaten our peaceful way of life. We have told you before of their odd dress and their pretense of virtue, while all the while they live corrupt and wanton lives, free of marriage vows.
“Wilhelm, âcorrupt and wanton lives, free of marriage vows'? How can you even read this nonsense? It's all lies, and we can easily refute them, if we care to do so. Our friends will not believe any of this.”
“Read on,” Wilhelm said. He stood in front of her, hands crossed over his barrel chest, and watched her.
Last evening, a number of good citizens held a meetingâin a true Christian church, not one of those Shaker meetinghouses where men and women fly into babbling trances and worse. We wanted only to discuss, like reasonable people, how to preserve the safety and tranquillity of our great county. But a spy was in our midst! The Shakers sent one of their minions sneaking into our church to listen and report back, so that they can destroy all our hopes and plans.
Yes, friends, the danger is real. And why? Because the Shakers are running scared! You've no doubt
heard about the strange death which came recendy to one of the so-called Believers, a man named Samuel Bickford. Some of you may have known him, even done business with him, thinking him a gentle, honest soul. But he was no such paragon. His crimes go back decades and include the most heinous of allâmurder of an innocent. He never confessed his wretched sins, nor paid the price. The others protected him, of course. They pretend they are so much against violence that they will not defend their country against an invader, but when one of their own kills, they cover it up.
The Shaker named Samuel Bickford did not die a natural death. We believe that he died by his own hand, after years of keeping his crimes to himself. His death is a confession of guilt, the confession he had not the courage to make in life. And the other Shakers would protect this secret as well, if we gave them the chance. They could not survive and continue to do business with us honest folks if this and other secrets were to see the light of day. That is why they sent their own eldress, dressed as a true citizen of Languor, to spy on our meeting!
Samuel Bickford's burial is to be this very afternoon, in the Shaker graveyard. We urge you all to attend! Bring your children and tell them all about the sinful doings of those people. Let them know we will not tolerate their kind among us!
Rose sank back in her chair. So this is what they had in mindâa mob at Samuel's funeral. But why? Did they truly wish to drive the Society out of the county?
“We can't hold the funeral, of course,” she said. “We certainly can't have hordes of the world's people trampling our graves and shouting at us.”
Wilhelm snorted in derision. “Nay, thy behavior has certainly put a halt to any hope we have of a respectful burial for Samuel. I've already made arrangements for a small, private ceremony late this evening, after we are sure that no one from the world is about.
“Samuel's name will be dragged through the filthy streets of the world for years to come, and he did not deserve such treatment. Believe me, the Lead Ministry will be hearing about thy behavior, sneaking into a worldly meeting at night, disguised as a slut, no doubt. I've already put a call in to the elder at Mount Lebanon, and we shall see how long they allow thee to continue as eldress.”
“
My
behavior? Wilhelm, I did what seemed necessary, and I am certainly not responsible for this disgusting drivel. Mount Lebanon will not be bothered in the least by my doing my job. Yea, I went to the meeting, and I wore a castaway dress from storage. And before you ask why I didn't inform you, it is because I do not need to do so. I am not your servant, to be told to go or stay at your will. You should be much more concerned about what these people have in store for us, instead of leaving me to handle them on my own. That is all I have to say.” She snatched up the copy of the
Watcher
and walked around Wilhelm and out the door of the office, leaving him standing alone, silent for once.
*Â *Â *
“Oh, Caleb, you shouldn't be here, and you've been drinking. I can smell it. You promised you wouldn't anymore; you promised you wouldn'tâfor me.” Sarah's soft brown eyes filled with tears. Her nerves were overwrought anyway, what with creeping out into the orchard during the workday, once again, to meet Caleb. It was just too much that he'd been drinking again. He was a good man at heart, she knew that, and she had been so hopeful that he'd stop drinking for her. But lately she'd begun to despair. Maybe her love just wasn't strong enough. It had been the same with her uncle. She had loved him dearly, tried and tried to help him stop drinking. But the alcohol had killed him, and she'd been unable to stop it.
“I haven't had more than just the one drink, Sarah, just a little pick-me-up, is all.”
“Cal, I'm really worried about what's going on here in the village. You never let on these awful things would happen. I'm scared you've been lying to me. I'm just not sure we should see each other for a while.” She tried to sound sure of herself, but she knew her voice betrayed her. Despite her growing doubts, it hurt to think about losing him.
“Sarah, we gotta stick together, we belong together. I need you. Without you, there's just no point to anything.”
“But what have you been doing? I sneaked you those brethren's work clothes the other dayâjust so you could get some of your old journals back, you saidâand the next thing I know, the schoolchildren are being attacked by rats. I can't bear to think that you might have done that, Cal. And who attacked me
in the Sisters' Shop? It wasn't you, was it, Cal? Please, please tell me it wasn't you.”
“As God is my witness, I never hit you, Sarah. Never. That could've just been some hobo sleeping in your building, and you surprised him.” Caleb's face brightened as he warmed to his story. “Yeah, that's gotta be what happened.”
“What about all those other attacks? If you didn't do any of it, who did?”
“Look, Sarah, I've always told you whatever I knew. I got you those newspapers, didn't I? Those are the folks at the bottom of everything, not me. You can see that, can't you?”
Sarah lifted her chin defiantly. “I made sure Eldress Rose got those horrible papers,” she said. “I gave one to Elder Wilhelm, too.”
“Dammit, Sarah, why'd you do that? You was supposed to keep those papers secretâI told you.” His bloodshot eyes grew wild, and Sarah jumped back.
“You know who those people are, don't you? Don't you?” Sarah's fear and anger and disappointment all dissolved into tears.
“Sarah, no, you gotta trust me. I'm gonna find that out, you just trust me. Whoever they are, I'll track them down.”
He reached into his pocket. “Look what I brought you,” he said. He handed Sarah a wrinkled journal page.
She opened it with trembling fingers and read it through twice. Her anguish changed to hope. “I don't understand, Cal. This says . . . Does this mean that I have a brother?”
*Â *Â *
Richard Worthington glanced at the copy of the
Languor County Watcher
on the desk in his study. He'd tried to keep Frances from seeing it. He didn't have time for an argument; he needed to think. This diatribe wasn't exactly what he'd planned when he told the apostates about Rose's presence at the meeting the night before, but maybe he could still get things to work out his way. He had waited for her to get safely awayâit wouldn't do to have some of those unpredictable creatures in the audience get rough with her. He wanted this done cleanly and quietly.
“Daddy, Daddy, look at me!” Rickie ran into the room, his arms flying out from his sides as if he were about to catch an air current and swoop into flight. Instead, he crashed into Worthington's smoking table, knocking it, himself, and a lit cigar to the rug. Rickie began to sob noisily.
